Welcome to year 2

The year 2 team for 2024 - 2025 consists of Mr Moynihan (2E) and Mrs Finch (2F).

Year 2 PE days will be on Thursday and Friday.

The children will visit the library on a Friday.  

Homework and reading folders are to be handed in on a Thursday for marking and changing.

History- what is a monarch?

Over the half term children will answering the enquiry question: What is a monarch?

Children will explore who our current monarch is, what takes place at a coronation and compare present times to William the Conqueror and absolute monarchies. They will also explore how castles and castle defences have developed through history. 

Knowledge organiser 

Curriculum summary 

Home learning

Homework is set on a Friday, and is due in by the following Thursday.  Children should be reading to an adult at least three times per week for at least 15/20 minutes each time.  Reading can take place with either the book sent home from school or an allocated book on your child's Bug Club.  Each book must be recorded in your child's reading record, including any e-books.

For your home learning tasks you are encouraged to access Spelling Shed to enhance and support your child's spelling practice at home.  In addition to this, apps such as Hit the Button and Times Table Rockstars can support with consolidating and securing number facts and knowledge. 

Weekly homework

Please find this week's homework sheets below. 

Learning showcase

Exciting moments from year 2 will appear in this space, including any pictures or videos we take.  Please keep checking in, to see what the children have been up to.

Art- clay houses

Children have been learning how to sculpt with clay in Art. They have applied skills such as rolling, pinching and rolling, then use hatching and slip (clay and water) to attach two pieces of clay together. 

Coventry University research project

Year 2 children were chosen to take part in a research project with Coventry University. They are researching how active children between the age of 4-11 are and how strong their motor functions are. Children completed some physical activitie and then have been wearing accellorometer watches to measure their level of activity. 

Kingsbury Water Park trip Feb 25

Year 2 children visited Kingsbury Water Park for a fun-filled day of pond dipping and mini beast hunting. Despite the damp conditions and rain, the children had a fantastic time exploring nature. This hands-on experience linked to their science learning on microhabitats and allowed them to observe different creatures in their environments. The trip also encouraged collaborative teamwork and curiosity, as the children worked together to discover new things, demonstrating enthusiasm and resilience even in challenging weather conditions.

Class reward Feb 25

2F earned enough flowers in their jar for showing our school learning behaviours. They chose 'boardgames' from their selection of reward ideas and enjoyed turn taking together using different games. Well done 2F!

Health and Wellbeing Jan 25

The children have been developing their understanding on the effect of physical activity on their body and mind.  They all chose a variety of different exercises to perform (in the classroom) which ranged from jogging on the spot to burpees, afterwards they discussed what had changed to their body.  In their yoga and PSHE sessions,  the children have been experiencing and recognising the positive effects of relaxation and know there are different ways to relax.  They enjoyed learning how to use breathing exercises to relax and the different types of breathing exercises there were.

Painting and mixed media Jan 25

Over the past few weeks, the children have been experimenting with primary and secondary colours, colour mixing, and creating textures using different tools.  They have also been using collage techniques and have begun to experiment with materials to develop their understanding of colour, texture, and composition in art. 

Shape sorting Dec 24

In this activity, the children have been busy sorting various 2D shapes and matching them to their correct names.  They carefully examined each shape, discussing the number of sides, angles, and their unique properties.  Using their newfound knowledge, the children worked together to sort shapes.  This hands-on task helped reinforce their understanding of shape recognition and the importance of their names and characteristics.  The children displayed great teamwork and enthusiasm!

Hunting for microhabitats - Nov 24

Children continued our work on microhabitats by using the equipment to hunt for microhabitats and answer the question 'Which invertebrates live on our school playground?'. 

Victorian Day Nov 2024

Wow, what a day!  The children travelled back in time to the 23rd January 1901, the day after Queen Victoria died. They were met by two news reporters who were preparing information about our longest reigning monarch's life. Children were cartographers as they learned about where in the world the British Empire was and blacksmiths as they made victoria crosses (foil and cardboard). They made ink pens and ink wells then wrote about Queen Victoria's life and decorated a commenorative plate to remember her with. Finally, children explored common Victorian professions and made their very own matchbox. 

Minibeasts and microhabitats - Nov 2024

Wriggly, slimy and dirty is the tone of our new science topic so far - microhabitats.  The children have enjoyed getting stuck in exploring our woodland area, on the playground, to search in the leaf litter for minibeasts.  In addition to this, they have been busy making a class wormery and classifying minibeasts based on their characteristics.  WOW year 2, a busy couple of weeks to start our new term!

Geography 'Do we live in a hot place or a cold place?' Oct 2024

The children have been out on the playground using new fieldwork equipment to find out about our local area's climate.  Using a weather gauge, the children checked how much rain had recently fell. They also used a thermometer to check the afternoon's temperature - it was warmer than they thought it would be.  Finally, each child had their very own compass whcih was a very exciting piece of kit to check which direction our playground faced.  They also used their understanding of how much sunlight hits the classroom at certain times of the day to determine whether their compass was working.

Art 'Creating texture' Oct 2024

When you think of texture, you might think food or touch - something that you can feel.  This week, the children have been using different tools to create texture in their sketchbooks.  Not a paintbrush or tub of water in sight, the children had to think about the picture they chose and how they could recreate the texture.  They used sponges, pom poms, bark, sticks, straws and feathers in many different ways to create their visions.  Building on from their prior learning of using chalk and charcoal to create different mark styles.

Football 'Attack, defend, shoot' Sept 2024

Wow, what can I say?  The children have been working impressively hard with their ball control skills working.  They have been learning how to stop the ball after an inside foot kick pass.  They have worked up to bigger distances and have even progressed to working in 4s from pairs.

Maths 'Place value' Sept 2024

The children have been enjoying the new resources in their maths trays - discovering how different pieces of equipment can help them solve different types of problems.  This week, they were really impressed how number cards helped them answer a multiple answer digit problem.

Music 'Call and response animal sounds' Sept 2024

Music has gone off with a bang this term.  Using untuned percussion instruments, the children have been creating animal call and response sounds.  They've thoroughly enjoyed the start of these lessons and were tickled giggly by the guess the animal sounds activity, the hippo truly had the whole year group stumped.

Medium term plan - autumn 1

Long term plan 2024-25