Year 2 2020 - 2021

Welcome to Year 2

Scroll down to find out what we have been up to this term!

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

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!

In year two we will be focusing on learning our number bonds to 20, doubles and halves. We will also be learning our 2,3,5 and 10 times tables. We use the Hit The Button game which is free on-line by adding the name into a Google search.

P.E days are Tuesdays(outdoor) and Fridays ( indoor) .Please ensure that your child has the correct PE kit in school at all times. Earrings must be removed for health and safety reasons.

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!

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 Fires of London and Gateshead 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 Newcastle and Gateshead were we found out all about the terrible events of 1854! We also learnt about how to stay safe around fires and fire safety in the home. In art we experimented with mixing colours to create different hot shades. Then we had great fun making our own silhouette pictures.

We had the most exciting homework ever when Mrs Barrow and Mrs Ryder asked us to make our very own models of Tudor houses. Take a look at the photographs of our creations. Aren’t they fantastic?

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

Maths

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 and Mrs Barrow 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!

Science throughout the year

Our Science unit of learning of habitats, takes us right through Year 2. We begin looking at it in the Autumn Term and then again at other points throughout the year. This way we can explore the habitats of lots of different animals and we can observe any changes. To begin looking at the habitats, we visited Elba Park and completed a habitat walk. It was really interesting to see so many different habitats in one place! 

Look at us here, enjoying our learning in environment!

When we returned to school, Nathan write a lovely recount describing the habitats he'd seen during his visit, click here to give it a read! 

Science - Materials

Our second unit of learning in Science was materials. We explored different types of materials, describing them and sorting them based on some criteria. Once we'd sorted the materials we thought about what they were commonly used for and why thwy would be chosen for this purpose. 

There are many materials that have been used for great discoveries and inventions and we thought about what they were and why they were used for these puposes. The children could tell us:

"Hairclips are made of metal, they are designed to keep your hair back off your face. Metal was the material used for them because it is strong and flexible."

"Wellies were invented to keep your feet dry. They are made of rubber because rubber is waterproof."

We carried out many investigations tof ind out as much as we could about materials. We even found out that some materials change shape and state, which was fascinating! Take a look at our photographs to see how practical and engaging our Science unit has been! 

RE 

We visited Rev. Tim at St Michael's and All Angels Church to find out about the rites of passage and look at the symbols in a church. 

Here are some photographs of our visit. 

The children did some fantastic writing to recount their visit. Here is one example.

We now know that some rites of passage are considered religious and some are considered secular and each are important at different stages of a person's life. 

As well as learning about the symbols of a church, we learned about the importance and meaning of a christingle. We worked with people from the church to create our own christingle. Our Christingles are used in our annual school carol service during thr last day of the Autumn term. Take a look at what we created.