Year 2
Welcome to Year 2 2024-2025
Click on the crayon to find a booklet all about your new year group.
Have a look at what the Year 2 children got up to last academic year (2023-2024)...
What will my child be learning this half term?
Friday 19th July 2024: Week 6
Wow what an end to Year 2! This week we have had two fun swim sessions, Balksbury's Got Talent final, graduation, fun day and a disco! We have had a great time! The children have all shown their maturity and that they are ready to transition to Year 3. We have had a brilliant year and wish all the Year 2 children best of luck in the Juniors.
Friday 12th July 2024: Week 5
Only 1 more week to go! Firstly, just to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who was able to attend the production of 'Pirates vs Mermaids'. The children have been amazing learning their lines and we hoped you enjoyed the show. A video of the performance will be available next week. In class this week, we have started our English learning journey of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. The children have explored the text and began to act out their favourite scenes. To finish this weeks learning, we created our very own healthy wraps in Design & Technology.
Friday 5th June 2024: Week 5
STEM week! Wow what a fantastic week we have had! During the mornings we have studied Nikola Tesla and learnt about his amazing inventions. We then thought about our Year group project- 'How will we travel in the future?' and then designed, engineered and tested rocket cars. We showed great collaboration and perseverance though out, well done Year 2!
During the afternoons we moved onto our Mission to Mars project where we created solar powered pizza ovens to feed astronauts on Mars. The children created their own logos and designs. We then trialed them on our only sunny day!
Friday 28th June 2024: Week 4
We have had a fantastic day full of laughter and fun! Year 2 represented our school admirably at John Hanson and were all great role models. We have worked really hard on our country dances in PE and it was lovely to showcase them today at the yearly Country Dancing Festival. We are so proud of each and every child and it was brilliant to see loads of smiles and hear loads of laughter.
Friday 21st June 2024: Week 3
A big well done to all the children for taking part in sports day today. It was certainly a hot day but everyone tried their best and it was so good to see everyone congratulating and supporting each other. Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend as well. It made for a fantastic afternoon and we hope you enjoyed watching your children compete. Have a well earned rest this weekend and see you next week for Country Dancing!
Friday 14th June 2024: Week 2
It's production time! Year 2 have started there rehearsal practice for the production 'Pirates vs Mermaids'. The children have been going down to the hall at the Juniors and learning all the songs. We have also continued with our country dancing. With the big performance at John Hanson just two weeks away, the children have been amazing learning the different routines and look ready to go already! In the classroom, children have been exploring pictograms in Maths whilst beginning to learn words and phrases in our French lessons.
Friday 7th June 2024: Week 1
Year 2 have had a brilliant start to Summer 2, we are using ‘Amazing Africa’ by Atinuke as our new text driver for English. To kick this off we all had a go at African drumming in the teepee, which we loved! We then continued learning about different countries in Africa by using the VR headsets to get a more in depth perspective. We have learnt so many facts already! In Mini Maths we have been revising our place value knowledge by representing numbers in different ways and visually showing the correct number of tens and ones in a number.
Friday 24th May 2024: Week 6
What an amazing final week to end an amazing half term! This weeks swimming was extremely enjoyable, the excitement and buzz from the children was palpable. Each child’s progress in the water reflects their personal growth and determination. Our ongoing longitudinal study of our visits to the pond included observing seasonal changes. This week, the children noted new plant life, warmer water from the sun shining and increased animal activity. To link to our Science topic of ‘Growing up’ we have nurtured and cared for our class caterpillars, which have transformed into butterflies. We released our butterflies into the wild this week and also created butterfly diaries. These diaries documented each stage of the butterflies' life cycle with illustrations and reflections. Finally, in Maths we delved into the concept of time, focusing on reading the clock. Have a fabulous half term!
Friday 17th May 2024: Week 5
Year 2 have had another fantastic week!
We started the week off by completing our first swimming lesson! Everyone did so well and we'll be back down at the pool next week on Monday. Next, we practiced writing in different sentence types. We were given different pictures from 'The Proudest Blue' and wrote questions, exclamations and other informative sentences. Then, in music we chose one part of the U.K. (seaside, countryside or city). We represented these parts of the U.K by using musical instruments and resources from are tables. Finally, to end the week, we designed and created an algorithm in computing. We did this using Scratch Jr.
Friday 10th May 2024: Week 4
Year 2 have been busy this short week!
We had a whole afternoon to create our sculptures inspired by Natsumi Tomita, the children showed perseverance when they were modelling as it was hard to make the recyclable materials into the shapes we needed but they look great! Within our Maths learning we have been solving word problems in which the children needed to work out which of the four operations they needed to use to solve the problem. We focussed on finding the key words and numbers we needed.
Our caterpillars have now climbed to the top of their pots and are beginning to form chrysalides, we will be moving them to their nets soon ready for the final step of their life cycle.
Friday 3rd May 2024: Week 3
It has been another excellent week of learning, with a plethora of different activities and tasks! In our History lessons, we have been exploring our enquiry question ‘How have seaside holidays changed over time?’ The children looked at a range of different sources to see how seaside holidays have changed from the past to now. They learnt about how people rode donkeys, watched puppet shows and gathered information about phrenologists, who used to entertain at the beach. We also explored an artefact box that was brought in for us and saw how swimming costumes and buckets and spades have changed over time. In Maths, we have been focussing on multiplication and division word problems, and the children have been working extremely hard to solve these. In P.E we persevered to learn a new dance for our country dancing and in English, we have just come to an end of our learning journey and all children wrote a fabulous persuasive letter to the Truth Pixie. Furthermore, in science this week we have been looking at ‘Growing up’ and what that means. The children partook in a class discussion about lifecycles and then matched the animal to its offspring. Our class caterpillars have been growing rapidly too!
Friday 26th March 2024: Week 2
Another fantastic week of learning has come to an end! Continuing our English learning Journey, on Tuesday the children started to practise using contracted words. The children had great fun cutting up and joining together two words whilst placing an apostrophe to show where the missing letters go. On top of this, today the children ventured down to the tepee tent where they found a distressed Truth Pixie. The children tried so hard with their persuasive conversations to try and get the Truth pixie to come out but unfortunately we had no luck (hopefully she comes out for the weekend)! In P.E the children are well underway with their country dancing routines. The first dance looks great and by the time of the performance they will all be fantastic. Finally, in history, the children explored lots of photos from the seaside. These allowed the children to discuss what the seaside is like today and how the seaside has changed from the past. Thank you to everyone that brought in these pictures.
Friday 19th March 2024: Week 1
Welcome back Year 2! What a week! We have started our new English learning and have been reading 'The Truth Pixie'. We started the week by making a snowy scene in the tepee so that the children could imagine the 'land' the Truth Pixie comes from. They loved seeing the troll! In Art and Design the children looked at artwork by Natsumi Tomita who creates art from waste material, they really enjoyed identifying which animal she had created. Finally, in science the children looked at the difference between seeds and bulbs. They then found seeds in different fruit and identified plants around the federation.
Friday 29th March 2024: Week 6
We have had an absolutely fabulous week that has been jam packed full with exciting new learning! This week in English we have been writing our non-chronological reports on an endangered animal that has been picked from our text driver ‘Don’t Let Them Disappear’. We then took our writing outside in the sunshine and shared it with our peers. In music we have been looking at West African call and response songs and, in our classes, we performed a traditional song from Ghana ‘Che Che Kule’. Additionally, as a part of our longitudinal study, we went down to the pond and looked at the differences and similarities compared to when we saw it in the Autumn term. In Art, we are learning how to create tone and all three classes went into the hall to look at an art gallery filled with drawings by Abel Rodriguez, who inspired our artwork this week. Lastly, in Maths we have been looking at 2D and 3D shapes and exploring vertices, edges and faces.
Friday 22nd March 2024: Week 5
Year 2 have had their first school trip this year! We had a fantastic time visiting the Hawk Conservancy where we were able to watch plenty of flying displays up close and learn lots of new interesting facts about a variety of birds. This included the children watching a vulture fly between two members of staff right in front of them which involved the bird to swoop down and fly just above their heads. The children were also able to look around the site which included seeing owls, eagles, hawks and vultures. The children were a credit to the Federation with their behaviour and also the knowledge they shared with the staff.
Friday 15th March 2024: Week 4
Year 2 have been very busy this week! We have started our new English learning journey, 'Don't Let Them Disappear' which the children are very excited about! We started by gathering ideas and facts from the book and have finished the week writing letters to our friends to explain which animal is our favourite. In Mathematics, we have been learning about money, the children have been 'buying' different items using coins. They have then used the correct coins to make different amounts.
Friday 8th March 2024: Week 3
It has been another incredible week of learning in Year 2, where we have ventured outside of the classroom, as well as sharing our fabulous ideas inside too! In maths this week we have moved onto learning about measuring length and height. We demonstrated our knowledge by ordering ourselves in height order from smallest to tallest, as well as using metre sticks to measure objects and people around the classroom. Finally, we also celebrated World Book Day on Thursday, where we went to Year 4 to share stories and read with them, and also completed activities related to our favourite books.
Friday 1st March 2024: Week 2
It has been another enjoyable week in Year 2, where we have had plenty of fun learning both in and out of the classroom! First of all, we ventured over to the Junior school computing suite to create pictograms using computing software. This was our first time using this software and we did an amazing job representing data. In Science, we demonstrated our knowledge of animals and plants classification by sorting them into groups of their natural habitat. Finally, we chucked on our wellie boots and headed outside to create our very own microhabitats for the animals and plants on our Federation grounds. We loved making potential new homes for a variety of animals and hopefully they will love them!
Friday 22nd February 2024: Week 1
It has been a joy to welcome the children back to school this week and see their excitement about our new learning journeys! In Maths, we have recapped our knowledge of quarters and moved onto finding 2 and 3 quarters of shapes and numbers. This links with our division knowledge from before half term. Alongside this, we have started exploring hot and cold places within our Geography work- we discussed how hot places are nearer to the equator.
Friday 9th February 2024: Week 6
This week, all of the children have worked hard to plan and make a chair for Baby Bear as part of their Design and Technology learning. We used our knowledge of stable structures and shapes to help us. Once the chairs had been completed, we evaluated our designs to consider what went well, what we would change next time and what we have learnt.
Friday 2nd February 2024: Week 5
During our Science learning this week, we had great fun studying the cress seeds that we have been growing. We were able to see a clear difference between the seeds growing in the light and the seeds growing in the dark - this helped us to understand how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy. Alongside this, we also enjoyed creating our own maps in Computing. We worked hard to code our Bee-Bots to navigate around these maps using a specific route.
Friday 26th January 2024: Week 4
This week, we have started a new learning journey in English. We have been exploring the fable 'The Lion and the Mouse' using Jerry Pinkney's wordless picture book. We started the week by sequencing and retelling the fable ourselves. Then, we used our inference skills to consider how the characters could be feeling at different parts of the fable and why - we created freeze frames and carried out thought tapping to show this.
Friday 19th January 2024: Week 3
We have been very busy in our foundation subjects this week! In Physical Education, we have continued taking part in gymnastics. This week, we spent time creating different balances using a variety of apparatus. Alongside this, we have been learning about the importance of good oral hygiene during our Health and Wellbeing lessons. We enjoyed working collaboratively to create posters outlining how to look after our teeth and gums.
Friday 12th January 2024: Week 2
In English this half term, we are working hard to produce a set of instructions inspired by the text 'The Night Gardener'. Over the last few weeks, we have explored the different features of instructional writing which we have practised in a variety of different contexts. We have also considered how we can up-level our instructions using specific language features such as adverbs. We thought of lots of different adverbs such as rapidly, silently, carefully, creatively and delicately.
If you would like to share this text at home, please click here.
Friday 5th January 2024: Week 1
It has been a joy to welcome the children back to school this week and see their excitement about our new learning journeys! In Maths, we have recapped our place value knowledge of 2-digit numbers and counting in steps of 2. This will help us when we start learning the 2 times tables over the next few weeks. Alongside this, we have started exploring key figures in the British Monarchy - we worked hard to plot their reign on a timeline.
Friday 15th December 2023: Week 7
We have had great fun in Year 2 this week celebrating the end of the Autumn term. This has included watching OpenBox's Christmas pantomime, dancing away at our Christmas disco, and even watching Father Christmas arrive at Balksbury on a tractor! Alongside this, we have been working hard to wrap up our learning journeys. In English, we spent time publishing our own poems inspired by Enid Blyton's work. Have a look below for just a few examples...
Friday 8th December 2023: Week 6
It has been another busy week in Year 2! This week, we have enjoyed filming our Strictly Dances ready for our families to watch - we have also enjoyed our annual Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day! Alongside this, we have been busy making advent wreaths during our Religious Education lessons, exploring waterproof materials in Science, and creating our own artwork inspired by Hundertwasser in Art.
Friday 1st December 2023: Week 5
This week, we have spent time getting creative! In Art, we have been practising how to create texture using wet and dry media. Next week, we will use our new skills to produce a piece of artwork inspired by Hundertwasser. In Religious Education, we made our own Menorah candles as part of our learning about Hannukah. Alongside this, we have also been busy painting and describing bonfires, using the poem 'A Bonfire at Night' by Enid Blyton as a hook.
Friday 24th November 2023: Week 4
We have had a great week in Year 2 this week! Throughout the week, we have been working hard to write our very own recounts based on the Great Fire of London. Then, we became authors and spent time publishing our work. Today, we enjoyed the Federation's Christmas Jingle - we were so excited to see the items that we made on sale!
Friday 17th November 2023: Week 3
On Monday, we were incredibly excited because Openbox came to visit us! We took part in a workshop where we had the opportunity to explore the key events of the Great Fire of London through drama. In addition to this, we have also used the federation's VR headsets to walk through the streets of London in 1666. This has given us an amazing insight into what life was like at this time.
Friday 10th November 2023: Week 2
In Year 2 this week, we have been busy learning our 5 times tables! During our Maths lessons, we have spent time creating arrays, bars models and number lines to represent the different multiplication calculations. In PE, we have starting thinking about fitness - this has included exploring how we can run for sustained periods of time and how we can use a skipping rope to keep ourselves moving. Alongside this, we have been using Chrome Music Lab in our Computing lessons to help us create unique pieces of music online.
Please click here if you would like to have a go at using Chrome Music Lab at home.
You can also click here if you would like to practise your 5 times tables at home.
Friday 3rd November 2023: Week 1
This week, we have started learning about the Great Fire of London. On Monday, we visited the federation's fire pit to describe what fire is like and how it can make us feel. This inspired us to find out how the Great Fire of London started and other facts about this historical event.
Friday 20th October 2023: Week 7
As autumn 1 draws to a close, it has been lovely to watch the children recognise and celebrate their new knowledge and skills as we wrap up our learning journeys. This week, we finished our Design and Technology learning by making and evaluating our own Ferris wheels. We thought carefully about the four main parts of a Ferris wheel and replicated this to enable our wheels to spin successfully.
Friday 13th October 2023: Week 6
In Year 2 this week, we have managed to dodge the rain (!) and continue with our outdoor PE lessons. This half term, we have been developing our ball skills including rolling, throwing, catching, kicking and dribbling different sized balls. We have completed a variety of individual, paired and team activities and have spent time thinking about how we can work collaboratively to improve our technique.
Friday 6th October 2023: Week 5
In Year 2 this week, we have spent time applying our new knowledge and skills in a variety of ways. In Maths, we worked hard to complete a PACE (practise, apply, correct and extend) challenge to demonstrate our understanding of addition. Alongside this, we have been busy making predictions in both English and Guided Reading to consolidate the skill of using texts to help ensure our predictions are plausible.
Friday 29th September 2023: Week 4
In Year 2 this week, we have started exploring 'Rapunzel' in English and 'Jack and the Beanstalk' in Guided Reading. Alongside this, we have been using the greater than, less than and equal to symbols in Maths to compare two digit numbers. We had a lovely whole federation assembly this morning celebrating Harvest and enjoyed learning about the Bible and the Torah in Religious Education yesterday. Well done Year 2!
If your child would like to consolidate their understanding of comparing numbers, this game is a brilliant one to use at home.
We have also enjoyed listening to audio books during our Free Reading Friday time - please click here if your child would like to access these books at home.
Friday 22nd September 2023: Week 3
This week, our first English learning journey has come to an end! Over the last few days, we have spent time writing and publishing our own setting descriptions using all of our new knowledge about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adventurous vocabulary and sentence structure. In Maths, we have been practising how to represent two-digit numbers in different ways. We have shown confidence using number lines, bar models, part whole models, Dienes and place value counters.
Friday 15th September 2023: Week 2
We have carried out lots of fantastic learning in our foundation subjects this week! In Religious Education, we spent time sharing our own special books and discussing why they were important to us - it was lovely to see a range of stories, personalised books and bibles. In Science, we have been learning about birds and their basic needs - we completed a bird watch around the federation and were amazed at how many different birds we could spot!
Friday 8th September 2023: Week 1
What a brilliant first week back we have had in Year 2! Over the last few days, we have spent time thinking about how we can be responsible around the federation and the different ways that we can demonstrate our Code of Conduct and learning values. Alongside this, we have been busy focusing on number formation in Maths and accurate word choices in English.
Have a look at what the Year 2 children got up to last academic year (2022-2023)...
Friday 21st July 2023: Week 7
And just like that, another academic year is over! Well done to our wonderful Year 2 children for all of their hard work over the last year - we are so proud of them. We hope everybody has a lovely, restful summer ready for Year 3!
Friday 14th July 2023: Week 6
It has been another week filled with fun in Year 2! At the beginning of the week, we hosted our Balksbury's Got Talent auditions - we enjoyed watching each other sing, dance, act and even hula hoop. Well done to Lucy, Lily-Rose, Poppy and Jed who have gone through to the federation's final which will take place next week! At the end of the week, we enjoyed our 'fun day' to celebrate our hard work this year - our favourite part of the day was definitely the disco!
Friday 7th July 2023: Week 5
This week, we have had SO much fun celebrating Arts' Week! We have spent time exploring the continent North America and learning about the artist Alexander Calder who comes from here. His work inspired us to make our own wire sculptures based on the theme 'This is Us'. We have also learnt about the composer Charles Ives (also from North America) - we listened to his piece of music called 'Central Park in the Dark' and had a go at sketching Central Park using his composition for ideas. We ended the week with our Arts' Festival - what a fantastic week!
Friday 30th June 2023: Week 4
It has certainly been a jam-packed week in Year 2! At the beginning of the week, we were visited by Hampshire's Fire Safety Team who taught us how to stay safe around fire. On Tuesday morning, we visited our Year 3 teachers and new classrooms ready for September - we had great fun completing a range of transition activities. Then, it was time for our Country Dancing Festival and end of year production - we are superstars!
Friday 23rd June 2023: Week 3
In Year 2 this week, we have been busy sculpting our own flowers out of clay in preparation for our upcoming Arts' Festival. We worked carefully and methodically to add detail to each petal! We also took part in Sports Day where we showed huge amounts of collaboration, respect and perseverance.
Friday 16th June 2023: Week 2
This week, we took part in 'Rockpool School' led by Marine Biologist Nicola Everitt. We all had the chance to handle crabs (including hermit crabs), starfish, urchin, and sea snails! Nicola talked to us about the different creatures including where they live and what they eat. She answered any questions that we had previously generated in our Science learning. We also spent time exploring marine objects including seaweed, shells and sand and had a go at making our own rock pools - what a fantastic day!
Friday 9th June 2023: Week 1
In Year 2 this week, we have been busy starting our new learning for this half term. In Health and Wellbeing, we considered how our families can help us to grow and develop. Then, we planted our own sunflower seeds to help us understand that if we take care of these over the next few weeks, they will grow big and strong! We had great fun arranging these in the federation's poly tunnel. In RE, we listened to the text 'The Invisible String' by Patrice Karst - we discussed how we don't always have to be right next to somebody to love and care for them. At the end of the lesson, we created our own invisible string for somebody special.
Friday 26th May 2023: Week 6
This week, we have been working exceptionally hard in our foundation subjects to finish off our wonderful learning from this half term. In Health and Wellbeing, we continued to explore the 'Green Cross Code' and spent time creating road safety posters to highlight our new knowledge. In Music, we finished our group compositions which imitated the sounds of the seaside, the countryside and the city - we had great fun listening to each other! In Art, we worked hard to create our own animal sculptures using recycled materials inspired by the work of Natsumi Tomita. Scroll down to have a look at some of our fantastic creations!
Here is Alfred summarising our Art learning...
Friday 19th May 2023: Week 5
Although it has been a rather tiring week in Year 2 this week, all of the children have worked so hard and have shown great resilience and perseverance - we are so proud of them!
In the afternoons, we have continued exploring 'The Tear Thief' by Carol Ann Duffy. We have spent time creating a story map to represent the key events whilst predicting what might happen at the end of the story. Please click here if you would like to listen to this story at home.
Alongside this, we have also been recapping our understanding of money in Maths - we have loved playing TopMark's Toy Shop Money game - please click here if you would like to have a go at this at home!
Friday 12th May 2023: Week 4
In Year 2 this week, we were incredibly excited to visit the federation's swimming pool for our first swimming lesson of the summer term! We spent our first lesson becoming familiar with the pool again by walking, paddling and swimming across it using pool noodles for support, we also practised putting our faces in the water to retrieve different objects. At the beginning of the lesson, we recapped how to stay safe in and around the pool and how to enter the water sensibly. We can't wait to visit the pool again next week! Alongside this, we have been busy learning about the 'pull factors' of a Victorian seaside (see photo below) whilst also solving a range of multi-step word problems in Maths.
Friday 5th May 2023: Week 3
In Year 2 this week, we have been carrying out lots of History learning! At the beginning of the week, we had the opportunity to study different artefacts from a traditional Victorian seaside such as a bucket and spade, traditional clothing, toys and binoculars. This enabled us to gain an in-depth insight into how different our beaches were in the past and what people did when they went on holiday. Today, we have had great fun celebrating the King's coronation - we enjoyed a picnic lunch with the rest of the infant school and had fun making crowns and taking part in a parade!
Friday 28th April 2023: Week 2
We have had another fun week of learning this week and all of the children have continued to impress us with how focused they have been in the classroom - well done Year 2! In Guided Reading, we have enjoyed reading 'The Hundred Decker Bus' by Mike Smith, we have spent time considering how the bus driver might have been feeling at different points in the text and if we would like to go on a similar adventure or not. In Science, we have set up our own scientific investigation to explore how quickly different materials decompose. Before we started this, we spent time predicting what the results of the investigation would look like - we can't wait to see how this develops over the next few weeks! In English, we have continued to focus on setting descriptions, have a look at the pictures below to see how well our writing is progressing!
Friday 21st April 2023: Week 1
Wow! What an amazing first week back we have had! In English, we have been thinking about how to up-level our writing by using rich and adventurous vocabulary - we have used a variety of illustrations for inspiration, scroll down to have a look at one of these illustrations and some of the amazing sentences that we have created from this. In History, we have started learning about what the seaside was like in the Victorian era - we couldn't believe they had bathing machines that wheeled right into the sea! On Thursday, we enjoyed a tennis workshop led by Andover Tennis Club, we had great fun competing in different types of rallies.
'Long ago, in a vast desert, a dark Blackbird sat on an Oak tree branch under the humid sun.'
'Once upon a time, in the dusty desert, an intelligent, free-roaming Blackbird settled on a long, dark stick.'
'In ancient times, the beautiful falling sunshine was strong, red and calm.'
'As the fiery sun fell from the sky, the beautiful, light green became pitch black.'
'Once, a long time ago, the red, fiery sky was so pretty and so beautiful that everyone who tried to look at it was mesmerized.'
'Everyday, she gazed at the sunset in awe.'
'Over night, the light, green grass grew high and healthy.'
'The furry Blackbird was tweeting beautifully as she perched on the fascinating twig.'
'Long, long ago, in the dusty, old desert, the fiery, enchanting sunset finished going down (saved for another day).'
'Long, long ago, the sun was setting for a nights sleep, the sky was like a million stars.'
'He swooped down and looked up... the blazing sun walked down from the sky.'
'It was incredibly humid... as the bird looked up, he saw the blazing sun emerge - it was blinding!'
'In the evening, the sun shone as brightly as a light bulb.'
Friday 31st March 2023: Week 6
We have been very busy this week wrapping up all our fantastic learning from the spring term! In English, we used the text driver 'How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth' by Michelle Robinson as inspiration for writing our own set of instructions for 'How to Wash a Lazy Lion'. In Art, we created our final piece of work using both wet and dry materials and in RE, we concluded our learning about ‘The Easter Story’ by thinking about the importance of this event to Christians. We had some lovely ideas such as how Easter can encourage people to spend time with their families, remind people of forgiveness, that good things will come, and that others are always there.
In Music, we had a go at learning ‘Che Che Kule’ (a traditional call and response song). Click here to watch a small snippet of Merlin Class in action!
Friday 24th March 2023: Week 5
In PE this half term, we have been using tennis balls and rackets to practise throwing, catching, bouncing, balancing and moving a ball in a controlled manner. It has been lovely to watch the children grow in confidence and see their skills developing each week. We are now at the stage of being able to playing a game of tennis with a partner which is very exciting!
Friday 17th March 2023: Week 4
Alongside our reading, writing and maths, we have been acquiring lots of new knowledge and skills in our foundation subjects this week. In Science, we took our learning outside to find micro-habitats in our local area and to explore the different creatures that live here. In Geography, we have been busy using a compass to plot routes on a map and in RE, we have developed our understanding of the Easter story. In Art, we are continuing to study Hundertwasser and his use of spirals and bright colours.
Friday 10th March 2023: Week 3
We have been working very hard in Year 2 this week! In English, we have been busy writing non-chronological reports about Rio de Janeiro and in Maths, we have been calculating the length and height of different objects. In the afternoons, we have enjoyed developing our tennis skills in PE and learning about Hundertwasser in Art - we can’t wait to see where our learning will take us next week!
Friday 3rd March 2023: Week 2
It has been another busy week in Year 2! At the beginning of the week, we completed a carousel of activities to generate adventurous vocabulary about Rio de Janeiro - this included exploring the city using the federation's VR headsets. We thought of some amazing adjectives to describe Rio such as bustling, vibrant, breath-taking, enchanting and fascinating. This week, we have also celebrated 'World Book Day' - we had great fun sharing stories with each other and creating our own artwork inspired by the text 'Ocean Meets Sky'.
Friday 24th February 2023: Week 1
This half term, we are learning all about Brazil and Rio de Janeiro and what better way to start than a trip to the Living Rainforest! During our visit, we got to experience the sights, smells and sounds of the rainforest to gain a better understanding of what life is like in a warmer climate. We saw a variety of rainforest creatures and explored how the rainforest is used for different purposes such as obtaining food and medicine. All of the children were beautifully behaved and we couldn't be prouder of how well they represented the federation. Well done Year 2!
Friday 10th February 2023: Week 6
Today, we concluded our DT learning by planning, designing, making and evaluating our own miniature chairs! As part of this learning journey, we have explored what structures are and the difference between natural and man-made structures. We have considered why strength is so important when creating structures and which shapes are the most and least stable. This enabled us to produce successful chairs that could hold the weight of a soft toy - what a fabulous end to Spring 1!
Friday 3rd February 2023: Week 5
On Wednesday, we celebrated 'Anti-Bullying and One Kind Word Day' alongside the rest of the federation. We used the text 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse' by Charlie Mackesy to help us explore kindness, friendships and our own brilliant qualities. During the day, we wrote kind messages to each other and designed our own odd socks to symbolise that we are all unique. At the end of the day, we spent time creating our own artwork inspired by the quote: 'Asking for help isn't giving up, it's refusing to give up'.
Friday 27th January 2023: Week 4
This week, we have started a new learning journey in English inspired by the text 'Big Bear, Little Brother' by Carl Norac. At the beginning of the week, we spent time unpicking new, interesting and unfamiliar vocabulary whilst considering how the characters' feelings changed as the story progressed. At the end of the week, we spent time rewriting the story from the perspective of Big Bear - we had great fun thinking about what Big Bear would say!
Please click here if you would like to listen to 'Big Bear, Little Brother' at home.
Friday 20th January 2023: Week 3
In Year 2 this week, we have been busy writing our own narratives inspired by the text 'The Queen's Hat'. We worked hard to include apostrophes, conjunctions, adjectives and adverbs in our writing. At the end of the week, we thoroughly enjoyed sharing our narratives with each other. We hope you enjoy the examples below:
Click here to listen to a snippet of Lexie's narrative.
Click here to listen to a snippet of Tristan's narrative.
Click here to listen to a snippet of Violet's narrative.
Click here to listen to a snippet of Tian's narrative.
Click here to listen to a snippet of Jayden's narrative.
Friday 13th January 2023: Week 2
This week, we have been busy delving into our new learning for Spring 1. In RE, we have started thinking about water and why we 'need' it - this will help us next week when we start exploring water routines and water rituals. In PE, we have had great fun playing dodgeball and learning about the importance of teamwork and effective communication. Alongside this, we have continued learning the 2 times tables in Maths. Why don't you try out the games below to support this learning?
Hit the Button: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Times Tables UK: https://www.timestables.co.uk/2-times-table.html
BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h/articles/zc7ygdm
Friday 6th January 2023: Week 1
It has been a joy to welcome the children back to school this week and see how enthused they are about our new learning. In English, we have been busy exploring the text 'The Queen's Hat' by Steve Antony - we spent lots of time unpicking new and interesting vocabulary using crosswords to help us. This inspired us to write our own acrostic poems using some of this vocabulary. In Maths, we have started learning the 2 times tables and in Health and Wellbeing, we have discussed the importance of 'being clean'. What a busy 3 days!
Friday 16th December 2022: Week 7
The Autumn term is now complete! This week, we have ended our learning on a high with a fantastic performance from Openbox and a wonderful disco with the Year 3 children. We can't wait to see where our learning will take us in the Spring!
Friday 9th December 2022: Week 6
In Art this half term, we have been exploring the work of Kittie Jones to learn about tone and hue. This week, we created a gallery in the hall which we visited with our friends. We discussed what we could see in each piece of artwork, which pieces were our favourite and why, and which pieces were our least favourite and why. We will think back to this experience next week when we have a go at creating our own artwork. Alongside this, we have also enjoyed Christmas jumper day and our federated Christmas lunch.
Friday 2nd December 2022: Week 5
At the beginning of the week, Year 2 travelled back in time to 1666 to experience the Great Fire of London first hand using the federation's VR headsets. We couldn't believe how dark and smoky the fire made London! Over the next few weeks, we will be able to use this incredible experience to enhance our History learning. Towards the end of the week, we had a go at performing a poem about the Great Fire of London written by Paul Perro. What a fantastic week!
Click here to watch Merlin performing the poem.
Click here to watch Kingfisher performing the poem.
Click here to watch Nightingale performing the poem.
Friday 25th November 2022: Week 4
Over the last two weeks, Year 2 have been learning all about fractions in Maths. We have been busy identifying, drawing and finding both halves and quarters of shapes, objects and numbers. We have been amazed at how well the children have applied their knowledge of place value to help them solve different fraction problems. Well done Year 2! Alongside this, we have been busy making a range of Christmas craft - have a look at the photograph below to see the wonderful lanterns that we have made for St Mary's Church. These will be up on display in the church shortly for families to see.
Friday 18th November 2022: Week 3
During our learning this week, we have had great fun celebrating our commonalities and all of the wonderful things that make us special. In English, we have been busy writing recounts about our favourite memories and in Music, we have been making a variety of sounds using our own voices. Today, we came to school wearing our brightest and shiniest clothes which helped us to remember that we must 'be bright' in order to 'be seen' especially as the winter approaches. At the end of the day, we were over the moon to spot a rainbow above the federation - what a lovely end to the week!
Friday 11th November 2022: Week 2
As part of our History learning this week, Openbox came to visit us which was very exciting! We had great fun acting out the events of the Great Fire of London and learning key information. Alongside this, we have started learning the 5 times tables in Maths and a samba routine in PE! What a busy week!
Friday 4th November 2022: Week 1
What a brilliant start to Autumn 2 we have had! This half term, we are learning all about the Great Fire of London and the impact this historical event has had on our capital city. To kick start this learning, we visited the federation's fire pit to watch how quickly fire spreads, especially when houses are close together and are made out of wood and straw. Then, we started exploring our new text driver 'The Great Fire of London' by Emma Adams. We loved uncovering adventurous vocabulary to describe the fire such as 'roaring', 'unstoppable' and 'deadly'.
Please click here to watch a replica of our fire pit session created by Mr Mackrill.
Friday 21st October 2022: Week 7
Over the last few weeks, we have been exploring mechanisms in our Design and Technology learning. We started off by identifying mechanisms in the world around us such as springs in pens and levers in door handles. Then, we focused on wheel mechanisms and the different components involved. We listened to a lovely story about George W. G. Ferris who invented the Ferris wheel - we compared how this was similar and different to the London Eye. Then, we had a go at planning, designing, making and evaluating our own Ferris wheels. What a fantastic end to our first half term!
Please click here if you would like to listen to the story 'Mr Ferris and His Wheel' at home.
Friday 14th October 2022: Week 6
In Maths over the last few weeks, we have been focusing on addition and subtraction. We have worked both collaboratively and independently to solve a range of calculations such as 45 + 38 and 52 - 24. We have used Dienes for support, especially when regrouping numbers.
When we started learning about subtraction, we discussed this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7IAkS7uvfU
Perhaps you would like to watch it again at home?
Friday 7th October: Week 5
We have done lots of collaborative work in Year 2 this week! In English, we worked together to annotate pictures of Trafalgar Square which helped us to generate adventurous vocabulary. In Geography, we spent time sorting pictures into human and physical features in order to gain a deeper understanding of what London is like. And in Science, we investigated the properties of different materials to determine which materials did not absorb water and were therefore waterproof.
Please click here to listen to Merlin's poem about Trafalgar Square.
Please click here to listen to Nightingale's poem about Trafalgar Square.
Please click here to listen to Kingfisher's video from our music lesson this week.
Please click here to listen to Merlin's video from our music lesson this week.
Enjoy!
Friday 30th September 2022: Week 4
It has been another busy week in Year 2 full of wonderful learning! At the beginning of the week, we visited the library for the first time this academic year. We had great fun choosing a book to enjoy at home. In Geography, we worked together to build world maps out of playdough - we learnt about all 7 continents and how they differ. At the end of the week, we spent time learning about barcodes in Computing. We considered the importance of barcodes and how helpful they are in our world today.
If your child would like to listen to the '7 continents song' at home, please click here.
Friday 23rd September 2022: Week 3
What a fun week we have had in Year 2 this week! At the beginning of the week, we had the opportunity to make and try marmalade sandwiches as part of our learning about 'Paddington' by Michael Bond. We used our senses to generate adjectives and expanded noun phrases which we then used to enhance our writing. In RE, we spent time sharing books that were special to us and in Geography, we used the VR headsets to explore London. We can't wait to see where our learning will take us next week!
Friday 16th September 2022: Week 2
Our learning has got off to a flying start in Year 2! In English this week, we have started exploring our first text - 'Paddington' by Michael Bond. The children have spent time getting to know each character in the story and have thoroughly enjoyed watching short clips from the film alongside listening to the book. This week, we have also enjoyed our first water confidence session in the federation's swimming pool and have learnt to use globes and atlases to locate London in Geography. What a busy week!
If you would like to listen to 'Paddington' at home together, please click here.
Friday 9th September 2022: Week 1
This week, we have spent time getting to know each other and becoming familiar with new routines. All of the children have been superstars and we have loved seeing so many smiling faces each morning! On Thursday, we voted for new house captains which was extremely exciting! Congratulations to:
- Jacob and Skylar (Fosbury)
- Jed and Matilda (Sidbury)
- Oscar and Isla (Walbury)
- Ben and Ema (Danebury)
Don't forget to have a look at the photos below to see the children working hard on their number formation and pointillism artwork this week, alongside our new display to celebrate the life of Queen Elizabeth.
Friday 2nd September 2022: We can't wait to see you!
We are so excited to welcome our new Year 2 children back to the federation on Monday morning! In the meantime, here are a few photos of our lovely Year 2 classrooms...
