Year 2
Welcome to Year 2!
2023 - 2024
Summer Term 1
Explorers
Some books we are reading:
- The Journey by Aaron Becker
- Once in a Lifetime (video clip)
- The Minpins by Roald Dahl
- George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
Some writing we will do:
- Own stories inspired by The Journey - Writing a sequel
- Own version adventure stories
- Recount - Trip to Gilbert White's
- A job description - A Sky Explorer Needed!
Some maths we are learning:
- Addition and subtraction with money
- Addition and subtraction with 2 digit numbers
Topic Learning:
- Finding out about different explorers: Christopher Colombus, Shackleton and Scott, Matthew Henson, Felicity Aston and space explorers.
- Trip to Gilbert White's house to find out more about Antarctic explorers.
- Learning about animal needs and offspring in science.
- Discussing journeys in RE and Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
A poem we have learned:
I want to be an explorer by Brenda Williams
I want to be an explorer!
That’s all that I want to do.
I want to be an explorer!
And one day my dream will come true.
I want to dive beneath icy waves
To explore the coldest seas.
To spend a year on an iceberg
And watch the water freeze.
I want to sail all the oceans
And land in an unknown place.
I want to orbit the world one day
Look at Earth from a distant space.
I want to be an explorer
This really is my goal.
To soar up high into unknown space
And speed through a dark black hole.
I want to fly solo to the moon.
I want to travel the stars.
I want to visit the planets.
Be the first to walk on Mars.
I want to prowl through jungles
And trek through desert sands.
To travel an unknown journey
And discover mysterious lands.
I want to be an explorer.
I want this more and more.
I want to climb every mountain
And free-fall where eagles soar.
I want to walk on the sea bed.
And swim through reefs and wrecks.
Search through ancient galleons.
Seek gold beneath their decks.
One day I WILL explore the world,
I really want to roam.
But the problem at the moment is…
I can’t find my way home!
Explorers' hunt around school
Spring Term 2
Fire! Fire!
Some books we are reading:
- The Great Fire of London by Emma Adams and James Weston Lewis
- The Dragon Machine by Helen Ward
- Vlad and The Great Fire of London
- George and the Dragon by Christopher Wormell
Some writing we will do:
- Information booklets about The Great Fire
- Own version dragon stories
Some maths we are learning:
- Telling the time on analogue clocks for o'clock, half past, quarter to, and quarter past
- Finding the mass of objects using grams and kg, comparing and problem solving with mass
- Finding, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of shapes and recognising that 1/2 = 2/4
- Knowing facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables
- Using and applying multiplication facts to solve division problems
Topic Learning:
- Why was The Fire of London so GREAT?
- Fire safety with a visit from Hampshire Fire Service
- Making fire engines in DT
- Investigating forces in science
- Dragon Music - learning about dynamics and tempo
- Learning about Ramadam and Palm Sunday in RE
- Creating topic webs in computing on Purple Mash
A poem we have learned:
A Tiny Burning Flame
On the second of September,
Hundreds of years ago,
History books still all remember;
London fires grow!
In the early hours of Sunday morn,
Sixteen sixty-six,
On Pudding Lane, a fire was born
A street of wood (not bricks).
Farriner's Bakery was to blame
For starting up the blaze.
One oven, a spark, a tiny flame
Then fire for four long days!
London town had only just
Recovered from disease.
The fire was carried with the gust:
A blowy eastern breeze
The fire spread to another street
The town was soon alight.
People fled the scorching heat,
With London burning bright!
London had no fire brigade;
The town had no defense.
Lots of people ran and prayed,
Through smoke all dark and dense.
Exploring chassis, wheels and axles
Spring Term 1
It's Cold Out There!
Some books we are reading:
- How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth
- The Journey Home by Frann Preston
- Dear Earth by Isabel Otter
Some writing we will do:
- Instructions - How to look after a grizzly bear
- Animal Fact Files
- Postcards
- Descriptive writing - settings
- Writing a letter to the Prime Minister about our climate change concerns.
Some maths we are learning:
- Addition and subtraction using blank number lines, solving problems and puzzles with addition and subtraction.
- Multiplication and Division
- Creating and interpreting tally charts and pictograms
Topic Learning:
- Exploring ice balloons - adding salt and food colouring, observing and discussing
- Ice experiments - How can we speed up ice cubes melting?
- Learning about the weather
- Learning about the continents, oceans, equator, North Pole, South Pole, Arctic and Antarctica
- Creating the Northern Lights in art
Internet Safety:
- Learning that we all leave a digital footprint when using online technology.
- Thinking about what is appropriate to post online for their safety and the safety of others.
- Talking about being kind online.
A poem we have learned:
What am I?
High twirling,
Sky swirling,
Smile lifting,
Gently drifting,
White glittering,
Softly skittering,
Slow falling,
Ground sprawling,
Coat clinging,
Cheek stinging,
Boot crunching,
Hand scrunching,
Land quilting,
Soon melting…
I am Snow.
Discussing vocabulary when reading Dear Earth
Exploring Ice Balloons
Autumn Term 2
A Day At The Museum
Some books we have read:
- Toys in Space by Mini Grey
- The Bear Under the Stairs by Helen Cooper
- Threadbare by Mick Inkpen
Some writing we have done:
- Missing posters for missing toys
- Party invites for Toys in Space
- Information leaflets about bears
Some maths we have learned:
- 2d shapes and their features - circle, triangle, square, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon
- 3d shapes and their features - sphere, cube, cuboid, cylinder, pyramid, prism
- Fractions of shapes - half, quarter, whole, two quarters = half, three quarters
- Multiplication and division - counting in 2s, 5s and 10s - understanding the relationship between multiplication and division - dividing by grouping and sharing.
Topic Learning:
- Learning about toys that they play with and older toys. How are they similar and how are they different? Teddybear timeline - looking at the history of the teddybear.
- Creating a class museum with toys that were owned by parents, carers, grandparents, and other adults they know. Inviting the other classes and parents/carers to visit the museum.
- Pencil drawings of teddy bears.
- Designing, making, and evaluating roly-polys with tubes and wheels.
- Coding in computing - using 2Code in Purple Mash to make characters and images move, disappear, appear, collide, and make sounds.
The Nativity - A Midwife Crisis!
- Wonderful singing, speaking and acting - a show to entertain our families and put everyone into the Christmas spirit!
Christmas:
- Making wire Christmas decorations using the skills learned in last term's art lessons.
- Making 3d snowmen Christmas Cards
- Designing and making board games
- Some children (members of the singing after-school club) visited Westfield Court Retirement Home to sing Christmas songs.
- Learning about angels in RE lessons.
Toy Museum
Roly Polys
Autumn Term 1
It's a Jungle Out There!
Some books we have read:
- A River by Marc Martin
- House Held Up By Trees by Ted Kooser
- Little Red Riding Hood
- The Deep Dark Wood
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Tidy by Emily Gravett
Some writing we have done:
- Letters - a letter of forgiveness written in role as Badger in the book - Tidy
- Posters - to encourage others to put rubbish in the bin
- Information sheets - Their tree house designs
- Their own story - based on the same structure of A River
Some Maths we have learned:
- Number and place value - numbers up to 100 - one more and one less - greater than and less than - putting numbers in order
- Addition and subtraction - number bonds to 10, number bonds to 20, adding 3 one-digit numbers, subtraction using bonds to 10 and bonds to 20.
- Measuring length and height using cm and m.
Topic Learning:
- Litter picking - How much rubbish is there on our school grounds? Thank you to the council for lending us litter pickers!
- Trip to Rooksbury Mill to do pond dipping and learn about rivers. Thank you to Wessex River Trust for supporting our learning.
- Wire sculptures in the shape of leaves with recycled materials - inspired by the work of Alexander Calder.
- Learning about plants in science. Know that plants need water, light, and the right temperature to grow into healthy plants.
- Minibeast music - learning chants and creating patterns using untuned instruments.
- Creating maps and plans of the school and the local area - noticing physical and human features.
- Learning about Harvest and Shabbat in RE lessons.
- Creating pictures of trees in computing - using art programs on Purple Mash.
Poems we have read:
October's Party by George Cooper
Come Little Leaves by George Cooper
A poem we have learned:
Trees by Harry Behn
Trees are the kindest things I know,
They do no harm, they simply grow
And spread a shade for sleepy cows,
And gather birds among their bows.
They give us fruit in leaves above,
And wood to make our houses of,
And leaves to burn on Halloween
And in the Spring new buds of green.