Spring Term 1

Reading

This half term, the children will be revisiting the concept ‘Reading for meaning’. During this learning journey the children will develop their understanding of different types of text by first exploring a range of non-fiction texts and understanding how they are structured in different ways. They will further go on to look at how they can use their existing knowledge as well as other helpful devices such as word banks and glossaries to better improve their understanding of what they are reading. Finally, they will explore a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and answer comprehension questions to develop their reading for meaning skills.

 

Writing

As we enter the Spring Term, the concept for the children’s next writing learning journey changes from ‘Communication’ to ‘Creativity’. This is because the children have now mastered the crucial knowledge and skills required to compose pieces of coherent writing, using a range of sentence types and structures. During this next learning journey, the children will be inspired by their lead text ‘Samson’s Titanic Journey’ to write their own fiction story about a character taking a journey on board the Titanic. In order to do this, they will learn to improve their vocabulary and grammar by: writing down ideas, new vocabulary and key words at the planning stage prior to writing, drawing upon their reading to inform their vocabulary and grammar choices, learning to use commas accurately to separate items in a list and learning to use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify. This journey aims to develop children’s confidence and independence in the whole process of writing, so time will be spent teaching them to make appropriate and effective additions and revisions to their writing when editing. The children will apply their learning to produce recounts, diary entries and their final outcome, a narrative to teach others, through a fictional story about life on board the Titanic.

 

Maths

The Year Two children will begin the Spring Term with a maths learning journey designed to help them master multiplication and division. The children will build upon their understanding of equal groups and repeated addition, from Year One and they will learn to confidently calculate mathematical statements involving both multiplication and division, whilst showing an understanding of the relationship between them. They will use their knowledge to solve problems using: materials, arrays, repeated addition, mental methods and multiplication and division facts, including problems in contexts. The children will be taught to use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, including recognising odd and even numbers. Once the children have a secure and deep understanding

of multiplication and division, they will begin a fractions learning journey, during which they will build upon their knowledge of equal groups (or equal parts) as they learn to recognise, find, name and write fractions ½, 1/3, ¼, 2/4 and ¾ of a length, shape, set of objects or a quantity, whilst recognising the equivalence of ½ and 2/4. The children will also apply what they have learned to the context of shape and position and direction. Please speak to your child’s class teacher for guidance on how to help your child achieve their maths targets and consolidate their understanding at home.

 

Science

This half term the children will be exploring the big question ‘Is a deciduous tree dead in winter?’ The topic will start with the children going on a ‘wellie walk’ in the nature trail to identify things that are alive or dead. This will link to previous learning where children learnt what living things need to stay alive. The children will that living things can move by themselves addressing the misconceptions that plants can’t move on their own.

Following on from this, children will learn to describe how animals obtain their food from other animals and plants using the idea of a simple food chain. During this step children will learn that a food chain shows how energy is passed through plants and animals. The children will then understand that if something is taken away from the food chain, animals will find it hard to hunt for food.

Children will then be able to share work with parents/carers during a celebration of work

 

History

The children’s history focus for Spring 1 is to acquire knowledge about the sinking of the Titanic, a significant historical event, with relevance to the children’s own locality. The children will learn about the events that unfolded from setting sail in Southampton to the tragic incident that took place when the vessel struck an iceberg and sank four days later. The children will create timelines to share their understanding of the event, as well as studying where this event occurred within a wider chronological framework. The children will use their understanding of the Titanic, to learn more about life in the early 1900s, contextualised by learning about first class and third-class passengers and the different experiences they would have had on board the ship. The children will also visit SeaCity Museum and take part in tours and interactive hands-on workshops to develop their historical understanding further.

 

Geography

The children will focus on a new learning step this half term, focussing on using pictorial representations to better understand the human and physical features of the world around

us. We will begin by looking at a small scale area – that of our school – and how maps and aerial photographs can both depict the geography of a place. This will progress to looking at the landscape of the United Kingdom and also use our Step 1 knowledge of compass directions, as learnt in the Autumn term.

 

Design and Technology

In DT this term the children will learn more about different types of vegetables such as where they come from and how they contribute to a healthy, balanced diet. They will learn how to prepare vegetables using the methods of cutting, peeling and grating so that in Spring 2, they can follow a recipe to make a healthy vegetable soup.

 

RE

The children will learn about the concept of ‘Remembering’. They will discuss what it means to remember and will then explore how Jewish people remember a special story during Passover and celebrate this by using the Cedar plate. The children will apply their learning by thinking about what they remember and why remembering is important.

 

RSHE

In RSHE, the children will learn about the crucial concept of Safety. The children in Year Two will learn to keep themselves and others safe, including in their online relationships. The children will learn about using medicines safely, they will revisit the NSPCC PANTS rule, which they learned in Year One, and they will learn about appropriate and inappropriate touch. Through the context of helping Harold the giraffe and his friends (SCARF – Coram Life Education), the children will develop their assertiveness as they learn to say no. The children will also revisit the difference between secrets and surprises, as well as learning more about privacy and consent. The children will revisit learning the proper names for parts of the body and they will consider which of these are considered private parts. For a more detailed breakdown of the knowledge, skills and vocabulary the children will be taught, or to view our Relationships Education and RSE (relationships, sex, health Education) Policy (December 2020), please view the RSHE page, within the curriculum tab of the school’s website. If you have any concerns, questions or would like further guidance on how to answer any questions your child may have about their RSHE learning this half term, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

 

PE

The children will revisit the ‘cognitive’ cog, during which they will learn to recognise similarities and differences in performance. They will practise explaining why someone is working or performing well. Alongside developing this cog, the children will learn to develop their dynamic balance skills on a line and static balance through the use of stance. They will apply their knowledge and skills in their gymnastics lessons, when they will learn about flight and rotation.

 

Music

In music this half term the children will focus on the structure of music, thinking about how repetition is often used in songs. They will listen and respond to different pieces of music before creating their own storm inspired music from the Titanic.

 

Computing

This half term the children will begin a unit of Computer Science, focussing on programming using the Scratch Junior app. They will have the opportunity to edit their own sprite and background, as well as program it to follow simple instructions.

 

Art

The Year Two art learning journey continues with the children learning about abstract art. They will do so by exploring the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Chris Ofili . They will practise using different techniques and will learn to use paint, in order to create tone and contrast, and focus on using shape and line to represent their ideas The children will apply their knowledge and skills to create their own abstract paintings of the Titanic.