English Reception Spring Captions, Labels and Non-Fiction Writing

1. Wakey-Wakey!
2. Hibernation
3. Spring flowers
4. Spring pictures

1. Hickety Pickety
2. Weather diary speaking/writing
3. Signs of spring
4. Flower experiment

1. Floral role-play
2. Creative printing
3. My little forest
4. Paper flowers

1. Show photographs taken on nature walk. Discuss them using appropriate and descriptive vocabulary. Ask children to identify their favourite and to use because to provide a reason for their opinion.
2. Read Wakey-Wakey (resources). Say spring is a unique time, which people look forward to. Identify personal and communal celebrations which people anticipate, e.g. birthdays, sports event, religious festivals. Recognise those that specifically happen during the spring.
3. Read Wakey-Wakey (resources). Notice the waking animals immediately want to eat. Identify the customs and distinctive food associated with specific springtime celebrations.
4. Enjoy That’s Not a Daffodil. Consider how the main character feels at start/end of the story. Children describe the people/places/events that make them feel happy, e.g. Granny, the park, daffodils.

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: Spring (resources) Share the poem and rehearse at suitable times throughout the week, e.g. start/end of the day. Help children to vary the pitch and tone of their voice as they rehearse to emphasise words and phrases.

Group Reader: Wakey-Wakey
This lovely story about wildlife awakening after the cold, dark winter will engage beginning readers with its repeating structure and colourful illustrations

Essential text
Wakey-Wakey (Hamilton Group Reader) from hamiltoneducation.org

Desirable text
That’s Not a Daffodil by Elizabeth Honey

Websites
Play Springtime Fun from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Hibernation and British mammals, additional information from bbc.co.uk/blogs/autumnwatch
Hickety Pickety My Red Hen Counting song from bbc.co.uk/programmes

Additional information and images for the craft activities
Printing with fruit and vegetables from firstpalette.com
Pot of Paper Spring Flowers from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Clay Hedgehogs from youtube.com
Flower colour changing investigation from hunker.com

Resources
Flowers, role-play props for flower shop
Woodland small-world materials
Fruit and vegetables for printing
Green paper, coloured tissue paper, modelling clay, paper cups

1. Animal young
2. Spring birds
3. Swan lifecycle
4. Labelling a cygnet

1. Chocolate nests
2. Colourful eggs
3. The Ugly Duckling
4. Animal labels

1. Small-world farming
2. Floating fowl
3. Malleable materials
4. Animal sorting

1. Share The Odd Egg to p14. Identify each animal and their young. Why is Duck’s egg odd? Children predict what baby animal will hatch from the odd egg, e.g. snakelet.
2. Read The Odd Egg to p14. Display pictures of native animals (resources). Identify each animal. Say some animals lay eggs but others give birth to live young. Group the animals correctly.
3. Read The Odd Egg. Note that the parents often look similar to their young. Sensitively, discuss what is similar/different between the children and their friends/family (including appearance/ personality traits).
4. Watch/read The Ugly Duckling. Compare/contrast cygnet and swan. Generate descriptive language to describe each, e.g. cygnet = grey feathers, swan = white feathers.
5. Watch/read The Ugly Duckling. Notice the cygnet felt alone and sad. Discuss if children have felt similar. Next, discuss what makes the children feel safe and secure, i.e. the people, places and activities.

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: Hen’s Song (resources)
Share poem and recite throughout the week. Children explore varying the pitch and tone of their voices to emphasise the rhyming words, e.g. shell/well. Children learn & perform the poem in small groups.

Group Reader: Spring for the Birds
The birds begin to sing in this beautifully illustrated text, they build their nests, lay their eggs and raise their young.

Essential texts
The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
Spring for the Birds (Hamilton Group Reader)

Websites
Chicken Eggs Hatching from youtube.com
Raising baby birds from bbc.co.uk/education/clips
The Ugly Duckling told by Wilf Merttens
Chick Chick Chicken and Sleeping Little Bunnies Sleeping from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Paper plate chick, Odd Egg Suncatcher and Woolly Peg Lamb from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes

Resources
Ingredients and cooking equipment for chocolate nests
Farmyard small-world materials
Wool and pegs

1. Easter
2. Hibernation
3. Spring joy
4. Spring pictures

1. The Easter Story
2. Hot cross buns
3. Looking forwards to spring
4. Springtime cards

1. Book corner
2. Hot cross bakers
3. Springtime garden
4. Holi painters

1. Enjoy The Egg Drop, stopping at p14. Say the egg climbed the tower because he hoped to fly off the top. Predict if the egg will fly or not. Encourage children to give a reason for their opinion.
2. Read The Egg Drop. Note the egg loved the idea of flying. Help the children identify tasks they like best and the emotions they experience when doing them. List ideas on the board.
3. Read The Egg Drop. Say that the egg wanted to fly, but because it wasn’t ready it found it too difficult. Discuss activities the children find difficult, the emotions they experience and the strategies they use to overcome those difficulties, e.g. swimming = frustrated = use a float.
4. Read The Egg Drop. Explain that the egg didn’t listen to advice. Identify important advice worth listening to, e.g. look carefully before crossing the road, wash your hands before eating, etc.

Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: Grandma’s Easter Eggs | Hot cross buns (resources)
Share Grandma’s Easter Eggs, rehearsing throughout the week, e.g. start/end of the day. Enjoy humour. Children vary pitch/tone of their voice to emphasise the wistfulness of each sentence! Sing Hot Cross Buns together.

Essential text
The Egg Drop by Mini Grey

Websites
The Easter Story and Preparing for Easter from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Celebrating Holi from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Decorated Eggs from bbcgoodfood.com
Easter Egg Hunt Kit from bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Easter Card from www.youtube.com
Holi Powder recipe from littlepassports.com

Resources
Artefacts and photographs that represent Springtime people/ places/ experiences
Hot cross bun ingredients; coloured card; Spring festival books
Springtime garden small-world materials
A4 white cloth, mist spray, bright powder paints