Summer Term Curriculum 2021

SUMMER 2

Our topic for summer 2 is: 'Memory Box'.

The topic teaches children about the changes over time, family and community. It develops children's knowledge and appreciation of local history, special memories, customs and traditions and growing up. 

English: 

This term in English we will be writing a poem based on the famous 'Magic Box' poem by Kit Wright. We will be writing an emotive story in weeks 3 and 4 and we will finish the year by writing a past and present narrative. As well as the main aspects of a super sentences such as capital letters, finger spaces and full stops, we will also be learning about and including in our writing: adjectives, extended noun phrases alliteration, apostrophes, speech and similes. 

Our focus book for reading VIPERS and for our emotive story will be Grandad's Island by Benji Davies. This book is beautifully illustrated and tackles a difficult subject with great sensitivity and depth. Other books we will be focusing on that coincide with our topic is The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and 'The Dinosaur that pooped the past!' by Dougie Poynter and Tom Fletcher.

Phonics and SPaG:

This term in phonics the year 1 children will be continuing with phase 5b and looking at the alternative sounds such as c/s, g/j and u. We will be revisiting phase 3 and phase 5 with flashcards each day, and doing lots of oral blending (sounding out) real words and alien words. The year 1 children would have had their phonics screening check around these next couple of weeks, however, due to the pandemic this has been postponed. It is looking likely that the children will have to do this in the autumn term when they move into year 2 so phonics and reading is still super important as always!

The year 2 children will continue with their SPaG lessons for 20/25 minutes each day. They will be looking at the suffixes -ness, -ment and learning how to spell further common homophones such as there, their and they're. Spelling is crucial at this point of year 2, and I am so proud of how the children are working hard on this, but they can also self-correct their work when we are writing which is a great skill to have at this age. Keep up the fab work year 1 and 2!

Maths:

In maths this summer 2 term we will be carrying on with completing reasoning maths mastery questions in maths. We call this challenge 3, and the children work really hard to build on their mathematical knowledge in each lesson. In year 1 the children will be finishing off the money unit of work before we move onto time. We will be learning about before and after, dates, time to the hour, time to the half hour, writing time and comparing time. In year 2 the children will finish their unit of work on weight and mass. We will be measuring mass, comparing mass, and measuring mass in grams and kilograms. After that, we will learn about capacity, millilitres, litres and temperature. 

Science:

In science this term we are going to be learning about our senses, and materials. Linked to our topic of memory box, we will be discussing things we had at home when we were a baby and how they could be sorted into sets. This will enable us to observe objects, materials, living things and changes over time sorting and grouping them into different features. We will have chances to explore our senses by touching, smelling, listening to and tasting things.

History:

Our topic 'memory box' is a history focus topic, therefore, we will be looking at different pictures and artefacts from the past. We will compose questions to find out more about the artefacts, and we will discuss and think about how people's lives are the same or different now compared to the past. We will also be looking at pictures and models of forms of transport through the ages, placing them in chronological order. We will talk about how transport has changed over time and use historical vocabulary associated with the passing of time. I will be asking everyone to bring in a baby picture of themselves over the next few weeks too and we can guess which child/adult is the baby!

Art and Design:

This term in art and design we will be producing family portraits, and making our own magic boxes which coincides with our English poetry unit of work. We would love to have an end of year picnic at some point this term, so hopefully if all goes well with the end of restrictions we can invite parents and grandparents to enjoy that with us and make some picnic food!

Religious Education:

In RE this term we will be continuing with special ways of living. We looked at the different celebrations that happen in a church, and we are hopefully going to visit East Hanningfield's church with Canon Christine at some point in the next few weeks. 

PE:

We absolutely loved our PE focus topic last term, and this term we still have our sports day to look forward to (hopefully 25th June). We are hoping parents will be allowed to enjoy this too, however, we will let you know as soon as we get any government guidelines in the next three weeks. We will be practising for sports day, and we will be completing a dance/gymnastics unit.

Homework/Spellings/Reading:

As always, homework will be sent out on a Friday and will be expected in by the next Friday. I will alternate the homework between English and maths each week. Spellings will also go out on a Friday, and then a little spelling test will be completed the next Friday morning. Everyone has individual spellings, and if your child does not get one correct they will just have the same spellings the next again week until they master spelling the word! Thank you for your continued cooperation with this- it seems to be working well, but if you have any feedback or would like it to be changed please let me know. Reading is fantastic in our class and I am so proud of how much the children read at home and how well they have progressed due to their hard work and enthusiasm. When I look at my phonics and spelling assessments from the beginning of the year to now it really shows the incredible hard work from the children. It really does make a huge difference reading at home! VIPERS questions will still be stapled into the children's books, so please refer to it when listening to your child read for extra dojo's too!

I cannot believe it is the last term of this school year, but we will continue to work hard and have lots of fun over these next 6 weeks  As the weather is getting warmer please remember to wear sun cream on arrival to school and bring a sunhat and a water bottle to school each day. 

If you need anything at all please get in touch through dojo or see me at the classroom door 

Miss Forman 

Welcome to the summer term in Doves class! 

Our topic for summer 1 is 'Teams'. 

English: Over the next seven weeks in English we will be creating an information booklet on Olympic sports, having a debate over the equality value in sport, and writing a character description based on our own invented mascots! In our reading skills (VIPERS) lessons our book focus is going to be 'After the fall- How Humpty Dumpty got back up again' by Dan Santat. This is currently one of the most popular books for ages 5-7, so I am looking forward to us getting stuck into this and looking at the vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summary questions we can answer. Some other texts we will be reading are 'The story of the Olympics' by Minna Lacey, and 'Ready Steady Mo!' by Kes Gray and Marta Kissi (if you love the Oi! books you will love this one!).

Phonics and SPaG:

Both year groups are separate for phonics and SPaG lessons, and I will alternate who I work with each week. Phonics is 20-25 minutes each day and the pace is quick! Our lessons for both year groups are planned to focus on revisit, teach, practise and apply. We learn 4 new digraphs/ spelling rules each week, and Friday is when we come together to practise reading common exception words and when the children practise their individual weekly spellings. 

This term, year 1s will be continuing with phase 5 phonics. We have recapped phase 5a and we will be moving onto phase 5b and phase 5c. It is so important to keep going over the phase 3 and 5 digraphs so that they are embedded in our brains, and we will be spotting them in words throughout our phonics lessons. Year 1 are really impressing me with their segmenting and blending of words, so keep it up superstars! 

Year 2 will be continuing with their lessons of spelling, punctuation and grammar. I had noticed big improvements with spelling last term, and the children were really getting to grips with certain spelling rules, so I am very excited to see how amazing they will be this term!

Maths: 

At this point in the year we are developing our mastery skills in maths even more by completing more 'reasoning' questions. The children are enjoying having different challenges to get to, and the quality as well as the quantity of maths work I am getting in each lesson is superb. 

In year 1 this term we will be moving onto a multiplication and division unit, fractions and geometry: position and direction. In year 2 this term we will be finishing our fractions unit, moving onto measurement: length and height, geometry: position and direction, and we will go back over division as a big part of this was in the lockdown.

Science:

In science this term we will be continuing with our unit of animals including humans. We have completed work on the life cycle of a plant and the human lifecycle before the Easter break, and now we will move on to the life cycles of a frog, a hen and a butterfly. I am hoping to get outside for some science lessons as the weather gradually gets better, so we can do some pond dipping and I would love to plant some vegetables with the children and get some planters for outside of our classroom. I am also going to link diet, exercise and the digestive system into these next few weeks as it fits nicely with our topic!

History:

Our topic of 'Teams' has some history within it, as we will be looking at the story of the Olympics and we will be learning lots about the ancient Olympic games. In our foundation subject lessons we will also be looking at the Olympic rings, the Olympic torch, Olympic medals, the Paralympics and the Olympics that are going ahead in Japan this year.

Art and Design:

This term in art we will be completing lots of different Olympic art using different resources and materials. I am really looking forward to doing some abstract art with the children using watercolour paints and we will be designing, producing and evaluating our own Olympic t-shirts to wear at our Olympic sports afternoon at the end of the topic. 

Religious Education: 

This term we will be comparing paintings of stories from the bible and explaining which artist portrays the meaning best. We will also be learning about special symbols and objects, and special places. We will focus on Christian values and look at the religion of Sikhism too. 

PE:

In PE this term we will be focusing on a different Olympic sport each week. We will be doing running relays and 100m sprint in the first week back which I am looking forward to! I think the children are going to beat me at some races that's for sure! At the end of week 7 (end of term) we will have an Olympic afternoon completing different sports and there will be medals and podiums for our ceremony after! Obviously we have swimming to look forward too as well this term, so we can see if we have any Michael Phelps or Rebecca Adlington's in Doves class!

Homework:

Homework will be back to normal from Friday 16th April. A new piece of either English or maths (alternated) will be given out and expected back in by the following Thurs/Fri. This will relate to the teaching in class from that week to build on the learning. Each child will have spellings individual to their own needs, and these will be practised every Friday morning too. Any spellings your child does not get correct will follow on to the next week. If they do get a spelling correct they will get the next lot needed to practise . 

As always reading is very important, especially in years 1 and 2, therefore, if you can read with your child at least 3 times a week it will really make a difference! I will print out the VIPERS questions for you all so it is easier to access rather than online. I have added to the class prize box, and I was so proud to see lots of Doves achieving their bronze, silver and even gold certificates at the end of last term!

I am really looking forward to working with year 1 and 2 this summer 1 term! As always if you need anything at all we are a school with an open door policy, so please come and speak to us if you need anything or if you have any questions/queries about your child or their learning.

Miss Forman