In Literacy we will be focusing on three texts: Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, Don’t Feed the Coos! by Jonathan Stutzman and finally, You Can’t Take an Elephant on a Bus by Patricia Cleveland-Peck. In our English lessons, we will have a weekly ‘Big Write’. Our lessons during the week will focus on the skills needed to write this piece successfully. From a persuasive letter convincing the public NOT to let a pigeon take the wheel, to an informative ‘how-to’ guide on how-to look after these pesky creatures, these pieces of work will be fun, engaging and give children an opportunity to develop key skills. Every day will begin with a Phonics lesson where we will begin by recapping the set 1 sounds (s, d, e, etc.). Children will be sent home with a Read, Write, Inc. book to help them develop their reading. Please note that the children should be able to read these phonics books with confidence and little help with decoding. Children will have another, more challenging book, which may not be at their phonics level and is intended for shared reading with an adult. Please read with your child every night and record this in the reading record book.

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In Literacy we will be focusing on three texts: Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, Don’t Feed the Coos! by Jonathan Stutzman and finally, You Can’t Take an Elephant on a Bus by Patricia Cleveland-Peck. In our English lessons, we will have a weekly ‘Big Write’. Our lessons during the week will focus on the skills needed to write this piece successfully. From a persuasive letter convincing the public NOT to let a pigeon take the wheel, to an informative ‘how-to’ guide on how-to look after these pesky creatures, these pieces of work will be fun, engaging and give children an opportunity to develop key skills. Every day will begin with a Phonics lesson where we will begin by recapping the set 1 sounds (s, d, e, etc.). Children will be sent home with a Read, Write, Inc. book to help them develop their reading. Please note that the children should be able to read these phonics books with confidence and little help with decoding. Children will have another, more challenging book, which may not be at their phonics level and is intended for shared reading with an adult. Please read with your child every night and record this in the reading record book.

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In Literacy we will be focusing on three texts: Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, Don’t Feed the Coos! by Jonathan Stutzman and finally, You Can’t Take an Elephant on a Bus by Patricia Cleveland-Peck. In our English lessons, we will have a weekly ‘Big Write’. Our lessons during the week will focus on the skills needed to write this piece successfully. From a persuasive letter convincing the public NOT to let a pigeon take the wheel, to an informative ‘how-to’ guide on how-to look after these pesky creatures, these pieces of work will be fun, engaging and give children an opportunity to develop key skills. Every day will begin with a Phonics lesson where we will begin by recapping the set 1 sounds (s, d, e, etc.). Children will be sent home with a Read, Write, Inc. book to help them develop their reading. Please note that the children should be able to read these phonics books with confidence and little help with decoding. Children will have another, more challenging book, which may not be at their phonics level and is intended for shared reading with an adult. Please read with your child every night and record this in the reading record book.

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We’ll start the term by finishing our unit on measurement (volume and capacity). Then, we’ll move onto a unit on fractions. We’ll investigate halves, quarters and thirds before recognising some equivalences. Finally, we’ll begin a unit on telling the time. This can be a challenging concept for some children so practising at home would be beneficial! In year 2, children are expected to read o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to.

Our topic for Science this term is ‘Living Things and their Habitats’. Our big question is ‘Habitats and microhabitats; what are the similarities and differences?’ To answer this question, children will draw upon their learning from year 1 to identify that most living things live in habitats that are suited to their needs. They will identify and name not only animals but also plants in their habitats and the microhabitats within these.

Our ‘Big Question’ this term is What activities make our hearts beat faster? Children will be developing an investigation to determine which activities raise their heart rate.

The Geography question we’ll be tackling this term is ‘What makes up the United Kingdom?’ After establishing the four countries within the U.K., students will find their capital cities and surrounding areas. By using compass directions and maps, children will develop a firm understanding of the four countries and their geographical characteristics.

Our ‘Big Question’ this term is What do Amelia Earhart, Walter Tull and Mary Seacole have in common? We’ll study each significant individual separately before comparing their achievements.

This term we are going to be looking at painting and collage, recreating a London landmark with a focus on mixing secondary colours.

This term we are going to design and make prints. After studying our key artists, children will create a print using etching into a polystyrene block.

In Music, we will be learning a range of songs and practising using our voice expressively and creatively. After listening to a range of high-quality music, we will experiment with and create our own sounds.

Children will be composing a soundtrack inspired by the British seaside. They will layer instrumental and vocal patterns, choosing the appropriate dynamics, timbre and tempo to create a pleasing piece..

In P.E. children will be learning fundamental games and ball skills (using their feet). Teamwork and cooperation will be a focus of these sessions as well. PE will be on Monday and Tuesday. Please ensure your child comes to school intheir PE kit on those days.

In PE lessons this term, children will be learning two sports, hockey and tennis.

In PSHE we will be answering the big question ‘What is Mental Health?’ This is obviously an important unit of work, where children will learn about emotions, the different aspects of health and how to make positive choices and develop strategies to cope with difficult emotions.

This term children will be learning about race and racism. They will learn what these terms mean, why representation is important and how we can be actively anti-racist.

In Computing we will be learning how to be Programmers. We’ll be using Scratch Jr on the iPads to create a short animation based on our fun English texts. They will build on their understanding of an algorithm to program a short animation of a bus going on a journey. Children will use the ‘blocks’ to create their own algorithms.

This term, we are Programmers. Children will have the opportunity to work out algorithms, write their own algorithms and debug any issues that arise.

In R.E. we will spend this half term learning about Christianity and answering the big question ‘Is it possible to be kind to everyone all of the time?’ After studying stories of when Jesus showed kindness and spoke of kindness, children will give their opinion on whether they think a Christian should be kind. Then, they will generalise this to people of all faiths; can we all be kind all of the time?

Our ‘Big Question’ this term is Does going to the Mosque give Muslims a sense of belonging? This term we’ll focus on what belonging means to different people and understand how religion can give people a sense of belonging.