Year 2B

Welcome to Year 2B class page.

We have the recipe for success!

Take a group of enthusiastic children and add together caring and supportive teachers (don’t

forget to add teaching assistants!). Pour in lots of challenging and fun activities and sprinkle with excellent manners and behaviour. Stir until learning and progress is outstanding! Voila…a fantastic Year 2!

Join us on our fabulous learning journey as we use our skills to learn about our world in the past, present and future so that we can become valuable citizens of modern Britain.

This week, in Geography we have continued learning about Kampong Ayer. The children learnt how it is the biggest water village and people live in houses built on stilts. The children were very fascinated about this.

This week, our two amazing pupil of the weeks are Julia and Michael. Julia has blown me away with her amazing work ethic towards learning her lines and songs for our school production. An actress in the making!! Michael has continued to show what resilience he has towards his learning in maths. He has been able to solve a range of difficult problems on mass this week. What super stars you are!

We've had a very busy first week back! The children enjoyed taking part in 'Muddy Monsters' where they made dens by applying the skill of making a half hitch knot. The children were very good at this and even persevered hen they found it hard. During their time outside, they played in the mud kitchen, cooked popcorn on the fire, had a relaxing time on the hammock and had lots of fun on the swing. 

We have also started our new unit in PE called 'Rackets and Balls'. The children have been learning how to control the ball on the bat when moving around. 

Our two amazing pupils of the week are Riley and Valentino. Valentino is always a very positive role model to have in class and is a friend to everyone. Riley persevered when making a half hitch knot and was able to apply his skills when making a den. Well done to you both, you are amazing! 

This week, in DT, we have been making our very own moving monsters. The children began by learning about linkages and levers and how things move. We then had a go at making three different linkage systems which they could use to move their monster. The children carefully designed two different monsters and their friends voted for their favourite one. They then made their own moving monsters … take a look at how good they look.

This week, in R.E, the children learnt about Easter traditions that Christians follow and were really good at remembering things that they have done in the past including rolling eggs. Take a look at their amazing work.

Hollie and Jayden are our two amazing stars of the week. Hollie has amazed me with her recount writing on our trip to Peepy Farm and Bywell Estate. She was able to include lots of the Y2 targets in her writing. Jayden has really impressed us with his expression with his reading and is making amazing progress. A HUGE well done to you both!

We've had another busy week in school! In PE, we have been testing our agility skills and we have been playing a game of 'Agility Monsters'. The children had to practise changing direction quickly without being caught by the monsters. If they were caught by the monsters, then they had to wait for someone to come and release them. We then moved on to practising our agility skills in partners where we had to give our partner a colour combination and they had to touch the colours as fast as they could. Some of us were really good at this. 

Mr Parkin came in again to teach us music and some of us had the opportunity to play the keyboard .... we were amazing!

Our two pupils of the week this week are Dara and Artin. Artin has really impressed us with his behaviour this week and has been trying really hard to ensure he follows our school rules. Dara has worked his socks off this week and tried really hard in maths to solve a range of tricky money problems. Well done to you both!

We've had a fantastic trip to Peepy Farm and Bywell Estate where we got to learn all about our geography topic, 'Where does our food comes from?' We walked around Peepy Farm and Mark, the farmer, showed us some baby calves and talked about how they looked after them. We then had a look at some of the older cows before we went into the milking parlour and learnt about how many litres of milk a cow produces a day. We were amazed! After, we then had a go at making our very own butter before we got the opportunity to try it on our crackers. It was delicious! Finally, we went back on the bus and went to Bywell Estate where we had our lunch and took part in an Easter egg hunt. We had an amazing day! 

At the end of the week, we celebrated World Book Day and the children took part in a range of activities. We had a reading cafe, second hand book swap, quiz, crafts and so much more! We had so much fun! 

Our two amazing pupil of the weeks are Franklin and Vinos. Vinos has been trying really hard to use the four different sentence types in her writing and is becoming a lot more independent at this. Franklin has tried really hard to develop his phonological awareness. Well done to you both, you are both amazing. 

This week, the children in Y2 had an exciting visit to Gateshead Library. They got to listen to a variety of Paul Cookson’s funny poems. He was hilarious and we all enjoyed joining in with his different poems. The children really enjoyed dancing along to silly songs and poems. He read a range of his poems and he is a real performer. One of our favourite poems was ‘’It’s Crazy at the Zoo’ and ‘Bouncy Mr Springer’ because they had funny actions to join in with. What a fantastic morning for Y2!

On Friday, we had a very special assembly with Greig who talked about the power of kindness. We learnt so much about how small acts of kindness can have such a huge impact. We got creative back in class making cards, bookmarks, joke books, pictures and paper chains with lots of kind affirmations for those we want to show kindness to. 

We also had the pleasure of a visit from Rabbi Gluck who told us all about the Shabbat celebration. We tried some grape juice and some kosher bread (Challah). It was delicious!

This week, we have been super busy but also having lots of fun before the end of another half term. We went for a visit to Gateshead Library where the children got to choose a new book to bring back to school and they also took part in a Valentines scavenger hunt. In addition to this, we have been busy making our clay tiles using slip and score to add a 3D effect. I think you would agree that we have some sculpture artists in the making! 

This week, in History, we have been looking at different artefacts and learning about what other people thought about Florence. The children were really good at using the information from the artefacts to justify their answers. 

Aylor and Jack have both been blowing our socks off this week with their amazing work ethic. Jack has worked really hard to use Y2 targets within his writing and is developing confidence every day. Aylor has worked really hard in both maths and English and is making so much progress. A huge well done to you both!

This week, we had a very special visitor who came into school, 'That History Bloke and Florence Nightingale'. The children got he opportunity to hold and learn about different artefacts from the past and about why Florence Nightingale was so important. The children got the opportunity to be a nurse and help bandage each others wounds ... they did a great job and would make great nurses. We learnt so much from this workshop and had so much fun!

This week, our two amazing stars are Izzy and Alara. Both children have been amazing this week with their writing and have tried so hard to include Year 2 targets. I am also so impressed as both girls have been trying so hard with their handwriting an have made HUGE improvements! Well done you are both super stars! 

This week, we had a slightly different Muddy Monsters session due to the adverse weather. The children still went out into a more sheltered area of our school with Phil to learn how to use a bow saw. The children worked really well together to make their own cookies for our lesson next half term. Phil was really impressed with the children’s skills and how they kept each other safe. 
 

As part of English, this week, we have been reading Willy the Wimp. The children had to take on the role of Willy and describe how he was feeling at different parts in the story. We were so impressed with their hot seating skills and we were then able to use this information when we wrote a character description on Friday. 
 

Our two superstars this week are Jessica and Gabi, they have both been working so hard. Jessica is making great progress with her reading and now knows set 1 sounds confidently an is beginning to blend them. Gabi has been trying hard with his writing ensuring it makes sense. Well done to you both!

This week, in English, the children have been reading 'A Diary of a Wombat' and we have been acting out the key events of the recount. The children loved doing this and this really helped them with writing their recount for their extended write. In music, the children have continued to compose music with the glockenspiels and we were so impressed with Estell ... a musician in the making!

A HUGE well done to Indie and Angus who are our two stars this week. Indie, has continued to impress me with her writing and her choice of language, sentence structure and punctuation is simply amazing! An author in the making! Angus has continued to strive in his foundation subjects and I was particularly impressed with his knowledge of Florence Nightingale. Well done to you both ... you are born superstars!

What a first week back we have had! Its been so lovely to see everyone again and it sounds like you all had a lovely Christmas! This week, during 'Wellbeing Wednesday' the children took part in a range of different scenarios where they were asked  to stand along the continuum to show how often they take part in the displayed activity. Once the children have placed themselves along the continuum, some children  shared an example of when they engaged in the activity and how it made themselves and others’ feel.

Statements include: How often do you…

Have quiet time?

Say sorry when you have upset someone?

Explore outside?

Brush your teeth?

Say nice things to others?

Engage in screentime? 

Laugh?

Congratulate yourself?

Ask for help when you need it?

Talk about your feelings?

These scenarios allowed for lengthy discussions and the children all really enjoyed it.

In music, we have had Mr Parkin teaching the children to play different notes on the glockenspiel. The children loved this and enjoyed working with their partners. 

Before the holidays, some of the children took part in a 'Young Writers' competition and we are pleased to announce their work will be published in an anthology! How amazing, we are so proud of you.

Finally, our two amazing stars this week are Estell for contributing to our Science lessons and asking interesting questions on plants and Ergi for making so much progress with his reading. Well done you are both superstars!

What an amazing Christmas Party we have had this afternoon. We danced the afternoon away, whilst playing party games and ate lots of food. We are definitely in the Christmas spirit now and we can't wait for the Christmas holidays! 

A HUGE well done to Julia as well who was our amazing entry for Brighton's Got Talent. We were sooo proud of you!

In DT, the children have been working hard to design a chair for a baby bear. The children experimented with different materials to find the best equipment to use to make a stable, strong chair that a bear could use. The children were so pleased with how they turned out. 

A HUGE well done to Elsa and Isabelle for being out two amazing stars this week. Elsa has been trying really hard with her handwriting and presentation. I am so impressed! Isabelle worked well in a team to create a stable chair for baby bear. What super stars you are!

This week, the children had a very special visit from the music workshop. It got all of the children in the Christmas spirit and they enjoyed joining in with different songs and actions. They enjoyed experimenting creating different sounds using different instruments. Some children even got to dress up and tell some funny jokes to the other children. 

Well done to the lovely Alara and Franklin. They have been amazing this week! Franklin, has been giving 100% effort in everything that he does. When things get tricky, he has demonstrated great perseverance to continue trying. Alara, has made huge improvements with her writing and she has been trying hard to include Y2 targets. Well done to the both of you! 

This week, we have continued writing poems in English. Following on from our fiction work on 'Little Red Riding Hood', the children wrote a list poem based on 'Ten Things Found in an Enchanted Forest'. At the beginning of the week, the children had the opportunity to feel different objects found in a forest to write some noun phrases. The conker shell was very prickly so we had to be really careful but we managed to come up with some amazing noun phrases by using our senses. Take a look at our work! 

We have also been putting up the decorations for Christmas this week. We had so much fun! 

A HUGE well done to our gorgeous Riley and Kexin for being our two amazing stars this week. Riley, has made leaps and bounds of progress with his handwriting and he was able to come up with some amazing noun phrases to describe the objects in the enchanted forest. Kexin just continues to be such an amazing person to have in our classroom. She lights up the room as soon as she walks through the door and is always such an amazing role model. A HUGE well done to you both, we are so proud of you!

On Monday afternoon, we have had the pleasure of welcoming Alan Windram author of 'One Button Benny' into our school to deliver a workshop. He was AMAZING! The children really enjoyed dancing along to silly songs and reading two of his books. Some of the children also had the opportunity to buy a signed copy of his book. What a fantastic afternoon we have had!

A huge well done to Isaac and Jaden this week for blowing our socks off! Isaac has been persevering with his cursive handwriting and hard work definitely pays off! Jaden has been trying hard to include more of his Y2 targets in his writing, including noun phrases. Keep up the great work boys!

This week, the children enjoyed a wet Muddy Monsters session where they made fairy houses. They had to find different objects within the forest school to add detail to their houses. The children had a great time on the swing and some children even had a little trip to the floor! 

A HUGE well done to Julia and Vinos this week for being our two stars! Julia always gives 100% effort in everything she does and is a great role model to have in our class and Vinos has blown me away with her reading. She has grown in confidence and uses great expression. Well done to you both! 

This week, we started our materials unit and we had to test to find out the most absorbent material to clean up a spillage. The children enjoyed testing a variety of materials to see whether they were absorbent and found out the kitchen roll and cotton wool were the most absorbent. We have also made some poppies for Remberance Day and we are going to place these on the poppy field near the KS2 yard. 

Our two pupil of the weeks this week are Michael and Mohammad. Michael has had an amazing work ethic in Maths and never gives up! Mohammad has shown great resilence even when he finds things tricky in Maths. Well done to both of you! 

This week, the children performed our Harvest festival song at Alive Church. The children have been busy in school learning the 'Harvest Samba' and they were amazing when they performed to all the parents/carers at the church. We hope you enjoyed our performance as much as we enjoyed singing it. A big thank you to everyone as well for their donations towards the food bank, this will go to helping lots of families in need. 

We have been learning about 'What is a computer?' in our computing lessons. The children have been learning about a mouse, keyboard, screen, interactive whiteboard and webcam. We discussed the inputs and outputs on different technology devices and then we also went on a technology hunt around the school and we found lots of different devices. 

In addition to the above, we have also been on our first visit to Gateshead Library this week where the children took part in holloween activities and chose a book to bring back to school. 

This week, the children have been writing their own set of instructions based on the story ' Diary of a Wombat'. We have been focusing on the use of time conjunctions, bossy verbs, adverbs, headings and sub headings. The children have really impressed us with their writing and they are starting to use the Year 2 targets as well as improving their handwriting. What superstars! 

We have continued to develop our perseverance as part of 'Wellbeing Wednesday' and the children were all able to tell us one thing they had persevered in during this half term. We have loved our 'Wellbeing Wednesday' sessions and can't wait again for next half term.

Our two stars of the week, are Eduard and Bella. Eduard has blown Miss Helm's socks off with his exceptional maths skills this week in addition and subtraction. Indie has been practising her handwriting non-stop and she has made HUGE amounts of progress and it is beautiful.  A HUGE well done to you both, you are both superstars!

This week, in Science, we continued our work on food chains. We discussed how the animals in the habitats had to find their own food to survive. The children had to make their own food chains thinking carefully about producers, predators, consumers.  They created some great food chains which helped them develop their understanding. 

In History, we have been recreating the events from the 'Great Fire of Gateshead' and the children added their own actions. The children really enjoyed it and helped them to remember the key events.

Our two pupil of the weeks are Bella and Valentino. Bella has tried really hard with her writing this week ensuring she composes her sentences correctly and  has been able to include the Y2 targets. Valentino has continued to impress us with his amazing attitude towards learning and his understanding of fractions in maths. Well done to you both, you are amazing!! 

This week, we have had our first ‘Muddy Monsters’ session of Year 2. The children had to work in partners and one child was blind folded and they had to use their communication skills to direct them from A to B. As well as this, the children made some micro habitats for different animals to live in. In addition to this, the children enjoyed swinging in hammocks, painting, den building and playing with the dinosaurs.

Our two pupil of the weeks, are Aylor and Jack. Aylor has been impressing me with her writing and thinking carefully about her sentence structure and trying really hard in maths. Jack has been trying really hard to verbally retell the story of Clean Up.

We have had a fantastic time on our visit to the Quayside. We visited lots of key places associated with the Great Fire of Gateshead such as St Mary's Church where the children were able to recall lots of information that they learnt about the events after the fire. The children also enjoyed spotting the bridges that they could see, including the Millennium and Swing bridge. We had lots of fun during our Baltic workshop where we created and drew our own bridges. Please see the photos below to have a look at all of the fun we had!

A HUGE well done to Angus and Jinan our two pupil of the weeks. Angus has blown me away this week with his handwriting and his amazing work ethic. I'm so proud of you and can't believe the difference in your writing in such a short space of time. Jinan, has been a little super star and always gives 100% effort all the time even during difficult circumstances. Well done to you both!

We've had another very busy week starting with a trip to Saltwell Park on Monday. We went to have a look at the different habitat's animals live in around the park as part of our science unit. We found some worms, woodlice and spiders that were living under logs in dark spaces as well as some ladybirds on some leaves. We had a great time and the parrot was even doing a little funny dance for us. In English, we have been developing our speaking and listening skills and retelling the story of 'Look Up'. We definitely have some children who will make it to the West End one day!

A HUGE well done to Holly and Dara this week. Holly was AMAZING last week across all subjects and she demonstrated a really good understanding of the differences in the Quayside in the past and now. In addition to this, she also wrote a fantastic character description on Rocket form our book Look Up. Dara has just blown me away with his incredible attitude towards his learning and I have been impressed with his understanding of place value. A HUGE well done to you both. 

We've had another busy week in school and the children are making us very proud! This week in maths, we've been working on place value and thinking carefully about how we can partition numbers. In English, the children have been working on setting and character descriptions based on the book 'Look Up'. We have been using noun phrases in our sentences when describing the character, Rocket. During gymnastics, we have been taught by Hannah and have been working on perfecting our forward rolls, handstands, and cartwheels advancing on to linking all these together. We can't wait to see what next week brings! 

A HUGE well done to our two children who received the very first pupil of the weeks in Year 2. Estell has blown us away with her incredible attitude towards learning and produced a great collage inspired by Romero Bearden. She created some great textured paper using primary and secondary colours and then overlapped this brilliantly to create ‘The Angel of the North’.  Ergi has settled in beautifully to Year 2 and we are so proud of him. He always sets a fantastic example in our class and gives 100% effort all the time. Well done to you both! 

Wow, what a first week we've had in school!! It has been so nice to see all the children again and they have all settled into Year 2 life beautifully! This week, we have been busy doing Art and created amazing collages inspired by an artist called Romare Bearden. The children learnt about primary and secondary colours and mixed these to create their own pictures. After, we went on a texture hunt and looked for objects which weren't flat and used these to produce different prints. Next, we then spent, what seemed like hours, ripping these pieces of textured paper up for our collage on 'The Angel of the North'. We discussed how we needed to overlap the textured paper to give a better effect and then we added detail to our picture by drawing people. Our work looks amazing and is on display in the hall for everyone to see. The funniest thing was that Miss Brown dressed us in bin bags, so we didn't ruin our lovely new uniform! 

In addition to this, we have spent time talking about wellbeing as part of 'Wellbeing Wednesday'. We discussed how we could make sure we look after ourselves and our friends. We visited the mindful garden where we listened to the wind chimes, chilled on the beanbags whilst listening to the birds, hugged trees and looked at the beautiful flowers growing in the flower bed.  We can't wait to visit it again!

To finish our week, we have been learning about how to stay safe online. We now know we don't share any of our personal details with other people and what to do in different scenarios. 

We've all really enjoyed seeing our friends again and we can't wait for the hard work to start next week in Year 2!