Autumn Term- cycle 1

Dear Parents,

In this term we shall be following a unit of work on a theme which focuses on ‘Light and Dark.’ In the first half of the term we shall be looking at Celebrations and Festivals including the story of the Great Fire of London, electricity and electrical appliances and in the second half, making circuits, finding out about the Gunpowder Plot, Divali and the Christmas story. Each unit of work is based around specific targets derived from the learning goals for one or more of the subjects.

During this work we will be focussing on History, Science, Art, Design & Tecnology, Music, RE, Literacy and Information Communication & Technology in particular.

In Design & Technology we will be;

• Exploring, making and designing working circuits with bulbs and buzzers to incorporate into a working model e.g., robot, torch.
• Using secondary sources of information
• Observing and recording

In History we will be;

• Asking and answering questions about events and stories in the past.
• Identifying differences between living today, clothes, buildings etc and those of the past.
• Asking children to find out about events that led up to The Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Gunpowder Plot , discussing and making suggestions to how they could have been prevented, if at all. Using drama based activities to re-enact scenes from these stories.
• Placing events on a timeline.

In Science we will be;

• Looking at appliances that need electricity.
• Health and Safety issues when using electricity.
• Investigating circuits learning the names for the different parts eg crocodile clips, battery, wire etc.
• Exploring and identifying, predicting what will happen if a circuit is not connected properly.

In Art we will be;

• Painting and producing their own pictures and collages.
• Textiles, printing and stencilling.
• Looking at tone and colour, including light and dark.

In Literacy we will be;

• Looking at `Long Ago and Far Away’ a Spiral Curriculum unit which focuses on recounts and reports.
• `Poems By`.This unit is drawn from a range of poems including one significant author.
• `Telling us what to do` .Using simple non-fiction texts including signs, labels, lists and instructions.

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• `Finding Out` using dictionaries and other information texts, some arranged alphabetically.
• Guided and Individual reading will continue as ongoing. It helps your child enormously if you can read a little and often at home and work through their individual spellings as set out in the Wardrobe of Words. Please ask if unsure.
• Letters and Sounds program is a high quality phonics program used in conjunction with the Revised Literacy Strategy. As a class we focus on one particular sound and all it’s variations and uses within words. A new sound is investigated daily.

In Numeracy we will be;

· Investigating Shape and Space.2D/3D names and features.

· Counting Properties of number and number sequences.Yr1 learning number names to 20 and Yr2 to 100.Extending sequences and counting in 10’s from any 2 digit number.

· Place value and Ordering.Yr1 writing numbers from 0-20 at least and Yr2 initially to 100 then 1000.

· Understanding + and -.Identify near doubles. Using mental strategies. Begin to use + = and – signs. Yr1 Know by heart addition facts to 5,Yr2 to 10

In ICT we will be;

• Using laptops and Interactive Whiteboard to access internet and ‘Espresso’ units of work.
• Using a word bank to write and print out own work.
• Word processing to display our findings.
• Finding Information.

In RE we will be;

• Researching how other religions celebrate e.g. Jewish Sukkot, Christians Harvest/Bonfire Night/Christmas, Hindu Divali.

All of the work we are going to do has been specially written to help your children reach the learning goals. Children will work individually, with a friend, in a small group or as part of a large group, researching, interpreting and presenting information and ideas.

There will be opportunities for participating in role play and presentations to develop speaking and listening skills. We will be checking, assessing and evaluating how well your child has learned through particular activities throughout the unit and by asking children to explain their work.

We may ask for your support in helping your child with this unit in different ways. Please support and advise your child with your interest, experiences and enthusiasm, but do not complete the work on his or her behalf! Your child may ask you about your childhood in your home country, about what you did when you where young, and how changes in society have affected childhood activities. They may need help interpreting information about current scientific developments or ask your opinion about specific subjects. It may be useful to listen to or watch the news with your child, especially with regard to international development or scientific developments,

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breakthrough or news on controversial issues. Children may also be asked, on occasion, to bring in items from home. This is in conjunction with the Linked Learning Homework grid of which Yr1 are expected to complete 5 activities per term and Yr2 are expected to complete 6 activities per term.

By the time your child has worked through this unit, we hope they will have achieved all of the learning targets. We hope that they have a greater understanding of their world and its interconnections and have enjoyed the learning activities. If you have any comments about the work your child is going to do, please get in touch.

Thank you

Mrs Taffs