Welcome to 2KP!

Come and have a look at some of the many learning activities we participate in during Year 2!

Multiplication masters!

As we start a new year and a new term in Year 2, our next focus in Maths is multiplication. We have already started learning our 2, 5 and 10 times tables and now we are going to build on our knowledge to make sure we know all these number facts quickly. There are lots of ways we can do this, including singing songs, chanting times table facts and playing games. We know it is really important to practice, so we become more confident and accurate. 

The links below will take you to TTRockstars and Hit the button which are websites we use at school:

   

Design and Technology - Fairground wheels

We have been learning about mechanisms in DT and how we can make models move. We were challenged to design and build our own fairground wheels, following a given design brief and including a wheel and axle. We planned our models, thought about the best materials to use and explored different structures and axle holders before constructing our final pieces. We knew we had been successful if our fairground wheels could turn round with the pods staying the right way up! 

      

   

Our trip to Smart Trees!

We had so much fun on our Key Stage 1 trip to Smart Trees! At the start of the day, we had the opportunity to apply our learning from Geography while reading maps to find clues and help Father Christmas locate his missing reindeer. There were many rows of trees to search in and it was also incredibly muddy!

      

   

Following that, we enjoyed making reindeer food and feeding some of Santa's reindeer, going on a very bumpy trailer ride, exploring in the Winter wonderland and meeting the elves who helped us post our Christmas letters. One of the best parts of the day was meeting Father Christmas in his grotto - he asked about our time at Smart Trees and even gave us all a gift! We had a brilliant day!

      

      

   

      

   

   

We are Scientists

We have been learning about materials and their properties in Science. In our sessions we have compared and described materials and thought about why we use certain materials for particular uses. We also considered unusual uses of materials and their advantages and disadvantages. For example, using a laptop as a knife or making a dress out of newspaper!

   

We have carried out investigations to further explore the properties of materials, including finding the best material to use to keep a sandwich fresh. After learning about Charles Macintosh and his discovery of a way to waterproof fabric, we investigated which was the best material to keep Father Christmas's sleigh dry when out delivering presents.

      

When carrying out the investigations, we made our own predictions, thought about how we could record our findings and considered how to carry out a fair test.

RE - Advent and the countdown to Christmas

In RE, we have been learning about the importance of Christmas to Christians. We discussed why the birth of Jesus is significant and what Jesus represents to Christians.

We talked about how we prepare for Christmas with our families at home, before making a class advent wreath and decorating our classroom so we could prepare for Christmas together at school as well!

Clay play

In art, we have been exploring and using clay as a medium to create pieces of art. To begin, we experimented with the different shapes we could create with clay. We learnt how to roll, flatten, stretch and smooth clay and explored manipulating it in other ways.

          

Following this, we learnt how to make pinch pots. Starting with a ball of clay, we used our thumbs to create a hole in the centre. From there, we pinched the sides of the ball to thin them out and shape them like a bowl. Once we were happy with the shape of our pots, we made small clay shapes and used a slip (a mix of water and clay) to attach these to our pots.

          

We moved on to create our own clay tiles, learning how to make impressions in the clay using different tools. We combined this with our previously learnt skill of creating clay shapes and using a slip to attach them.

                    

Computing

In Computing we have been exploring the tools and features available to us on Purple Mash and refreshing the skills we developed in Year 1. We have been using the drawing tools, typing captions and labels and saving our work both in our own work folders and a shared class folder. We have learnt how to read messages left for us from our teacher and how to search for topics and then filter the results.

     

We have started exploring other programs that can be used to support different subjects, including 2 Count, which is a program that we can use to create pictograms. After collecting our own data, we put the information together in our own pictogram.

     

RE - Showing care for the World and others

During our first RE unit this year, we have been learning about how different religions show care for others and why this is important. We found out that Jewish people often donate money to those less fortunate than them as part of Tzedekah and Christians think of people who do not have enough food during Harvest. We thought about what we do as a school to show care, including supporting Children in Need and picking up litter around the school site. We then decided to organise a Harvest collection for the Redditch Foodbank. After telling the rest of the school about it, we were overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and support. Thank you, CCA families!

Funnybones

We have been enjoying reading and retelling the story 'Funnybones' by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. We use the repeated words and phrases to help us read the story with expression and pace.

Click on the book cover to listen to the story being read:

Crabbs Cross Carnival Games!

In History we have been learning about the Redditch Carnival and how it has changed since it first took place in 1929. 

      

As part of this topic, we learnt about what we would see and hear at a carnival, including floats, a procession, costumes, music, dancing and games. We found out about traditional carnival games such as coconut shy, ring toss and balloon pop while playing them in the hall. It was lots of fun!

            

PE - Gymnastics

In PE this half term our focus is Gymnastics and we are developing good control and coordination when moving our bodies. To start the unit, we explored different shapes we could make with our bodies, both independently and with a partner.

           

     

We were then challenged to create letter shapes with a partner. What letters can you see below?!

     

     

Have you seen Dogger?

We have been reading the story 'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes and we are very concerned because Dave has lost his favourite toy! We have been helping Dave by creating Lost posters so others know he is missing. We thought about the most effective words to use to describe Dogger and included these in our writing.

   

Number time!

In Maths, we are currently learning about Place Value and exploring numbers up to 100. It is really important that we know how numbers are made and the value of each digit (10s and 1s). To help us develop this, we have been using the resources in our maths toolkits to make numbers in lots of different ways.

    

Crabbs Cross Academy Paralympics

After hearing about Mrs Bowen's cousin who was participating in this year's Paralympic Games, we found out a bit more about what the Paralympics is and who takes part in it. We then joined the other children in Key Stage 1 to take part in our own Paralympic Games. Some of the activities we tried were blindfold hurdles (we were supported by a guide), egg and spoon race without using our arms, one-handed ball bounce and blindfold ball drop. 

      

Art Attack!

We started our time in Year 2 by creating self-portraits ... although not in the way you might expect! After looking at the artwork 'Senecio' by Paul Klee, we created our own pieces of art, taking inspiration from the geometric shapes and variations in colour Paul Klee used. Using oil and chalk pastels we enjoyed experimenting with different colours to make our faces fun, eye-catching and a little unusual! Our finished pieces are now on display in the KS1 art gallery for all to see.