This half term in Year 2 our topic is London's Burning.
This half term our topic is ‘London's Burning' during which we will be learning about key historical events in London, such as The Great Fire of London and the Gunpowder Plot, as well as famous historical figures from the past.
The children will be developing their factual writing to explain these real events, as well as writing in role to consider how it would have felt to be in London during those times. Throughout their writing the children will continue to develop their knowledge of grammatical features such as expanded noun phrases and writing in the first person. We continue to develop handwriting and spelling during daily activities.
In Maths we will continue to develop the skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division whilst also learning about properties of 2d and 3d shapes. We will be teaching the children a range of written methods to support their understanding. The children will also continue to use their mental maths skills by counting up and down in 2's, 3’s 5's and 10's.
Within Science the children will still be developing their understanding of materials. This half term we will focus on inventors such as John Dunlop and Charles Macintosh and the impact they have had on objects we use today. We will also use our knowledge of materials in our design technology work when joining materials to make a puppet.
During our Computing lessons we will use art software to recreate famous pieces of art as well as use the technology to create our own artwork. We will recreate artwork in the style of Piet Mondrian and Vincent Van Gough. As well as this we will be working on asking and answering questions. We will complete unplugged activities using resources in the classroom as well as using technology to help us ask and answer questions. We will revisit ways to stay safe when working online and using technology.
Our work within PSHE will continue to link to our school values with a focus on valuing difference. The children will be thinking about what makes them who they are, how they make others feel and who are the special people in their lives. They will also consider how to help when someone is feeling left out, how to solve problems within friendships and how to show acts of kindness.
During History the children will further develop their understanding of key historical events and people from London. They will use a range of sources to develop their understanding such as photographs, videos and visitors coming into school.
In Music the children will enjoy learning and singing a ‘Sparkle in the Sun’. They will also learn to play instruments along with the song. Throughout the unit of work the children will enjoy warm up games, listening to and learning about music from a range of genres and developing their improvisation and composition skills. At the end of our unit of work we will record the children performing their singing and playing of musical instruments.
In RE the children will be answering the question ‘What does the nativity story teach Christians about Jesus?’ During their work they will focus on the theology lens of thinking through believing. The children will retell the Christmas story, recognise that Christians believe Jesus was sent by God to be him in the flesh, recognise the connection between Christmas and Easter and give examples of ways in which Christians use the story of the nativity to guide their beliefs and actions at Christmas.
During PE the children will develop their skills linked to invasion games. They will develop an understanding of possession, understand how to score and stop goals, mark an opponent and apply simple tactics for attacking and defending.
They will also be developing their dance skills linked to individual and group activities based around the Great Fire of London.
Our design technology lessons will focus on joining materials. We will use our learning from science lessons to help design, make and evaluate a puppet. The children will begin by exploring ways of joining, be taught how to stitch and then enjoy making their own puppet.
We continue to assess the children’s reading, writing and number skills, highlighting areas for development through our next step marking and supporting the children to develop these areas. Please continue to hear your child read and note this in their reading diary.
