Hello, Elm Class! We are so excited to get to know you all and watch you grow this year.
We have a lot of exciting activities coming up this year, including the return of Mrs Ormes after Christmas. We are sure she can’t wait to meet you all. Also, we have a range of trips taking place, from a local walk to the war memorial in Darlaston to a class trip to our nearest city, Birmingham. There will also be a special visit from the outreach team at the Black Country Living Museum as well as a visit from the local fire fighters.
We commence our journey in English with the story The Troll by Julia Donaldson. The children will use adjectives to describe settings and characters before writing a postcard. We will then move on to reading Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, where the children will use their descriptive techniques to create a wanted poster for pesky Mr Fox before moving on to writing a set of instructions on how to catch a fox. In the spring term, we will start by reading Vlad and the Great Fire of London by Kate Cunningham. This historical fiction links really well with our History topic. We will then move on to looking at contemporary and adventure stories leading up to the children writing their own story.
Over the course of the year in Maths, we will be learning the 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x and 0x tables. Our topics will start with building on our knowledge of place value, by looking at numbers within 100. We will also cover the four operations, 2D and 3D shapes and the basics of fractions and time.
In Science, we will be starting the year by learning about living things and their habitats. We will expand on this by looking at habitats around the world. Then, we will learn all about animals (including humans), looking in particular at growth and life cycles. We will then start looking at plants going into the summer term, before ending on learning about everyday materials.
In Geography, we are finding out more about our local area, using maps to learn more about the human and physical features that make up our local environment. After Christmas, we will develop this further by looking at our local city, Birmingham, and comparing it to Cape Town in Africa. Finally, we will be looking at the continents of the world by doing a case study of a country in each continent.
History begins by learning about Remembrance and why it is important to remember those who gave their lives for their country. Then, we will start to learn about Guy Fawkes and the reason why we have Bonfire Night. In the spring term, we will learn all about the Great Fire of London by looking at various accounts of what happened, the effect it had on the people of London and how it shaped the future of housing and firefighting. We will then carry out our local study, examining the life of Sister Dora.
For autumn term, in DT, we will learn a textiles topic, where we will sew a poppy linking to our History topic on Remembrance. Then, we will complete our cooking topic. The children will learn about food safety and create their own pizzas. In the spring term, we will be learning about structures and we will create our own Tudor house, which again links to our History topic. In the summer term, we will learn all about mechanisms, looking at a range of vehicles before creating our own model of a car.
In RE, we will continue to study a range of religions, building on our knowledge from Year 1. We will also develop our learning in PSHE by thinking about our dreams and goals for the year, as well as discussing what makes a good friend.
Computing will start by learning the basics. We will begin to learn how to touch type and then move on to copying and pasting and screenshotting. We will then move on to programming, where we will learn the basics of creating a sequence. In the summer term, we will learn how to create pictograms. Online safety will be covered throughout the year.
PE starts with basketball and gymnastics, before moving on to dance and tennis. Finally, in the summer, the children will practise their athletics skills in preparation for Sports Day as well as learning kick rounders.
In Music, we will continue learning through our Charanga lessons and begin to learn how to play the recorder. Over the course of the year, we will be learning a song from the genres of rock, pop, and South African music.
General Reminders
Our PE days are Wednesday and Thursday. Please ensure your child has their PE kit in school on these days. Joggers need to be worn for outdoor PE on a Wednesday in the colder months.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the children have Little Wandle reading sessions in class. They will then bring this book home each day so that they can read it with you. Please bring the book to school every day.
Please ensure your child has a named water bottle in school.
Please ensure your child’s uniform is named so that if they lose an item we can return it to them.
If you have any questions, please find us on the playground at the end of the day. We are more than happy to help.
Mrs Hadley, Mrs Ormes, and Mrs Pitcher
