Wonder Zone - Year 1 and 2

  • Mrs Claire O'Brien

    Class Teacher

  • Miss Kim Whaley

    Teaching Assistant

 

Welcome to Wonder Zone! Our Year 1/2 class is where children hone the skills of independent learning and explore the curriculum through a creative and energetic approach.  Learning is driven by the enthusiasm of both staff and pupils, with quality talk promoting inquiry and reflection.  It is recognised and celebrated that everyone is individual and time is taken to listen to each other with thought and compassion.  Children are happy to acknowledge their mistakes as an essential and valuable part of their learning process, and the supportive and inclusive environment means that children become empowered, confident learners who care confident to take risks.  Every term a new topic is introduced where all of the foundation subjects link together and high quality texts are chosen to support learning.  Engaging, practical activites are planned and delivered that excite the children and encourage them to learn more.   Every term a new topic is introduced where all of the foundation subjects link together and high quality texts are chosen to support learning.  Engaging, practical activites are planned and delivered that excite the children and encourage them to learn more.  

The adults in the class encourage rich conversations and facilitate the learning through the use of the 5 B’s – Brain, Bits & Bobs, Book, Buddy and Big.  The classroom is organised, colourful and a place where their work is celebrated.   The children are encouraged to become curious learners who are always keen to explore the next steps in their learning journey by feeling confident to ask for equipment, models and vocabulary and to use the learning environment around them to support their understanding . 

In English we implement the highly successful Read Write Inc approach to teach phonics, reading and spelling for Year 2 pupils.  We also use Spelling Shed as an additional resource to support and consolidate spelling patterns for both the Year 1 and 2 children.   English lessons are based around a high quality, age appropriate text that is chosen by the class teachers with the aim to engage and excite the children and link in with our class topic.  Through these texts, we continue to focus on punctuation and grammar with the aim of being really aware of the way in which sentences are crafted and words changed.  We also encourage the use of story language and exciting vocabulary in order to promote and develop the children's ideas, imagination and for them to develop a love of writing.   

Spelling Shed:  https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb/

In maths, we drive number knowledge through learning about place value, number patterns, times table facts and practicing the calculation of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  To support the children's maths, all of the children in Wonderzone are signed up to Spelling Shed, Times Table Rockstars and Numbots.  Here are the links to access these sites: 

Times Tables Rockstars: https://ttrockstars.com/login

Numbots: https://play.numbots.com/#/intro 

Spelling Shed: https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb/

 

Summer Term 2022 – The Oceans and Continents

 

This term Wonderzone will be learning about the seven continents and five oceans across the world as their main topic focus. We will be using the texts Lost and Found, Ocean Meets Sky and The Journey Home as our text focus in English to support our learning.  During this topic, the children will be learning about the world in Geography., the similarities and the differences between the continents and how our Earth is made up of land and sea.  In Geography, the children will be identifying the different continents and oceans as well as comparing different continents across the world while focussing on how different animals adapt to living in different environments, how people travel across the world to get from one place to another and how the climate changes from one continent to another.  This will then be further supported by the children learning about significant individuals and explorers in history such as  Ranulph Fiennes, Amy Johnson, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong.

 

In Science, the children will be learning about different animals, how they are classified and their lifecycles.  In Art and Music, again the focus is on the oceans and continents and during this term whereby the children will be learning about portraits, and music associated with the oceans.  In RE, the children will be learning about the Gospel and what the good news Christians think that Jesus brings.    

 

DT links nicely with outdoor learning this term where the children will be focusing on making shelters and dens as well as fire lighting, making natural art collages and hopefully taking a trip to the woods and the beach!  We will also be outside for our PE where the children will be learning about jumping, games that promote understanding and health and wellbeing.  PSHE will also focus on valuing difference and the children will also be learning about keeping safe on the internet as part of their computing and digital citizenship  .As we head into the summer term and the weather warms up, we are going to be very busy and we can’t wait to share all of our hard work with everyone.

Spring Term 2022 - Rain or Shine!
 
This term Wonderzone will be learning about the weather as their main topic focus. We will be using the texts The Three Little Pigs, The Cloudspotter, Lila and the Rain and The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch as our text focus in English.  During this topic, we are going to be learning about all different types of weather and how these weather patterns change over time and also across the world in different climates.   We are going to be recording the weather daily and logging the temperature. Rain gauges are going to be made as part of DT so we can begin to measure, record and compare rainfall.
 
In Science, we are going to continue with the focus of materials and complete some experiments linking to the story of the Three Little pigs where we need to find out materials that are going to keep our pigs dry and also which materials would hold up best in windy weather.  Is it going to be straw, sticks or bricks that are going to stop the pigs being blown away?   Science will lead on later on in the Spring Term to the focus of seasons with some emphasis on light and dark. 
 
With Art and Music, again the focus is on the weather and during this term, we will be learning about the weather in different countries and cultures and how the weather determines their livelihoods as well as traditions linked to the weather such as rain chants.    RE is going to focus some more on the Islamic faith and how Muslims live their daily lives to then moving on to the importance of Easter for the Christian faith.
 
This term is going to be busy and we are very much looking forward to learning all about the weather and we can't wait to share our learning with you!
Autumn 2021 - Fire! Fire!
 
This term will begin with a history focus where the children will learn about the 'Great Fire of London.' and the key events surrounding it. The unit will focus on the timeline of events, key people during The Great Fire of London such as Samuel Pepys who wrote the famous diary that retold the destruction that devastated London in September 1666.  In DT, the children will have the opportunity to make bread, just like Thomas Farriner in the bakery on Pudding Lane and write instructions from this experience. We are also aiming at making our own Pudding Lane and asking the fire brigade to come in and set fire to the houses.  In Art, we will look at the original St Paul's Cathedral and sketch pictures using charcoal and then make our very own cathedrals from clay.  
 
For Science this term, we are going to be identifying materials and learning about different properties.  This will also stimulate lots of conversation as to why Pudding Lane burnt down so quickly and how today's houses are different from those of the Tudor times.  
 
We hope this will be a topic that will inspire, engage and enthuse our children in Wonderzone and we're looking forward to seeing the learning they experience and create.  

Summer Term 2021 – ‘Victorian Seaside’

 

We are delighted to have a strong history focus this term, where the children will be learning in depth about Queen Victoria, Victorian inventions and seaside holidays in the past. We will be linking this history learning in with our morning English sessions by creating information texts. As part of DT this term we will be making our own puppets, inspired by watching Punch and Judy shows. We will then write playscripts for our show in our English lessons. During Science we will be learning about plants, planting our own seeds and watching them grow. This ties in well with our PSED, as we are learning about growing and changing, as well as caring for the local environment.

Spring Term 2021 - 'Cornwall: My Home'
 
This term our parents have been working amazingly hard delivering the home learning. In and out of school the children have enjoyed hearing and learning about a variety of stories, some Cornish, including Soggy Bear and The Mermaid of Zennor. The children have produced story maps, stories, letters and postcards. During Maths we have spent time understanding money and adding amounts together. The Year 2s have even progressed onto finding the change! There has been a strong focus on arithmetic this term, learning number bonds, addition and subtraction skills. During Art, we have been looking at the Cornish artists John Dyer and David Hosking, producing our own versions. In Music, we have listened and described a piece of music called 'Storm'. Geography focuses on 'Our Local Area', whilst History is looking at significant Cornish individuals. During Science we are learning about animal habitats and have already enjoyed an online rock pooling session.
 
We are very proud of our children and parents with how they have engaged with the live lessons and shared their learning daily for us to give feedback on. 

Autumn Term 2022 - Cornwall 'Our Home.'

Welcome back to Wonder Zone and I hope everyone has had a fun filled summer holiday.   This term Wonder Zone will be learning about Cornwall and why this special county is called ‘Our Home’.  To support this learning in English, the children will be introduced to the texts Soggy The Bear, The Mermaid of Zennor, The Mousehole Cat and the Great Cream robbery to support their learning. 

Over the course of this term, the children will be learning about Cornwall and our local environment in Geography.  They will learn to identify the similarities and the differences between our local town of Helston and the ares around Sithney School.  They will identify human and physical features of these two places and begin to use their Geographical Skills in identifying features of a local map and navigating areas using Google Earth.  During the second half term, our history unit will be about a significant individual in Cornish history – this being ‘Henry Trengrouse’ and his role in saving the lives of many people at sea. 

In Science, the children will be learning about Keeping Healthy.  They will focus on learning about hygiene, the lifecycle of a human and the importance of diet and exercise in order to live a fit and healthy lifestyle.  In Art, again the focus is on Cornwall and the children will be learning about colour theory. This learning will be carried on to look at the two local artists John Dyer and David Hosking.  They will be looking at and replicating their styles by creating pictures of Helston Boating Lake.  Throughout RE tis term, the children will begin by thinking about what makes Cornwall a sacred place.  We are hoping to arrange a trip to Sithney Church and Truro Cathedral to support this learning and during the second half of the Autumn Term, the children will begin to consider what Christians think God is like.  Music will be delivered in the second half of this term with the all important practice of our Christmas School Play!   

DT links with Christmas card making this year where the children will be learning to make a moving or pop up card.   The children will also be inside and outside for our PE this term where they will be focussing on gymnastics, ball skills and dodging.  PSHE will  look at healthy lifestyles and how our bodies are growing and changing and in Computing, the children will be learning about digital safety. As we head into the Autumn and the weather is beginning to cool, please ensure your child has a coat everyday and they are wrapped up warm for outdoor learning every week.

We hope that this topic will inspire and engage the children in learning about their home and how special the county of Cornwall is.  

Autumn Term 2020 - 'Ourselves'
 
It has been so wonderful to welcome the children and families back to school. For all of the children in year 1 and 2, Wonderzone is a new class and the children have been so grown up coming into school without their parents under the new COVID rules - we are proud of them all and thank the parents for taking the time to prepare them for the new school environment.
 
This term our topic is 'Ourselves' and so far we have been learning about families and friendship in  English, how to keep ourselves healthy in science including lots of talk about germs and washing hands! In geography we have been learning about the geography of our school and in art after painting our portraits we have embarked on a colourful journey to learn all about primary and secondary colours and the art of Keith Haring. We are looking forward to more exciting learning ahead!