Autumn Term 2nd Half

This half-term our Learning Journey has been ‘Marvellous Medicine’ and is based around the nurses from history; Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale.

English
We have been learning how to write a non-chronological report and how to set it out correctly using sub-headings and paragraphing. We have used conjunctions to extend our sentences and add detail to our writing.

For fiction we have been focusing on the journey story, ‘The Papaya that Spoke.’ The children learnt the story and created actions to help them to re-tell it. They then created their own imitation of the story, changing the characters and places visited. We had some great writing with lots of imagination, creating Christmas journey stories.

Maths
In Maths, we have been learning to add and subtract numbers. Children who have mastered this unit will be able to di­fferentiate between addition and subtraction problems, understanding how to represent the numbers provided within the context in di­fferent ways, using di­fferent resources. Children should be flexible with the methods they can use to calculate di­fferent problems depending on their complexity in order to work efficiently. Children who have mastered this unit will be able to relate each number in a calculation to what it represents within a context. Children will be able to use a variety of manipulatives to represent addition and subtraction and use these alongside the column method. Children will also become fluent at recalling and applying their number bonds within 20 to addition and subtraction equations and adding two 2-digit numbers in a variety of ways.

Science
In science this half term we have been learning how to keep ourselves healthy. We enjoyed finding out how much food, water, rest and exercise a human needs to survive. We now know the difference between wants and needs. We also looked at the word ‘hygiene’ and what it means to be hygienic.

Art

This half term in Art, we have been developing out drawing skills, focusing on shape and adding tone to show light and dark areas in portraits. We have practised out shading skills and built up our knowledge to apply to a final piece and self-portrait. 

History

We have been learning all about Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale in History. We now know all about the Crimean War and how both nurses helped. We also looked at their legacy and how times have changed for Woman over the centuries.

Autumn Term 1st Half

What a great start we have had in year 2! Our learning in English has centered around fairy tales. We read ‘The Jolly Postman’ and then learnt the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. As part of our Talk for Writing approach to English, children learnt actions to help them remember the story. They then innovated the story, using their imaginations and the skills we had learnt to create some wonderful stories, including flying unicorns, volcanoes and golden snakes that laid golden coins.

In school this year we are continuing with our Power Maths scheme to support our teaching of maths. Unit 1 focuses on children’s ability to read and understand numbers to 100. They have used their growing understanding of place value to help them sort, compare and order numbers. In Unit 2 the children have built upon the number bonds to 10 that they learnt in Year 1. The children have consolidated this understanding and applied it to number bonds to 20. They have been introduced to writing fact families, and to relating addition and subtraction operations. As a result, children have learnt to use the inverse of one operation to check calculations using the other operation. We have used a variety of different visual representations to ensure a strong conceptual and procedural understanding, across all areas of maths learning.

This half term we have been focusing on Geography. We have been focusing on maps, map keys and co-ordinates. We started our topic by going on a walk in our local area. Children looked at key features that were manmade and natural. They also looked at desirable and undesirable features in the local area.

Our Science this half term has been around materials. The children have identified and compared the uses of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard. They have performed simple tests to compare how things move on different surfaces.

In PE this half term, children have been learning pilates, using our imoves scheme and also dance using RealPE. They also took part in a sponsored walk around school to raise money for our whole school trip to the pantomime.