Understanding English, communication and
language
Farm animals vs wild animals
Write letters to Kingston Maurward & other
visitors
Write captions about animals in Dorset
Speech bubbles
Tell stories about animals
Clip boards – record the animals you find
Farmer Duck
Mathematical understanding
Sorting farm and wild animals
Sorting animals in Dorset and not in Dorset
Shapes of hay bales
Explore numbers of legs using ‘One is a snail,
10 is a Crab’ – record answers. TG use number
sentences.
Historical, geographical and social
understanding
Where is Dorset?
Have you been away from Dorset?
Where do our grandparents live?
Animals in hot & cold countries.
Farming in the olden days vs tractors
Mrs Bostock Year R Topic Planner
Animals in Dorset
(emphasis on farming)
Hook/ visit/ concrete or
Practical resources/
Involve parents/ community
Trip to Kingston Maurward
Hatch eggs
Visit local farm field
Mrs Denning and her farm tools
Role play – make a barn & wear masks
Mini world – grow crops (salad) & make a mini
farm
Cheese making (ST TA)
Outcomes and success criteria
Children to talk confidently about animals and
use & understand key vocabulary:
Wild; farm; camouflage; olden days; Dorset;
England; the rest of the world
Children to show caring attitudes towards all
animals.
Children to explain where some of their food
comes from
Children to use their News Books to explore the
topic with their families.
Scientific and technological understanding
Observing animals in different habitats –
woods vs grass
Where does our food come from?
Where is the best place to grow cress?
Use google images to find pictures of animals
Bee bots
Different ways of cooking eggs
Understanding physical development, health
and well being
Grow salad
Eat local food – make butter/ cheese.
How are animals looked after? Animals need
what we need.
Jigsaw: pets and animals that we care for
(including toy animals)
Understanding the Arts
Camouflage – Henri Rousseau
Paint grass and hide green mini-beasts in it.
Make clay brown logs and brown mini-beasts
Study paintings of camouflaged animals
Make model farms/ tractors
The Musicians of Bremen
The Carnival of the animals