PE
In PE this half-term the children have been practicing fundamental sports techniques, helping us to play traditional games such as Hopscotch and ball throwing and catching games in smaller and larger groups using both coordination and teamwork. We have also had the opportunity to practice our dancing skills as the children in Year 2 have been lucky enough to have a dance teacher in school to
work with the children. We have worked as individuals and in pairs to produce a dance to ‘I like to move it.’ The class learned their routines through lots of perseverance, determination, practice, and effort. The end product was very good,
and the children thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Reading Hour; Phonics and Guided Reading
In our Reading Hour this half-term, we have continued our Phonics sessions using the Red Rose Phonics scheme. Year 2 have looked at how we add suffixes ‘ing’ and ‘ed’ to the end of some words and using expanded noun phrases within our writing such as ‘the wrinkly, blue sea’. We have also been learning about how to read and spell high-frequency words and irregular words such as could and because. In Guided Reading, we have been reading books both independently and in small groups. We have been looking at the vocabulary used in our books and discussing and answering questions.
Geography
In Geography, we have been learning about the geography of where we live. We have looked the four countries that make up the United Kingdom: Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. We have learned the capital cities and matched them with their corresponding country: Northern Ireland – Belfast, Scotland – Edinburgh, England – London and Wales – Cardiff and have used maps to help us locate and label both countries and capital cities. We have also learned about the seas and oceans surrounding the United Kingdom and have located and labelled these on a map. We have identified the seven continents of the world and looked at the similar and different physical features between each continent and used descriptive vocabulary to identify these.
English
In English this half term, we have been reading the book ‘The Book of Fantastic First Poems’ by June Crebbin, looking at a variety of different poems such as, ‘Spaghetti Spaghetti’, ‘By the Sea’ and ‘The Dinosaur’s Dinner’. We have looked at the different vocabulary used within the poems that makes them so interesting and have been able to identify rhyming, alliteration and different sentence structures that were used. We looked at different illustrations and photographs and worked as a class to create mind maps of descriptive language, vocabulary and expanded noun phrases we could use to create our own poems about our own favourite foods and the sea.
We then moved on to ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith, reading the story as a class and using lots of questioning to gain a deeper understanding. We followed the story of Max the hedgehog and his quest to find a safe way to cross the road to reach the fondly loved park. We used our own real life experiences to relate to the story and created our own informational road safety posters to help people stay safe. We explored the thoughts and feelings of the characters and wrote in first person, used questioning to explore their motives and acted in role play sequences.
Maths
In Maths, we have been completing multiplication calculations of 2, 5 and 10. We have used practical equipment, visual aids and drawn arrays so far to help us calculate our answers and complete equations. We have used a variety of different methods of calculation to help us identify which help us the most and applying this to solving word problems. We have learned how different arrangements of the same
calculation will give us the same answer.
Computing
In Computing this half term, Year 2 have been looking at questioning surrounding ‘What are computers and what are their uses?’ We have recognised common uses of IT and identified how different forms of technology help us in every day life. We have also been learning about digital art and we have made our own pixel creations using different processes to create our masterpieces, using lines, shapes, colours and shades. We have worked independently to create different pieces of digital artwork including drawing tools to depict a plate of healthy, balanced food.
Science
In Science this half term we have started learning about animals including humans, looking at the life cycles of a variety of different animals in comparison with humans and their gestation periods. We learned about the journey from birth, adolescence, and how the life cycles begin again and how that process can look very different for different species. We have learned about the necessities for animal and human survival, we can understand why we need air, food, water, and shelter for survival and can identify the different needs of animals in differing environments eg. a penguin and a camel. We have distinguished the differences between what we ‘want’ and what we ‘need’ for survival and what we can do to stay alive and healthy.
Design and Technology
In Design and Technology, we have been learning about moving mechanisms and how they are able to move, being able to identify levers, linkages and pivots. We designed our own ‘moving monster’ in which we designed how we would structure our creation to have the ability to move forwards and backwards using linkages. We peer reviewed each other’s designs and self-evaluated the functionality of our designs against the design criteria helping us to make our final edited decisions and understanding which materials would be suitable to use to ensure our monsters would be structurally sound.
PSCHE
In JIGSAW this half-term, we have been learning about ‘Dreams and Goals’, looking at what our realistic future goals are in life and discussing the steps we can take to achieve them. We have spoken at length on what we want to achieve in our lives, and we have recognised our already existing achievements, no matter how big or small, and celebrated them not only for ourselves but celebrated others. We have discussed the people we look up to, what makes them admirable to us and how they can inspire us. We have recognised and celebrated the things we like about ourselves and the things we are proud of ourselves for and will continue to grow at.
RE
Theme: Passover
Religion: Judaism
Key question for this enquiry: How important is it for Jewish people to do what God asks them to do?
Learning Objectives: We are learning to understand how celebrating Passover helps Jews show God they value their special relationship with Him.
The Fantastic Foxes have enjoyed learning about Judaism. They have learnt The Exodus Story, where the Jews were freed from Egypt. We sang the famous song ‘Let my people go’ linking our music with our current RE topic. We learnt how Abraham made a special agreement, covenant, with God and how Jewish people follow these rules. We created a class Seder meal and discussed how this reminds Jewish families of the Passover and what food is eaten to remember the story. We talked about why it is important to Jewish people to follow God’s instructions. We are excited to able able to visit a Synagogue after half term as the children can share their learning and experience what it like to be inside such a special place.
Singing
Year 2 have also followed the Charanga music scheme and worked on a set piece of music whilst also listening to different styles of music and answering questions using the elements of music to describe why they like or dislike the music they’re listening to. They have concentrated on pulse and rhythm and also through active listening, they are able to hear the instruments that are used in a song such as keyboards electric guitar bass guitar vocals and they have also listened to and are able to identify different styles of music.
