Otters

Year Two: Autumn 1 Learning Highlights

What a fantastic start to the year our Year Two children have made! Badgers and Otters have been sparky, curious and ready to learn from the very first day, and have quickly become wonderful role models for the younger children in our school. Here are some highlights from a busy and happy first half-term.

In English, our learning centred on Traction Man by Mini Grey. We revealed the story a little at a time, which helped the children sharpen their prediction and inference skills. They created “roles on the wall” for characters, wrote detailed descriptions, kept diaries in role as Traction Man, and wrote thoughtful thank-you cards in role as the boy. They also acted out scenes, drew story maps and planned their own sequels. Along the way, they practised spelling rules for adding the suffixes “-ing” and “-ed”.

In Maths, we built strong foundations in place value, partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones and in more flexible ways. The children wrote numbers to 100 in words, estimated and compared numbers on number lines, and counted in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. Towards the end of the half-term, they recapped number bonds to 20 and used known facts to solve addition and subtraction problems.

Science and Geography have sparked real curiosity. In Science, the children focused on Living Things and their habitats. They explored ocean, coastal, woodland and rainforest habitats, including finding out about food chains and how different animals and plants depend upon each other for survival. In Geography, they travelled to Kampong Ayer in Brunei in Asia, the world’s largest water village. They compared its stilt houses, schools, weather and water taxis with life in Fetcham and used atlases to find out more.

Our creative subjects have been just as rich. In Art and Design, the children explored texture through wax crayon rubbings, developed tone and shading, and produced impressive observational drawings of soft toys. Our first Design and Technology unit introduced levers and pivots, and the children made moving pictures with real independence. In Music, they explored vocal sounds, notation and steady beat. They then shared their learning at our Harvest Assembly, with an energetic performance of Harvest Samba.

The children have also grown in their understanding of themselves and others. In PSHE, they considered rights, responsibilities, rewards and consequences. In RE, they explored what Christians believe God is like. In Computing, they learned about online safety and the many ways technology helps us. In ‘Wild Wednesdays’, it was Year 2’s turn for Outdoor PE and French. The children built their French vocabulary, focusing on French words for places around town, as well as developing their physical agility, balance, co-ordination, speed and stamina!

Finally, we were thrilled to launch our Pupil Leadership roles. Each Year Two pupil who applied has a role on one of our Pupil Leadership Teams: Pupil Parliament, Eco Agents, Reading Reps, Garden Guardians, Fishy Friends and Sports Leaders. The Year Two children are also taking turns as Playground Pals and Wake and Shakers, all helping to keep our school a happy, safe and fun place to be. We are so proud of everything that our wonderful Year Two children have achieved so far! We’re excited to see what comes next!