Autumn Term Curriculum 2020
Our topic for Autumn 2 is 'Bright Lights Big City'.
English:
Our class book for this term will be 'Katie in London' by James Mayhew. In the first 3 weeks we will be making lift and flap posters all about London, we will be writing a recount focusing on time adverbials. For the rest of the term we will be writing a character description, and a set of instructions on how to make sea biscuits looking at imperative verbs or bossy verbs! In our reading skills lessons we will be looking through the book 'Toby and the Great Fire of London' by Margaret Nash and Jane Cope to develop our vocabulary, inference, predictions, explanation, retrieval and summarisation skills.
Phonics:
Year 1 will begin to learn the phase 5 digraphs and some spelling patterns. We will be focusing on the year 1 common exception words as part of their spellings each week for homework. It is still crucial to embed the learning of the phase 3 digraphs, therefore, we will be revisiting these at the beginning of each phonics lesson through flashcards. These are in your child's phonics booklet, so if you would like to practice at home please do so!
Year 2 will be practicing phase 3 and phase 5 real and nonsense words. They will do their phonics screening check with me this half term, and results will be given to you at parents evening. It is absolutely nothing to worry about, and the children are really used to doing these- they love the monster aliens! Again, the children have these digraphs in their phonics booklet so please do practice at home if you can! Once we have got through this, we will move onto the spelling rules and patterns of phase 6. There are no new digraphs to learn in this phase.
Maths:
Year 1 will be finishing their block of subtraction before we move onto recognising and sorting at 2D and 3D shapes. We will also be working with numbers from 11-20, writing numbers in words, tens and ones, comparing objects, numbers, ordering groups of objects and ordering numbers.
Year 2 will be working on column addition and subtraction before we move on to money, comparing money, finding the total, the difference and the change. We will also be recapping bonds to 100 and addition and subtraction skills in our quick maths after lunch each day.
Science:
We will be continuing our work on plants by making cress heads, looking at plant habitats and the flowering plant life cycle. We will also do some work on everyday materials, particularly looking at leather! All be revealed why when we start our history part to our topic. We will also be reviewing our knowledge on the different seasons we experience as time moves on.
History:
In this topic we have a big history focus of The Great Fire of London! I really enjoy teaching children about this, and there are lots of fun activities we can do with it, so I hope the children enjoy history this term. We will begin by looking at the historic features and landmarks of London, then we shall move onto the chronology of events of The Great Fire of London, and we will compare London then to now.
There are some Geography aspects to this topic as well, and we will be looking at the famous landmarks of London, and learning about the countries and capital cities that make up the United Kingdom.
Art:
We will complete some firework art and remembrance day art to coincide with these dates, and then we will focus on colour mixing, make silhouette skyline pictures, queen portraits and a collage of The Great Fire of London using tissue paper.
Religious Education:
This term in RE we will be looking at special people and special words and stories. We will be learning about Judaism, and of course the Christmas story.
PE:
In PE this term it will be Team sports! Our PE lessons will be outside, therefore, especially as the weather is going to be a lot colder please ensure your child has a hoody (preferably navy/dark blue) with a white polo top and some joggers with trainers.
Homework:
Homework will still continue to be handed out on a Friday, and will be expected back in by the next again Friday. I will rotate homework each week as to whether it is Maths or English, and spellings will be given each week.
Thank you for all of your continued support with homework over the last term!
Reading at home is equally as important, and I was so pleased to see the children enjoying our class system of 'reading stars'. The children will be pleased to know that I have stacked up the prize box, and I am sure lots of you will be reading 3 times or more! We had 2 children in our class achieve the bronze badge in school for reading 50 times this half term, and so many children were really close to that so this half term I think we will have so many children get into the bronze club or even the silver club!
I am looking forward to another great term of what I hope will be a fantastic topic for the children. Of course we have Christmas to look forward to as well! As always please always message by email, on Dojo, or see me at the classroom door if you have any questions!
Miss Forman 
Our topic for Autumn 1 is 'The Enchanted Woodland'.
English:
Our book focus for this term will be The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. We will be writing non chronological reports on woodland creatures, writing poems about autumn, incorporating our senses, and we will plan and write magical stories set in an enchanted woodland. In our reading skills lessons we will be looking at the book 'The Bog Baby' by Jeanne Willis to develop our vocabulary, inference, predictions, explanations, retrieval and summarisation skills.
Phonics:
Phonics and reading play a big part during year 1 and year 2. At the beginning of the term I will assess each child to see where they are working at within phonics, and I will then put any necessary interventions in to help support your child with their reading. In year 1 we will be revisiting the phase 3 digraphs, and focusing on the year 1 common exception words. In year 2 we will be revisiting the phase 5 digraphs before we move onto the spelling patterns in phase 6. We will also be focusing on the year 2 common exception words.
Maths:
This term in maths we will be learning about place value.
In year 1 we will be looking at place value to 10, which includes sorting objects, counting objects, comparing objects, and ordering numbers. In year 2 we will be looking at place value to 50, which includes comparing numbers, reading and writing numbers in numerals and words, and ordering numbers and objects. We will have various challenges in class that follow the CPA (concrete, abstract, pictorial) approach to maths.
Throughout this term I will begin to introduce TT Rockstars to our class. This is a fantastic site that helps to support children with their times tables.
Science:
In science this term we will be learning about plants. We will be looking at different plants and their structure, children will get the chance to do some planting and will learn what plants need to grow and survive. We will identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, and we will also learn about deciduous and evergreen trees.
Geography:
Our topic this term is geography based, and so we will be using vocabulary to refer to human and physical features. We will be carrying out simple fieldwork to study the geography of our school and the surrounding areas, and we will be looking at maps and compasses, using locational and directional language. In addition to this, we will look at forests in the UK and compare them to that of the Amazon rainforest.
Art:
We are going to get very creative in Doves class this term! We are going to look at the artist Andy Goldsworthy and his natural art, making our own creations outside. We are going to paint and draw woodland creatures, create watercolour paintings of leaves, and make faces in clay!
Design and technology:
We have some very exciting D&T lessons planned for this term- we are going to have to squeeze it all in!
We are going to design and make a nest for a woodland creature, design and make a woodland crown, and make some twig photo frames with twine!
Religious Education:
This term we will be learning about special people and special things in nature. We will be focusing on What makes us special? Who is special to us? How do we make people feel special? How can we take care of the natural world? Towards the end of this term we will learn about harvest time and celebrate this.
PSHE:
This term we will be welcoming the children back to school, and we will ensure that they feel safe, settled and happy back into the routine of school life. In addition to this, we will focus on the roles of different people and families/friendships. We have a lovely 'Doves Calm Corner' set up in our classroom where children can write any worries they have and feed them to the worry monster. I also have some fantastic PSHE books on feelings and emotions to use in our classroom.
PE:
In PE this term we will be doing multi skill sports. Our lessons will be held outside, so therefore please ensure your child has a pair of plain dark-coloured joggers, and preferably a dark-coloured hoody. Children should come into school with their kits on when it is our PE day. Our day will be Fridays.
French:
We are going to begin by learning about France, the food, culture and its special landmarks. We will learn simple greetings such as how to say hello, goodbye, how are you? We will learn the days of the week and the numbers to 10.
Music and Computing:
Mrs Thomas will be teaching music and computing on Tuesday afternoons whilst I have my planning time. In music we will be following a sequence of lessons about rhythm and beats to certain types of music, and towards the end of the term we will begin to think about......CHRISTMAS!
In computing we will be exploring purple mash and online safety.
Homework:
Every Friday the children will get either an English or maths piece of homework to complete each week. This needs to be completed and handed in on or before the next again Friday, otherwise they will need to complete this in their golden time.
Children are expected to read their school reading books at home to help support their fluency in reading. We will have a reading challenge each week in our class- so if your child reads 3 times or more within a week (Friday- Friday) they will receive a prize. Please ensure that your childs reading record is signed so we can update the 'reading star' display which is in our reading snug located in the classroom every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
I hope you are all as excited as me to get started in our learning through this topic!
If you have any queries or questions about next term you can always contact me on Class Dojo, come and see me at the classroom door, or make an appointment at the school office.
Miss Forman 