Year 2 Spring 2024-25

Spring Term

 

Our new topic this term will be Amazing Africa!

Maths

In Maths this half term we are going to be starting the term on money and then continuing onto multiplication and division. You will be able to see the overview of each of these units and the vocabulary we will be using during these units. In the multiplication and division unit we will decide if groups are equal, add equal groups, form multiplication sentences, use arrays and make equal groups by grouping and sharing. 

English

 We will start the second half of the Spring term by learning how to write our own Kenning poems about animals found in Kenya.  

The next unit of work will be a recount, and a narrative text based on a story from another culture - 'Handa's Surprise'. 

In Spring 2 we will be delving into the world of dinosaurs and meeting Mary Anning. The children learn about why she was a significant person in relation to the discovery of dinosaurs. We will be learning about recounts and letter writing. 

Science

This term we are going to be learning about living things and their habitats. We will be focusing on living animals and plants and where they are best suited for the living conditions they need to survive. The knowledge organiser above will give you the vocabulary the children will be exposed to and for you to use whilst talking about animals and their habitats at home. These are some of the questions we will be exploring over the next few weeks:

  • Can they explain the differences between living and non-living things?
  • Can they decide whether something is living, dead or non-living?
  • Can they match certain living things to the habitats they are found in?
  • Can they describe how a habitat provides for the basic needs of things living there?
  • Can they describe a range of different habitats?

Physical Education

In PE we will be following the PE scheme ‘Real PE’ for cognitive learning and then the creative section. During the second PE session of the week we will be focusing on gymnastics during for our new scheme ‘Get set Go’ in spring 1 and moving onto target games in Spring 2.  

We will also be learning typical African dance moves and techniques to tie in with our Spring topic 'Africa'.

ICT

To kick start out ICT for this half term we are going to talking a lot about online safety and what it means to be safe online. This will include how to be safe when using search bars, emailing other people and what their digital footprint is and how to control this.

Art and DT

Art will be linked to our topic ‘Africa for this half term and we will be focusing on looking at African designs to learn how to weave on a paper loom. We will then also look at adding wax designs to materials and to see what happens in the process of batik.  

In Spring 2 we will be looking closely at fossils and using soap to carve our own fossil. We will be focusing on creating lines and marks in the material. We will also handle clay to create our own sculpture of a dinosaur. 

In DT the children will be learning how to papier-mache to create a volcano using different materials. Once the volcano is dry, the children will use paint to create the volcano texture and lava when they erupt. This will then feed into our Science sessions later in the term. 

Geography

Our Geography lessons will be focusing on the country of Kenya in Africa. 

 

We will learn to locate Africa and Kenya on a map. We will also compare the similarities between Kenya and the UK, explore what a National Park is, how tourism is important and the animals which live in Kenya. 

 

We will be focusing on the world and where different dinosaurs were found around the world. We will focus on the different continents, seas and areas of the UK.

Music

This half term we will explore African rhythms with djembe drums learning to call and respond and to improvise. We will learn to sing a traditional African song focusing and understand the traditions associated with story telling, music and dance in African culture.