Year 2 - Blue Class and Indigo Class
Curriculum overview
Termly Newsletters
Summer 2
What a fantastic half term we have had to complete all the learning in Year 2. In Science we have continued our learning about seeds and the conditions that they need to grow into healthy plants. The children have enjoyed learning about different scientists in science week and the skills that they need to be successful. We definitely have some keen scientists in Year 2. They have been using their predicting skills and have been able to draw conclusions from their findings.
The children have had great fun in PE lessons practising their skipping and orienteering skills. The skipping festival at Trinity University was a highlight for the children after months of practising the different skips. We were extremely proud of all the children for their determination and resilience. Sports day was another highlight, where the children were able to work as a team and enjoy the atmosphere of the day.
We entered a Yorkshire themed art exhibition and we made some pouches with a Yorkshire Rose on. The children joined the material together with a running stitch and learnt to carefully thread the needle. A sample of the finished pouches were displayed at St Oswald's church with lots of different art from all year groups.
In computing lessons we have developed our skills in programming using Scratch Junior. The children have been extremely creative in designing their own narratives, changing backgrounds and sprites as their short story unfolds.
Congratulations to all Year 2 children on a wonderful year of learning and exploring. We wish you a smoothless transition into Year 3 in September.
Summer 1
This half term the children have really enjoyed learning about the seaside town of Saltburn in Geography. As well as looking at maps, the children have compared human and physical features found in Saltburn to human and physical features found in Guiseley. The children had a super day on our trip taking a ride on the miniature train, having a picnic on the beach and enjoying an ice cream.
In Science, we have been learning about plants. We conducted an experiment to see what plants need to stay healthy and were surprised to find that the bean plant was still able to grow in the dark.
In DT, we investigated which 3D shape was the strongest and designed and built a chair for a teddy using card and masking tape. We persevered and did a lot of testing before creating our successful final model.
Spring 2
This half term, the children have really enjoyed learning about the local historical figure: Sir Titus Salt. They’ve learnt about what life was like in Saltaire during the Victorian period; the jobs children would have done working in a mill and what the houses looked like.
In Art, the children have studied the work of the famous British textile designer William Morris. They’ve taken inspiration from his nature inspired patterns and created their own prints in their sketchbooks. Using stamps and fabric pens, they copied their favourite design onto t shirts, producing some very trendy pieces!
We enjoyed celebrating reading week and coming into school in our pyjamas or dressing up as our favourite book character. We spent the week sharing stories, reading books, performing and writing our own poems. We also took part in a teacher swap and had a different teacher read us a story.
During orienteering day, we enjoyed using maps of the school grounds to locate different points and counted the number of easter eggs.
Spring 1
What a busy half term the children have had! We have thoroughly enjoyed learning about The Great Fire of London as part of our history topic. We used primary and secondary sources to investigate how the fire started, how far it spread and the impact it has had on London today.
In DT, we have designed and constructed a Ferris wheel. At the start of the topic, the children began by considering the materials, shape, construction and mechanisms of their wheel. Then they labelled their designs and began to build a stable structure with a rotating wheel. The final piece was inspired by our local area.
In Maths, we learnt about multiplication and division. We made equal groups and counted how many objects we had altogether.
Indigo Class also did an amazing job at performing their class assembly all about explorers.
Autumn 2
What a busy half term we have had in Year 2. The children have learnt all about taking photographs using the ipads in school. They know when to choose portrait and landscape shots as well as looking carefully at the lighting and taking close up and distance photographs. Watch out for the budding photographers during the Christmas holidays. Blue and Indigo classes have looked at food preparation skills and flavour combinations in their Design Technology lessons to design and plan a wrap. The design criteria was that it had to have a protein, a fruit or vegetable and a dairy product in it. It also had to be appealing to look at. The children have followed and written instructions in English lessons remembering to use imperative verbs at the beginning and to be clear and concise. In RE we have been looking at how the decisions we make have positive or negative consequences. We have looked at how Christians and Muslims follow certain rules in their religions that guide their decision making processes. As well as all that we have put on a wonderful Christmas performance of 'The Most Disgruntled Snowman' for our families to enjoy. Well done Year 2 for a fantastic half term.
Autumn 1
We are really impressed with how the Year 2 children have settled in. We’ve had a super busy first half term in Blue and Indigo Class learning all about famous explorers including Christopher Columbus, Neil Armstrong and Amy Johnson.
We have had lots of fun designing and making our own space vehicle for an explorer, inspired by the Russian cubism artist Lyubov Popova. We also took part in Guiseley Primary School's annual Art Week when we learnt all about the local artist Jo Dexter. The children experimented with mixing colours and developed their brush stroke skills to produce some fabulous work. We sent some pictures to Jo to ask if she like them and she wrote back to tell us she thought our paintings are fabulous!
