Swarcliffe Primary School

Welcome to Lower Key Stage Two

Summer 1 - Why do people visit other countries?

Literacy

During this half term, the children will begin by focusing on the book 'ice trap' and will write an alternative ending to the story. Whilst reading the book, we will think about what the crew may have heard, how they felt and what they did whilst onboard the Endurance. We will use our FANTASTICS to support this. We will be looking at the story mountain and retelling the key events for the resolution and ending. Once we have done this, the children will be stepping into the shoes of one of the 27 crew members and will be writing a letter back home to their loved ones. They will be focusing mainly on the feeling lense and using a range of sentence types including adverbial and simile.

Maths

 During Summer term, we will be looking at decimals. We will begin the half term by placing numbers on a place value chart and discussing the value of the digits. Children will also begin to make the link towards fractions and attempt to convert between the two. Once they have a secure understanding on the decimal point, we will link this into money and time. When looking at money we will look at pounds and pence and how the place value chart will support adding and subtracting amounts. During our time topic, we will look at both analogue and digital time as well as time scales and time of day. 

History

In our History topic this half term, we will look at the life or Ernest Shackleton and his amazing achievements whilst out on his Expeditions. The children will look at the key events whilst on his most known expedition aboard the 'Endurance.' They will then order the events in chronological order. As part of the History topic, we will be looking at different sources and discussing which source is the most reliable and why. 

Geography 

 As the children will have a secure understanding of Ernest Shackleton's expeditions. They will then use this knowledge to map the route he and his crew took. We will be discussing coordinates and directions such as north, south, west and east. We will then look at a variety of different maps and atlas to locate some of the places that are significant to his life. 

Science

 During this half term we will be looking at living things and their habitats. We will look at the different types of animals and their features. Children will then have a go at sorting animals into groups due to key characteristics. When the children have gained a secure understanding of the characteristics of a range of different animals, we will then attempt to place these into a classification key. 

Spring 2 - Why people invade other countries? 

Literacy

This half term, the children will begin writing a diary as one of the characters from our shared class text ‘invasion.’ We will be talking about how he felt at various parts in the story and also what he would have thought after key events. We will be using our FANTASTIC lenses to structure our writing. We will then move on to describing a Viking Settlement. We will be using our 5 senses to imagine what life would have been like for the Norsemen. The phase will be having a huge focus on interesting vocabulary that creates a negative environment and using a range of different sentences such as As sentences and Adverbial.

Maths

This half term, will see continue to consolidate learning on division and multiplication and will also look at fractions and decimals. We will begin by mastering our methods for multiplication and division and looking at applying these methods to multi step questions. It is important children are able to apply their skills. The main focus of this half term will be on fractions. We will begin with lots of hands on lessons making fractions and understanding the concept that a fraction is part of a whole. The children will look at equivalent fractions, fractions of amounts, fractions greater than one and comparing fractions.

History

In History, we will look at the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England. During these sessions we will look at the daily routines and what life would have been life for them. We will also look at the time of Edward the Confessor and the changes that occurred during that period.

Science

In Science, the children will cover, “Forces and Magnets”. We will look at the different types of forces and carry out a range of investigations so the children can experience these forces first hand. As part of this topic, we will learn about the magnetic poles and field and what items are magnetic and not.  

PSHE

Within PSHE, the children will focus on drugs, alcohol and tobacco. We will look at the definition of a drug, smoking and its effects and Asthma. These lessons are fantastic for whole class discussion and allow the children to use the correct vocabulary.

Design and Technology

In Design and Technology, we will look at making our own Viking helmets. We will gather research about helmets, draw an exploded diagram, use a wide range of tools and finally, evaluate our helmets.

P.E

This half term in P.E. we will be focusing on Hockey. We will focus on delaying an opponent, dribbling and passing the ball and how moving into a space can help keep possession.

Spring 1- Extreme Weather

In Literacy, this half term we will be writing a newspaper report based on our class novel 'The Wizard Oz' During this the children will use our fantastics. They will look closely at the noticing and action lens. We will  then move onto writing an explanation text linked to our geography topic. "The Water Cycle" 

In PSHE,  the children will focus on identity, society and equality, looking at democracy. We will also celebrate odd socks day as part of friendship week (Tuesday 16th January)

In Maths, we will look at written methods for multiplication and division and also look at measurements. The children will get chance to access times tables rockstars throughout the term.

In Geography, our focus will be on the water cycle and extreme weather.  The children will get chance to look at identifying the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night) describe and understand key aspects of: physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle.

In Art, we will look at the work of Edvard Munch. First of all we will create a fact file sharing information about his work, family and other interesting facts. We will then move onto looking at his portrait 'The Scream'. The children will then practice these techniques used in his work and have a try at recreating their own interpretation.

In P.E, we will be looking at dance and creating our own routines.

In Science, the children will cover, "Rocks and Volcanoes" We will compare and group together  different types of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties.