Learning  »  Class Pages  »  Archive 2014/15  »  Year 2

Summer Term

Harlow Carr

We went to Harlow Carr to look at different habitats and explore the gardens.

Parachute Games

We went out to enjoy the sunshine and play some parachute games whilst learning about cooperation.

The Giant Jam Sandwich

In English we have been reading the story The Giant Jam Sandwich. We have been doing lots of drama to learn about the story.

Bikeability
Year 2 Bikeability session

On Tuesady Year 2 were lucky enough to have a Bikeability session. The class were split into groups of 10 and went out on to the palyground with Angela Gaunt, who commented on teh fantastic behviour of the class. Although I was not able to join them it was clear that Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed it as it inspired some fabulous writing. Below is Toby\'s piece of writing but they were all excellent.

Bikeability

Introduction
On Tuesday 9th June 2015 Year 2 had a Bikeability session on the top playground to learn how to ride a balance bike.

Year 2 Bikeability session
First we got a colourful balance bike and a helmet. Angela tested the wonderful weight of our balance bikes. Then we got to ride our fascinating balance bikes. First we had to ride on the outside of the cones in the way of a scoter, Bunny Rabbit, Kangaroo, Astronaut and someone walking or you could even stand up! Then Angela added a little short cut instead of going straight around. At one point I fell over but I was very brave and I didn’t cry. Then we had a game of cups and saucers. One team was monkeys which was my team. Benjamin turned over all of the cones that I tuned over!

Conclusion
I learnt that it isn’t always easy on something that toddlers use. I liked the fact that you could take a short cut instead of going all the way around and it was more fun.

Hannah – The Bikeability session was really fun because I didn’t know what was going to happen. We had to go in and out of the cones, it was wiggly and exciting.

Lauren – My favourite part of the Bikeability was at the end because we played a game called Cups and Saucers and we got to go in and out of the cones. It was really fun.

Stanley – I liked that you could do any type of skills.

Benjamin – I liked that you could choose your own bike and see if it was the right size for you.

Tilly – I learnt that your helmet has to be tight or it might fall off.

Imogen – I liked it when we did the zig zags through the cones because you could ride your bike however you want.

Kai – I liked it that you could stand up on your bike.

Jasmine – I enjoyed gliding and riding really fast.
Bamboo Tamboo

Earlier on in the year the PTA very kindly paid for the whole school to have a Bamboo Tamboo workshop. Year 2 enjoyed it so much that we made up our own dance to show everyone at Maypole.

Library Visit

On Tuesday Year 2 went to Boston Spa Library to find out about how to use the library.

First we listened to a story that was called Sam's Sandwich. After that we did some activities, such as we made our own pretend sandwich bookmark with disgusting creatures in it. Next we went on the computers and did a Dewey number hunt to find a book we wanted to read. Then we all got to choose a new book from the library to bring back to school. Some people got special bookmarks for good library skills.

We learnt how to use the library properly and had lots of fun.

Minibeast Visit

Introduction
On Friday 8th May a lady, called Lisa, brought some animals into our cosy classroom to teach us some facts about interesting animals. Did you know that minibeasts are invertebrates? She brought them in because we are learning about minibeasts. Did you know that they have an exoskeleton?
 
Giant African Snails
The Giant African Snails were called Matilda and Borris. Did you know that Giant African Snails are neither female or male? However they can have up to an amazing 50 babies! A Giant African Snail can live up to 8 years old. They have 2 sets of tentacles, 2 to feel with and 2 to see with. Did you know that they have no teeth so they have to scrape away to get their food? They can travel on water.
 
Tarantula
Now this was my favourite animal so did you know that it can flick hairs that are really itchy? Also it has 8 weeny eyes that you can barely see. It also has 8 thin legs (you might not like the creepy tarantula). Did you know that tarantulas eat incredible insects (I held this one). I felt a bit shaky at first but I have had one on my head!
 
Giant African Millipede
I am now going to talk about Giant African Millipedes. They are herbivores which means that they eat stuff that grows underground. Meanwhile, Lisa was telling us some facts about millipede. Now here is a fact. They have 4 legs in every section. Lisa told us the names and they were called Doug and Pete. Some of them live in England. They have 360 legs. Their legs feel really tickly.
 
Conclusion
Now have you learnt some facts about interesting insects? They are from Animals In Tuition (They are not as scary as you think).
 
By Imogen

Spring Term

Design Technology
We designed and made our own vehicles for the Easter Bunny. Our vehicle had to have 4 wheels and be able to safely carry an Easter Egg down a ramp. We raced them to see which would travel the furthest,
1st place: Tilly
2nd Place: Rhiannon
3rd Place: Charlie C 
Fun Run

On Friday 13th March we took part in a fancy dress Fun Run to raise money for Comic Relief. It was muddy and cold but we all kept running, jogging and walking for the full 30 minutes!

Maths

In Year 2 we love maths and have had lots of fun learning this half term.

Welcome to Alien School

In English we have been reading the story Welcome to Alien School. We all had part of the story to act out.

Skipping Festival
Last term Year 2 had a session with Jodi from School Skipping Limited, she taught the class lots of different skipping methods and set us the challenge to learn all of the skills ready for a skipping festival. Since then at playtimes, lunchtimes, in PE lessons and at home Year 2 have been busy practising and perfecting their skipping skills. On Monday 2nd February it was finally time to put our new skills to the test at a Skipping Festival at Boston Spa High School. Everyone was very excited! Despite the freezing temperatures in the Tennis Centre spirits were high and everyone put 100% in to doing their best for our team. The children all took part in an event while the rest of the class cheered them on. The behaviour of the class was impeccable and they all demonstrated brilliant sportsmanship. When it came to the results there were cheers and applause all round because as well as winning a number of Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in each of the events we also won the overall prize for the day scoring a whopping 584 points! This score meant that we have achieved the highest score at all of the Year 2 events so far this year!! Well done Year 2, I am really proud of how hard you have worked, not just at the skipping festival but in the build up to it.
Miss Gregory

Here is what Year 2 had to say about the day.

Hannah – I enjoyed it when we all got to do our parts but it was a bit scary going in front of the other schools and teachers.

Sam – It was scary for me because I was the first one up but I tried my best and I won!

Imogen – I tried my best and I was pleased to get bronze.

Henry – I liked it when we got all of our certificates because I wanted to know who had won.

Benjamin – I enjoyed it because in the end I won and I was really pleased with myself.

Lauren – I felt happy because I learnt new skills like jogging with a skipping rope.

Alice – I was a bit scared at first because I did the big rope but I preserved and I got it right.

Daniel – I was scared when I was going to do the big rope because I didn’t think I could do it but I did. I tripped over but I got back up and carried on.

Joel – I was a bit scared of the big rope but once I got started I could do it.

Autumn Term

Nativiy
As the Year 2 teacher I think I have the best job in the school, that of putting together the Nativity. It is always such a magical experience and one I look forward to each year. 

I think it is really important that the children are involved as much as possible in the whole process. Their involvement starts with them auditioning for the part that they would like to play; this is always fascinating as they often try out for parts that you may not have thought they would have wanted. Once the children have their parts it is important that they have a voice in what they do and I often get children asking to sing a few lines or add in an action to a song. This is what I believe makes the Nativity so special, those little moments where the children bring their own personality and characteristics to the stage. The class have also been involved in designing the backdrop and programmes as well as what they would like their costumes to be like.

As always I have thoroughly enjoyed being involved in the Nativity, the class have all worked hard to learn their parts, as well as all of the songs. They have approached rehearsals with big smiles on their faces and have always been full enthusiasm. I am really proud of the final performance and I am sure that those of you who came to watch would agree that it was absolutely superb and definitely put you in the Christmas spirit!

On behalf of Year 2 and myself I would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the Nativity, Reception and Year One for being a fabulous Choir of Angels, Mr Colledge for setting up the stage and the lights, Mr Simpson for making the manager, all of the adults in school who have helped with putting the Nativity together, Mrs Ward for her fabulous piano playing and all of the parents who have helped with costumes and face painting on the day. We really appreciate all of your help and couldn’t have done it without you.

Miss Gregory

Quotes from the children

Hannah - It was really fun doing the Nativity, we all got to do our parts and it was really fun learning them.
Imogen - I was a bit nervous at the start but when I started doing it I wasn’t nervous anymore.
Harvey - When I first got on the stage I wasn’t ready but when I said my bit it was ok.
Emily - I was excited to do our Nativity.
Lauren - I liked being a narrator because you got to say lots of lines and I felt confident doing so. 
Sam - When we knew our lines we were all confident and we knew what we had to do.
Benjamin - My favourite part was the cows when they said “Maurice, Maurice there’s a spider in your manger” because they used good expression in their voices.
Kai - I liked having the face paint on because it was colourful and it felt nice on my face.
Lucy - I liked being a mouse because I liked saying “squeak squeak”.
Katie - I liked being a mouse because I liked the tiny voices.
Lily - My favourite part was the solo singing and my favourite bit of acting was the cows.
Are we nearly there yet?

In Year 2 we ahve been learning all about the history of flight. We learnt all about the Montgolfier Brothers, the Wright Brothers and Amy Johnson as well as looking at the invention of the jet engine. After learning all about Amy Johnson we then went on to learn about Australia as this is where she flew to. During our topic we did lots of research on the Internet, we loved using the Learn Pads! In Science we used paper planes to investigate how planes fly.

English

We have been learning about Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories. We read lots of different stories such as How the kangaroo got its tail. We also wrote our own stories about why differnt animals look like they do, for example How the giraffe got its long neck.

Art

This half term in Year 2 we have been learning all about Aboriginal art. We tried out lots of different techniques for making the dots and found that cotton buds worked the best. We created lots of different pictures and told stories through our art, just like the Aboriginals do. Fianlly we made our own musical instruments. Cna you guess what they are?

Maths

We have had lots of fun in maths this half term, we have been on a right angle hunt, learnt about symmetry, made patterns by tessellating shape, practised our number bonds and much more.

Yorkshire Air Museum

As part of learning all about the history of flight, yesterday Year 2 visited the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington. From the moment we drove into the museum the wear cheers and cheers of delight as the children saw the planes around the museum. This children learnt all about how planes fly in a ‘Paper Planes’ workshop as well as learning how to communicate in Morse Code. As well as these workshop sessions the children followed the trail around the museum learning about key figures in aviation, including Amy Johnson and the Wright Brothers. The highlight of the day for many children was being able to climb on board and old Dakota plane as well as sitting in the different cockpit sections of the planes. At the end of the day the staff of the museum came over to thank me for such a well behaved and enthusiastic group of children. They were an absolute credit to the school and helped to make it a brilliant day. Thank you for a lovely day Year 2. Miss Gregory
"It was a very fun school trip because we got to sit in planes." Hannah
"I enjoyed making the paper aeroplanes." Imogen
"I thought it was an awesome school trip." Harvey
"I enjoyed learning how to use Morse Code." Sam
"I enjoyed going in the little plane with Charlie C because we were pretending to shoot people and shouting Mayday!" Toby
"I liked doing my name in Morse Code." Austin
"I enjoyed it when we went in the big plane and it tipped because I learnt that it could carry people who were injured." Lucy
"I enjoyed learning how to use Morse Code." Alice
"I liked it when I learnt about the Halifax Bomber Friday 13th." Benjamin

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