Mosaic Jewish Primary School
Year 2
Curriculum Overview
Autumn 1
This topic sources historical and geographical strands of learning to enable the children to compare and contrast cultural
creation stories from around the world. They will physically step through a magical portal each week and visit
archaeological sites from around the world, embracing evidence of early man in Africa, Hindu spiritual stories and
historical figures such as Mary Anning. The narratives will link to artwork including Michelangelo’s work in the Vatican.
The topic will end with a large-scale display of artwork and performance that links to the creation stories. In geography,
they will identify the most popular places for dinosaur fossil finds and use an atlas and globe and refer to the continents.
Literacy texts will include Katie and the Dinosaur and there will be a focus on comparing the many cultural creation stories.
In maths, they will focus on time and data as they plot and compare temperature and rainfall around the world.
Autumn 2
During this term the children will study The Great Fire of London 1666 and the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, linking a
history and science focus to the consumption of bread and contemporary architecture and building materials. They will
discover that Pepys visited a synagogue and wrote about the Jewish community in his famous diary! This topic provides
some wonderful literacy opportunities and the children will read and write diary extracts and compare Pepys’ work to
modern diarists and books including The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine and Dougal the Deep Sea Diver. (Simon
Bartram). They will also look at famous London landmarks, including the Cenotaph, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham
palace and the Tower of London. Drama will be incorporated as they hot seat and interview key witnesses to the fire, write
newspaper articles and act out the events. This topic lends itself beautifully to science, maths, art and DT, allowing the
children to design, measure and make Stuart houses, to produce charcoal drawings, to think about time lines and how the
fire spread and to build on previous learning about modern firefighters. As they think about how bread was bought or
made, they will make their own unusual challah (Jewish bread) for festivals and experiment with yeast. At this time of
year, the children will also take part in Remembrance Day celebrations, Black History Month and the festivals of Diwali,
Hanuka and Christmas.
Spring 1
This term’s learning has a strong science and geography focus. The children will embrace the value of caring for the
environment, “Tikun Olm” as they research animals, plants and the climate of the rainforests of Brazil and begin to think
about the concepts of habitats, conditions for growth and deforestation. They will link with the Rainforest Foundation UK
and world Rainforest Trust and raise awareness and funds for the charities as young ambassadors. The Rainforest topic
ties in with the Jewish festival of Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees and it provides an opportunity to learn Hebrew
words for parts of a plant or tree, alongside the English vocabulary. In literacy, the children will work on expanding their
geographical vocabulary and will use texts such as Where the Forest Meets the Sea and nature poetry to produce their
own rainforest poems. The maths learning will include data handling as the children consider the components of this
fascinating environment. As part of their music and art focus, the children will create rainforest soundscapes, experiment
with photography and produce tree collages. They will also look at the life and work of the esteemed nature broadcaster,
Sir David Attenborough.
Spring 2
Our fourth topic this year has a social and historical slant as it takes a fresh look at the popular traditional tale of Cinderella
and combines it with an analysis of children’s rights and the freedom of children throughout history. The class will take in
the British value of ‘individual liberty’ and start to learn about the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child. They will also
think about the work of the charity Barnados. The topic of slavery emanates from this story and we will ask the children to
make connections to the biblical lives of Moses, Miriam and Deborah and to political figures including Abraham Lincoln
and William Wilberforce. In literacy, they will compare modern texts of Cinderella, including Lauren Child’s Who’s Afraid
of the Big Bad Book and Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and they will work on persuasive letting writing. As the children
prepare a new version of Cinderella and make recycled costumes, they will work on maths areas including seating people
at the ball and investigating questions such as ‘do the tallest children have the largest shoe size?’ Pesach and Purim occur
at this time and the children will take part in whole school celebrations.
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Mosaic Jewish Primary School
Year 2
Curriculum Overview
Summer 1
Our penultimate topic begins in dramatic style with a half-day take over of the school by the Year 2 children. This will be in
preparation for a large-scale project, designing, mapping and selling a country. This multi-layered assignment will ask the
children to work hard on organizational and social skills, resources and creative input and it will end with a promotional
travel agent film. The topic embraces the Jewish value ‘derech eretz’ (proper behaviour), including respecting the elderly
and the wider British value of ‘democracy and the rule of law’. It also has a strong history focus as the children will look
closely at the British monarchy and will compare historical and modern rulers: the Queen and Pharaoh, Moses and the
Prime Minister. The Queen’s birthday occurs at this time of year and Year 2 will lead the celebrations and produce regal
sculptures from different materials. In literacy, the children will read widely from popular books including The Queen’s
Nose by Dick King-Smith and produce written and typed pamphlets and posters for their chosen country. Maths work will
include the delightfully ambitious notion of designing their own currency and banking system!
Summer 2
Our final Year 2 topic has a strong geography and science focus. The children will work on the concept of survival in
different habitats and will need to recap previous learning about teamwork and delegation! The topic will include forest
school work and a camping out night and work will include research on what humans need to survive, why we should look
after each other, how to design, build and test a raft, using a compass and how to protect against the elements. The
children will learn about famous explorers and survival experts, including Ellen MacArthur, Ernest Shakleton and
Christopher Columbus and how Queen Elizabeth I’s ambition was vital in the discovery of new countries. They will also
embrace the career paths of paralympians including Ellie Simmonds. At the end of the topic, the children will produce a
‘deadly 60’ style film for parents, informing them of how to survive as an animal or human in different habitats. Literacy
work will include shipwreck scenes from Shakespeare and non-fiction books on survival and provision will include a pirate
theme. The children will write their own poetry, inspired by The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and write
information leaflets on how to survive in different conditions. Maths will revisit 2D and 3D shape work as they build their
necessary shelters and the children will also get fit for sports day by role-playing the training regime of explorers!
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