During the Autumn term we are focusing on the wider world around us and what it means to be a hero. We will be creating our own heroes and discussing what makes each and everyone one of us a hero. We will also be looking at the News and at the amazing people making a change across the globe. Finally we will be learning about space and the first astronauts to go to the moon.

This term we using our curiosity to investigate what it means to be part of a community. We will also be learning all about space and how to keep ourselves and others healthy. We will look at the News and at the amazing people making a change across the globe.We are also going to be creating fact files for the school and even putting on our own 'cafe' to educate others on the importance of healthy eating. Finally, we will be conducting Science experiments to see if we can send any of our own rockets to the moon!

Welcome to Year 2 Condors Class

The class teacher for this year is Mrs Hannah Sennett and the LSAs who work in this class are; Mrs Stride, Mr Hobson and Mrs Burgess.

PE days:

Our PE day in Condors is Wednesday, please make sure children's PE kit is available at all times. We will ensure they are sent home at the end of every half term.  

Home Learning:

Handed out on a Friday and collected in the following Wednesday. This will give you the opportunity to explore your child's learning at home if you wish.

Team Leader:

Year 1 and 2 Teaching and Learning Lead: Alison Dowdeswell

Key Stage 1 Lead: Sarah Jarrett

If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see the teacher (Mrs Hannah Sennett) or contact hsennett@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk  

Alternatively please contact a team leader:

adowdeswell@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

sjarrett@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

Upcoming Dates

Wednesday 6th June 2018 - Sports Day

Thursday 28th June - Be Curious... #wearescientist. An Interactive Science Museum

Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th July - Summer Parents Evening

Wednesday 25th July - Last Day of School

TBC - Nutritionist Visitor

TBC - Mobile planetarium visitor

Monday 25th June - Soundscapes 

Today Cormorants and Condors teamed up to go outside and create a soundscape. We learnt that this is when you map out sounds using pictures and put them on a graph based on their duration and pitch. We explored the playground and closed our eyes for a minute to listen to all the sounds we could hear. Later on this week we will be trying to recreate the sounds using our bodies and resources inside the classroom.Have a look at what we got up to below!

Monday 25th June - Acrostic poems!

Today we have been investigating the features of an acrostic poem and using these features to write our own poems about our friends and Sports Day! We had great fun thinking about the different ways we can use adjectives to describe each other and our fun Sports Day!

Here is one of our poems:

Sports Day makes you strong

Persevere 

Others cheer

Run around

Trying new things

So fun

Day is so fabulous

A picnic for lunch

Yay for ice cream!

Sports Day - Wednesday 6th June 2018

We have had a fantastic days today competing in our house teams! We have been practicing hard with Mr. Leaman and were excited to show off to our what we've been up to! We competed in sprints, javelin, hurdles and long jump as well as cheering our teams on during the Year 6 relay. We would like to say a big Thank You to South Devon College for their help in setting this up and all the parents for coming to watch us. Have a look below at our amazing day!

Shapes! - Tuesday 22nd May 2018

We were sorting 2D and 3D shapes today and discussing their properties. We are now really confident with our new mathematical vocabulary! 

Outdoor Learning Day! - Thursday 17th May 2018

Today we celebrated outdoor learning day. We used natural materials to build homes and habitats for woodland animals. We got a little bit creative with some including water slides!

SPaG - Similes - Wednesday 9th May 2018

Today we looked at what a simile is and how we can use them to engage the reader! We had a great time thinking of our own comparisons.

Robin's nest! - Tuesday 24th April

We had the chance to look at a nest from a garden today. It belonged to a Robin! It was great to see how their habitat is made and how they keep they're young safe.

How to make a Healthy Wrap - Tuesday 17th April 2018

We have begun looking at the different food groups and how important it is to have a healthy balanced diet to keep our bodies healthy and happy! We made our own snack today and ensured that there were ingredients from the 5 food groups. They were delicious!!!

Data handling - Monday 16th April 2018

We used our Maths knowledge to collect data. We then thought of questions that we could find the answer to using the data we had collected. 

White Rock Learning Celebration 2018 - Thursday 29th March

We spent the day at the Riviera International Conference Centre rehearsing and performing in our annual learning celebration. We had a fantastic day and everyone did an amazing job! Great team work, great performance and a great out come!

Flute and Harp performance - Monday 12th March

Today we were lucky enough to listen to a musical performance on the flute and harp. They have been playing their instruments since they were 4 and 9!! We definitely felt inspired after listening to their beautiful music.

World Book Day! - Thursday 8th March 2018

We celebrated World Book Day a week late this year due to the snow but we had a great time! We completed a book trail, book quiz and wrote poems based on a class book we read - The Day the Crayons Quit! 

Sharing our Home Learning - Tuesday 27th February 2018

Today we shared our own research of traditional clothing from around the world to help inspire us when we are creating our own recycled outfits. We chose to focus on the Kilt, Sari and Stetson!

Finding a Missing Number - Friday 23rd February 2018

Today we were investigating the different ways we can represent a missing number problem and the different methods that we can use to find the missing number!

A visit from the percussionist The Junkman - Wednesday 21st February 2018

Today we were able to listen to a musician with a difference... he played great rhythms on pieces of junk! We were lucky enough to take part in a workshop with him and play along with some of his own unique instruments.

The photos and videos below show you what we learnt today!

Year 2 visit to The Eden Project - Tuesday 20th February 2018

This week were climbed onto a coach and made our way down to Cornwall! We had a brilliant time learning about the differences between our country and the South American country Brazil! We looked at the differences in buildings and the materials that are used to make them. We even used our new knowledge to build Ken and Barbie their own huts! 

We were also able to explore the different Biomes and look at the wild life and plants that grow in the differing climates. The size of the leaves in the Rainforest were huge!

"This has been the best day! I loved seeing the cactus."

"The waterfall was massive and made me cool. It sounded like a roaring lion!"

Raising our Heart Rate! - Friday 9th February 2018

Today we all helped raise money for a defibrillator to be near our school. The year 6s did an amazing job organising different events for us to take part in and raise our awareness of such a great cause!

We are expert Researchers! - Wednesday 7th February 2018

This afternoon we researched the country Brazil ready for our trip to The Eden Project. We used iPads, books, written fun facts and our prior knowledge to write short and sharp bullet point facts into our researcher's note pad! 

Becoming Authors! - Week beginning Monday 29th January 2018

Over the last week we have paired up with a Year 1 partner and created a story for them. They told us which animal they would like as the main character and where they would like the story to be set and we came up with the rest! We have had Polar Bears visiting the Queen to Kittens travelling all over the world on a private jet! Our Year 1 partners were thrilled with their stories.

"It's nice because it's got all I wanted in it!"

"I like it at the end because the Arctic Wolf has a cake."

"Amazing drawings!"

"The start is really interesting."

"I like it being on a farm and the pink sheep!"

Living, Not Living and Never Living! - Tuesday 23rd January 2018

We have been looking at the differences between not living and never living and using our Scientific reasoning skills to explain why a leaf on the ground would be in a different category to a piece of plastic found on the ground. 

Below are some pictures of the materials that we found in our learning environment.

Authors for Year 1 - Friday 19th January 2018

We met with our Year 1 partners today to ask them what they would like their story to be based on and which animal should be the main character. We had a great time thinking of different countries in the world to set our stories and which animals would make it an interesting read for the reader!

Rainbow Fruit and Veg Riverford visit -  Wednesday 17th January 2018

We had a visit from two employees from Riverford Farm come in and share their knowledge about organic fruit and vegetables this afternoon. We were able to cut, grate and peel different food which we then turned into a rainbow! It was great fun and we learnt lots about the importance of eating healthy food.

How we contribute to the life of our classroom PSHE - Tuesday 16th January 2018

This afternoon we looked at the different ways we contribute to our classroom to make it a good learning place for us all. We looked at the skills needed to do this effectively and used these skills in our Learning Partners to try and build the tallest Lego tower! 

Animal visitors! - Friday 12th January 2018

We had our school rabbit Nibbles and a pet tortoise come and visit us today. We were able to look at their movement and feel fur and shell! We had a great time seeing the animals and listing adjectives that we can now use in our writing on Monday.

What will we grow? - Tuesday 9th January 2018

In Science we are investigating what a plant needs to grow. We have decided to plant our seeds in different ways and we will see which way produces the best plant. We are going to be collecting and recording data over time to keep an eye on our plants' progress.

Waterproofing materials - Friday 5th January 2018

We continued looking at materials this week and the different properties that they have. We wanted to see if we could make some materials waterproof using wax crayons!! Some were more successful than others but they all made a difference.

Straw and Order - Y2 Christmas Performance - Tuesday 12th January 2017

​​​​​​Year 2 would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parent and carers for their help and costume designs for our production of 'Straw and Order'. Year 2 were incredible in their singing and acting abilities. Have a look below at our incredible show.

Hot Seating People from the Christmas Story! Wednesday 22nd November 2017

Today we have been hot seating the people named in the Bible! The children pretended to be Mary, Joseph, The Wise Men and even the donkey! We discussed how they might have felt during this time and found out loads of new information about each person! Have a look below at our acting in action!

Ice Cube Experiment - Wednesday 15th November 2017

This week Year 2 have been investigating different materials and their properties. We decided to explore which material would keep an ice cube cool. We did this by wrapping an ice cube in different materials and observed to see which ice cube was the largest. We then discussed whether or not this was a fair test. Have a look below at our exciting experiment.

Thursday 9th November 2017 - Reach Outdoors Primley Woods

We had our second trip with the Reach Outdoors team today and it was great! We made art using different coloured leaves; built habitats for real or mythical woodland creatures and learnt the names for different leaves and trees!

Wednesday 8th November 2017 - Natural material hunting!

We spent some of our morning today investigating materials and find some of our very own natural materials in our school environment. The woodland area was perfect for this!

Friday 3rd November - Stars and Sand!

We have been asking and answering questions in our Science learning this week. We had loads of questions about stars and today we answered a few of them using different ways of researching, including: books, prior knowledge and online videos and text. 

Thursday 2nd November - Reach Outdoors Goodrington Beach trip

We had a fantastic afternoon learning about the different types of animals and plants that live in the rock pools at our local beach. We also designed and made our very own animals houses using sand and shells!

Tuesday 31st October 2017 - EVIL PUMPKINS!

Today we used our food technology skills to mix, mold, shape and create our very own Evil Pumpkins! We then all did some spooky writing about our pumpkins in our Learning Journey books.

Wednesday 18th October 2017 - Fire Brigade Talk

We were lucky enough to have a visit from a local hero today... a fire officer! We learnt lots about staying safe in our homes and how to react in an emergency. Mrs Foulkes even had a chance to try the uniform that the officers have to wear - "It's very hot in here!"

Tuesday 17th October 2017 - Dance

In Dance in Year 2, we have been creating a dance around going into space. We created rockets in groups that took off and landed on our own planet. When arriving on the planet, we turned into aliens and then had to use our bodies to hide.

Part, Part, Whole - Monday 16th October 2017

This week in Condors we have been using the 'Part, part, whole' method to help us add and subtract two-digit numbers. We have learnt that when we add we always start with the 'parts' to find the 'whole'. However, when we subtract, we start with the whole and only one of the parts! Have a look at our fab investigating skills below. 

Wednesday 11th October - Fact or Opinion?

We have been looking at dinosaurs and reading different sentences about them. We then had the challenge of spotting the facts and the opinions.

Monday 9th October 2017 - Representing Money

We have begun our new Maths Journey this week. We started looking at money and representing the different values that the different coins are worth.

Eat Cake for MacMillian - Friday 6th October 2017

This term we have been learning about what it means to be a hero. We chose MacMillian as our 'hero' charity as they provide lots of support for people around the country. Year 2 have been busy making cakes, bunting and creating games all in aid of our MacMillian heros! Have a look below at our delicious cakes! A huge thank you to all the parents and carers who came to support our cause!

Wednesday 4th October - Gathering and recording data over time!

We have been thinking about change and how we change over time. We were investigating different ways of testing how our height changes and how we can record this. Today was a great day of experimenting and measuring! Let's see what results we get each half term!

Wednesday 4th October - Music

Miss Durbidge comes in every Wednesday with really exciting Music lessons. At the moment we have been finding the beat of well known songs and using different instruments to perform along with the track.

Week beginning Monday 2nd October 2017 - Macmillan Cake Sale!

We are becoming Macmillan Heroes and raising money for a very worthy cause! We want to help raise money to support the fantastic work that the Macmillan charity does all over the country as well as locally. The photos below show the preparation and the cake sale its self.

Friday 29th September - Diagram drawing!

We have been looking at non-fiction features this week and to help us really understand the function of a diagram we have been creating our own. We used books from the library and our prior knowledge to help us draw accurate sketches and labels.

Monday 25th September - Investigating time!

We have been investigating time and seeing how much of an activity we can do within 2 minutes! We were definitely tired after all the jumping jacks!!

Blubber Glove Experiment! - Thursday 14th September

We have been focusing on the Arctic habitat and exploring the different ways animals keep warm in the freezing cold conditions. Today we took inspiration from a penguin and the blubber it has all around it's body.

Science - Wednesday 13th September

We have continued our learning around habitats and have begun to explore what different habitats provide to different animals. We are becoming habitat experts!!

Science - Tuesday 11th September

We have started exploring our local habitats. We are investing why an animals habitat is special to them and how the animal has adapted to live in that habitat.

Lean in 15 - The Body Coach Fitness Week - Wb Monday 11th September 2017

This week Year 2 will be participating in The Body Coaches 'Fitness Week'. We will be completing a HIIT (High intensity, interval training) throughout the week. We will be discussing why it is important to keep our bodies and mind healthy so we can become our own ultimate heroes. Have a look below at our squats, high knees and burpees!

Maths - Thursday 7th September

We have started our first Maths journey of Year 2 and we are building on our knowledge of place value and which mathematical resources we can use to represent the value of different digits within 2 digit numbers.