Year 2 2019 - 2020

Welcome to Year 2

Scroll down to find out what we are up to this term!

This year in Y2 we have Mrs Ryder (2R) and Mrs Barrow (2B). We are supported by Mrs Reynolds and Miss Uddin.

Important Information
Homework for Literacy and Maths is given out each Friday and is to be returned to school by the following Wednesday. Reading books are also changed each Friday. Don't forget to listen to your child read five times per week and record how many pages and comments in your child's diary! If your child reads 5 times a week they will be rewarded with an extra playtime and a chance to be put into the class draw to win a book!

After Christmas, we will be also practicing our 2, 5, 10 and 3 times tables and children will be tested on their knowledge as part of Friday maths lessons - who will be a times tables champion?  We have also started competing on Times Table Rockstar. Your child will practise at school, but they can also compete at home. Your child’s password can be found at the front of their reading record.

P.E days are Mondays (indoor) and Tuesdays(outdoor).Please ensure that your child has the correct PE kit in school at all times.

Uniform - could you ensure that all uniform has your child's name in - when children are in different classes for Literacy and Maths, playing 'guess the jumper' is an impossible game!

Spring Term
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Everywhere!
We kicked off this term in the most exciting fashion! We visited the magnificent Great North Museum in Newcastle. This was something we have been looking forward to all year because we not only had the chance to get up close and personal with a life sized T-Rex skeleton, but we also got to investigate and hold fossils. However there was one mysterious fossil that we couldn't quite figure out.........It was fossilised dinosaur  poo! We had a fantastic afternoon exploring the habitat section of the museum that was filled with life sized animals.We had an amazing day and when we got back to school we wrote our very own 'Trip Advisor' style review. Why not take a look and decide if you would like to go and visit?

Exploring Habitats!
During science we have explored the difference between things that are living,used to be living and have never been alive. We then looked at what a habitat was and what it needed to provide in order for things to live there. We looked at lots of different habitats and why animals were suited to live there. We then moved on to explore micro-habitats and explored some in the school grounds and out in the local area. We collected some great scientific data which we then used to create a tally chart and a bar graph. We also looked at the seven life processes and why you have to have all of these to stay alive. We compared what this looks like in plants and animals. Finally we explored food chains.

Easter in Y2
We have been very busy learning all about the Easter story and Christian symbols of Easter. We took part in the great Hetton Lyons Primary school traditions of egg jarping and egg rolling which was great fun! The celebrations didn't end there though as we designed and created out own paste eggs in class and some of us entered the home egg competition. As if we hadn't already impressed Mrs Barrow and Mrs Ryder enough with our creative talents, we also took to the catwalk and showcased our amazing Easter bonnets to the rest of the school and our parents! Phew, what a busy term we have had in Y2!

Autumn Term
Exploring Hetton!
During September we explored Hetton and discovered the different physical and human features that can be found around us. We created simple sketch maps and create posters to say what we like about living in Hetton. We went on a field trip to explore our local area. 

Fire! Fire!
Wow, we really loved every minute of our Great Fire of London topic and enjoyed sharing everything we had discovered with anyone that would listen! We used our maths skills to order events on a timeline and  visited Seaham fire station were we found out all about the important jobs that fire fighters do ...oh and we all got to squirt the hose more than once! We also learnt about how to stay safe around fires and fire safety in the home.

Technology Tom came in and we designed and created our own fire engines with moving ladders as part of out Design Technology curriculum. We then wrote our own recounts as if we were there during Literacy lessons. We also wrote as if we were Samuel Pepys - did you know he buried his wine and Parmesan cheese in the garden to save it?

Marvellous Maths!
Just look at how much we have learnt in maths this term! We began by looking at place value of numbers up to 1000- we are very good at using the equipment and drawing out the amounts to help us! Then we looked at mental strategies to help us to quickly solve calculations without always having to use written methods and are continuing to try to find out four ways to try and solve the same question such as by using number bonds, doubles, halves and adding or subtracting ten then adjusting the ones.

We didn't believe Mrs Ryder, Mrs Barrow and Miss Harker when they told us in September that we soon would be adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers including regrouping...but look at how confident we are! Next term we will begin by looking at multiplying and dividing!

Remembrance!
During November we celebrated Remembrance. In Literacy we read the story Where the poppies now grow. We retold the story in three parts using some wonderful descriptive language. We visited the war memorial in Hetton where we discovered who fought and died for us. We found some soldiers had the same surnames as us. We designed and created poppy designs in I.C.T. We looked at historical artefacts such as swords, knives, medals and service books. We also found out about life as a soldier in World War 1. We took part in role-play where we pretended to lie the life of a soldier. We discovered that animals did lots of important jobs. Did you know that elephants and camels helped the soldiers in World War one? It was fascinating learning about Sergeant Stubby and all the lives he managed to save.