Reception

Why do zebras have stripes?

Hamjambo!

Why do zebras have stripes? Where do lions live? It’s time to discover amazing Africa and the wild animals that live there.

This half term, we’ll be exploring Africa! We will dance, sing and play instruments from Africa. We’ll learn where Africa is and what the landscapes, people and wildlife are like across this stunning continent. Who are the Maasai? What is camouflage? Where is the Serengeti? Let’s find out! We’ll learn about what school is like for African children and use our senses to explore a ‘market stall’ of African foods. We’ll use our imaginations to explore African animals, record animal noises and write our own call and response songs. Using sticks, we’ll make African-themed marks in soggy soil, and create an African landscape using sand, rocks, gravel and driftwood. In mathematics, we’ll count and estimate animal numbers and in literacy, use labels and captions to identify animal traits. Then we’ll get creative, tapping out syllables on drums as we talk and trying our hand at African printing.

At the end of the project, we’ll write a funny story about wild animals in unusual settings and play in the wild outdoors, pretending to be our favourite African beasts.

How to help at home

Africa is awesome! Why not visit your local library together to find out more about this cool continent? You could also curl up on the sofa and watch The Lion King, Tarzan, Born Free or Madagascar. Alternatively, tear up coloured paper and work together to make a vibrant animal collage. Can you include a range of animal markings?

Homework

Reading with your child and your child reading aloud to you at least 5 times a week (please write daily in the yellow reading record book). Your child will be given a book or ditty sheet that is closely matched to their current phonics knowledge. Children should be able to read these books or sheets independently with increasing speed and accuracy, this is not a sign of them being too easy. There are also comprehension questions in the book too.

Summer term:

• Practising reading green and red words
• Count on and back from a number 1-20
• Recall number bonds 0-10
• Recognise quantities to 5 without counting them
• Write a simple sentence with a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop.