This term:

In English we are looking at the texts:

• The Jolly Postman
• Dragon Post

In Mathematics:

Year 1's are learning Addition and Subtraction to 10 Place Value within 20 and within 50 

Year 2’s are learning Addition and Subtraction,  Multiplication and Division.

Our overall topic this term will be ‘Castles’

Foundation Subjects

This term we are covering the subjects; Science, Art, History, Religious Education (RE), Music, PE, PSHE and Computing. 

 

In History, we are looking at why castles were built, the parts of a castle, what Medieval Britain was like, some famous castles and William the Conqueror.

 

In Science, we are looking at seasonal changes and the weather.

 

In Art, we are looking at drawing (lines and mark making).

 

In RE, we are looking at ‘Who is an inspiring person?’

 

In Music, we are looking at the musical elements of Pitch and Beat through the topics of water and toys.

In Computing, we are looking at on-screen programming through ScratchJr. We will explore the way a project looks by investigating sprites and backgrounds and use programming blocks to use, modify, and create programs. We will look at early stages of program design through the introduction of algorithms.

In Physical Education (PE), we are looking at Gymnastics and using ‘Jasmine PE’ we will look at the ‘Cognitive’ skill element and focus on dynamic and static balance.

In PSHE, our work will be based around ‘Dreams and Goals’.

Week 1

It was lovely to have all the children back nice and refreshed after the Christmas Holidays. This week we have started looking at 2 key texts, The Jolly Postman in English and The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark in Guided Reading. In English, we wrote a letter to Mrs Rhodes persuading her to keep the Christmas decorations up all year around.  In Maths, we continued looking at addition and subtraction. In the afternoons, we have taken part in Music lessons where we used tuned and percussion instruments to make sounds like waves. We even had time to start rehearsing our production! We are excited to perform it on the last week of this term!

Week 2

This week the Year 1’s started a History unit on castles and the Year 2’s started the rehearsals for our production. We were very impressed with all the children that have already learned their lines off by heart. In English, we have been looking at the features of letters and have started to recognise the difference between formal and informal letters. In Maths, we have been looking at addition using numberlines and Dienes. We also started our Science unit on seasonal changes and have set up a weather experiment where we will be checking the amount of rainfall and the temperature over the next 4 weeks. On Wednesday it was RE day where we were looking at the question, 'Who is an inspirational person?' We looked at the religious leaders Jesus and Moses and considered what qualities they had that made them inspirational people who others wanted to follow. 

Week 3

This week we have been looking at different ways of travelling in our PE lessons. In English, we have been writing to persuade, have described things in the classroom by using expanded noun phrases and written statements about ourselves. In Maths, some children have been consolidating their knowledge on addition and subtraction to 10, ready to start our numbers to 20 next week. Year 2’s have been learning how to add 2 digit numbers together using dienes. We have continued to learn more information about castles in History and the seasons in Science. Year 2’s just a reminder please, remember to be practising your lines!

Week 4

This week in Nightingale we started our art sessions. We learnt about the artist Bridget Riley and how she makes optical illusions. We had a go exploring different lines to make marks and drawing our favourite using black paper and coloured chalk. We also looked at the wave art created by Zaria Forman. We drew a collaborative wave picture whilst listening to music by Debussy called 'La Mer'. In English, we read the story 'Dragon Post'. We pretended that the dragon had come into our classroom and destroyed all of our resources, so we had to write him letters to persuade him why he shouldn’t destroy them. In PSHE, we worked with a partner towards a joint goal.  Year 1’s finished the history topic about castles by designing and making their own castles out of paper. Whilst the year 2’s continued to do some amazing rehearsing for our production which is only 2 weeks away!!

Week 5

This week in Nightingale class we have been busy practising and putting the final touches to our play, Pirates versus Mermaids. We cannot wait to perform it to you next week. In English, we have started looking at the features of non-chronological reports and we wrote captions for pictures. In Maths, Year 1 have been looking at place value to 20 and Year 2 have been learning how to subtract 2 digit numbers with exchange. We have also been continuing with our art lessons where we have been looking at the work of Wassily Kandinsky and creating overlapping shape pictures using different media. In PE we have been learning to travel in different ways and in PSHE, we learned how we need to stretch our thinking to strive for our goals.

Week 6

This week has been a very exciting but busy week in Nightingale class.  We have performed our production of Pirates Versus Mermaids with the rest of Year 1/2! All of the adults are so proud of all the children and  their acting, singing and dancing was amazing. We hope you enjoyed our show if you came to see it. In English,  we have continued to look at the features of a non-chronological report and started to write some sub-headings about our favourite animals. In Maths, the  Year 2’s have continued to look at subtracting 2 digit numbers with exchanging and the Year 1’s have continued exploring numbers to 20.  We hope the children have a lovely, well deserved half term.