Trotts Hill Primary School and Nursery
Welcome to Year 2
Mrs Burr and Mrs Kramer are the class teachers and Mrs Wyatt is the classroom assistant and will be supporting in class every morning and most afternoons. Mrs Quadri gives additional support every morning.
Year 2 is the final year of Key Stage 1 and we continue to build upon the foundations developed in Year 1 whilst preparing the children for Key Stage 2. The children will be encouraged to continue to develop their independence and further develop their creativity.
Year 2 is a very exciting and busy year where children will be continuing to develop a range of skills and knowledge alongside discovering and learning lots of exciting new things. The children will be encouraged to develop their 'Behaviour for Learning'.
We will work very hard but also have lots of fun learning together.
This year we will cover a variety of skills, knowledge and understanding including the following topics:
The children will be participating in PE and outdoor skills on Wednesday and Friday in Autumn Term.
They will need to bring in their PE kits on these days.
The children will also have the opportunity to be involved with many pupil groups around the school.
We look forward to helping Year 2 develop and grow.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday- Mrs Burr
Thursday and Friday- Mrs Kramer
Please find below the PowerPoint and Resources for the parent workshop on the 1st November.
Year 2 2023-2024
ACTIVE MATHS
LI: To solve multiplication and division calculations using the inverse operation.
LI: To retell a story (act out).
SCHOOL TRIP TO WOBURN SAFARI PARK!
We had a fantastic day at Woburn today. The weather was perfect and the children's behaviour was exemplary. We are all very proud of them.
Here is a slide show of our day. Please ask your child to take you through the slides. Hopefully they'll be able to recall some fab facts from the day.
Thank you to our parent helpers. Without you, these trips wouldn't be possible.
LI: To identify trees by their leaves.
LI: To recognise that 1/2 and 2/4 are equivalent.
LI: To observe nature and experience Forest School.
LI: To investigate texts with morals.
LI: To design a poster to show what you have learnt about Living Things and their Habitats
The children were about to show all their knowledge about our latest topic. They create amazing posters packed with facts. Well done to all the children and particularly Owen, Joshua, Bruce and Anaya, whose posters were our favourites.
Purple Mash - Time activities
I have set a few 2Dos on PurpleMash about time. It is not homework and not compulsory, but if your child feels that they need a little more practise (time is really tricky!) there are lots of activities.
LI: To engage with a text.
Children wrote speech bubbles to explore how the boy in 'How to Catch a Start' by Oliver Jeffers.
LI: To observe plants over time.
In preparation for a maths/science day next academic year, Year 2 planted some seedling potatoes. We are excited to see how they grow!
LI: To create a microhabitat.
Today in year 2 the children made their own bug hotels. We hope to see lots of visitors in the coming weeks.
LI: To recognise equal and unequal parts.
LI: To explore a 'tree' microhabitat.
LI: To measure in millilitres.
LI: To compare mass to find lighter and heavier.
LI: To learn about the importance of Purim for Jewish people.
After learning about the festival of Purim and listening to the story of Esther, the class made their own Hamantashen and decorated their biscuit bags with symbols and names from the story.
This week the children have completed their learning about the Great Fire of London by burning their own houses. The children all created their own houses which we shared as a class before taking them outside to set alight and starting our own Great Fire!
Thank you to all of the parents who attended the maths workshop today. As promised, here are the slides.
Below also is a really useful online rekenrek tool.
Year 2 have been learning a dance during the Spring Term with Mr Sapsed. The dance is based around the poem 'Into The Blue' by Hilda Offen which is about floating along on a balloon through the sky.
LI: To understand the difference between seeds and bulbs by dissecting and observing.
Year 2 have commenced their dance learning with Mr Sapsed. They have loved using the parachute and props to bring our English poetry unit to life. We have been reading the poem 'Into the Blue' by Hilda Offen.
LI: To label the parts of a plant.
We also went on an observational walk and although it's winter we saw lots of plants with berries and flowers and lots of plants that have died off from last year but still have seeds attached.
Today we carried out an investigation about buoyancy as part of the whole school maths/science day. We based it on a picture story book. The children started by testing out a paper boat made with 12 squares. They then predicted how many pennies the 8 square boat would hold, followed by 4 squares. Using this knowledge, they then predicted the 16 and 20 boat. The children filled in their results table. We then wrote a class conclusion. To test our theory, we then made a boat with 84 squares and predicted the mass. (Most predictions were 100 and over). We were surprised that the boat held 184 pennies!
Conclusion:
The larger the boat, the more mass it can hold. The smaller the boat, the less mass it can hold. The load also needs to be spread evenly across the boat.
Year 2 were joined by Kate from Stevenage Museum to start the term with a workshop on the Great Fire of London. The children showed off an impressive knowledge of 17th Century England. She brought many artefacts for them to interact with and explore.
The adults in Year 2 had a surprise delivery from the children after school today. Thank you very much for our lovely and generous gifts! Have an amazing Christmas full of family fun, fresh air and... chocolate!
We are so proud of how Year 2 performed and sang in their Christmas showcase. They really are made for the stage. Their singing is beautiful, actions enthusiastic and acting excellent. They sang Stable Under the Star, Sleigh Ride and Jingle Bell Rock. They performed the story Santa's Beard by Matilda Tristram and Tom Duxbury (and Mrs Burr and Caitlin Burr!).
Today, we visited St Hugh and St John Church to experience the Christmas story. The story is sequenced into four scenes and acted out by volunteers, dressed in character. The children were really engaged and a credit to the school.
LI: To understand the importance of the hannukiah in the celebration of Hannukah.
Today Mrs Paice visited Year 2 to tell them all about Chanukkah and the traditions in her family. She told us the story about the Maccabee brothers and how their miracle led to the Jewish festival of light. Mrs Paice taught us some songs and also read us a lovely story. We then played the traditional Driedel game (although we only won counters, not chocolate gelt!). Thank you so much to Mrs Paice for giving up her time.
LI: To identify features of non-fiction books.
Year 2 have been looking at non-fiction books and finding their features such as contents, index and glossary pages as well as sub-headings and diagrams.
Year 2 were really fortunate today to be visited by Mrs Lederman, a member of the Stevenage Jewish Community. Mrs Lederman explained to us where the Jewish faith began and who it began with. She also talked to us about what is important to Jewish people and how they became spread across the world. The children were really interested to see Hebrew script from the Torah and especially as the books open the other way around and the artistic script is written from right to left. We also found looking at a map Judaea fascinating and how some of the cities are still there even thousands of years on. Year 2 asked sensible questions about how long Mrs Lederman spent at her synagogue and what she did there. Stevenage synagogue is only a small community of around 60 members but they meet for a few hours every week to read from the Torah, pray, sing, eat yummy food and receive challah (bread) and wine.
Mrs Lederman explained that being part of the Jewish faith is of course about praying to God but also about being part of a worldwide Jewish community. She has visited synagogues in different parts of the world where they speak different languages but the faith, beliefs and universal Hebrew language is the same.
Year 2 would like to send huge thanks to Mrs Lederman for giving us her time. (Plus she let us try on kippahs (hats) and made us some delicious challah!)
Year 2 had a wonderful time making the sandwiches that they designed. Once they had made them all the children and adults sat down to enjoy a very special lunch together. Thank you to Mrs Poole for the addition of biscuits for dessert.
Tiny, our class mascot, has already had lots of adventures. He's been to the cinema, bowling, the Science Museum, swimming and eaten birthday cake, pizza and MacDonalds!
Today Tiny met Pepper, Mrs Masterton's tortoise. We were very lucky as Pepper is due to hibernate any day now. He is 9 years old and is pretty speedy. We're not too sure if he was that impressed with Tiny (he knocked him over)! He also wee'd, which of course was hilarious.
Year 2 had great fun tasting a range of different breads and sandwich fillings as part of our Design and Technology. Next week, we will design our sandwiches based on our personal choices from the tasting. Finally, we will spend the morning making our sandwiches and having them for our lunch together.
LI: To identify numbers on an empty number line.
We got out the rulers and sticky notes for an Active Maths lesson looking at number lines.
Year 2 has continued to enjoy the alternative version of Rapunzel. This week we went outside; wiped our memories and pretended we had never been into a forest before. The children wrote down interesting and inspiring noun phrases about what they saw, heard, smelt and touched. The vocabulary generated was excellent. Well done!
This week, we started learning about traditional tales. We have looked at the Ladybird version of Rapunzel as well as more modern versions by Bethan Woollvin and Chloe Perkins. Today, we acted out the story trying to use dialogue and fairy tale language. We loved putting on voices for the characters and using our bodies in character.
A good start in maths, looking at representing and partitioning numbers in different ways.
In science, started our new topic of Animals, including humans and looked at offspring. We discovered that some offspring look like their parents, whilst others, like tadpoles, do not.
In RE we looked at symbols and the children looked for examples of a Christian cross, an Islamic star and moon and Jewish Star of David in various books.
Year 2 had a great time starting to make their safari animal toys. They practised threading a needle, cutting from a pattern and attaching two materials together. Next week, they will be adding stuffing to their toy so that it will be lovely to cuddle when they take it home.
Year 2 have had a wonderful day at Woburn Safari Park. We have watched the bird show, saw the sea lions being fed and been on a safari tour. We were surprised when four monkeys tried to escape on our coach! Our visit linked to our English learning on Tinga Tinga Tales and our geography learning on Kenya.
Year 2 have been reading the story 'Lila and the Secret of Rain'. It is a story from Kenya and links to their geography topic this term. They acted out the story and used body percussion to add sound effects to each part of the story. Next week, they will retell the story and write a diary entry as Lila.
Week Beginning Monday 5th June 2023
Year 2 boarded an airplane and took a flight to Kenya as part of their Geography learning. Once their passports were stamped and they had watched the online safety advice, the plane took off to Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi. Once they had landed, they searched the savannah for safari animals. Nerasaiah, a young girl from a Maasai tribe, took them on a tour of her village in the Maasai Mara and shared her day-to-day life. They found out about Maasai jumping contests and had a try themselves. They made Maasai necklaces and looked at the different patterns used. Finally, they learnt a Kenyan song“Jambo Bwana” The title means “Hello, sir” in Swahili.
This week, year 2 have been practising solving different maths questions in the form of a treasure hunt. They had to solve different questions to crack the code.
For the past three weeks in English, year 2 have been reading the story 'How to catch a star'. Today, the children retold the story using lots of adverbs and adjectives.
In Science, year 2 made their own bug hotels. The children investigated what materials they would need for their bug hotel and have taken them home to observe which mini-beasts they attract.
This term in PE, year 2 are learning and improving their ball skills. Today, the children began with a warm up game before practising using their fingertips to move a ball around a cone. The children then moved on to rolling their ball to hit the cone as a target. They kept score of how many cones they hit and were very successful.
This week in Geography, year 2 learnt about the North Pole, the South Pole and the equator. The children learnt that the countries closer to the equator are hot and the countries closer to the poles are cold. The children then looked at the animals that live in different climates and match animals to their descriptions.
This week in computing, year 2 used the data they collected in Science about mini-beasts, to create a pictogram on 2count on Purple Mash. The children then used their pictogram to help them answer some questions about the number of mini-beasts found. We also linked our learning to statistics in maths and answered mathematical questions.
This week year 2 have been finding fractions of different numbers. The children have practiced making and drawing groups to find 1/2, 1/4, 1/3 and 3/4. They also recognised that 2/4 and 1/2 are equivalent fractions. Today the children used counters and cubes to make 4 groups for each number and count three groups to find 3/4.
Year 2 are currently reading 'Billy and the mini monsters' so we themed today's learning around the book. The children came in dressed up as characters from the book or from a book of their choice. First, year 2 created their own monsters using lots of different materials and thinking about the different features. They then wrote a character description of their monster and scored it out of 10 on scare factor. These were then put on display on our classroom door.
Year 2 came into school on Tuesday dressed as superheroes. We are reading the book 'Traction Man' in English so linked our day to the story. We carried out a science experiment to find which material would be best to make a waterproof coat for Traction Man. We used Purple Mash to design our own superhero. We also had our own mission to save the pots and pans from the evil scissors by completing an obstacle course.
Today year 2 spent the morning exploring different artefacts from Stevenage museum linked to the Great Fire of London. The children were able to compare houses, lighting and the fire service from 1666 to today. They also thought about what people may have saved from the fire and why they did this as well as learning what an eyewitness may have experienced during the fire. The children then went outside and recreated the fire of London by burning our model houses that we have made. The wind moved the fire from house to house just like it would have done in 1666.
For the next three weeks in English, year 2 have linked their writing to their current history topic - The Great Fire of London. The children are aiming to write a report about the Great Fire of London by the end of the three weeks. This week, the children looked at the features of reports and gathered as much information as they could about the Great Fire. They sorted the information into different subheadings.
This week year 2 have been learning to divide. In this lesson, the children used counters and cubes to share into equal groups.
