Another busy few weeks in Year 2.

We were extremely lucky to have a visit from Safari Stu, who showed us a huge range of different animals.  We saw a tarantula, snakes and a chameleon.  Some of us were really brave and held the animals too!  We got some fantastic writing out of the children after this event, we created a recount using time connectives.

This week we have been building dens as part of our new instruction unit.  Using tarpaulin, large pegs, string and sticks, we had to build a den that our group could sit in.  We could then decorate it with stones, twigs and flowers.  We really had to work as a team, listen to each other and be prepared to try out different ideas.

In maths, we have begun a new topic of time, so far we have looked at analogue clock faces and learnt about 5 minute intervals of time.

We loved our devices down day in Year 2.  We made gingerbread, play dough and painted portraits.  Our gingerbread tasted amazing and we decorated it with melted chocolate.  We used our play dough to create Chinese symbols and letters

Our Portraits are for a whole school project, and we based our work on the artist of Paul Klee by mixing tints.  Our portraits were abstract.

In Science we have been discovering habitats down in creature corner!

PSHE - we have been thinking about setting goals and having dreams.  We spoke about how we could successfully pass a jar of treasure around the room without making any noise.  We agreed on rules that we could all follow to achieve our shared goal.

ART - We have made repeating patterns using objects around the classroom.. We looked at patterns in nature and man-made patterns as inspiration.

MATHS - numbers to 1000!  We have been looking at place value and adding 3-digit numbers.  We have been using the strategies we learnt in numbers to 40 and numbers to 100.

COMPUTING - We are learning about searching safely online.  We have looked at on online quiz this week and made sure we are following rules to keep us safe.

Year 2 have been very busy this past week.  In computing we have been using Purple Mash to create a piece of art work inspired by Mondrian.  We had to select different tools on the computer and different colours, as well as answering questions about the artist. We also used paper and card in class to make our art work too!

In maths we are learning to subtract and we have moved onto column subtraction and regrouping.  

In literacy we have been following instructions to draw a knight, we then labelled the knights armour.  We put post its on our classmates so we would remember where the pieces of armour were worn! We have also been reading information books and looking at the features of these books - we used post its to show where the contents page was, as well as the glossary, pictures, labels and captions.  A very busy week indeed.

Over the last week Year 2 have been covering different forms of media around the book we have been covering, called Journey. We have been writing poetry, using drama to act out scenes as well as writing our interpretations of the book.

In Maths we have been looking at numbers up to 40. We have been learning to write these in both number and word forms, exploring numbers less than (smaller), and more than (greater).

We have been busy in Art, using oil pastels to draw a feather for a school display, as well as weaving paper to make baskets for hot air balloons and making feather masks. We have also explored making tints from the colour red. All of which link back to our book we are looking at in Literacy.

In PE we have continued to develop our tennis skills. Improving our throwing and catching, as well racket skills.

We also had a visitor on Tuesday 15^th September. Falconry UK came in to show us some of his amazing birds. Some of these included different species of Owls, a Kookabura, and a Kingfisher. We learnt so much about why these animals have evolved the way they are and saw up close how amazing these birds are!

Year 2 had a great time trying to put out some fires this week to start their topic 'We're on Fire!'

They had to work as a team to put out various fires in the playground by passing buckets along a line of people. This was harder than anticipated as it was tricky keeping the water in the bucket and off people's shoes!

What made it especially tricky (particularly in Birch Class) was a torrential downpour midway through the session. We tried our best to complete the challenge without getting totally drenched.

The children showed great enthusiasm and determination despite the tricky weather conditions.