Autumn Term 2021
Week commencing 15th November
This week in English we have continued to read our new book 'The journey home'. We have been looking at writing commands, using the past tense (-ed) and plurals. Next we learnt about writing in first person as if we were the animals in the boat.
In Maths we have continued to learn to use the column method to add and subtract including exchanging. We are so good at this now and really enjoying this new method to help solve our calculations.
Again this week, we have been practising our Phonics ready for our screening in two weeks time. We have also worked really hard to learn our lines for the Nativity and even acted out parts too.
Week commencing 8th November
Welcome back after a nice two week break.
We have all come back and worked really hard this week. In English we have started our new book 'The Journey Home' by Frann Preston- Gannon. We started the week looking at animal footprints and matching them to their animal and then described the animal. An animal was missing, we had to write a missing poster to see if anyone had seen it. When we got these posters up and around school, we got a letter from the Natural History Museum asking if we could fact file about the dodo bird!
In Maths, we have started to learn a new method to help us add- column method. This method is tricky, but the children have done really well concentrating on their presentation and layout, which significantly impacts when adding. We have used this new method to help us solve lots of addition word problems even exchanging over the 10's barrier!
We have introduced the Nativity 'Baubles' this week to the children and explained that this nativity will be performed to the whole school and their parents. The children have got stuck in this week reading their lines and having a practise performing in front of their friends. Please keep practising at home!
At the end of the month, Year 2 have their Phonics screening. Due to missing it in Year 1 because of Covid, we are doing it this year which is a National Statutory check to assess their understanding of sounds within real and nonsense words.
Week commencing 18th October
Our last week before half term! We have worked our socks off and deserve a well earnt rest!
In Maths, continuing add and subtract, we have learnt different number bonds to 100 and how to add and subtract 1s without crossing the barrier and also ten more and ten less.
In History, we have learnt about who the suffragettes were and how they were different to the suffragists. We know the leader of this group was Emmeline Pankhurst and she did everything in her power to help get women the vote. We decided which group we would belong to and why we chose it. Year 2 are really enjoying learning about women's rights!
In Geography, we used our previous skills to chose which country we would like to live in from the UK and explained why thinking about the different human and physical features. Most of us chose to live in England still!
In Science we also learnt about what wild animals need to survive. They need to have food, water and shelter just like pets do.
On Wednesday, Robin Windsor came in to do some dancing with us! THis was amazing and we learnt some great new moves!
On Thursday we had a wonderful surprise…M&M Productions came into school and put on a pantomime performance of “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Mrs Barratt and Miss Cragg were rather pleased with this because we’ve been learning about this fairy tale this half term! We were an excellent audience, listening and joining in at appropriate times.
We finished off the week by doing lots of RE and Science, including knowledge quizzes about everything we’ve learned so far this year. In Science we made anti-littering posters about looking after the environment and made bird feeders to help support the wild birds over the winter months. In RE we looked at the Greatest Commandment and the Golden Rule of Christianity which is to love thy neighbour, we related that to our classroom rules and respecting ourselves and each other.
Week commencing 11th October
This week we have been writing our own 'Jack and the Beanstalk' sequel called 'Jess and the beanstalk'. We have enjoyed decided what Jess does to help the giant and after all the help, he then goes and eats her!
In Maths this week we have continued with our addition and subtraction. We have learnt about different number facts and how to check our calculations. We also looked at comparing number sentences to see who had more and less.
In Geography, we looked at the different features - human and physical- in each country from the UK. Did you know, a human feature is something that has been built by a human e.g. roads and buildings. A physical feature, is something that is naturally there e.g. mountain and lake.
We’ve also done some learning about Black History Month this week which is where significant Black people from the past and present are celebrated. We looked at the history of some important Black people in Britain then focused on learning about Manchester United Footballer Markus Rashford and why he is so noteworthy. We learned about the history of rap music and its origins in Africa and the Caribbean then we used this knowledge to write our own rap about him!
Markus Rashford is a football player
He’s a man with many a layer
He helps kids with something to eat
And keeps the homeless off the street
His charity is called “In The Box”
You can help by giving them socks
Markus Rashford is the man,
He is doing all he can!
Week commencing 4th October
Another week into the first term has flown by!
In English this week, we have continued using our book 'Jim and Beanstalk'. We have sequenced and retold the story using a range of fairy tale sentence openers. Next, we looked at tenses; particularly past tense and the present progressive.
In Maths, we have continued learning about Place Value- we ordered numbers up to 100 by looking at the tens and one's columns to help us. We have also been recapping our times table knowledge for 2s, 5s and 10s, then we learnt our 3 times tables too!
In History this week, we learnt about who Millicent Fawcett was and what difference she made in the Women's rights movement. In Geography, we now know all the countries, capital cities and surrounding seas of the United Kingdom- we used an atlas to find these out!
Week commencing 27th September
It’s Holi week, we cannot wait until Wednesday!
We have started a new book this week, ‘Jim and the beanstalk’. This is a sequel to Jack and Beanstalk. We have been predicting what might happen in this version of the fairytale and even had a go at rhyming ourselves. Here is someones rhyming sentences from Year 2:
Fee – fi – fo – fum
I can smell someones bum!
In Maths, continuing with Place Value to 100. We have been working on Tens and Ones. We can identify which is a ten and which is a one.
Art again this week, we have been outsode collecting natural items to print with. We collected sticks, stones and leaves to print with and make patterns.
In Geography, we have continued learning about the UK. We had a look at where we are on Google maps and then compared it to Sleaford, then the UK and then the reast of the world. We discovered we are actually really small! We designed our own United Kingdom flag based on the 4 countries that are all unified within the UK.
In our Science lessons we’ve been learning about what living creatures need to survive. We can identify if something is living, dead or non-living, have learned about life cycles, the stages of life animals go through and how they grow. This week we have been learning about what our pets need to live and grow and we’ve been talking about exercise, food, trips to the vet and of course regular cuddles!
On Wednesday we got to participate in Holi day. This has been so much fun! We learnt about the Holi festival and why they celebrate it. Did you know it is called the festival of colour? Well, we got to have a go with this and got to have our own festival of colour on the school field by throwing paint and everyone - including the teachers! What a great day!
Week commencing 20th September
Another week in Year 2 and aren’t we doing well! In Maths we are learning about positions; left, right, forwards and backwards. Towards the end of the week we have started to learn all about Place Value and numbers to 100.
In English, still with our Goldilocks book, we used coordianting conjunctions to create conrtrasting sentences between two different Goldilocks books. We also wrote in Goldilocks perspective about what happened the day we broke into the bears house!
In History, we continued with womens rights. This time we learnt about the ‘Suffragists’. These are a group of women who fought for womens rights as a peaceful protest.
In our RE lessons we’ve been learning about Christianity and how being a Christian affects how you live your life. We’ve learned about the Ten Commandments and have some understanding of the early life of Moses.
Week commencing 13th September
This week in English we are continuing with our Goldilocks book. We created a WANTED poster to see if anyone could help catch Goldilocks for being so naughty. We sequenced the story in order retelling what happened. We also wrote a letter in perspective of Goldilocks to the bears apologising for everything she did wrong.
In Maths we are continuing with shape, this time 3D shapes. We have looked at their properties and made patterns too. Next, we started to learn about turns; half turn, quarter turns and a whole turn. We had to try and work around a course by following our partners instructions.
In Geography this term, we are learning all about ‘The United Kingdom’. This week we have talked about what we know about the UK and where it is on a map and on a globe. Do you know which continent the United Kingdom is in?
We have also started Art this week, we had the objective ‘To fold’. So we had 3D shapes to cut out and fold- this was really tricky but we managed it!
Week commencing 6th September
Welcome back! We hope you had an amazing summer and are ready to come back into Year 2 with your super brains recharged and ready to learn new amazing things!
In English this week we are starting a new book called ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’. We have read the story and done lots of role play to help us remember the story. We looked at Goldilocks and inferred what type of girl she is.
In Maths we are learning all about shape; this week particularly we are learning about 2D shapes and their properties.
This term in History we are learning all about ‘Womens rights’. This week we will be learning about what womens rights were like in the early 20th century. Did you know, women had to do all the cleaning, chores and look after the children and give all their money to their husbands?
Reminder, PE is on Wednesday and Thursday. Please come to school ready in your PE kit.
