Spring 2: Topic Ready, Steady, Grow.

Key Texts:

Planting a Rainbow.

Oliver's Vegetables 

I can Grow a Sunflower.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

From Egg to Chicken.

Communication and Language:

Children will learn to:

• Look at and talk about the life cycles of plants and what they need to grow.
• Use new words such as 'flowers', 'daffodils' and the life cycle of a 'bean'.
• Use rhyming words like Hickory, Dickory, Dock and Humpty Dumpty. 
• Use words for the different equipment needed to grow different plants, flowers and vegetables such as seeds, bulbs, pot and fork.
• Talk about what happens first, then and next in the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Talk about the different foods the caterpillar ate in the story.
• Role play and retell the story using the appropriate book language such as author and illustrator.   

Personal, Social, and Emotional Development.

Children will learn to:

• To be able to talk to their friends about their learning and play and listen to their play ideas and learn and ‘talk back’ to them.
• Talk to their friends about how they are playing with an activity and listen to their ideas.
• Take turns using props to retell the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Physical Development 

Children will learn to:

• Clap and stamp to the rhythm and beat of the music.
• Enjoy starting to kick, throw and catch balls.
• Go up steps and stairs, or climb up apparatus, using alternate feet.
• Skip, hop, stand on one leg and hold a pose for a game like musical statues.
• Use large-muscle movements to wave flags and streamers, paint and make marks.

Literacy

Children will learn to:

• To be able to name the different foods in the story.
• To be able to sequence the story using props.
• To be able to answer questions about the story.
• To write/draw a diary of the story 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.
• Write some or all of their name.
• Write some letters accurately.

Mathematics:

Children will learn to:

• Represent, sort and order numbers 0-5 and beyond
• To use language such as 'lots', 'more' or 'same'.
• Be able to say how many caterpillars are in each pot.
• Be able to say the days of the week form the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Say one number for each item in order: 1,2,3,4,5. 6,7 that the caterpillar ate each day.
• Know that the last number reached when counting a small set of objects tells you how many there are in total.

Understanding of the World

Children will learn to:

• Use all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials planting different seeds and bulbs.
• Talk about what they see, is happening to the seeds and bulbs using a wide range vocabulary.
• Understand that seeds and plants need looking after for them to grow.
• Understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant and how it changes. 
• Look closely at the caterpillars and talk about what is happening to them.
• Know what the caterpillars need to help them grow e.g. a warm bed, food, water, be quiet and calm!

Expressive Arts and Design

Children will learn to:

• To be able to paint pictures of vegetables.
• Paint a vegetable using the correct colours e.g. orange for a carrot
• Paint a recognisable shape of a vegetable e.g. Paint a shape that looks like a carrot/potato.
• Mark making flowers.

• Talk about Oliver's Vegetables.

• Move and dance to music.
• Show attention to sounds and music.
• Explore paint, using fingers and other parts of their bodies as well as brushes and other tools.