School Year 2023- 2024

We are so looking forward to the year ahead.

We are Eagle Owls and Wise Owls

Information for parents

PE days: Dance on Mondays and rounders on Wednesdays.

All items in PE kits should be clearly named.

Please make sure jewellery is removed before coming to school. Long hair needs to be tied up.

There will be times when we are outside so please make sure your child's kit has suitable clothes and footwear for inside and outside PE.

Homework

Daily Tasks

Reading and keywords

Spelling practise

Counting forwards and backwards to 100 and in steps of 2, 5, 10

Purple Mash remote learning

Rocket Phonics Reading

Children also have Merton Missions set every half term. These can be found on our topic newsletters. 

Summer 2 - The Race to Space.

This half term we are excited to learn all about the race to space and the key astronauts who made this possible. We'll be looking at both the astronauts and their lives in the past such as Neil Armstrong and astronauts of the present day such as Tim Peake and Mae Jemison. By becoming historians we will look at how transport and technology has changed from the 60's to the present day.

In literacy we'll be using what we have learnt about Neil Armstrong to write a fact file about him and think about different ways we can present this. We'll also be looking at the story Field Trip to the Moon and retelling this from a different point of view. We'll be using everything we have learnt so far this year in our spelling, language and grammar to really show what we can do before moving to year 3!

In maths we'll be looking at solving problems using the four operations ( +, -, x, ÷) and using different methods of measurements such as money.

In Science we'll be looking at materials and thinking about the best materials to build a space buggy before we construct this in DT. We'll be making the chassis and sawing the wood ourselves. In Art we will look at the artist Ludek Pesek and try to recreate our own planetary inspired works using the medium of chalk and pastels. In music we will be looking at the beat in music and it's pitch. In PE we are using gymnastic shapes to create a dance using "Eye of Tiger" and learn the skills needed to play rounders.  In RE we'll be looking at special books that may be used in Christianity and Judaism. 

In Jigsaw we'll be thinking about the relationships we may have with our friends and families and thinking about how we can be the best we can be.   

Spring 2 - Titanic

After learning about the importance of Florence Nightingale last half term, we will continue to be historians and explore the significance of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. We will delve into what life would have been like in the early 1900's, comparing and contrasting between past and present. We will explore why the Titanic was considered so important and learn about the types of people who would have traveled on the ship and why they were embarking on such a journey. There will also be a wonderful opportunity for all of the children to role play being a passenger on the Titanic!  We will make cross curricular links into Geography exploring where Titanic set sail from and where it was supposed to dock in America and learn about ports and harbours and what the differences between them are. 

In Literacy we will be looking at the story of 'Grandad's Island'. We will be exploring the different settings within the story and how best to describe each setting and we will be discussing the language and vocabulary in the text which links back to our topic of 'Titanic'. The children will also have the opportunity to retell the story of Grandad's Island and how to form and write a letter to the character of 'Grandad' in the story. The children will also write their own diary entry based on the adventures of Grandad.

In Maths we will continue to build on our place value, addition and subtraction skills but we will kick off our Spring 2 with exploring 2D and 3D shapes.

In Art we are looking at the work of Ken Marschall who made portraits of the Titanic.

In Jigsaw we are looking at how we can make good decisions on keeping ourselves healthy and in Science we will be exploring the plant life-cycle and growing our own plant from a seed.

Autumn 2 - Let's Explore Antartica.

After exploring the rainforests last half term we turn our attention to the hottest and coldest parts of our planet.  We will be continuing our investigations as geographers and looking at Antarctica. Building on what we learnt last half term we will be looking at the extreme temperatures of the Sahara desert and comparing them to the Poles. Along side this we will be scientists looking at life cycles and food chains, we may even have some special visitors to launch our topic.

In literacy we will be writing a recount of our topic launch using time words and the conjunction but, in addition to building on our learning from last half term. We will be looking at the story of the Blue Penguin by Petr Horáček and thinking about the emotive language he uses. 

In maths we will be building on our place value, addition and subtraction skills and then turn our attention to beginning to understand multiplications. In Art we are looking at the art work of Nerys Levy and creating art work to reflect our learning about Antarctica. 

In Jigsaw we are looking at our differences and similarities and how though we can like different things that's ok. We will be looking at gender stereotypes and the different jobs we can do. 

Autumn 1 - Let's Explore: The Rainforest. 

In this half term the children will be continuing their investigation into the different climates and reaches of our Planet. Along side our Science topic of animals and their habitats, we will be researching facts for writing fact files. At the end of our topic we will be sharing what we have learned with year 1 ready for their Amazing Animals topic. 

Using the fictional story "There's a Rangtang in my bedroom" and non-fiction texts on animals we will be writing a sequence of sentences using question marks, conjunctions and adjectives to build our fact files.  In Math's we'll be taking what we learnt in year 1 and applying it to numbers to 100 using place value, addition and subtraction. 

In Geography we'll be exploring the rainforests of Madagascar and the Amazon to understand why they are called rainforests and the different animals that live there. We'll also be comparing physical and human features of Popley to the Rainforests to understand the differences and similarities.

In Art we'll be exploring the works of Henri Rousseau and his beautiful drawings of animals in the jungle. Did you know Rousseau never visited a jungle and used books to inspire his art?

In Jigsaw we'll be exploring "Being me in Our World", thinking about the rights and responsibilities we have and thinking about our learning charter for year 2. We'll be thinking about applying an I can do it attitude to our learning through Trickbox.