Welcome to Year 2 – Pearl Class!

Our Topic
Our exciting topic 'Inventors and Inventions' will lead us to find out about famous people in History and consider the impact of their discoveries on our lives today.

History
In History, we will be studying famous people who have made significant contributions both nationally and internationally. The children will ‘meet’ inventors from history, discuss and order their inventions on a timeline and start to ask ‘inventor questions’ that lead to inventions. They will build models from technical drawings, design their own models and experiment with different fixings and mechanisms for their models. They will test designs, models and mechanisms in role as inventors. They will finally design, draw and make their own inventions, and present them to the class.

Geography

In Geography, we will be focussing upon geographical knowledge and skills. We will learn to communicate geographically by using and constructing basic symbols in a key and by using simple grid references (A1, B1). We will identify the seven continents and five oceans using maps, atlases, globes and other sources of information such as Google Earth. We will also identify the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles.

Science
We will learn about Animals including humans. We will notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults. We will find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air). We will learn about Living things and their habitats, animals and their offspring along with food chains and habitats.

English

Throughout the term we will look at stories related to Inventors. Our Pathways to Write text is 'The Dragon Machine' by Helen Ward and we will read 'The Dragon Sitter' by Josh Lacey. We will use the story 'My Grandpa's Amazing Inventions' by Richard Johnson as a starting point and we will write narratives and simple explanations. The children will be looking closely at statements, commands, questions and exclamations. Understanding the importance of sentence structure and the use of punctuation to demarcate sentences will continue to be a key focus in writing. We will be concentrating on developing spelling rules when suffixes are added to a root word.
The children will continue revise their spelling of the Year 1 and Year 2 common exception words.

https://www.ictgames.com/littleBirdSpelling/

Maths

Throughout the term we will recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, including recognising odd and even numbers. We will calculate mathematical statements for multiplication and division within the multiplication tables and write them using the multiplication (x), division (÷) and equals (=) sign. We will deepen our learning through problem solving activities and use our reasoning skills to explain.

Maths Online Games

Number names

http://www.maths-games.org/number-word-memory-to-20.html

Ordering numbers

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/countingCaterpillar/index.html

Addition Games

http://www.maths-games.org/adding-games.html

Times Tables

http://www.maths-games.org/times-tables-games.html

Place Value

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/placeValue.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zsjqtfr/articles/z9w3g82

Art
In Art, we will be exploring the way clay can be shaped and joined, the children will learn a range of essential skills for working with this medium. They will learn about the sculpture of Rachel Whiteread and create their own clay house tile in response.

Music
In Music, we will develop singing skills and learn a range of traditional songs from around the world and then listen to various movements from Holst's The Planets Suite

Design and Technology

In Design and Technology, we will explore Mechanisms. We will design and create a functional Ferris wheel, learn how different components fit together so that the wheel rotates and the structure stands freely.

Religious Education
In R.E. we will Christianity and Judaism by asking questions such as: What might people learn from the story of Abraham? Why is Abraham important to Jews and Christians? What could Jews learn about God from Abraham's story? How do people choose what is right and wrong? In the second half term, we will recall and ponder the Easter story in more detail by raising questions the story presents and making links with aspects of belief and practice at Easter time.

Wellbeing

The children's wellbeing is our priority. We will also be developing our wellbeing toolkit and promoting self-regulation using The Zones of Regulation.

Physical Education

Cosmic Kids Yoga can be used for meditation and to try out a Yoga Session.
https://www.cosmickids.com

You can contact us at Pearl@stjamesaudlem.cheshire.sch.uk to share your adventures or ask any questions.

Click here to access Pearl's Purple Mash display board.