Our topic this Summer half term is ‘Our Favourite Foods.’  Our learning will be based around this theme and subjects will be linked where possible. We will be learning about: Our Favourite Foods; Healthy Foods; Summer Picnics; Where Chocolate Comes from; Baked Beans! and Foods from around the World and other Cultures, including Poland and Italy.                                                                                                                                                                    In English, we will be focussed on the following texts:                                                                                                            

• The Bunnies in the Jam by Lucie Dermine- an enchanting book about bunnies picking blackberries, strawberries and cherries for Mrs Mole to make jam,  but when she falls asleep, the little bunnies are tempted to eat the pots of jam! 
• A Picnic by The European Language Institute - a story about a traditional picnic and foods: cakes, strawberries, sandwiches, jellies …
• A story about Baked Beans from The Literacy Shed- Geoff has a curious and unshakeable love for beans!  It is only fitting  then, that when Geoff grows up, he gets a  job at the Heinz baked beans factory. A story about baked beans, how they are made and packaged.
• Oliver’s Vegetables by Vivian French- do you like chips? Oliver does. In fact, he won't eat anything else, until he plays a game with his grandpa.  Whatever vegetable Oliver finds in the garden, he must eat. On Monday, he pulls up carrots, on Tuesday, it is spinach . . . a great story introducing a range of vegetables to the children.

The children will be developing their reading (decoding and comprehension) and writing (handwriting and compositional) skills with activities such as: matching pictures and sentences within the texts; labelling pictures from the stories with new vocabulary; understanding characters’ feelings at different times in the stories; writing speech bubbles for different characters; completing cloze procedures: creating their own picnics; character descriptions; sequencing of key events in a story and writing out recipe cards.                                              Meadow Class will continue to follow the Twinkl Phonics Scheme, currently working on Level 3 and Level 2.  They will be practising to blend and segment words and learn the tricky words ‘by sight’.  The children will be reading books from ‘Rhino Readers’ which are books matched to the level they are working on in the phonics scheme. 

In Science, Meadow Class will continue to follow The White Rose Scheme where the topics are: Caring for the Planet and Seasonal Changes.

· Why is it important to care for our planet?

· How can we care for our planet?

· Changes in spring

We will enhance this learning with short videos from The Literacy Shed which further explain the importance of looking after our environment, recycling and reusing. (Black Hat and Girl with Yellow Bag)

In maths, we are continuing to follow the White Rose Scheme and will be focussing on number, length, height and time.  We will be looking at doubling numbers, odd and even numbers and will be completing lots of practical activities for  measurement. For computing, Meadow Class will be learning about word processing, including typing, different symbols used, saving work, the undo function and editing.  In Art/Making, we will be using a range of mediums to create art around our topic of ‘Our Favourite Foods’. These will include the use of oil pastels, paints, tissue paper crafts, potato printing and pasta art.  Some of our sessions will be taken by Keith during Art Therapy sessions.                                                                                                                                                                                  We will be making picnic and summer foods in cooking, including the construction of Victoria jam sponge cakes; berry fruit salads with jelly; vegetable crudities; cheese sandwiches; chocolate crisp cakes and pasta salad.  We also hope to enjoy a little picnic in the grounds of the school.  We will also try some Polish foods, including pierogi (filled dumplings) and Krowki (Polish fudge). In Music, we will be following Charanga Music.  Our topic will be: Anyone can play – Introducing Instruments.  The children will be experimenting with a range of instruments, including drums, rain makers/sticks and wind chimes.                                                                                                                  We will be following the Jigsaw Scheme of Work for PSHE and our topic will be ‘Relationships’ where the children will be learning about different types of family, making friends, falling out, bullying and being the best friends we can be.  The children in Meadow Class will continue to see Anusha for their Akademi Dance and learn how to express themselves through movement, as well as ball skills and volleyball in PE with Charlene on Friday afternoons.Our off-site activities this half-term include tennis on Monday mornings and swimming at Dorking pool on Tuesday mornings.                                                                                                                                                              Our off-site activities will be on Wednesday afternoons and the children will have the opportunity to  experience the local community shops, parks, garden centres and libraries.

We look forward to an exciting summer half-term!

From Klara and the Meadow Team.