Year 2 - Anansi Spider & Huckleberry Finn

As readers

Our class book this half term is ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’.  We will be examining the book for clues to help us predict what will happen next and at the end of the story, as well as practising our interference skills throughout the reading of the text.  In addition, we will be beginning to understand new vocabulary that we will find in ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’.

As a key stage, we will be continuing to work on our reading using the Read Write Inc. Scheme.  The children will all be reassessed before the half term break, and if necessary, settled into their new groups at the start of the new half 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, ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’, we will start to learn how to debate different characters’ viewpoints, and how we can use different conjunctions to discuss these viewpoints.  We will be examining the illustrations of our chosen text and choosing appropriate adjectives to describe them.  To help us with our fiction writing piece, we will also be fine tuning our description skills using a variety of literary devices.  This leads on to the children’s fiction piece of the half term, writing a recount in the first person.

Using our geography topic ‘Let’s go on Safari’, we will be exploring similarities and differences of our lives in the United Kingdom to that of a Kenyan child and using this knowledge to write a non-fiction piece.

Key vocabulary: infer, deduce, predict, conjunctions, adjectives, first person.

 

 

As Mathematicians

We shall be continuing to exploring place value, discovering the different manipulatives we can use to support counting within 50.  The children will be learning to count in groups or 10, as well as partitioning numbers into tens and ones. In addition, we be investigating what digits change when finding one more or one less.

After that, we will be starting a new maths topic: length and height.  The children will be investigating how they know which object is longest, as well as learning how to measure those objects in centimetres.

We finish off the spring term with mass and volume: investigating whether large objects are always heavier than small objects, along with finding out about balance and measuring. In addition, the children will carry out investigations on capacity, such which container can carry the greatest amount of water.

Key vocabulary: add, plus, more, less, equals, take-away, subtract, minus, mass, length, height, centimetres, length, heavier, lighter, capacity, estimate, groups.

 

As scientists

In science, we will be observing animals; learning to identify and name some of the most common in our world, then sorting them using a given criteria. We will also be examining the diet of animals and identifying, naming and sorting animals into their food groups – herbivores, carnivores and omnivores.

We will also be examining how the seasons differ during the year.  We will observe the signs of summer and how day length varies throughout the year.  We will continue to build on what the weather is like during each season and delve into how environmental changes of our world has affected it.

Key vocabulary: changes, frost, bloom, robin, brood, territory, mate, spring, summer, autumn, winter, weather, hibernate, adapt, moulting, daylight, daytime, night-time, earlier, later, data.

 

As geographers

This term, our topic is ‘Let’s go on Safari!’ and we will be using atlas’ to find Africa and Kenya on a map, along with finding out about the climate and weather in Kenya. In addition, we will be recapping what compass points help us navigate a map.  Finally, we will be finding out what animals are native to Kenya and why and also comparing our lives here in the United Kingdom to those of Kenyan Children.

With our topic being Africa, we have arranged an African Explorer workshop, where the children can observe (and touch) and variety of different animals.

Key vocabulary: climate, weather, similarities, differences, navigate, compass.

As artists

Our topic this half term is ‘African Sunset’ where we will be examining and making Kente cloth wall hanging. 

Key vocabulary: primary colours, secondary colours, mixing, tones, bright, dark, material, vibrant, culture.