Year 2: Blog items
Date: 16th Nov 2023 @ 7:13am
Yesterday, we explored using materials in different ways to make something they aren't by twisting, bending, folding, cutting, tearing and stretching. We did this to create roots and shoots from a source. We likened it to a flower with the roots going down out of a source/seed and the shoots stretching upwards towards the light. We tried to be creative and join the materials in different ways.
Year 2- What was it like for a Soldier in World War I?
Date: 16th Nov 2023 @ 7:10am
Today we explored the Key Question ‘What was it like for a Soldier in World War I? Each group looked at photographs and explored a different aspect of life in the war including: food, dangers, trench conditions and free time. Then, we taught each other about what we had learnt. We found it incredibly interesting learning about what they experienced and thought about how difficult it must have been.
Year 2 - Absorbency Investigation
Date: 14th Nov 2023 @ 4:30pm
Today, in Science, we had a problem to solve. Mrs Jones-Boast wanted to know the best material to help mop up spills in the dinner hall. We discussed the problem and decided that the material needed to be absorbent. We then planned our investigation, thinking about what we needed to change, what we will measure and what we needed to keep the same to ensure a fair test. We also consolidated our maths skills by using a ruler to measure our results. We found that the most absorbent material was felt. The tinfoil and the cellophane were non-absorbent because they didin't absorb any liquid.
Date: 13th Nov 2023 @ 7:58am
On Friday, alongside the whole School, Year 2 participated in our annual Remembrance Service. First of all, we went outside and planted our poppies in the Remembrance Garden remembering all those who lost their lives due to war before listening to the moving service and completing a two minutes silence followed by the last post. We reflected on the upset war causes and remembered those past and present who are dealing with conflict.
Date: 9th Nov 2023 @ 4:32pm
Today we used base 10 to help us work out calculations when adding across 10. We followed the process of creating our number then adding the correct amount of ones before exchanging 10 ones for 1 ten. It helped us understand the concept of exchanging in preparation for our next lesson using number lines to support us.
Date: 8th Nov 2023 @ 5:01pm
Yesterday, in Science, we investigated the different ways we could change materials. We twisted, squashed, teared, snapped, stretched and bent a range of different materials to see if we could change them. Some of the things we tested included: plastic bags, foil, cling film, rubber, ruler, plastic bottles, paper, pencils, pens and many other objects made from a variety of materials. We found that some materials were easily changed where as others were much harder.
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 8:48pm
To start our History topic of Remembrance, we recapped on our prior learning in History so far.
We worked in groups to create a timeline of personal events and those we have studied from Year 1. We ordered them from the earliest to the most recent.
We discussed that although it seems a long time age since we started school, it was the most recent event as it only happened 2 years ago.
As our next topic is based on the events of World War I, we looked at where that will fit in on the timeline.
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 2:54pm
Our first journey for this half term is writing a character description. Before we begin to plan and write our own, we explored lots of different character descriptions from Roald Dahl's books including: The BFG, Miss Trunchball, Fantastic Mr Fox and Grandma in George's Marvellous medicine. We carefully searched for adjectives and adverbs and recorded them in a grid so we can magpie some idea's for our own and some descriptions even included similes!
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 2:52pm
This half term, Year 2 are learning about Remembrance. Before, remembrance day we are creating poppy art from observational drawings. We followed a video and different pictures to draw our own poppy then we carefully painted them the correct colours. When they are dry we will cut them out and stick them onto a black and white picture of Blackpool during the war.
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 2:49pm
This week, it was the beginning of Elm's turn to read with Mr Vincent and Bailey. Throughout, the half term different children will take it in turns to read to Bailey as well as enjoying stories shared by Mr Vincent to the whole class. This week, we enjoyed a story about a puppy who kept forgetting his name and we compared it to a story we have previously read 'Mog the forgetful cat'. The winners of reader of the week were Stevie and Joshua for excellent sounding out and expression for speech. Before Bailey went home we enjoyed blowing some bubbles for her to catch.
Date: 19th Oct 2023 @ 2:03pm
Over the last few days, Year 2 have been incredibly busy creating their final products. The children demonstrated patience and resilience when threading a needle, tying a knot and sewing all the way around the outside of their puppet to successfully join the two pieces of material together. Then, they followed their designs, using different materials to cut out and create their animal. They have loved creating their puppets and cannot wait to take them home and play with them!
Date: 17th Oct 2023 @ 4:51pm
Today, alongside the whole School we participated in our termly no pen morning. We began the morning by consolidating our knowledge of telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes where we played a board game with a partner having to tell the time on the square we landed; this was also brilliant for our communication and turn taking skills as well as being able to support one another. Then, we continued our fantastic morning by beginning to sew our puppets together ready to be decorated; we carefully threaded the needle and tried to do a running stitch- we had to demonstrate good perseverence and resillience but we are excited to make our final product. Check back over the coming days to see our final puppets!
Date: 12th Oct 2023 @ 3:07pm
Today was our final forest school session of 2023. We started by sharing one of our favourite books by Julia Donaldson, Superworm. We then searched the area to see if we could find any worms. We looked under logs and dug in the mud. We even pretended to be rain and made a pitter patter sound with our feet to try and trick the worms to the surface. We then made worm habitats using soil, leaves and bark. We are all looking forward to our next sessions in the new year.
Date: 11th Oct 2023 @ 8:17pm
Year 2 have been working hard on telling the time over the last 2 weeks. On Tuesday we consolidated our learning on telling the time 'past' the hour by working in pairs to solve a matching puzzle. We matched analogue clock images with 'past' and 'to' times. We also used stem sentences to help us read the clocks - For example, "The minute hand is pointing at the 2 so it is a ten past time" and "The minute hand is pointing at the 8 so it is a 20 to time." We then looked at the position of the hour hand to complete reading the time.
Date: 11th Oct 2023 @ 11:49am
We have held our first Spelling Bee of the year and what a wonderful event it was! 4 children in each year group represented their house and were given three words to spell from over a list of 30 possible words. Every child showed courage and determination when it came to spelling their words. It was a very close contest, with Chepstow winning overall with 15 out of 15. We are very proud of all the children who represented their house and are looking forward to the next one.
Date: 6th Oct 2023 @ 3:59pm
This half term, Year 2 have been enjoying their Music lessons as we have explored different genres and had the opportunities to play a variety of instruments. We have been focusing on learning key vocabulary including: pulse, rhythm, dynamics, tempo and ostinato. This half term, we have learnt the song 'Music is in my soul' as well as 'Hey Friends' both of which we loved the meaning of. We have also had the opportunity to play and improvise to these songs using glokenspeils as well as a range of percussion instruments. Last week, we learnt the term 'scatting' and found it funny to make up our own words and say it repetitively to a beat.
Date: 5th Oct 2023 @ 3:35pm
Today, despite the weather, we enjoyed our second forest school session. Michelle read us a book called 'cool by the pool' and we pretended to be the animals in the book before we split into two groups; one group went pond dipping to look for bugs, plants and animals that we might find in a pond habitat and others explored the forest school garden opting to play in the mud puddle, mud kitchen, creating art or playing 'what time is it Mr Owl?' before we swapped over. Just before we came inside, we warmed up by having a cup of warm vimto.
Date: 28th Sep 2023 @ 3:46pm
We began our Forest School sessions today. To start we reminded ourselves of the Forest School rules that are in place to keep us all safe. We then went on a scavenger hunt to find a range of items that we then used to create a piece of art. Some of us chose to play in the mud kitchen and some of us worked together to build a shelter. Then it was onto the pond habitat to search for frogs. We were very excited to see a few hopping about as they were tiny tadpoles last time we visited in Spring.
Year 2 - School Council Elections
Date: 28th Sep 2023 @ 3:45pm
This week, alongside the whole school we have been celebrating democracy and exploring what that means. With the start of a new school year means making new decisions about who we want to be our classes representative and member of the school council. The children were incredibly brave and delivered their manifesto's explaining why they would be a good school councillor and what they would do to make Boundary a better place before we all went and placed a confidential vote today. Well done to our new representatives:
Elm- Sab
Birch- Marleigh
Year 2 - DT - Developing sewing skills
Date: 26th Sep 2023 @ 3:49pm
This week in DT, Year 2 have been mastering the practical skillls that they will need to create a puppet. We used pipe cleaners to practise tying knots as we will need a knot in the end of our thread when we begin to sew. We completed threading activities to practise the movement needed to make a running stitch and finally, we used a needle and thread to create a running stitch that joined two pieces of fabric.
Date: 21st Sep 2023 @ 1:51pm
For one of our PE units this half term, we have been developing our dance skills. We have linked this dance with our current class novel, Fantastic Mr Fox. We have been thinking about how a fox might move and how we can show emotion through movement. We worked in small groups to put together a short motif that showed Mr Fox and his family digging, listening and moving.
Date: 20th Sep 2023 @ 5:11pm
Today, we continued our topic by exploring microhabitats. We thought about where we would find microhabitats before going into the forest school area to explore these to see what minibeasts we could find. We also discussed the conditions of the microhabitats and thought about how these minibeasts survived there. We looked under leaves, rocks, logs, under the bark and in some soil.
Year 2 - Flexible Partitioning
Date: 13th Sep 2023 @ 8:47pm
Year Two have been using the Base 10 and part-part-whole models to partition 2-digit numbers in different ways. We tried to do this in a systematic way so we could spot the patterns occuring with the tens digits. We started to record our calculations with addition senetences and this also helped us to see the patterns in the digits.
Date: 13th Sep 2023 @ 8:36pm
As part of our Reading into Writing journey, Year Two have been learning how to use conjunctions effectively to join clauses. We enjoyed working in small groups to match clauses with appropriate conjunctions. Once matched, we had to re-read the sentences carefully to make sure that they made sense with the chosen conjunction. We will continue to develop our understanding and start to use a wider range of conjunctions in our next piece of writing.
Year 2 - Computing - Budding Photographers
Date: 13th Sep 2023 @ 8:21pm
For our first Computing unit of the year, Year Two are focusing on Digital Photography. We have been learning the steps needed to take a good photograph and how we can adjust the way we are holding our devices to improve the photographs we take. We have also been learning the difference between portrait and landscape images and experimenting with these, thinking carefully about which option a photographer might prefer depending on the subject of the photograph.
