Year 2 Spring 2 Curriculum Information

Welcome back, I hope you all had a well-deserved rest over half-term. I can’t believe we are already halfway through the school year. The children have worked so hard up to this point and have made me so proud! Looking forward, let me tell you all about what we have in store for the children up until Easter.

We will begin by reading our new class text Too Small Tola by Atinuke. This book tells the story of Tola who lives with her family in Nigeria and is always underestimated due to her size. She is determined to prove people wrong; it teaches us that we can do anything if we put our mind to it. This book links incredibly well to our school values of perseverance and acceptance.

In English, we will be learning about the Great Fire of London. We will be focusing on a non-fiction text in the form of diary entries. We will be using all the grammatical skills that we have learnt so far to create captivating diaries. We will also consider our subject knowledge to create descriptive diary entries from the perspective of someone living on Pudding Lane in 1666.

Reading is a great way to develop imagination, vocabulary, and curiosity. Please continue to read with your child at home, and record this in their reading diary. We love reading at The Grove and our class poetry book for this half-term is: ‘Apes to Zebras – An A to Z of Shape Poems’. Our picture book for this half-term is the incredible ‘Here we are: notes for Living on Planet Earth’ by Oliver Jeffers. This thought-provoking book was written by Jeffers for his son and forces us to consider the themes of kindness, acceptance and environmental responsibility. This book is all about our world and those who call it home.

This compliments our past and present learning of science, which will allow us to recap prior knowledge – touching on elements of The Human Body, Living Things in their Habitats, Electricity and our new topic of Materials and Matter. Our big question for science is: ‘What are the properties and uses of different materials?’ To answer this, we will be investigating different materials, their uses and their properties. We will be using our scientific enquiry types to answer our big question and to learn about the scientific inventor, George de Mestral. We will discover how he used his knowledge of materials and their properties to invent Velcro.

This half-term, we will be exploring our big question in history: ‘How did religion impact on the monarchy and the Tudor community?’ We will be learning about the divide between the rich and the poor – discovering why their clothes, diet and entertainment differed. In addition, we will be learning about the life of Henry VIII and his six wives, as we discover how the English Reformation came to be. This strongly reinforces our school value of curiosity, as we look at how society and people’s lives have been changed following the Tudor period.

In maths, we will be getting involved with exciting and practical activities, as we begin our new topics on length, height, mass, temperature and capacity. This is vital knowledge which the children will use as they go through school and into their adult life. Please continue to encourage the children to log onto TTRS and Numbots, as these resources are invaluable at improving their mental maths. It is also important to reinforce their knowledge of multiplication and division in preparation for our topic of fractions at the end of this half-term.

In music, we will be ‘Recognising Different Sounds’. This will be done through the use of many pieces of music of different genres. The children will have the opportunity to respond to music, learn new songs, improvise and compose their own music.

In our PSHE topic ‘Healthy Me’ we will be exploring healthy lifestyles and our motivation to make healthy choices which links well to our PE. This half-term we will be participating in target games and invasion games. These games will allow us to explore the principles of defending and attacking whilst developing our skills of sending and receiving, throwing, rolling and striking an object or target (such as a ball).

In Computing we will be following on from our online safety day last half-term, by looking in more detail at what information is safe to share online. Then practising keeping information safe online by denying permission or using strong passwords. Before finally exploring the fact that not everything online is true.

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 explore Christianity this half-term. Considering the key questions ‘How important is it to Christians that Jesus came back to life after his crucifixion?’, ‘Is God important to everyone’ and ‘Are symbols better than words at expressing religious beliefs?’

We have, of course, got many exciting days coming up this half-term, including our trip to Bowthorpe Park Farm near Bourne on Friday 4th April, World Book Day and our two Design Technology Days. Our two DT days this half-term will teach us the skill of sewing, as we create our own pouches. As always, we will spend time looking into how DT can link to other areas of the curriculum, such as science, and the wide variety of careers than can link to these subjects. Please stay tuned on Class Dojo for updates and pictures that will be posted regularly.

Year 2 Spring 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome back, I hope you had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year! Everyone worked really hard in the first term, so I look forward to seeing what this half-term has in store. Once again, we have a busy half-term coming up with lots of exciting things happening, which I can’t wait to share with you!

We will start off our year by reading our class novel which is Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’. This story explores the importance of being ourselves and not pretending to be different or like certain things to please others. It links nicely to PSHE topics we covered last term, ‘Being Me’ and ‘Celebrating Differences’.

The picture book for Spring 1 echoes our learning in other subjects. ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer tells the story of a boy named William who lives in a Malawian village which experiences a drought. This resulted in the crops failing in the village, so William spent his days in the library and eventually worked out how to bring electricity to his village. This inspiring picture book links perfectly to our new science topic of electricity; hopefully we will become as knowledgeable as William about electricity after this half-term! Our Big Question this half-term for science is: ‘Can all materials conduct electricity?’ We will be learning about the impact that electricity has on our day-to-day lives, and how we can stay safe around it, as well as exploring simple circuits and investigating conductive and non-conductive materials.

In maths this half-term we will begin to develop our knowledge of multiplication and division. These are vital skills which the children will continue to use throughout their education, therefore it is essential that the foundations are built before building on their knowledge. We have the use of the brilliant resources, Numbots and Times Tables Rock Stars, which will support the children’s learning, so please continue to encourage the use of these.

In English we will be using all our English and writing knowledge to create our own adventure story based on the book ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid of The Dark’ by Jill Tomlinson. Later in the term we will be learning about poetry and will eventually create our own poem. This will be supported by our class poetry book for this half-term: ‘A first poetry book’ by Pie Corbett.

This half-term we will be exploring our Geography Big Question: ‘How does the British Isles differ to Cape Town?’ We will get the opportunity to learn about the vast range of islands and countries that make up the British Isles and how their landscapes differ from one another. We will be comparing British cities to the significantly different location of Cape Town in South Africa. This reinforces our school value of curiosity as we will be learning about the geography of the world around us in the British Isles, as well as the wider world in Cape Town.

In PSHE, we will start by learning about Human Rights before discussing our dreams and aspirations. We will recognise that perseverance is needed to overcome challenges and understand how other people may support us in achieving our goals. In Religious Education we are going to learn about Muslim beliefs. At The Grove we love to learn about other cultures and we will be celebrating World Religion Day on 19^th January 2025; this links to our school values of compassion, curiosity, and respect, as we hope that our learning will broaden our understanding and acceptance of the world and people around us. Our ‘Everyone’s Welcome Book’ for the half-term is ‘The Great Big Book of Families’ by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith.

In Music, we will finish our recorder lessons before moving on to ‘Inventing a Musical Story’. This will be done through the use of many pieces of music of different genres. The children will also have the opportunity to improvise and compose their own music, telling a story through the music they create.

In PE this half-term we will be doing gymnastics and dance. These sports can be very competitive at a professional level, I am looking forward to the children having the opportunity to recognise this and perhaps develop a love for them!

In Computing we will be looking at data handling and how data handling is used on the International Space Station. We will have an online safety day planned during this half-term.

We will be having our two art days this half-term– our focus will be on history painting. This will consist of mythological, biblical, and historical art where a story is told through the use of painting, drawing and mixed media.

This half-term, we will have a local History trip to explore the History right on our doorstep!

Please stay tuned on Class Dojo for pictures and updates - I am really looking forward to what this half-term has in store!

Year 2 Autumn 2 Curriculum Information

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed a well-deserved rest over half term. We have another busy half term coming up which I’m excited to share with you.

We will be starting our new class novel ‘Charlotte’s Web’ by E.B White. This is a classic book which displays values such as teamwork and friendship. The theme of friendship is also present in our picture book ‘The Way Back Home’ by Oliver Jeffers; this unlikely friendship highlights the importance of being kind to others – even if they are from a different planet!

We’re heading towards the colder months, so it is suitable that in our next English topic we are going to plan and write our own non-chronological report based on hibernation. We will spend time learning about what a non-chronological report is before creating our own.

In our maths lessons we will continue with our learning on addition and subtraction before moving on to shape. We will use our resources and manipulates to support our learning of different 2D and 3D shapes, building on what the class learnt in year one. Finishing with learning about money before Christmas.

This half term we will be doing history which I am really looking forward to. Our topic is the Romans, and our big question will go alongside this to support our learning: ‘What have we learned from Roman contributions to British society?’ In addition, the Creative Learning Service have kindly allowed us to borrow some amazing books, some of which are based on the Romans. We will be able to read these books to support what we are learning in history.

In science we will be learning about living things and their environments. Our big question for this half term will be: ‘Where do different animals live?’ This links nicely to our previous topic which focused on what humans and animals need to survive, so we can use our prior knowledge to see why plants and animals are suited to their habitats.

Last term we found out in science that exercise keeps our bodies healthy and decided that our PE lessons are very useful for this! This half term we will be focusing on ball skills in PE.

We are very welcoming at The Grove and enjoy learning about different cultures and beliefs. This half term in RE we will be learning about Christianity, with our big question being, ‘Why do Christians believe God gave Jesus to the world?’ Alongside this, we will be recognising important dates for other religions, including Diwali which we will be learning about in our first week back.

We are very lucky to have our recorder lessons continuing this half term. I have been very impressed with the children’s progress so far!

This half term we will be having two days dedicated to design technology (DT) where we will be designing and creating our own functional Ferris wheel. We will learn how different components fit together to make the wheel rotate and the structure stand freely.

This half term will take us up to Christmas - we will have lots of exciting things taking place. It would not be Christmas without a key stage one nativity, so we will be spending time practicing for this later-on this half term!

As always, keep an eye on dojo for photos and updates. I can’t wait to see what this half term has in store for us.

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 get started working with your children at The Grove. 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 however his appearance can be deceiving. This links to our school values as we focus on courage and acceptance.

We will complement our class novel ‘The Iron Man’ 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 waste.

All of our reading is going to help us in our English lessons, as this half term we are going to create our own stories based on the book ‘Stardust’ by Jeanne Willis.

We will begin our maths lessons by learning about place value. This is an essential topic which will help to underpin our learning in maths lessons throughout the whole of Year Two.

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 may be able to go into our local area and explore Melton Mowbray.

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 and exploring how we can stay healthy. I’m sure our PE lessons will help us with this, as we begin to learn the fundamental skills such as running, jumping, skipping and balance.

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.

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 learning a new instrument, although might need to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones!

Please keep your eye out on Class Dojo for further updates - I am really excited to be working at The Grove and for what this year has in store for Year Two!