Welcome to Mars Class

On this page you can find out more about what your child is learning this half term at school. For more detailed information about the day to day learning please look at your child's class dojo page. 

PE will continue to be on a Monday and Wednesday. 

Homework

Spellings are sent home to be practiced and will be tested every Friday. Please practice them at least four times in the week with your child in a way that works best for them. Reading practice carried out at home- from the school given book and any other sources that appeal to your child- will benefit them greatly. Year Two will also bring home maths activities this half term. Reading comprehension activities will begin after half term for Year One and Two also.  I may occasionally also share resources or activities that I feel would benefit the children from both year groups to practise at home this will be on Class Dojo or on paper depending on the task. Homework books need to be brought in each Friday please.

English

In English, we will continue to use a wide range of traditional and modern stories, non-fiction texts and poetry to inspire the children. We will build the richness of the children’s language alongside their understanding and practical application of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Stamina for writing is also a significant focus this term as the children draw on their learning to produce longer pieces which show good understanding of the purpose and also the audience of their work.

Guided Reading and Phonics

Year Two will be continuing to work on retrieval and inference skills during  reading skills sessions as well as skimming and scanning for information. They will also be continuing to apply phonics understanding to developing knowledge of spelling rules and improving spelling skills.. Year One will continue their phonics learning and also begin to focus on independently using texts to answer questions.  

Maths

Year One will begin the term with a unit on multiplication and division which includes counting in 2s,5s and 10s and begins to explore equal groupings and arrays. Next, they will learn about halves and quarters of shapes and amounts in fractions. A unit on position and direction will teach them about turns, simple language for describing position and ordinal numbers. Our place value and number understanding will be extended to 100. The final two units of the academic year will teach them about coins, notes and counting coins in money and days, months, telling the time to the hour and half hour in time.

Year Two will begin the term by learning about grams, kilograms, litres and millilitres. They will then extend their fractions knowledge by learning in more depth about halves and quarters and also learning about thirds. They will also begin to develop their understanding of equivalent fractions. In the second unit, they will reinforce telling the time to the nearest hour and half hour before extending to quarter to and past and then to the nearest five minutes. During the unit on statistics, they will make and interpret tally charts, block diagrams and pictograms. The final unit is about position and direction developing their knowledge of turns and including an understanding of clockwise and anticlockwise when describing the amount of turn.

Science

In the first half of this term, our topic will be ‘Living Things and Their Habitats’. We will learn about what is required for something to be living or have been alive and the habitats of animals and how they are adapted to live in these. We will also learn about food chains. This topic builds very nicely on the learning that we have already done this year about animals including humans. The second topic of the term will be based on seasonal change. We will learn about the reasons for the changes that we observe over the seasons including weather, day length and the natural world. We will also begin to learn about the water cycle. 

History

This half term, we will be learning all about seaside holidays in the UK. We will begin with their rise to popularity during Victorian times then contrast them to the seaside holidays of the 1950s and the experiences of a stay at the seaside today. We will ask lots of questions and use a wide range of sources to answer them. 

Geography

In the second half of the term, we will use inspiration from the seaside history topic to learn more about the geographical features of seas and coasts. We will begin by learning the oceans and continents of the world before zooming in on the UK as an island and looking at the seas surrounding it. Then we will look even more closely at the features of UK beaches before comparing them to other beaches around the world.

Art

In the second half of the term, we will use inspiration from the seaside history topic to learn more about the geographical features of seas and coasts. We will begin by learning the oceans and continents of the world before zooming in on the UK as an island and looking at the seas surrounding it. Then we will look even more closely at the features of UK beaches before comparing them to other beaches around the world.

Design Technology

The design technology unit this term will be based on preparing fruit and vegetables. The children will be investigating a range of fruit and vegetables including how and where they are grown and will then design, make and evaluate a product for a class picnic.

PSHE

This term will focus on the themes ‘What helps us to stay healthy?’ and ‘What can we do with money?’. We will also be continuing to focus on growth mindset and our learning powers, which are closely linked. We will be thinking about what habits help us to keep ourselves healthy both mentally and physically. During our money work, we will be thinking about how to be responsible with money and what happens when we spend money. 

Computing

In Computing, we will begin the term by exploring the foundations of coding using programmable floor robots. After half term, the children will grow their knowledge by creating algorithms for them.

PE

PE will continue to be on Mondays and Wednesdays and will be based outside as much as possible.  Please make sure that your child is in the correct PE kit on both days including trainers and has suitable clothing for the weather.

Music

The first music unit is based on the idea of improvisation using music that makes people happy. We will be listening to music, playing instruments and even creating our own graphic score. The second unit gives us the opportunity to learn and perform songs focused on looking after our environment whilst further developing our instrument and improvisation skills.

RE

The first unit of the summer term is entitled ‘What can we learn from sacred books and stories?’. We will look at how the Holy Bible, the Torah and the Qur’an are special to followers of the religions before moving on to explore how stories are used in them to communicate messages . After half term, our topic is called ‘How and why do we celebrate significant times? What makes some celebrations sacred to believers?’. During this topic, we will learn about celebrations from a range of religions and the symbols, food and customs that accompany these.

Ways you can help at home

Alongside the information given in the homework section, please take every opportunity to practice basic skills of reading, writing and maths. Can they have a go at reading signs when they are out and about? Can they write the shopping list or, even better, full sentences in a note for someone? Please take the opportunity to reinforce number understanding as many ways as possible, for example: ‘How many carrots are in this pack? How many will there be if we eat one each?’ They could also help to weigh out ingredients for cooking etc. If you don’t have an analogue clock with clear numbers at home, consider getting one and referring to it often. Many of us only have digital clocks to refer to in our homes which means that developing understanding of telling the time is even harder for the children.

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