Ysgol Gynradd 
Da​fen 
Pr​imary School 

This half-term our topic is ‘If you go down to the woods today…’ As part of this topic we will be;

 

Listening to a range of traditional and modern stories. Our Focus Books are;

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• Take a Walk Little Bear (Talk for Writing Story)

• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

• Percy the Park Keeper by Nick Butterworth 

• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson 

• Tidy by Emily Gravett 

• The Wild Woods by Simon James 

• The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward 

• Stone Soup - generic 

• The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharatt

• Not the Forest by Anthony Browne

• A Walk in the Woods – Nikki Grimes & Jerry Pinkney

• Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? – Martin Waddell

• Peace at Last – Jill Murphy

• The Very Cranky Bear – Nick Bland

• Brown Bear’s Wonderful Secret – Caroline Castle

• The Great Bear Brigade – Jason B. Cordova

 

In order to answer our key questions - How do animals use the woodlands?​  Why do bears wake up in Spring?​

We will be;

• Exploring woodland animals and how their homes change during the Winter/Spring

• Learning about animal habitats, nocturnal animals and life cycles.

• Developing our oracy and shared writing skills through following a Talk for Writing approach to storytelling and non-fiction writing (instruction writing).

• Learning Welsh vocabulary and phrases to support us in asking and answering the questions ‘Sut Wyt ti?’, ‘Ble rwt ti’n byw?’

• Familiarising ourselves with simple French phrases and songs. Continuing to learn colour names and using sentence patterns to express likes and dislikes.

• Developing our recognition of 2D and 3D shapes. Learning about properties of these shapes. Going on a woodland shape hunt.

• Finding out about which fruits and vegetables are ‘heavy or light’ through our Maths Investigation linked to the story ‘Stone Soup’.

• Investigating “Which Colours Help Woodland Creatures Stay Hidden?” for our main Science Investigation.

• Exploring ways in which we can practice mindfulness in nature, care for our environments and living things which use our areas as their habitats.

• Developing our skills in movement and dance during our weekly PE sessions.

• Creating our own art work based on patterns and circles in the work of the artist Kandinsky.

• Learning about celebration ns and festivals which take place in the Spring term – Easter, Chinese New Year, St David’s Day, Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen,

• Using JiT to create a ‘sound story’. Developing our ICT skills to create a woodland path for BeeBot to explore.

• Exploring our outdoor area to complete focused tasks – natural art, number hunts, looking at habitats, creating patterns, outdoor construction work, weather stations, woodland crowns, tree boggart.

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PE Sessions

PE will take place on a Wednesday. Please could you ensure that your child wears their PE kit to school i.e. tshirt, joggers and trainers. Learners will not be permitted to change into their kit in school.

 

 

Reading Books

We will send Read, Write Inc sound cards, word flashcards and/or a reading book home with your child. Please return their flashcards/book once you have practised them with your child. This will enable us to monitor progress and assess when your child is ready to learn new sounds or change their reading book. Thank you for your cooperation.

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Snack Time/Amser Snac

​The cost of a daily snack per week is £1. This can be paid weekly or termly. This half term the cost is £7. We use any money raised (following the purchase of snacks) to purchase resources for our class such as baking/decorating items, craft resources or new activities for the children. Please note: Amser Snac is different to ‘Tuck Shop’. Learners in Dosbarth Heulwen access a class ‘tuck shop’ as a very important part of our daily routines, this supports social skills, numeracy development and enables our learners to take on the roles of ‘Weekly Helpers’.

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Outdoor Learning

Outdoor learning is a large part of our school curriculum, and we plan to spend a lot of time learning outdoors. Should you wish for your child to change their footwear, then please send appropriate outdoor footwear (e.g. wellies) into school in a labelled bag. This can be left in school on your child’s peg. This is optional and not required. In the event of hot weather, could pupils please bring a sunhat in to school. Suncream should be applied at home prior to the learners coming in to school.

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Please keep an eye out for updates and information about weekly events on Piota, our school app. We will also be updating our Facebook and Instagram pages regularly.

 

Many thanks for your support. We are looking forward to a fun term 😊.

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Miss Singleton and Mrs Littler