Writing- The Tiger who came to tea
For the past two weeks we have been focussing on the story ‘ The Tiger who came to tea’ by Judith Kerr.
We explored key parts of the story together, talking about the characters, events and our favourite moments. As part of our learning, we used the story as inspiration to write our own sentences. Our key learning objective was to use conjunctions, and the children practised joining ideas using words such as and, but and because. They showed great enthusiasm and creativity while developing their sentence-writing skills.
We are now ready for our independent write next week!
Help at home: Test your knowledge- Can you write a sentence using a conjunction about something you are doing over the weekend?
You could bring these into class next week to share with everyone!
Celebrating What Makes Us Unique in Year 2
This week in Living and Learning, Year 2 have been learning about individual liberty, tolerance and respect as part of our work on British Values.
The children discussed the many things that make us unique, including our ethnicity, religion, interests, likes and dislikes. We talked about why differences should be celebrated and how showing respect helps everyone feel valued and included.
The children shared some lovely reflections:
Thomas “It would be boring if we were all the same.”
Ava “Everyone is special in their own way.”
Alfie “We should be kind even if people are different to us.”
Help at Home
Watch this short video with your child and discuss.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zqkptrd
Topic- History
History: Toys and Games.
Over this half term, we will be exploring toys from the past and comparing them with the toys we enjoy today. This week, the children shared their favourite toy or game and talked about what makes it special to them. We also discussed whether their favourite toy or game might have been around when their parents or grandparents were children and how different toys look from the past compared to the present day.
Help at home:
Please take a photo of your child with their favourite toy or game and email it to school so we can share it in class. Thank you to those parents/carers who have shared these already, the children have thoroughly enjoyed guessing which toy belongs to their friends.
Here are some more, can you guess who they belong to?
Year 2 Plant Investigations
Year 2 have started learning about plants this half term. This week, the children observed a range of plants and thought about different ways to group them. They grouped plants by size, whether they are trees or not, if we can eat them, and whether they grow fruit. The children showed great curiosity and were excited to share their ideas.
Beau “We grouped by plants you can eat and plants you can’t.”
Louis “Some of these plants have fruit and others don’t.”
Ava “The fruit grows from a flower!”
Merry Christmas
We have had a lovely last day of the term in Year 2 . We loved our Christmas party and did some crafts.
I have really enjoyed teaching and getting to know the year 2 children this term. Whilst I will miss them, I will look forward to seeing them around school.
Merry Christmas
The year 2 team
Festive Fun in Year 2
Today, Year 2 had a very special surprise – a visit from Santa. The children were so excited and loved sharing smiles, laughter and festive cheer.
We also enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner together, which was a lovely chance to sit with friends and celebrate as a class.
To finish our festive day, we shared the much-loved poem ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, enjoying the rhythm of the words and the magical story it tells.
It’s beginning to feel very Christmassy in Year 2, and we are all enjoying the excitement, warmth and joy of the Christmas season.
Final Prints Inspired by Paul Klee
Today, we finished our art topic by creating some fabulous final prints.
We used styrofoam to make our own printing plates to create artwork inspired by the artist Paul Klee. The children explored bold lines, shapes and patterns, just like Klee did in his artwork. Their designs were inspired by things Paul Klee often used in his work, such as houses and buildings, symbols, dream-like pictures, and bright, playful shapes.
The children carefully pressed their plates onto paper to reveal their prints and were very proud of the results. They showed great creativity, focus and perseverance, and the final artwork looks fantastic.
Describing a Monster
We have been superstar writers in year 2 this week!
As well as writing recounts, we have learning about expanded noun phrases and using them to write amazing monster character descriptions.
Inspired by the monster in ‘Not Now Bernard’ by David Mckee, we collected nouns and understand that a noun is a person, place or thing. We then made our nouns more exciting by adding adjectives to describe the noun.
We know that if we are going to use two adjectives, we need a comma to sperate them.
Hasel is a cheerful, joyful monster. Elsie
She has long, sparkling teeth. Luna
He has scary, dangerous horns on his head. J
Help at home: Can your child give some examples of nouns and adjectives. Maybe they could write a description of a character of their choice.
Recount Writing
This week, the children wrote their own independent recounts of making their banana sandwiches and they were fantastic. Using what they have learned this half‑term, they included expanded noun phrases (adjective, adjective noun) and time connectives, remembering to use a comma after each one.
The class impressed me with their careful handwriting, neat presentation, and brilliant word choices. They used adjectives such as soft, bright, crumbly, scrumptious, and delicious to describe the process.
Why does Christmas matter to Christians?
This half term, our big RE question is “Why does Christmas matter to Christians?” We have spent time exploring the events of the Nativity story, which we now remember very clearly.
One of our key vocabulary words is Incarnation, which means that Christians believe Jesus was God in human form, coming to Earth to show people what God is like.
In our most recent lesson, we compared the birth of Jesus with the birth of a baby today. We identified many differences and discussed them thoughtfully. We also considered how people today prepare for a new baby, and how people in the Nativity story prepared for Jesus’ birth.
My sister was visited by friends and family. Jesus was visited by kings and sheppards. – Lyla
It must have been a very difficult journey for Mary. -Frankie
Normally a baby is born in hospital. – Austin
