Maths & English

The class have been focussing on repeated addition and multiplication in maths. They can now make the connection and see how they are both related. Pupils have had the opportunity to build their own arrays using multi-link cubes and find as many different arrays for a given number, writing the corresponding multiplication sentence. In English, pupils have been reading the book ‘The Last Stop on Market Street’, the children have really enjoyed the story and love how Nana always sees the beautiful in everyday life. The pupils have taken inspiration from the story and written their own descriptive scenes and journeys just like Nana and CJ do in the book.

Ultimate Frisbee Fun

Year 2 had the opportunity to take part in the ultimate frisbee challenge. They practised their throwing and aiming skills at targets placed around the school hall (unfortunately the heavens opened when we had planned to go outside!) Afterwards, the pupils enjoyed playing ‘piggy in the middle’, developing their throwing and catching skills further. Finally, Year 2’s session ended with an ultimate game of dodgeball - frisbee style! The pupils had lots of fun and smiles on their faces for the rest of the afternoon.

Art Week

The children learnt about the French artist ‘Henri Rousseau’ and explored his style and techniques used when creating his famous jungle themed paintings. Pupils learnt about the primary colours and then investigated how to create secondary colours using a colour wheel. Henri Rosseau used ‘pure colours’ in his work, using tints and tones for effect, Year 2 produced their own tints and tones colour chart. As Henri Rosseau had never been to the jungle before he actually used garden and house plants for inspiration, Year 2 went on their own adventure around the school grounds picking their own flowers and leaves to use in their own creations. Year 2 have worked very hard and produced some fantastic art work in the style of Henri Rosseau using thick outlines, oversized flowers and bright colours. Take a look for yourselves… 

London Landmarks

As part of our Geography topic ‘Amazing Places and Spaces’, we took a virtual trip to London and explored some of the famous landmarks you can visit. We then made our very own London landmarks using recycled materials and plenty of paint in groups! Can you guess which model is which?

Science Week 

In Science week we have been learning about animals and humans. We began looking at animal babies, looking at how they grow and change from a baby to an adult. We drew pictures to show how they develop and discussed how some animals make a complete transformation and others do not.

We also carried out a science investigation to find out if children get faster as they get older. Children worked in small groups and came up with their own ideas to test. They had the opportunity to work with older children when completing their experiments to find out!

Next, we looked at the basic needs animals and humans require to survive on our planet.

Finally, we were given various materials to build the strongest and tallest free standing tower outside (year 2 won this competition!)

As part of history week, year 2 have explored the American activist ‘Rosa Parks’. Pupils have learnt why this significant individual wanted to bring about change and her journey towards equality. The children have really brought their learning to life, using the school bus to re-enact the story of Rosa Parks which gave them an insight of the daily struggles for black communities in 1950’s America. Pupils have also created their own Rosa Parks inspired art drawing using a variety of media.  

Give Racism the Red Card

As a school we dressed in red on 16^th October to support ‘Give Racism the Red Card’. During the day pupils designed their own posters against racism which they put a lot of effort into, the class winner for Year 2 was Lexi. Pupils also had the opportunity to try a variety of tropical fruit from the Caribbean which they had never tasted before, I think you can tell from their smiles that they thoroughly enjoyed this experience!

We invited a steel band to George Street as part of Black History Month where the children learnt about Caribbean culture. Pupils had the opportunity to ask the visitors lots of questions and of course they had an amazing time learning and playing traditional songs on the steel drums which has brought their learning to life!

It has been lovely to see the children return with such enthusiasm as we enter a new school year.

In maths, the class have been focussing on place value. The children have been constructing two digit numbers using Base 10 equipment and learning about the value of digits within numbers. We have started to add 10 to given numbers and also begun counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

In English, we have enjoyed reading parts of ‘Coming to England’ written by Floella Benjamin. The children have been able to reflect and put themselves into Floella’s shoes when she arrived in England from Trinidad back in 1960.

In topic, the children have started to explore who Florence Nightingale was and when she lived. Pupils enjoyed a hide and seek game to find out clues about her past.