Summer 2 - Hoddlesden Globe 

Summer 2 - Week 3 

In English, we have continued with our unit of The Owl and the Pussy Cat and this week we have worked hard in writing in role as a character and choosing the right tenses to write in.  

In Maths, we have started our consolidation units and we have been recalling prior knowledge and building upon this.  This week we have looked at reading scales in different increments, how to partition numbers in different ways.  We will be carrying on with our consolidation units over the next coming weeks with a focus on number and the four operations.  

In Science, we recalled the germination process and thought about the 6 requirements needed.  We wrote sentences about why these requirements are needed and if they are needed for all plants or whether some plants have differing requirements.    

In Music, we have been listening and responding to music.  We have learnt the 'Sunshine Song'. We are getting ready to perform this song for our peers and we are very excited! 

In PSHE, we have been looking at 'growing and changes.'  This week we identified different stages of growth (e.g. baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult) and described some of the things that people are capable of at these different stages.

In Geography, we recalled our knowledge of ancient wonders from last week and looked at the same wonders again but this time with a focus on location.  We identified the country they were in, the continent they were on and the surrounding oceans.  We had a great time using Google Earth to discover these wonders. 

In DT, we looked at pivots and linkages and started generating ideas for our products. It was great to experiment with pivots today to find out how our moving characters would move. 

Summer 2 - Week 2 

This week has been a very exciting week! 

In English, we started our unit based on 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat' and we have started to produce some high-quality writing for a range of purposes and audiences.  

In Maths, we have carried on looking at position and direction.  We have learnt how to describe turns and describe movement.  We then moved on to trying to describe shape patterns within turns.  It hasn't been the easiest learning this week and some of us have found it tricky but we have been resilient and have used our growth mindset to get us through! 

In DT, we have started our unit of making a moving monster.  We explored lots of different items on our tables to see whether we could spot toys and objects with mechanisms.  It was a really interesting session and we thought about our 3 P's.  Product, Person, Purpose.  Together we filled in our TASC wheel which will lead us through the DT process to ensure we are designers and innovators.  

In Computing, we carried on with our programming unit. We discovered that a sequence of commands has an ‘outcome’. We  predicted the outcomes and matched programs that produced the same outcome. 

In Geography, we researched lots of facts out about ancient wonders of the world.  We got into groups, used the iPads to research The Great Pyramids of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Temple of Artemis, The Lighthouse of Alexandria, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and even the Statue of Zeus.  We then presented our findings and facts to the class. 

In Science, we have been looking at the process of germination and this week we looked at the six requirements needed for this process to occur.  

Summer 2 - Week 1 

Although it's only been a short week back at school, we have been very busy starting our new units of learning. 

In Maths, we have started our geometry unit of position and direction. We have started to think about our specific use of the language of direction.  We recapped our learning from Year 1, used the specific vocabulary of left, right, forwards and backwards and learnt how to describe movement.  We had great fun directing our partners around obstacles. 

In Computing, we used the iPads to learn how to program a sequence using Scratch. We identified the start of sequences and learnt that sequences need to be started. 

In Geography, we started our work on our new unit exploring 'Wonders of the World.'  We revisited our prior learning and got our long-term memories working by recapping the UK countries.  We also recapped our learning on what the terms 'natural' and manmade' mean.  We then researched UK wonders of the world and sorted them into natural and manmade groups.  

Summer 1 - Historical Heroes 

Summer 1 - Week 6 

What an end to a busy half term!

In English, we wrote our new and improved version of chapter 3.  I cannot wait to share some of these stories with you all. 

In Maths, we completed our unit of statistics.  We learnt about tally charts, tables, block diagrams, drawing pictograms and interpreting pictograms. We all did very well with this unit of learning.

This week we enjoyed our Outdoor Adventure Learning.  We listened to chapter 3 of 'Wind in the Willows' where Mole gets lost in the wild wood. We listened to the sounds of the woodland and trees to identify the birdsong, the leaves rustling in the breeze. We then used musical instruments to create some woodland sounds and in groups we re-created and performed the scene using masks.Using leaf dials and leaf/twig identification charts we went for a walk through the woods and tried to identify the plants and trees. We found beech, sycamore, rowan, oak and horse chestnut trees.In the grassy meadow we played a game linked to our theme of 'trust'. In pairs, the children led their blindfolded partners through the 'Wild Wood' and talked them through the imagined obstacles.Finally, we used coloured markers to draw a map of the wild wood from our class text 'Wind in the Willows.'

We had a great afternoon and the time flew so quickly!

Week 5

This week we have been working really hard.  Not only have we been working really hard with our Year 2 assessments but we have written our revised chapter 3 of Wind in the Willows. We are looking forward to writing our independent stories next week and innovating the story even further. 

On Wednesday we had a wonderful cricket session and on Thursday we had our fantastic Sports Day! We also managed to carry on with our science investigation and this week we took a closer look at the similarities and differences between seeds and bulbs.  We started looking at collage in art and we created our backgrounds for the Wind in the Willows. 

Week 4

Check out our tweet from Ladybird Classics!  We have been set a very special task in English so we will be working hard in the coming few weeks to innovate Toad's cars and the accidents he has in Wind of the Willows. This will lead to a piece of independent writing before we break up for half term.  We can't wait to share our ideas with you all. 

In Maths, we have made huge progress learning how to tell the time.  This week we have focussed on o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to.  We also started looking at the increments around the clock and what their worth. From this we started to tell the time to 5 minutes. 

In Art, we looked at painting with texture.  This will help us when we start to collage next week.  

In Science, we are pleased to report that our investigation is going extremely well. We have seen some growth in our broad beans but they definitely haven't grown as quickly as the cress.  The seeds in the dark cupboards with no light or water aren't looking as healthy.  We will carry on observing the changes and differences over the next few weeks. 

Week 3 

This week has been great!  

In English we have carried on with our marvellous unit of 'Wind in the Willows.'  I was blown away with the independent writing everyone produced this week, they have shown such resilience and stamina for writing recently and I couldn't be prouder of them.  

We came to the end of our Maths unit of fractions.  We will recap our learning in the future to ensure that our knowledge of finding a fraction of an amount and of a shape really sticks. 

Our afternoon curriculum work has all been based around the Coronation.  We created portraits of King Charles III in the style of the artist Romero Britto.  We learnt about his work and thought about how we would portray this in our own art work.  

We also learnt about the role of the King and wrote letters to him which we will be sending off this week.  Let's see if we get a reply!  We also learnt about what the Commonwealth is and the countries that are part of it.  Year 2 focussed on Cyprus and we created fact files and even got to try to typical Cypriot food.  

We also checked on the progress of our plants in Science.  The cress seems to be growing very quickly and the beans are starting to sprout. We will be recording our findings over the next few weeks.  

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend everyone!

Week 2 

Another super eventful week!

On Monday, we all took part in the Lego Workshop as part of our Coronation celebrations!  We built some of the famous London landmarks and the Union Jack flag. It was a really great session. Tuesday saw the whole school taking part in the Tri Kidz tournament which we all loved. We worked really hard to complete the duathlon; run, bike, run event.  We all got a medal too for our wonderful efforts.

In English, we have been writing in the past tense to write a narrative recount.  I've been absolutely blown away by the independent writing that went on today.  Here are just a few of my favourite descriptive sentences that I have read so far

“Mole scrambled up the steep, giant mountain covered in a thick blanket of snow…” Samuel C.

“One foot, and then another, he crept into the wild woods and he knew that he was being watched…”  Penelope

“As it got darker and darker, Mole got more and more scared! The shadows became closer so he started running but soon tumbled over…”. Tabitha

I can't wait to read the rest of your amazing descriptions Year 2!

In Maths, we have carried on with our work on fractions but we've challenged ourselves to recognising and finding quarters and thirds of shapes and of amounts.  We learnt that finding a fraction of a number is just like dividing and we investigated whether a quarter is the same as finding half and then half again. We were suddenly experts at finding a quarter of a number after we realised that! Our reasoning and problem solving skills have also really developed this week. 

Our work of heroes has continued in History.  This week we looked at different images and sources to see which information we could gather from them.  In Science, we started our investigation of whether plants really need water and light to grow healthily.  We thought about fair testing and which conditions we wanted to explore.  We definitely have some scientific minds in Year 2! In Music, we became conductors and worked really hard on how to keep a steady beat. In French, we recapped our learning of numbers and of pets and looked the names for the four main types of shops or ‘les 4 magasins.’ We learnt la bouchère, la poissonnerie,  la boulangerie and l’épicerie.

In Art this week, we looked at how to make colours lighter and darker.  We created tints and tones sheets which was really good fun.  In Computing, we have started to use chrome music labs to create rhythms and in PE we’ve been focussing on improving our throwing and catching skills and we’ve played some simple relay games.

We also welcomed Miss Jones to our class this week.  She is a student teacher from Edge Hill and we can't wait to see more of her over the next eight weeks. 

Welcome to the team Miss Jones 🙂

Week 1 

What a first week back!  We have all been eager to impress Mrs Bradley and Mrs Sharkey with our hard work and resilient attitudes.

Our new English unit is based on the fantastic text ‘Wind in the Willows’ and we have all shown great interest into what has happened so far and who the characters are.  Today we listened to spooky audio taken from chapter 3. After listening closely and discussing what we could hear, we predicted what might have been happening as the audio was playing.

This week we developed our knowledge of verbs, present tense and past tense. 

We are really looking forward to what happens next, especially to the ‘not so sensible’ character Toad! We think he will be getting up to plenty of mischief.

In Maths, we have started our work on fractions.  We now know that groups can be described as equal or unequal and that a fraction is a part of a whole.  We have learnt some new vocabulary such as numerator and denominator and have started to find halves and quarters of shapes and numbers. 

In History, we have started work on our new curriculum connector ‘Historical Heroes.’  We started by discussing our own personal heroes and what we think makes a hero.  We conducted some research on Samuel Crompton and found out about who he was and what he did. We can’t wait to find out more next week! In Art, we looked at colour mixing, colour wheels and how to make different tints and shades of colour. It was a very messy and fun afternoon.  In Science, we recapped some of our Year 1 learning of plants.  We worked hard to retrieve and recall information that we had learnt previously.  We labelled common trees and plants and developed our knowledge of this too.  In Computing, we were thinking about how music makes us feel.  This will be leading to us creating music for a purpose which links in perfectly with our English work of ‘Wind in the Willows.’ 

On Friday, we got to take part in the Hop, Skip and Jump which was great fun and raised money for an absolutely brilliant cause!

Spring 2 - Treasured Tales

Week 6

Our final week of the Spring term has flown by!

During Worship we had a special guest as Ms Valimulla came to share with us her experience of Ramadan and the fast that she has been doing. To complete our History learning we created some ‘seaside scenes’ to demonstrate everything we had learned about holidays in the 1950s. We then shared these with the Year 1 class and as they visited our ‘museum’ we taught them about Butlins and Punch & Judy and lots more.

Our Maths was focused on measuring length and height this week, and we had fun during lots of practical lessons using rulers and metre sticks accurately. In English we finished our unit reading Aladdin. We produced very persuasive posters to encourage people in Hoddlesden to come and watch the parade for ‘Prince Ali’.  Then acted as ‘authors’ and wrote our own descriptive chapters about the magic carpet ride. We even had a visit from a magic carpet in our own class!

As a wonderful end to the term, we also enjoyed our well-earned behaviour treat of watching the new version of Aladdin with popcorn.

Week 5

It was another busy and exciting week in Year 2 

In Science we continued our project from British Science Week and went into the paddock for some Outdoor Learning, building habitats for squirrels. We had a special visitor to help us with our RE learning as Reverend Ben came in to see us and taught us about the different objects used during Communion. On Friday, we had a special Jag Tag session during PE and we loved learning new ball skills for this children’s friendly version of American Football. We finished the week using Purple Mash to make our own pictograms in our Computing session.

Our Maths learning focused on the 5 times table, and we used bar models to help us solve different problems. We continued our English unit reading Aladdin. We started to think about making our own persuasive posters to encourage people in Hoddlesden to come and watch the parade for ‘Prince Ali’.  We discussed using expanded noun phrases, commands and rhetorical questions in our writing.

Week 4

Thank you so much to Year 2 for another fantastic week full of learning and fun.

In History lots of children (as well as Miss Davies!) brought souvenirs into class from their own holidays. We then worked as historians to study these ‘artefacts’ and discussed what they could tell us about the holidays people had been on, but also what the souvenirs could not tell us. It was also Neurodiversity Celebration Week and so during our PSHE lesson we talked about the strengths and talents of people with learning differences. We were reminded of the importance of being kind, tolerant and accepting of everyone. During our Design and Technology session this week, Year 2 used everything they had learned so far to make their first chair prototypes for baby bear to sit on.

Our Maths learning focused on halving and doubling, making the link between multiplying by 2 and dividing by 2. We also continued our English unit reading Aladdin. We used drama techniques such as the magic microphone to take on the roles of either Aladdin or Jasmine. We were interviewed and had to explain what we were thinking and feeling as these characters.

On Friday we loved celebrating Red Nose Day for Comic Relief. We were particularly excited that one of our class won the school talent competition as well!

Week 3

It was another eventful and fun filled week in Year 2 

On Monday afternoon we loved our Outdoor Learning adventure. We had a walk through the woods and down to the reservoir, creating our own maps of our route as we went. Later in the paddock, we searched for real life examples of food chains and built strong and stable structures. On Tuesday, it was Spirituality Day and we enjoyed working with other year groups to learn more about the period of Lent leading up to Easter. During our Design and Technology session this week, Year 2 made their own 3D shapes and tested their stability and strength.

Our Maths learning has continued to focus on division this week, particularly halving or dividing by two. We also continued our new English unit reading Aladdin, using evidence from the text to describe the character of Jasmine.

And of course we all enjoyed a Snow Day on Friday. Thank you for all those children who shared their home learning with us – you were very busy building structures from snow, thinking about the eatwell plate, halving, doubling and writing diary entries.

Week 2

Last week flew by so quickly –Year 2 were very busy!

In RE we started to think about Easter and the meaning of different symbols such as hot cross buns. In History we studied some photographs from Miss Davies’ grandparents on holiday in the 1950s and used these as a source of evidence to learn about the past. We used what we learned to compare holidays in the past to holidays now.

During our Science lesson we thought about which daily activities contribute to us living healthy lifestyles and if they including exercise, a balanced diet, a healthy mind, enough sleep and good hygiene. In Music we used the glockenspiels to accompany a piece of music. In D&T we began a new topic about structures and evaluated the stability of different chairs in school.

Our Maths learning continued to focus on division and we awarded quite a few two times table badges as well. We continued our new English unit and discussed our opinions about the title character Aladdin, using evidence from the text.

We also enjoyed some special English lessons, focusing on the text ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ for World Book Day. We studied the letters that each of the crayons sent and learned some of them to perform off by heart. We all had such a brilliant time on World Book Day and were so impressed by all of the creative costumes in Year 2!

Week 1

We have had a lovely week back in Year 2 after the half term break and have begun our new whole-school theme of Treasured Tales.  

This week in Science we studied and created our own simple food chains, including both plants and animals. We discussed which animals would be classed as the predators or the prey in each food chain. In History we began a new topic, thinking about the ways in which holidays have changed from the 1950s to now. We thought of some questions to ask Mrs Scholes’ Mum about her holidays as a child and read an interview with her all about her past holidays to Great Yarmouth. This half term, one of our new P.E. units is focusing on traditional UK folk dance and we will be practising and adapting a Farmer’s Jig. This week we enjoyed listening to Irish folk music and starting to learn the basic steps. We also had a Gymnastics session where we practised our forwards and backwards rolls, cartwheels and learned to balance in headstands safely. In Computing, we used editing software to change the colour effect on photographs and everyone created some very creative images!

Our Maths learning focused on multiplication and understanding that division is sharing into equal groups. We’ve been practising our two times table every day and are looking forward to trying to get some times tables bands soon! We also started our new English unit, based on the text Aladdin, by using noun phrases and conjunctions to describe the story setting.

We are looking forward to another half term of exciting learning!

Spring 1 - Amazing Asia

Week 6

We have had a fantastic last week of term! We have been even busier than usual; we loved entertaining the parents on Tuesday with a child-led worship that showcased our learning from this half term. We have also been getting out and about on the farm! We loved our visit to Nightingale’s Farm on Wednesday. We met and fed the animals, played a game and learnt even more about where our food comes from (linked to our Geography learning). We are very lucky to go to school so close to a rural area (the countryside) where we can enjoy the sights and be surrounded by animals!

It has been Children’s Mental Health Week this week. We discussed how to keep our minds healthy and how the connections that we make with people can help with this. We thought about all of the connections we make in a day, such as talking with family, playing with friends etc…there are a lot of connections and they often make us happy!

It was also Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, with the theme 'Want to talk about it?’ where we discussed who the trusted adults are that we can talk to about our worries online.

After our visit to the farm, we looked at the physical geography of the area in our Geography learning. We labelled the physical and human geography in the local area. In PSHE, we continued our learning about how to deal with inappropriate touch, such as hugging, tickling etc. In our Science lesson, we continued to investigate that properties of materials make them suitable or unsuitable for particular purposes. We tested a few materials for their properties - including whether they are waterproof - before deciding which materials to use for Mulan’s equipment. We loved creating our own games in our P.E. lesson! We used the equipment and came up with a game that everyone in the group could join in with. In our French learning, we practised all of the vocabulary we have learnt for vegetables before learning how to say we do or don’t like them. We completed our R.E. unit for this half term by linking our learning about Jesus with how charities reflect how Jesus treated the less fortunate.

In English, we finished our Mulan learning by writing our own ending for the story, using powerful verbs, adjectives and adverbs to make our writing more interesting. We continued our Maths topic on multiplication by progressing from using repeated addition to writing multiplication number sentences to show the total of different numbers of equal groups.

We have DEFINITELY earned our half term break! Well done to all of the Year 2 children who, as always, have put a huge amount of effort into all aspects of school life. Fantastic work, everyone! 

Week 5

We have loved another week of learning in Year 2! In our Dance lesson, we continued our Mulan warrior training. We did a whole-class dance and then a duet with our partner. We did some wonderful movements…we think we could now become warriors ourselves! We applied our new knowledge of tone (how light or dark something is) in our Art & Design lesson. We linked our learning to the Chinese zodiac and drew a picture of a rabbit (2023 is the year of the rabbit), using oil pastels to colour the rabbit with different tones. In Geography, we started our lesson by using Google Maps to look at the rural (countryside) areas around the UK. We learnt about the traditional foods of the four countries of the UK, such as potatoes in Northern Ireland, oats in Scotland, Bramley apples and cheddar in England and leeks in Wales. Our PSHE learning focused on appropriate touch and how to tell people if we are not comfortable. We continued to use the glockenspiels in Music to play food beats along to one of our focus songs, and this week we also included the djembe drums! We enjoyed an extra Gymnastics session with Mrs Winward. We love using the equipment…some children managed to get themselves right up to the top of the ropes!

We have been looking at equal groups in Maths this week, writing repeated addition number sentences. We wrote our instructions for becoming a warrior in English, linked to our focus text, Mulan. We used the features of instructions, including imperative (bossy) verbs, numbered steps and time words.

On Friday, we celebrated the NSPCC Number Day by dressing up in something number-related! Our outfits were fantastic. We did a variety of number activities throughout the day. We loved playing Phonics Scrabble, where we had to work as a team to make words using the scrabble letters and then add up our scores. We also looked at multiples of 2, 3 and 5 and then had to use addition to break a code!

Week 4

We enjoyed practising and adding to our dance based on Mulan in our Dance P.E. lesson. We used movements to show what it would be like at the training camp, doing a whole-class dance and also a duet with a partner. We finally got outside for our other P.E. lesson (after weeks of terrible weather!) to practise our throwing and catching skills. We presented news reports to share the news of Bartimaeus, a blind man, being healed by Jesus in our R.E. learning. In Geography, we started our lesson by looking at a map of the UK that shows the rural areas, where farming takes place. We then thought about what we think a farmer looks like…we discussed that farmers can be women, too! After thinking about where our food comes from, we drew and labelled a meal that we have eaten. We wrote about where each part of our meal came from, e.g. whether the food was grown, came from an animal or had been changed before being eaten. We enjoyed experimenting with tone (how light or dark something is) in our Art & Design lesson, using softer pencils to create light and dark shading. We continued our Keeping Safe theme in PSHE and thought about situations when we should say no, I’ll ask or I’ll tell. In Computing, we explored the effect that light has on a photograph by taking photographs in different areas around school.

We started the non-fiction part of our Mulan learning in English by looking at a range of instruction texts to identify the features of instructions. We then worked in a group to give verbal instructions to make either a snowman or a sandwich! We will be writing instructions on how to be a warrior. In Maths, we were solving problems involving money, including two-step problems.

We have definitely earned our weekend! 

Week 3

We had a cold but exciting Outdoor Adventurous Learning session in the snow this week! The sun was shining and we all had about ten layers of clothing on when we set out on our Mulan training camp adventure. We completed a tough training assault course and whittled spears out of sticks, before doing some target practice. We then went on a hunt for the enemy, using a map and a compass to navigate our way through the woods. We also spotted a range of mushrooms on our journey (but we know not to eat them!) and then finished our adventure by relaxing with a hot chocolate and a toasted marshmallow. What a super afternoon!

In our R.E. learning this week, we used drama to retell the story of the ten lepers from the book of Luke. We used movement and facial expressions to interpret the hurt and rejection felt by the lepers. We then changed the expressions to reflect the new feelings of the people after they were healed. We wrote a thank you letter to Jesus from the leper who came back to say thank you. In our Dance lesson, we continued our Mulan-themed dance unit where we created a dance using movements linked to the army training camp. Our Geography learning focused on how our food gets to us and we looked at the food story of food items such as crisps or the carrots in the school kitchen fridge! In PSHE, we continued our Keeping Safe theme by considering situations that make us feel safe or unsafe. We then worked in a group to present how we would make a range of situations safer. We used frottage (rubbings of different materials) in Art & Design to create a picture of a tiger (an Asian animal). In Science, we started to think about the equipment Mulan would need at training camp and what materials would be most suitable for the equipment, based on their properties.

Another super week in Year 2! 

Week 2

What a busy week of learning we have had in Year 2…we have enjoyed a range of artistic, physical and investigative activities!

In our first P.E. lesson, we explored movements linked to our English focus text, Mulan. We imagined we were at army training camp and we put together a sequence of moves to show how we would train for battle. For our R.E. learning, we started our new unit on Jesus, exploring the story of Jesus welcoming the children. We looked at artists’ impressions of the event before working as a group to create our own piece of artwork to show Jesus and the children. In Art & Design, we investigated different textures (how something looks and feels) by taking rubbings using pencil crayons. In our PSHE lesson, we talked about how medicines can make us feel better when we are unwell, as long as we use them safely. We also talked about some of the things that a person can do to feel better without the use of medicines. We went out and about around school during our Science lesson to investigate the uses of different materials. We found that some materials are used for lots of different purposes, such as wood, plastic and metal. We continued our learning about taking photographs with digital devices in Computing, focusing on whether we should take a landscape or portrait photograph of an object or person. We took some fantastic photographs! We enjoyed a Gymnastics session with Mrs Winward. We did a range of balances in a group and practised doing the splits. We learnt some new vocabulary for vegetables in French and we tried to remember the words using silly actions!

In Maths, we completed our learning about 3-D shapes by counting faces, edges and vertices and looking at which 2-D shapes make up the faces of the 3-D shapes. We have enjoyed our learning about Mulan in English. We listened to a song from the Disney version of the story and explored Mulan’s feelings at the start of the story. We then compared Mulan to the character Moana. We treated the song like a poem and learnt parts of the song to recite. We have made a lot of progress with our performances! Watch an extract of our recital here.

Week 1

We have had a lovely few days in Year 2 to get us back into the swing of things after a well-earned Christmas break!

Our new whole-school theme this half term is Amazing Asia and we started our new Art & Design unit by creating repeating patterns using paint. We selected shapes and colours to create our designs. In Music, we used the glockenspiels to play an accompaniment to our focus song for the unit, Rainbows. We were very tuneful! One of our new P.E. units is Group Games, where we will practise our striking and fielding skills. The other unit is a Dance unit and we will be linking our movements to our English focus text, Mulan. We will be focusing on movements that the army trainees would use when preparing to fight. In Computing, we started our learning about digital devices that can be used to take images. We spent some time taking some snaps of different objects and people (including ourselves!) around school.

Our Maths learning focused on symmetry and identifying the vertical line of symmetry on 2-D shapes. We started our new English unit, based on the text Mulan, by selecting adjectives to describe what we think the main character will be like.

We are looking forward to another half term of exciting learning!

Autumn 2 - Factual Footprints

Week 7

Our final week of the term has been packed with fun learning and extra activities! We loved our World Cup-themed behaviour treat, where we practised our skills before taking part in a tournament. Mrs Scholes got lots of great action shots! We also had a visit from a very special guest, who delivered an early Christmas present to us. We even sang him one of the songs from our Christmas production!

In History, we compared Neil Armstrong and Tim Peake’s spacesuits and thought about why they might have changed over time. We finished our Elf Enterprise product in Design & Technology by stuffing the finished stockings full of sweet treats! We then packaged up the products so they were ready to deliver to our paying customers. The stockings look fantastic - we have really excelled ourselves with our sewing skills! In our R.E. lesson this week, we explored how artists portray angels before using pastels to create our own images of angels. The finished artwork looks amazing! In Science, we thought about the properties of the material a spacesuit is made out of. We explained why the spacesuit would need to be flexible, strong, opaque etc.

We loved our Gymnastics lesson, where we got the ropes out. We tried to climb to the top before we had a competition to see who could hold on for the longest! It was a lot of fun.

The children have worked so hard this term and they have definitely earned their two weeks off! I am so proud of their attitude to learning and the amount of effort they put into everything they are asked to do. I have really enjoyed the first term with the children and I am looking forward to the next one. Well done, Year 2 

Week 6

What a week for Key Stage 1! We have spent time practising our Christmas production, Lights, Camel, Action!, to make sure that we could put on a good show for our families…and we did a fantastic job! Our hard work paid off and we definitely entertained the crowds. Mrs Scholes is incredibly proud of us all and our wonderful acting and singing skills.

We also enjoyed a trip out to the pantomime on Tuesday (oh yes, we did!) to watch Jack and the Beanstalk. We loved joining in with the dancing and cheering!

In our History learning, we used our chronology skills to create a timeline of the important events in Neil Armstrong’s life, including his amazing moon walk. In Computing, we learnt how to retrieve a saved file and then add a text box to our document. We carried on our production line to create our Elf Enterprise product in Design & Technology, using running stitch to join our Christmas stockings together. Our R.E. learning involved exploring Mary’s thoughts and feelings when she received the good news from the angel that she would be having the baby Jesus. We think she would have been shocked to see an angel and overwhelmed that she would be the mother of the son of God. In French, we learnt the French words relating to Christmas and the traditions that are followed in France during the festive period. 

We have challenged ourselves in Maths this week by doing subtraction where we had to exchange a ten for ten ones so that we could subtract the ones.

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Week 5

We have had another very practical week in Year 2! We enjoyed learning how to dribble and pass a ball in hockey in our P.E. lesson. We also played a game where we had to let go of our hockey stick and grab the next hockey stick without it falling to the ground…it was very tricky! We spent more time crafting our product for Elf Enterprise in Design & Technology. Our running stitch skills have definitely improved and our stockings are looking fabulous and festive! In Science, we continued our learning about materials and their properties by carrying out an investigation with socks! We wanted to find out which sock would be the stretchiest so we decided to stretch each one and measure how long it was when stretched. We predicted which sock would be the stretchiest and then looked at our results to see if our predictions were correct. In our Gymnastics lesson, we practised our skipping skills again (we are definitely getting better) and we learnt a sequence of movements. The sequence involved forward rolls, balances and stretches.

In our R.E. lesson, we explored the good news brought to Zechariah in the Bible by an angel. The angel told him he would have a son called John, who would prepare the people for the arrival of Jesus, the saviour. We enjoyed practising the French vocabulary we have learnt about pets. We played a game where we had to describe the colour of the pet.

Our English learning focused on character descriptions of the characters in our new focus text, A Right Royal Disaster by Simon Bartram. It is a text that links to our space exploration topic and it is another story about the character Bob, Man on the Moon. This time, he gets himself into trouble with Queen Battleaxe! In Maths, we have been subtracting a two-digit number from another two-digit number.

We’ll certainly be ready for our Christmas break after all of our hard work this half term! 

Week 4

We started our week with an Outdoor Adventurous Learning session. It was a bit chilly out there but we managed to avoid the rain this time! We took our Science, History and Maths learning into the woods, starting with a materials search. We found some natural materials and described their properties, such as flexible, rigid, hard etc. We then linked our learning to our History topic about space exploration. We made a shelter for an astronaut on the moon, thinking about which materials would be best because of their properties. We finished our session by thinking about 2-D shapes! We used our Maths knowledge to create 2-D shapes out of the natural materials around us. Another super outdoor session!

After designing a product for our Elf Enterprise project in Design & Technology, we got started on our production line! We used running stitch to join a festive picture to a stocking template…we have definitely made progress in our stitching skills over the last few weeks! In our R.E. lesson, we thought about how the Christmas story fits into God’s Big Story. Jesus coming to Earth as a baby was the Incarnation part of God’s plan, so that Jesus could come as a saviour to the world. We continued our Science learning about materials by conducting an investigation into whether the shapes of solid objects can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting or stretching. Our History learning focused on Neil Armstrong, who was a significant individual in the past. He was an astronaut who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. We looked at how he contributed to the international achievement of space exploration. We loved practising our cartwheels again in Gymnastics! Mrs Winward is very pleased with the progress we have made. We also continued to develop our skipping skills. Take a look here.

In English, we wrote our non-chronological report about the astronaut Tim Peake. We included the features of a non-chronological report, such as a heading, an introduction, subheadings, paragraphs, pictures, captions and a fact box. We progressed to adding two two-digit numbers in Maths, exchanging ten ones for one ten when we needed to.

Week 3

There have been many things that we have been thinking about in school this week. It has been Inter Faith Week, so we have considered how best to create a just, peaceful and harmonious world with people of other faiths. It was also Anti-Bullying Week, so we have thought about the theme Reach Out. We launched the week by wearing odd socks to celebrate being unique and then talked about what people should do if they are being bullied, who they can reach out to and how we can reach out to people who are being bullied.

In Design & Technology, we started preparing for our Elf Enterprise project by evaluating existing products before designing our own. Our R.E. learning focused on the journey of the wise men when they visited Jesus. We wrote a free verse poem to describe the journey. In History, we discussed what the past is, ordering and sequencing significant events in our lives. We put them in chronological order (time order). We had a very exciting Gymnastics session in P.E. where we completed an obstacle course of activities! In French, we continued learning the names of animals and we learnt how to say what pets we have.

In Maths, we have been adding multiples of 10 to two-digit numbers. After identifying the features of a non-chronological report, we have enjoyed researching Tim Peake (the astronaut) in our English learning this week. We have prepared to write our own non-chronological report about Tim Peake and we have used a text map to learn an introduction for our text. Watch our video here!

Week 2

As always, it has been a very busy week in Year 2! In our Computing lesson, we learnt the parts of a computer and compared a computer to a laptop. We also practised using the left and right button functions on the mouse. We continued to practise our running stitch in our Design & Technology lesson, this time joining two pieces of fabric together. Our stitching is definitely improving…the hardest part was keeping the thread in the needle! In PSHE, we looked at the similarities and differences between ourselves and the other children in class, focusing on what makes us unique. We enjoyed a Music session with Rock Steady Music School, where we put together a song using different instruments. We continued to practise forward and backwards rolls in Gymnastics, before moving on to cartwheels! We all had a really good go and improved our technique throughout the lesson. In Science, we looked more closely at the properties of materials. We thought about whether materials such as metal, wood, fabric and plastic were hard or soft, flexible or rigid, transparent or opaque etc. We have learnt some very technical vocabulary! We practised saying colours in French before learning some new vocabulary for common pets.

We have really enjoyed looking at a list poem called Ten Things Found in a Wizard’s Pocket in English. We read and enjoyed it before learning and performing a few lines from the poem. We have planned our own version of the poem linked to space, called Ten Things Found in an Astronaut’s Pocket. We have come up with some amazing noun phrases for description! In Maths, we have moved onto subtraction but we can still use number bonds to 10 to help us.

Week 1

We have had a very practical first week back in Year 2! We started our new Computing unit about identifying Information Technology and how its use can improve our world. We learnt some new skills in Design & Technology...we have been learning how to sew a running stitch. Our focus will be joining materials using the stitch and we will be showcasing our new-found skills in our Elf Enterprise product later in the term! In our R.E. lesson, we began thinking about the Christmas story and what Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem would have been like. We compared it to making the same journey now. We enjoyed getting the glockenspiels out in Music and playing an accompaniment to our new focus song. We started by playing two notes and we will progress to playing more complicated accompaniments throughout the unit. Our new Science topic is Material Properties and we started our new learning by investigating the different materials we could find in our classroom. We named the materials and then thought of words to describe their properties, such as flexible and hard. We loved our Gymnastics P.E. lesson with Mrs Winward! We recalled the moves we have learnt previously, like the different positions (pike, straddle etc) and some different rolls (forward, backward, log). Mrs Scholes got some excellent action shots of us! In History, we started by placing key events in our life on a timeline. We then explored some historical sources, investigating what they can tell us. We found out about the astronauts who were the first people to walk on the moon!

In English, we have started our non-fiction unit about astronauts. We learnt about Mae Jemison, who, in 1992, was the first black woman to go into space. Our Maths learning has been based around using number facts (e.g. number bonds to 10) to help us to add three one-digit numbers.

What a great start to the new half term!

Autumn 1 - Native Narratives

Week 7

We have enjoyed our final week of the first half term in Year 2. Our favourite part of the week was definitely making and eating our healthy wraps in Design & Technology! We had carefully tested and designed our healthy wrap, selecting foods from most of the main food groups. We put our wraps together and did the important job of taste testing them! We then evaluated our wraps, saying what we liked about it what we could improve next time. In our R.E. lesson, we looked at another holy book from a different religion. We learnt about the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the holy book in Sikhism. Guru means teacher and the special book is treated with the same respect as a person. In our Invasion Games P.E. lesson, we demonstrated our passing and ball control skills with a football, plus our underarm throwing technique and catching skills. In our Dance lesson, we became different dangerous animals and worked in a group to showcase our sequence of moves. Our Computing learning involved programming an online Bee-Bot to move around a grid. In Music, we performed an African chant, using instruments as an accompaniment. Listen to our performance here. We pulled all of our Geography learning together by becoming weather presenters! We included information about the seasons and why the weather changes.

In English, we used the features of a letter to write a letter in role as a character from one of our link texts, Splash, Anna Hibiscus! We included adjectives and the joining words we have been practising - and, because, so and but. We continued our Addition & Subtraction unit in Maths by using number bonds to ten to help us to add two one-digit numbers. We used a tens frame and a number line to help us.

We have certainly earned our half term break! You have had an AMAZING half term, Year 2! Well done 

Week 6

We have had a very active week in Year 2! We had a Tri Kidz session where we became triathletes for the afternoon, riding a bike, ‘swimming’ and running throughout the session. Watch our efforts here! We performed part of the poem Nature Trail by Benjamin Zephaniah in a special performance assembly on Tuesday. We loved performing to an audience!

In Science, we used a map to help us to locate the habitats of living things around school. In our Design & Technology lesson, we tasted some combinations of food in preparation for designing and making a healthy wrap. We had a selection of food from some of the food groups: fruits and vegetables (carrot, cucumber, tomato and pepper), proteins (ham, tuna and egg) and dairy (cheddar cheese and cream cheese). We tried some different combinations to see which ones we liked best. We then created a couple of designs for a healthy wrap and chose our favourite one. We will make them next week…and eat them, of course! We continued our learning about the Bible in our R.E. lesson by comparing it to another holy book - the Qur’an. We found that there are lots of similarities between the two special books, plus some differences. We learnt and performed a dance in P.E. where we became lions, including movements that made us very cat-like. We also had a very special audience...Mr Dugdale! Watch our dance here. In Computing, we were testing instructions for the movement of a Bee-Bot and debugging them if they were not correct. We had a special music session with Mr Richards where we listened to the piece of music Voices Shouting Out by an American composer called Nkeiru Okoye. We used the instruments to make loud and soft sounds. In Geography, we compared the seasons in the UK to the seasons in Kenya, Africa. There are two rainy seasons and two dry seasons in Kenya and the temperature is higher than in the UK because Kenya is near to the Equator. In French, we practised saying who is in our family and learnt the new vocabulary J'ai (I have).

In our English learning, we started our non-fiction learning based on writing letters. We looked at some examples of letters and made a list of the features of letters so that we know what to include when we write our own letters. We also looked at letters sent from children in Africa in our focus text, Letters to Africa. Our Maths topic has changed to Addition & Subtraction and we have started by looking at number bonds to 10 and 100, plus fact families to 20.

What a busy week! 

Week 5

We enjoyed a very wet and muddy Outdoor Adventurous Learning session this week. As always, there was plenty of opportunities for teamwork and whittling things out of natural materials! We had a race as a team to get the whole group from one place to another…but the floor was lava so we kept falling off and having to start again! We learnt how to tie a useful knot before creating a tipi out of large sticks and rope. We then ended our session by toasting marshmallows, of course! To see our outdoor adventures, have a look on the OAL web page.

We linked our English learning to Black History Month this week and we learnt about the poet, novelist and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah. He writes about topics that he thinks are important, such as racism and being a vegan. We then learnt and performed part of his poem, Nature Trail. Enjoy our performance here!

In our other learning, we started our Design & Technology topic about a balanced diet. We started by looking at hidden sugars in drinks - we were shocked by how much sugar there is in some fruit juices! We then looked at the different food groups. In our R.E. lesson, we learnt about Mary Jones, who walked for 25 miles because she wanted her own Bible. It was her most treasured possession. We then thought about our own most treasured possession. In Computing, we continued to write step-by-step instructions. We listened to an African chant in Music, listening out for what we could hear. We heard drums and vocals. We also decided that the tempo (speed) was very fast - we will have to slow it down a little bit when we do our own version of the chant! In PSHE, we thought about what a good friend is like. We continued our learning about the seasons in Geography. We thought about what we would have to wear in each season and why. We have been comparing numbers in Maths using less than, greater than and equal to.

We have worked really hard this week and Mrs Scholes is very pleased!

Week 4

We have had another very active week in Year 2…we started our week with a Dance Africa session where we combined African animal movements with African dance! Watch us enjoying our performance here.

In Art, we combined our knowledge of Clarice Cliff’s artwork and the African patterns we have been looking at. We developed our painting skills, practising how to hold a paintbrush and use effective brush strokes. We created our own African patterns using the shapes and repetition we have seen, before painting our patterns onto a plate. They look fantastic! Our P.E. lesson involved becoming a dangerous animal! We continued our Dangerous Animals unit by linking our session to Africa. We created the movements of a lion and showed how it moves, stalks its prey and pounces. In our R.E. lesson, we continued our unit about the Bible by considering why it is so important to Christians to own a Bible. We looked at the reasons why owning a Bible is so important and how far people have gone to own and read their own Bible. In Geography, we learnt that the weather changes because of the wind! Wind can come from the north, south, east or west and it brings different weather with it, depending on where it comes from. We practised the new vocabulary for family members - La Famille - that we learnt in last week’s French lesson. We did actions for each family member to help us to remember the vocabulary.

Our Place Value Maths learning included partitioning numbers in different ways and then moving on to counting in tens on a number line. We wrote our own version of the story The Ugly Five in English. We tried to include the Year 2 skills we have been practising, including using adjectives and joining words. We also tried to include some adventurous vocabulary from the text. We have really impressed Mrs Scholes - our writing is super!

Week 3

We have enjoyed our week in Year 2! We have continued our Place Value unit in Maths, progressing to partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones, using numerals to record our answers. Our English learning included using a text map to learn the main events of the story The Ugly Five so that we could retell the story ourselves. We then used the text map to write the story, including the joining words and vocabulary that we have learnt so far in the unit. Watch us tell the story here!

In Art, we looked at a piece of artwork by Nancy McCroskey called Suite in Black, White and Grey. She has divided her page into lots of small sections and used a range of straight and curved lines to draw pictures or patterns in each section. We copied Nancy’s style in our sketch books and used the art pencils to create light and dark shades. In our P.E. lesson, we continued our dance unit by creating a sequence of moves that were like the African animals in The Ugly Five text. Our R.E. learning focused on the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in caves near Jerusalem, which are scrolls that contain parts of the Bible. We discussed how incredible the find was…they were found by a goat herder! We wrote a recount of the event in role as the goat herder, including how we felt when we found the scrolls. In French, we learnt new vocabulary for members of our family. We continued our learning about the seasons in Geography and we described the changes in the weather over a week, using the key vocabulary we have learnt so far. In PSHE, we thought about different feelings and discussed how to help others when they have not-so-good feelings such as anger, loneliness etc. We had a visitor in school who reminded us how we should be washing our hands...after Shrek 'sneezed' all over our classroom! Another super week! 

Week 2

We have really settled into life in Year 2 - it’s like we’ve been here for weeks! We started off another great week of learning with a visit from Coram Life Education. We talked about feelings and how we should look after our bodies. In our Art & Design lesson, we looked at the work of the artist Clarice Cliff. She was an English ceramic artist (pottery). Clarice’s work was made up of bright colours and shapes, particularly triangles. We looked at the plate design ‘Circle Tree’ and we said what it made us think of. We then created our own painting based on the design, using concentric circles (circles of different sizes that have the same centre point). They look amazing! Our Dance lesson in P.E. was based around the legend of George and the Dragon. We put together a sequence of moves to show a battle between the knight and the dragon! In Music, we continued to learn our focus song, Music is in My Soul. We sang the song and then created an accompaniment for the instrumental section, using percussion instruments. We continued our Algorithms unit in Computing, where we had to create a set of instructions for a robot! In our R.E. lesson, we continued to look at the Bible as a special book. We learnt that it has two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. We recalled the stories we know from the Bible and placed them in either the Old or New Testament. In French, we learnt a song containing the greetings we learnt in the previous lesson. We then had a conversation with Hugo the snail! We continued our English learning by researching African animals so that we could write riddles about them. We made sure that we didn't give the answer away too quickly! Our Maths learning continued to be focused around place value (tens and ones). Another fantastic week, Year 2! 

Week 1

We have had a super week in Year 2 - what a great start to our year! Mrs Scholes is so impressed with how well we have settled into life in Year 2 and we enthusiastically got stuck into our work this week!

In Geography, we began our lesson with a bit of map work. We spent some time locating the countries of the United Kingdom and discussed which countries in the UK we had visited. We then started our main learning about the seasons. We went outside and drew a field sketch to record our observations of the environment and the weather. We realised that we had had all sorts of weather that day! We drew weather symbols to represent the different types of weather before making a prediction of what we thought the weather would be like the next day. In Maths, we started our Place Value unit. We counted in tens to make our counting more efficient. Our English learning is focused on the text The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson. We have been gathering some super vocabulary from the text so that we can use it in our own writing. We collected some adjectives (describing words) from the text and added some of our own ideas, and used them to write a list poem about an animal from the text. We then read them out loud to the rest of the class to practise our public speaking skills! In Computing, we started our unit about algorithms. We wrote step-by-step instructions to practise how we will create our algorithms. Our R.E. learning this half term focuses on the Bible and special books from other faiths. We thought about why the Bible is special to Christians.

What a fantastic start, Year 2!