Year 2
All of the staff in our class would like to wish you all a warm welcome to Year 2!
Please take a look at the information below to find out more about our learning.
Our Year 2 Team
Mrs Harrison (Class Teacher)
Miss Besant 
Our Termly Letters - everything you need to know for the term!
Our Topics
Our Topics
In Year 2, we have many exciting topics. Our topic changes each half term and we develop our Geographical and Historical skills. The table below shows you the topic titles and a brief summery of what we learn.
| Autumn 1 |
Turrets, Towers and Tunnels |
Locate local castles as well as the castles in capital cities of the UK. Locate famours towers and tunnels around the world on a world map. Understand who lived and worked in a castle and their respsonsibilities. |
| Autumn 2 | Street Detectives |
Research and understand what local canals and railway were used for. Complete two local walks - one to identify public services, one to find local statues. Understand why the statues are important. Locate our school and other local landmarks on Google Earth. Compare features of a city, town and a village. Create a map of our school, creating a poster to tell other show to care for it. Understand why Sister Dora is important to Walsall. |
| Spring 1 | Land Ahoy |
Understand the life of a pirate, in particular Captain Blackbeard. Create our own treasure maps, using the four compass points to describe the location of things on the map. Research the lives of famours explorers - Captain James Cook, Sir Walter Raleigh and Christopher Columbus. Sequencing them onto a timeline. Locate hot and cold countries around the world. Understand who Grace Darling was and why what she did was significant. |
| Spring 2 | The Journey of Food |
Understand where our food comes from and locate food from around the world. Understand how land in temperate climate zones are used to produce food. Understand how land in tropical climate zones are used to produce food, focusing on bananas. Begin to understand how food is produced in a tropic biome, focusing on Rice in Inondesia. Understand how food is produced in a Mediterranean climate, focusing on Italy. Understand how land in the United Kingdom is used to produce food. Understand how trade links around the world allow food to be sold in the UK. Also begin to understand fair trade. |
| Summer 1 | Famous for more than five minutes |
Explain who was the first man to walk on the moon, his famous words and why it was a significant event. Research the life of two female monarchs - Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria. Research the lives and work of Jennifer Worth and Mary Seacole. Understand why they were signifcant for nursing. Explain who the Wright Brothers were and what they invented. Research the legacy of William Caxton (printing press) and Tim Berners-Lee (world wide web). Understand how what the invented helped to change how we communicate. |
| Summer 2 | Let's go on Safari |
Locate Africa and Kenya onto a world map. Name a vairety of Kenya animals. Draw their own map of a National Park, using the correct Geographical language to describe the features in their National Park and compass points for the location of features. Use compass points to navigate around a map of a safari camp. Describe the weather and climate in Kenya, including differences between Kenya and the UK. Recap hot and cold countries in relation to the Equator, North and South Poles. Use the correct Geographical vocabulary to describe the features of different Kenyan Landscapes. Explore the culture of people who live in Kenya, including the Maasai Mara Tribe. Compare their own life to a child in Kenya. Understand how Kenya is different and similar to the UK. This includes landcapes, villages, clothes, animals and lifestyle.
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Creative English
We are working hard to be come better writers, this includes the quality of our sentences as well as starting to join our letters with cursive handwriting. We are very lucky to use a selection of quality texts, fiction and non-fiction, in our English lessons. Writing tasks include story retelling, letters, descriptions, recipes and fact files. Below are some of the front covers of the books we will be reading in class.
Every Thursday, we have book club. Each half term we focus on an author. Please see below for those authors.
Our Science Topics
Science is one of our favourite afternoons! We enjoy practical, hands on science and we learn the different areas of science in some exciting topics. Some of our topics are also linked to a Scientist.
| Topic Number | Topic Name | Linked Scientist |
| 1 | Materials: Good Choices | John Boyd Dunlop |
| 2 | Materials: Shaping Up | |
| 3 | Take Care (Personal Hygiene) | |
| 4 | Growing Up | Alfred Wallace |
| 5 | The Apprentice Gardener | Carl Linnaeus |
| 6 | What is your Habitat | Jane Goodall |
Homework
Don't forget to log on to 'TTRockstars' and 'Spelling Shed'. You can earn castle coins for working on your apps!
Reading at home is crucial so remember to read at least 4 times a week. You will earn castle coins if you read at home!
Homework Projects
| Autumn Term |
Make a model of a famous tower from around the world or one of the local statues.
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| Spring Term |
Create a treasure map to show what is valuable to you in your local area/West Midlands.
Alternate years: Book in a box competition for World Book Day. |
| Summer Term |
Create a 'safari in a box' scene.
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PE
PE lessons are Monday and Thursday afternoons.
Please ensure that your child has the correct PE kit on these days - a white t-shirt, black shorts and black pumps. Warm black sweatshirt and jogging bottoms for the winter.
Remember to remove earrings before school.
Useful websites to enhance our classroom learning
ToGo NoGo Website for Road Safety:
National Geographic kids website:
BBC Newsround: