Mayfield Primary SchoolYEAR TWO: SUMMER TERM
OUR YEAR TWO DURING SUMMER TERM
OUR CORE INTENTION IN ACTION
SUMMER TERM 'WHEN I GROW UP...' THEME: KINGS, QUEENS & CASTLES
A 'When I Grow Up' Summer Summary
When I Grow Up... started with a special Stunning Start day in costume, as we all dressed as a king, queen, princess or knight to mark the launch of our brand new Kings, Queens & Castles theme. Whilst our school curriculum looks at periods of history chronologically from year 3 onwards, in years 1&2 we take a closer look at people and their achievements/actions. This theme introduces our children to the likes of Henry VIII and Queen Victoria before they re-visit these characters and learn all about their times and the events that shaped them in Key Stage 2. We also took the opportunity to study castles during this term as they provided such an important aspect of the life of rulers in British history. At the end of the term, we invited our families in to see a special 'Kings & Queens Show' celebrating our work and our new found knowledge about the historical rulers of our country in order to see the people we have studied as our special Parent Celebration.
We have been busy with measurements this term in Mathematics. Looking at height, capacity, mass, time and temperatures. Learning how to read simple scales accurately during our practical and written work. Our English work led us to create our own stories inspired by The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson. We then moved on the study poetry and created our own based upon our locality - the seashore. We completed the term with the most popular piece - which was writing a explanation piece all about castles (how they appear and their design and uses).
We have been busy planning, designing and creating a banquet in royal/regal style for our Design & Technology work this term. In this food related theme, we looked at how to prepare food, choose an appropriate balance of food types and consider differing tastes and food combinations. Our Art centred upon the design and creation of ceramic pots in the style of those used in castles in centuries gone by and by the figures studied during the term. We also looked at the ceramist: Clarice Cliff and her designs and use of shape and colour. We were composing fanfares during our Music work this term. We were inspired by the idea of music preceding the arrival and departure of Kings and Queens both past and present. We have continued developing our fundamental skills in Physical Education and been working on our tennis and athletics outdoors during the second half of the term.
Science was all about testing everyday materials. We looked at why items in our home and school were made from particular materials. We have carried out fair tests to understand why certain properties match their purpose and discovered much more about why we make the choices we do when building and creating designs as a result of this.
History was a major driver for our theme this term and we continued with our study of people and events prior to the chronological detail beginning in Year 3 - Autumn Term. Whilst Tudors, Victorians and the modern Elizabethan age are studied from these years onwards, we introduced several monarchs during this term including Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. In particular, we looked at castles through history and how they changed, how many survive today and what was their purpose and reasons for their designs i.e. high ground, drawbridges etc... Meanwhile in Geography we picked up upon 'Where in My Town' from year 1, with our second stage. This meant we looked at the physical features of our local area, and then the UK, and made sensible links to our wider theme where possible. We introduced and studied the terms beach, cliff, coast, hill, sea amongst others.
Islam was the major focus of our Religious Education work this term. We considered the importance of community and belonging to the faith and its people. We then moved on to look at the Hajj pilgrimage and what happens at this time.
We took to our control programmes during Computing to design simple operations that would have been necessary within castle life on an everyday basis. The children enjoyed controlling these and thinking of inventive ways in which they could be used for other purposes at the time. We continued our major focus upon e-safety this term and discussed how people in our immediate lives may be worthy of trust and what this may mean during our PSHE & Relationships studies.
