Welcome back

Can you believe it? It’s already our last half term as Year 2 children!

Our first week back has been another exciting one. We have been so impressed by the way the children have returned to school ready to learn and have been demonstrated all their fantastic skills - thank you for your hard work with them during the holidays!

In English this week, we have started to write our imaginary friend stories and have been thinking about all the crazy things they might get up to during a sponsored silence!

In Maths, we have been measuring mass in both grams and kilograms, as well as estimating which units would be best for the different things we weighed. We have also been using the less than, greater than and equal to symbols to compare measurements. Lots of practical fun!

In Science, we’ve looked at food chains and how animals each rely upon one another for survival and food. We will continue this work next week.

Our RE work has been all about the Miraculous Catch where Jesus appeared to advise his friends whilst fishing and have written recounts from Peter’s perspective.

In PE we continue our work on ball games and have looked at the ball skills involved in tennis.

It has certainly been a very busy first week back but we have worked very hard!

Our golden award winner this week was Jayden-Thomas for a fabulous attitude towards school.

Our writing award winner was Sophie for consistently super stories and beautiful handwriting.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and the Year 2 Team.

Happy half term!

It’s been another busy week in Year 2!

We’ve been writing some fantastic character descriptions in our English and have thought hard about exciting adjectives and similes!

In Maths we have finished our work on our time and we are now time telling experts!

In Science, we’ve been learning all about how animals and plants in a habitat depend on one another.

In our topic work we have been comparing the temperatures in Australia and the UK using graphs.

Fiinally, we ended the term with a well-deserved party as a celebration of all the hard work we have put into this past 5 weeks. Well done, Year 2, we are so proud of you!

A tough week... But year 2 are up to the challenge!

This week has been the beginning of our SATs assessment. Due to ensuring that the tests remain as natural and stress-free as possible, we have decided to stretch them out over the month of May.

We have completed two reading papers and the children are desperately excited to do even more next week! (I’m not kidding, by the way!) We have all worked so hard and the effort and enthusiasm they have put into their work has blown me away! Well done, year 2.

Next week, we will undertake our two maths papers - arithmetic and reasoning. The children have worked very hard with this and so do not panic! However, if you would like any last minute practice here is a link to a Maths Reasoning Paper.

Our English work this week has involved becoming familiar with the story of Chatterbox Ben. We have been discussing the story, making predictions about what will happen and thinking about how we could change the story.

In Maths. we have started our work on time and' I’ve been truly amazed at how great we all are at telling the time to half past and o clock. Next week, we will continue to work on time with quarter to/past and even 5 minute intervals.

In Science we’ve explored seaside habitats. If you happen to be near the beach at all, take a look and see what you can find living there.

We have also been involved in the Shakespeare workshop again - acting out the story of a Midsummer Night’s Dream through freeze frames.

Also, we have had some free time during our SATs tests and have used it to create some wonderful Maths games and pictures to aid us in our storytelling.

Golden Award winner this week was Ollie.

Writing Award winner was Maisie.

Finally, just remember…

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

"Though she be but little, she is fierce."

This week has been very exciting in Year 2.. We are well underway in preparing for our ‘special tests’ in the coming three weeks and the children have been working so hard to revise their learning!

We have been writing recounts of our Easter holidays - it seems that you’ve all been up to lots of wonderful activities! The children have worked so hard to write a recount which is personal, detailed and interesting for their audience to read. I have been so impressed with how they have been able to edit their work too!

We are now beginning work on our next English topic - stories with a familiar setting - and have been reading the Night Shimmy by Anthony Browne. We have thought carefully about whether we would like an imaginary friend to play with.

In maths, we are finishing our work on division and are now division experts! We know that we can use our multiplication facts to derive division facts from.

Our topic is Australia and we have been finding Australia and its state and territories on maps.

In Science, we have been exploring different habitats with a focus on our local one - urban. We have been hunting our school grounds for the living creatures in our various micro-habitats. Some creatures we found surprised us!

In RE we have been sharing our personal experiences and feelings about attending mass and have discussed the Holy Communion and why it is so important.

On Friday, we had a very special treat as our Y5 and Y6 Shakespeare ambassadors did a workshop with us with a focus on A Midsummer Night’s Dream! This was so much fun and we have learned plenty about being Shakespearean actors. We will have more of these sessions in the coming weeks.

Our maths award winner this week was Flo.

Our golden award winner was Ebony.

Our writing award winner was Henri.

Have a lovely weekend.

This week in Year 2...

This week year 2 had a very special visit from the fire service. We learned all about staying safe and thought about how to make a fire plan at home.

In English, we have been learning about the Gunpowder Plot and have made wanted poster to describe Guy Fawkes. We have used fantastic adjectives to describe his appearance and motives!

In Maths, we have begun our work on positional language. We have described the location of objects in relation to others (above, behind, below, inside, etc…) and to describe movement (forwards, backwards, left, right, north, east, south, west). We were great at this.

In Science, we have been considering which materials we would make certain objects from - and which wouldn’t be suitable!

For our Geography work, we have been looking at continents. We have labelled them and next week we will be researching the different continents in groups.

In RE we made models for the Holy Trinity and really thought hard about why we included each symbols. They will be coming home next week, ready for your mantelpiece!

Finally, we have been busily preparing for our Nativity. All children have their lines so please practice them regularly. They need to know them inside and out! Also, we have sent a song sheet home and these can be practiced with the songs uploaded in the ‘homework’ section of the year 2 page.

YR1 AND 2’S NATIVITY WILL TAKE PLACE ON TUESDAY 18TH DECEMBER AT 9.30AM AND 2PM. EACH CHILD WILL BE SENT TWO TICKETS FOR EACH PERFORMANCE. THERE WILL BE NO EVENING PERFORMANCE.

Award winners this week…

Maths - Ollie for a super attitude and confidence in his mathematical work.

Golden award - For settling in so well with us.

Writing - Malachy - for a fantastic explanation text about frogs.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell,

Our Week

It has been a very busy week in Year 2 again. We have celebrated World Kindness Day and have been thinking about the things we can - and already - do to show our kindness and care for others. Check out our ‘kindness door’ in the school entrance hall to see our thoughts!

This week, we have been writing an explanation text about the life cycle of a frog. Judging from what we have produced, I think we have become experts on frogs. Ask us to give you a fact! We have also been learning all about adverbs and how we can use them to improve our writing.

In maths, we have been learning how to add an amount of tens to a two-digit number, quickly and mentally. We have reinforced this by checking our calculations on hundred squares.

We had a very busy week in RE, where we have been learning about the Holy Trinity. We looked at the different symbols for The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit and have made our own symbols from salt dough!

Our Geography topic has been all about Planet Earth and we have been identifying physical features we might find on our little blue planet…

Our Science learning has focused upon materials and we have been exploring the suitability of different types of paper for absorbing spillages.

Award winners this week…

Maths - Leo - for his concentration, effort and independent work.

Golden Award - Maia - for setting a super example to our class.

Writing Award - Summer - for her hard work, not just in writing but also in her spelling!

Finally, the Nativity songs have been added to the ‘Homework’ page. Please listen to them and practice them at home.

See you on Monday, and remember KINDNESS IS MAGIC.

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell.

Another busy week & Some Useful Information

We’ve had another hectic week in Year 2, full of lots of fun learning.

We have continued our Read Write Inc work in our groups and lots of us have begun to plan and write our own stories.

In Maths, we have finished our work on number bonds to 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 20. We have been using this knowledge to find subtraction facts, numbers with more tens with bond patterns and using our bonds to mentally add numbers where the total is larger than 10. We have no moved on to look at 2D shapes and have thought about symmetry and how to identify right angles.

Our RE focus has been on the story of Moses. We have written diary entries from the point of view of his sister, Miriam.

In Science, we have continued to investigate plants - thinking about the main things a plant needs to grow and thrive - and have set up lots of comparative tests to explore this.

We have also engaged in Great Fire of London art work and have compared modern London to the London of 1666.

Maths award winner was Abigail.

Writing award winner was Issy.

Golden award winner was Dainton.

Well done to everyone!

You may also have noticed that your child’s reading book may have changed. This is because we have started our Accelerated Reading scheme which children use from Y2 to Y6. The children took initial computer quizzes to determine their comprehension level and are set books appropriate to this. As your child reads, they will take computer quizzes at school which test their understanding of the stories. As they complete quizzes and demonstrate this understanding, they will be assigned trickier and trickier books. So please don’t fret if your child’s book appears too low for them right now, they will soon fly through them.

May I also add that your child has been sent home with homework this week - spellings, English work and some Maths work. Please complete these at home and return to school by next Thursday. I will look at all homework I receive but will be unable to comment back on work unless there is a specific misconception or difficulty that I need to discuss.

Finally, we have sent home some song words to learn for our Harvest service next week. Attached is the song to practice singing with your child.

Our harvest charitable gift in year 2 will be longlife UHT milk.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

This Week in Year 2...

We have really enjoyed our first full week in Year 2 and it has certainly been a busy one!

In English, we are looking at stories with familiar settings and have been learning all about Sister for Sale. We have had lots of fantastic discussions and have been focusing upon our capital letters and full stops when we write.

In Maths, we’ve been exploring number bonds to 10. We have talked about how important these are to know so we can solve all kinds of number problems. Towards the end of the week we have also been looking at subtraction as the inverse of addition.

In RE, we have been learning all about being chosen by God and the unique gifts he has given us to share with others.

Our topic has begun and is all about The Great Fire of London. We learned where London is, labelled it on a map of the UK and have been hearing the sequence of events. Ask your child to tell you all about it.

In Science, we have been looking at plants. We have recapped our knowledge on the parts of a plant and have been observing and exploring seeds.

We have also been looking at Beebots in computing and have designed maps, written algorithms and programmed the Beebots to reach a destination.

Phew! We have certainly earned our rest this weekend!

Award this week:

Golden Award - Tyler for a super attitude towards his learning.

Writing Award - Livia for a fantastic Summer holidays recount.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell.