Contact Details
- 01367 240232
- office@tep.faringdonlearningtrust.org
The Elms, Gloucester Street, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 7HZ
The Elms
Primary School
Welcome to the Year 2
Class Page 2023-24
Term 4 - Our PE days are Tuesday and Friday.
Physical Education:
• PE kit must be kept in school all week in case our timetable changes.
• Items should be kept in a named PE bag.
• White T-shirt
• Black/navy shorts (cycling shorts acceptable)
• Black/navy jogging bottoms or leggings for colder weather
• Black/navy sweatshirt for colder weather
• Black/navy/white socks
• Plimsolls/trainers
• Long hair must be tied back
• Earrings removed or covered by plasters
• Jewellery must be removed
Overview of Term 4:
What a busy term we have had in Sycamore Class!
We began the term with a visit from the Faringdon Fire Service. Simon and hi team brought along a fire engine for the children to see. They compared the modern day fire equipment with what would have been used during the Great Fire of London in 1666. The children were so excited that they were allowed to use the fire hoses!
The children enjoyed dressing up for World Book Day and they were incredibly lucky to have two author visits! Teresa Heapy came to read us her new book, ‘The Enormous Pineapple’. This tied in nicely with our English focus as the children are writing stories about giant fruits and vegetables. Then Steve Antony popped in to see us, as he had heard that the children had written some beautiful descriptive writing about his book ‘The Queen’s Handbag’. He read some of the writing that Sycamore Class had produced, and he even gifted us a book called ‘The Queen’s Present’.
In our Design Technology lessons we have been tasting fruit and making our own Indian fruit salads. The children cut up pieces of fruit that they had chosen and added condensed milk to follow a recipe.
For Science Week, we designed and built boats. Some of the boats were very successful and managed to float with small toys on them. Other boats were not so successful and sank! We decided that the plastic materials and the card were the best materials for the boats.
Indian Dance Workshop:
Year 2 visited Folly View School on Wednesday 20th March for an Indian Dance Workshop. The children dressed up in vibrant costumes and had bells around their writs. The instructor, Anna, led us in a series of dance moves mixing traditional with modern Indian dance. The children enjoyed their session and made links with other dance and PE sessions that we have had in school.
Amelia – “I liked the jingling bells. It made it really fun!”
Vallen – “We used circles with our arms and feet just like our dances at school.”
Max G – “We moved our arms up to the sky and down to the ground like the pencil shapes in gym.”
Ahmed – “I liked it when we all joined in a big circle. It was like our team work activities.”
Scarlett – “I liked dressing up to dance.”
Zamar – “I liked all of it!”
Parent Open Afternoon:
We enjoyed our Parent Open afternoon where we created collages inspired by The Great Fire of London. Sycamore Class made their own patterned paper to use and selected other materials to make a fiery skyline. The parents were great artists and even helped to tidy up! Thanks for joining us!
Overview of Term 3:
This term, Sycamore have been reading ‘The Diary of a Killer Cat’ by Anne Fine in our English lessons. The children have been reading this humorous story about a cat who keeps finding himself in trouble. We have completed drama activities (including the conscience alley below), diary writing, and newspaper articles themed around the book.
Sycamore Class have been looking at The Mulberry Bush social, emotional and mental health curriculum. We have concentrated on the ‘Learning to Play’ section and have focused on making our own choices, turn taking and sticking to the rules. The children enjoyed the ‘Would You Rather…’ activity. Perhaps you could try this at home!
The children have enjoyed the Great Fire of London history unit. We have looked at what life was like in 1666, the causes of the fire and how it was eventually stopped. The children have explored sources of evidence including Samuel Pepys’ diary.
This term, we are focusing on collage in our art lessons. We have completed an artist study on Claire Youngs and have created our own patterned papers to use in our own collages.
In Maths, we have started to look at arrays to support us with multiplication and division.
Overview of Term 2:
Sycamore Class have created some beautiful artwork for Remembrance Day.
They have been working on seated balances and jumps in Real PE sessions. As well as working on their shapes and travelling in Real Gym sessions. We have been moving as toys and animals around the hall.
In Maths, we have been working on our Addition and Subtraction strategies using Base 10 and jottings.
We have been reading a book called Wild in our English lessons and we have begun to write our own versions of the story.
This term, our focus is Geography. We have been exploring the key question 'Would you rather live in the city or the countryside?' We have found about about capital cities in the UK and around the world. In our lessons, we are exploring the differences between villages, towns, cities and the countryside.
Our Art lessons have been focused around sculptures and clay. We have completed artist studies on Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.
Week beginning 13th November was 'Anti-Bullying Week'. Sycamore Class explored the theme 'Make a Noise about Bullying'. The children thought about who they would talk to if they were being bullied and what thy might say to stand up for a friend.
On 28th November the class planted some saplings in the peace garden. The children planted Dogwood, Silver Birch and Rowan trees.
Overview of Term 1:
Sycamore Class have had an excellent start to the term. They performed confidently in their Harvest Assembly to parents and even performed their Harvest Moon poem to the rest of the school in our Friday Celebration Assembly.
In PE, Sycamore Class have been focusing on fantastic footwork and brilliant balances. The children have been working on galloping, side steps and hopscotch footwork skills with increasing control. Balances have included one leg balance with a squat, with eyes closed, up on our toes and mirroring a partner’s balances.
Year 2 have had a focus on Kindness in RE this term. We explored different Bible stories about kindness, including ‘The Good Samaritan’. We talked about what kindness is and thought about kind things that we can do or say. The children made kindness cards to show our appreciation to people who are kind to us.
Sycamore Class have been comparing the lives of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II in their History lessons. The children used the story ‘Get Up Elizabeth!’ to find out more about Tudor clothing and hygiene. They were surprised to find out that the Tudor Queen cleaned her teeth with a cloth, not a toothbrush!
In English, Year 2 have been focusing on using adjectives, conjunctions and punctuation. We have used the stories ‘Egg Box Dragon’ and ‘The Queen’s Hat’ to support our writing.
Reading:
If your child is still on the phonics programme, they should bring home two school reading books on a Wednesday. One of them will be a book that they have been reading in their phonics group (normally a paper copy) and the other one is a 'Book Bag Book'. These are used to reinforce what has been taught in phonics lessons and to allow your child to gain fluency when they read.
In addition to these phonics books, we encourage your child to select and read other books at home too. You could share a book together at bedtime or read a chapter book as a family. You could listen to audio books too.
Faringdon library is free to join. You can borrow fiction, non-fiction and audio books from the library.
Soon, we will start visiting the school library. Children are allowed to borrow books from the school library and these can be taken home. If a book is lost, it must be replaced or paid for.
Reading Lists:
Stuck for what to read with your child at home? Below are some website links to useful book lists for Year 2.
Phonics Support:
Below are some useful websites to support with Phonics at home.
Maths support:
In the Autumn term, we focus on number, counting, addition and subtraction. Below are some links that could support your child with Maths at home.
Year 2 2022-23
Special Agent Training in Year 2
Year 2 children at The Elms have been taking part in Special Agent Training (SATS). They have created their own code names, broken emoji codes in pairs and used their observation skills to locate different habitats around the school. The trainees have also completed an individual reading assessment and an individual maths assessment to earn stickers on their Special Agent Training records.
Congratulations to all of our recruits on completing your Special Agent Training!
Mrs Woodward (code name Sonic Thunder) and Miss King (code name Risky Snake)
PSHE Relationships - Friendship
2W have been coming up with their own handshakes in their PSHE lesson this week. We have been looking at relationships with different people and discussing what happens when we fall out with people. We discussed the idea of conflict and what might happen when you 'make up'. The children had fun creating friendly handshakes that you could do after saying sorry.
Mrs Woodward
RE Visit
2W were very lucky to have a visit from one of the parents. Reem, who is Muslim, came to talk to the children about Ramadan and Eid. She brought in a Qur'an book for the children to look at and a poster of the Arabic alphabet. Reem talked to the children about the Mosque and the celebrations that Muslims have around this time of year. Both classes were very excited to hear about the food at these celebrations! Some children tried on Muslim hijab and kufi head wear. The children asked Reem lots of questions and really enjoyed the experience. Thank you so much to Reem for sharing her religion with us!
Mrs Woodward
Year 2 Art Project
2W and 2K has been creating some Indian Market diorama boxes as part of an art project with Mrs Henman. The children learned about foreground, middle-ground and background. They planned their Indian markets to link in with their Geography topic and then made them using a variety of materials.
Many thanks to the parents who donated shoe boxes (including Mrs Woodward's mum who works at Clarks!) Thank you to Mrs Henman for leading on this project.
We hope you all agree that the children did a great job.
Mrs Woodward and Miss King
On Friday 17th March the whole school joined in with a Dance-a-thon to raise money for charity. Children wore red clothes and sports kits to school, and many families gave generous donations towards Comic Relief.
Year 2 joined in with Bhangra dancing to link in with their topic on India.
Mrs Woodward would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who danced and everyone who donated towards Comic Relief. As a school, we managed to raise over £250 for charity!
Year 2 have been looking at health and hygiene as part of their Science lessons. This week, they used glitter on their hands to illustrate the spread of germs. They then experimented with different ways of getting rid of the germs. The children found out that warm soapy water was the best way to get rid of germs.
Happy hand washing everyone!
On Thursday 23rd February, Year 2 were visited by the Fire Service to round up their topic on The Great Fire of London. The crew brought their fire engine and fire equipment to show the children. The children were interested in the hoses and the specialist equipment used in road traffic accidents. The fire crew told the children lots of facts about the fire engine and their jobs as fire fighters. They explained what to do in the case of a fire. The children all had the opportunity to sit in the fire engine and ask questions. They looked at the differences between firefighting today and firefighting in 1666 during the time of the Great Fire of London. They demonstrated their thermal camera, and they put the siren and lights on as they left.
2K said, "We learnt so much about how they rescue people and animals in need that we didn't know before."
2W said, "We had a lovely time and got to learn lots about the different fire equipment. It was very different from what was used in 1666, when they only had leather buckets and water squirts."
Written by Year 2
The Elms, Gloucester Street, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 7HZ