Woodthorpe Church of England Primary School

Welcome to Class 2

Miss May and Miss Hewitt

In our class we have Year 1 and 2. Our learning journey is  as exciting and memorable as possible, following the Key Stage One Curriculum.  Each day, we do Phonics (following Read, Write Inc), Mathematics (following PowerMaths) and English, and two afternoon subjects. We really look forward to having Chesterfield Football Club teach us once a week too! We have such a fun, busy school day and put the children at the heart of our learning, with plenty of opportunities for learning through play. Each term, our work is formed around an exciting new  topic. See details of these outlined below:

Amazing things we are learning about!

Autumn Term – Childhood History

Our topic driver in Key Stage 1 for Autumn Term was called Childhood, which is a history based topic. This project taught children about everyday life and families today, including comparisons with childhood in the 1950s, using artefacts and a range of different sources. We learnt all about our own childhood and how we have changed, and the significant events that have happened since the 1950s including Queen Elizabeth and her coronation.

In English, the children have learned all about the Spelling and Grammar outlined on the Key Stage One National Curriculum in lots of fun, exciting ways. We also studied some fantastic children’s books this term, including Super Duper You, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Inside the Villain and many more.

For our Autumn Science lessons we had two projects, the first was ‘Human Senses’. The children will learn that humans are a type of animal known as a mammal. They named and counted body parts and identified similarities and differences. They also learnt about the senses, the body parts associated with each sense and their role in keeping us safe. Our second Science topic was ‘Everyday Materials’, where children learnt that objects are made from materials. They identifed a range of everyday materials and their sources. 

Related to this, in Design Technology, our Autumn topic was ‘Shade and Shelter’, which taught children about the purpose of shelters and their materials. They named and described shelters and designed and made shelter prototypes. The children  designed and built a play den as a group.

In Art, studied the colour wheel, colour theory and how to mix primary and secondary colours. Following this, we completed a project called ‘Funny Faces and Fabulous Features’ which taught the children about the concept of the portrait and how the collage technique can be used to make a portrait. Excitingly, we studied some portrait artists, including Pablo Picaso.

In Geography, our topic was ‘Our Wonderful World’ where we have learned all about map skills, the places in the United Kingdom, the continents and the oceans.

If you would like to read more about our topics, please follow the links to the knowledge organisers for our subjects below:

• History – Childhood Knowledge Organiser
• Science – Everyday Materials Knowledge Organiser
• Science – Human Senses Knowledge Organiser
• Geography – Our Wonderful World Knowledge Organiser
• Art – Mix It Knowledge Organiser
• Art – Funny Faces and Fabulous Features Knowledge Organiser
• DT – Shade and Shelter Knowledge Organiser
• RSE Health and Well-Being Year 1 and Year 2 Knowledge Organiser
• Computing – Computer Systems and Network Knowledge Organiser

Some great video links for the Childhood History topic include:

• BBC Bitesize - Childhood History Videos
• BBC - How transport has changed over the years
• BBC Changes within living memory - Then and Now

Spring Term - Bright Lights, Big City

Our main topic driver for Spring Term is ‘Bright Lights, Big City’. This project teaches children about the physical and human characteristics of the United Kingdom, including a detailed exploration of the characteristics and features of the capital city, London.

In Science, we will be doing the topic ‘Seasonal Changes’. This teaches children about the seasons, seasonal changes and typical seasonal weather and events. They learn about measuring the weather and the role of a meteorologist. Children begin to learn about the science of day and night and recognise that the seasons have varying day lengths in the UK.

Excitingly, linked to our Science topic, in Art we are doing the project ‘Rain and Sunrays’ which teaches children about collagraph printing, including how to develop a motif to make single and repeated prints. In DT, we are also doing a project called ‘Taxi’ where the class will learn about wheels, axles and chassis and how they work together to make a vehicle move.

In RSE, we are doing two topics: Economic Wellbeing and Citizenship. In Economic Wellbeing, the children will learn all about money, saving money and jobs that people do to earn a living. In Citizenship, we will learn all about democracy in school including the School Council and class rules.

In Computing, Class Two are learning about ‘Rocket to the Moon’, which is a skills showcase. In this unit, the children will use a computer to make a list, use graphic editing software to design a rocket, sequence instructions and eventually build a rocket and input data about this on a computer. We will also look at programming computers through Beebots.

If you would like to read more about our topics, please follow the links to the knowledge organisers for our subjects below:

• Science – Seasonal Changes Knowledge Organiser
• Geography – Bright Lights, Big City Knowledge Organiser
• Art – Rain and Sunrays Knowledge Organiser
• DT – Taxi Knowledge Organiser
• RSE Citizenship Year 1 and Year 2 Knowledge Organiser
• RSE Economic Wellbeing Year 1 and Year 2 Knowledge Organiser
  

Summer Term – School Days

In Summer, our subject driver is History and we will be learning about the topic ‘School Days’. This project teaches children about their own school and locality, both today and in the past. They compare schooling in the Victorian era to their experiences today. We hope to give them a real life Victorian school experience to enrich their learning!

In Science, we will be learning all about plant and animal parts. Our Plant Parts project will teach children about wild and garden plants by exploring the local environment. They will identify and describe the basic parts of plants and observe how they change over time. When learning about Animal Parts, children will classify  animals, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and invertebrates. They will identify and describe their common structures, diets, and how animals should be cared for.

In Art, we are going to be completing the topic ‘Street View’, which complements our study on Bright Lights Big City. This project teaches children about artwork depicting streets and buildings and focuses on the work of the American pop artist, James Rizzi. They create a 3-D mural based on Rizzi's work.

We will be completing a Food Technology unit in DT called Chop, Slice and Mash. This project teaches children about sources of food and the preparatory skills of peeling, tearing, slicing, chopping, mashing and grating. They use this knowledge and techniques to design and make a supermarket sandwich according to specific design criteria.

In RSE, we will be learning about Safety and the Changing Body where the children will be taught the scientific names for their body parts. We will learn about safe and unsafe adults and what types of physical contact are unacceptable. This is a really important unit and if you have any queries about the learning in it at all, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will also do some transitional work ready for the next year.

In Computing, the children will learn about digital imagery, and how to take effective photos, crop and edit these. We will also learn about data handling and how to make graphs and charts using a computer. We will represent animal themed data in lots of different ways by going on mini beast hunts and inputting our results.

If you would like to read more about our topics, please follow the links to the knowledge organisers for our subjects below:

• History - School Days Knowledge Organiser
• Science - Animal Parts Knowledge Organiser
• Science - Plant Parts Knowledge Organiser
• Art - Street View Knowledge Organiser
• DT - Chop, Slice and Mash Knowledge Organiser
• RSE - Safety and the Changing Body Year 1 and Year 2 Knowledge Organiser
• ICT - Digital Imagery Knowledge Organiser

Staff

In our classroom we are so lucky, this year to have Miss Hewitt joining us! Miss Hewitt is an ECT who has just finished her degree at Sheffield Hallam University. We are so excited to be with her at the start of her teaching journey and for all of the wonderful opportunities this will unlock for the children.

Miss May                         Miss Hewitt

Useful links for Key Stage One

Useful Documents and links
(please always check the website before a child uses it)