Who likes the dark?

Throughout term 2 we will excitedly explore the question "Who likes the dark?"

We will begin by listening to the wonderful story of Owl Babies by Martyn Waddell.  We'll use this story to spark the children's curiosity and wonder and to give them the opportunity to share with us what they already know about the dark.  As we move onto the story ‘One Snowy Night' by Nick Butterworth, we will find out about winter and the changing weather.  We will also hopefully visit the local park to be able to meet Percy the park keeper himself.   

To support our learning, we'll use non-fiction books about night animals and woodland animals to help us learn more about these beautiful creatures and their habitat. 

Development Matters for Term 2 

The Development Matters from the prime areas that we will be focusing on are:

Communication and Language: 

Develop our communication (supporting the children to use different tenses and plurals) 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development:

Become more outgoing with unfamiliar people, in the safe context of their setting.

Show more confidence in new social situations.

Increasingly follow rules, understanding why they are important.

Talk about our feelings using words like ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘angry’ or ‘worried’.

Physical Development 

Be increasingly independent in meeting their own care needs, eg brushing teeth, using the toilet, washing and drying their hands thoroughly.

Show a preference for a dominant hand.

Use large-muscle movements to wave flags and streamers, paint and make marks.

Development Matters from the specific areas we will also be considering are:

Literacy:

Understand that print in the environment and in books has meaning.

Understands page sequencing when reading

Make marks and give meaning to them

Mathematics:

Subitise (recognise amounts on sight) up to 3 objects.

Compare quantities using language: ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’.

Talk about and identifies the patterns around them using language like ‘pointy’, ‘spotty’, ‘blobs’ etc.

Extend and create patterns such as a teddy, a car, a teddy, a car etc.

Understanding the World:

Uses all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials.

Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.

Continue to develop positive attitudes about the differences between people.

Notice and correct an error in a repeating pattern.

Expressive Arts and Design :

Create closed shapes with continuous lines, and begin to use these shapes to represent objects.

Show different emotions in their drawings and paintings, like happiness, sadness, fear etc.

Listen with increased attention to sounds.

Respond to what they have heard, expressing their thoughts and feelings.