Autumn Term 2 - Whatever the weather

Key Events

• 3rd November - Fireworks
• 17th November - Children in Need
• 4th and 5th December - Christmas play
• 8th December - Christmas Jumper Day
• 12th December - Church visit
• 13th December - Disco and Grotto

Launch

The children were rushed into Hedgehogs after the school office received a phone call from a weather forecaster with a problem. He had just moved to the United Kingdom and is about to start his new job but he doesn’t know anything about the weather patterns in the UK. All the children were very keen to offer their help so we will be learning as much as we can about the weather.

Landing

The children will record their own weather reports using a green screen and an app.

Reading

During this learning journey, the children will learn to listen to and discuss a range of narratives, non-fiction and poetry, much of which will be beyond the level that they can independently read. The children will begin to appreciate different texts and develop their own likes, dislikes and preferences. They will also learn to sequence and retell some narratives, making links to their own experiences.

Writing

During this learning journey, the children will begin to improve the composition of their writing, now that the technical elements of sentence writing are secure. They will be taught to use adjectives to write coherent, interesting sentences by saying out loud what they are going to write about and composing a sentence orally before writing it down. The children will learn to sequence sentences appropriately in order to form short narratives. Once the children have finished any piece of writing, they will learn to re-read their sentences, in order to ensure that they make sense. They will develop confidence in discussing what they have written with the teacher and with other pupils and will begin to read their writing aloud clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.

Maths

During this learning journey, the children will gain a secure conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction. They will develop fluency when recalling and using number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20. In addition to using number bond knowledge, the children will apply their previously learned skill of counting forwards and backwards, in order to solve both addition and subtraction problems in a range of contexts. The children will gain the crucial knowledge that addition is a commutative process but subtraction is not and they will explore the inverse relationships between these two operations, using this knowledge to solve missing number problems.

Science

This half term, the children will begin their chemistry and physics learning journey. They will learn about the four seasons, observing changes, describing weather patterns and exploring how day length varies. The children will begin learning about materials and will use the scientific skills of identifying and classifying to learn to name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock. They will learn to distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made.

History

In this half-term, the children will continue to develop their understanding of chronology by moving on to the next step in their learning journey. Within this step, the children will learn about changes within living memory. The children need to know that living memory is the period of time that can be remembered by people who are alive today. The children will think about what life was like growing up in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. Then compare these periods to life today. The children will then apply their understanding of this to write about the King’s life and significant events and changes he may have seen.

Geography

In geography, the children will collect data, apply knowledge and use new vocabulary in order to describe daily weather patterns. They will then learn to describe the seasonal weather patterns that we typically experience in the UK.

Art and Design

The children will learn to use painting to develop their ideas, experiences and imagination, using a wide range of design techniques using colour. They will also explore a range of different painting tools and the mixing of different colours. They will create a winter scene inspired by Alma Thomas.

DT

The children will learn to build a structure and explore ways in which structures can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable. The children will use the story of the Three Little Pigs and will build their own houses, experimenting with different materials to find out which is stronger, stiffer and more stable.

Music

The children this half-term will explore, respond to and recognise patterns of long and short sounds. They will also join in with steady beats in music and create their own piece of music based on the theme Cold as Ice.

Computing

The children will be taught how to use technology purposefully in order to create, organise and store digital content. They will use a paint programme and different tools to draw a range of weather images. They will then learn how to save them so that the images can be retrieved.

RSHE

This term, the children are thinking about valuing differences. They will discuss the things that make them different and the same to their friends and why this is important. The children will then discuss the word “fair” and how things have to be fair so everyone stays happy. In relation to this, they will discuss what makes a good friend and the difference in the terminology of unkind, tease and bully. Finally, the children will discuss the people who are special to them and put some thought to why they are special to them.

PE

The children are on a journey to the moon this term! They will focus on using social skills to praise and encourage others. They will also learn how to sensibly work with others by taking turns and sharing. They will use this knowledge as a Skill by:

• Understand dynamic balances using agility.
• Jumping and landing (they will jump from 2 feet to 2 feet forwards, backwards and side-to-side.)
• They will begin to jump 2 feet to 2 feet using a quarter turn in both directions. Then jump from 2 feet to 1 foot.
• They will also recap seated static balances.

In dance, the children are working on personal skills. The goals are to: try several times and know when to he and to follow instructions and practise moves safely. The moves the children will be working on this term are:

• Artistry
• Partnering
• Circles
• Shapes

RE

For this term, the children will be thinking about journeys. Children need to know what a journey is and the vocabulary connected with a journey. They will know what is meant by a journey’s end and the emotions connected with different journeys. The children will then enquire about the Nativity journey. They need to know that the nativity journey’s end is important to Christians.