Term 1 – Wednesday 6^th September – Thursday 12^th October

 

Welcome to Year 2. We are so excited to get to know you all and we are looking forward to investigating our new topic together.

 

Term 1 Overview of Learning

 

What helps living things grow and thrive?

This term we are going to have lots of fun investigating the question ‘What helps living things grow and thrive?’  First we will look at what we need to stay healthy. We will investigate the effect exercise has on our body and we will look at the importance of good hygiene. We will also learn about food groups. We will then have the opportunity to grow some plants to help us to investigate what living things need to survive. Later in the term, we will consider what a habitat is. This will involve looking at a range of habitats including deserts and polar regions. We will even get the chance to design our own animal using our knowledge of habitats and adaptations.

Maths

In Term 1 we will start with place value learning. We will look at how many tens and ones a number has (i.e the number 28 has 2 tens and 8 ones). We will practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s before moving on to counting in 3s. We will use the commutative law and related facts to add and subtract and we will focus on number bonds to 10, 20 and 100. Later in the term we will practise finding 1 more and 1 less than a given number before moving on to 10 more and 10 less. We will also have the chance to compare 2 digit numbers using mathematical language such as more than, less than and equal to. What a busy term!

English Writing

In English this term we will start with a super poem called ‘Bluebell’ from the beautiful book ‘The Lost Words’ by Robert MacFarlane. We will unpick the vocabulary to understand the poem and we will use it to practise our handwriting and presentation skills. We will also read it aloud to practise our performance skills. We will then begin ‘Alfie’s star’ which is a unit of writing to entertain. The children will have the opportunity to use their imaginations to create their own descriptive paragraphs inspired by the story.

English reading

We will continue to have a daily guided reading session where your child will either complete an independent activity or will read in a group with an adult. These sessions focus on a different book each week which is linked to your child’s reading level and enables them to work on reading fluency and comprehension skills. Your child’s group will work with an adult at least twice each week. We will also have a weekly whole class reading lesson. This term the text is ‘The snail and the whale’ by Julia Donaldson. We will also be reading ‘The Firework maker’s daughter’ by Philip Pullman daily as a whole class to expose the children to a high quality text with rich vocabulary.

R.E

In R.E we discuss what it means to belong, through discussions about groups, clubs, families and religions and how these are important in our everyday lives.

Our value this term is ‘Thankfulness’.

 

Science

Our science topic for these next two terms will be ‘Animals, including humans’ and ‘ living things and their habitats’. We will be answering our learning enquiry questions through a range of investigations, where we will also learn how to observe closely, classify information and gather and record data.

P.E

P.E days are Tuesday and Thursday. Please wear PE kit to school on these days. PE kits should be black shorts, trousers or skorts, a  white St Anne’s logo t-shirt or plain white t-shirt and black or white trainers.

Computing

In computing this term we will look at what a computer is. We will identify the different parts of a computer and what they are used for. We will learn about how people control technology which will include the opportunity to exercise control when using cameras, tablets and computers. We will begin to develop our word processing skills and develop an understanding of how computers are used in the wider world.

Music

In term 1 we will learn about dynamics and timbre. We will learn to identify and repeat short melodies. We will use our voices expressively and use percussion instruments to copy rhythmic patterns. We will also begin to use graphic notation. At the end of the term, all of our music learning will result in a group composition and performance for our peers to enjoy.

PSHE

This term’s unit is ‘Being me in my world’. First we will consider our hopes for the year then we will consider how we can help ourselves and others to feel that we belong. We will consider how to ensure our classroom is a safe and fair place and we will learn about working cooperatively. We will have the opportunity to discuss how our choices and behaviour affect others.