Year 2

Welcome to the Yellow and Purple class page!

2022-23

24/05/2023- Design & Technology

This week for DT, we used our pizza designs to make our own healthy pizzas. We got all the ingredients that we will use for our pizza and used the claw and bridge method to cut the fruits and vegetables. We then assembled our pizza according to our design. Our pizza was then placed in the oven to cook. Once it was ready we ate our delicious and scrumptious pizza!  

17/05/2023- PSHCE 

During our PSHCE lesson, we discussed what medicine is and what it is used for.  We know that medicine can come in many forms such as tablets, liquids, creams or inhalers. We also discussed how to be safe with medicine; it should always be given by a trusted adult, as they know how much to give and what time to give the medicine. The children explored and sorted different items that they would need adult supervision for and items that they could/could not put inside their bodies. 

11/05/2023- Coronation Party!

For the King’s Coronation, we found out key facts about King Charles III, we made our own crowns by decorating templates of jewels and putting all of these together to form a beautiful crown. We all made Union Jack flags to wave while we had our very own tea party in our classes. We enjoyed the delicious cheese sandwiches, scrumptious cakes, and a range of healthy fruits.

04.05.2023- Our Learning During Climate Week

Last week, Year 2 took part in Climate Change Week. During the week, the children looked at the importance of recycling, reducing and reusing materials. They devised a leaflet on how plastics are dangerous for the environment and how plastics affect animals in the sea. In Science, the children carried out a comparative test looking at what makes ice melt quicker, as heat is affecting our planet. Finally, they created artwork of sea creatures, using recycled materials. 

26.4.2023- RE Day

Last week, Year 2 were learning about Islam and Christianity during RE day. During this lesson, the children watched a video about Ramadan and fasting. They then discussed why Muslims fast during Ramadan and why these reasons are important to them. They found out that Muslims eat special food during Ramadan. Dates are one particular food, which is eaten by most Muslims around the world. The children created their own Ramadan plate of food by sticking and drawing pictures of foods they would like to eat if we were fasting.

19/04/2023- English

This week for English we have been exploring our new book called ’10 things I can do to help my world’. We have been discussing the importance of throwing rubbish in the bin and talked about making good choices about what we can do with our rubbish. We discussed how we can all do our part in helping the environment every single day! We explored what the Three R’s represent. Reduce - To use less of something.  Reuse- To use something again instead of throwing it away. Recycle- To save materials and make them into something else. We looked at various objects and sorted them into groups. We also justified why we placed objects in these groups developing our cognitive oracy skills. 

29/03/2023- Art

This half-term, Year 2 has been looking at the abstract artwork of Howard Hodgkin. They have been exploring how to make different secondary colours, as well as making different brush strokes.The children created a background wash and then represented a part of our school building in the style of Howard Hodgkin. They were being Responsibility Avengers, by taking pride in their work.

22/03/2023- Mathematics

In Mathematics, the children have been understanding the relationship between multiplication and repeated addition. During this lesson, children worked in groups to create arrays for the 2 times tables. They used counters to show how many counters were in a group and how many times that had a group of 2. They also discussed what patterns and connections that they can make between the multiplication calculations and the repeated addition calculations. 

16/03/2023- Science

For science, we have been learning about ‘animals including humans’. We classified animals into groups in different ways. We talked about how some animal offspring’s look similar to their adult. For example, a lamb looks like a sheep, however some animals look different from their adult, for example a tadpole looks different to its adult frog. We had the opportunity to meet some farm animals. We identified the types of animals they were.

10/03/2023- PE

In Gymnastics this term, Year 2  has been learning 4 different rolls, these are log roll, egg roll, teddy bear roll and side roll. They have been learning how to safely jump from a height and land using bent knees. Yellow and Purple Class have safely learnt to do a forward roll. The children have been building a floor sequence and using a bench to assist in jumping to the floor.

2/03/2023- RE

For RE, we have been learning about Easter. Easter is the most important Christian festival as it marks the belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus and takes place in March or April. Christians start to get ready for Easter through observing ‘lent’. This is a period of 40 days leading up to Easter which traditionally sees some Christians give up something to mark the period when Jesus was in the wilderness. Using our knowledge of the Easter story we re-created the events of Palm Sunday using freeze frame and a variety of emotive facial expressions to show how people at that time would have felt seeing Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem. This activity developed our linguistic, physical, social and emotional skills as we work on voice projection, building our confidence in speaking and using our body language in different ways.

22.02.2023- English

This week, during our English lesson we looked at a picture of a scene from the book ‘The Lonely Beast’. We talked about what we could see and predicted what we thought might happen. We used adjectives to describe what the Beast looks like and talked about how the different characters are feeling. We also performed a freeze frame in groups to show the Beast entering the city. We focused on our facial expressions to show how frightened the citizens were. 

09/02/2023- What is Bullying?

This week, we revisited what bullying means and how we can identify it. We understand that bullying is consistent and on purpose. This definition allowed us to discuss and use role-play to show how we can stand-up for ourselves if our friends or even if we feel like we are being bullied. We also spoke about being courageous and who we can talk to if we ever felt unhappy or upset. 

31/01/2023- Science

This week during our Science lesson we recapped the different parts of a plant and what they do. We explained how a plant changes as it grows. Pupils also put the stages of a plant’s life cycle in order. They observed plants and trees in the Forest School and drew some plants and trees that we observed, discussing what stage of growth it currently is in. We also learnt about what seed dispersal is and discussed the importance of this.

26/01/2023- English

This week in English, we created our own alien plans and used these to construct our aliens. We used card, googly eyes, foam stickers, pipe cleaners and felt. We described our aliens using adjectives and noun phrases. We discussed the different parts we were making to our partners. We also talked about the different personalities our aliens have. We made some comparisons with each other. 

20/01/2023- Mathematics

This week for Mathematics, we have been exploring a variety of 3D shapes. We identified and named the 3D shapes correctly, we counted the number of faces on each shape. Faces are the flat or the curved surfaces of a 3D shape. We looked at the 2D shapes that are on each 3D shape. This helped us to identify the name of the shape quickly. We also looked out for whether the shapes have flat or curved faces. We found out that a cube and a cuboid both have the same number of faces.

12/01/2023- Man on the Moon

This week, we read the book ‘Man on the Moon’. The children discussed what happened in the story as a class and then they discussed the parts that they liked the most. They worked in small groups to act out some of their favourite parts of the story. The children also had to justify why they liked that part of the story.

When acting out the parts that they liked, the children  also had to ensure that they projected their voice and made eye contact with the audience.

8/12/2022- PSHCE 

This week, Year 2 have been discussing what makes them feel anxious. As a class, they discussed situations that make people anxious and shared times that they have felt anxious. They have also discussed what happens to our body when we’re feeling anxious. Finally, they came up with different strategies that they could use when they feel anxious.

29.11.2022 Purple Class Visit Manor Park Library

Purple class visited Manor Park Library this week and were given a short introduction about the Library and what it offers. We got the opportunity to explore a range of picture and storybooks. We found out that all books were put in a specific order so people can find the book they are looking for when they visit the library. We made sure we put all the books back where we found them and in the correct way. We listened to a story ‘Five little aliens in a flying saucer’ . It was like a song book so we all joined in!

24/11/2022-  Library visit 

This week, Yellow Class visited Manor Park Library to develop their love for reading. The children were told about the different types of books that they can read at the library, including: picture books, board books and non-fiction books. 

The children spent some time reading and enjoying different types of books. They also had an interactive story session, whereby they read ‘We’re going on a Lion hunt’, which all the children thoroughly enjoyed.  

16/11/2022- Oracy

This week in English, we recalled some parts of the story ‘Anna Hibiscus’ in chronological order. We focused on developing our linguistic and physical skills by using a range of vocabulary from the story book, using different tones of voice, using gestures and making good eye contact. We tried our best to project our voice so our audience can hear us. This helped our audience understand this part of the story even better! We enjoyed acting out as different characters from the story.

9/11/2022-PE

This week in PE year 2 have continued to explore and develop their dodging skills. They have also started to use their dodging skills to explore attacking and defending in teams and what they can do to be successful at both. Shortly, they will progress to using tag rugby belts to start to play a basic game of tag rugby. 

2/11/2022-PSHCE

During PSHCE, the children in Year 2 were learning about ways to cope with anger. The children discussed what happens to the body when we are angry and reasons why we may get angry. 

Later the children discussed ways to cope with anger such as: taking some time to think, counting backwards from 20, taking deep breaths, doing some exercise and walking away from a situation. 

20/10/2022- Black History Week

This week for Black History Month we have been learning about Mo Farah. Sir Mohamed Farah is a runner for Great Britain.  Mo was born in the African country of Somalia in 1983. He moved to London at nine years old. He loved football. Mo was very good at running. He started running 5,000m and 10,000m races. Mo won many races. He was World and European champion. He won four Olympic gold medals.

Using Mo Farah as an inspiration we have been exploring the Newham Migration story and exploring where our families come from. We spoke about our heritage and how some of our families migrated to the UK for different purposes. We worked on developing our cognitive oracy skills by thinking about the content of what we share.

12/10/2011- RE Day!

Year 2 had the most amazing time during RE Day! They started the day by exploring some artefacts, which immersed them into their learning. Their RE topic was about - Why Jesus told stories. The children learned about 3 parables: The Lost Sheep, The Good Samaritan and The Wise and Foolish Builders. 

The children sequenced the story of The Lost Sheep and acted out the story of The Good Samaritan. They also discussed the meaning behind each parable and why those stories are important to Christians today. The children had a lot of fun and worked extremely well with each other.

6/10/2022-Science

In science we were given the task to create a boat that would be buoyant. We worked in small groups and used corks, elastic bands, paper and sticks to try and create a boat. Parents also joined us during this session. We used 1p coins as cargo to test which boat could carry the most penny coins before it sank.

28/09/2022-Reading

During Guided Reading, the children have been looking at different texts about animals. This week we have looked at a piece of text about Humpback Whales. The children have been learning new vocabulary such as: endangered, popular and appearance. 

We have chosen to look at this piece of text, as it relates to the story that we are reading in English, ‘The Snail and the Whale’. Children have been learning interesting facts about the Humpback Whales, such as how they are endangered and that they are able to hold their breath underwater for up to 45 minutes!

22/09/2022- Mathematics

This week in Mathematics we have been learning to partition 2 digit numbers in different ways. We have been using a range of manipulatives to represent numbers. We also worked systematically to find all possible ways we can partition numbers. Some of us were able to spot patterns when partitioning in tens.

14/09/2022- English

This week, Year 2 have been looking at poems and similes. They have been reading poems and discussing the impact of adjectives and similes. They learnt that similes compare two things using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. 

At the start of the week, the children worked in pairs to write similes. They also used adjectives to describe the nouns, in order to make their work even more interesting to read. Throughout the week, they have worked independently to write their own similes and they have also compared different poems. 

Year 2 have made a great start to the school year!

07/09/2022- Welcome back!

This week Purple and Yellow class settled in Year 2 really well. Children were given the opportunity to share their amazing holiday adventures and memories with each other. Some children bought in their fantastic time capsules, keeping everyone in suspense about what could possibly be in there!  Children played games as a team to pass a hoop around a human chain without breaking the chain, this became a challenge when a time restriction was set! Children also created paper bridges and tested whether they were strong or not. They found out that communication was key in building a strong bridge. Children are very excited about the exciting new topics they will be learning about and can’t wait to get started!

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Year 1

2021 - 2022

20/07/2022- Making Appreciation Cards

This week we have been making friendship cards and writing letters to our friends to show appreciation. Showing our teachers and friends that we value them and explaining how they have helped us.

14/07/2022-DT

This week Year 1 made the houses that we planned during our D&T lessons. The children used lolly sticks and chose what resources to use to stick it together. They chose from blu tack, PVA glue, or tape to stick the house together. The children were encouraged to try different ways of sticking and not give up when the house fell apart but instead to try another way.

04/07/2022 - Visit to the Tower of London

This week Year 1 visited the Tower of London where we got to take a step back into history. We were able to walk around the historical grounds and see what it was like to live there. We also walked through the 'Superbloom' exhibit and saw the beautiful flowers that had been planted in the mote.

30/06/2022- Science

This term we have been looking at Seasonal Change in Science and the children have been exploring the differences between the four seasons. Here we are making seasonal trees. The trees have four sides and each side represents one of the seasons. We looked at how the leaves all look different depending on the season and showed this on each side of the tree.

22/06/2022-Reading

In Year 1 we have been reading lots of books this week. The children have had the chance to choose a book from our book  corner and read it to their classmates during DEAR (Drop Everything and Read).

16/06/2022-Mathematics

This week some of  the Year one children have been working on different ways to make numbers 18-20. For this activity the children were using playdough to fill up a plate with food. Next, they had to write a calculation to show the way they made the number 19.

9/06/2022-Emily Brown and The Thing

This week in English we have started looking at our new text Emily Brown and the Thing. We started the week by thinking of a prediction for the text. Some children thought that Emily Brown would be teleported into Space and look at gleaming and shiny stars.  The children are excited to see what happens in our new story. 

12/05/2022- Discover Story Centre Visit

On May 11th the Year 1 classes went to the Discover Centre in Stratford for a story workshop on The 100 Story Hotel. When we arrived there, we were greeted by a guide and played some games to make sure that we hadn’t forgotten our listening hats. Our guide read the  story ‘The Odd Dog Out’ and we created soundscapes for the pictures. Soon after, we entered The 100 Story Hotel and tried to solve the mystery of the missing story. Through working together, we eventually discovered who stole the story.

6/05/2022- Religious Education

This week we have been learning about Hinduism. We learnt about the 5 duties of a Hindu and then created a dart board thinking about the most important belief and least important belief. Swipe right to see examples of our work.

28/04/2022- Art

For Art this week, we have been looking at the artist Eileen Agar and trying to reproduce her work. The children printed objects that were related to an animal so they could use them in a collage. They printed leaves for a monkey, snowflakes for a polar bear and shells for a crab. Eileen Agar is known for using different materials in her collages; it is for this reason the children are getting the resources together to finish off their final products.

22/04/2022- Mathematics

This week we have started looking at multiplication by making groups and counting in 5s. For this activity we investigated a problem of making 4 equal groups and 3 unequal groups and showing all the different ways we could show them using double sided counters. The children enjoyed the opportunity to investigate an open ended problem.

01/04/2022- Science

This term for Science Year 1 has been learning about ‘Animals Including Humans’. We have been putting animals into different categories like what they eat or their species. We know that carnivores only eat meat like a lion, herbivores only eat plants like a horse, and that omnivores eat both meat and plants like a human. The highlight or the term was when the farm came to visit and we were able to meet some of the animals that we had been studying.

25/03/2022-English

This week we have been working on becoming independent writers by using our writing checklist to extend our writing. We then looked at how we can underline key learning such as conjunctions. Here is an example of our work.

17/03/2022- Reading

In Year one this week, Mr Ervalho asked the children to summarise what they do for reading and this is what they had to say: 

“In Year 1 we know how to read quietly and calmly. We read with our partners. We can read as quiet as a mouse. We help each other read words that we don’t know. In Year 1 we learn new words. In Year 1 we read a story book with our partners. We read our stories slowly. We take care and share our books in Year 1”. Year 1 pupils

10/03/2022-RE

This week Year 1 has been learning about the parable ‘The Prodigal Son’. It is about a son who asks his dad for money and then spends it all and is forced to return home embarrassed. But instead of the father shaming him for being wasteful, the son is welcomed back home and embraced. You can see that we freeze framed the part of the story where the son comes back home and is greeted by his father.

03/03/2022- PSHCE

In year 1, we have been looking at friendship and what it takes to be a good friend so we role played a scenario where children were upset and what we could do to console them. The children came up with ideas like giving them a hug, playing with them, telling them a joke, or making them laugh. 

24/02/2022- Geography Parent Workshop

On the 22nd of February Orange class had their Geography Theme Term Parents Workshop to recreate the local area using junk modelling to recreate some of the buildings in Manor Park. The children have been learning about Our Local Area and had a visit from Barnaby Bear who came to Manor Park and took some pictures of the buildings he saw as he visited our school. The children then had to recreate these buildings using various pieces of junk and were able to make the local Post Office, Tesco, and Manor Park Library. It was a very exciting workshop that both the children and parents enjoyed!

10/02/2022-Mental Health Week

For Children's Mental Health week, the children in Year 1 created a calm picture. They drew things that made them feel calm and happy. The children were also listening to relaxing music while they created their drawings.

04/02/2022- Computing

This week in our Computing lessons we revisited our learning from last week and had a discussion about how to be safe online. We then moved onto looking at recipes and how they are written in a simple format so that everyone can understand the instructions. Next, we wrote instructions on how to make a sandwich. We made use of key vocabulary such as: recipe, first, second and then.

28/01/2022-Mathematics

This week Year 1 has been looking at making ‘Related Facts’ and using manipulatives in order to be successful at this. The children used counters, cubes, 10 frames and double sided counters to make fact families. They worked systematically to ensure that they didn’t miss any number facts along the way. The children were able to find all the number facts for a number for both addition and subtraction.

20/01/2022- Florence Nightingale

Over the last few weeks Year 1 has been learning about Florence Nightingale and the impact that she had on nursing. We had a ‘Now Press Play’ workshop where we listened to a story about Florence Nightingale and her time in Crimea during the Crimean War. The children learnt about how Florence helped the soldiers by cleaning the hospital, giving them good food, and administering medicine. The children role played the story as they listened to it and were able to get a sense of the impact that she had.

13/01/2022-Grace and Family

This week Year 1 had been reading their new book ‘Grace and Family’. It is about a little girl, Grace, who visits her father in Gambia and has an amazing time there. We started our week by thinking about what the story could be about and what questions we want to ask about it. Next, we started reading the story and thinking about how Grace felt at the beginning of the story and started writing sentences about her emotions.

17/12/2021- Making Wreaths

This week Year 1 had been getting ready for Christmas by making wreaths. The children coloured in baubles and then cut them out and added them to their wreaths. These preparations come on the heels of our trip to the Methodist Church where we learnt about modern Christmas celebrations like decorating the tree and house as well as us learning about the Nativity and the importance of Christmas to Christians.

9/12/2021- Methodist Church Visit

On December 8th Year went to the Manor Park Methodist Church Christmas Journey. The children were able to learn about the Christmas story and the birth of Jesus. They met the wise men and learnt about the gifts that they gave Jesus, they met a shepherd and explored what he does, and even met Mary and Joseph. The children had a fantastic time and enjoyed learning about the Christmas story.

3/12/2021- Science

This term for Science we started off looking at Seasonal Change and what the similarities and differences are between the four seasons. We looked at Autumn and what the weather is like and how it differs from the other seasons. The following lessons we have been working on Investigations and using our senses to look at different fruits.

26/11/2021- Why Do Christians Give Gifts?

This week Year 1 continued to learn about Christmas and why Christians give gifts to one another at this time. We learned about the Three Wise Men and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that they gave to Baby Jesus. The children discussed the reason Christians give gifts and it is because the Wise Men gave gifts to a special baby. It is because of this that Christians give gifts to one another at Christmas.

18/11/2021-Mathematics 

This week we have been Exploraptors and have been learning about addition and subtraction and comparing them to see which was greater than or less than. We had practical lessons using double sided counters and a number track to work out some subtraction number facts. We also made towers out of cubes to compare them with our partners, and compared different number facts to see which was greater than or less than.

11/11/2021- Reading in Year 1

Year 1 has been enjoying reading this week. We have been reading in class, the Library and the Reading Garden. We have been sharing books with one another and delving into a book. The children particularly liked reading outdoors in the Reading Garden. The library was an amazing experience as well because it was the first time we used the library.

5/11/2021- How Do Christians Celebrate Christmas?

This term we are looking at 'How do Christian celebrate Christmas?’. We started this by looking at gifts that we have received and how it made us feel when we received these gifts. The children were able to describe how they felt with words like thrilled and overjoyed. Then we moved onto thinking of a special person to give a gift to and what gift we could give them. The children thought of people like their mums, dads and siblings and wanted to give them thank you cards and rings.

21/10/2021- Mathematics

This week in our Mathematics learning we created a bar model. We used different manipulatives to make a number and then wrote the fact families. The children have enjoyed using a manipulative of their choice to make the number.

14/10/2021- Provision in Year 1

Over the course of the term the children have been enjoying the provision that has been set out for them. We have enjoyed painting a bus that was used as part of a role play, we went shopping at Tesco for snacks and we have enjoyed making spaceships from Lego. The children have had the opportunity to talk about the things they are doing and sharing their ideas with others. 

7/10/2021-Reading

During our free flow time the children have enjoyed reading the books in the book corner. Pupils have the opportunity to choose a book of their choice and delve into it with a friend or alone. One of the most popular books in year 1 is a story book called ‘Chocolate Cake’ which is about a boy who wakes up in the middle of the night to eat a whole chocolate cake and another favourite is ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes the Avengers’. The children love reading stories and having stories read to them.

30/9/2021- One More, One Less

Year 1 has been looking at Place Value this term in Mathematics. Here are some pictures of children exploring numbers and counting this week. We played snakes and ladders to explore counting, we looked for one more and one less using a ten frame, and we challenged our partners to see who could reach the end first in the ‘Incy WIncy Spider’ counting game.

23/09/2021- Poetry

This week Year 1 has been reading the poem ‘Kimmy’ by Eloise Greenfield which is about a dog and how he loves to play football with its owner. The children went to the hall and explored  different ways to use the ball. We discussed what a verb is and how to move the ball, for example, throw it, roll it, catch it, kick it, and sit on it.

16/09/2021-London Bridge

Year 1 has been looking at the nursery rhyme ‘London Bridge’. They explored this nursery rhyme by playing a game, where two children made the London Bridge using their body and dropped their arms to illustrate the bridge falling down as they walked under it. They sang the song beautifully whilst playing the game. We have been using drama as a way to delve deeper into a text.

10/09/2021- Back to School for Year 1

Our Year 1 pupils have settled well into KS1 this week and are becoming familiar with the routines and structure of the school day.  

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Reception

2020-21

This week In Blue class during free flow the children have loved pretending to be the teacher and writing sounds. We have had a focus on pretending to be the shopkeeper and customer and using 1ps and 2ps accurately in our play.

This week we have been celebrating Diversity week and learning about Brazil. We learnt about the flag and what the colours represent. We then wrote about them and remembered to use a capital letter, finger space and full stop.

This week in Reception we have been investigating how the ball can roll fast and slow using guttering and colourful balls. 

The children have been using the balance bikes and trying to find space and negotiate how to move their body to ensure they stay balanced on the bike. 

This week during free flow we have been making 10 in different ways using double sided counters. We then moved onto recording in different ways. Some of us recorded the number sentence as dots and some used the numbers. We are really enjoying playing with numbers. 

This week in Reception we have also been looking at building our fine motor skills using different mediums. We have been using theraputty, bolts and tracing over lines, we have had new and exciting activities every week to support the development of all the muscles in our hand and arm!

Child Initiated play is defined as play that is instigated, led and controlled by us rather than the adults. A child led play scenario allows us to control the direction and narrative of our play experiences. It is only Monday morning and we are already so engaged in our learning. The provision set out by our teachers supports us having our own ideas and play with what we know, we choose how to use the resources and learn through these first hand experiences.  

It is too cold for our water play at the minute but we still love exploring and discovering how these giant marbles travel along the guttering. We enjoy problem solving and building the runs for the marbles, we were trying to get the marbles to land in the large bucket. We worked together and felt a great sense of achievement when the marble hit the bottom of the bucket. 

Construction Play is proven to make a difference to the way we think and complete tasks. It's a form of play that aids our growth and development. Construction play can be crazily vast. Simple things such as counting bricks, measuring weight and moving objects all contribute to making a us think outside the box. We all have different ways of learning and thinking (at different stages too). Open-ended activities allow us to grow and develop to our full potential. 

When we engage in this way of playing, we will start to ask ourselves the question 'what if?' - an indication we are challenging ourselves. For example, we may stack blocks as high as we can until they fall down or put a particular amount of water into a bucket when using scales to see how full it should be before it becomes unbalanced. These simple things are constantly stimulating our brain.  Playing with a variety of building and creative products helps build our self-confidence and encourages our independent learning too.

New Reception Starters!

Our Reception classrooms and outdoor area are all set up ready for our children to explore! Red and Blue classes will start their phased return from next week and we look forward to welcoming them very soon!

2019-2020