Year 2

WELCOME TO OUR AUTUMN BLOG 2024! 

We have had a very busy but pleasing start to the new year. The children have settled incredibly well into their new classes.

Here is a small selection of some of the homework tasks carried out over the Summer holidays by Sprite class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mathematics

In Mathematics, we have been learning, place value to 100. Exploring how numbers are able to be partitioned flexibly using tens and ones within place value charts and part-whole models. More recently we have used this knowledge to compare and order numbers to 100. During the coming weeks we shall be looking at addition and subtraction alongside further strategies to be able to add and subtract larger amounts.Elf class - Math working wall

 

 

 

 

 

English

This is the first term that we have introduced Literacy Tree to support our English work. The children have thoroughly enjoyed working on and within the text of ‘Lizzy’s cloud.’ Using this book as a starting point, the children have learnt about prepositions, nouns, adverbs as well as explore a range of new vocabulary to describe emotions e.g. ‘hopeless’, ‘regretful’ and ‘sorrow’.  

Here is an example of our working wall which is constantly updated throughout the unit of work. 

 

 

 

Reading

We have enjoyed reading new books and the children have loved having Ollie the reading dog and Charlie Bear going home at the end of the day with the children to continue to listen to them reading.

Don’t forget to try to read with your child every night and to record this in their reading logs. If children have five reads logged in their books, they stand up in assembly on Friday and receive a sticker. Children that have consistently read five times a week for the whole half term receive a special badge.

Science

In Science, this term, we have started to learn even more about the human body with a focus on the effects of exercise and diet. We have also carried out practical experiments on how exercise makes us feel and how it benefits not only our physical health but our mental health as well.

We have also been learning about life cycles of not only humans but animals as well.

Year 2 Science working wall

 

 

 

 

 

Geography

For our geography topic this term, it has been all about the Four Nations and their Capital Cities. Each week we have focused on one country of the United Kingdom. We have used atlases to study maps that show the physical features, capital cities and other landmarks of each country.

Exploring features of Wales

 

 

 

 

 

PE

Our two PE units this half term have challenged the children’s communication, creativity and movement. In team building, children have played a range of games such as, ‘cross the swamp’, ‘treasure island’ and ‘pass the buck’, that have required trust and strategy to work as an effective team. Sprite class particularly enjoyed throwing treasure to one another as a team to get it to the other side – without dropping it! We are proud of the communication skills they have developed.  

Year 2 have also developed their jumping technique; learning how to apply these skills to games and working together to create a sequence of jumps that are used for different purposes e.g. jumping for speed, distance and height.

RE

Why are signs and symbols important? Year 2 identified signs that are part of daily life within the school environment, to understand their meaning and the key features of symbols. We have used this understanding to explore symbolism within the following religions; Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Children have used their curiosity to explore real artefacts that are important to each religion, to support their understanding as to why they are significant to each religion and what they represent.

RE working wallExploring Christian artefacts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art

Our focus has been painting for this half term. We have used children’s knowledge of colour mixing from Year 1 to develop their understanding of hues, tones, tints and shades of primary and secondary colours. We researched the work of the painters, Alma Thomas, Hilma AF Klimpt and Wassily Kandinski, opening our minds to the ideas behind their abstract art, developing techniques used in their artwork to sketch their own lines, shapes and ideas. We have discussed how the paintings make us feel and what our likes/ dislikes are of the painters style, to develop our own ideas ahead of creating our own abstract masterpiece.

Art working wall

 

 

 

 

 

PSHE

We focused largely on settling children back to school this half term, establishing rules, routines and boundaries and learning how to navigate friendships. This work is alongside our Jigsaw unit, ‘Being me in my world’. We have discussed our hopes and fears, rights and responsibilities as well as negotiating the rewards and consequences that we feel are fair. PSHE is incorporated continuously within the school day and all children have the right to speak freely in a safe space or the right to not share their thoughts.