Year 2: Blog items
Date: 3rd Mar 2022 @ 4:02pm
As part of World Book Day, we all came to school dressed as our favourite book characters. We had so many different characters including Oliver, Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland, Oompas Loopmas and Hermione Granger. Everyone looked fantastic! We also took part in some special WBD activities. We imagined we worked for Mr Willy Wonka and designed our very own magical sweet to be made in his factory. We had to describe what it looked and tasted like using interesting adjectives. In Maths, we continued with the chocolate theme and used pictograms and tally charts to compare the colours of sweets in a Smarties tube. We found out they were all very different!
Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 8:02pm
On Monday, Year Two began the half term exploring our new Science topic of Electricity! After our first Dance lesson where we will be creating a dance linked to the vocabulary in Science, we completed a carousel of exciting electricity based activities. Whilst some of the children tried to create simple circuits using the resources provided; the other children used static energy to complete a range of tasks. We tried to separate Salt and Pepper using a plastic spoon, stick balloons to the wall using the static energy generated from their hair as well as using balloons to make wings flap on our animal pictures. We all had lots of fun and are looking forward to learning more during our topic.
Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 5:33pm
On Tuesday 22nd February it was a very important day as it was the 100th day we had been in school this academic year. In Year Two, we celebrated this special milestone with a range of activities. We took part in a whole school '100 quiz' where the questions were all linked in some way to the number 100. Birch were very proud to be the overall winners of this. In Maths, we played games that involved finding pairs of numbers that added to 100 and in the afternoon we had fun with predicting activities. We predicted then measured what 100 drops of water would look like and how tall a tower of 100 coins would be. We had a fantastic day!
Date: 9th Feb 2022 @ 9:27pm
Earlier in the week, Year Two had a very exciting set of visitors to our classes. Gemma from Little Zoo to You introduced us to some very interetsing animals; Michelle the African Land Snail, Clare the Madagscan Hissing Cockroach, Prince Charming the Australian White Tree Frog, Charlotte teh Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula and Zeus the American Corn Snake. Gemma told us lots of interesting facts about each creature and how they survive in their natural habitats. We also got to handle some of the guests, which for some of us, took a lot of courage!
Date: 9th Feb 2022 @ 9:06pm
Year Two have been focusing on division this week. We have been using concrete resources to share into equal groups and we have been linking this concept to division calculations. We have been using stem sentences to help us to remember each element of the division calculation and this has helped us to record our mathematics accurately. We have also been grouping items and looking at how this differs to sharing, comparing the divison calculations that this creates.
Date: 27th Jan 2022 @ 2:55pm
This half term, Year Two are creating our own glove puppets based on an animal from some of the stories we have read to inspire our Writing journey. After some experimenting with which material is best to use to join two materials together we decided we would sew. Yesterday, we spent some time learning to thread a needle, tie a knot in the thread and begin to sew. We all enjoyed it despite it being very tricky! Miss Duckworth and Miss Hooson were proud of the determination the children demonstrated and how supportive they were of the peers. Keep this up for when we sew our final products!
Date: 25th Jan 2022 @ 8:59pm
This week, we begun our new Maths topic of Multiplication and Division. Our first lesson involved recognising whether groups were equal or unequal before we challenged the children to create their own arrays in as many ways as possible. It was no surprise that the children created lots of different ways of making arrays using a variety of resources around the room such as money, numicon, counters, counting bears, base 10 and ten frames.
We will now begin to look at representing the calculations of arrays as a repeated addition and as a multiplication sentence. Although this is a difficult concept, we are proud of the determination and perseverance the children are displaying, keep up the great work!
Date: 25th Jan 2022 @ 8:47pm
This half term, Year Two our Musical focus is exploring feelings through Music discussing how it makes us feel and how music makes the world a better place.
So far, we have studied a song called 'Rainbows' which is a song about Pride and Identity. We discussed what this meant to us as individuals and came to the conclusion it is important that we all respect each other and everyone's viewpoints. We then learnt the words to the song and practiced as a class to perform it as well as learning to play notes E, C and D in time to the song. Each week, alongside discussing the song, singing and playing the Glockenspiel we play games to find the beat and clap rhythmsOver the next few weeks, we will continue to look at more songs and further discuss how music makes the world a better place.
Date: 25th Jan 2022 @ 8:32pm
Last week, we had our favourite day- No Pen Day! Pupils and Teachers alike put out pens down for a full day and focused on using our communication skills. Throughout the day, we worked collaboratively to continue our Reading into Writing and Maths journey's.
We continued our Reading into Writing journey by learning about different tenses. We identified we can tell a sentences tense by finding the verb- to show matching past and present tense verbs we had to find the person with the verb of the opposite tense before sorting a variety of verbs and sentences into the tenses they were written.
In Maths, we consolidated our knowledge of giving change by playing a game of Mathopoly. For each square we landed on we had to calculate how much change a person would get depending on how much they spent and the coin they used to pay.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed continuing our learning of Hinduism with Mrs Bunday and PE with Mr Willetts.
Year 2 Lighting the Way in Science Club!
Date: 19th Jan 2022 @ 11:45am
This week in the Year 2 Science Club, we have been experimenting with light. The children changed the colour of the light using sellotape and felt tip pens. They then created shadows. They learnt how each colour has a different wave length of light and how the colour we see in the colour that is not absorbed from the white light that hits the object. This is then reflected back as the colur of the object.
Addison: “We have learnt that red light has a longer light wave and that violet has a shorter light wave.”
Alena: “A shadow is made from the light being blocked, by an object, from the light source.”
Kyril: “ I like Science Club because I learn new things. I found out that the closer the torch the bigger the shadow.”
Date: 13th Jan 2022 @ 4:14pm
Year Two have started their new Science learning about animals by finding out about animal offspring. We sorted adult animals with their offspring and we noticed that some offsrping look like their adults, whereas some offspring do not look like their adults. We then started to classify the animals and their offspring into mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds. Doing this made us notice that generally mammal offspring look like their adults and amphibian offspring do not look like their adults.
Date: 13th Jan 2022 @ 4:05pm
Year Two have enjoyed their new PE unit, Yoga. This is the first time it has been on our school curriculum and it is proving to be popular. The children have been working hard on stretching their body parts, breathing techniques and balancing. We were amazed that such a quiet and calming activity could be so could for our minds and bodies. So far we have learnt the butterfly pose, the tree pose, the mountain pose, the tiger pose, the cobra pose and the aeroplane pose. Over the next few weeks we will be perfecting these as well as learning some more poses.
Date: 5th Jan 2022 @ 5:23pm
As an introduction to our new topics in Science, Animals including Humans, and Design Technology Puppets today we created Sock Puppets. Although it was quite tricky to get some of the pieces to stick and figuring out the correct way to work a Sock Puppet the children did brilliantly and showed super perseverance and patience. We are all looking forward to continuing our learning in both Science and Design Technology and are excited to make puppets again later in the term. Well done everyone, they look fabulous!
Date: 13th Dec 2021 @ 7:50am
This half term, Year 2 have been exploring materials and their properties. Last week, we planned and conducted two experiments to test different materials properties to see which is the best material for different uses and how suitable it is. First, we tested different materials absorbency to see which material is the best to be used to clean up spillages in the dinner hall. We found that cotton balls are the most absorbent but paper towels are more practical as they are bigger. We then tested materials to see if we could change thier shape. We tried to bend, squash, twist and stretch a selection of materials and recorded our results in a table.
Date: 10th Dec 2021 @ 4:07pm
As part of our whole school learning around the Christmas story and advent, Year Two designed and painted some pebbles so they could retell the story of the first Christmas. Firstly, we drew our designs on paper and painted our pebbles white. Then we carefully sketched our designs in pencil before painting them onto the pebbles.
Date: 22nd Nov 2021 @ 5:15pm
Today, Year 2 had a visit from some Firefighters. Figherfighter Luke, Firefighter Nathan and Firefighter Josie taught us all about their role as a Firefighter and made us think about all the different jobs they do from putting out fires to rescuing animals that might have got stuck; they also showed us the different equipment they would use in all these different situations. Then, they taught us some vital skills to ensure we keep ourselves safe in our home and community, the importance of a smoke alarm and we learnt how to help ourselves if an item of our clothing caught on fire- Stop, Drop and Roll. Lastly, they got us to practise our new knowledge of what to do if there is a fire in our house by completing some role play. Miss Duckworth and Miss Hooson were proud of how well the children listened and engaged with the Firefighters and how much they learnt.
Date: 19th Nov 2021 @ 3:59pm
Today, alongside the rest of school, Year 2 celebrated Children in Need. This morning, we all dressed in spots or stripes and we joined in with the Joe Wicks live Children in Need workout combining 20 minutes of exercising with answering different general knowledge questions. This afternoon, we joined the rest of school in assembly to learn about the importance of Children in Need, who it supports in our local community and why we fundraise for the cause. To end the day on some fun, in the true Children in Need style, we performed the Hand Jive. We had lots of fun dancing but also remembered why we raise money.
Date: 19th Nov 2021 @ 3:43pm
This week was Anti-Bullying Week. On Monday, we began the week with an assembly to introduce our focus 'One Kind Word' and we all wore a colourful accessory. We also wrote notes to someone who has helped us to say thank you. When we had all finished, we went to the Kindness Post Box and posted them to be delivered to their recipients. Later in the week, we used the Now Press Play equipment to act out a story about kindness. All the children knew when Safia (one of the main characters) wasn't displaying kindness and we all chose the kind thing to do.
We are living in a material world...
Date: 13th Nov 2021 @ 2:34pm
This half term, our Year Two Science focus is Everyday Materials. This week we took our learning outside as we went on a material hunt. We were looking for items made from common everyday materials such as wood, plastic, metal, glass and paper. We also began to discuss the propetries of each of these materials such as whether they were hard or soft, rough or smooth, transparent or opaque. We found lots of items made from metal, plastic and wood but very few items made from glass and none made from paper which began to make us think about the durability of different materials.
Date: 13th Nov 2021 @ 2:09pm
Year Two have been working hard on developing their understanding of adding and subtracting a 1-digit number to and from a 2-digit number. We have been using lots of concrete resources such as Base 10, tens frames and place value counters to help us fully understand the concept of addition and subtraction within 100. We will be building on this knowledge throughout the half term and our end goal is to be able to accuratley add and subtract two 2-digit numbers.
Date: 12th Nov 2021 @ 4:27pm
Year Two have been working hard on developing their fundemental skills since returning this half term. This week our focus was on improving our skills when kicking a ball. We practised hard kicking the ball with both our left and right feet. We had to think carefully about how hard we were kicking in order to control where the ball was going. We also had to think about which part of our body we wanted to make contact with the ball first. We quickly realised that getting the ball in a target was not as easy as it first seemed. Generally, we made great progress and displayed a positive attitude towards improving our skills.
Date: 12th Nov 2021 @ 4:15pm
As part of our whole school Remembrance, Year Two made poppies to plant in our Remembrance Garden. Each poppy held the name of a soldier that was lost in the Great War. We discussed the importance of Remembrance and why we remember those who have lost their lives in past conflicts.
Year Two were also lucky enough to recieve a visit from a veteran soldier, Mike Warren. He told us about his medals and what the poppy symbolises. He also gave us some information about the Bristish Legion and how they help to support ex-service people. He brought in some artefacts from World War I that we will be looking at in more detail during our History topic of Remembrance.
Date: 12th Nov 2021 @ 3:39pm
This week, as part of Remembrance, Year 2 created paintings of a poppy field. In History, we have been learning about why we wear a poppy to remember Soldiers who lost their lives and created paintings of the poppies in Flander's Field. This was a brilliant opportunity to learn about Primary Colours to allow us to make the colour green. We also discussed the importance of creating poppies different sizes depending on their position within the field. Miss Duckworth and Miss Hooson were very impressed with the end results.
Date: 1st Nov 2021 @ 4:32pm
As an introduction to our new History topic - Remembrance - Year 2 made Peg Soldiers. To do this we used dolly pegs and wrapped them in wool to create their uniform before we added some pipe cleaners decorated with wool for the soldiers arms. Lastly, we cut some felt and created hats and drew faces on our soldiers. It wasn't as easy as the children first thought but Miss Duckworth and Miss Hooson were impressed with the Growth Mindset displayed by all.
Date: 21st Oct 2021 @ 5:01pm
Over the past three weeks, Year 2 have been getting their hands dirty and enjoying learning outside. In the first session, the children explored the different outdoor areas and enjoyed making cake and other treats in the mud kitchen as well as doing some leaf painting. During the second week, we built dens and bird boxes for next year before learning to light a fire so we could cook apples and dip them in melted chocolate of caramel. This week, both classes learnt about the cardinal directions (North, East, South and West) and what each one represents. We created pieces inspired by Andy Goldsworthy to represent the Earth (North), Air (East), Fire (South) and Water (West). Lastly, we enjoyed toasting marshmallows. We have enjoyed our three weeks outside and look forward to our next sessions in the Summer.
