Year 2 Autumn 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome back to the new school year! I am really looking forward to this year and can’t wait to work with your children. We have a very busy half-term ahead of us which I am excited to tell you about!

We are going to start Year Two by reading our class novel which is ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. This brilliant book explores many themes including bravery and prejudice. The Iron Man is a robot who has a good heart but his appearance can be deceiving. This links to our school values as we focus on courage and acceptance.

We will complement our class novel as we read a picture book called ‘The Tin Forest’ by Helen Ward which looks at dreams and aspirations; it shows us that nothing is impossible if we work hard. It also provides us with the opportunity to talk about how ‘one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure,’ which links nicely to important topics such as recycling and the elimination of waste.

All our reading sessions will help us in our English lessons, as this half term we are going to create our own stories based on the book ‘The Crow’s Tale’ by Naomi Howarth.

We will start our maths lessons by learning about place value. This is a crucial topic which will help to underpin our learning in maths lessons throughout the whole of Year Two. We will then begin our addition and subtraction topic before the half term break.

In geography this half term, we will be answering our big question: What will I find in my local area? We will start by looking at maps, and how they are designed - even getting to create our own. I am looking forward to our geography lessons, as we will use maps of Melton Mowbray to create a set of directions to get to a destination and go into our local area to test them out!

In science we will be learning about the human body. Our big question this half term is: Why and how should we look after our bodies? We will be learning about how impressive our bodies are, specifically learning about the human skeleton, the circulatory system, the digestive system, and exploring how we can stay healthy. I’m sure our PE lessons will help us with this, as we begin to learn fundamental skills such as running, jumping, skipping and balance alongside developing our ball control skills.

At The Grove we enjoy learning about other cultures and the beliefs of others. Religious education provides us with a great opportunity to do this, and we will begin Year Two by learning about Christianity and thinking about our key question: Is it possible to be kind to everyone all of the time?

In computing this half term, we will be exploring our big question: What is a computer? The children will be identifying different parts of computers and thinking about how computers are used in everyday life.

In music we will be focusing on pulse, rhythm and pitch. We are very lucky this half term to have a visitor coming in to offer us some recorder lessons during music. I’m looking forward to hearing the children learn a new instrument, although I might need to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones while they get to grips with it!

We will be having two art days this half-term– our focus will be on portraits and self-portraits. The children will have the opportunity to develop their drawing skills as well as use oil pastels and paints to create their own portraits.

Please keep your eye on Class Dojo for further updates - I am really excited for what this half term has in store for Year Two!