WELCOME TO YEAR 2 CORMORANTS
Cormorants are medium sized coastal birds who thrive in their environment by working in teams, just like one of our school values, teamwork. Cormorants can often be found diving in to the water simultaneously. Just like the bird, in Cormorants class we can be found diving into our learning together and using our skills in teamwork to thrive successfully together.
This Terms Theme
is...'Once Upon a Time'
This term we are learning about traditional tales. We will explore the features of a traditional tales and determine what these stories all have in common. As well as retelling traditional examples we will also be writing and performing our own 'twisted tales'. Stay tuned for our end of term learning celebration where we will be performing these to our parents!
(For more information about this term's theme, scroll down to our curriculum map)
P.E & Dance days
P.E. Days are Tuesday and Wednesday
Please ensure that your child has the correct kit in school all week. We will ensure that they are sent home at the end of every half term
Home Learning days
Home Learning will be handed out on a Friday and collected in on a Wednesday. This will give you the opportunity to explore aspects of your child's learning if you wish.
Upcoming Events
Friday 1st March - Year 2 trip to Longleat
Tuesday 28th March - Year 2 Learning Celebration at 2.30pm
Meet The Team
If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see your teacher (Miss Restorick) or alternatively please contact a team leader (Mrs Dowdeswell or Mrs Jarrett).
drestorick@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk
Academic Year 2018-2019
Summer Term Curriculum Map
Thursday 4th July - Transition Day
On Thursday we spent the day in Year 3 with Miss Johnson in our new classroom! We wrote letters to our future selves and put these into a time capsule ready to open in a years time. We also solved some tricky Year 3 calculations in Maths and made our own subtraction board game to play with our parents. We are really excited for September. Look at how much fun we had!
Tuesday 25th June - Map skills!
This week in Geography we have been looking at mapping. What better place than the woodland area to map as a setting for our fairy tale stories! Have a look at our learning below!
Thursday 20th June - Cormorants at the beach!
On Thursday afternoon Cormorants went down to the beach with Reach Outdoors to play some games to increase our water confidence. We ran an obstacle course, saw who could make the longest line using beach materials and our bodies and loads more! Have a look at our great trip below!
Tuesday 11th June - Making the perfect porridge!
As part of our learning about healthy eating we decided to make some porridge. This fits in well with our learning about measurement in Maths and Instruction texts in Writing.
We are trying to write accurate instructions that are clear and simple to follow, so of course first we needed to make our own porridge! Have a look at our learning below!
Wednesday 5th June - Features of an instruction text
Today we have started new Writing journey looking at the features of instruction texts. One feature we noticed was adverbs. To help us understand what they mean we decided to go outside and behave in the way the words tell us to. We walked angrily, grumpily, scarily, rapidly and carefully. Can you guess which picture matches each describing word?
Thursday 23rd May - Outdoor Learning Day
On Thursday Cormorants took part in Outdoor learning day. They completed leaf rubbings, observational drawings and even made a house for the three little pigs! Have a look at our learning below!
Monday 20th May - Sllllooooooowwwwwwwoorms
This week we were visited by some slow-worms from one of our classmates garden. We got to hold them and look at their unique patterns! These worms were definitely not slow!
Friday 17th May - Into the forest!
As part of our Art learning we have been looking at the illustrations in Anthony Browne's Into the forest. He is famous for hiding pictures inside his illustrations and we tried to do the same, what can you notice in our pictures?
Friday 10th May - Growing Cress
As part of our Science learning we have been looking at what living things need to survive. We have learned that plants need sunlight, air, water and nutrient dense soil. We wanted to find out what would happen if one of these elements was taken away. So in teams we have designed and set up our own experiments. Have a look at our learning below!
Tuesday 23rd April - Little Red Riding Hood
To start our new whole school journey of 'Once upon a time' we have been looking at the story of Little Red Riding Hood. To really get into the story and characters today we acted out our own versions using props! The children were incredible story tellers using their own exciting vocabulary to add impact to their retell. Have a look at what we got up to below.
Tuesday 2nd April- Giving directions
As part of our Instruction writing journey we have been exploring the features of these types of texts. Yesterday we used the bee bots to guide us through London! Our focus yesterday was imperative (bossy) verbs, we wrote instructions to help our Queen Bee get to Buckingham Palace. Have a look at our learning below!
Tuesday 26th March - Year 2 Tea Party!
Today Year 2 welcomed their adults in to school to share our learning from this term. We sang the National Anthem, decorated cakes and shared food before coming back to our classes to look at our learning. Thank you for coming!
WB 11th March - Science Week!
This week has been British Science Week and Year 2 have been tasked with the challenge of designing, creating and testing our own floating gardens. We learned that floating gardens are used to help grow crops in areas partial to flooding. We first had to test the materials bought in to see which would be the most suitable to use. We then designed and made our own floating gardens before testing them at the end of the week. Have a look at what we got up to below!
Thursday 7th March - World Book Day
Today Cormorants dressed up as characters from their favourite books. We spent the day sharing stories with Year 6, completing a quiz around the school and then working in teams to complete a quiz in class. We continued to read The Twits and wrote about our favourite characters. We also watched The Snail and the Whale performed in Makaton. Have a look at our fun learning below!
Friday 1st March - Year 2 visit Longleat!
On Friday Cormorants left bright and early to make the journey to Longleat. We had lots of fun singing on the way and thinking about all the animals we might see. We arrived right on time and went straight to the house, but unfortunately we were a bit too early so went to look at the animals first. Everyone was amazed at the animals especially the meerkats who ran over our feet! We then went on the boat and were extremely lucky to see the hippos out for their morning swim! We even got to see the gorillas who are normally inside watching tv! The seals came up close to the boat hoping for fish. We spent the rest of the morning looking at the animal enclosures before eating lunch downstairs in Longleat House. After lunch we had a look around the house and many of the children said this was their favourite part of the whole day. The staff commented on how well behaved and inquisitive the children were as they asked thoughtful questions throughout. We then got back onto the bus and headed on safari. We saw rhinos, giraffes, lions, tigers, cheetahs, camels and wolves who were very interested in the food below the bus! After a long day of exploring we headed back to Paignton. The children had an amazing day and I was very proud of their enthusiasm throughout the duration of the day. We took about 500 photos and here is a selection of some of our favourites!
Gymnastics Spring 1 Half Term
This half term, we have been building on our Gymnastics learning from last year and been developing our rolls. This included egg rolls, log rolls, rock'n'rolls, teddy bear rolls and learning forward rolls. We learnt to do teddy bear rolls with a partner as well, which was great fun.
Monday 11th February - Blubber glove!
As part of our Science learning we have been looking at living things and their habitats. We wanted to investigate how animals in the Arctic survive the extreme temperatures so we made our own 'blubber glove'. We learned that this layer of fat acts as an insulator to keep the heat in! Have a look at our learning below!
Monday 28th January - shading and stamps!
This afternoon in Art Cormorants were looking at UK stamps. We noticed that they all had the queen on them with a side profile. We also noticed that they were the same colour just different shades. We experimented with shading using crayons. We decided that we should put ourselves on the stamps and used mirrors to get an accurate picture. Have a look at our learning below!
Monday 21st January 2019 - The Queen comes to visit!
We were very lucky today to be visited by the Queen. In proper royal fashion we stood up for her arrival and hummed along to the national anthem. We learned all about her dorgis and the different places she lives. We found out that she does not travel by taxi for important ceremonies - she travels in a carriage! Have a look at our pictures below!
Wednesday 9th January 2019- The Queen's Handbag
As part of our new topic Queen Elizabeth II we introduced our new text 'The Queen's Handbag'. The story takes place in many well known locations across the UK which we have placed on our class map. To help us learn the story we organised pictures and wrote about each one on a crown. Have a look at our learning below!
Tuesday 11th December - All aboard The Polar Express!
Today we started our new festive learning journey where we will be learning about the story of The Polar Express. Today we turned our classroom into a train and with the other passengers retold the story. Have a look at what we got up to below!
Thursday 22nd November - Learning Celebration
On Thursday we invited parents and adults into class to watch our class poem 'We're going on an alien hunt'. The class did so well learning their actions and words. We then shared our learning from the Autumn term so far. Have a look at what we got up to below! If I can condense the video file I will add it to the page!
Monday 19th November - Will it absorb?
In Science this week we have been investigating what happens to water when it is wiped away. We looked at different materials and tested them to see what would happen. We learned that the water is absorbed but different materials can hold different amounts of water. Have a look at our learning below!
Wednesday 7th November - We're going on a goat hunt!
As part of our Writing journey we have been looking at the poem 'We're going on a bear hunt'. Today we put on our coats and went outside to do our own version and go on a 'Goat hunt'. We have been learning about repeated language and the effect this has on the reader. Have a look at our learning below!
Tuesday 31st October - Solid, liquid or gas?
In Science today we have been learning about solids, liquids and gases. We investigated with a variety of materials and found out that play-doh is a solid that can be bent, twisted, stretched and squashed. We then used these techniques to make our own rocket!
Monday 30th October - Subraction with rockets
In Maths we have been looking at subtraction using the part part whole method. We learned that when subtracting we start with the whole and take the part away to find the value of the other part. We also spotted that to check our answer we can add the parts together. Have a look at our learning below!
Thursday 4th October - Space Odyssey comes to White Rock
Today Year 2 were very lucky to be visited by the space dome. We went up to space with Tim Peake and learned all about the planets. We also looked at the stars and constellations! We made rockets using different shapes and straws. Have a look at our great day below!
Wednesday 26th September - Is it waterproof?
This week in Science we have been testing materials to see if they are waterproof. We used plastic cups, a variety of materials, water and pipettes to design our own experiment. Have a look at what we got up to below!
Thursday 20th September - Paper mache planets!
As part of our space theme this term in Year 2 we have begun making the planets of the solar system. We used torn up newspaper, PVA and water balloons to create the spherical shapes. Have a look at our (very messy) learning below!
Thursday 13th September - Maths outside.
In keeping with our space theme Cormorants took their Maths learning outside today to measure the planets. The whole class worked really well as a team and supported each other to find the planets and use the equipment correctly. Then we used our number sense knowledge to order our measurements from smallest to greatest. Have a look at what we got up to below!
Rigid or flexible? - Tuesday 10th September
To start off our Science journey we have been looking at different materials and investigating whether they are rigid or flexible. We looked through our classroom and organised the materials we found. Have a look at our learning below.
Space Food- Wednesday 5th September
This term we will be looking at the life of an astronaut. Where to better to start than looking at what astronauts eat? We learned that food has to be dehydrated so that it weighs less and can be sent up to space. We experimented with how much water would need to be added to make it edible. Have a look at what we got up to below!
