Year 2
Our teachers are Mrs Nicola Leslie (Ash Class), Mrs Samantha Rose (Rowan Class), Mrs Amanda Aydin and Mrs Toni Bayley (Silver Birch Class).
We are happy to support you and your child. If you have any concerns, please pop in to see us.
Autumn Term
Autumn 1: Under the Canopy
Our learning journey for this half term is science and geography based. We explore the environment in rainforests, the four layers and the animals found there. We are visited by some real rainforest creatures with the “Go Wild” crew. Our core texts are What on Earth? by Kathryn Senior and The Jungle Song by Miriam Moss; which enable the children to explore and create both non-fiction and fiction genres of writing. In Maths we improve our understanding of place value, focusing on hundreds, tens and ones. We learn to use different strategies to solve addition and subtraction number problems.
Autumn 2: Poles Apart
Our learning journey continues with cross curricular links to science and geography. We focus on comparing our own climate, to that of the Polar Regions and the tropical rainforests we have just explored. In English our core texts start with Poles Apart by Jeanne Willis to support our understanding of how to write riddles and instructions. The use of Hermelin the Detective Mouse by Mini Grey enables us to explore letter writing. In Maths we have a “shopping day” where the children create their own high street with a range of shops to practice their money handling skills. We then move on to multiplication, looking at arrays and focusing on two, five and ten times tables.
Spring Term
Spring 1: Up in the Clouds
Our learning journey for this half term focuses on creativity and imagination. Through the use of the texts Journey by Aaron Becker and a range of Traditional Tales we explore the features and structure of stories, including characters and settings. We use this learning to create our own stories and alternative versions of well-known tales. In maths we continue with multiplication and introduce division. We learn how to record and represent data in the form of tally charts, tables, pictograms and bar charts. We look at the properties of common 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. As part of our science curriculum we learn about the life cycles of plants.
Spring 2: London Long Ago
Our learning journey this half term takes us back in time, learning about the Plague and the Great Fire of London. We will build models of buildings from 17th century London and the Rainbow Theatre group involve the children in interactive drama, retelling the events of the time. Our core texts including the diary of Samuel Pepys focus on understanding the key events of the Great Fire and how we know about what happened. In English we learn how to write diaries and a newspaper article. In maths we will continue to look at 3 dimensional shapes and patterns. We embed our knowledge of number by learning about fractions. To remind us that a bakery in pudding Lane was where the Great Fire started we make bread rolls, and hot cross buns nearer to Easter. We end this half term by watching our model of London burn as it would have during the Great Fire.
Summer Term
Summer 1: Dungeons and Dragons
We start our learning journey by visiting Arundel Castle, exploring the keep and finding out what it would be like to live in medieval times. In English the children write a child friendly version of the Arundel Castle information leaflet. Our core texts are The Snow Dragon by Vivian French and Tell Me a Dragon by Jackie Morris. After discovering a dragon egg the children write their own dragon poems and adventures and end the half term with a battle and medieval banquet.
During May all year 2 children will take part in the end of Key Stage 1 statutory assessments (SATs). We aim for this to be a low key and stress free experience for the children. It is an opportunity for the children to demonstrate what they have learnt in Reading, Writing and Maths.
Summer 2: Under the Ocean
In our final half term, we go on an underwater learning journey exploring habitats and creatures both on the shore and below the sea. We visit our local beach to explore the shore habitat, then go on a “Titanic” adventure learning how the unsinkable ship came to a watery end on its maiden voyage. Our finale to the year is a Year 2 production in which all children have the opportunity to act, sing and dance.
Year Group News