Collected Resources

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-time Flowers (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

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: Five Little Ducks (resources)
Share poem and recite throughout the week. Children explore varying the pitch and tone of their voices to emphasise the rhyming words. 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.

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