Bellenden Reception Topic Web: Spring 2020

Topics: Dinosaurs

Books
Bumpus Jumpus, Dinosaur Rumpus, Mad about Dinosaurs, Trouble at the Dinosaur Café, Tinysaurus

There’s a T-Rex in town, Gigantosaurus 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSE)

The children will be encouraged to describe themselves in positive terms and talk about their abilities.  They will begin to initiate conversations with each other and with adults.  They will listen to adults and each other and respond appropriately.  They will begin to explain their own knowledge and understanding. 

Activities:

• Circle time activities discussing children’s talents
• Show what you know at the end of the day, children to present models/pictures/writing etc to rest of the class
• Discuss school routines and behavioural expectations
• Small group games and activities to encourage positive conversations
• In show what they know at the end of the day other children will have the opportunity to ask questions about the work the presenting child is showing 

Physical development (PD)

The children will be taught to hold a pencil correctly and use it to correctly form recognisable letters. They will be shown how to handle tools, construction and malleable materials safely and with control.  To develop gross motor actions they will be encouraged to negotiate space successfully when playing running and chasing games.   They will begin to have an understanding of the good practices that are needed in eating, sleeping and hygiene in order to maintain good health. 

Activities:

• Opportunities to use malleable and construction materials – eg use playdoh/clay to make dinosaurs
• Den building
• Making a large dinosaur landscape (junk modelling)
• Hoop, ball and skittle games
• Running games in the hall and outside (eg stuck in the mud, traffic lights)
• Move like your favourite dinosaur
• Visits from health professionals 

Communication and Language (C&L)

The children will listen to stories with increasing attention and recall.  They will be encouraged to introduce a storyline into their play.  They will be supported in being able to maintain attention and sit quietly in a variety of activities.  They will be given opportunities to use talk to organise, sequence and clarify their thinking and ideas.  

Activities:

• Listening and responding to a variety of books linked to the topic of dinosaurs
• Small world play – dinosaur world, volcanoes
• Reading and making non-fiction books
• Small group time to make up games/songs or create a model and talk through what they are going to do
• Opportunities to share their thinking/ideas with other children
• Small group work opportunities to explain how they will make something or solve a problem (eg how to get a toy dinosaur out of ice) 

Literacy (L) 

Children will be learning to hear and say the initial and final sounds in words. They will learn all the phonemes in phase 3 and will start to use them when reading and writing.  They will continue to memorise tricky words and will start to read simple sentences that include learnt phonemes and tricky words.  They will be learning how to write simple sentences.  

Activities:

• Daily phonic carpet time sessions
• Chalk writing phonemes and CVC words outside
• Reading games inside – eg I have an object in my bag – can you read this and find out what it is?
• Reading games outside (eg find the dinosaur by reading the clues)
• Alphabet frieze games
• Guided reading
• Making dinosaur fact posters, books, recipes for dinosaur food and drinks, writing own dinosaur stories

Mathematics

The children will be learning to order numbers and match numbers with quantities.  They will start to find one more and one less.  They will begin to understand addition and know the vocabulary involved in adding.  They will be taught positional language such as “behind” and “next to.” 

Activities: 

• Daily maths carpet sessions
• Maths games (eg count the number of shakes/drum beats and write down the number)
• Board games (eg snakes and ladders)
• Skittle and throwing scoring games
• Hop skotch
• make models with up to 20 blocks (label your model with how many bricks you have used)
• dice games
• outdoor games involving positional language – hide the dinosuar – where did you find it?

Understanding the World
The children will be looking at similarities, differences, patterns and change in relation to places, objects and living things.  They will use ICT to interact with age appropriate computer software.  They will be celebrating special days and festivals, for example, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Pancake Day, Easter. 

Activities: 

• Look at the changes in plants and trees – taking photos and making pictures
• IPAD activities
• Spanish lessons – learning about where Spain is/learning Spanish songs/looking at Spain on Google Earth
• Taking care of the class pets – gerbils, millipedes, stick insects
• Observing similarities and differences in class pets. Blogs about class pets.  Drawing and labelling similarities and differences
• Trip to the Horniman – workshop for the children to learn about different environments and cultures
• Chinese New Year – dressing in Chinese outfits, Chinese food café with noodles and chopsticks, making Chinese pictures with Chinese writing etc 

Expressive Arts and Design

The children will learn to play cooperatively as part of a group to develop and act out narratives.    Children will be encouraged to make up their own songs and to sing songs with their friends and perform them to the rest of the group.  They will be encouraged to represent their own ideas in art and music.

Activities: 

• Acting out dinosaur stories and making up songs/raps about dinosaurs
• Making dinosaur models
• Small world play
• Musical instruments and other resources available for children to explore and experiment with
• Art room set up with materials for the children to access independently
• Opportunities to perform to rest of the class/nursery children