Welcome to the home of year 1 and 2.
Wheal Harmony is home to the children in years 1 and 2. The class is run by class teacher Ms Sophie Kelly, supported by Teaching Assistants Mrs Jo Blake and Miss Jane Wilkins.
In Harmony, children learn through discussion and discovery.
Learning is structured so that children have fun along the way. Making, drawing, writing, acting, investigating and lots and lots of talking support our curriculum delivery. We have worked hard this year to develop our 'Talking in Harmony' expectations so that every child builds the confidence to contribute to class discussions. We believe oracy plays a huge role in encouraging our young children to engage with their learning and has a big impact on their understanding of key subjects.
We support our children through the transition into year 1 from reception, from the summer term, so that once September comes they are raring to go!
We have our own outdoor play area which we use as much as possible - weather permitting! And our favourite time is during our Wild Time in our wild area where we go on bug hunts, make habitats and have stories by the fire. In the summer term our children take part in 'Beach and Farm Warriors' with visits to local farms and beaches where children explore subjects such as water safety, plastic pollution, food miles, biodiversity and habitats.
We run a 2-year rolling project-based curriculum and topics include Towers Turrets and Tunnels, Splendid Skies, Enchanted Woodland and Memory Box among many others.
We continue with the Little Wandle phonics programme the children begin in Wheal Friendly until every child is reading fluently, and we encourage every child to read for pleasure. Once a child has mastered the skill of decoding and is reading fluently, usually by year 2, children move onto our Accelerated Reader programme which motivates our children to read and enjoy books while developing their all-important comprehension skills.
Our classroom is calm, supportive and inspiring. We have high expectations of the children and encourage them to believe in themselves too.
THE YEAR AHEAD
AUTUMN TERM 2023
Can you remember being small? Being a baby and learning to crawl?
Do you recall a favourite toy, maybe a teddy bear or a favourite book? Look back at family photos of special occasions, perhaps holiday snapshots or a birthday or two. Remember a wedding or a christening and find a funny photo of your parents when they were young. Learn how to write a diary of days gone by and find out about the days before you were born, it's called history and it's all about the past. Then make a special box, a memory box to keep special things safe. In years to come you can revisit them and remember how you looked when you were young. Memories are special. Let's make some more.
SPRING TERM 2024
This term we will be exploring castles, turrets, towers, tunnels and bridges. The term begins with our ‘Wow’ day where we will be exploring life in medieval times.
In DT we will be looking at how we can make structures solid and strong. We will be investigating structures from around the world and our local area. In geography we will investigate bridges, towers and tunnels around the world.
Children will be using atlases to identify countries around the world that have famous tunnels, towers and bridges. In history children will explore castles from the past and what they looked like. They will also look at how castles have developed over time and identify features of them. We shall also learn about what life was like living in castle.
The home learning this term is a choice of 3 activities!
SUMMER TERM 2024
Our project this term will be based on the topic Enchanted Woodland.
The science and geography driven topic will develop children’s knowledge of British wildlife and woodland habitats. Children will observe and identify plants and animals and appreciate the wonder of the woodland. Children will investigate how our woodlands have changed over time and the significance of them through the ages.
In art we will explore the work of Gustave Klimt and his piece The Tree of Life before creating our own mixed media collages.
In Design and technology children will make their own woodland puppet and plan a healthy picnic while leaning about nutrition. In geography children will be drawing simple maps, using aerial photographs to plot the locations of woodlands and building mini woodlands in sand and mud trays and creating a simple key for their maps.
We also have Beach (year1) and Farm warriors (year 2) and home learning is to create a shelter/habitat for a woodland creature
