This term, our class text is ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, and the children will be working up to write a retelling of the story. We will be delving into the main characters and the setting, and developing our ability to describe. Now that we have a firm grasp of adjectives, the children will look at synonyms and how they can be used to make our descriptions more effective and interesting. 

The children will be examining the structure and feature of a narrative, in particular a fairytale, so that they are able to produce their own retellings. They will focus on setting, characters, opening, climax and the resolution, building on their work in previous terms. 

Again, great emphasis will be placed on handwriting this term, as children cannot be assessed as working at expected at the end of Key Stage 1 if they do not form letters correctly, starting and finishing in the right place, sized correctly compared to the rest of the letters, and use spaces between words. 

In Maths we will be exploring multiplication and division, learning how to use resources and different methods to help us solve calculations using these operations. The children will be practising counting in 2s, 5s, 10s and 3s so that they develop automaticity. 

Year 1 will be gaining confidence in using arrays in order to multiply and divide groups and ‘lots of’, while Year 2 will be growing more adept at written methods to present their work. They will be looking for patterns to help them solve real life problems, as well as knowing when to use inverse operations. 

In Science this term our topic is Plants. The children will look at what plants are and what they need to grow, examining both seeds and bulbs. We will learn that germination is the process where a seed begins to grow and changes into a seedling. We will spend some time comparing plants that receive light and water and those that don’t, building the understanding that healthy plants need light and water to grow. Finally, we will show what we have learned by explaining how bulbs and seeds work, using scientific drawing and/or diagrams in our writing to support our answer. 

In History this term we will be learning about the Tudors. We will look at the Tudor family tree and learn about each monarch and look at how they sought to shape England during their reign. We will practise being true historians by using historical sources, such as a portrait commissioned by Elizabeth I and a description of young Henry VIII, to understand how historians find out about the past. The children will be introduced to the facts of the English Reformation through storytelling and learn about how religion separated Edward VI and Mary I, before Elizabeth I ushered in what has been referred to as the ‘Golden Age’. 

This term in Art we will be studying landscapes and symmetry through the work of Turner and Constable. The children will study the different ways in which artists work, whether by sketching outside and then working in the studio, producing finished paintings outside or painting from their imagination. Our study of Turner’s work focuses on seascapes, and how Turner used bold brushstrokes to show rough and stormy seas. The children create and evaluate their own seascapes, giving them the opportunity to continue their exploration of how to apply paint in different ways, using sponges and large, bold brushstrokes to create a stormy sea and sky.

Our RE questions this term is: Is it possible to speak to God? In this unit, pupils will build on their understanding of the Muslim concept of God by considering how Muslims pray to God. They begin to ask philosophical questions about the concept of communicating with God. They deepen their understanding of the ways in which context affects being Muslim, as well as exploring some different ways in which all religious people pray.