End of Term 1 News 16.10.26

The first term in Year 2 has been incredible. We are so proud of how well the children have settled into the routines, expectations and learning which Year 2 has to offer.

This term in English, we have explored a range of books such as The Lion Inside, The Wonder and Only One You. Throughout the term, we have dived and learnt about many different styles of writing, including letters, diary, narratives. The theme for the books has been self- belief, confidence and finding courage as well as enjoying the little, exciting things in life. The children have worked incredibly hard on their letter formation as we included cursive letters as a part of our daily expectations as well as focusing on ensuring our letter size is consistent.

In Maths, we have been building on our Year 1 knowledge in place value and addition and subtraction. We have practiced counting in threes, focused on numbers up to 100, partitioning, number bonds to 100, adding to the next 10.

In Science, we have loved taking part in weekly experiments when testing a range of materials and their properties. We explored which material is best to keep shelters waterproof and the children had great teamwork when constructing and designing their own shelters. We have also explored which materials are the stretchiest, easy to change shape as well as thinking about the current changes in our seasons from Summer to Autumn.

In RE, we recapped our school parable, The Wise and Foolish Builder as well as focused on understanding the key messages of Harvest and the Creation Story. The children did amazingly at our Harvest Festival Church Service and worked hard in learning our song, The Big Blue Tractor.

Our Geography learning has provided some particularly exciting opportunities for practical exploration and fieldwork. The children have been learning to use a compass to identify directions and have designed their own compass roses to demonstrate their understanding of north, south, east and west. We have also been developing our map-reading skills and exploring how maps help us to understand and navigate the world around us. A particular highlight has been designing our own playgrounds, carefully considering the physical and human features that would make these spaces enjoyable, safe and welcoming.

Our history this term has been extremely exciting and fascinating, learning all about Henry VIII. The children have taken part in so many practical learning opportunities to understand the differences between Tudor times and now. We started the term with a Medieval Banquet to wow the children about the exciting parts of being a royal before we introduced them all about King Henry. We have had a go at different activities that children might have played in Tudor times as well as understand the difference between Tudor medicine and medicine/hygiene we have now. The children have learnt many facts about King Henry VIII and they have enjoyed singing songs to remember all about his 6 wives!

In Art this term, we have explored shading and tone when drawing observational drawing. We have loved seeing the children’s drawing come to live when they think about the 4 steps to support their drawing- outline/ shapes, refine, details and shade, tone and texture.

In PE, we have explored dancing and understanding how we can add movements together as well as keep in time in counts of 8. We have also worked on our throwing and catching skills by learning a chest pass and bouncing to each other.

RHSE this term has been all about how we can keep ourselves healthy through healthy eating, keeping our teeth clean as well as thinking about goals and aspirations for the future.

Computing has been really fun this term as we have learnt more about how to access the internet safely. We have also started our new unit which is all about creating different pictures using different techniques such as pointillism.

Finally in music, we have spent time practicing our Harvest song as well as developing our pitch and range in our unit, Tony Chestnut.

We hope you all have a restful October half term and we are excited for the Christmas festivities next term!