1. Colvestone Primary School
Soaring Skies Federation
Spring term
Animal Kingdom
Year 1
The Polar Regions

2. Colvestone Primary School
Soaring Skies Federation
Habitats
Early Years : Under the Sea
Year 1: The Polar Regions
Year 2: Jungle
Year 3: Plains and grasslands
Year 4 : Urban Environments
Year 5: Rainforest
Year 6: British Countryside

3. Colvestone Primary School
Week 1
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Key question:
Where in the world is our habitat?
Special events this week:
Writing baseline assessment
Class newsletters to go to SLT checking by
Change Star Writer and Star Mathematician
Door displays up by
Writing
Baseline assessment – writing to recount
Introduce all of the different habitats that our classes will be learning about this term through pictures, videos and texts
Create a mind map of things your class know already about each habitat
Ask children to write a text which recounts what they know already about each habitat, for example: In Spring term, we are learning about habitats. Year 1 are learning about the polar regions. The things I know about this habitat are..
Allow this writing to be independent so it can be used as a baseline assessment for the term.
Geography
Use atlases and globes to locate the areas of the world where each of our curriculum focus habitats can be found
Science
Identify and name a variety of animals that can be found in your habitat, including mammals, birds and fish
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘ charity’
Music
Listen to with detail and appreciate music which links to your habitat. Represent your understanding of the music in a drawing. PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term.
Art and Design
Use drawing and sketching to create an impression of your habitat – develop techniques of colour, line, shape and form
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What is important to Muslims?

4. Colvestone Primary School
Week 2
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Key question:
What animals can we find in our habitat?
Special events this week:
Communal displays up by
Writing
Writing to inform – non-chronological report about the polar regions (2 weeks)
Read a variety of information texts and reports about the polar regions
Think about their audience and purpose
Explore their layout features – title, subheadings, sections of writing, pictures
Plan SPaG lessons linked to language features – writing in the present tense, joining sentences with conjunctions ‘and’ and ‘because’, expanded noun phrases
Geography
Use atlases and globes to find the North and South Poles. Learn the names of the countries that can be found in or near to the Polar Regions.
Science
Describe, label and compare the body parts of different animals that live in your habitat
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘ openness’
Art and Design
Use painting to create an impression of your habitat – develop techniques of colour, line, shape and form
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What is important to Muslims?

5. Colvestone Primary School
Week 3
w/c
Key question:
What plants can we find in our habitat?
Special events this week:
School support plans in by
Change Star Writer and Star Mathematician
Writing
Writing to inform – non-chronological report about the polar regions
As a class, plan the content and layout of your report. Think about what each section of writing will be about.
Think of some ideas for the heading and subheadings
Provide the class with a teacher model report to redraft and improve
Children to independently write their own reports about the polar region
Provide writing frames and sentence starters for children who need support
Geography
Use atlases and globes to find the names of the capital cities of countries in the polar regions.
Science
Identify and name a variety of plants that can be found in the polar regions. Learn the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees. Which are found in colder climates?
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘ life-long learning’
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
Art and Design
Use collage with varied materials to create an impression of your habitat
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What is important to Muslims?

6. Colvestone Primary School
Week 4
w/c
Key question:
How are living things adapted to life in our habitat?
Special events this week:
Writing
Writing to describe – children are going to imagine that they are a scientist who has discovered a new species in the polar regions. They are going to write a detailed description of their discovery. (2 weeks)
Read examples of descriptions and explore their features.
Explore the language features of description – adjectives, noun phrases, descriptive verbs. Look at exclamation sentences.
Use drama activities to re-create ‘discovering’ the species
Ask children to plan their species by drawing it and labelling its features
Science
Explore how animals in the polar regions (penguins, polar bears etc) are specially suited to living in cold temperatures
Geography
On a world map, show where the very hot and very cold regions of the world are.
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘ vote’
Art and Design
Over the next two weeks, use sculpture using varied materials to create an impression of your habitat
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What is important to Muslims?

7. Colvestone Primary School
Week 5
w/c
Key question:
What does our habitat look like in different seasons?
Special events this week:
Change Star Writer and Star Mathematician
Writing
Writing to describe – children are going to imagine that they are a scientist who has discovered a new species in the polar regions. They are going to write a detailed description of their discovery.
Provide children with a teacher model description of a new species that isn’t very descriptive. Re-draft it as a class.
Ask children to draft their descriptions independently.
Publish the writing into a classroom book or display showing Year 1’s ‘discoveries’
Geography
Identify the seasonal weather that we have in the UK. Compare this to weather in the polar regions.
Science
Explore the different seasons that we have in the UK. How do seasons in the polar regions compare?
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘ enrichment’
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
Art and Design
Use sculpture using varied materials to create an impression of your habitat
RE - to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What is important to Muslims?

8. Colvestone Primary School
Week 6
w/c
Key question:
What happens in our habitat in the night time?
Special events this week:
Writing
Writing to recount – diary entry of an explorer arriving in the north/south pole for the first time (1 week)
Give the children some examples of diary entries. Explore the language features – 1st person, past tense, thoughts and feelings
Plan some SPaG lessons around these language features
Use drama activities like hot seating to explore writing in role – the children are writing as an explorer arriving in the polar regions for the first time. What do they see/hear/smell/feel?
Children write diary entries written in the 1st person
Re-draft and edit
Geography
Learn the names and label diagrams of the physical features of the polar regions – glacier, icecap etc
Science
Identify and name nocturnal animals that live in the polar regions
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘safety’
Art and Design
Learn about art from the polar regions. Research the lives and works of different artists.
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
RE - to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
Explore the significance of animals in Islam.

9. Colvestone Primary School
Week 7
w/c
Key question:
What are the changes that happen to living things in our habitat as they grow?
Special events this week:
Change Star Writer and Star Mathematician
Writing
Writing to explain – explanation of the life-cycle of a penguin (2 weeks)
Read some age-appropriate explanations about the life cycle of other animals (butterfly, frog, chicken etc)
Think about the language and layout features and plan some SPaG lessons around these
Use your class novel and other resources to find the different stages of a penguin’s life cycle
Summarise each stage in notes
Geography
Look at evergreen trees that are found near the polar regions. Label their basic parts on diagrams – roots, leaves, trunk
Science
Explore life cycles of animals in your habitat, including mammals and birds.
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘tolerance’
Art and Design
Choose one artist from a polar region. Explore and research their work.
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
Explore the significance of animals in Hinduism.

10. Colvestone Primary School
Week 8
w/c
Key question:
How is our habitat different to a contrasting habitat?
Special events this week:
Writing
Writing to explain – explanation of the life-cycle of a penguin
Plan the content of each paragraph of your explanation – include an introduction and conclusion
Draft the explanation
Re-draft and edit
Publish the explanations onto nice paper and use as a classroom display
Geography
Compare the physical and human geography of your habitat to our home habitat of London.
Science
Think about the basic needs of animals in the polar regions. Where do they get their food/water/warmth from?
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘origins’
Art and Design
Use the skills practised in Spring 1 to create artwork inspired by great artists linked to your habitat.
Music
Compose a soundscape for your habitat using tuned and untuned percussion and voices for a performance at the end of term PE
Build up flexibility and control in dance. Create a habitat themed class dance for a performance at the end of term
RE - to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What does Hinduism teach us about good and evil?

11. Colvestone Primary School
Week 9
w/c
Key question:
What issues are affecting our habitat today?
Special events this week:
Change Star Writer and Star Mathematician
Writing
Writing to entertain – write a letter to a penguin (or other animal) in the Polar Regions telling him how we will try to save his habitat from issues affecting it. (2 weeks)
Read examples of letters. Look at the layout features – address, date, To/From
In Geography lessons, explore some of the issues affecting penguins. What can we do to help?
Look at a teacher model letter and explore the language features– writing in the 1st person eg. “we will”, “our school”
Show a teacher model letter that needs redrafting. Edit it to make it better.
Geography
Explore conservation issues affecting your habitat (eg.polar icecaps melting). What can we do in school to help?
Science
Think about the basic need of plants in the polar regions. What do they need to survive?
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘neighbourly’
Art and Design
Use the skills practised in Spring 1 to create artwork inspired by great artists linked to your habitat.
Music
Evaluate your performance and make any changes. PE
Evaluate your performances and make any changes.
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What does Hinduism teach us about good and evil?

12. Colvestone Primary School
Week 10
w/c
Key question:
How can we sustain life in our habitat?
Special events this week:
Writing
Writing to entertain – write a letter to a penguin (or other animal) in the Polar Regions telling him how we will try to save his habitat from issues affecting it. (2 weeks)
Plan the content and structure of your letters
Draft the texts
Re-draft and edit
Read your letters aloud to the class. How will the penguin feel when he receives your letters?
Geography
Explore changes that humans are making which are affecting your habitat.
Science
Look at simple food chains using living things in the polar regions.
PSHCE
Explore how we reflect our core school values – ‘ equality’
Art and Design
Use the skills practised in Spring 1 to create artwork inspired by great artists linked to your habitat.
Music
Perform your soundscape with control and expression to an audience. PE
Perform your dance with control and expression to an audience.
RE – to be read alongside the Hackney Agreed Syllabus
What does Hinduism teach us about good and evil?