Foundation Weekly Plan: Week 24
CLL focus:
Reading; Writing; Handwriting
PSRN focus: Shape, Space and Measures; Numbers as Labels and for Counting
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space
stars
discuss
props
act out
sentence
replace
describe
fact
shapes, triangle,
square, oblong,
circle, star
Goals
• flat, solid
• corners, sides,
points
• sort
• position, above,
beside, below
Planning and Development
Resources
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• H
ow to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers
• little boy figure, model trees, a rocket,
a star
• 2D shapes: triangle, square, oblong,
circle, five-pointed star
• card triangles, tin foil, stapler
• sticky stars, black paper
ITR 24
PCM 95: word cards
PCM 96: draw a 5 point star
PCM 97: Twinkle twinkle
PCM 98–100: Twinkle book
Page 8 of ICD Book 2
Page 9 of ICD Book 2
information book about stars
card circles, triangles, squares
straws, string
grey paper, white wax crayons, blue
paint
• pictures of constellations, white chalk,
large sheets of blue/black paper
Effective Practice
Adult-led
Day 1
Day 2
• S
how an understanding
of the elements of stories,
such as main characters,
sequence of events and
openings.
Read How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. Pause occasionally
to discuss the story with children. When you reach the page
with the reflection in the sea, ask children what they think the
star in the sea is. When you reach the page with the star on
the shore, pause to ask what children think this star could be.
Some children may suggest starfish. Discuss whether children
would like to have a star.
24.1
Children work as a group using props to
retell How to Catch a Star. Where does the
boy look? What does he try to do to help
him reach the star in the sky? Encourage
children to act out the story using props.
• U
se language such as
‘circle’ or ‘bigger’ to
describe the shape and
size of solids and flat
shapes.
Hand round plastic 2D shapes: a triangle, a square, an oblong,
a circle and a five-pointed star. Ask children to discuss and
name each shape. Are these flat shapes or solid shapes? Stress
that they are all flat shapes. Hold up the triangle and rehearse
its properties. It has three corners and three sides. Repeat for
the other shapes, looking at the star last. How many points?
How many sides?
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24.2
Children create their own six-point stars
using two equilateral triangles made of
card. They cover the two triangles in tin foil
and then glue one over the other to make a
glittery star.
• R
ead a range of familiar
and common words
and simple sentences
independently.
• Know that print carries
meaning and, in English,
is read from left to right
and top to bottom.
Read How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. Show the sentence
Once there was a boy and the boy loved stars very much
(ITR 24 screen 2). Point at the different words and read the
sentence together. Say a word, and ask a child to come and
identify it. Who can show me ‘and’? Who can point at ‘stars’?
Click on the ‘shuffle’ button to jumble up the words. Can
children help you to reorder the sentence? [ITR 24]
• S
how curiosity about and
observation of shapes by
talking about how they are
the same or different.
Show children a five-point star like the one on the front of How
to Catch a Star. Draw a large circle on the board. Draw a fivepoint star inside the circle without lifting the pen from the board
(see PCM 96). What shape is this? It is a star. How many points
does it have? Draw a star with a different number of points.
How many points does this star have? Does it have more or
fewer points than the first star?
Week 24
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24.3
Give each child a set of word cards that
make the sentence Once there was a boy
and the boy loved stars very much (PCM 95).
Each child arranges their cards to make the
sentence. Girls can replace boy with girl.
Discuss how we can all replace stars to make
a new sentence. Each child writes a new
word. Help with correct letter formation.
24.4 iTR
Use ITR 24 screen 6. Ask children to name
some of the shapes. Discuss similarities
and differences: type of shape, size, colour.
Choose one property, e.g. blue. Label one
circle Blue and the other Not blue. Ask
children to help you to sort the shapes
appropriately. Repeat for different properties.
[ITR 24]
Free choice
Children can…
Small world fantasy play
Provide children with a copy
of the book and a story sack
with props from the story: a
non-fiction book about stars,
a little boy figure, some model
trees, a rocket and a star
(these could be cut out of card
if you do not have toy ones).
Children can retell the story.
• CLL opportunities:
What happens in the story?
Who is the main character?
• PSRN opportunities:
How many stars are in the
book? Can you count them
all?
• R
etell a story
using props and
story language.
Creative art 2D
Provide children with grey
paper, white wax crayons and
dark blue watery paint or ink.
Children can draw stars with
the crayons and then paint the
watery paint over the stars. The
wax should resist the paint,
and wax lines gradually emerge
through it.
• CLL opportunities:
Can you see how the illustrator
in the book has used paint like
this?
• PSRN opportunities:
What time of day is your
picture of? What are you
usually doing at this time of
day or night?
• R
ead a familiar
sentence and
adapt it by
adding new
words.
• R
ecognise and
name simple
2D shapes.
• C
reate a fivepoint star.
• Recognise and
name circle,
square and
triangle.
• Sort shapes
according to
their properites.
Abacus Evolve Foundation © Pearson Education Ltd 2008
Useful vocabulary
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Goals
Planning and Development
Effective Practice
Adult-led
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
• U
se their phonic knowledge
to write simple regular
words and make
phonetically plausible
attempts at more complex
words.
• Attempt writing for different
purposes, using features of
different forms.
Display the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (ITR 24
screen 3 or PCM 97). Read or sing it together. Go through
and underline the parts that describe the star: twinkle, high,
diamond. Discuss other words that could be used to describe
stars. Help the children to think of some really good descriptive
words and phrases. [ITR 24]
• S
how awareness of
similarities in shapes in the
environment.
• Use everyday words to
describe position.
Show four photos of constellations in the Milky Way (ITR 24
screen 4). These are groups of stars in our galaxy. The galaxy
is made up of millions of stars. Point to the Plough. We call this
one the Plough, and it is part of a bigger constellation called The
Great Bear. Count how many stars and describe its shape. It has
seven stars in a saucepan shape. Encourage children to think of
other descriptions. Repeat for other constellations. [ITR 24]
• S
how an understanding
of how information can
be found in non-fiction
texts to answer questions
about where, who, why
and how.
Look at a good non-fiction book about stars. Discuss stars
being made of gas. Ask children to blow and feel the air coming
out of their mouths. Air is a gas – you can’t see it but you can
feel it. Explain that stars are huge balls of gas like our Sun. Our
Sun is a star. If you were standing on the other side of the Milky
Way, it would look like the stars that we see in the sky every
night!
• B
egin to use mathematical
names for ‘solid’ 3D shapes
and ‘flat’ 2D shapes, and
mathematical terms to
describe shapes.
Show four 2D shapes: triangle, square, oblong, circle (ITR 24
screen 5). Help children to name each of these shapes. Drag a
copy of each shape into the middle of the screen. Click on the
square and rotate it by using the blue arrows. Is it still a square?
Yes. Stress that a shape can be any way up. Which shapes can
we use to make a star shape? Try overlapping two squares, a
square and a triangle, and two triangles. [ITR 24]
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24.8
Children use either a circle and four
triangles or a square and four triangles to
create a star shape. Can they create other
star shapes using circles, squares and
triangles? Alternatively, use Big Book F2,
page 23, 2D shape.
• W
rite their own names
and other things such
as labels and captions,
and begin to form simple
sentences, sometimes
using punctuation.
• Begin to form recognisable
letters.
Read How to Catch a Star. Turn to the last page. Look at the
boy with his star. Ask children to describe how they think he
feels. Has he caught a real star? No. How do you know? If
children have been finding out about real stars in group work,
ask them to come up and tell the class one fact about stars.
Discuss what we know about real stars.
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24.9
Children draw themselves in the same
style as the boy on the last page of How
to Catch a Star. Explain that this is a nice
simple way to draw yourself. What pattern
will be on your jersey? Draw a speech
bubble for children to fill in about catching
a star. Help with correct letter formation.
• U
se developing
mathematical ideas
and methods to solve
practical problems.
Give each child a small lump of play dough. Ask children to
make the best dough star they can. Give them five minutes
to do this and then ask them to put their stars on a table so
everybody can see them. Discuss the best ways of making
dough stars – we can make two triangles and put them
together, we can make five points, we can make a square on a
triangle (seven-pointed star), etc.
24.10
Children use string to thread six straws
together to make two triangles and then
make these into a star. They then count
the number of triangles in each star on
page 9 of ICD Book 2 and discuss which
star shape they prefer.
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24.5
Children use page 8 of ICD Book 2 and
discuss words we could use to describe
stars. Children then write their own
descriptive words round the star. Then they
colour the star to match their description.
24.6
Children use sticky stars on black paper to
create the Plough. They discuss where to
place the stars using positional language,
e.g. this one goes above that one, this one
goes beside that one, etc. Children can then
create some imagined constellations.
24.7
Children use information books about stars.
Help them to look through and read with
them the parts that they find interesting.
Support each child in finding out one fact
about stars. Scribe this on a sticky note for
them.
Free choice
Children can…
Computer activity
Set up ITR 24 screen 7.
Children can select shapes
from the bottom of the screen,
rotate them and change the
colour. They can also overlap
them to create stars. [ITR 24]
• CLL opportunities:
Can you describe this star?
What words could you use to
describe a real star?
• PSRN opportunities:
What shapes have you used?
How many points has your star
got? Which star has the most
points?
• B
egin to
write simple
descriptive
phrases.
Outdoor play
Provide white chalk and
pictures of constellations from
non-fiction books or printed from
the Internet. Children can draw
constellations on the ground
outside or on giant sheets of
black/blue paper.
• CLL opportunities:
Do you know the names of
these stars or planets?
• PSRN opportunities:
How many stars make up this
constellation? What shapes do
you see if you join the stars?
• R
ead and
enjoy using
information
books.
Writing table
Children can make Twinkle
Twinkle books using PCMs
98–100. They can then read
them, add to them and
illustrate them.
• CLL opportunities:
Can you read the book to
me? Which word says ‘star’?
• PSRN opportunities:
What shape is a diamond? Is
the star really like a diamond
shape, or does the song
mean something different?
• Draw a simple
picture of
themselves
and write
a speech
bubble.
• R
ecreate a
pattern using
positional
language.
• U
se correct
names for circle,
square, triangle
and star shapes.
• Create star
shapes using
other 2D shapes.
• R
ecognise
triangles and
star shapes.
• Create star
shapes using
different
materials.