Maths

We will be practicing our addition and subtraction skills and applying these to real life scenarios including in the context of money. Year 1’s will be perfecting their counting in ten skills and finding more one and one less of an amount. We will all be practicing our number bond facts to ten and using these to answer one step addition questions. Year 2’s are going to be using their number bond facts as a foundation when finding related facts and they are going to learn to count in three’s, they then be able to use this to work out problems. Year 2 are going to be learning how to interpret tally charts, pictogram and block diagrams and will even have a go at making their own! We are going to visit our class shop to put our addition skills to the test, I am sure it will be lots of fun!

English

We are really looking forward to our learning journey focusing on the story ‘The Clockwork Dragon.’ The children will be informed that there is a fierce dragon on the loose in Cranktown, the town mayors will call them to hold a town meeting about it. The children are going to roleplayed how different people would be feeling and acting in this scenario. We are going to be practicing our use of adjectives to describe the dragon and write sentences to describe the characters. Our final outcome is a newspaper report so we will be learning what newspapers are and the children will then create their own newspaper front page including a catchy headline. We are excited to share these in celebration assembly! 

Our second learning journey will be studying the book 'The Storm Whale' by Benji Davies where the children will be writing their own letters to someone they care about. 

Geography

The children have an exciting new unit focusing on hiking! We will use the book ‘Hike’ by Pete Oswald to help us identify physical geographical features. The children will then practice their map skills and try and find Broughton on a map! We will be comparing Broughton to Utah in America and discuss how the physical features of these places are very different. The children will then plan their own hike about the village.

Computing

This term we will be focusing on a new digital device Beebots. We are looking forward to learning all about Beebots and how to use them. The children will understand the importance of using precise instructions to program these computers. They will work in groups to practice giving each other clear instructions and then create a ‘How to Use’ video to demonstrate our excellent programming skills.

Science

This is a continuation from last term’s unit ‘Forces and their Effects.’ We will use our prior knowledge to test out pushes and pulls on scooters. We shall predict what surface would be the easiest to scooter on and which would be the hardest. The children will be able to reason their answers using key scientific language. Using this knowledge will help us in our DT unit ‘Wheels and Axels.’ The children will explore different toy cars and we discuss what axels are. The children are going to be excited to design and make their own toy cars and evaluate them out on the playground.

Music

We will be working on our rhythm and storytelling. The children will start off by listening to different music and talk about what we could hear in each section. The children shall then work in groups to recreate the Three Little Pigs story using different instruments to make different sounds throughout the story. Our final piece will involve coming together to retell the whole story through instruments.

RE and PHSE

Our RE lessons will be based on the story if Easter and what Christians believe in. The children will start by thinking about what a believe is. In PHSE lessons we have a rights respecting focus and the children will think about how this is important to them.

We are also excited for the Easter holidays and will be taking part in the egg rolling competition and a very egg-citing Easter egg hunt! Otter’s class are also very excited to raise money for Red Nose Day and dressing up as our favourite characters for World Book Day. 

2022-2023

This half term we will be learning all about Minibeasts! 

Outdoor Learning

This half term we will be completing lots of time outside! Otters class will be collecting insects, observing them and drawing them. They will then think about where they live and what they need to survive. We will be creating tally charts, bar graphs and maps about where we find the insects. Later in the term the children will create their own minibeast hotel in our wildlife area and use the insects for some problem solving! 

Throughout this half term we will be learning a lot about the insects, including what makes up their bodies, their names and properties. We will be mini beast experts! There will also be a very exciting visit from Zoolab who will show us some interesting and different animals and minibeasts. 

Art

I know that the children are going to really enjoy this art project! We will be using Eric Carle stories and Maria Merian's stories to investigate about drawings of animals and insects. The children will then learn to collage an insect and we will create our own fantastic butterflies that have been collaged. These will be hung up in our classroom to catch the sun! They will then use these skills to create their own 3D picture in the same style of a butterfly in a meadow. 

Computing

Our Kapow unit this half term is called 'An introduction to Data'. The children will learn what data is, how to process it and use it to answer questions. We will be creating our own graphs about mini beasts. 

Music

This half term we will be using percussion! Our Kapow unit is called 'Animals (Classical, music, dynamics and tempo). They will listen to classical music and try to recreate parts of it. They will learn and perform a song as a class and compose a short section of music as a group, with a focus on dynamics and tempo. 

Science

In Science we will be continuing to learn about plants. This half term will involve a variety of exciting experiments to test what plants need to grow, how they grow and what they need to survive. We will be learning about the role of leaves and roots and answering the question 'do all plants need leaves'. The children will learn about how plants adapt and find out about some exciting growing plants! We will finish this unit by creating our information page about plants, which will include all of our learning this term (what a bulb is, what a seed is, germination, how to keep a plant alive etc).

Geography

Although this is not a focus this half term, we will use the skills that we already know to create a map of the school grounds to find mini beasts. We will also use our vocabulary that we have gathered to explain where we are looking. 

P.E

This half term we are lucky enough to be having cricket coaching from Chance to Shine Charity on a Thursday Morning. We will be learning the skills that it takes to play Cricket and enjoy a few fun games! 

The other P.E lesson will be taught on a Tuesday afternoon. We will be starting to follow our new P.E scheme of learning- Real PE. This a brilliant new scheme which I can't wait to report back on! 

P.S.H.E

Our unit for this half term is called 'Valuing Difference'. The children will be thinking about what makes them special and what things make other people special. They will then find out about how it makes other people feel if they are not valued and left out. We will then be starting a kindness challenge. 

Rights

This term we will be continuing to think about our healthcare system. We will also be looking at the article of the week. 

R.E

Our R.E focus this half term is 'remembering'. We will think about what remembering means and apply it to the festival of Passover. We will learn about the importance of the Sedar Plate and the story of Passover. 

English

Learning Journey 1: Tidy by Emily Gravett. The children will use this book to explore the story of the poor Badger who is just trying to tidy up the forest! We will be emersed in the text and explore how to extend our sentences. In the second week we will learn the features of a letter and write our own letters from the Badger to say sorry to the rest of the animals of the forest. 

Learning Journey 2: Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett. Having already read another Emily Gravett story, we will compare it to this text. The children will start off by having their classroom explored by a very, naughty meerkat! They will then learn the text and write a newspaper report on the events of the day. We will finish this learning journey by creating a new page of the book for Broughton.

Learning Journey 3: Julia Donaldson Stories. We will finish the term off by reading stories by Julia Donaldson. The children will read books such as 'What the ladybird heard' and 'Tabby McTat'. We will write character descriptions and then create our own ending for a Julia Donaldson Story. 

Maths

Learning Journey 1:Number, Place Value, Subtraction and Addition - The children will recap their knowledge of numbers to 10,20,50 and 100 by learning to make them out of dienes, use them to follow patterns on, put them on empty number lines and write number bonds. They will then learn/ revise how to partition and use this to solve a variety of problems. 

Learning Journey 2: Money, Subtraction and Addition- In this unit we will revise the notes and coins, and learn facts to support (e.g. 100p is £1). We will then apply this knowledge to adding and subtracting amounts, giving change and finding fractions of money. The Year 2 children will also start to look at different combinations of coins that equal the same amount. 

Learning Journey 3: Geometry, Subtraction and Addition.-This unit of learning will have a focus on Mass. The children will learn to measure accurately using standard and non standard units, add and subtract amounts and compare measurements. They will then solve problems using these skills. 

In this unit we will also be learning to use directional vocabulary.