WELCOME TO YEAR 2 CONDORS

Condors are large, graceful and strong birds. They have great hunting skills and travel long distances so they can feed themselves and their families. They have brilliant looking skills and listening skills which we will be using within our own Condors class.

THIS TERMS THEME

'Be Curious!'

This term the children will be exploring the work of innovators and inventors. They will understand how innovative people think critically and be able to display some of these skills when making designing and creating in various curriculum subjects. 

P.E AND DANCE DAYS

PE days are Tuesday and Thursday.

Please ensure that your child has the correct PE kit in school all week. We will ensure that they are sent home at the end of each half term.

HOME LEARNING DAYS

Home Learning will be set on a Friday and due in on a Wednesday. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Monday 25th April - First Day of Summer 1

Friday 27th May - Last Day of Summer 1

Monday 6th June - Non Pupil Day

Tuesday 7th June - First Day of Summer 2

Tuesday 26th July - Last Day of Summer Term

MEET THE TEAM 

If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see your teacher (Miss Simmonds) or alternatively please contact the Year 2 team leader (Mr Wingrove).

isimmonds@whiterockprimaryschool.co.uk

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

Summer Term - Week 12 - w/c 18.07.22

In DT this week, it was Engineers and Inventors week. Year 2 had to design and make their own roly poly car! They had to pick between racer, ditherer or wanderer wheels. We made predictions about which car would be the fastest before racing them! The children then had to evaluate, thinking about what they would keep the same or do differently next time. 

Summer Term - Week 11 - w/c 11.07.22

Thank you to everyone for coming to watch Sports Day! Condors had so much fun taking part in the different field activities using their throwing and jumping skills. They also loved taking part in the race. Well done to all of Condors for trying their best!

Summer Term - Week 10 - w/c 04.07.22

On Friday, Condors finished their current writing journey where they had to write a biography about Amelia Earhart. We completed a shared write of a biography on Brunel who we have been learning about in History, before the children completed this independently. As you can see from the pictures, they are all concentrating very hard to make sure they include everything they have been taught leading up to this lesson, such as expanded noun phrases and conjunctions. After they finish their writing, Condors ensure they go back, proofread their work and edit where necessary. Well done for your amazing writing Condors!

Summer Term - Week 9 - w/c 27.06.22

Condors have loved learning how to play the Ukulele this term! They have learned the difference between 'picking' and 'strumming'. They had a go at playing the string notes G, C, E and A. The children then worked with their table to create a rhythm that they had to perform to the class. Everyone was very brave and had a go at performing!

Summer Term - Week 8 - w/c 20.06.22

In Science, Condors have now finished the topic on Plants. This week we have started our new topic on Materials. The children had lots of fun exploring different materials such as plastic, metal and wood. We discussed where you would find these materials and explored around the classroom. We also looked at cruise ships and thought which materials we might find on them. 

Summer Term - Week 7 - w/c 13.06.22

In RE, Condors have been learning about Judaism. They have learned about the key beliefs and were introduced to lots of new vocabulary. In this lesson, Condors learned about the Jewish festival Shabbat. They learned about the importance of this day for Jews. With their learning partner, they looked at lots of different pictures and discussed what Jews might do on this day. 

Summer Term - Week 6 - w/c 06.06.22

Condors have had an exciting week back at school! They have started learning about Measurement in Maths. The children went outside of the classroom on to the courtyard and used their metre sticks and chalk to draw lines at different lengths. The lengths had metres and centimetres in, for example 1m 45cm so they had to look carefully at the metre sticks to make sure the length of the line was accurate. They all worked well as a team with their learning partner!

Summer Term - Week 5 - w/c 23.05.22

There was no better way to end this half term than the celebration for the Queen's Jubilee! Condors had so much fun making bunting, making and decorating their own crowns and taking part in a street party with the whole school! They also performed a song in assembly in front of the whole school and took part in a whole school dance on the field. As you can see from the pictures everyone had so much fun and it will definitely be a day to remember!

Condors have been lucky enough this week to be visited by the Chairman of Torbay Civic Society. He taught Year 2 all about Brunel, who we are learning about in History this term. He talked about the blue plaques that can be found all around Torbay to mark Brunel's work. The children learnt that Brunel did much more than railways, including building houses around Torbay. We also learnt he used to wear a bigger top hat to make himself look taller!

Summer Term - Week 4 - w/c 16.05.22

Condors have taken part in a Science experiment this week! We want to find out whether plants need soil to grow. When we planned our experiment, we made our predictions on what we think will happen. In one pot we had soil, in another pot we had sand and in the last pot we had nothing. We then added the seeds to it. We will water the seeds over the next few weeks and see what happens!

Summer Term - Week 3 - w/c 09.05.22

This week Condors had their first Spanish lesson with Senorita Head. It was their first time practising some of the Spanish they have already learnt with her. They had so much fun meeting the puppets Pedro and Rocky. They also got to try on Senorita Head's sombrero! Senorita Head will now be teaching Condors every Friday afternoon. 

Summer Term - Week 2 - w/c 02.05.22

In Music this term Year 2 are learning to play Violins! Their first lesson focused on making sure they are holding them properly.  They learnt their chins had to be on the chin rest with the bottom of the violin on the front of their shoulder. They had to make sure the violin was lifted up high in the air. Condors are very excited about their next Music lesson!

Summer Term - Week 1 - w/c 25.04.22

Condors have had a busy week back at school after the Easter holidays! In Computing the children were using Purple Mash to create their own music. They had to think of a story to create the music to, for example Alice in Wonderland or The Three Little Pigs. They could use different sound effects to create the beat. Some children used drums and clapping while others used animal noises or scary noises such as doors creaking to really set the scene. They all sounded amazing. I loved how each piece of music was unique!

Spring Term - Week 13 - w/c 04.04.22

In Spanish this half term, Condors have been learning how to say different pencil case items, such as: a ruler, a pencil, a pen and a rubber. They have also learnt how to say 'In my pencil case there is...' in Spanish. Ask the children at home to tell you what items they have in their pencil case!

Spring Term - Week 12 - w/c 28.03.22

To finish our Maths unit on Properties of Shape, Condors had a go at making their own 3D shapes out of paper straws and blu tack! The paper straws represented the edges and the blu tack represented the vertices. They found it very challenging as the cube structure kept falling down. However, they didn't give up and kept trying until they finally made their cubes!

Spring Term - Week 11 - w/c 21.03.22

This week we were visited by the Paddleboat Theatre Company. They came to perform their show 'Margo and Mr Whatsit'. They really enjoyed the story of Sophia and her imaginary friends Mr Whatsit and Margo having to compete against each other to find Sophia's forever home. The children absolutely loved watching the play and found it very amusing!

Spring Term - Week 10 - w/c 14.03.22

We have had a very busy week in Condors! Condors took part in the KS1 sports festival, which was a lot of fun. The children took part in some football, rugby and basketball. 

It was also Red Nose Day on Friday. The children looked amazing in their outfits, either dressed as a superhero or wearing something red. We got to take part in lots of fun activities, such as an egg and spoon race and pin the red nose! 

Please see the pictures below of our fun-filled week!

Spring Term - Week 9 - w/c 07.03.22

This week in Gymnastics Condors' learning question was 'Can I perform an egg and log roll with control?'. They started their lesson by warming up doing frog leaps and bunny leaps. It looked like lots of fun as well as being great exercise!

Spring Term - Week 8 - w/c 28.02.22

Condors have had a very exciting first week back after half term! On World Book Day, we took part in a book swap, where half of Year 6 Eagles came to Condors and half of Condors went to Eagles' classroom. The children took it in turns to read their book to each other and talk about them. They also loved seeing everyone's amazing World Book Day outfits! 

Spring Term - Week 7 - w/c 14.02.22

In Science, Condors have been learning what makes something living. They have learnt there are six things that mean something is alive, which are: to breathe, grow, get rid of waste, eat, reproduce and react. We have been thinking about things which are living, things that were once alive and things that have never been alive. We went on a nature walk in the school grounds with our iPads to take pictures of things that are either alive or not alive. The children also made a tally chart to see how many they found of each.

Spring Term - Week 6 - w/c 07.02.22

In Friday's assembly it was announced that Condors are the winners of the Mathletics trophy this week! We get to have the trophy on display in the classroom all week. The children are so proud of themselves for all their hard work at home on Mathletics. This is the first time Condors have won the trophy and they want to keep hold of it until half term! Keep up the hard work Condors and we will find out in Friday's assembly.

Spring Term - Week 5 - w/c 31.01.22

It has been another busy week in Condors! The children have now finished building their dens. They covered the structure of the den in a plastic sheet before sticking on leaves to camouflage it. The children absolutely loved it, even though it was very messy! I am so proud of their finished dens, they have worked really hard on them. They have also now finished writing their instructions to teach someone how to do build a den just like theirs. In their instructions they included lots of adjectives, as well as including adverbs which we have been learning about in our writing lessons.

Spring Term - Week 4 - w/c 24.01.22

In our current writing journey, Condors have been learning how to write an instructional leaflet about den building, based on the book 'Outdoor Wonderland' by Alice Lickens. Before we write our instructions on how to build a den, we had a go at building our own in a DT morning! The children had to work together as a team and show resilience, as it was very tricky to get the wooden rods to stay up right. We practised using our fine motor skills by cutting the masking tape and string and even learnt how to tie a knot to ensure the den structure was stable.

Spring Term - Week 3 - w/c 17.01.22

This week Condors were very excited to do the 'blubber glove' Science experiment! The children put one hand in ice cold water and another hand in a 'blubber glove' to investigate which was colder. All of the children said their hand was colder in the ice water. This showed the children how animals, such as polar bears, have adapted to their habitat with a layer of blubber to keep them warm, especially in the ice cold water!

Spring Term - Week 2 - w/c 10.01.22

This Friday was the first afternoon of our new library slot, where we visit the library as a class so the children can choose whichever book they want, to take home to share with their friends and family. We will go every Friday at 2:30pm to swap the book, so please make sure the book is returned on this day. The children were very excited to pick any book they wanted, regardless of the colour book they read. We hope this will promote a love of reading for all children!

Spring Term - Week 1 - w/c 03.01.22

Condors have had a brilliant first week back at school! This week in our handwriting we have learnt the horizontal join, for example when joining an 'oy' and 'op'. To make sure our handwriting was the best it can be, we started the lesson by warming up our fine motor skills and gross motor skills! 

Autumn Term - Week 14 - w/c 13.12.21

What a busy half term we have had in Condors! The children have worked so hard and are ready for a well deserved break! We have had a lovely final week of school getting in the Christmas spirit. Elvis the elf has been up to his usual mischief in the classroom. The children enjoyed their Christmas lunch in the hall, especially pulling crackers with their friends. They have also been looking at some Christmas themed poetry and had a go at performing it, as an alternative to singing. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and I am looking forward to seeing you back at school in the New Year!

Autumn Term - Week 13 - w/c 6.12.21

Condors have been working really hard this half term to practise their spellings! We have been focusing on homophones such as 'to, too and two'. The children have learnt the meaning of the words as well as how to spell them. The children were challenged to do a 'quickwrite', where they had to write the homophones they have learnt as many times as they could in 5 minutes!

Autumn Term - Week 12 - w/c 29.11.21

This week in Maths we have been adding two digit numbers that cross the 10 boundary by regrouping. Regrouping is where we have to sort numbers back into tens and ones to help us work out the answer. For example 37 + 14 =, we have to regroup the 7 and 4 to make 10 and 1. We used our dienes to help us.

Autumn Term - Week 11 - w/c 22.11.21

In assembly this week we have been learning the Makaton version of our new whole school song, 'Count on me' by Bruno Mars. I have been so impressed by how quickly Condors have learnt the signs. We will keep practising next week to get even better!

Autumn Term - Week 10 - w/c 15.11.21

In Condors this week we wanted to show our support for Children in Need, so we took part in Joe Wicks' live workout and quiz! The children had to use their brains as well as exercising, choosing which exercise to do depending on which answer they thought was right. Thank you for all the donations, the children loved wearing their pudsey accessories today!

Autumn Term - Week 9 - w/c 8.11.21

Our first writing journey this Half term is based on the story 'Orion and the Dark'. This week we have learnt how to use question marks and exclamation marks and when to use them in our writing. We practised this by sorting different sentences into whether they needed a question mark, full stop or exclamation mark. 

Autumn Term week 8 - 2/11/21 - Outdoor Learning Day

This week on Friday it was Outdoor Learning Day. We used the school environment to start our new Science topic - Animals including Humans. For this lesson, we explored the meaning of the words habitat and micro-habitat. We searched our local environment seeing what we can find using micro-scopes to help us investigate further. We found loads of creatures by looking under rocks and logs and were able to see them close up through our micro-scopes. 

Autumn Term Week 6 - WC 11th October 

We have had a busy term in Condors doing lots of writing! In our first writing journey this year we have been looking at autobiographies. We have studied the autobiographies of famous people and looked carefully at the features of this particular piece of text. The children have learnt all about using headings and subheadings to organise their writing whilst also practising writing in full sentences and using punctuation accurately. Our very own autobiographies are displayed proudly in the classroom for all our guests to see. Come in and check them out...

Autumn Term Week 5: LQ - Can I use my observations to answer a question?

In our Science lesson this week, we took part in an experiment to answer the question 'Why is it important to wash our hands thoroughly for 20 seconds?'. We used a Glitter Bug potion which is an invisible gel that only shows up when exposed to UV light. On the first wash, the children  dipped their hands quickly into water. When we observed our hands under the UV torch, we noticed there was still lotion, particularly around our thumbs and fingernails. The children then washed their hands thoroughly with soap for 20 seconds before using the UV torch again. We discussed the importance of washing our hands thoroughly for 20 seconds to keep clean and healthy. 

Autumn Term Week 4 w/c 27th September 2021: Plastic Pirate Workshop

Year 2 experienced another exciting workshop this week. We were visited by Alex from Recycle Devon. The workshop took place in our woodland area. Alex showed us the actions to the 3 Rs (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse) and we talked about why it is important to reduce, recycle and reuse. Then, Condors were transformed into pirates and 'Captain Alex' led us on an adventure across the seas. Along the way, we saved some sea animals that were trapped or injured by plastic pollution. We chanted a pirate song as we sailed along - "plastic isn't fantastic, save our seas!". The children were fantastic at giving suggestions on how we can take action to prevent plastic pollution to keep the sea animals safe. 

Thursday 23rd September: LQ Can I use recycled rubbish to create music?

This week across school we have been looking at the importance of recycling in order to look after our planet. The children have been amazing at thinking of ideas to reduce waste and ways to recycle and reuse. In our music lesson, the children enjoyed using recycled rubbish to make different sounds. We used the rubbish to create a simple beat alongside our school song 'Hall of Fame'. The children had lots of fun!

Monday 13th September 2021: Music workshop

Year 2 were lucky to have a visit from some local musicians. We watched and listened to the musicians performing some amazing music and then had the opportunity to have a go at playing the violin. We had great fun learning how to hold a violin correctly and performed some music alongside the rest of Year 2. 

Friday 10th September 2021 - Place Value

The children have had an amazing start to Year 2! They have settled in really well and we have been doing some fantastic learning. This week we have been using dienes to show the place value of numbers from 0 - 20. We are learning to use the vocabulary tens and ones to describe a number.