Welcome to our Class Page
Please find our Curriculum Map here: Year 2 Curriculum Map Spring 1 2022
To access your child’s home learning via the Class Dojo, please use the following link: https://home.classdojo.com/#/login?redirectTo=%2Fstory
14th January 2022
In Maths this week, we have been practising quick recall of our 2x and 10x tables. We have been using counters to build the times tables and are beginning to understand that odd numbers cannot be shared equally between 2 whilst even numbers can.
We have continued to practise the skill of writing statements in Literacy. We watched a video about a missing bear and an elk and made WANTED posters to help others find them. Please let us know if you see them anywhere!
In Reading sessions we found out lots of information about Roald Dahl. Here are the webistes we looked at, should you wish to revisit them at home:
https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/about
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/35579345
During RE, we finally got round to making our Christingles. We learned that many Christians make these around Christmas time to remember Jesus as a light of the world. We also learned more about Muslim prayer. We tried on topis (the hat worn by boys) and acted out the prayer movements performed when Muslims pray.
In our Art lesson we completed detailed observational drawings. We watched ‘Austin’s Butterfly’ and learned about improving our artwork by looking closely and drawing details. Here is the video we watched: https://vimeo.com/160874546
Another fun week was had by all! Well done for continuing to work so hard Year Two!
7th January 2022
Happy New Year!
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson are very impressed with how well we have settled back into school this week. It sounds like we have all enjoyed a lovely Christmas break and have come back ready to learn.
In Maths we are starting to learn our 2x, 5x and 10x tables. The aim is for us to be able to recall these automatically by the end of the year. Lots of practising or quick recall during car journeys or by using online games could be really fun! One of our favourites to play in class is Hit the Button. Here is the link to it if you want to play it at home: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
We have started to learn a new skill in writing lessons. We learned that a statement tells you a fact, opinion or idea. It starts with a capital letter and usually ends with a full stop. We have started to read our class text ‘The Giraffe, the Pelly and me’ by Roald Dahl and wrote some interesting statements about the grubber (an old-fashioned sweet shop).
In Phonics we are learning to add the suffix -ing and are getting used to all the rules. For example, we learned that words ending with an ‘e’ need the ‘e’ to be dropped before adding -ing, like hope=hoping.
Our RE focus for this term is going to be Islam once again. We learned that the Qur’an contains the most important words to Muslims-they guide their everyday lives. Mrs Pritlove was very impressed by our insightful contributions to a discussion on words that are important to us. We came up with ideas such as: family, friends, school, creativity and imagination.
This term we will be learning about the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In our History lesson this week, we started to find out about his life and why he is famous. Here is a link to a really useful website if you wish to find out more: https://gridclub.com/activities/brunels-britain
We are so glad to have you back Year Two and look forward to a really fun Spring Term together.
17th December 2021
We finally made it to the end of term. Woo hoo! We have a had a wonderful final week full of festivities.
In Maths we have been learning to use positional language and are beginning to use the vocabulary of clockwise, anticlockwise, left, right and right-angled turn. We enjoyed using the BeeBot app to guide the BeeBot using these words.
This week, we have learned all about how to take photos using the iPads. We learned about the effect light can have on the quality of a photo and looked for clues to spot whether a photo was real of fake. We decided that to take a good photo you need to think about positioning, hold the iPad still and frame the object carefully. We had great fun editing our own photos using the Pixlr app too.
In Geography, we finished writing our city guide leaflets all about London. If you fancy a visit over Christmas then we will be able to tell you just where to go!
During DT we designed our own fruit smoothies and look forward to making these after the holidays.
Obviously, no Christmas would be complete without a party and we had so much fun during ours on Friday! We played bowling, took part in a lucky dip and did lots of dancing. It was brilliant!
We hope you all have a lovely break and enjoy your Christmas celebrations. MERRY CHRISTMAS YEAR TWO! We will see you all in January. 🙂
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
10th December 2021
WOW What a week we have had!
The week of our nativity finally arrived and what a celebration it was! The children’s performance was absolutely amazing and we hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you for providing all the costumes and helping the children to learn their lines. They did themselves proud and put on such a brilliant show. Well done Year Two!
In Maths this week we have been practising more multiplication skills. We learned how to use arrays to multiply and demonstrated our knowledge of commutativity too.
We finally finished reading ‘The Princess and the White Bear King’ and were happy to learn that the princess found her happily ever after. We have been learning the story off by heart using our own story maps and will be thinking about the setting and characters in more detail next week.
We also received another shocking letter but this time it was from Santa! He informed us that he would not be able to deliver any presents this year as he had to stay home to trim him hairy beard and look after a poorly Blitzen. We wrote back to him immediately and thankfully he must’ve been impressed by our letters as he replied informing us that he had changed his mind! Phew!
In Science this week, we thought about what animals need to survive. We had some interesting discussions around what was ‘nice to have’ and what was actually needed for survival. In the end we all agreed it was shelter, air, food and water. We went out into Forest School to build our own shelters…and although very muddy, we managed to create some great shelters.
In DT this week we discussed food traditions at Christmas time. We talked about what different people around the world like to eat at this special time of year and what we traditionally enjoy in our own homes. It made us all a little bit excited for all the Christmas treats!
A little note to say that our class Christmas party will be on Friday afternoon next week. Please can children bring in party clothes to change into on that day.
Thank you.
3rd December 2021
The Christmas countdown has well and truly begun in Year Two!
This week we had a surprise visit from Santa! He obviously came in the night as he left behind snowy footprints and set up a beautiful Christmas tree in our classroom. It looks magical…thank you Santa! We have also been opening our British Sign Language advent calendar every day. Here is the link to the playlist if you want to learn them at home too: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoW1zMlmOlmIEpKYSpXG6uini3lm87EC . So far we have learned the signs for ‘advent calendar’, ‘Christmas tree’ and ‘secret Santa’.
During the week, we were horrified to receive a letter from Mrs Moss explaining that we had to stay in school to work during the Christmas holidays! We immediately wrote back and thankfully managed to convince her otherwise. Phew! Mrs Pritlove assures us it was because our writing was so good…we managed to include many of the skills we have learned so far this year and we made sure our handwriting was neat too.
Our Maths lessons have focussed on multiplication this week. We are beginning to understand what the x symbol means and have started to solve multiplication problems using repeated addition and arrays.
During RE this week we looked at different nativity scenes from around the world. We travelled to Vietnam, South America and Russia. We found the different scenes fascinating and even had a go at designing our own nativity scene too.
We have started to write our fact files all about London in our Geography lessons. We have discovered lots of facts from our research and are looking forwad to putting it all into a leaflet for tourists to read.
As we filled up our PomPom jar last week, we decided to all bring in our favourtie teddies. We enjoyed sharing these in circle time and talking about why they are special to us.
We look forward to seeing you all for our nativity play next week!
26th November 2021
Wow this term is flying by!
In Maths this week we have started to recap our knowledge of 3D shape. We identified and described the properties of cylinders and cones and were able to sort a range of 3D shapes, describing their similarities and differences.
Our writing blew our teacher’s socks off this week! We watched a video about Santa delivering presents and his reindeers being left no carrots! Our recounts of the main events from the video were very detailed and we managed to include a whole range of skills taught since September. What extraordinary Year Two writers we are!
In RE we discussed different ways in which Christmas is celebrated in Church. We learned about Advent and made our own advent wreaths. We have, of course, also been busy practising for our nativity…not long to go now! Please can any costumes be sent in as soon as they are ready.
Thank you to everyone who sent in a baby photo for our Science lesson. The children loved guessing who was who and had lots of ideas about how they had changed and will continue to do so as they get older.
During our Geography lesson we compared the weather in all parts of the United Kingdom. It was cold everywhere this week! Brrrr!!! We are getting very good at locating these countries and their capital cities on a map.
We cannot wait for another fun week of learning next week. Keep up the hard work Year Two!
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
19th November 2021
This week has been full of kindness in Year Two as we have been thinking about anti bullying. We designed and made our own superheroes who we thought would demonstrate all the qualities it means to be kind.
On Friday we had a fun filled RE day linked to our vision of the Mustard Seed. We discussed what this parable means to each of us and explored why the parable of the Mustard Seed was chosen for our school. As a new school we thought of ourselves from tiny beings growing into fully formed adults. We thought of our school growing into a bigger one. We each made a mustard seed and then thought about “Our small steps to big dreams!” We think of our Christian Values as the birds nesting in the trees. During the day we reflected on how we can grow spiritually into the best we can be and discussed our aspirations for ourselves and the world. We had great fun making our own mustard tree and adding our aspirations onto each of the leaves. We also loved exploring the resources available in our wonderful reflection room.
In reading lessons this week we have continued to read a little more of The Princess and the White Bear King. We discussed some tricky language such as ‘lavish’, ‘enchantment’ and ‘numb’. We also made some sensible predictions about what might happen next based on what we’ve read so far.
During phonics lessons we have continued to learn alternative spellings for the phonemes of which we are familiar. We are getting better at recognising which grapheme to use in each word depending on where we hear the sound. This week’s focus were the z, sh and or sounds.
This week’s writing lessons have focused on a new skill of writing exclamation sentences. We watched a mesmerising film called The Clocktower and have started to retell the story by including sentences which contain this skill. Here is a helpful song we listened to to remind us what an exclamation sentence is: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vfk_sOZ3aOo
We finished learning about subtraction this week and will be starting to look at 3D shapes next week! Whilst practising for our nativity play of course. Thank you for all the help you have given towards helping the children learn their lines.
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
12th November 2021
Wow! Another week of brilliant learning in Year Two this week! Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson have been very impressed with our attitudes as we continue to demonstrate our learning powers…particularly ‘Don’t give up’ and ‘Keep improving’.
In DT this week, we thought carefully about fruits that grow in the UK and those that don’t. We learned about how weather conditions affect what foods we can grow and located countries on a map where our imported fruits are from. We then made our own fruit salads, practising our chopping, cutting and peeling skills. Our combined ingredients were delicious!
In RE we learned a new word: Incarnation. We recapped the Christmas story and next week will be thinking about how ‘God on Earth’ is reflected through artwork.
Our ICT lesson focused on the use of voice activated devices. We thought carefully about whether these devices were real people and made thoughtful contributions to a class discussion on what kind of questions it would be suitable to ask Siri/Alexa and which we should discuss with an adult.
In Maths we have been developing our subtraction skills. We learned that we can use known facts to calculate with larger numbers. For example if we know 7-2=5 then 57-2=55. We also learned to take away 9 by taking away 10 then adding one.
In Literacy we continued to learn how to write commands. We made crowns just like the princess in ‘The Princess and the White Bear King’ and then wrote our own instructions on how to create it. We also pretended to be tour guides and gave detailed commands on how to make the most of a visit to London. Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson were very impressed with our use of bossy verbs and we are even remembering to include so previously learned skills such as expanded noun phrases and conjunctions too!
Parents, today (Friday) you will have received a letter detailing any lines your child has been given for our nativity. You should also have received information on any costume that they will need. We hope you are as excited as us about this! Please do come see us if you have any questions. Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
5th November 2021
What a fantastic start to the new term Year Two! You have come back enthusiastic and ready to learn.
In Maths we have started to learn how to subtract 2 digit numbers. We discovered that subtraction is not commutative whereas addition can be done in any order! We received an exciting new piece of apparatus called a ‘rekenrek’ this week and are already beginning to learn how to use these to recall number facts to 20.
In Literacy we have been learning all about commands. We helped Mrs Pritlove to make a magic potion by giving her commands such as ‘First add the crushed bones’, ‘Next pour in the frog juice’. We discovered that a command is a type of sentence that instructs you to do something. It must contain a bossy verb.
This week we have had a huge focus on climate change linked to the very important COP26 summit. The entries we received for the half term homework were amazing! The children have been thinking really hard about our school value of responsibility and how we can care for our world. Thank you so much for helping the children with their projects.
We have started a number of new topics in Science (Animals including humans), RE (Why does Christmas matter to Christians?), Geography (The UK capital cities) and DT (cooking). We kicked off each topic by thinking about what we already know and telling Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson what we would like to find out. It’s going to be a fun filled term! With a bit of Christmas sparkle added in of course!
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
22nd October 2021
Year Two have enjoyed a busy week and we’ve made it to half term! Yippee!
In Maths we continued to learn how to add using partitioning and recombining. Our place value knowledge is really developing and Mrs Pritlove was very impressed with how we used this to partition two 2-digit numbers and then add them together.
In Literacy we wrote instructions on how to trap different creatures. There was a huge variety including ghosts, zombies, dinosaurs and even unicorns! We tried so hard to include the skills we have learned so far this year including conjunctions and expanded noun phrases.
We finished our History topic on Glorious Gloucester by predicting what Gloucester Quays may look like in the future. We also recapped all the learning from the term using our dual coding maps. Parents you could try asking children to talk through this at home to see what they remember.
Our ‘Boats at Saint Marie’ collages are now complete. We think they look fantastic! We enjoyed using a variety of different textures to create this famous Van Gough painting.
Unfortunately this week Hoppity, our class bunny, broke his school bag! We investigated which material would be best to make him a new one. After testing the materials using water we discovered that the best material would be plastic as it was waterproof. The paper and fabric bags went soggy and even ripped! We decided that these absorbent materials would be no good at all.
We have had such a fantastic term and the children have worked their socks off! Well done Year Two! Enjoy your well earned half term break and we’ll see you in a week.
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
15th October 2021
Year Two have had another lovely week this week.
In Maths we have started to practise our addition skills. We have been recalling our number bonds to 10 and our doubles to 20. We noticed that if we know these facts then we can work out other facts too. For example if 2+8=10 then 20+80=100.
In Literacy we have been learning how to trap a dragon! We read instructions that guided us on how to tempt the dragon into a pit using a large lump of meat. We then used the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ to write our own instructions on ‘How to trap an angry giant’. It would appear that 100 tasty jacket potatoes and a large cage is all you need!
We were very lucky to have a visitor on Monday who taught us some new PE skills. We refined our throwing and catching skills and played lots of fun running games.
Our recorder skills are coming along nicely and we are learning to play a range of notes. Mrs Pearson is very impressed with how well we can now hold the recorder and put our fingers in the correct positions.
In RE we learned about the Muslim holy book of the Qur’an. We found out that this book contains many special words for Muslims. We offered some lovely ideas as to what words are important to us. Mrs Pritlove was impressed by our insightful suggestions such as ‘I love you’, ‘You are special’ and ‘Mistakes help you to learn’.
It’s hard to believe we are nearly at half term! Only one week to go. We look forward to seeing you all next week for Parent’s Evening.
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
8th October 2021
This week Year Two have been busy bees!
In Computing we learned about how technology can help us in the outside world. We demonstrated how a scanner and till works by pretending we were in a supermarket buying items. We recognised that technology can help us to do things quicker and more accurately. It can also help us to remember things that we might forget and can save humans time.
In Science we conducted an experiment to find out which material would be best to build a boat for a lego man. We learned the meaning of new vocabulary ‘waterproof’ and ‘absorbent’ and found out that the lego man was best to build his boat from plastic or metal. The paper and cardboard went very soggy and even ripped!
In Art we explored the background of the Sunflowers painting by Van Gough. Van Gogh painted this for his friend, the artist Paul Gauguin. He chose the colour yellow to represent happiness. He made lots of paintings of sunflowers. We found out that this is one of Van Gogh’s most popular and famous paintings. We had a go at painting our own vases of flowers too!
In Literacy we watched a film about a girl that dived into a washing machine and found herself under the sea. We used this clip to write some lovely sentences that included our new skill of co-ordinating conjunctions. Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson were very impressed by our ability to join two main clauses together.
In Maths we have been exploring 3D shapes and counting the number of edges, faces and vertices. I wonder what 3D shapes you have in your homes…Can you go on a shape hunt and find out?
It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Harvest Festival celebration on Friday. Thank you so much for coming. It was a delight to be together again.
Mrs Pritlove and Mrs Pearson
1st October 2021
What another fun filled week of learning in Year 2!
During Literacy we have learned a new skill of using co-ordinating conjunctions. We have been trying really hard to join two main clauses with one of these words: and, so, or, because, if, but. During our reading sessions we have been looking closely at another of Aesops Fables. This week it was ‘The lion and the fox’. We discovered a very important message in the story about how we can learn from the mistakes of others.
In Maths, we have been learning about the properties of 2D shapes. We were fascinated to discover that a square is actually a special type of rectangle. We also learned that pentagons and hexagons can be ‘irregular’ and still be categorised under the same name. Everyone has really been putting Skye’s learning power to good use this week and having a go at adding and subtracting 10 using a jotting.
We’ve continued with our Science topic on Materials. We loved exploring how different materials can be described as ‘transparent’, ‘translucent’ or ‘opaque’ depending on how much light was able to travel through the object.
In our Art lesson this week we started recreating Van Gogh’s painting of ‘Boats at Sainte Marie’ using collage techniques. We will be building upon this each week, choosing and using different materials thoughtfully and precisely.
Next Friday morning is our Harvest Festival service. Just a little reminder that only one adult can attend per family. We look forward to seeing you there.
Mrs Pearson & Mrs Pritlove
24th September 2021
What a fabulous week of learning in Year 2!
During Literacy we have continued learning how to use expanded noun phrases in our sentences. Everyone is trying hard to remember how to use capital letters, commas, full stops and finger spaces correctly. During some of our reading sessions we have been developing our comprehension skills – using our learning power, ‘Cool Concentration’ to find the right piece of evidence from the text to back up each answer.
In Maths, we have been learning to order numbers from smallest to greatest by using our Place Value knowledge of Tens and Ones. Children have also been using different methods and resources (e.g. Dienes, 100 square) to support their calculations involving ten more and ten less (e.g. 45 – 10 = 35). Everyone has shown a determined attitude to improve their mental calculations. We have already noticed their confidence increase with repeated practice of counting in 2s, 5s, 10 and doubles (e.g. 7 + 7).
We’ve started our Science topic on Materials. We loved exploring how different materials changed by bending, squashing, twisting or stretching. There were lots of interesting group discussions using our new Science vocabulary (smooth, transparent, bumpy, translucent, transparent, flexible, waterproof).
Our Computing lesson this week was all about the uses of technology, where we spotted different IT equipment around our school. It would be great if you could share how technology is used in your job or day-to-day routine so children recognise further benefits.
A busy week, well done Year 2 – incredible enthusiasm for learning !
A couple of reminders:
Homework:
Homework has been issued today. Please return this by next Thursday. Note our spelling test will take place on Thursday, 30th of September.
Please continue to read at least three times a week at home and record this in the reading Record when you do. If your child reads five times they will enter the Regular Reader draw to win a book!
Thanks again for your support,
Mrs Pearson & Mrs Pritlove
17th September 2021
We have been so impressed with Year 2’s learning this week. In Maths, we have been learning to use different symbols (<, > and =) to compare numbers as well as order 2-digit numbers from smallest to greatest. Children are becoming more familiar using Dienes and jottings to show their understanding. We also continue to practise counting to 100 in tens and ones daily.
Literacy has been lots of fun as we have explored different settings and books, such as ‘Traction Man’ to inspire our writing. Our focus has been writing expanded noun phrases, like ‘fearless, courageous hero’. Children recognise that expanded noun phrases give more detail to the noun by adding one or more adjectives. Next week we will be using these in our sentences.
Our detective skills were on show during History for our topic Gloucester Docks. In groups, we investigated different artefacts, including photos of dockers loading timber into the warehouses, sack hooks and iron Lewis Keys. Some of their predictions about what the Cadbury’s milk churn and land chains were used for came true as the class studied each artefact closely. We are looking forward to more discussions – they are so rich with questions!
Finally, we were delighted to achieve all our stars for lining up smartly – we were rewarded with a slightly longer break.
Enjoy the weekend!
Mrs Pearson and Mrs Pritlove
10th September 2021
What an amazing first week!
Year Two have shown excellent behaviour and a ‘can do’ attitude with all our new classroom routines. At the start of the week, we created our classroom ‘Golden Rules’ to keep everyone safe and to make sure we are successful with our learning.
In Maths, we have been developing our understanding of place value. Children have been enjoying using Dienes to represent two-digit numbers, partitioning these into tens and ones (e.g. 42 = 4 tens and two ones). The class have also been learning how to split numbers in different ways (e.g. 42 = 40 + 2; 42 = 30 + 12; 42 = 21 + 21). In Literacy, we have been writing descriptive sentences and trying hard to remember to use capital letters and full stops.
Well done everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Mrs Pearson and Mrs Pritlove