Author: Mrs Bye

This half term, Year 2 have started an exciting Design and Technology topic on Textiles. Over the coming weeks, the children will learn basic sewing skills and use the design process to plan, make and evaluate their own fabric puppets.

The children made a fantastic start this week by practising an overstitch on sewing boards. They showed great concentration and perseverance as they learned this new skill and developed their fine motor control.

This project links to the Key Stage 1 Design and Technology curriculum, where children learn to design purposeful products, use a range of tools and materials safely, develop practical textile skills and evaluate their finished work.

We are looking forward to seeing the children’s creativity as they begin creating their own puppets!

I wanted to say a big thank you for all the support you have given your children to help improve their confidence with the addition and subtraction facts that we have been focusing on this half term.  We have just completed their assessments and we are so proud of the progress they have made.

In line with guidance from the DfE, we have prioritised our maths curriculum to ensure that children move in to Year 3 with all of the core maths knowledge and understanding that they need. This means that next half term, the biggest unit of learning for Year 2 will be about addition and subtraction of two digit numbers.  They will also do smaller units of learning about division, shape and measure.

If you would like any advice or support about extra practice you can do with your child at home please let us know.

This week in Geography and English, Year 2 have been learning all about Kenya and its capital city, Nairobi. The children discovered that Kenya is a country in Africa and that many people there speak English and Swahili. They also learned that Nairobi is a large, busy city with over 4 million people living there!

The children were fascinated to find out that Nairobi National Park is one of the only national parks located so close to a capital city. They enjoyed learning about the amazing wildlife found in Kenya, including lions, giraffes, zebras, rhinos and elephants. We also explored Kenyan foods, weather, schools, and homes, comparing them to life in the UK.

Today, the children used all of their Geography knowledge to write fantastic non-fiction reports about Kenya or Nairobi. They worked hard to include headings, facts, descriptive vocabulary and neat presentation in their writing.

We were incredibly proud of the children’s enthusiasm, creativity, and excellent use of facts throughout their reports. Well done, Year 2!

This week in English, Year 2 have been enjoying reading Africa, Amazing Africa as part of our learning about Kenya. Today, the children explored the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts.

We discussed some of the key features of non-fiction books, including:

• headings and subheadings
• photographs and captions
• contents pages
• labels and diagrams
• facts and information

We also talked about features often found in fiction books, such as:

• characters
• story settings
• imaginative events
• speech and illustrations

The children looked carefully through a range of books and worked brilliantly to identify whether they were fiction or non-fiction by spotting these different features. They especially enjoyed becoming “text detectives” and explaining their reasoning.

How you can help at home:

• Share both storybooks and information books together.
• Ask your child whether the book is fiction or non-fiction and why.

Year 2 have launched into our exciting new topic: Geography Explorers. So far, we’ve been discovering the 7 continents and 5 oceans of the world. The children worked brilliantly together using atlases to label their own world maps, just like real explorers!

We also learned about globes and how they help us see the world as it really is.

How you can help at home:

• Look at a world map or globe together and try to spot the continents
• Ask your child to name as many oceans as they can remember
• Use an atlas or online map to find countries or places of interest