Welcome to Thankfulness Class!
We hope you have had an amazing Summer, and are looking forward to a brand-new year at St Marks!
This new school year, we will be learning and exploring a wide range of topics.
To begin the year, this Autumn term, Thankfulness Class will be focusing on the topic of ‘Magical Me’. At this time of the year, this topic supports our learners with their transitions from Nursery or Playgroup to Reception.
The topic of ‘Magical Me’ allows the children and teachers to form positive relationships whilst learning and understanding how we learn and play.
Communication & Language (C&L)
This term we will share a range of stories to establish a love of reading and a value of books. Children will be able to discuss with their peers the various stories they have been exploring. Upon exploring familiar texts, children will begin to develop their confidence when speaking to others.
Personal Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
During the first term the children will learn to understand who we are as individuals and what we can do for ourselves, including self-regulation. Additionally, children will develop their understanding and knowledge of how and why we look after ourselves. The children will be learning about; how we come to understand ourselves in relation to others, how we make friends, understand the rules of school and behave towards others. The children will learn and begin to understand how we come to understand our own and others’ feelings.
Physical Development
We will be supporting each child with both their gross and fine motor skills. The children will have access to many opportunities to develop new or existing skills through our continuous provision, throughout the school week. Children will also have a P.E lesson with our school’s sports coach once a week.
Literacy
Thankfulness Class will be learning through use of both fiction and non-fiction texts from around the world. Additionally, we will be enhancing the children’s learning by use of song, rhymes and poetry.
This term we will be looking at texts that relate to our topic, ‘Magical Me’. We will be listening to and hearing our initial sounds from our familiar environments and in familiar words. We will also begin to recognise and say aloud these initial sounds when presented using visuals such as flash cards and sound mats.
Phonics
At St. Mark’s, we are committed to providing a strong foundation in early reading through the Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) approach. We use the FFT Success for All Phonics scheme, a structured programme designed to teach phonics in a clear, consistent, and engaging manner, ensuring all children make progress at their own pace.Mathematics
Maths
In the Autumn term, we will be exploring the use of objects and resources which support us when counting to 10. We will be matching quantity to number, understanding the arrays of a die and we will begin to identify and discuss 2D shapes, and patterns within our familiar environment.
Religious Education
This Autumn term our RE unit will focus on, ‘Creation’, under the title, ‘Who Made the Wonderful World?’ The children will explore and begin to develop an understanding of what Christians believe about creation, Children will also be exploring the concept of what ‘thankfulness’ is and what it means to be ‘thankful’.
Understanding the World
In relation to our topic of ‘Magical Me’, the children will also be talking about being part of their own family and the school family, learning about routines, boundaries and developing a shared set of class rules and expectations. They will be encouraged to think about why we have rules and what happens if we don’t.
Expressive Art and Design
We will be using a variety of mediums such as, paint, collage materials; pastels and many more. As a part of our topic of ‘Magical Me’, we will also be creating self-portraits, which will involve looking at skin tone, eye colour and hair colour. Additionally, we will be looking at our immediate environments for inspiration, so be prepared for many Art galleries created by your child this year! We will also explore a range of musical instruments and begin to explore the sounds and rhythm they can make.
Your child is about to begin a very exciting journey and we are looking forward to getting to know all our new families and welcome the children into our school family.