Archdeacon Cambridge’s Church of England
Primary School
Dear Parents/Carers,
We hope you will find the following information useful to help you support your child’s learning this
half term. This half term throughout the school the children will be learning about and reflecting
on the Christian value of Endurance. Our assemblies and RE lessons enable teachers and
children to explore the Biblical references and stories of endurance which provide inspiration for
us all.
Year 2 Parents’ Information Sheet – Spring Term (1) 2014
Subject
Outline
Core Text: ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and other traditional tales
Theme: ‘Moving Through Nature’
English
Traditional Tales
Children will read several traditional stories with examples of predictable and patterned language and
learn to identify examples of formal story language. They will compare the themes, settings and
characters in several stories, using key descriptive words and phrases, identify sequences of events and
compare the plots of different stories, predict incidents and endings based on experience of traditional
tales and use improvisation and role-play to explore alternatives. Children will write their own short story
using a familiar setting from a traditional tale, including elements of formal story language, typical
dialogue, past tense and temporal connectives to introduce the different parts of the story.
Information Texts
Children will learn how to: pose questions and record these in writing, prior to reading; investigate nonfiction books/ICT texts on similar themes to show that they can give different information and present
similar information in different ways; use contents pages/menus and alphabetically ordered texts; create
an alphabetically ordered dictionary or glossary of special interest words; locate definitions and
explanations in dictionaries and glossaries; scan texts to find specific sections, for example key words or
phrases, subheadings, and skim-read title, contents page, illustrations, chapter headings and subheadings to speculate what a text might be about and evaluate its usefulness for the research in hand;
maintain consistency in non-narrative, including purpose and tense.
Maths
Children will be given the opportunity to revisit and build on the topics studied in the Autumn Term. They
will learn to:
 count on and back in 1s, 10s or 100s;
 begin to recognize odd and even numbers up to at least 50;
 understand and use ordinal numbers up to at least 100 th;
 compare 2 digit numbers;
 say the number lying between two numbers;
 rehearse addition and subtraction facts for pairs that total up to 10;
 begin to add three 1-digit numbers mentally;
 know that a right angle is a measure of a ¼ turn;
 recognize right angles;
 recognize clockwise and anti-clockwise turns;
 estimate, measure and compare weights in kilograms and grams;
 read the time to the hour and ½ hour on analogue and digital clocks.

Celebrations and Festivals
Children will learn that people celebrate for different reasons. They will learn that New Year is an
important time in many cultures; that Chinese New Year is celebrated in different ways, including dragon
dances, giving of money, wearing new clothes, hanging paper decorations; that Divali is a Hindu festival
and that there is a story behind the celebration and that light is an important part of the celebration; that
Purim is a Jewish festival.
R.E.
Science
ICT
P.E.
French
History
SEAL
DT
Music
Other
Information
Plants and Animals in the Local Environment
Through this unit children learn about plants and animals in their immediate environment and how
differences between places very close to each other result in a different range of plants and animals being
found. They learn that like humans, plants and other animals reproduce. Experimental and investigative
work focuses on: turning ideas into questions that can be investigated, presenting results and drawing
conclusions.
Variation
Children will become more aware of the huge variety of living things within their local environment and of
differences between them. They will learn that although individual living things are different there are
similarities which can help to sort them into groups and that this is helpful. They will make observations,
measurements and comparisons, present findings in drawings and block graphs and use results to draw
conclusions through experiments and investigation. Work in this unit also offers opportunities for children
to relate understanding of science to environmental contexts and to consider how to treat living things with
sensitivity.
Children will use ICT throughout all subjects with special reference to data handling, word processing and
keyboard use, as well as other forms of media such as radio, television and recording equipment.
Gymnastics
In Indoor PE children will focus on increasing their range of basic gymnastic skills. They will create simple
sequences of 'unlike' actions on the floor, eg a roll, jump and a shape. They will then transfer what they
learn on the floor to apparatus. In gymnastics as a whole, children use skills and agilities individually, in
combination and in sequence, with the aim of showing as much control and precision as possible.
Outdoor Games
In Outdoor PE children will improve and apply their basic skills in games. They will play games that
demand simple choices and decisions on how to use space to avoid opponents, keep the ball and score
points. In all games activities, children think about how to use skills, strategies and tactics to outwit the
opposition.
Colours and Numbers
Children will extend their knowledge of the basic phrases to introduce themselves and greet others, as
well as extend their numbers to 20. Children will also learn the French words for colours. This subject is
oral based and therefore concentrates on the spoken language.
Florence Nightingale and other Famous People
This unit predominantly looks at the life of Florence Nightingale, why she went to Turkey to help soldiers
injured in the Crimean War, and what happened as a result of her work. In addition pupils will look at the
lives of other famous people such as Mary Seacole and Grace Darling.
Going for Goals
This theme focuses primarily on the key aspect of motivation, with a subsidiary focus on self-awareness. It
gives an important opportunity for all children’s abilities, qualities and strengths to be valued. The Going
for Goals theme provides opportunities for children to reflect on themselves as individuals, particularly
their strengths as learners and how they learn most effectively.
Wind-up Vehicles
This unit builds on children's experiences of joining and combining sheet and reclaimed materials and of
using moving joints. They learn about wheels and axles and how to use these when making wheeled
vehicles for a specific purpose. They are encouraged to develop their design ideas based on investigating
vehicles in the world around them. Work in this unit also offers opportunities to use construction kits or text
to enhance their finished products, to apply basic measuring skills and to draw on knowledge of forces
from science. Children are also introduced to the concept of winding mechanisms, building on previous
knowledge of wheels and axles. The children explore how to make winding mechanisms using
construction kits, then, after discussion, make their own vehicle using a winding mechanism out of
reclaimed materials.
Rhythm and Beat
Children will gain an understanding of pitch, exploring pitch movement using voices, instruments and body
action. They will also explore different ways to make sounds using instruments (wood, metal and skin) and
voices and learn how to read simple graphic scores to enable them to create group performances. Finally
they will listen to and discuss the instrumentation and musical elements used in Prokofiev’s “Peter and the
Wolf” to link up with the topic of Traditional Tales.
PE kits: (labeled please) should be in at the start of term. Trainers to be brought in on Thursdays only.
P.E times: Monday and Tuesday for both classes.
Homework: Given out on Fridays, to be given in by Wednesday.
Please try to listen to your child read for 20 minutes each night.
It would be helpful for our records, if when you hear your child read, you could put a brief comment in his/
her diary. Thank you for your support.
Please help your child by ensuring that they have their own bottle of water in school.