Canberra (Year 2)
Miss Gee
Class Teacher
Miss Griffin
Teaching Partner
Miss Berrington
PE Teacher (Wednesday and Thursday afternoons)
Canberra's Topic for Terms 5 and 6 is ‘Growing’.
Early Morning Work
For the first half-an–hour of the day, Year Two practise and consolidate key skills in Maths and English. Children will read individually - or in small groups - to the teacher during this time. They will be heard at least once per fortnight.
Additionally, interventions will take place during this time of the day.
English
English lessons develop the children’s reading, writing and speaking and listening skills. The children will also be taught new punctuation and grammar rules during these sessions.
This term our units of study are:
- List poetry (1 week)
- Diary Writing (1 week)
- Assessment (1 week)
- Speaking and Listening Family Tree presentations (throughout the term)
To begin each English session, children will participate in a Phonics session, which will include revision of Phase 3 to 5 sounds, as well as coverage of new Phase 6 spelling rules.
Maths
The main focus of the teaching of Maths is to develop every child’s confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. The children will work with numerals, words and the four operations, including access to lots of practical resources to support their understanding of the key concepts. The school follows the White Rose scheme of work and, this term, we will be focusing on:
- Fractions (3 weeks)
- Assessment (1 week)
The children will continue to learn their x2, x5, x10 and x3 times tables - as well as all of the corresponding division facts - throughout the term.
Addition and subtraction with an exchange
Festive 3D Shapes
Science
During Science this term, the children will undertake a ‘Plants’ unit, linked to our ‘Growing’ topic. The children will be developing their skills in:
- Using their ideas and observations by suggesting answers to questions;
- Making predictions;
- Performing simple tests;
- Observing closely, identifying and classifying;
- Gathering and recording data.
Computing
This term, Year 2 will be learning about bookmarking and how it is a way to find safe sites again quickly. Canberra Class will also be exploring emailing and blogging as tools for communication, as well as utilising word processing software to present their poetry. The children will additionally be creating their own musical scores digitally, as well as using video recording, as part of Arts Week.
As always, the children will be reminded and encouraged to follow the school's SMART rules, so as to ensure that they use the internet and ICT equipment sensibly and safely.
Religious Education
This term the children will be continuing their study of Islam through the key question: ‘Why is God important to Muslims?' RE is also supported during themed collective worship every day.
History: How did railways change the face of Great Britain?
During Term 5, the children will develop their skills in History through a study of the growth of railways. This will include:
- Using information from the past to describe differences between then and now.
- Reading dates from the past and ordering them.
- Answering questions about the past using information from books, pictures, artefacts and the internet.
- Recording their understanding through labelled diagrams, paintings and writing to tell others about objects, people and events from the past.
We are also very much looking forward to visiting the STEAM Museum Of The Great Western Railway (Swindon), at the start of Term 5, to enrich our topic.
PSHE
Throughout Term 5, the children will be carrying out research into their own family tree, which they will present to their classmates. They will additionally be exploring how to where money comes from, how to look after money and whether different purchases are ‘wants’ or ‘needs’.
Physical Education
This term in PE, Canberra class will participate in a cricket session every Wednesday afternoon with Miss. Berrington for their Enrichment. On Thursday afternoons, the class will also participate in an Athletics session with Miss. Berrington. These sessions will build on the children's previous experience and will allow them to enhance their co-ordination, balance and teamwork skills. Please ensure that your child wears their PE kit to school on these days to allow them to make the most of these lessons. Longer hair will need to be tied up and jewellery removed.
Over the coming weeks, Canberra will also be continuing to rehearse for the Key Stage One Dance Festival.
Design and Technology
During Term 5, Canberra Class’s focus will be Nutrition, which will be linked to Canberra’s Science learning (Plants). They will be preparing a healthy soup using a selection of vegetables, as well as an accompanying bread.
Art and Design
During this term the children will be developing their observational sketching skills, which will be linked to our Plants Science topic. The whole school will also be taking part in an exciting ‘We are the future!’ themed Arts Week during the final week of term. This will culminate in an Open School exhibition event for parents during the last afternoon of term.
Music
During Term 5, Canberra will be composing their own musical scores digitally.