Thursday 15th July 2021
A great week in Year 2 with lots of fun learning activities...! We have been looking at symmetry and division in Maths, whilst in English we have been exploring persuasive texts.
However, the most exciting part of our week was our Forest School session we had this afternoon. We had a campfire, created our own wrap pizzas, built dens, sang campfire songs and generally enjoyed the sunshine!
Thursday 8th July 2021
STEAM Week!
At the start of STEAM week we made flags with our lightening logo and intimidated the opposition with our chant, 'We are lightening, Lightening Strikes!'
Our task has been to design a piece of equipment for a sport. We have been making helmets for all kinds of Olympic and Paralympic sports! These included climbing, Equestrian (horse riding), BMX racing, ski jumping amongst many others.
The children made helmets out of paper mache and they painted and decorated them too. They have tested materials and explored different designs.
We wrote our own scripts for our Dragon's Den style pitch! We used Green Screen to create exciting photos linked with our sports.
We won so many points! Who will be STEAM week winners? We hope it is us!
Thursday 24th June 2021
Year 2 are getting fighting fit for our Sports Day - this week we have had a big focus on our athletic skills! We have been developing our long jump and our sprinting skillls. The children have loved doing relay races, especially when myself and Miss Cutting joined in!
Our topic work has been very successful too - the children have loved looking at maps and comparing the coastal towns of St. Ives and Whitley Bay. This of course has led to lots of talk about the Summer Holidays...
There has been a few mysterious clues about a visitor coming next week... watch this space!
Thursday 17th June
A fun week in Year 2! We have been writing our own dilemma stories in English, which everyone has been very enthusiastic about. We dramatised the endings to our story as a group and performed them on the field!
In Maths the focus has been addition and subtraction word problems. We have been honing our techniques and ensuring that we are methodical and clear with our working out.
In P.E we have been practising for Sports Day, using the running tracks to practise our speed. We are all very competitive!
Year 2 have continued to enjoy the Animal Pageant this week - we are becoming very adept at producing different sounds on the drums!
10th June 2021
This week we have had a fantastic time coming back for our final half term.
In Maths, we have recapping our shape knowledge and we are beginning to be able to compare properties of 2D and 3D shapes.
In English we have focused on dilemmas! The children have really engaged with the idea and have been finding dilemmas in all sorts of situations.
We had a wonderful session with the drums in 'Animal Pageant' and we are really looking to our session next week!
We have been learning the skills to play cricket in P.E so the children have had plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine we have been having!
Thursday 27th May
We are coming to the end of our penultimate half term - it has been lovely to have a full half term in school!
We have finished our faces in Design and Technology, our Textile unit. The children have been learning to sew and produced a unique face each!
We are looking forward to an exciting Summer 2 half term...
Friday 21st May
This week has been another fantastic in Year 2!
We have been sewing faces in DT, playing badminton and tennis in P.E and looking into place value in Maths. In English, we have been exploring the video 'Caterpillar Shoes' and we are on our way to writing a recount... watch this space!
Today we have had our 'Active Lifestyle' session in the hall. The children had a great time learning new games and ways to stay fit and healthy!
14th May 2021
It has been another busy week in Year 2... We have been writing fantasy stories in English, representing numbers in Maths, playing tennis in PE and even enjoying Mental Health Awareness week too!
The children have been very engaged with our science projects particularly - with our peas growing very quickly! Our experiment is going very well too - looking at the importance of light, nutrients, oxygen and water on plant growth. Look at the pictures and guess which plant is which! One has no oxygen, one has no light, one has no water and one has no soil (with nutrients).
Friday 7th May 2021
We have had a lovely week, ending with Number Day! The children have embraced all the challenges set throughout the day including solving the puzzle to find Buddy, designing a number t-shirt and trying to be a Mathionaire!
The children have enjoyed PE this week - we have been playing tennis and improving our hand eye co-ordination. The children were very enthusiastic!
30th April 2021
We have had a busy week in Year 2. We have had great fun with capacity - exploring litres and millilitres. We have had measuring jugs out, buckets, containers... you name it!
The children have been learning about the Space Race in Humanities - we had a fabulous time making flags and cheering each team on.
The children have planted even more seeds in Science and we will hopefully all have a pea plant in the near future...
Looking forward to a Bank Holiday weekend - see you next week!
23rd April 2021
Welcome back everyone!
We had a fantastic week in Year 2, the highlight definitely being our Commando Joe day!
We learnt all about Pocahontas - her story (not the Disney version!) and learnt traditional Native American poetry, using our drama skills along the way. In the afternoon, we had various problem solving activities including working as a team to move crops safely through the jungle to share with the English. We also had to transport water from the English to the Native Americans to ensure they had fresh water during the drought.
The children had incredible fun (the weather held out!) and learnt essential skills like how to be a team player, how to think on your feet and how to help others who are struggling.
Everyone got involved! We had an ace day, we can't wait for the next Commando Joe session!
Thursday 1st April
Well done everyone - you have done so well over this half term!
This week we have been busy creating calligram poems about Spring in English. The children have been very inventive and we have had poems about Spring, Easter bunnies, daffodils and chicks.
In Maths, we have been continuing with place value and using our knowledge of times tables to work out corresponding calculations.
This week we have been developing our understanding of Holy Week, exploring the events leading up to Easter Sunday including Spy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday.
In PE we have played invasion games and had a very competitive game of basketball!
We even made it out to Forest School this week - with the children creating sculptures using the any resources they could find!
We had an Easter egg competition and you will see our two lucky winners above! Everyone did a fabulous job though, with some very inventive ideas!
Have a lovely Easter break everyone - well done for all your hard work!
Friday 19th March 2021
Welcome back everyone!
We have had a fantastic first two weeks of settling back into the routine. It has been lovely to see you all together and having fun!
We have been very busy in English learning how to write a narrative including all the extra bits that make it special. We focused initially on The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark, then we wrote our own. We had a cat who was afraid of milk, a dog who was afraid of the streets and a shark who was afraid of fish!
In Maths we have been focusing on measuring. The scales have been out and everything that can fit on a scale in our classroom has been weighed!
We have made it into the Forest School several times - doing outdoor Paths, planting our sweet peas for the challenge and creating our Lentern crosses.
We hope all the presents sent home for Mother's Day were well received, they were carefully created!
Well done Year 2. Remember to do your Mathletics homework online, you might win the Mathletic award next week!
Ms Owens and Mrs Higgins
Friday 18th December
What a fantastic week Year 2!
We have done some wonderful writing based on the Edgar the Dragon Christmas Advert apologising for burning everything in the village in English. I was so impressed with how the children got in to role and used their formal language and letter writing skills!
In Maths we have been exploring measuring length and height and on a very wet day braved the rain to measure parts of the yard! What great teamwork! We also showed we could compare and order measures too and that there are 100cm in a m and we can record measures in cm and m!
In Science we have been exploring the Weather and the Seasons as part of our catch-up curriculum and have been recording the weather over the week, using Scientific language such as wind direction, temperature and rainfall. Great skills Year Two!
We have had our Party Day and had lots of fun with games, quizzes and watching the pantomime as well as making some beautiful cards using our DT skills! We hope you like them!
Have a wonderful weekend Year Two and see you next week for the last two days! Nearly time for the man in red to visit your house - he's already been in school!
Friday 20th November
Wow Year 2! What another fantastic week!
I am so impressed with the children's work this week and they wrote some outstanding instructions for how to find hidden treasure. We also worked on some tricky Maths where we were dividing by sharing and grouping, as well as our daily four a day. In RE we had a beautiful end of Topic class liturgy and I'm sure you'll agree our focal point, designed by the children and filled during the Liturgy with their reflections on Baptism, looks wonderful! The main focus of our week was Anti-Bullying Week which this year celebrates being United Against Bullying. We began with Odd Socks Day and went on to explore what being United Against Bullying means, how it links to the work of the NSPCC and how it links to children's rights as we are a Rights Respecting School.
Have a wonderful weekend Year 2 - you've earned a nice rest! I wonder if any more Christmas Decorations will be going up this week as we start Advent at the weekend!
Friday 13th November
Homework Update:
We have made some minor changes to homework in Year Two which we hope will make things clearer and easier for families at home. This will be put in to place from Friday 13th November.
Homework will only be set in Reading, Spelling and Maths and will be as follows.
Reading
Children should be reading every night and having their reading record signed by an adult so they can move through our Reading Ninjas!
Spelling
Children should be practising their spellings daily in their spelling homework book. This book no longer needs to be returned to school - please keep this at home for home practise only.
All spellings for the full half term have been uploaded to the class materials folder in Teams so you always have access to them for the purposes of home practise and a paper copy will be sent home on Monday 16th November.
Spellings will still be tested in a quiz on Fridays.
Maths
Mathletics new tasks will be set by Mrs Damti on Mondays to be completed by the next Monday. The tasks set will revise areas we have covered in the previous week.
Times Tables Rockstars is for children to practise their tables in a fun and interactive way and can be accessed any time. I would recommend two or three 15 minutes sessions per week but your child can do more if they wish.
There is also a file with additional times tables resources on Teams if you wish to access those.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any further questions. Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Damti
Friday 6th November
We had a fantastic start to the half term this week! The highlight was definitely Mission Day where we explored our namesake St Charles. I was blown away with the children's responses and there fantastic designs for a new school logo! I'm confident we might have a winner! Well done Year Two on a great start to the new half term - you are superstars as usual!
Friday 23rd October
Happy Half Term Year 2!
We have had a brilliant Friday in Year Two for lots of reasons but mainly because we were back together at last! It was so lovely to welcome back our friends who have been working so hard at home!
Another reason was because we had our Special Mission! We were tasked by Commando Joe's to follow in the footsteps of Pocahontas and lead our tribe to safety. First we had to lead the women and children through the dangerous terrain to the safety of the base camp. Some of us had to carry the babies, while the others carried supplies and water! Then we had to transport he crops we'd harvested across the plains to the rest of the tribe before they spoiled!
Year Two - you were amazing! I was so impressed with your teamwork, resilience and risk-taking! Well done!
What a half-term! Have a lovely relaxing break and see you in a week for Autumn 2!
Friday 16th October
I think we all agree that it was a week to remember in Year Two! In fact has it only been a week....?
I cannot express how proud I am of each and every one of the children with the way they have coped with this strange week! Whether in school or at home isolating they have been so resilient! I can't wait until we are all together again next week! (Fingers crossed very tightly!)
Here's a flavour of what those of us in school have been up to this week and I loved seeing what you at home have been up to on Teams too!
Friday 9th October
What another amazing week in Year Two!
Today it was so lovely to see the children in their brightest clothes for Brighten Up the Harvest! In RHE we thought about how our emotions can get muddled just like the colours on the Colour Monster, and how colours can represent emotions. We talked about felling 'blue' and how we all felt great today because of all the sunshine colours we were wearing! We also reflected on our strengths and talents as part of our work on self-esteem! Year Two certainly are a talented bunch.
On Wednesday we had a Forest School session with Ms Owens and I was blown away with the children's teamwork, inventiveness and resilience! We created 'bug hotels' and completed a challenge to see which team's could build the highest! They were fantastic!
Another highlight of the week was having our first Teams lesson, where we logged into our remote learning accounts and completed a conjunctions quiz Mrs Damti had created for us. We were so brilliant!
From this week I will be setting weekly grammar homework in fun ways - like quizzes - to do through teams t give the children a chance to get used to the home learning platform and to avoid unnecessary paperwork between home and school. Please do help your child to log in and complete these tasks. They will receive feedback from me too!
Have a great weekend! Mrs Damti
Friday 2nd October
Wow - what another amazing week in Year 2!
This week we have been learning about St Paul in RE and how he showed others how to be a 'holy child of God'. We wrote short biographies about him and explained why he is so important to Christians. We then did a beautiful collective worship to reflect on our topic.
In English we have been looking at 'The Ugly Sharkling' and using it as a stimulus to persuade! We looked at why Harry the spider was a good friend and what persuasive language to use to convince someone else! Nest week we will be writing our letters to persuade others about why some animals make good pets!
In Maths we have worked really hard on some tricky topics like counting back in tens from any number, place value charts and we did our weekly arithmetic test! I am so proud of how resilient the children have been when they have found something tricky and they have blown me away with their place value knowledge!
In Science we investigated our own questions about the preferred microhabitats of woodlice and went into forest school to collect our data after we made a prediction. Next week we will present our data and draw our conclusions! I wonder which microhabitat will be the winner!
Have a wonderful weekend Year 2! Relax and have fun!
Remember to read your library books or books you love at home and record in your reading record as your reading books are in quarantine! Log in to Mathletics and have a go at the tasks I've set too!
Mrs Damti
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Autumn Week 3: Friday 25th September
In Year Two we have had another fantastic week!
In Maths we have continued to look at Place Value and the children have blown me away with their ability to solve problems based on counting in steps of 2 and the tricky 3s! In English we have been writing our own traditional tales about 'The Three Little...' which Mrs Damti can't wait to read!
In History we looked at the changes to Newcastle and Gosforth over time, using photographs as our sources. The children were able to identify how Gosforth High Street and St James' Park had evolved over time from their observations! Well Done!
In Art we used coloured pencils to create different shades by changing the pressure we used and we all created colour bars from dark to light. We then applied this technique to shading a leaf. We are building up to a Still Life based on the work of Henri Rousseau!
In RHE we looked at empathy and what it means , and how sometimes people might hide and their feelings and why. I was blown away by the children's thoughtful and sensitive ideas about this.
In RE we developed our own Liturgical dances and Miss Hamer was so impressed!
I have set Mathletics tasks this week so please log in and have a go! Please speak to Mrs Damti on Monday if you can't remember your log in and I will hand them out again!
Have a great weekend Year Two! Relax and have fun.
Mrs Damti
Autumn Week 2: Friday 18th September
Welcome to the Year two blog from Mrs Damti and Year Two!
Year Two have blown me away with how they have returned to school. I knew they would be amazing after teaching them last year but they have exceeded my expectations. What superstars they all are!
This week we have been working hard in Maths on identifying, representing and estimating numbers to 100 in lots of different ways, and worked hard to find as many ways as we could in the sunshine on Monday. Later in the week we showed our understanding of this by solving problems about this too. Well done my Mathematicians.
In Science we are looking at Living Things and their Habitats, and this week we built on last week's learning by identifying things in Forest School which were alive, dead or never alive. We had to think hard as some things would have been alive once because of what they are made of and you have to work backwards to figure it out! We were also able to identify a variety of plants and animals that we found, and what their homes were.
Next week we are moving on to Microhabitats.
Can you work out what a Microhabitat might be?
Did we see one today?
We also visited the library today and have some lovely books to share with you. Remember as this is a bonus book, the children can choose whichever book they wish, so it may seem too hard or too easy for them to read but it is a sharing book to enjoy at home that reflects the children's own interest. One of the children chose a book to share with his younger brother to 'help him learn to read and he loves pigs'
Enjoy the photos below which show our learning in action!
Mrs Damti and Year Two