Skip to content ↓

Our Learning

SUMMER TERM 2024

Our topic this term is 'The Great Explorers'. We will be exploring the enquiry questions 'Can all animals survive in every habitat?' and 'Should everyone have been treated the same aboard the Titanic?'

Geography

We will be continuing our Geography learning from the spring term were will be focussing on The Galapagos Islands in comparison to Redditch, where we live. Across summer 1, we will be using different types of maps to look into human and physical features in more detail, whilst also exploring logistics of work, shopping and vegetation on the islands.

History

We will continue our journey as explorers in History and will be using our mapping skills to map out the journey of the Titanic. We will make links to the continents and oceans that were visited or seen along the way before disaster struck. How did it sink? Who was to blame? Could things have been different? How were people treated differently? All of these important pieces of information will help us to discuss the voyage of the Titanic in more detail.

Science

In Science, our learning will focus on animals and their habitats, specifically how they have adapted to suit these habitats. This can have many factors, such as where they live and what their food chain is (including dependency on other animals). 

Art and Design Technology

In Art, we will be focusing on the artwork of Eric Carle to create a collaged overlay effect of an animal of our choice. We will be exploring the idea of print in the environment and with materials to assist us with creating different effects.

In DT, Year 2 will be looking at the skill of chopping. The classes will be working together to create a three course meal fit for the people onboard the Titanic.

English

In English this term. we will be using the book Wanted: The Perfect Pet by Fiona Roberton. We will be using this story to write a letter to Henry to describe what our perfect pet would be and why. We will then retell chapter 2 of the story from the duck's perspective - what was he really hoping to get from pretending to be a dog? Finally, we will think of caring instructions of how to help anyone else that may find themselves in Henry's position with very upset duck to look after.

We will then move on to 'The Bear and the Piano' and follow the bear on his journey to the big city. Should he stay or should he go? Will he regret his decision?


SPRING TERM 2024

Our topic this term was 'Vaynor or Victorian?' and we were building on our learning from the autumn term to find out what life for a Victorian child was really like! 

History

The children began the spring term learning all about Victorian childhoods and how they were very different from today. The focus looked at school, home life, work life and toys.

We 'magically' went back in time and turned Vaynor into a Victorian classroom! The children were able to experience what it was like for a child to attend a Victorian school. They took take part in Arithmetic, writing on slates, drill and even played with Victorian toys!  Would they rather be a Vaynor child or a Victorian child?

        

Design technology 

As part of our Victorian topic we were looking at Victorian toys. The children were able to explore axles and wheels to design, make and evaluate their own pull along Victorian toys. 

Science

In Science we were learning about plants and living things. We learnt about what plants need to grow and had a go at growing our own broad beans! We also looked at what humans need to stay alive such as a balanced diet.

         

English 

In English this term we used the book 'The Wolf's Story' to explore different character viewpoints. To begin, we made predictions about what we thought the wolf would be like and wrote a job advert to help him after losing his job at Grandma's house!

                                        

We then wrote letters of advice to the wolf to tell him what he did wrong in the story and how he can become a good wolf after all!  Unfortunately, wolf didn't listen to us, so we had to get him arrested and sent to jail! We were given the job of proving his innocence to get him out of jail by explaining his side of the story!

 

In Spring 2, we continued to look at different viewpoints of the story. We dived deep into 'Little Red Reading Hood' and discussed how the wolf was seen by others to help us write a story from the librarian's perspective. After that, we read the sequel 'A Hero Called Wolf' which showed the wolf had finally changed his ways! He was able to help lots of different fairytale characters in the story so we wrote some instructions to help the devastated prince fix his beloved feather hat.

                                 ​       

Maths

In Maths we started to learn all about multiplication, division and fractions. We will learnt how to count in steps of 2, 3, 5 and 10 to support our multiplication knowledge and build up our fluency. Remember to use TTRockStars to help practice timetables at home!

                                                     

AUTUMN TERM 2023

Our overarching topic for this term was Oh, I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside! The magical Year 2 team have weaved this into a learning journey! 

English  

We focused on Narrative in English in this first half term and built some of the learning around the text 'Sharing a Shell' by Julia Donaldson. The children (and teachers!) adore this story and we had lots of fun designing Talk 4 Writing actions to retell it.

 

As the topic progressed, we wanted children to become experts about 'under the sea' so we focused on a range of texts in Guided Reading where they could read, research and learn even more!

            

Steering the children's learning towards more Non-Fiction elements, we then looked at the largest animal on the planet.....the mighty Blue Whale. We researched facts to amaze the reader about this almighty mammal. Did you know a Blue Whales tongue weighs the same as an elephant?

Maths

Our Maths focus this term was 'Number'. This includede: place value of 2-digit numbers, ordering and sequencing and counting in different steps. We had lots of fun this term and used practical resources to support our learning. In Autumn 2, we moved on to addition and subtraction and used our place value knowledge to support our calculations.

     Art  

In Art, the children began by exploring the artwork of Amiria Gale.

   

They have completed evaluations and have discussed the pieces using technical vocabulary, commenting on colour, line and tone and also how the pieces make them feel. They made their own observational sketches of real shells!

In our topic lessons we explored Victorian holidays and inventions. We used these enquiry questions to base our learning. What happened in the Victorian era? When was it? Who was Queen Victoria?

We compared holidays from the past to now and explored what it would be like for a Victorian child.

In DT, we learnt the Victorian skill of sewing and were able to design, make and evaluate our own Victorian Christmas decoration. Look at how amazing our designs are!