Arctic Explorers Topic- January 2020

 Geography

In Geography children will explore the Arctic Circle using a map and will be investigating the countries within the circle. They will be discovering the Arctic climate by describing the difference between summer and winter in the Arctic using weather icons.

Children will be identifying the physical features found in the Arctic and will be  finding out which animals live in the Arctic and where they are found by using and reading maps. Children will be exploring different Arctic cities and the countries they are found in as well as comparing an Arctic town to a city in the UK.

Science

In Science children will be grouping and identifying characteristics of Arctic animals. We will be exploring the habitat of the Arctic and how animals have adapted to their surroundings. We will conduct a scientific experiment looking at the purpose of blubber and children will also be investigating ice and its properties by making observations and recording ideas.

Children will be experimenting with an ‘iceberg’ to see how it floats and behaves in different conditions.

History

In History children discover the way the traditional Inuit lived over 1000 years ago and will be challenged to think about how the Inuit culture has changed over the years. They will then use key words to describe the Inuit culture and compare the past and present lifestyles.

Art

In art we will be investigating the colours in Arctic landscapes. We will learn about the Aurora Borealis formations and using different art materials to recreate it. Finally we will be exploring Inuit sculptures and prints and describing the shapes and colours used in them.

DT

During DT we will design, make, test and evaluate a model Inuit boat.

PE

In PE we will be exploring Inuit dances and dance sequences and creating

dance moves for the Arctic animals studied.

Music In music we will be listening to Inuit throat singing and music and having a go ourselves!

Autumn Equinox

The way the sun, Earth and Moon move around in relation to each other gives us our day and night, our spring, summer, autumn and winter.

The Earth itself is tilted as it moves around the sun. The tilt is very important because it means at certain times of the year more of one part of the Earth is facing the sun than at other times. This tilt gives us our seasons.

In June the northern part of Earth is tilted towards the sun meaning we get the most hours of sunshine giving us short nights and the longest day of the year.

In September, the Earth has moved further around the sun and now the tilt means the sun is facing the middle of the Earth. The rays of sun are shining on the Northern and Southern parts of the Earth equally. This means we get about the same hours of day time and night time.

We call this time of year autumn, and the day of the year when we have the most equal day and night is September 23^rd and is called the Autumnal Equinox.

After the Autumnal Equinox the tilt of the Earth means we get fewer of the sun’s rays shining on our part of the world each day. The days get shorter and the nights get longer all the way through to the shortest day of the year at the Winter Solstice in December.

Excellent websites for children.

Class 2 webpage for year September 2018- July 2019

Excellent websites for children.

                                                        Spring Term 2019

 This term children will learn about the Great Fire of London as an event beyond living memory. They will also consider ways in which we find out about the past using a variety of sources, for example the diary of Samuel Pepys and contemporary art. They  will be introduced to thinking about the reliability of sources.

Spellings will continue to be handed out on Mondays in preparation for testing on the following Monday. I attach a pdf of the weekly spellings on the class 2 page of the school website every week in case the spellings get lost.

Maths homework will be sent home on Mondays and needs to be returned by Friday of the same week so that I can mark and prepare books for handing back the following week. Maths homework will be for Year 2's only this term. ( I have included a maths booklet detailing all of the methods and knowledge the children will need for their upcoming SATs).

PE will be on Wednesday and Friday and children will need outdoor PE kits as we will be doing hockey for this term. (Please send gloves and scarves too).

Woodland school is now on Thursday afternoons.

Daily phonics, spelling and cursive handwriting lessons will continue and this term we are learning to join our handwriting.

Parents evening is during the week commencing 1st April 2019 and I look forward to seeing you all then. In the meantime if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me .

Best wishes and a Happy New Year.

Miss Curtis

Class 2 have had a wonderful time reading ‘Coming Home’ by Michael Morpurgo. They have learnt about migrating robins from Scandinavia and the perilous journey they make every year to return to the UK.

They have made ‘ bird cakes’ to feed the Callow End robins over the Winter and have each written a set of instructions on how to make them during literacy lessons . 

They have made their own robins from felt in design and technology and used them to create a colourful display border for our working wall. 

This afternoon we went out into the beautiful new sensory garden and hung their bird feeders from the trees. We then waited quietly in the shelter for our first red-breasted visitor , the children were enthralled and I have never seen them so quiet! 
Well done Class 2 , what a wonderful effort you have all made and how lucky your little robins are.