Welcome to the Spring Term!
We are really excited about this term’s work which is all
based around the topics Marvellous Materials and How
Does Your Garden Grow? We are all looking forward to the
children exploring their architect and garden centre role
play areas. As ever, any time, help or resources you can
provide which might help with any of our class work is
always greatly appreciated… please let us know if you can
offer anything to help.
English
This term we will be looking at recounts, traditional and
fairy tales, report writing and explanation texts. We will
be continuing our regular visits to the school library and
our Treetops book bus. Our focus authors are: Mick
Inkpen (Beech Class) and Julia Donaldson (Palm Class).
As last term, children will take home phonics sheets
regularly to consolidate their learning and Big Talk
homework will be set on a Wednesday to prepare for
Friday’s Big Write. Please continue to read and record
comments based on the children’s book banded reading
at home.
Additionally, children will receive weekly spellings in
their Home Spelling book on a Monday to be learnt at
home for a test every Friday (please return all Home
Spelling books to school each Friday). We will discuss
helpful strategies for spelling learning with your child and
enclose a copy in their Home Spelling books.
Philosophy for Children
We will be carrying on with our weekly P4C sessions where
we practise caring listening, clear speaking and
responding to our classmates’ comments. Please see the
P4C notice board in the school entrance for more
information.
Maths
We will be covering counting, number and number
sequences, place value and ordering, understanding
addition, subtraction and multiplication, mental
calculation strategies, shape and space, money, measures
and real life problems.
Please continue to encourage your child to access
Mathletics at home – it is great to see so many children
using and enjoying it!
Science
In Science, we will be learning about different materials
and their properties. Following on from this, we will then
identify, name and label plants and their structures.
PE
PE sessions will take place on a Monday and Wednesday.
We will be developing our dance, gymnastic and games
skills across both terms. Please make sure your child has
their PE kit in school each week and that all items are
labelled with their names. Lost property is stored outside
the classrooms.
What’s Happening in the Spring Term?
Wednesday 20th January – Mother Tongue Day
Friday 22nd January - Palm Class sharing assembly
Monday 1st February – Friday 4th - Responsibility week
Friday 12th February – end of Term 3 at 1:30
Monday 22nd February – start of Term 4
Tuesday 8th March and Wednesday 9th March - Parents’
Evening
Monday 14th March – Friday 18th – Science and
Independence week
Thursday 24th March – Beech Class sharing assembly
Thursday 24th March – end of Term 4 at 1:30
Monday 11th April – start of Term 5
Values
Our values this Spring are Responsibility and
Independence.
Topic
In Geography, we will be thinking about how Marston
compares with different locations, including: Thailand
(Palm Class’ focus country), Pakistan (Beech Class’ focus
country), Grenada and locations closer to home.
Computing
Now that the children are more familiar with logging on
and using the school computers, we will be learning to
create a simple program to control movement.
PSHCE/RE
In PSHCE we are using the SEAL programme to consider
our values of Responsibility and Independence.
In RE we will be thinking about the church as a special
place for Christians, and questioning what makes places
special to us.
Design and Technology
Linking to our Science topics, we shall be designing,
making and evaluating boats. In Term 4, we will be
exploring different artistic materials and link this to our
How Does Your Garden Grow? topic.
Homework
Homework will be sent home in a folder on Wednesday and
needs to be back by the following Tuesday. Please complete
the Impact diary. Thank you for your support with this.
Daily activities, such as: reading together; sharing/talking
about books, rhymes and stories; the child reading to an
adult (please record this in their yellow reading diaries) or
an adult reading to the child.
Number facts can be reinforced
on a daily basis by playing games
to add, subtract, double and
halve numbers; counting in twos,
fives and tens and practising
reciting number bonds and
simple times tables.