Throughout Summer Term our topic is Myths and Legends. In particular we will look at Knights and Castles.
In English we will be reading lots of Myths and Legends and retelling them such as George and the Dragon and The Lambton worm. We will write our own fairytale based on a castle. We will make non fiction books about dragons and write shape poems about castles.
In science we will be learning about plants and living things. We will identify and name a range of plants and trees and label the structure of different plants. We will observe and record the growth of plants over time and set up a comparative test to show that plants need light and water to stay healthy. We will also compare and explore the differences between things that are living, dead and that have never been alive.
In art we will be drawing and painting different castles. We will design a coat of arms and make our own shields.
In history we will be learning about significant places locally. We will look at Durham Castle and other castles in the North East of England. We will also learn about Penshaw Monument and the historical story behind it. We will talk about important places and who was important to them and why.
In geography we will begin to understand similarities and differences between a small area of the UK and a contrasting country. We will study human and physical features of each area and make comparisons.
In DT we will design and make our castles with a moving drawbridge. We will also make medieval broth and design a healthy banquet for a king.
In music we will listen to medieval music and learn a dance to accompany them.
In computing we will make posters and information leaflets of castles. We will continue to learn about using the internet safely. We will program beebots to move around maps and write our own algorithms. We will learn about debugging programs.
In PE we will be learning to play games with a sports coach. We will also be learning a new dance and practising our dance skills.
During our Spring Term topic we will be learning about Art and Artefacts. We will be focusing on historical people and artefacts found in museums.
In science we will be learning about animals that descended from dinosaurs and looking at similarities and differences between them including making life cycles and food chains. We will also learn about the seasons and daily weather patterns. We will plan and carry out numerous investigations using standard and non-standard measurements.
In art we will be looking at the work of the artist Leonardo Di Vinci who is famous for painting the Mona Lisa. We will experiment with using primary and secondary colours in different tones and make our own individual representations of our friends. We will also be learning about famous sculptures in particular totem poles and sculpting dome of our own.
In history we will be learning about the lives of numerous famous people including, Pocahontas, Teddy Roosevelt and Christopher Columbus and we find out about how they changed history. We will look closely at different dinosaurs and how animals evolved from them. We will make simple timelines of when dinosaurs evolved and became extinct.
In geography we will be learning to ask simple geographical, ‘where?’, ‘what?’, and ‘who?’ questions about the world and the environment. We will learn about Native America and make similarities and differences between our lives and that of Pocahontas.
In DT we will design and make our own totem poles and wigwags. We will learn and investigate how to make a strong structure.
In music we will learn about fast and slow tempos. We will sing and perform songs.
In computing we will learn how to save and retrieve information. We will continue to learn about using the internet safely. We will program beebots to move around maps and write our own algorithms. We will learn about debugging programs.
In PE we will be learning to put together a dance as a group and assessing our gymnastic skills. After the holidays we will learn to play kick rounders and put together a sequence of moves in gymnastics.
Our topic during Autumn term is explorers and journey's. Throughout the topic we will be studying different explorers from the past and present including Christopher Columbus and Jacques Cousteau. In particular we will learn about under the sea in our first term and then Antarctica leading up to Christmas.
In science we will be learning about sea creatures and looking at similarities and differences between them including make sea food chains. We will also learn about materials, natural and man-made and find the best material to use to make a raft. We will plan and carry out numerous investigations using standard and non-standard measurements.
In art we will be looking at the work of the artist David Miller who is famous for painting under the sea paintings. We will experiment with using primary colours in different tones and make our own individual representations of sea scapes.
In history we will be learning about the lives of numerous famous explorers including, Christopher Columbus and Sir Francis Drake and we find out about how they changed history. Jacques Cousteau will be part of our learning about under the sea, in particular how he invented scuba. We will also learn about famous pirates, making our own timelines of their lives. When studying Antarctica we will focus our learning on the life of Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen and their race to reach the South Pole.
In geography we will be learning to locate the seven continents of the world and surrounding seas. We will use maps and globes to identify small and large islands around Great Britain. We will be using geographical vocabulary to describe different environments and habitats focusing in particular on an island life. We will also deign and use our own maps with symbols and keys.
In DT we will design and make our own pirate ship flags using a range of textile materials and skills.
In music we will learn, sing and perform sea shanty songs. We will also learn about different instruments.
In Computing we will learn about using the internet safely. We will program beebots to move around maps and write our own algorithms.
In PE we will learn to play 'piggy in the middle' in games and in gymnastics we are going to make a sequence of movements including a balance, roll and jump.
At the moment we are working with a local artist to produce banners that will be displayed in St Joseph's and St Philip's Churches. We are taking turns to help make the banners and are having lots of fun!
Our topic during Summer Term is God's Creations. We are learning how God created the world in seven days and the plants and animals he made to live on the land and sea.
In art we are studying Vincent Van Gogh; in particular we are looking closely at his paintings of starry night and the sunflowers. We are making our own representations of them.
We have learned lots of facts about nocturnal animals. We have enjoyed using the ipads to research about them and have used Microsoft Word to design fact posters.
We have been learning about the continents of the world. We have programmed beebots to move to different countries on a map and have written our own algorithms.
We have designed habitats for animals to live in and investigated how to make structures stronger.
In science we have been learning about life cycles of plants and animals. We have also made our own simple food chains.
During Spring term our topic was Location Location Location. We looked closely at our environment, our school, homes and local community.
We made maps and plans of Tow Law and designed and built different styles of houses.
We had lots of fun reading and writing stories about the lighthouse keeper's lunch. We made up our own plans to get rid of the sneaky seagulls!
In Autumn term our topic was heroes. We had lots of fun writing stories and comic strips about superheroes, designing and making superhero vehicles and moving bee-bots around a map.
We also learned about Remembrance Day and the soldiers who fought in World War One. We had a visitor from Durham record office who showed us photographs of some soldiers who fought in the war and we made remembrance cards for them.
During the term we went on a trip to Beamish where we helped the dentist's wife to make a parcel to send to her son George who was fighting in the war. We went to the shop and bought him soap, pencils, socks and fudge then we wrapped them up and posted it in the post office. We even saw Santa Claus and fed his reindeer's!
Summer Term is a very important time in Class 2. Year 1 children will complete their phonics screening checks and Year 2 children will complete SAT's assessments. It is extremely important that children complete their homework, reading tasks and spellings. They may also like to practise maths skills and phonics games at home.
In class two we get our homework books on a Wednesday. We can choose an activity that we would like to do and return our books on a Monday.
We get spellings to learn on a Friday, we should return them to school the following Friday before the spelling test. All of the words we are tested on are from our phonics lesson that week.
We should read our reading books to an adult every night and ask them to sign our reading diary. Diaries are looked at in school three times a week and books are changed when necessary. Some of us take a quiz to show that we understand what we have read. We read in class throughout the week using a different scheme to those we bring home, this helps to challenge or reading and develop our understanding of key words and information.
Some Wednesday afternoons it is show and tell with Mrs Harkin. We can bring in something to talk about if we would like to such as medals and certificates we have achieved or something that links to our topic. Mrs Harkin will tell us on a Tuesday afternoon when this will take place.
PE in the Summer Term is on a Thursday with a sports coach and Friday with Mrs Batson. We need to wear a PE kit and sand shoes and take our earrings out. Weather permitting, we will do PE outside so we may bring in a black or dark blue tracksuit to wear also.
If you have any questions or queries please come and speak to Miss Ellison or make an appointment after school. Thank you