This half term we are going to be thinking about our environment and what we can do to look after it. The children will learn about recycling, reducing waste and looking after our natural world.
To start our topic we will be reading Tidy by Emily Gravett
You can watch the story here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqwOLFD-kUQ
Monday: Today learning object is to predict what will happen next
Look at the front page of our new story this week. Read the title. Ask your child What do you think this story is going to be about?
Discuss Pete’s behaviour on the first spread. Ask: Do you think that Pete is good at looking after the wood? Do you think what Pete is doing is good or bad? What about the second spread? Ask: What might be the problem with sweeping up the leaves? (Loss of habitat for hedgehogs and insects; loss of nutrients to the soil.)
Begin to listen to the story. Stop in shock as Pete starts pulling up trees.
Ask your child what they think will happen if he does that? What do they think will happen next in the story?
Ask your child to write down their predictions
After they have written a prediction carry on watching the rest of the story. Was their prediction accurate?
Tuesday: Today’s learning object is to write questions
Watch the story again. Discuss what your child thought of the story, how do they feel about Pete?
Look carefully at the illustrations of Pete and the other animals in the forest. How do you think they view Pete? Encourage your child to make personal connections with the character to encourage empathy.
Do they like to keep things tidy? Do they share a room with a sibling who makes that hard? Do they like to be messy but have a friend or family member who likes things neat? How does it make them feel when they have to tidy up? Ask the children to consider how they think Pete feels on the inside at this moment in the story. Contemplate his facial expressions and body language carefully as well as what he is doing in the illustrations.
Role play with your child taking turns. Interview the other forest animals to ask them what they think about Pete’s actions. Model asking questions and giving answers, in full sentences. Remind your child of question words such as how, why, when, who, what and when. Write these on a piece of paper and leave them as a support for your child.
Ask your child to write some questions they would like to ask Pete using why, what, when, who and how. Remind them to punctuate their questions using question marks. Ask your child to read their questions out loud to you.
Wednesday: Today’s learning objective is to write captions including verbs
Have the images that the children are going to write captions for displayed if possible. Ask the children to look out for these as they watch the story today. As the children spot each picture ask them what is happening at the part of the story.
Model writing a caption for each picture as you watch the story, what is happening in each part? Remind your child of what verbs are. Can we use verbs to describe what is happening in each picture? Ensure they are sharing their ideas; can we extend these in any way?
Give your child a copy of the pictures if possible; ask them to write captions for the picture to show what is happening in the book. They must use verbs in their writing.
Thursday: Today’s learning objective is to use adjectives to describe the forest before and after
Look at the two images of the forest before Pete tidied and after.
Ask your child what they notice? What is different? Do they notice the colour difference? Do they notice that there are no animals in the forest once Pete has removed the trees? Where is Pete’s home now that the concrete has been poured?
Together come up with some interesting adjectives to describe both scenes and create an adjective word bank.
Use some of these adjectives to create sentences that describe both scenes.
If possible give your child a copy of both pictures. Ask your child to write describing sentence for each picture using adjectives, full stops and capital letters.