Year 2

Physical Education 

Article 29  –Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. 

In P.E this week we developed our understanding of over and under arm throws. We used a hoop in the middle as a target. If we managed to get all of our beanbags in the target we could challenge ourselves by taking a step back. Later we tried different balls to see if that made a difference to our aiming. We found the small soft balls easiest to control.  

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. 

Year 2 have been learning about poetry in their English lessons this week.  They had fun as they learned about rhyming words and how to perform using expression and actions. Year 2 worked hard to learn the poem ‘Hands’ by Julia Donaldson off by heart and could not wait to perform it so they could share it with their parents and carers at home. 

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.​

Year 2 have been learning how to cut material and make joins in Design and Technology. They found it tricky to thread a needle at first but with some perseverance, they all managed it. They then begin to join using a running stitch. By showing determination and patience, children were able to join the two pieces of fabric they had cut earlier. They also tried using glue, a stapler and blue tac to join but decided stitching was the best choice for the puppets they are going to make as this creates stronger joins.

Science 

CRC Article 28- All children have the right to a good quality education. You should be encouraged to go to school to the highest level you can. 

Learning Objective: Can you think like a material scientist and investigate which ball is the bounciest? 

In class today we had some big discussions about materials and their purposes, including some ‘what ifs’  

• What if our house wasn’t made of brink?  

• What if my house was made out of glass?  

• What if we wore towels on our heads instead of helmets when riding a bike?  

• What if towels were rough like the carpet? 

After sharing all of our knowledge through these open discussions, Mrs Paramore then shared some of her thoughts:  

“I wonder which ball in school is the bounciest?” 

We looked at a selection of balls and watched some slow-motion videos, focusing on what happens to a ball when it is dropped and bounces from a surface.  

We decided to make a prediction. We predict the bounciest ball will be the bouncy ball, after all it is in the name. This is then followed by the sports rubber ball, the hard plastic ball, the sponge ball and finally the Play-Doh ball (Mrs Paramore made this and we don’t think it even qualifies as a ball!) 

Next in our investigation is to plan a test that is fair so we can seek the answer to Mrs Paramore’s wonder.  

CRC Article 13: All children have the right to information. ​

Mrs. Blakey visited the beach at the weekend and found all kinds of weird and wonderful objects. We looked at them in detail, decided whether they were meant to be on the beach or ended up by accident and sorted them.​

We had lots of questions:​

What happens to the animals if plastic goes into the ocean? ​

How are fossils made? How are fossils there?​

How is sand made?​

How did all the plastics get there? ​

How can we help to make sure these things don’t hurt the animals?​

Where does sea glass come from?​

What are shells?​

Some of the adjectives we used to describe the objects were:​

smooth/rough/rigid/jagged/flexible/smelly/dirty/bendy/hard/curved

Year 2 have been learning about whales and other ocean creatures. We used the text ‘Dear Greenpeace’ to inspire our writing and thought it would be a great idea to write a letter then send it to their head office. Can you believe it…we got a reply along with some goodies and stickers. Greenpeace were incredibly impressed with our writing and research and told us about some of the things they do to help and also what we could do too.

Learning Objective: To learn to sing and perform the song Hands, feet, heart by Joanna Mangola.

Article 29 –Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. It should also help you learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people.

Singing in parts

We have now learnt our class song and this week we focused on being able to sing in two parts.

One group sang the chorus line whilst the other group echoed it.

This is a very tricky skill as timing is really important and you have to stay focused on your singing part and not the singing part of the other group.

We were very good at this and performed to our Year 1 members of the class. You can see our music video on our school website.

CRC Article 28 – All children have the right to a good quality education.  

CRC Article 29 – All children have the right to be the best they can be. 

Year 2 have been looking at poetry this week and have enjoyed the poem ‘There was an Old Lady’. 

We looked at rhyming words and we thought of actions to help them remember the words. We practiced in groups and then all came together to practise it as a whole class.  It was really tricky trying to remember the order that each creature was eating so we had to practise again and again so we could be the best we could possibly be. We hope you enjoy our performance. 

CRC Article 28- All children have the right to a good quality education.  

Our young historians were ever so keen to learn more about their local history when they were greeted by two locomotives in class today. We discussed how Shildon town, like many other towns, villages and cities has changed over time and how events of the past have had impact on the way things are today.  

We enjoyed going on our school website and reading about the history of the school. We worked out it is 114 years old! We discovered the school was built due to the demand of having so many more children in the area.  

But why did more children end up in the area?  

Well that all stems from Timothy Hackworth, the Rainhill Trials and Shildon finding itself in the heart of the new railway industry.  

We reflected on our knowledge of timelines and showed that we are very good at using the vocabulary: now, then, past, present future. We made a huge class timeline to go back and plot some key dates on.  

CRC Article 28 – All children have the right to a good quality education.​
CRC Article 29 – All children have the right to be the best they can be.​

Y2HT have been learning about algorithms and how we can use them to program instructions into a Beebot. They began by making a Beebot World and they added houses, ponds and other landmarks as well as a home ( a starting point ) for their bot. The class then practised using a series of steps to try to get from ‘home’ to one of the landmarks. They had to remember to set clear before they began each set or the Beebot remembered the previous algorithm . It was quite tricky but Y2 think they can crack it with a determination over the next few weeks.

P.E. – To develop core muscle strength, whole body balances and teamwork skills 

CRC Article 24- You have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean and safe  environment, and information to help you stay well. 

It was another great P.E. lesson this week filled with laughter and perseverance.  We have a right to information to help us stay well. We know that P.E helps us to regulate our emotions into the green zone whilst strengthening our muscles and bones. This week we did a relay race that involved balancing lots of equipment on one of our team members. The second activity ‘The floor is lava’ involved us making strategic moves, careful balances and making different types of leaps to recover as many items as we could. This P.E. session was so much fun, and we could not stop talking about it all afternoon.

CRC Article 28- All children have the right to a good quality education.  

Magnificent Multiplication in Maths 

Our young Mathematicians have made a great start to 2025.  They were so keen to get back into the swing of learning and were eager to use the maths resources to begin to learn about multiplication. They began by learning how to recognise, make and then add equal groups.  They loved using counters to do this in a concrete way and said it really helped them make sure each group had the same value.  As part of our Maths learning journey towards multiplication, Year 2 have had lots of fun ‘working out’ with the ‘Super Movers’ BBC mini workout too. Year 2 certainly have got the moves! 

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to the best possible health.  

We know that P.E keeps our bodies and minds fit and well. This week we were introduced to Bollywood style of dancing, and we loved listening to the music.  

We found the music to be bouncy and noticed the dancers moved in a bouncy way. 

We controlled our bodies to learn the following moves: 

• Wolf hands 
• Petal hands 
• Hip shifts.  

Once we learnt these moves in isolation, we put them together as danced through a routine. 

CRC Article 19: Children have the right to be safe

CRC Article 24: Children have the right to good food.

CRC Article 13 : Children have the right to information

Year 2TH  wanted to find out all about ‘healthy eating for kids’. They wanted to use the internet to help them with their research as they had already looked at some printed texts.  They already knew there is lots of information on the world wide web and that sometimes we come across information which is not always accurate or suitable for children. We have had lots of discussions around what we need to do if something ‘pops up’ which makes us feel uncomfortable or scares us. Year 2 reminded themselves and each other that they must ‘TELL A TRUSTED ADULT’ immediately if that happens. They wanted to know if there were any search engines which were designed just for them as this was another way to stay safe…and there was… ‘KIDDLE’.

So, Year 2 carefully typed ‘KIDDLE’ into their search bar which took them to the Kiddle search engine. They were then able to search easily and safely for the information they needed. Everyone made a choice of the healthiest foods, deciding they would like to make a healthy salad wrap in our Design and Technology lesson.

English

L.O To describe my favourite part of the story.

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.

In English we have been reading the story ‘The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig’. We have really enjoyed this version of a traditional tale.

Today we worked with our writing partners to use the ideas on our plans and turn them into a descriptive piece of writing. Our teacher is looking out for adjectives and conjunctions in our writing today.

Healthy Wraps? Yes Please!

CRC: Article 24 You have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment, and information to help you stay well.

Year 2HT decided they would like to make Healthy Wraps as part of their food preparation in Design and Technology. They had been researching ways to look after their body and as well as exercise; eating a well balanced diet was something they discussed was really important. They voted as a class which vegetables they would like to include before hand. On the day, they talked about the equipment they would use to make their healthy wrap. They had previously decided, the equipment they needed they would be: chopping boards, bowls, a peeler, a grater, a sharp knife.

Mrs Blakey showed them how to hold the knives and cut safely using the arch method and the crab hand method with their fingers tucked well out of the way. She also modelled how to grate safely.

They knew it was incredibly important to wash their hands to ensure they did not transfer any germs to their food. So that was the first task they completed.

They grated the carrots and sliced or chopped the cucumber, radishes and lettuce using the methods they had seen to keep their fingers safe. It was tricky to hold the tiny radishes while keeping their hand like a claw as they kept rolling away. So, they decided it was easier to chop a little off the bottom then they were flat to the board.

It was a bit tricky to put everything together too as they had no sauce or mayonnaise to keep it stuck to the wrap so it kept falling out when they rolled it up.

And then, the best part…Y2 got to eat their final product.

“ This is so delicious, I could just faint!” exclaimed Isabella T…well I think it is fair to say our healthy wraps were a hit with Y2HT.

PSHE

L.O To understand the different zones of regulation.

Article 12
Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously

Article 13
Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Article 28
Every child has the right to an education.

Article 29
Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

In PSHE we have been looking at the Zones of Regulation. We discussed our emotions and what zone we would be in whilst feeling these emotions. For example, when we feel sad we would be in the blue zone. We then went on to talk about different scenarios in which we may feel happy, angry, sad, or anxious. The children showed empathy and respect for their peers during carpet time and offered solutions on how we can change from a blue zone to a green zone.

Next we acted out some hypothetical scenarios when you might feel scared or annoyed. We discussed how it is normal to feel a range of different emotions but that we should always try to control our emotions and return to being calm and happy.

Finally, we drew some scenarios of when we have felt in the blue zone, red zone, yellow zone and green zone.

Bollywood comes to THP

CRC:  Article 19: All children have the right to be safe. 

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to be healthy. 

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. 

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to relax and play.

Y2 have developed their cultural capital in PE this week as they performed their Bollywood dance. They consolidated all of their learning from this half term. As a class, they chose a starting and ending position, a sequence of dance steps and decided to use a count of 8 beats. Using turns, arm movements, steps and balances they performed as groups and as a whole class. Their audience was very impressed by the final dance and they were incredibly proud of all of the skills they had developed. The music was catchy too!

English 

CRC Article 29- All children have the right to be the best that they can be. 

This week in class, the children have been reading the poem ‘Queue for the Zoo’ by Clare Bevan. They learnt the poem off by heart and performed it to their peers with actions. We started the week by studying the poem and identifying the features of poetry. We then moved on to rehearsing the poem ready to recite it with expression and actions.  

As you can see from the video, the children were extremely enthusiastic and performed the poem beautifully! 

Oh no! There’s a Queue at the Zoo for Y2​

CRC Article 29 : All children have the right to be the best they can be.​

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. ​

CRC Article 31: All children have the right to relax and play.​

Y2 had a lot of fun this week as they looked at the poem “Queue for the Zoo” by Clare Bevan. They delved into adjectives and verbs and ways they could perform the poem to make it sound great for the audience. They practiced expression and actions and decided they would feel even more ‘animal like’ if they made masks of each of the animals in the poem. They worked really hard on their performance and hope you really enjoy watching it.

L.O. Use simple charting software to produce basic pictograms. 

To add labels and titles as appropriate. 

Asking and answering simple questions about the pictogram. 

CRC Article 13- All children have the right to find out things and share what they think with others, by talking, drawing, writing or in any other way unless it harms or offends other people. 

In Year 2 we now know how to use a QR code to access a website. We used our class QR code to take us to the J2e website. This website allows us to collect and input data and then it creates a pictogram to show this data. We explored the page whilst our teacher explained the features and purpose of using this type of technology. We were then able to set up our own pictograms and collect data from members of the class. At the end of the lesson, we were then asked questions about our data: 

• What did you decide to find out?  

• What was the most popular?  

• What was the least popular?  

• What if someone’s choice was not on your data?  

As we were using the Internet, we ensured we remained safe by not using the names of the people we were collecting data from.  

Paul Klee? Who is he? ​

CRC Article 29 : All children have the right to be the best they can be.​

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. ​

CRC Article 13 : All children have the right to information.​

Year 2 have been looking at different artists in their Art lessons. They researched the artist Paul Klee and really enjoyed the colours and lines he uses to make his works. They were inspired to create their own pieces using, mixing and experimenting with watercolours. They found it difficult at first to know how much water to add to the paint, so it was transparent. Y2 discovered the less water they added, the darker the paint would be. They had to be really precise with their brush movements to get the paint to fit perfectly within the lines. They then went on to use these skills to create their own masterpiece inspired by the pop artist Andy Warhol. They loved making themselves look strange by adding unusual colours to their facial image.​

Music 

L.O. To look at your audience when you are performing 

CRC Article 29 All children have the right to be the best that they can be. Education should develop their talents and abilities to the full. 

In Music this half term, we have been listening to a range of Reggae songs and comparing the tempo and beat of each song. We have also been learning the song Zootime. We have learnt the lyrics and performed them to the class. This week we had to perform the song to an audience whilst playing a glockenspiel. We learnt the rhythm and tapped out the different notes with our hands. We had so much fun! 

Y2 Super Skippers ​

CRC:  Article : CRC Article 29 : All children have the right to be the best they can be.​

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. ​

CRC Article 13 : All children have the right to be healthy​

Y2 had a wonderful visitor. They were joined by a lovely lady from ‘Skipping School’ who taught all of the children the ‘skipping smile’. They began by learning how to hold the handles correctly and then making a big smile with the shape of the rope behind them. They went through small stages like making a ‘snap’ with the rope as it hit the ground, stepping, then pony jumping over it. Y2 were very skilled skippers and were soon ready to skip backwards and while moving forward. Level 5 skippers all round. They made the most of the beautiful sunny day and look forward to practicing their skills some more on the yard and at home.

CRC Article 28- All children have the right to a good quality education.  

Today we have been finding out about riddles. We now know that a riddle is a clever type of question. We are given clues to try to solve the riddle. Sometimes, these riddles involve wordplay which we really enjoyed. There was a member of our class who was brilliant at solving riddles! We now call her the Riddler.  

We had lots of fun this lesson working together to read riddles, identify the clues and try to find the answer. Often, we had to make good guesses.  

Riddles are a form of poetry we have already decided that we love. In 2S, we love a good puzzle. Some riddles puzzled us, some riddles made us laugh and others left us totally confused.  

Can you solve the puzzles below?

Y2 Orienteering Champions​

CRC Article 29 : All children have the right to be the best they can be.​

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. ​

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to be healthy.​

.​Year 2 had an exciting trip to Hardwick Park this week as part of our Orienteering in PE. ‘Go Well, Healthy Active Futures’ organised a wonderful morning of activities for us. Y2 used clues to hunt for the teddy bears, each teddy had a number and letter which they put together to spell the word ‘TEAMWORK’. They then worked carefully in pairs to guide each other through the rope maze while their partner was blindfolded. This took a lot of fantastic explaining and patience as they supported each other to avoid the huge tree stumps, move under obstacles and around the giant trees. The final challenge asked the children to avoid the lava as they used balance and co-ordination to move from one island to the other, ensuring they did not fall in. Y2 ended with a quick relay around the castle and a play in the play area. They all had a fantastic time, worked so well in their teams and received a well-earned certificate. Well done Year 2!

CRC Article 29- All children have the right to be the best that they can be.  

Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities.  

In music this week, we began to play a simple rhythmic pattern on a recorder. We learnt the notes B and G. We sang through our class song, our Friendship song, to remind ourselves of the rhythm. We then listened to how the recorder could accompany the song. We realised that if our fingers were not placed on the recorder correctly, it would give us the wrong note and often a very high pitch. So, we practised playing our notes until we were able to play along with the music.  

PSHE 

L.O to understand more about the importance of oral hygiene.  

CRC Article 24: Children have the right to the best health. 

This week, we have welcomed some visitors to THPS to talk to us about dental health. They talked about the importance of having good dental hygiene and how we can look after our teeth. We practiced brushing the teeth on a model. Some of us found this tricky with the big toothbrush! We ended the visit with a story called ‘Oh, Boris!’ This book was about a bear who lost all his teeth because he didn’t like to brush them.   

We learnt some top tips from our visitors: 

• Brush morning and night 

• Brush for 2 minutes 

• Only drink water at night 

• Only eat sugary foods as a treat 
• Snack on fruits and vegetables 

Trusty Teeth​

CRC Article 19: All children have the right to be safe. ​

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to be healthy. ​

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. ​

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best that they can be.​

Yr2 had some visitors into school to teach us how to look after our teeth. The school nurses brought in some GIANT gnashers and showed us how to clean them carefully with her equally giant toothbrush. She carefully brushed up and down, back to front (not forgetting the tongue) and before we knew it they were sparkling clean. Y2 learned the importance of brushing twice a day and of regular visits to the dentist to check for problems like decay or tartar build up. She showed us some disgusting pictures of children who hadn’t looked after their teeth and the children all agreed they certainly didn’t want that to happen to them. They also found out about the importance of good diet choices and not too much sugar as part of our ‘healthy tooth plan.’

D.T 

L.O. To make a moveable chicken coop following my design 

CRC Article 28- All children have the right to a good quality education. 

Over the last half term, we have been designing and making a chicken coop. The purpose of our chicken coop was to protect the chickens from being eaten by Fantastic Mr Fox. We needed to ensure the chicken coop was on wheels so it could be moved easily if the chickens were in danger.  

Once we had designed our chicken coops, we experimented with wheels and axels to investigate how we could make them move. We also thought about how many chickens our coop would have and how large the wheels should be based on this. 

Next, we had a lot of fun making our coops. We worked in pairs and shared our design ideas. We were extremely proud of our chicken coops as you can clearly see from the photos. 

Is it living or dead?​

CRC Article 19: All children have the right to be safe. ​

CRC Article 24: All children have the right to be healthy. ​

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education. ​

CRC Article 29: All children have the right to be the best they can possibly.​

In Science, Year 2 have been learning all about the ways to recognise if something is living, dead or has never been alive with the help of MRS GREN. They have found it useful to use this acronym M: Movement, R: Respiration, S: Sensitivity, G: Growth, R: Reproduction, E:Excretion and N: Nutrition.

They went out into the Reception garden and all around the school grounds and looked for signs of life. They were surprised how many minibeasts they found in all of the nooks and crannies and how many varieties of flowers and plants they could identify using their cheat sheets. They even heard some tiny squeaks in one of the hedges but couldn’t quite see which bird they belonged to. They didn’t want to get too close and scare the mother of babies.