Caterpillar and Spider Classes

Subject

Content

English

Children will be learning about writing recounts in the form of diary entries. We will look at Jack’s Diary which is written from the viewpoint of one of the characters in The Tunnel which we introduced the children to last half-term. The key skills we will be focussing on are writing in the first person and in the past tense, using progressive forms of verbs. We will also be using coordinating conjunctions in our writing.

Later in the half-term we will begin looking at rags to riches stories, using Cinderella as our model text. During this unit we will introduce the children to more suffixes for adjectives e.g. -er, -est, -ful, and –less.

Throughout all of our writing we will be reinforcing the need to use correct spellings for common exception words and to apply the spelling rules we have learned to date.

Maths

This half term children will complete their work on shape and then learn about money and multiplication and division.

Money: this unit builds upon basic money work children completed in Year 1. It also reinforces children’s counting skills, as well as addition and subtraction strategies. In this unit, children focus on coins and notes and comparing amounts of money.

Multiplication and division: this unit focuses on multiplication in the context of skip counting, equal groups, times-tables, multiplication sentences and arrays. It is an essential basis for children understanding the times-tables and what × means. Within this unit, children will gain a solid grounding in equal groups and what this means, as well as how to recognise any groups that are not equal. Children will be introduced to arrays as a representation of multiplication, which will help highlight the commutative properties of multiplication. Throughout this unit, repeated addition sentences will appear alongside multiplication sentences so that children have a reference to help them understand what × means in context. Children will be encouraged to see multiplication in two different ways: sharing a group of a items amongst b people, and alternatively as grouping a items in groups of c.

How can you help at home?

• Practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s
• Look at coins and banknotes together – can children recognise them?
• Count different amounts of money
• Play ‘shops’

Science

This unit introduces electricity, what we use it for, how it behaves and how we must use it safely. We will be exploring circuits to find out how electricity behaves and what is needed to create a complete circuit. The children will learn about the differences between batteries and mains electricity as well as how our electricity system is connected across the country and beyond. We will be learning about the symbols that scientists use to represent components of a circuit. This links to their understanding of using symbols on a map in geography. We will be working scientifically to investigate conductive and non-conductive materials. The children will make predictions, undertake an investigation and explain their findings.

History

This half term we are focusing on ‘The Bronze Age’. This unit builds on from ‘Discovering History’ in Year 1 which introduces children to the idea of ‘prehistory’. We will be developing the children’s understanding that ‘prehistory’ means a time before written records, and knowing that archaeologists find out about the past from what people left behind. We will be focusing on the discovery of Must Farm in Burwell. The children will learn about what was discovered at the site and the importance of the discovery.

Music

In this unit the children learn about ‘beat’ music. The rock/pop group the Beatles are known for ‘beat music’. ‘Beat music’ is known for having a strong beat on each beat. By learning about beat music the children develop their understanding about the beat/pulse and metre (where the beat is split into regular groups). This builds on their knowledge of beat developed in year 1 and beat/metre studied in the first unit of year 2. By studying the Beatles’ song, ‘Yellow Submarine’ the children develop their understanding of beat and metre. They learn to sing the song and in doing so also learn how a song can have a verse/chorus structure. They discover how a melody can be accompanied by instruments in a band and create their own accompaniment for ‘Yellow Submarine’ using tuned and untuned percussion instruments.

Physical Education

Team building: In this unit pupils develop their teamwork skills. They develop key skills of communication and problem solving. They learn to discuss, plan and reflect on ideas and strategies. They lead a partner whilst considering safety. Pupils have the opportunity to show honesty and fair play. They also begin to use basic map skills.

Gymnastics: In this unit pupils learn explore and develop basic gymnastic actions on the floor and using apparatus. They develop gymnastic skills of jumping, rolling, balancing and travelling individually and in combination to create short sequences and movement phrases. Pupils develop an awareness of compositional devices when creating sequences to include the use of shapes, levels and directions. They learn to work safely with and around others and whilst using apparatus. Pupils are given opportunities to provide feedback to others and recognise elements of high quality performance.

Computing

This unit develops learners’ understanding of instructions in sequences and the use of logical reasoning to predict outcomes. The children will use given commands in different orders to investigate how the order affects the outcome. They will also learn about design in programming. They will develop artwork and test it for use in a program. They will design algorithms and then test those algorithms as programs and debug them.

Art

This unit starts by looking at the difference between portraits and a self-portraits by considering three renowned paintings: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Holbein’s Portrait of Edward VI as a Child and Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Bonito. The children go on to consider a self-portrait by Van Gogh and Kehinde Wiley’s Portrait of Barak Obama, considering how each painter uses skin-tones to show light and shade on the subject’s face. They go on to study self-portraits by Rembrandt and Gentileschi using these works to consider how a portrait can show much more than what a person looks like: an artist can choose to represent a person’s personality, emotions, interests and status. Whilst considering all these works, over the course of several lessons, the children paint their own self-portrait, learning about the proportions of the face, and how to recreate skin-tones. They consider how they can choose to represent themselves, by choosing what to put in the background of their portrait. They finish by evaluating what they think of the self-portrait they have created.

Personal, Social and Health Education

Our PSHE unit this half term is called Dreams and Goals and will look at setting realistic goals, breaking them down into smaller steps and how to keep going when things are challenging. We will be discussing positive attitudes and how we celebrate successes with the help of our Jigsaw friend Jo.