Welcome to Year 2.
Welcome back! Most of our lessons this term will focus on the Bowes Museum. It is such an iconic building with an incredible story. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful building right on our door step!
English
In English, we will be reading books by Roald Dahl, including George’s Marvellous Medicine and Revolting Rhymes. We will be creating our own marvellous medicines and revolting rhymes as well as planning and writing character descriptions. We will then look at some alternative traditional tales.
Maths
We are starting off with the basics in maths, spending a lot of time on number and place value, moving onto addition and subtraction in the second half term. We are following the Teaching for Mastery approach which will further develop our reasoning and problem solving skills.
Science
In the first half term we are looking at living things and their habitats. We will investigate our local habitat and find any hidden microhabitats as well as looking at a range of habitats around the world. We will create fact files about the different animals living in hot and cold habitats. In the second half term we will be looking at Everyday Materials, investigating their properties and suitability.
History
We will be learning all about the history of John and Joséphine Bowes and why they are such significant people in Barnard Castle. We will find out about John and Joséphine’s lives, how they met and why they decided to build The Bowes Museum. The children will hopefully get the opportunity to visit the Bowes Museum.
Geography
We will be studying the geography of our local area this term. We will be looking at the human and physical features of Barnard Castle, using compass directions and creating a map of the Bowes Museum grounds.
RE
We will be looking at the significance of light in religions. In the first half term we will be studying Hinduism and looking at the festival of Diwali. In the second half term we will learn why light is important to Christians at Christmas time.
Art
In art, we will focus on improving our drawing skills by taking part in a whole school “big draw”. Children will be sculpting their own clay birds, inspired by the ‘Silver Swan’.
DT
In DT we are going to design and create a story board using sliders and levers to create movement.
Music
In this unit, pupils consider how timbre and rhythm can be used to represent animals. We will listen to Wiseman’s Carnival of the Endangered Animals and compare music that represents various animals. The children will then create short pieces, recording these on graphic scores to represent a chosen animal.
PE
We begin the year focussing on Fundamental Movement Skills, particularly working on throwing, catching ad kicking.
Later in the term we will be working towards our amazing dance in preparation for the Dance Off!
