English Reception Summer Lists, Labels and Instructions

1. The Tiny Seed
2. Places to grow plants
3. How to plant a seed
4. Jasper's Beanstalk

1. Seed explorer
2. Lifecycle of a plant
3. At the garden centre
4. How to plant a bean seed

1. At the garden centre
2. Plant a flower
3. Scarecrows
4. Seed to beanstalk

1. Read The Tiny Seed. Remind children it shows the lifecycle of a seed. Identify what stops some seeds from growing, e.g. sun too hot, ice too cold, ocean too wet. List ideas & consider alternatives.
2. Share The Tiny Seed. Reflect on why the tiny seed was able to germinate. Discuss what conditions seeds need to start growing. Help children to use because to provide reasons for ideas.
3. Enjoy Jasper’s Beanstalk. Appreciate humour. Reread the story together, modelling how to use different strategies to read unfamiliar words (resources). Identify what Jasper did on each day. Discuss the consequences of Jasper mowing the bean. List equipment used/ what he did with it to care for the bean.
4. Display Seed to Sunflower. Say it is an information book and does not need to be read in order. Look at the Contents. Read headings. Turn to page 5 – 4. Identify the heading and also the pictures, labels and captions. Identify and discuss a selection of facts; ensure children understand them correctly.
5. Display Contents from Seed to Sunflower and model using the book to answer questions about the life cycle of a sunflower. Write a response to each question.

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: Little Brown Seeds by Anon
Share the poem and rehearse at suitable times throughout the week, e.g. start/end of the day. Encourage the children to vary the pitch and tone of their voice as they rehearse to emphasise the rhyming words, e.g. sprinkle/twinkle. Support children to learn and perform the poem in small groups.

Essential text
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Jasper's Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth

Websites
Little Brown Seeds - song and actions from youtube.com
Lifecycle of a plant from BBC.co.uk/bitesize

Resources
Selection of common seeds from seed packets or taken from plants/fruits
Gardening catalogues
Garden centre role-play equipment
Acrylic paints, plastic pots, sunflower seeds, soil
Salt dough

1. Seed to Sunflower
2. Growing cress
3. Growing instructions
4. Plant label

1. Favourite fruits
2. Fruit still life
3. Sandwich instructions
4. Make a sandwich

1. Multi-area outside project
2. Potato printing
3. Small world gardens
4. Favourite fruit and veg

1. Display and read Grass for Tea! (resources). Identify animals and discuss what they eat. Next, discuss the plants that other animals eat, e.g. hen = corn, cow = grass, duck = pondweed.
2. Share Oliver’s Vegetables. Identify and enjoy the humour. Discuss why Oliver didn’t spot the potatoes instantly. Find each vegetable and recognise which part Oliver ate, e.g. cabbage = leaf.
3. Read Oliver’s Vegetables. Notice how Oliver eats a different vegetable each day for a week. Order the days of the week and identify what Oliver eats on each day. Write ideas as a list.
4. Enjoy Oliver’s Fruit Salad. Discuss why Oliver thought Grandpa’s fruit is better. Identify fruit children have picked and eaten; share favourites. Briefly consider why fresh fruit is seasonal.
5. Read Oliver’s Fruit Salad. Notice that at the start Oliver didn’t want to eat the fruit. Discuss why he changed his mind. Finally, list lots of different fruits and describe them, e.g. red cherry.

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: One Tomato, Tomato Two (see resources and websites)
Share the poem and rehearse at suitable times throughout the week, e.g. start/end of the day. Help children vary the pitch and tone of their voice as they rehearse to stress the counting words. Hold up fingers to correspond to each number and generate an action, e.g. munch = snap mouth shut.

Group Reader: Grass for Tea
This beautifully illustrated non-fiction book is a perfect introduction to the genre for beginning readers. Children will be able to find out information about native British animals, presented in a clear, accessible way. This phonologically decodable text is a superb accompaniment to a block of work on factual texts.

Essential text
Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French
Oliver's Fruit Salad by Vivian French
Grass for Tea (Hamilton Group Reader)

Websites
Grass for Tea Group Reader from Hamilton Group Reader
Little Brown Seeds - song and actions from youtube.com
One tomato, two tomatoes from bbc.co.uk

Resources
Packets of cress seeds
Ingredients to make a cress sandwich
Unusual fruits, e.g. kiwi, persimmon, passion fruit, guava, pomegranate
Selection of gardening equipment (trowels, pots, soil, forks etc.)
Seeds/seedlings
Potatoes, carving tools