Year 2 w/b 18th October
Date: 24th Oct 2021 @ 6:41pm
Year Two have been an absolute pleasure to teach this half term and all of the children have worked very hard this week to conclude our Autumn 1 units of learning. This week, in English, we have been writing our instructions, explaining how to build a habitat for our own unusual creature. The Save Our Bog Babies Society will be delighted to receive these instructions! The children spent two days writing their instructions and then a further two days editing and publishing their writing. The children are very proud of their truly excellent writing and it looks wonderful on display. We have loved our text ‘The Bog Baby’ but I am excited to begin a new journey with a new story after the break.
In maths, we have been introduced to the column method and have applied this to addition and subtraction calculations. The children have impressed me with how quickly they have learnt this method and how confidently they are already able to apply it. We will, of course, return to this method after the break as we continue to master column addition and subtraction and apply it to slightly trickier questions. Year Two, you are superstar mathematicians!
In science, we were very lucky to welcome a veterinary nurse as a very special guest. The children asked thoughtful questions such as: Why did you choose to heal animals instead of people? What do you do to care for the animals? What types of animals do you fix? How many animals have you treated so far? What do you give the animals to eat and drink? What do you need to do if a goldfish is ill? How do you bandage a dog? How long do you keep the pet in the vets? What does stitches mean? Which has been the youngest animal you’ve seen and which has been the oldest animal you’ve seen? What’s your favourite animal you’ve treated so far?
Our PE session allowed us to demonstrate all of the skills that we have mastered in gymnastics, combining them to form a sequence on the apparatus. The children’s balances, turns, twists, spins and rolls have improved immensely over the half-term and it was lovely to see them working hard to complete each skill ‘like a gymnast’.
In RE, we completed our assessment task, answering the question: In what ways is the healing of Jairus’ daughter and the ten lepers ‘Good News’ for Christians? I was very impressed with the children’s reflective, insightful responses to this question, resulting from their hard work and thoughtful questioning throughout our ‘Good News’ RE unit.
In DT, we carefully studied our puppets in order to complete the final stage of the DT process: evaluation. We each thought about: what worked well; what we would change next time; our favourite thing about our puppet; a challenge that we faced and how we dealt with it. The children are very much looking forward to bringing their puppets home after half term!
In forest school, we revisited our work with compasses. The children worked beautifully in teams to play a game of ‘hide and seek’ using compass directions. By the end of the session, the children were confident with their directions and could each use the compass to give instructions.
Friday was our Pumpkin Heroes day, a lovely end to the half term. We were very impressed with the wonderful Year Two carved pumpkins to reflect the light of Jesus; thank you for your support with this. Year Two loved the pumpkin trail, working together to find the hidden numbers and letters and working out the message. The children also enjoyed making orange paper chains of hope and light, as the photos below show.
It was lovely to talk to you all this week during parent consultations to share the excellent progress that the children are making. I hope that you enjoy a restful break and I shall look forward to seeing everyone again on Tuesday 2nd November after our INSET day.
Miss Witham
