Year 2 - 2023-2024

Teachers

Dali:  Miss Stevens

Van Gogh:  Miss McGregor

Setting:  Mrs Clarke

Welcome

Welcome to Year 2! We are looking forward to getting to know you and and for all of the exciting learning we will be doing this year.

Key Information

PE Days: Our PE days are Tuesday and Thursday. You will need a PE kit including; black/navy joggers or shorts, black/navy jumper, white t-shirt and appropriate trainers.

Reading books: Your child will be read with once a week and their book will be changed or once they have finished.

Other: Please record your child's reading on the Go Read (Boom reader) App when you enjoy a book at home together. Your child also has access to TTrockstars to help learn and practise their multiplication and division facts. 

Curriculum Coverage - Autumn

In English we will be applying our reading and writing skills through exploring new texts such as 'Rapunzel', 'Once there were Giants' 'Dogger' and 'The Nutcracker'.

In Maths we will be exploring Number and Place Value, Addition and Subtraction as well as Multiplication and Division in a range of fluency, problem solving and reasoning contexts. 

This Term we will be learning about The Gun Powder Plot in History, Animals and Humans in Science thinking about offspring, lifecycles and staying healthy. In geography we will be continuing to develop our knowledge of the world using maps, atlases and globes to help us.

WC: 18.09.2023

This week in Computing we used iPads and the search engine 'Kiddle' to do some research linked to our history learning of the Gunpowder plot. We had to type in key words and skim and scan through the information for find the answers to Miss Stevens questions. 

WC: 11.09.2023

In Music this week we were inspired by our English learning of Rapunzel and created a piece of music to depict the Wicked Witch. We had to use dynamics and work together as a team to create our piece. We had rain makers being Rapunzel's hair and claves showing the witch running away. 

WC: 04.09.2023

Our first week in Year 2 was a fun filled and jam packed one. In Maths this week we have been looking at Number and place value. We were using a variety of resources to represent different numbers up to 50. Consolidating our learning of tens and ones when partitioning numbers. 

Year 2 - 2022-2023

Teachers

Dali:  Miss Stevens

Van Gogh:  Miss McGregor

Setting:  Mrs Taylor

Welcome

Welcome to Year 2! We are looking forward to getting to know you and and for all of the exciting learning we will be doing this year.

Key Information

PE Days: Our PE days are Thursday and Friday. You will need a PE kit including; black/navy joggers or shorts, black/navy jumper, white t-shirt and appropriate trainers.

Reading books: Your child will be read with once a week and their book will be changed or once they have finished.

Other: Please record your child's reading on the Go Read App when you enjoy a book at home together. Your child also has access to TTrockstars to help learn and practise their multiplication and division facts. 

Curriculum Coverage - Autumn

In English we will be applying our reading and writing skills through exploring new texts such as 'Rapunzel', 'Once there were Giants' 'Dogger' and 'The Nutcracker'.

In Maths we will be exploring Number and Place Value, Addition and Subtraction as well as Multiplication and Division in a range of fluency, problem solving and reasoning contexts. 

This Term we will be learning about The Gun Powder Plot in History, Animals and Humans in Science thinking about offspring, lifecycles and staying healthy. In geography we will be continuing to develop our knowledge of the world using maps, atlases and globes to help us.

Curriculum Coverage - Spring

This Term In English we will be applying our reading and writing skills through exploring new texts such as 'Peace at last' where we will be looking at reoccurring language, '15 things not to do with a Puppy' where we will be writing our own instructions of how to look after and animal. As well as looking at shape poems and Non-fiction texts all about Sharks. 

In Maths we will continue exploring Number and Place Value, Addition and Subtraction as well as Multiplication and Division in a range of fluency, problem solving and reasoning contexts. As well as looing at telling the time in 5 minute intervals, naming and identifying the properties of 3D shapes and measuring things us l/ml and g/kg.

This Term we will be learning about The Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole in History, Inventors ( linking to experiments an fair tests) and Plants, thinking about seeds and bulbs and linking this to a plants lifecycle. In Geography we will be developing our map skills, looking at identifying and creating keys, identifying and naming some Human and Physical features and creating our own aerial view map. 

Curriculum Coverage - Summer

This Term In English we will be applying our reading and writing skills through exploring new texts such as 'How to catch a star' where we will be looking at past and present tense and have a final outcome of writing a diary entry, 'Sharks' where we will be writing our own non fiction report about Sharks. As well as looking at Free Verse poems and the story 'Tinga Tinga Tales'. 

In Maths we will continue exploring Number and Place Value, Addition and Subtraction as well as Multiplication and Division in a range of fluency, problem solving and reasoning contexts. As well as looking at statistics, reading and interpreting bar charts and pictograms and creating our own. And continuing to identify fractions begining to identify equivalence between 1/2 and 2/4.

This Term we will be learning about The History of Stevenage, specifically the History of the building of New town following the New Town act. In Science we will be starting a new topic of Living things and their Habitats, look at different habitats and Microhabitats as well as the characteristics of living thigs.  In Geography we will be looking at weather and climate identify the difference and comparing them in different places. 

Be sure to keep an eye out below for weekly updates on what we have been doing.

WC: 03.07.2023

This week both classes completed their DT projects of making a car with a moving axle. The children created their axle using wheels, a straw and and a piece of dowel. Before cutting out a net of a cuboid to create their chassis. They then decorated it. 

WC: 26.06.2023

In Maths this week we explored 3D shapes. We looked at their names, their properties and even sorted them by given criteria. 

WC: 19. 06.2023

This week we perfectly presented our Non-Chronological report on Sharks. We had to do our neatest handwriting, include all of our edits and improvements and our diagram with labels. Miss Stevens then got them bound for us. We are very proud of how hard we worked on writing these booklet and so were our teachers! 

WC: 12.06.2023

As part of our History topic 'Stevenage then and now' we had a visit this week from Stevenage Museum. We were able to show off our knowledge about the building of Old Town from last term and also learned lots more. We also got to have a look at some images of what Stevenage was like Prior to the building of New Town. 

WC: 05.06.23

To start the week off we had 2 Cross-curricular days all about inspirational people. On Tuesday we had a visit from Darren Edwards. We learned all about working hard and believing in our dreams as well as overcoming fears. On Wednesday we had a visit and workshop from Paul Sturgess the tallest man in Britain. He did a basketball workshop with us. 

WC: 22.05.23

Last week in their lesson the children planned their Geography field trip to Brooches Woods. First, they looked at the map and planned the route. They wrote instructions of how to get there using directional language. This week they followed their maps and instructions to walk to the woods. Once there they did some Science learning looking for and identifying microhabitats and the minibeasts that live there. We all had a fantastic time

WC: 15/05/2023

In Year 2 this week in our art lessons, we have created an armature sculpture of a superhero using wire. They had to manipulate the wire into different shapes by bending and twisting. This was very challenging. The children added a cape and a superhero pose. Don't you think they look great? 

WC: 08/05/2023

In History we have been learning about the New Town act of 1946. Stevenage was the first new Town to be built. The residents of Stevenage were unhappy and unsure about this. So In History we wrote an advert trying to persuade the residents of Stevenage that it ws a good thing. This week we performed our adverts. Take a look at some of them below. 

WC: 01/05/2023

This week  in Year 2 we came in on Tuesday morning to find that our chairs had gone on strike! They had stacked themselves up in the corner and left us a letter. We had to complete all of our leaning on Tuesday morning without any chairs. By lunchtime our necks and backs were aching and we realised how important the chairs were. Thankfully after lunchtime the chairs had seen how apologetic we were and came back. In English on Wednesday we wrote a persuasive letter to the chairs, apologising and trying to persuade them to come back for good.   

WC: 24/04/2023

This week  we had a special visitor. Her name was Cara and she is a STEM Ambassador. She came in to do a workshop with us linked to our new computing topic of Photography. She used to be an editor for the BBC. She taught about a few different types of shot, Long shot, mid shot, medium shot and a close up, the importance of framing a shot when taking a picture, the benefits of taking photos in portrait and landscape and touched upon how to edit photos. Here are a few photos Miss Stevens took of us in action taking our photos and so of our final photos. 

WC: 17/04/2023

This week  in English our learning has been focussed on our new class book 'How to catch a star' By Oliver Jeffers. On Friday one of our tasks was the twitter challenge where we had to summarise the story in 20 words or less. Here are some of our summaries. 

WC: 27/03/2023

This week  in Geography we learned about keys on maps. We had to use the key on the map given and our locational knowledge to follow instructions and answer questions. 

WC: 20/03/2023

This week  in DT we got to make sandwiches. We had to spread butter, peel carrots and cucumber, grate cheese, chop tomatoes and shred lettuce. It was lots of fun and we even got to eat our sandwich afterwards. 

WC: 13/03/2023

This week  in computing we have been using Scratch Junior and exploring the repeat blocks as well as the sound blocks. We had to create a simple chase game using what we learned about block coding on Scratch Junior last week and also incorporating the repeat blocks and sounds blocks we learned this week. 

WC: 06/03/2023

This week  we went to visit The National Army Museum and got to go back in time to the Crimean War. We had a workshop based upon Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole where we got the chance to explore different artefacts that both nurses would have used and learned about their lives both before, during and after the war. We also got to look around the museum and learned lots about the British army throughout History.  

WC: 27/02/2023

This week we have had lots of exciting things going on. In Music we continued to look at pitch and dynamics. We also remembered some of the note names (soh and mi) from last week with Mrs Thomas and put these into action using the Boom Whackers. We started with a warm up before looking at twinkle twinkle little star, Old Macdonald and finally attempting to play Beleiver. In Science we learned about germination and even saw it happen in real life after seeing what had happen to our seeds we planted last week. Before Finally on Friday enjoying World Book day in our pyjamas and listening to James Campbell tell us some funny stories and talk about being and author.  

WC: 20/02/2023

This week in maths we have been looking at capacity and mass. We ordered a variety of empty bottles by their capacity and discussed that sometimes the tallest bottle wont always have the biggest capacity because some might be wider. We also estimated their capacity and compared them. We then thought about the mass of some objects and again ordered them and talked about how a big bottle of protein powder was lighter than a small packet of rice because rice is heavier. 

WC: 06/02/2023

This week in English we have been looking at poetry. First we chose our favourite animals and used a thesaurus to help compile a list of verbs for our animal. Then we explored shape poems and thought about funny things our animal would get up to if we brought it to school. We wrote our poems out making sure we tried no include manner adverbs, noun phrases and some conjunctions. Finally, after we edited and improved our learning we perfectly presented our poems in the shape of our animal! Miss Stevens, Miss McGreggor and Mrs Taylor were so proud of all of our final pieces! 

WC: 30/01/2023

This week we had the chance to share some of our favourite books with Year 5. They came down to our classroom and read us some of their favourite stories and we then read to them. It was lots of fun talking and reading with the Year 5's. 

WC: 23/01/2023

This week in History we have been continuing our learning about Queen Victoria and we created a timeline of important events in her life based off of our research last week. 

Some facts we learned were... 

• She had 9 children and 40 Grandchildren - Inara
• She became queen at aged 18 - Evie H
• Until Queen Elizabeth the second she was the longest reigning monarch -Jasmine
• When Prince Albert her husband died she wore black for the rest of her life - Max

WC: 16/01/2023

This week in music we have been learning about a conductor. We thought of lots of different sounds related to the sea and then split into groups to create our own sea scape as a class. We took it in turns to be a conductor and linked it to our previous learning by conducting them to change the pitch, dynamics and tempo. 

WC: 09/01/2023

Happy New Year! and Welcome back! Our first week back has been a busy one! In maths we have been using lots of different resources to help grow our place value understanding and knowledge. Looking at representing numbers in different ways, the value of digits, partitioning a number in different ways ( some of us were even given parameters in which we had to work in to extend our thinking and practise our reasoning!)   

WC: 19/12/2022

The final 3 days of school before the Christmas holidays were busy ones! We continued reading the Story of The Nutcracker and answered some VIPERS questions relating to it. We also wrote our own Christmas/winter themed acrostic poems. 

WC: 12/12/2022

This week has been a busy week...we had our Christmas production. We were scene 3 and our scene was all about the invention of Christmas crackers... or as Tom wanted to call them 'Bangs of Expectation'. We had a visit from Santa too and Paddington came to read one of our Advent stories books with us. 

12/12/2022 Snow Day Learning

Good Morning Year 2, it's snowing and school is closed so stay at home, enjoy the snow and stay safe. Here is some learning for you to do today.

English: This week in English our learning will be focussed around  The Nutcracker. Watch the film linked below and/or read the story and then answer some of the VIPERS questions attached below this post. 

Nutcracker Video

Maths: This week we will be moving onto Statistics. See if you can answer some of the questions on the Google form link that Miss Stevens has put together. You could also make your own tally chart/table of data.

Statistics Google form 

Geography: Over this term you have been learning about the United Kingdom, specifically the for countries England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Can you use what you have learned this term ( you can do some more research too!) and create a booklet full of information about each country. 

Computing: There are 2 different tasks for you to chose from. You can download the stop motion app onto your tablet and then create your own stop motion story. You could use your toys like we did with Lego or draw a scene and characters and create it that way like we have been doing for The Rainbow Fish. If you are unable to do this then you can create an E-safety poster listing lots of different ways to stay safe when using technology. 

WC: 05/12/2022

This week in RE we went to visit St Hugh and St Johns church and went on a Christmas Journey. We explored the story of Christmas through a range of activities. Meeting shepherds, Wise Men and even the baby Jesus! We had a fantastic experience and learned lots about the true meaning of Christmas and the Christmas story.

WC: 21/11/2022

This week in Science we have been learning how the shape of some materials can be changed. We explored squashing, stretching, twisting and bending different materials to try and change their shape. We also discussed whether these changes were permanent or temporary. 

WC: 21/11/2022

This week in Geography we have been using different sources to find out information about Scotland as part of our learning about the characteristics of the different countries in the UK.  

WC: 14/11/2022

This week in History we have been thinking about the reasons for actions of some of the people from the gun Powder plot. We came up with some questions we would like to ask them and then used what we knew about them and the Gun Powder plot to role play and come up with some reasons. 

WC: 07/11/2022

This week in Computing we have been learning about Stop-Motion and Animation. We used Lego to create our own short stop motion videos. It was lots of fun and we realised that it is very easy to make mistakes. Have a look at some of our final Stop-Motion videos below! 

WC: 31/10/2022

This week in Maths we have been looking at 2D shapes. We have been naming them, identifying their properties, sorting them into different categories and fining out if they have lines of symmetry or not. We also learned that a regular shape is a shape that has all of the same size sides and an irregular shape had sides that are all different sizes. 

WC: 17/10/2022

This week in English we have been looking at poetry. We looked at different types of poems such as acrostic poems, haikus, shape poems and list poems. We also looked at different poetic devices like rhyming, onomatopoeia, alliteration and similes. We created a bank of vocabulary all to do with Autumn and then wrote our own poems. We are very proud of our Autumn Poems. 

WC: 10/10/2022

This week in Science we have been looking at how to stay healthy. We looked at the effect that exercise has on our body. We we then learned how to take our pulse. We also used a pule monitor to help check. Then we did 5 minutes of exercise and took our pulse again. We discovered that our pulses were higher. We also noticed that there were also lots of other changes to our body after exercise. 

WC: 03/10/2022

This week in English our learning has been linked to science. We looked at Non-fiction texts and identified some features and their purposes. We then went on to skim and scan information on each stage of the Human Life cycle and took some notes, before working as a group to turn our notes into a mini presentation about the Human life cycle.

WC: 26/09/2022

This week in Geography we were learning about the different continents. We used atlases and the new maps outside of our classroom to help us locate them. We the did some research into each continent using the iPad. We found out that Europe as the second smallest continent and it has the world's smallest country. 

WC: 19/09/2022

This week in Science we have been looking at how humans grow. We began by ordering and discussing the different stages of a human life cycle. Then we were told some 'old wives tales' about different parts of your body, like your forearm is the same length as you foot. We predicted if we thought it was true or not and then had a look for ourselves. We then did an experiment to see if age affects your handspan. We found out that the oldest person in the class didn't have the biggest handspan. 

WC: 12/09/2022

This week in Music we began to identify different genres of music and discussed the types of instruments we could hear and how each genre made us feel. We also began to identify different parts of songs such as the chorus and verse. 

WC: 05/09/2022

This week in Maths we have been looking at Number and Place Value. We have been representing numbers in a variety of ways, partitioning numbers and identifying the value of digits in numbers.

2021 - 2022

Year 2 class teachers 2021 - 2022:

Van Gogh - Miss McGregor

Dali - Mrs Hooper

Spring 2 2022

This half term, our PE days will continue to be a THURSDAYS and FRIDAYS.  Please make sure appropriate PE kit is in school every day (this is useful if additional events/opportunities arise where a PE kit is needed). Please ensure a PE school jumper and jogging bottoms are included as we enter the colder months. Please also a reminder to name all items of clothing in your child's PE kit. 

Over the course of this half term we will engaging in a range of exciting learning opportunities:

In English, we will look at the features of non-fiction texts and write non-chronological reports. The children will use their learning about Florence Nightingale and write reports using sub-headings and facts.  

In maths, we will be exploring shape, measure and time . The children will be using concrete resources to explore these areas. 

In science, we will identify parts of plants and trees. We will investigate what plants need to grow. The children will learn how to explain the life cycle of a plant. The children will plan an investigation to see how temperature affects plant growth.  

In history, we will continue learning about different historical figures such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and Queen Victoria. They will learn facts, order events and sequence dates on a time line. 

Key dates - Spring 2:

Tuesday 22nd February - World Thinking Day - Girl Guide and Scouting Uniform

Thursday 3rd March - World Book Day - Dress up as a book character

Friday 11 March - Red Nose Day (Comic Relief)

Friday 25th March - Non-Uniform Day (FORDS Easter Egg Donation)

Friday 1st April - Term ends at 2pm - FORDS Easter Egg Hunt at 2pm

Year 2 Maths Videos

https://youtu.be/21BaV7eIQHY

Week beginning Monday 4th July 2022

This week we have had a special history day. Stevenage museum provided Round Diamond Primary school with some fantastic resources to learn more about Stevenage becoming a new town. The children made some lovely eye-catching posters to persuade people to move to Stevenage new town,

In the afternoon, we had a visit from Sharon Taylor. She's a leader of Stevenage Council and a primary witness who moved to Stevenage when it became a new town. The children had generated questions to ask her to find out more about the new town development.

Week beginning Monday 27th June 2022

We had two WOW days this week. This children enjoyed a workshop involving meeting a range of different animals! There were small mammals, reptiles and invertebrates! Some of the children felt and held the different living things. We then spent the afternoon making some animal fact files. 

Week beginning Monday 20th June 2022

In D&T this week, we made a simple vehicle using wheels and axels. We had to select the appropriate tools to put these mechanisms together and along the way we were having to adapt our design to ensure it could move appropriately at the end.

Week beginning Monday 13th June 2022

In music, we used the glockenspiels to play a fanfare. We listened carefully to our teacher's model and played a range of high and low notes. 

Week beginning Monday 6th June 2022

This week we went on a very exciting Geography fieldtrip around our local area. The children were developing their map skills by identify different key features and street names. They then labelled them accurately on the maps. 

Week Beginning Monday 23rd May 2022

This week in science, we continued our learning with food chains. We played The Food Chain Game and the children enjoyed organising the living things from producers, consumers and predators. They then proceeded to create their own food chains by researching into a chosen predator. 

Link for food chain game:

Food Chain Game - Science - Sheppard Software Educational Games for kids

Week beginning Monday 16th May 2022

We want to say a big well done to all of the year 2 children who have tried their very best this week with year 2 SATs. Whilst the children have been taken out to complete the tests, the other children have thoroughly enjoyed this week's learning journey being focused around the Pixar film 'For the Birds'. We have completed a range of enjoyable activities including sequencing the story, classifying and sorting types of birds and we also carried out a lesson of drama. The children wowed the year two teachers with their performances of 'For the Birds' where they used great facial expression and body language. 

Week beginning Monday 9th May 2022

In computing this week we continued to develop our ability to take pictures using the school iPads. We took pictures of different areas and items in the classroom thinking about positing, framing and detail. We then reviewed the pictures we had taken and then attempted the pictures again from our self-reflection.

Week beginning Monday 3rd May 2022

This week in our D&T learning journey we were exploring the skill of scaling to help us understand how plans are made of buildings. We had to think about the size of the base of a house and scale it down and build it using Lego. It also involved using our maths knowledge to make something ten times smaller using our division facts. Who knew scaling could be so much fun?

Sam.C (Dali) - 'Architects use scaling. They scale down buildings so they are able to plan what they look like more easily. Scaling down uses division, for example, if a house had a base of 160cm, you might divide it by 10 and the scaled down size would be 16cm.'

Week Beginning 25th April 2022

This week in Mrs Hooper's maths group we were using the bead strings to help develop our 3 times table knowledge. We set up groups and used this to help with our recall in order but also our division facts!

Week Beginning 19th April 2022

This week the Year 2 children had an excellent time researching into how Stevenage has changed over the last century. They explored a range of maps, aerial photographs and snapshots from the two the two different time periods. They then generated questions that they would like to find out the answers to over the next unit.

Week Beginning 28th March 2022

We had a lovely last music lesson with Miss Johnston! She brought in her guitar and we became a whole year group band. We put all of our music skills together of performing rhythmical patterns, keeping a steady pulse, playing instruments, and showing awareness of others during a performance. 

Week beginning 21st March 2022

The classrooms were smelling delicious this week!
The children explored all the ways they can be hygienic before preparing their pizzas. This included personal hygiene, making sure food was not contaminated before cooking, checking the food was in date and that their food preparation areas were clean. 

They carried out various skills including carefully chopping peppers and evenly spreading ingredients. 

Week beginning 14th March 2022

This week the children learned all about how to plant a seed. They planted Pansy seeds into a cup of soil and watered them.

The children took turns to measure out the soil into the cups and and filled up their cups with a suitable amount of water. The children thoroughly enjoyed planting their seeds and were delighted to be able to take them home.

Week beginning 7th March 2022

This week in year 2 we started our new English topic on instructions. We spent the week exploring the different features of this nonfiction text type. In Mrs Hooper's English group, we were evaluating the effectiveness of different instructions for making a jam sandwich.  We tried the instructions out and shared our thoughts on how easy or how difficult they were to follow. There were some positive reviews of some tasty jam sandwiches at the end of the lesson!

Week Beginning 28th February 2022

In Mrs Taylor's English group we have been writing reports about Edith Cavell. Our learning journey over the past two weeks has included examining non-fiction texts, identifying facts, creating a glossary, conducting research and then writing a report using our findings. The children have loved learning new vocabulary such as wealthy, unpunctual and treason. Below are some photographs of our learning wall (which shows the learning journey) and some examples of our learning. 

Week beginning 21st February 2022

This week we had a 'Well Being Wednesday' Cross curricular day! The children had the opportunity to participate in active activities on the All Weather Pitch and the hall led by 'Sporting Futures'. The took part in jumping, running, throwing and catching tasks with great enthusiasm. They also had a go at making their own songs using 'Chrome Music Lab' and saved their creations: sharing them with the class. They used tempo, pitch and a variety of musical instruments to create their songs.

Finally the children participating in an art activity where they had to tessellate shapes to create a pattern of their choice.

Welcome to Year 2!

Spring 1 2022

Welcome to our Year 2 class page! We hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas break and are looking forward to Spring 1 in Year 2.

This term, our PE days will continue to be a THURSDAYS and FRIDAYS.  Please make sure appropriate PE kit is in school every day (this is useful if additional events/opportunities arise where a PE kit is needed). Please ensure a PE school jumper and jogging bottoms are included as we enter the colder months. 

We are looking forward to all the learning we get to share together this school year as responsible, determined and successful Year 2 learners. Below is some information on the learning we will be carrying out this half term: 

In English, we will start with ‘Peace At Last’ as our unit of learning. The children will learn about re-occurring language throughout the text and re-write the story using the language they have learned. We will also write non-fiction texts about significant historical figures. The children will learn how to write reports using facts. Finally, the children will look at the text '15 things not to do with a puppy' and write instructions. 

In maths, we will be exploring number and place value. The children will learn about the values of digits in 2 digit numbers. They will revisit learning all calculations - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and apply their understanding to problem solving. 

In science, we will be studying inventors and what they invented. The children will continue their learning about materials and classify. 

In history, we will be learning about different historical figures such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and Queen Victoria. They will learn facts, order events and sequence dates on a time line. 

Week beginning 31st January 2022

In Klee Class this week we have focused on multiplication. To help aid our recall of our 2, 5 and 10 times table we took part in an active maths session. We had to recall multiplication facts before finding clues and corresponding letters to spell a secret word. Being active and doing is a great way to help with our maths fluency. 

Week beginning 24th January 2022

This week, in RSHE, we discussed the emotion 'anger'. We considered things that could make people angry and what different behaviours we might see if someone was feeling angry. 

We then generated a list of strategies that could be used to help someone overcome feelings of anger. The children suggested a range of great ideas: breathing, counting to 10, doing some colouring, playing some music and even eating something delicious!

Here are some picture of the children trying out some different breathing strategies including dragon breathing, balloon breathing and bee breathing.

Week beginning 17th January 2022

This week, the children have been learning all about the inventor Isaac Newton. They understand that Isaac Newton invented gravity and they conducted an investigation to see gravity in action.

The children had to select the relevant equipment to use. They did this independently without support. In groups they decided which equipment would help them. They had to choose from a metre stick, a set of scales, a stop watch and a measuring jug. They even learned how to record results in a table. Well done scientists!

Week beginning 10th January 2022

This week the children have been recapping their understanding of number and place value. They have used dienes and ones to represent the value of the digits. They enjoyed using the concrete resources and making different numbers. The children know how to read and write numbers within 100. 

Week beginning 3rd January 2022

Over the last two days, the children have enjoyed learning many life skills. The children learned about how to use a knife and fork where the children practised holding cutlery correctly. They made posters about the correct verbal tables manners using phrases like 'Please could you pass me the....'

They learned how to make orange squash. They had to remember to hold the squash with two hands whilst pouring in the concentrate without spilling any. They learned how to fold their clothes at the start and end of a PE lesson to ensure their clothes always look tidy. The children also learned some sign language! Some children already knew some and taught the rest of the class. They had to look at people using sign language and guess what they were communicating. 

Finally the children enjoyed learning about all of the bones in the body and had a go at making a skeleton from spaghetti pieces! To end the day, they learned how to use the recovery position and what to do if there is an emergency.

Welcome to Year 2!

Autumn 2 2021

Welcome to our Year 2 class page! We hope you enjoyed the half term break and are looking forward to Autumn 2 in Year 2.

This term, our PE days will continue to be a TUESDAYS and FRIDAYS.  Please make sure appropriate PE kit is in school every day (this is useful if additional events/opportunities arise where a PE kit is needed). Please ensure a PE school jumper and jogging bottoms are included as we enter the colder months. 

We are looking forward to all the learning we get to share together this school year as responsible, determined and successful Year 2 learners. Below is some information on the learning we will be carrying out this half term: 

In English, we will start with ‘Tango Makes Three’ as our Take one Book unit of learning. The children have chosen this text and have suggested various writing outcomes to explore. Look at the text ‘Dogger’ and the children will write recounts and sequence the story. Finally in the lead up to Christmas, the children will be looking at ‘The Nutcracker’. The children will re-write the story of the Nutcracker applying the skills taught throughout Autumn 2.

In maths, we will be exploring geometry, position and direction. We will look at measurement, specifically time as well as height and lengths. Finally we will look at fractions of shapes and amounts, properties of 2D & 3D shapes and money.

In science, we will be studying materials and their different properties. The children will classify materials and considering how they use materials in their everyday lives.

In history, we will continue with our learning on the ‘Gun Powder Plot’ and now begin to understand the reasoning behind the actions of the plotters. The children will also look at re-telling the events of the Gun Powder Plot. In geography the children will learn about the countries within the United Kingdom. They will learn how to locate them and characteristics of those countries.

Key dates - Autumn 2:

Friday 3rd December - Jubilee Day - School Closed

Friday 10th December - Christmas Jumper Day

Tuesday 21st December - Term ends at 2pm

Wednesday 5th January 2022 - INSET Day

Thursday 6th January 2022 - Children return to school

Curriculum Documents

Friday 17th December 2021

Please enjoy the year 2 children's fantastic efforts at singing their Christmas songs. 

Van Gogh

https://youtu.be/OBEq5VMinwc

https://youtu.be/t6BIsiJqsmI

https://youtu.be/s4-kxDMiO6k

Dali

https://youtu.be/b9vur2sWL_w

https://youtube.com/shorts/21io1Esw0K8?feature=share

https://youtu.be/u8TzRRHxmvE

Wednesday 10th December 2021

During our computing learning we have been learning about animations. Our final learning was to create a animation on a story The Rainbow Fish. We planned and created colourful backgrounds and made suitable characters for the story. We then used the app Stop Motion and used lots of camera shots to put together a moving animation with our characters. We had to work as a team and be really careful and concise to make sure we didn't get any hands in the shot!

Week Beginning 22nd November 2021

Every day the children have story time, just after coming in from lunch. The children thoroughly enjoy their story time. We always allow the children to choose the stories they would like to hear and it is a pleasure to read to them.

We hope you enjoy watching the videos of the children enjoying their story time.

Week Beginning 15th November 2021

This week in our RSHE learning we have been discussing what is safe to share online. Over the past few weeks we have had excellent discussions about being safe online and this has supported the children to know what is appropriate to share online. We watched Darlee videos to help with our decision making.

Week Beginning 8th November 

This week in our Maths learning we have been focused on measuring length. We have used a range of equipment including metre sticks, tape measures rulers and a trundle wheel. As well as measuring in cm in the classroom the children have enjoyed learning outside and measuring in metres on the playground. 

Week beginning 18th October 

This week, Year 2 have been learning all about poetry! They have watched and listened to poems by Michael Rosen. They have explored different types of poems and even performed some. In class the children performed a poetry rap 'Nursery Grimes', where they have performed nursery rhymes to a fast rap pace. They performed it energetically with great enthusiasm. 

Week beginning 11th October

This week the children have been using the skills they have learned in art to paint a fireworks display. They used primary and secondary colours as well as white and black paint to create tone. The children initially painted the fireworks with dots and swirls and then went over them after they dried with secondary colours and white to create different tints. 

The children then evaluated their learning considering what they would do differently next time and what they are most proud of this time.

Week beginning 4th October 2021

This week we were learning some new skills to edit images on the iPads. We were saving images related to the Gunpowder Plot from safe search engines. We then edited them by cropping, rotating, changing the colour and using special effects.

Week beginning 27th September 

This week in Geography the children have been using maps to locate the different oceans around the world. The children studied the maps looking at the countries and continents around those oceans. They also conducted research to find out facts about which kind of animals live in specific oceans. The children demonstrated excellent team work to find relevant information and have developed their skimming skills in order to summarise what they had read.

Week beginning 20th September 

In science this week, Year 2 have been learning all about humans and how they grow. We have learned about the different stages of life from a baby to becoming elderly. The children had some insightful discussions as to why they were not all the same height and size as each other. 

The children had to investigate the following statement, "The oldest child in the class must have the widest handspan". The children used their knowledge to predict, measure and conclude their findings. 

Week beginning 13th September 2021 

This week the children in Year 2 were exploring the different continents in the world. We used our map skills to identify them in atlases. We also considered some of the countries that would be in the different continents.

The children enjoyed singing along to the continents song. Here is a video to enjoy Van Gogh singing it.

Week beginning 6th September  

This week the children in Year 2 shared a range of amazing home learning projects during our assembly. It was so wonderful to see such a fantastic effort put in by the children to produce some super examples of learning. 

Some children felt extremely confident to share new knowledge about The Gun Powder Plot which was really useful during our history knowledge harvest this week. Other children had found out lots of interesting information about their class artist. It was also great to see some examples of home learning which had involved some art and D&T skills being put in action! Thank you children and parents/carers for completing some these activities.

Welcome to Year 2!

Autumn 1 2021

Welcome to our Year 2 class page! We hope you have had a wonderful summer break and are looking forward to beginning the school year in Year 2.

This term, our PE day will be a TUESDAY and a FRIDAY. Please make sure appropriate PE kit is in school every day. 

Reading 

We are using 'Go Read' to log the children's reading books. The children have been shown where to go to change their reading books independently and we will encourage them to change their books as soon as they have finished reading them. The children will also receive a library book to read alongside their shelf book. Library books are changed once a week. 

Spellings

Each week, the setting teacher will hand out spellings for the following week for the children to practise. Once the children have completed their spellings and sentences on the back, they should show them to their class teacher for a house point. We then give the children back their spellings to keep. 

We are so excited for all of the learning opportunities we will get to share with the children this year. Below is some information on the learning we will be carrying out this half term. 

In English, we will be exploring the traditional version of Rapunzel and comparing it to the modern day Rapunzel story by Beth Woolvin. Then we will be learning how to write non-fiction reports about the life cycle of humans. We will then explore poetry by performing and writing our poems about Autumn. 

In maths, we will be exploring number and place value, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division in a range of fluency, problem solving and reasoning contexts.

In science, we begin the year by looking at animals including humans: comparing their similarities and differences. 

In history, we are learning about the events leading up to the Gun Powder Plot looking at a range of primary and secondary resources.

In geography, we will be using simple directional language to locate specific places on a range of maps, globes and atlases. 

Please refer back to our class pages each week to see what the children have been getting up to in school!

2020 - 2021

Year 2 Staff Team 

Ruth Cousins: Year 2 Setting

Ashley Johnston: Van Gogh Class 

Sarah Millard: Dali Class 

Year 2 Academic Year 2020 - 2021

The Year 2 Team are delighted to welcome the children back to school. We are exciting for all of the wonderful learning experiences we have planned for the children. 

Important Days
Our PE days are Wednesday and Friday. Please ensure your child has their full PE kit including black/navy joggers, black/navy jumper and appropriate trainers at school every day. As we approach the winter months, it is very important that your child has joggers and a jumper in school. Please ensure you check your child's PE kit contains these items. 
 

Key Information 

Children will be read with once a week and books will be changed weekly/when finished. Please sign your child's reading record when you enjoy a book at home together.

Curriculum Coverage

This term we will enjoy learning about materials in Science, colour mixing in Art as well as learning sewing skills in DT. In History we will continue our learning about the United Kingdom. In Geography, we will be looking at the different continents and oceans, as well as the countries of the United Kingdom.

Keep an eye out on our class page for weekly updates! 

Week beginning 12th July 2021 

In English, we are learning all about alphabet poems. We read 'ABC Mindful Me' by Christiane Engel. Then we practised meditation for 'M' and yoga for 'Y'. After that, we identified activities and items that help us to feel calm, relaxed and mindful. We worked together to compile our own A-Z of mindfulness and look forward to using these to write a class poem later this week. 

Week beginning 5th July 2021 

On Friday the children in Year 2 took part in an RE afternoon. We recapped our learning about the religion of Islam and the children recalled facts about how and where Muslim's pray. 

The children studied examples of prayer mats and created their own using the technique of weaving. They had to use a ruler to measure, cut in straight lines, weave in and out of the paper and then glue their strips down. They were really proud of their efforts and were excited to take them home.

Week beginning 28th June 2021 

Miss Millard's Maths group have been learning about how to estimate and measure temperature. First, we discussed how thermometers are used and practised reading one. Then, we learnt about the temperature for boiling and freezing. We also talked about the temperature outside. After that, we went outside and estimated the temperature of different liquids. Some had been kept warm in a flask, some at room temperature and some in the fridge. As part of our learning, we also ordered the liquids and generated appropriate adjectives to describe them. 

Week beginning 21st June 2021

This week year 2 have been busy measuring temperatures! They learned the accurate unit of measure to use is degrees Celsius or degrees Fahrenheit. They examined a range of thermometers and how they record temperatures in different ways. The children then read a variety of temperatures looking at the increments to count up accurately. Finally, we made estimates of the temperatures we thought we would find in different places around school. We checked the temperatures to see how close our estimates were. 

Week beginning 14th June 2021 

We all had a fantastic time during our 'Keeping Healthy' Cross-curricular days this week. As part of our learning, we found out how much sugar we should be consuming in a day. Did you know the maximum daily amount for a six year old child should be five cubes and for a seven year old child it is six cubes? We also conducted a little investigation in to the sugar content of some drinks. First, we ordered the drinks from the least amount to the most amount of sugar. Next, we used the Change4Life app to scan the barcodes and find out the sugar content. We are pleased to report that we ordered the drinks correctly making us very sugar smart :) 

Week beginning 7th June 

And the masterpiece is complete!

After weeks of hard work, the children have finally completed our to scale sculpture of Round Diamond Primary School. The children have developed a wide range of skills which they have continuously improved as the sculpture was built. They have learned how to: paint evenly selecting appropriate brushes to cover larger areas; apply paper mache by smoothing and moulding it around corners and they have worked successfully communicating, working together within groups.

They children are really proud of their achievements!

Thank you very much for all the cardboard, kitchen tubes and newspaper you have provided us. 

Week beginning 17th May 2021 

What a wonderful well 'bee' ing afternoon indeed!

Despite the pouring rain, the children absolutely loved their well being afternoon with Mr Haig. The children learned about the importance of pollinators in our local environment and took part in planting lots of seeds all around the school grounds. They loved being outdoors in the fresh air and learned some invaluable skills: working together in teams to dig, plant and cover the seeds. 

The children also used a variety of colourful paints to make their own butterflies. We are going to be laminating them to remind the children of the importance of looking after their local environments. Thank you Mr Haig!

Week beginning 10th May 2021 

As part of our History learning this week, we have been finding out about the New Towns Act of 1946. Did you know Stevenage was the first new town approved for development? We identified that new towns needed to offer good quality housing, built around a primary school, a pub and shops. After we had found out all about the new town development, we created persuasive television adverts to encourage people to move here in 1951. 

Earlier this week, Year 2 went outside to conduct their science investigations! The children have been learning about the 7 life processes which they remember through the acronym ' MRS GREN'.

They had to go onto the KS1 playground and find an example of something which was living, dead or never alive. They came up with some great examples and really enjoyed a discussion about how a wooden bench is classified as 'dead' because it was previously alive as a tree!

Week beginning 26th April 2021

What a jam packed week for Year 2! We have had such a wonderful week and the children have thoroughly immersed themselves in all things theatre! We have learned about the different job roles from light technicians to make-up artists. We've looked at scripts, we've written scripts and even acted in front of an audience.

Here are some photos of some of the performances we saw. There are so many budding actors in Year 2. Miss Millard and I hope we get invited to a show in the theatre when you make it....

Summer term - Home learning activities 

Please find below the Summer term home learning activities for English and Maths. For English, there are some recommended texts and VIPERS style question and discussion prompts and for Maths there are some fluency facts to focus on. Remember to also login each week to Google Classrooms to access your weekly English and Maths home learning. These activities will be set on a Friday and due in on a Wednesday.

The Year 2 Team 

Week beginning 19th April 2021

In Maths fluency today we were practising finding one more and one less than a number. We played a game in pairs and selected cards to make a two-digit number. Then we needed to identify the number one less and one more than our number. Check out our learning in the pictures below! 

Week beginning 12th April 2021

This week the children have started a new fiction book called 'How To Catch A Star'. The children have enjoyed reading the story, learning about the characters and using their inference skills to predict what might happen in the story.

They have acted out sections of the story in groups using actions to accompany their re-telling. We were very impressed with their creativity!

This week the children have started a new fiction book called 'How To Catch A Star'. The children have enjoyed reading the story, learning about the characters and using their inference skills to predict what might happen in the story.

They have acted out sections of the story in groups using actions to accompany their re-telling. We were very impressed with their creativity!

Week Beginning 22nd March 2021 

This week we have been making the pitta pizzas that we have been designing for Design and Technology. 

We practised using a range of tools to create our own pizzas and finally we got to eat and enjoy them. 

We have written instructions for pizza making and also evaluated our end product. 

Week beginning 15th March 2021

This week in computing, the children have enjoyed developing their skills using an app called 'Scratch'. The children had to create a background with their sprite and programme it to move in multiple directions. They also learned how to make their sprite bigger and smaller, as well as making their sprite repeat an instruction. 

Week beginning 8th March 

This week we have been continuing our learning all about plants! The children learned about the life cycle of a bean plant and planted their very own bean! We will be checking on their progress over the next few weeks and closely follow the stages of the bean plant life cycle. It has been so wonderful to see the children checking their beans at the window each morning and afternoon. They are very excited to see what will happen. 

Week Beginning 8th March 2021

We are so excited to be able to see you all back in school from the 8th

of March. If you need a little reminder of how things will be in school we have attached a return to school transition booklet.   

Week beginning 1st March 2021 

Today Year 2 are celebrating World Book Day in style. Check out our fabulous outfits that we shared in a virtual costume parade. We have also enjoyed a wonderful virtual visit from author James Campbell, who told us the story of 'The Umbrella Tree'. Then we planned and wrote our own versions of his story. We have had a fabulous time :) 

Week beginning 22nd February 2021

This week, we started a bran new unit of learning in science. The children were all very excited. We looked at different plants that grow in the wild, in the garden and even learned that trees are plants too. I was really impressed at how many plants the children could name. They completed some excellent online learning: labelling the different parts of plants and even went out into their gardens to look at some plants to draw. 

Week beginning 8th February 2021

This week, the children have been exploring partitioning 3 digit numbers in different ways. They had to think about the value each digit represented to partition, but also, they needed to explore different ways of making that number. 

They did such a fantastic job. I was really impressed with all the ways they partitioned the numbers. 

Week beginning 1st February 2021 

Our Science learning this week, continues with the theme of 'Inventors'. We learnt all about Florence Nightingale and Alexander Fleming and their discoveries around germs. We watched an experiment involving glitter and another invloving bread. We discussed the importance of washing our hands. We then used our ideas from this discussion to create either a poster, a collage using Jam board or a news report. Take a look at some examples of our learning below. 

Week Beginning 25th January 2021

We are delighted to share with you two examples of learning we have received from the 'Humanities home learning challenge' set before Christmas. Take a look below at one submitted by Jessica and one submitted by Yuvraj. Well done on some fantastic home learning!

There is also a link to the google arts and culture app for you to explore. 

Week beginning 11th January 2021

  LI: To describe 

 SC *Adjectives *Appearance *Conjunctions - and because

In Year 2, we have been looking at the story of Dogger by Shirley Hughes. 

We have written recounts and descriptions. We wrote descriptions of Dogger as lost posters. 

Here are some pictures of our learning. 

Week beginning 14th December 2020

We have spent the day looking at the Christmas story with help from the local churches 'Bridge Builders'.

We travelled back in time to meet Matthew, Luke, the shepherds, Anna, Simeon and the Magi. 

We finished our journey by meeting Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. 

We have had a fantastic time and engaged in some art learning to remind us of each of the characters that we met. 

Merry Christmas! 

Week beginning 30th November 2020

In Maths we have been learning how to read scales. 
We have looked at reading a scale on a ruler, a thermometer, a measuring jug and weighing scales. 

This week during our DT lesson, the children have been practising a running stitch in preparation for making our Christmas decorations.

We spent time learning how to put the thread through the eye of a needle and then tying a knot. The children needed a lot of perseverance for this task. Initially I heard, 'Miss Johnston, we can't do it, it's too difficult', however, by the end of the lesson after lots of reassurance and encouragement I heard, 'I did it!', I tied the knot.

Well done to all the children in Year 2. We can't wait to have a go at a back stitch next week :) 

Week beginning 9th November 2020

In Science, we discussed natural and manmade materials and sorted them. 

We made this learning really exciting by collaging the letter N for natural in natural materials and M for manmade materials. 

Year 2 had a wonderful Art lesson on Thursday afternoon. They painted fireworks inspired by their History learning about Guy Fawkes.

As a special treat, we gathered the children in Dali class and watched a fireworks display as a Year group. The children were issued tickets as though they were attending a real fireworks display.

Week beginning 19th October 2020

The children had a wonderful Science lesson learning about different types of food. We discussed the different food groups they had eaten for breakfast and lunch that day. 

The children were then set the task of making their own fruit and vegetable faces. They thoroughly enjoyed making them using a variety of ingredients and particularly enjoyed eating their plates afterwards!

Week beginning 5th October 2020 

In Maths this week we have been learning all about multiplication. We watched this video in class to help support our learning with using arrays to multiply. 

Week beginning 28th September 2020

In English we have been looking at the book Dogs Don’t Do Ballet. 
Biff the dog loves ballet but her owner’s dad won’t let him join in classes or go to the ballet. We worked in pairs to think of ways in which we could persuade dad to let Biff join in. Next week, we will write letters to dad to see if he will change his mind. 

Maths, Maths, MATHS!

All this week in Maths, Year 2 have been focussing on partitioning. We have been partitioning 2 and 3 digit numbers. We have been using whole part models and dienes to support their learning as shown in the picture above. 

If we were looking at the number 15, the children understand 15 is the whole number - this goes in the top circle. The children understand that 15 is made up of one group of 10 (one part) and 5 ones (the other part). The 10 and the 5 go in the circles underneath the top circle.

They have then been learning how to partition in different ways. For example 15 can also be partitioned into 7 + 8, 14 + 1, 12 + 3 etc.

Well done Year 2! 

Week beginning 7th September 2020

LI: To retell a story.

SC

*Sequenced

*Fairy tale vocabulary

*Dialogue-expression

In English, we looked at the traditional tale 'Rapunzel'. 

We thought about the different vocabulary which is used in traditional tales and what the different characters might say to each other. 

We went out onto the playground and used the equipment to act out the story. 

If you or your child have any questions about starting Year 2 in September, please email them to faqs@rounddiamond.herts.sch.uk

2019-2020

2019 - 2020

A very big welcome to Year 2!

The Year Two Team

Class Teachers:

Mrs Jan Figueiredo (Van Gogh)

Miss Sarah Millard (Dali)

Miss Martha Hall (Learning Lodge)

Teaching Assistant:

Ms Sally Dove

Important Days of the Week

PE will be taught on  Tuesday and Wednesday - Please remember all children need the appropriate school PE uniform on these days.

Music will be taught by a Specialist Music Teacher every Thursday.

Spellings and MyMaths home learning are set every Friday. Spellings are tested each Thursday to support teacher assessments. The spellings do not need to be returned, but if your child wishes to share their practise with their teacher, they can show us their sheets for a house point. 
 

Login details for MyMaths and Bug Club remain the same as Year 1. If you have any questions regarding these, please speak to a member of the Year 2 team. 

Week beginning 20.07.20

Hi Year 2! Hope you're all well. We would like to wish you a fabulous summer holiday and we look forward to seeing you in September 

Attached below is an overview of the transition learning for you to complete at home with your child, alongside resources. Please feel free to complete this learning in an order that best suits you and your home learning environment.

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions regarding the learning, please email Mrs Figueiredo:

jfigueiredo@rounddiamond.herts.sch.uk

Week beginning 13.07.20

Greetings Year 2! Hope you're all well and enjoying the learning set!

Attached below is an overview of the English, Maths and afternoon learning for you to complete at home with your child, alongside resources. Please feel free to complete this learning in an order that best suits you and your home learning environment.

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions regarding the learning, please email Mrs Figueiredo:

jfigueiredo@rounddiamond.herts.sch.uk

Week beginning 06.07.20

Bonjour Year 2! Hope you're all well and staying safe! 

Attached below is an overview of the English, Maths and afternoon learning for you to complete at home with your child, alongside resources. Please feel free to complete this learning in an order that best suits you and your home learning environment.

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions regarding the learning, please email Mrs Figueiredo:

jfigueiredo@rounddiamond.herts.sch.uk

Week beginning 29.06.20

Hola Year 2! Hope you're all well and enjoying the glorious sunshine! 

Attached below is an overview of the English, Maths and afternoon learning for you to complete at home with your child, alongside resources. Please feel free to complete this learning in an order that best suits you and your home learning environment.

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions regarding the learning, please email Mrs Figueiredo:

jfigueiredo@rounddiamond.herts.sch.uk