Year 2 - Anansi Spider & Huckleberry Finn
As readers
Our class book this half term is The Queen’s Wardrobe – a story of Queen Elizabeth II and her clothes. We will be reading this non-fiction text as a class while considering the historical importance of the late Queen’s fashion across the ages.
Children who have graduated from the Read Write Inc. (RWi) scheme of reading will be continuing with whole class reading with their class teacher, reading and understanding a range of short texts around the subject of the monarchy of the UK. Those on the RWi scheme have been reassessed, and if necessary, will be settled into their new groups at the start of the new term. Parents should expect to receive a copy of the reading book the children are currently reading in their phonics groups, as well as a ‘Book Bag’ book.
As writers
Using our book, The Queen’s Wardrobe, we will be continuing to build on our descriptive skills ready for our ‘big write’ – a biography of the late Queen Elizabeth. Within this write, we will describe the Queen’s dress throughout the ages from birth to her coronation.
Key vocabulary: expanded noun phrases, past tense, suffixes
As mathematicians
In maths, we will be continuing a measurement topic, starting with capacity and volume, then finishing with temperature. After that, we start learning about fractions with a focus on 1/2, 1/4, and 3/4. Children will learn the difference between unit and non-unit fractions and begin to understand equivalent fractions, such as 1/2 and 2/4 using concrete and pictorial representations. For our last topic of the half term, children will learn how to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes.
Key vocabulary: millilitres, litres, full, empty, half full, half empty, estimate, Celsius
As historians
We will be looking at the role of the monarch across the ages, starting with Queen Elizabeth 1, then Queen Victoria and finally Queen Elizabeth II. We will look at the duties of Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace along with the major changes of the industrial revolution during Queen Victoria’s reign. We will then be comparing these with the discoveries during the 20th century and Queen Elizabeth II reign.
Key Vocabulary: monarch, reign, timeline, generations, ambassadors, empire, inventions, compare.
As scientists
We are starting our new topic, Plants, to link with the beginning of spring. We will examine different seeds and bulbs and begin to understand seed dispersal in the wild. We will consider the different conditions that effect germination and observe plants as they mature.
Key vocabulary: seed, germinate, shoot, seedling, bulb, growth, dispersed, light, shade, sun, warm, cool, water, space
