Welcome to year 1/2

Our topic this term is:

Great Explorers!

‘Our Hook’

'Pirates Galore'

The children will discover a shipwreck caused by pirates! They will examine the rubble washed up on shore and learn that it belongs to an explorer named Christopher Columbus. Who was he? Why did pirates attack?

The children will spend two days fully immersing themselves in the life of a pirate on the lookout for treasure!

English

During Term 1 we will read ‘The Way Back Home’ by Oliver Jeffers.

A boy discovers a single-propeller aeroplane in his closet so he does what any adventurer would do: He flies to outer space! Millions of miles from Earth. The boy soon comes into some trouble. Will the Martian he meets help him get back home.

Our writing will include;

• A character description
• A description of a fantasy planet
• A retelling of the story (narrative)
•  

During Spring term 2, we will read 'Sidney, Stella and the Moon' By Emma Yarlett

Twins Sidney and Stella love doing everything together, everything except sharing. When a quarrel over a bouncy ball creates a moon-sized problem, the twins must work together to find a new moon.

Our writing will include;

• A missing poster
• A letter to Tim Peake
• An information book

Key Vocabulary

Martian    astronaut    journey    rocket     Earth    space     Moon      NASA      Tim Peake    International Space Station  

Reading

The chidren will enjoy stories from class reading corners. They will also listen to a variety of books read by adults, providing exposure to quality texts and developing a love of reading.

In our daily Phonics lessons, children will complete a 'storybook' selection. This book is closely matched to the children's increasing knowledge of phonics and 'tricky' words. As children re-read the stories, their fluency increases and children become confident readers. Within these sessions, children will discuss events, retrieve information, make predictions and infer through prompts for thinking out loud and discussion.

            

Maths

Our focus for Spring will be Addition and Subtraction and Mutliplication and Division.

      

Key Vocabulary

add    subtract    equal     inverse    commutative     place value      tens     ones      multiply       array       divide        share       groups        double       half

Class Maths

In Class Maths, we will be investigating Measure

         

Key Vocabulary

kilogram/gram     centimetre/metre      ruler       degrees celsius      litres/millimetres        pound/pence       money       scale       thermometer      length       height        capacity      volume       month       year      day      hour      minute      o'clock       half past         quarter to/past

History

Children will learn about the life of Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, two famous explorers who lived hundreds of years apart. They will investigate why they are remembered today and what they achieved. Children will consider the differences between each explorer and their lifestyle. Lastly, they will decide who they think was the greater explorer, giving reasons for their choices!

              

Key Vocabulary

explorer    navigate      determined      brave      Nina      pinta       Santa Maria       sail       compass       map        rocket        space       NASA

Geography

Children will revisit key vocabulary; town, city and country

The children will sing songs, locate and label the world's continents and oceans using maps and atlases. They will use visual representations such as different sized boxes fitting inside one another to represent continents, countries and cities/towns - exploring places that link to our topic such as: Asia, China and Shanghai and Europe, England and Ellesmere Port.

Children will learn that Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain and crossed the Altantic Ocean in the hope of finding a quicker route to Asia. Children will plot this route on a simple map to show his journey.

Finally, children will learn which continents a variety of fruits come from and locate these places on a map (linked with DT).

Key Vocabulary

city      town        country          continent           ocean         map

Science

Spring Term 1: Animals including humans 

Pupils will identify and classify animals into 5 main groups. They will also look at animals' diets, classifying them as a herbivore, omnivore or carnivore. Children will consider the structure of different animals and comment on similarities and differences. Finally they will begin to understand that animal offspring grows into adults by exploring simple life cycles.

Key Vocabulary

Mammals       birds      reptiles       fish     amphibians     herbivore     omnivore        carnivore        classify 

Spring Term 2: Habitats and homes

Pupils will compare animals in familiar habitats with animals found in less familiar habitats, for example, on the seashore, in the woodland, in the ocean and in the rainforest. Pupils will work scientifically by sorting and classifying things according to whether they are living, dead or never alive. They will consruct a simple food chain that includes humans e.g. grass, cow, human.

Key Vocabulary

living     dead      alive      habitat        adaptation       micro-habitat       food chain        producer       consumer

Music

The children will create a sound story of Christopher Columbus' adventures across the sea. They will explore different sounds using body percussion and insruments. 

Children will make sounds and recognise how they can communicate ideas, create and choose sounds in response to a stimulus (e.g. sounds of the sea, night time, adventure).

They will suggest instruments that make sounds like those described by selected words such as BANG, CRASH, THUMP!

P.E

Miss Oughton - Monday class games - children will work cooperatively in teams to practise different skills associated with simple games. 

Thursday - dance, the children will take part in dance lessons with our specialist teacher where they will move spontaneously showing some control and co-ordination.

Miss stokes - Wednesday class games - children will work cooperatively in teams to practise different skills associated with simple games. 

Thursday - dance, the children will take part in dance lessons with our specialist teacher where they will move spontaneously showing some control and co-ordination.

Miss Roberts - Tuesday class games - children will work cooperatively in teams to practise different skills associated with simple games. 

Tuesday - gymnastics - children will take part in gymnastics lessons with our specialist teacher. They will use the equipment such as mats, benches and platforms.

Religious Education

Spring 1: Judaism

Children will explore the religion Judaism, looking at what their holy place of worship and their holy book are. Children will learn the importance of Jews treat the Torah and why. Children will also look at other significant objects that can be found in a Synagogue. They will discuss the significance of Shabbat and what this is.

Key Vocabulary

Judaism       Synagogue      Torah       Shabbat         Jews

Spring 2: Christianity

Children will learn about the importance of Lent and why Christians believe in this. Children will also look at other significant days that lead up to Easter such as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Children will listen to the story of Easter, retell this and learn significance of why we celebrate Easter.

Key Vocabulary

Easter      resurrection        Palm Sunday       Maundy Thursday      Lent   Ash Wednsday       ceremony      crucifixion       Good Friday   

Computing

Children will be taught how to search the internet using one word and how to make sense of returned results using search engines such as; Google and Kidrex.

They will create collages searching for appropriate images and draw using Pic Collage features.

Finally, they will use apps such as Beet-Bot and Scratch Jr to learn about coding and algorithms.

Art and Design

We will learn about artist Peter Thorpe who is well known for painting rockets in an abstract style. Children will use pastels and paints to create their own space scene inspired by Thorpe's work.

Within English, children will create their own fantasy planet. Using ideas from their description, children will experiment with colour ro design against a starry night background.

Design and Technology

In our topic lessons, children will explore the life of Christopher Columbus. On his voyage, he brought back tropical fruits such as: pineapple and papaya. Firstly, the children will have an opportunity to taste these and state whether they like or dislike them. Secondly, the children will choose some of these tropical fruits to design and create their own fruit kebab.