Year 2

Welcome to the Year 2 class page! We are excited to show you all of our hard work we have completed so far. If you are looking for some websites to help support your child's learning, please see the links below. Remember, reading with your child daily will also greatly help their learning journey. 

Geography

In Geography, we explored maps of London and looked at their human and physical features. 

We used this to help us create a map of London.

English

This week in English we have been debating whether Mr and Mrs Twit should be teachers at Galton Valley. We used our new oracy skills 'instigate', 'build' and 'challenge' to have a debate with our peers. 

Design and Technology

As part of our Thematic theme, The Great Fire of London, we are creating our own fire engines in Design and Technology. This week, we have been cutting out doors and windows for our fire engines using the safety slices. 

STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics)

As part of our STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workshops, we created towers pegs and lollipop sticks. Children were given creative freedom to explore, design and create their towers. 

National Handwriting Day

On Tuesday 23rd January it was National Handwriting Day. We are celebrating this by looking at the wonderful handwriting produced by Year 2.

Safety Seymour

This week, we had a visit from the Safety Seymour team who taught us all about carbon monoxide and how dangerous it can be. We learnt about the dangers, where we might find carbon monoxide and how we can keep ourself safe. Everyone was given a goodie bag with a free carbon monoxide alarm in it!

Design and Technology

As part of our Thematic theme, The Great Fire of London, we are creating our own fire engines in Design and Technology. This week, we have been practicing our cutting and joining skills. Special carboard scissors were used to cut through the cardboard. We explored a range of joins including, flange, slot, tabs and brace. 

Fire Service Visit

This week, we had a visit from Smethwick Fire Service to support our learning for our Great Fire of London topic in Thematic. The children had a fantastic time learning about the fire service, what they do, their uniform, equipment and they even got to sit in the fire engine! How exciting! 

Christmas Party

Year 2 had a fantastic time at the Christmas party! A big thank you to all of the families who donated food or drinks. 

Art

In Art, we have created our own self-portraits.

Planting Bulbs

Year 2 planted some bulbs in the memorial garden. We are looking forward to watching the plants bloom in Spring.

Design and Technology

In Design and Technology, we created our own Christmas decorations. First, we practiced our cutting and joining skills. 

Next, we planned our designs. 

Finally, we made our decorations. Look at our fantastic creations!

Maths

In Maths, we have been exploring how to subtract 2-digit numbers by using dienes.

Art Experience

The children in Year 2 and Year 6 had the fantastic opportunity to work alongside professional artist, Darrell Wakelam. They learnt lots of skills and applied them while creating their artwork. Look at the amazing artwork they produced!

Science

In Science, we have been learning about hygiene as a part of our Animals Including Humans topic. First, we learnt how to correctly wash our hands. See our examples below:

After this, we did an experiment to see how germs spread. We put oil and herbs on our hand which represented the germs. Then we shook hands with our peers and watched how the germs spread. 

Computing

We have been putting our skills into practise from the half term. We created a map, added obstacles to avoid and planned our route from one place to another. After this, we programmed our Dash robots to follow our route to see if we had used the correct instructions. If our Dash robots went somewhere else we debugged it and chose the correct way to go.

Music

As a part of Black History Month, we have been learning about different inspirational black musicians. This week we focused on Stevie Wonder. We learnt about his life and the challenges he faced, as well as learning about his music. First we practised playing the keyboard while looking at the keys. After this, in order to have a better idea of the Stevie Wonder's challenges, we tried to play the keyboard while blindfolded and used our other senses to help us play.

English

In English we have been looking at different story openings and endings in preparation for writing our own story. We highlighted parts interesting parts and practised our oracy skills by discussing our ideas with our partners. 

Maths

In Maths, we have been learning about number bonds to 10.

History

In History, the children learnt about another inspirational person, Rosa Parks. We explored her life, her story, the challenges she faced and why she is inspirational. As as class, we created a timeline of events that happened, we also thought about what her feelings might have been and what she might have said.

STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics)

As part of our STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workshops, we created towers using spaghetti and marshmallows. Children were given creative freedom to explore, design and create their towers. 

Science 

In our topic, Animals Including Humans, we have been learning about exercise and how it is good for our bodies. We investigated how our heart rate was affected when we exercised. We measured our pulse when we were resting and then again after exercising. Our discovery was that our heart rate increased when we exercised.

Maths 

We have been comparing numbers in Maths this week. We used a range of concrete resources to compare different numbers.

Maths

This week we have been estimating numbers on a number line.

History

This week, we learnt about our first inspirational person, Florence Nightingale. We learnt about why she is significant, her life and sequenced the events in chronological order. We created a class timeline to help us remember her life. 

History

Year 2 completed a 'History Mystery' to figure out what our new topic in Thematic is. We explored different artefacts and made predictions about them. At the end of our investigation our new topic was revealed... Ordinary People Who Changed the World! 

Maths

In Maths, we have been learning about partitioning numbers into tens and ones. We have used a range of concrete resources to help us. We also practised drawing pictures of our tens and ones before writing numerals. Look at all the fantastic work Year 2 produced!

Art Week

For Art Week Year 2 have been focusing on the French artist Georges Seurat. We have learnt about his artistic style of Pointilism and practised the skills needed to create our own interpretation of his style. 

Our local landmarks Galton Bridge and Guru Nanak Gurdwara were the options for the children to recreate. 

Year 2 have been working very hard to apply their skills and have created some fantastic art work. Take a look for yourself...