This week…
Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been assessment week in Year 2 this week. It has been incredibly valuable to see how the children found completing a test in ‘test conditions’ for the first time. Headlines are that Maths went well, but children found the reading papers harder to access. It has really highlighted the need to give a real push on reading at home. Read Write Inc. Book Bag Books need to be read as much as possible at home. Each Book Bag Book needs to be read at least three times. Those children that have been doing this at home showed much increased levels of progress compared to those that do not.
In Maths, we have started to look at addition and subtraction involving two-digit numbers. We have been using known facts to support. For example by knowing 2 + 5 = 7 we know 32 + 5 = 37 etc.
In English, we have we are starting to look at writing instructions using How to Clean a Woolly Mammoth. The children have written a set of instructions on how to brush their teeth using imperative verbs.
In Design Technology, we have been starting to look at stability. We investigated different 3D shapes to see which is more stable. We made the shape on a whiteboard and measured how high we had to lift it before it rolled off. The higher we lifted the board, the more stable. We found that a sphere was least stable and the pyramid was the most. This told us that for a shape to be stable we needed a low height and a wide and flat base. We then looked at different types of chairs to see which would be the most stable linked to these principles.
In RE we have been learning about the Nativity Story from Luke’s Gospel and what Advent means to Christians.
Finally, in Geography, we have been learning about farms and the animals that live on them.
Week beginning 21st November
This week…
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hope you have had a lovely couple of weeks since the last blog post. As always, it has been super busy in Year 2. We have been pushing on with all of our subjects, with some that we have been particularly enjoying.
In Maths, we have started having a huge push on Times Tables. We have been using paper based Times Table Rockstar booklets in class and it has been incredible to see how much the children have improved in the space of a fortnight. IN addition, we have been working on subtraction in our main maths lessons, looking at finding the difference by counting up or back and by subtracting numbers using reduction and partitioning.
In English, we have planned, written, edited and are currently publishing a character description of The Tear Thief in the context of a wanted poster. The children have used questions, headings and subheadings, expanded noun phrases and adverbs to provide an excellent description of the character. They have been lovely to read.
In Science, we have been looking at Everyday Materials. We had a hunt to see which materials we could see in the classroom being used to make different objects. On Thursday, we also completed an investigation into which objects were waterproof and which objects were absorbent. We used pipettes to add the right amount of water as well as making predictions for each item we tested and recording the results.
In RE we have started to learn about what Christmas means to Christians and talking of Christmas, rehearsals for the Year 1 and 2 performance are now underway.
Finally in Geography, we have recapped children’s knowledge of the 7 continents, seeing if the children can name them as well as locate them on a world map. We are now starting to look at the process of farming.Week commencing 7th November
Year 2 News
This week…
Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been an incredibly busy start to the Autumn 2 half term. Thanks to all parents who brought their children to the KS1 Halloween Disco on the first day back. The children had a fun if spooky time!
Here is a quick overview of some of the learning we have completed these last two weeks. In Maths we have been learning to add three addends (numbers). This has been interesting work, we have been using tens frames and counters as well as number lines to do this as well as recognising that the addends can be added in any order. In addition (pun intended) we have also been learning to add and subtract two numbers that involve bridging 10. We are having a big push on Times Tables this half term. We are completing Times Table Rockstar worksheets to help build these skills and we are setting up Times Table battles between classes for those children that can access this at home. Children’s log ins are in their orange homework books.
In English, we have been looking at the beautiful picture book The Tear Thief by Carol Ann Duffy. We had a fantastic time re-enacting the story using drama techniques which you can see in the pictures below. We first thought about how different characters would move before acting out a script of the story. We have also been generating vocabulary that we will use in a character description next week. We have also been writing sentences with adverbs to describe how The Tear Thief moves.
In our final History lesson on the Great Fire of London, we looked at some of the buildings that were rebuilt after the fire. We are now starting our first Geography unit of the year based around farming.
In Science we have now completed our unit on working Scientifically by working on recording results and drawing conclusions. We are now starting a new unit looking at everyday materials.
Week commencing 17th October
Year 2 News
This week…
Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been a lovely last week in Year 2 with all of our Harvest preparations. Thank you so much to all of the parents who came to see our either of our two performances. The children performed really well and the fact that all children had a designed headpiece was amazing! They all looked brilliant. In the end I got all of the children a prize as it did not seem fair to only pick three winners. Thank you to all the parents and carers who helped the children to create their wonderful headwear.
Also, thank you to all the parents that came to the Parent Teacher Interview sessions on Wednesday. It was lovely to be able to talk to you all about how well the children are doing. It has been an incredibly busy half term and it is hard to get to speak to parents at the start and end of a day, so it was great to have ten minutes to have a proper conversation.
As well as getting ready for the harvest festival, in English we have also planned and written our first draft of a diary entry based around the short film The Cloudmaker. The children are definitely building their pace and stamina for writing.
In Maths, we have been learning to add three addends. We have been using our knowledge of bonds to 10 to help with this.
In computing, we have been learning to use a mouse and we practised this skill by making marks on Paintz.app.
In History, we started to look at how London changed after the Great Fire.
I have stuck a letter into the children’s homework books with a piece of optional holiday homework and instructions on using Times Table Rockstars as the children now have their log in details in their books. Thanks, and have a lovely half term.
Week Commencing 3rd October
Year 2 News
This week…
As usual, it has been a super busy couple of weeks in Year 2. In English, we have completed our first couple of big writes of the year. We wrote a setting description of the rainforest using expanded noun phrase and powerful adjectives. The children went into the school nature area to help generate vocabulary related to our different senses. We have since moved onto completing our first box plan of the year to help us to write a first draft of our postcard. On Friday, we self edited our first drafts looking at missing capital letter, full stops and the inclusion of time connectives e.g. First, Then, Next. Next week we will write up our edited work as an actual postcard with an accompanying picture for the reverse side.
In Maths, we have been working on a numberline this week. We have been reading numberlines to 100, estimating the position of numbers on a numberline and we have been recognising that numbers can be used as a measure of length. Finally, we have been comparing numbers using the language of greater than or less than.
We have been making observations in Science and we have been learning about how the way houses were built in 1666 contributed to the spread of the Great Fire of London.
Finally, on Thursday, we had a lovely trip to the library. Children got the chance to listen to a text, select a book to read and most importantly to have juice and biscuits!
Week Commencing 19th September
Dear Parents and Carers,
First of all, we would like to say a huge thank you to all the parents and family members who came to our Autumn performance and parents’ information session. The children worked really hard to learn their lines, the song and the actions.
It has been a very busy first few weeks in Year 2. In Maths we have started our work on Place Value by focussing on numbers 10 to 100. We have looked at the equivalence between 10 ones and a set of ten, we have learnt to write numbers that are multiples of 10 in both numerals and words and we have estimated the position of a multiple of 10 on a numberline.
In English, we are back in the swing of our Read Write Inc. sessions for phonics and reading. We have also started our looking at our first shared text, Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett. We received a postcard from Sunny the meerkat and he is staying in the class for the next couple of weeks. We have looked at the features of a postcard including the use of first person, the inclusion of opinions and feelings as well as facts. Through our SPAG work, we have also learnt about the difference between adjectives and nouns.
In History we have started learning about the Great Fire of London. We looked at the difference between events that have happened within living memory and events like the Great Fire of London that occurred beyond living memory. We looked at maps of the city of London as well as drawings/pictures of the city centres in 1666 and 2022 to see some of the differences.
Finally in Science, we have discussed what Science is and what a Scientist looks like. Children all drew what they think of when they hear the word Science and Scientist. Interestingly all but one of the class drew an old man in a lab coat so we discussed how anyone could be a scientist and learnt about Earle who is a famous marine biologist.