This term our unit of inquiry is ‘Exploration may lead to discoveries, opportunities and change’. We will be following different lines of inquiry to help us discover:
- What geographical features are in our local area?
- How have discoveries led to change?
- How have famous discoveries impacted life today?
 |  |
Our unit of inquiry will lead onto identifying different explorers and learning about their discoveries. We will research famous discoveries and their impact on life today. Two areas we will focus on will be finding out about Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong and why they are famous. We will create non-fiction booklets based on these explorers. Following on from this, we will use maps and atlases to not only map out the journeys of these famous explorers, but also to map out journeys of our own. As part of this, we will also discuss key geographical features in our local area.
 |  |
In English this term, our core text will be ‘Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs’ by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto. We will start the term by making predictions about the story based on the front cover and the first few pages. We will use our predictions to write what we think will happen next in the story, including conjunctions in our writing. We will use expanded noun phrases to describe characters in the book, using thesauruses to up level our vocabulary. We will learn to list adjectives using commas and also how to ‘show’ our audience how a character is feeling rather than telling them. We will also practise making inference from the text based on what is being said and done. From this, we will plan and write our own 5 part pirate story with a beginning, build up, problem, resolution and ending. Our second core text of the term will be ‘Journeys’ by Aaron Becker which is a wordless picture book. We will be using these powerful illustrations to support and inspire our creative writing. Lastly, towards the end of the term we will look at some poetry, with a particular focus on descriptive poems.
In maths, for the first part of this term, we will be developing our understanding of shape. We will begin by naming and recognising the features of both 2D and 3D shapes. We will use our knowledge of 2D shapes to help us to describe the faces of 3D shapes, including their edges and vertices. We will explore different ways to sort both 2D and 3D shapes and will be creating patterns with them also. As well as this, we will learn about symmetry, what it is and how to identify both horizontal and vertical lines of symmetry in 2D shapes. Further on in the term, we will learn about fractions. We will begin by dividing into equal groups before recognising half and finding half of an amount. We will also learn how to write, recognise and find ¼, ⅓ and ¾ of shapes and an amount of objects. When the children are secure in their understanding of fractions, we will explore equivalent fractions and will count in fractions also (for example, in quarters from ¼up to 1, then from 1¼ up to 2 and so on).
In PE this term, we are focusing on developing core fundamental skills. For the first 3 weeks, our PE will take place on a Thursday afternoon. During the second half of the term, we have a very exciting introduction to Archery from Progressive Sport. They will run three sessions with Year 2 and our PE slot will be on a Tuesday afternoon for this.
In maths, for the first part of this term, we will be developing our understanding of shape. We will begin by naming and recognising the features of both 2D and 3D shapes. We will use our knowledge of 2D shapes to help us to describe the faces of 3D shapes, including their edges and vertices. We will explore different ways to sort both 2D and 3D shapes and will be creating patterns with them also. As well as this, we will learn about symmetry, what it is and how to identify both horizontal and vertical lines of symmetry in 2D shapes. Further on in the term, we will learn about fractions. We will begin by dividing into equal groups before recognising half and finding half of an amount. We will also learn how to write, recognise and find ¼, ⅓ and ¾ of shapes and an amount of objects. When the children are secure in their understanding of fractions, we will explore equivalent fractions and will count in fractions also (for example, in quarters from ¼up to 1, then from 1¼ up to 2 and so on).
In PE this term, we are focusing on developing core fundamental skills. For the first 3 weeks, our PE will take place on a Thursday afternoon. During the second half of the term, we have a very exciting introduction to Archery from Progressive Sport. They will run three sessions with Year 2 and our PE slot will be on a Tuesday afternoon for this.
