Spring Term 2
General
We have had a fantastic term. We thoroughly enjoyed the DT food festival, where we made cowboy caviar cups and worked on our cutting and mixing skills. This term we had the honour of joining other schools in Lambeth to sing at the Lambeth Festival Hall. All before our amazing Spring Sing!
English
In English in year 1 we worked on the skills of retrieval and inference with two wonderful books. We read The Tale of Peter Rabbit which is a classic by Beatrix Potter and then a modern book of Look Up! Written by Nathon Byron and illustrated by Dapo Adeola. In Peter Rabbit, we learned about actions and consequences and in Look Up! We learned a lot of different facts about space. In our writing block we wrote an informal letter to a friend. We focussed on sharing information and asking questions.
In year 2 we became engrossed in the beautifully presented ‘The Street Beneath My Feet,’ which took us on an exciting journey to the centre of the Earth and back out the other side. We learnt all about different types of rocks, man-made and natural things found beneath the surface. We focused on information retrieval, using subheadings and writing personal responses.
We also read ‘Rhythm of the Rain’ and took inspiration from reading ‘Coming to England’ about Floella Benjamin’s personal journey from Trinidad. We looked at synonyms, inferring characters' feelings and made predictions based on illustrations and known facts.
Maths
This term in Maths in year 2 we learnt about multiplication and using the correct mathematical language, such as factor and product. In division we used the language dividend, divisor and quotient. Using these words helps us to explain our higher order thinking. We have used our knowledge of skip counting in 2’s 5’s and 10’s to help us. We have loved working on our rapid recall!
In year 1 we have been looking at both addition and subtraction, whilst learning and using key mathematical vocabulary including ‘addend’ ‘minuend’ ‘subtrahend’ ‘difference’ and ‘sum’. We have been able to explain the difference between expressions and equations, as well as use these words when orally reasoning.
We have also been looking at commutative law and writing equations different ways round, beginning with the sum. We are moving away from manipulatives and are really engaging with pictorial representations.
Science
In science we have been securing our knowledge of animals including humans. We looked a little closer at similarities and differences and worked scientifically to prove our teachers wrong! We had to debate statements such as ‘A seal lives on land and in water so it must be an amphibian’ and reasoned our thinking using our knowledge of all animal groups.
We are now able to clearly differentiate between animal groups, using key scientific vocabulary and by retrieving facts from our knowledge notes. It was also exciting to put our reasoning about why birds beaks are shaped differently into action by role playing a bird using tweezers for a beak!
Geography
In Geography this term, we have been diving into learning all about the hot and cold areas of the Earth. With our knowledge of the continents and the oceans from previous terms, we were now able to look at how the equator influences whether a place will have a tropical or cool climate and discuss the reason for this. At the end of the term, we combined all of their learning together to write a piece on whether they would prefer to live in Norway or Brazil, based on its location on the Earth, the climate and what animals we might find there.
Design Technology
In Design Technology this term, our learning has linked to what we have been taught in PSHE about eating healthy foods. We were posed with the challenge of creating a wrap to eat that was both healthy and delicious. We discussed our favourite flavour profiles and classified foods based on whether they were sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami! Yum!
RE
RE has concreted our knowledge of Christianity by focusing on the ways of life of Jesus. We have learnt that Christains believe he was a good leader and looked at ourselves as leaders, considering what qualities we should all have. We also learnt about forgiveness and reflected on times within our own lives when we have and haven’t forgiven others. We discussed why forgiveness is important for us and those around us to make the world a friendlier and more peaceful place to be.
PSHE
In PSHE we learnt all about what it means to be healthy - in all aspects of life. We considered and discussed healthy foods and the benefits of having a balanced diet. We talked all about hygiene and how we can keep each other safe from germs and viruses by washing our hands and covering our mouths when coughing. Finally, we refreshed ourselves on how to be safe around roads. This was especially useful when embarking on our trip as we all got to and from our destination both quickly and safely!
