During the Spring term, the children will be whisked around the world as they learn about the life and achievements of different explorers. They will travel to the Antarctic with Shackleton as they learn about his incredible exploration and use the book Ice Trap as inspiration for a newspaper report. While in the Antarctic, the children will learn about the Emperor penguin and how to write a persuasive letter to save these beautiful birds. To begin, we will be travelling to the Arctic and reading The Great Explorer before switching continents and reading The Great Kapok tree. During the term we are hoping for a visit from a real-life explorer and will be taking a trip to the Living Rainforest to experience the sights, sounds and smells of a lush tropical rainforest environment – and explore how plants, animals and cultures are all linked.

As we move to the second part of the term, the children will be learning about explorers such as Ibn Battuta, Christopher Columbus, Neil Armstrong and a whole host of modern explorers! The children will find out all about the lives and achievements of these significant individuals and why they are remembered today. They will also learn how we know about these famous explorers through investigating historical sources such as books, diaries, artefacts, film and photographs. In Art, the children will be exploring Flora and Fauna Artists: Eric Carle, Joseph Redoute, Jan Van Kessel.

This term, Year 2 will start their swimming lessons. Please ensure that your child brings a plain swimming costume (not a bikini) /swimming trunks (not shorts) swimming hat and a towel in a named bag each Wednesday of the term. The children’s second PE lesson will be on a Friday afternoon – please ensure your child has indoor and outdoor PE kit including a blue sweatshirt, which should not have a hood for health and safety reasons.

Homework will continue to be set on a Friday due each following Thursday. Each week, there will be spellings on Spelling Shed and Maths – this will either be on Maths Shed or as a sheet in Learning Logs. The children should also be reading regularly at home as fluent reading underpins everything they learn at school and will help them to flourish. We will continue to change reading books on a Thursday and library books on a Friday.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs Bowman