Prep 1 Curriculum Brief

Reading: This year, we will focus on fostering a love for reading. Children will develop the ability to ask questions about their reading material, enhancing their comprehension. They will also practise explaining their understanding of the text clearly. Reading levels will be guided by the Oxford Reading Tree, tailored to each child’s progress.

Handwriting: We will continue to work on forming letters correctly, with an emphasis on maintaining consistent size and proper formation.

Phonics: We will continue with the Read Write Inc. (R.W.I.) program. The children will be introduced to new graphemes, and we will practise breaking down longer words into syllables to aid in spelling.

Spellings: Each week, the children will receive a set of spellings to learn, which will be tested the following week. These spellings will include words based on the graphemes they are studying, along with high-frequency and common exception words.

Grammar: We will concentrate on punctuating sentences accurately, focusing on the use of capital letters at the beginning of sentences and for the pronoun ‘I,’ as well as full stops. We will also learn to leave spaces between words and start to use basic connectives to extend their sentences.

Writing: Through studying both non-fiction and fiction texts, children will learn to understand the differences between them. They will practise writing descriptions, information, lists, and captions. Additionally, they will begin learning how to create simple plans for their writing, such as recording facts in a fact file.

In Maths this term, we will be covering the following topics:

• Place Value
  Children will learn about place value within 10 and 20. They will compare objects using terms like “fewer,” “more,” and “the same,” and be introduced to number lines from 0 to 20. They will also use concrete resources to find number bonds to 10 and 20.
• Addition and Subtraction
  Children will learn how to add and subtract within 10, building confidence in these essential operations.
• Shapes
  Children will learn to name and identify 3-D shapes and become more confident in naming and recognising 2-D shapes.
• Other Topics
  Additionally, they will engage in sorting, counting, and representing objects, reading and writing numbers, and practising finding one more and one less.

This term has a biology focus on ‘Animals’, including Humans. We will learn about our bodies and senses and how we change as we get older. We will also explore the behaviour and habitats of common animals and focus on how we keep our pets happy and healthy. We will collect data, look for patterns and carry out investigations, learning to make observations and record information in a scientific way.

This term we will be introduced to maps as a tool to investigate their school and then gradually extend their study outwards to learn about the South West, the British Isles and then countries throughout Europe. We will learn to make and describe comparisons as we discover diverse populations, landscapes, climates and cultures.

This term, we will explore the origins of life on Earth and the fascinating world of dinosaurs. During the first half of the term, we’ll learn about the Big Bang, early life forms, and the concept of evolution, including the inspiring story of Mary Anning and her fossil discoveries. After the half-term, we will delve into the age of dinosaurs, exploring different periods of the Mesozoic Era, discovering what dinosaurs ate, and learning how they became extinct.

This term in French, we will focus on revising and expanding our foundational knowledge. We’ll begin by reviewing numbers up to 20, colours, and practising responses to basic questions and greetings. Building on this, we will learn vocabulary for body parts, animals, and fruit and vegetables. Additionally, we’ll explore how to ask for items in a shop, a key skill for everyday conversations.

Our learning will be supported by the Skoldo Elementary Book to enhance our understanding of vocabulary and sentence structure. To help consolidate what we’ve learned, we will also sing plenty of fun French songs!

This term we will look at being part of God’s family; what it means to Christians to be part of God’s family and the importance of caring for each other. We will learn about Creation and God’s world, leading us to Harvest and why it is celebrated. Finally, we lead onto the birth of Christ and the importance of Christmas.

This term we will be learning about different relationships. This will be separated into 3 different areas; Family and friendships, exploring the roles of other people and feeling cared for, Safe relationships, recognising privacy, staying safe and seeking permission and Respecting ourselves and others, exploring how behaviour affects others and being polite and respectful.

This term we will have opportunities to experiment with different materials, tools and techniques. In creating, designing and making, the children will be exploring in colour, line, shape and space. We will learn to construct with a purpose in mind to achieve a planned effect, with the emphasis on the process they go through; taking pride in their creative achievements.
We will be creating art on the themes of ‘Once Upon a Time’, Autumn and Christmas.

This term, children will explore the world of percussion instruments, learning to identify them and understand how their sounds can be altered depending on how they are played. They will discover how these instruments can be grouped based on their playing techniques, such as hitting, scraping, or shaking. Using this knowledge, children will work together to perform, using musical symbols to guide and modify the sounds they produce. As we approach the end of the term, the focus will shift to learning and rehearsing songs for The Nativity.

Due to the exploratory and ‘spontaneous’ approach in this subject, we will often go off in different directions depending on the ideas and interest of the children. And so the formal lesson plans are often deviated from to preserve a flexibility and originality of approach.  New projects often ‘evolve’ from the children’s ideas in the sessions and it is an important part of the approach and style in this subject  to maintain this flexibility and spontaneity.  This generates a feeling with the children that they are going on a ‘journey’ in this subject each term. The formal lesson plans are only intended to be used as a basis and guide to the type of work and projects that are covered and are not intended to be rigidly adhered to.

Weeks 1 – 4

Robot Project – mechanical movements – fixed and moving pivots

This involves the design and construction of card robots with moving parts.  The pupils will be introduced to the idea of appropriate decoration, use of colour, ideas involving symmetry.  The robots will be cut out and joined together using paper fasteners to incorporate simple movement. The pupils will also be able to design attachments for their robots which can also incorporate movement.

Weeks 5 and 6

Spinner project

This involves the design and construction of card and cd spinners. The pupils will be looking at colour combinations to produce various effects. They will be working with card circles, paper fasteners, pva glue, holographic paper and coloured card.

Weeks 7, 8 and 9

Matchstick Maze designs.  This project involves 12cm/12cm square plywood bases and the design and construction of a maze, where a ball bearing is guided through the maze from a designated start to the finish, pupils will be involved in measuring and marking out, sanding, decorating, glueing. The pupils will be introduced to the junior hacksaw in this project.

materials:  blockwood, plywood, modeling sticks and matchsticks.

skills;   measuring and marking out, sanding, cutting using junior hacksaw.

This term pupils will be using elements of the keyboard to enhance their computing skills. They will also be selecting images and using text to create a piece of work in conjunction with another subject. They will be introduced to some basic programming.

This term the pupils will be introduced to exploring different characters using facial expressions and sounds. They will work on team building exercises and working together as a team. Later in the term there will be a focus on poetry assembly and the nativity play.

P.E: Controlled movement, spatial awareness and large ball catching skills. 

Games: Tag-Rugby. Simple handling and non-contact activities. Skills will be introduced through a collection of set tasks and drills. These will be put into practice using small side games, which require pupils to work together in a 1.v.1, 2.v.2 or 3.v.3 situations.