For this final term of Year R, we are diving into our learning with our splashily exciting topic ‘Commotion in the Ocean’! To kick off, we will be exploring the ‘villains of our sea’ (sharks) and discovering just what amazing creatures they are! We will be using the wonderful text ‘Surprising Sharks’ written by Zoologist Nicola Davies, which is packed with incredible facts about sharks and their habitats.

In Understanding the World, we will be learning all about the fascinating creatures, jellyfish and octopus. We will also explore the concept of ‘Plastic in our Oceans’ and learn how we can help to improve marine conditions by recycling single use plastics. 

In Expressive Art and Design, we will be using recycled plastics to create some impressive pieces of artwork including sharks and jellyfish. 

Later in the term, we will move on to Julia Donaldson’s wonderful storybook ‘Tiddler’ which will become the basis for us to produce some super sentences including description and ambitious vocabulary. 

In Maths, we will be working on developing a deeper understanding of the components of numbers to 10. We will be working with ten frames, rekenreks and playing games to help children develop a ‘mental number line’ of numbers to 10. 

The final part of this term will focus on ‘The History of Pirates’. We will be looking back to the time of pirates, considering the differences between ‘now’ and ‘then’. We will look carefully at pirate ships and modern-day ships comparing and contrasting similarities and differences. We will be creating our very own pirate names and turning photographs of ourselves into fearsome pirates!

So Battle Down the Hatches and let the learning begin!