Langland Community School

What a great first week back for year 2!

In maths we have been thinking all about problem solving. This has been a little bit tricky as we have to think really carefully about what the questions really wants us to do, but year 2 have been working so hard! We are preparing for SAT’s which will take place at the end of this half term and maths is our strong point! Keep up the hard work year 2!

In T4W we have been thinking all about pirates! We are exploring adventure texts and have even been on an adventure of our own. On Thursday, our whole classroom was left in a mess, and we were left a note by Pirate Tom. He had asked us to find his treasure and leave it for him. We searched high and low across the playground and just when we were ready to give up, we found the treasure! We worked as a team which really paid off. Pirate Tom is happy and so are we!

In art we have been exploring leaves in the local area. Year 2 went outside to see the different trees on the playground and the different leaves they grow. They even had a go at trying to identify their names. Over the next week they will be creating an abstract piece of artwork based around the leaves we have in our local area.

In science, Elm have been exploring lifecycles, which is how living things grow and change as time goes on. We identified how lifecycles for different animals and humans can be different, and last different lengths of time.

Welcome back year 2!

Year 2 had a fantastic first week back of this new half term, full of amazing new learning. In science, they have started a new unit where they have been thinking about things that are living, no longer living and have never lived. See if they can find things around the house that fall into these categories.

Elm have been looking at vehicles in DT, they can identify what a vehicle is and explain how they know it a vehicle. They can also identify different parts that vehicles have and have been able to label their own. I’m looking forward to seeing all the great work they produce throughout the rest of the unit.

In maths, Year 2 have been working on position and direction. They have been learning some key words such as forward, backwards, quarter turn, half turn, clockwise and anti-clockwise. Elm have even been learning their left and rights! See if you can give them some instructions to follow at home using these words! This has linked perfectly to our computing unit, where we have been exploring programming. We started by giving each other instructions around the classroom, this then developed to programming BeeBots to do what we want them to do. Year 2 are definitely great at giving instructions.

Well done for another great week year 2, keep it up!

Well done to everyone in Excellent Elm for a fantastic week. Year 2 have worked so hard and achieved some amazing things. This week we have been thinking all about fractions in maths. We have been thinking about parts and wholes, equal parts and finding half of both shapes and numbers. Year 2 have worked so hard with this and are really showing off their skills. In T4W we have been learning and putting to use some great skills that will help us write an information text. We have been thinking very carefully about the structure of information texts, ready to write our own in the future.

In science we debated whether a flame was living or not. We discussed lots of different ideas and asked ourselves questions that relate to things that are living, we asked:

Does it eat or drink?

Does it have babies?

Does it need air?

Does it grow?

We decided to see what would happen if we took air away from a flame and found that without air, the flame went out! All of year 2 were able to write a great conclusion with some excellent reasoning.

Finally, a massive thank you to all of Elm for getting dressed up for world book day, and for taking part in all the activities. Well done for a fantastic week year 2.

Another great week in year 2 full of amazing learning and perseverance. This week has been especially tricky as year 2 have been doing their mock SAT’s before their real SAT’s take place in May. All of the children in Excellent Elm have worked extremely hard and they should all be so proud of themselves, I know I am. Well done year 2!

In other news, this week year 2 have continued working with vehicles, and have made a plan for the vehicle they want to build next week. In science, year 2 have been thinking about different types of microhabitats and the different minibeasts that you would find in each one. Encourage your year 2 child to find a microhabitat and see what minibeasts they can find!

In geography we have been continuing to explore maps. This week we were identifying map symbols. We were able to use a key to support us. We then used our position and direction knowledge to help direct someone through a map. Year 2 would make great explorers one day!

Well done for another fab week year 2!  

This week, Year 2 have been working incredibly hard.

In maths, we have continued our learning all about fractions. We took our learning outside when finding and recognising quarters. Elm are awesome at splitting a shape into quarters by creating 4 equal parts. Year 2 have also started exploring unit and non-unit fractions which they really impressed me with.

In T4W, Elm have been working on writing their own information text about a made-up creature. After planning their writing at the beginning of the week, they have been coming up with great paragraphs for each subheading with some very interesting sentences!

In DT, year 2 have been using their design to help them create their vehicles. They were given a range of materials and joining equipment to help them create a vehicle that looks and works the same as their design. They have worked hard, and I am so impressed. I can’t wait for them to evaluate their work next week.

Although it was only a 4-day week, it was definitely a busy one!

Elm have carried on learning about fractions and have been exploring how 1 half is the same as 2 quarters. Elm have also been working on knowing 3 quarters. They have been so resilient. In T4W, Elm worked incredibly hard on their independent writes which was an information text all about their own mythical creature. They were able to use all the features and skills focused on over the last few weeks.

This week, we have been finalising our DT work. Last week we finished creating our vehicles and this week we evaluated. We were able to look at our vehicles, pick our favourite parts, say what went well and we were even able to write about the changes we would make if we were to do it again. They were very good at this.

On our final day of term, year 2 were very lucky to spend the whole day learning all about safety at the Hazard Alley Safety Centre. The children learnt so much all about emergency services, such as who they are and what they do. All children also got to have a go at doing an emergency service call using different scenarios, they were so fantastic at this! Then we went downstairs where Elm was able to be put into some real life situations that they could come across out in the real world. They were great with asking questions and interacting with the staff. They have made Team Langland very proud!

Have a lovely half term and stay safe!

Wow what a great first week back!

Year 2 have jumped straight back into learning and have had such a great week! In T4W we have been thinking all about dialogue. We started by thinking about speech bubbles, we looked through the stories in our book corner and found so many great books that use speech bubbles. We have now progressed to writing in our books using speech marks and have come up with some great dialogue based on some pictures of ourselves. Take a look down below!

In Maths we have gone back to exploring multiplication and division. This week we have been multiplying and dividing by 2 and 10. It has been great to see year 2 pulling back on their learning that we did back in November/December time!

In Art, our focus is to create sculptures. On Friday we had a go at using the clay to create a sculpture for a rockery area crafted by the fabulous Miss Kim. Year 2 were able to show their clay skills by controlling a clump in different ways, this including pulling, stretching, twisting and pinching… the list goes on! They created some great creatures using their new skills and these are now displayed in the DT room for the whole school to see!

Thanks for a great week year 2, keep up the hard work!

This week, Elm have been focusing on poetry in our T4W lessons, and we have also been exploring Venice, Italy. They have learnt all about gondolas and the history of some of the beautiful buildings. In maths, YR 2 have continued to focus on multiplication and division and have been using bar models to group and share. It has been a bit tricky but year 2 have been incredibly resilient and supportive of each other.

In science, we explored food chains in more depth. Elm have discovered that a food chain always starts with some kind of plant or algae, and that plants make their own energy. In DT year 2 have continued to improve their clay skills. This week they had been learning to roll the clay and create coils, they all supported each other when help was needed. It was so lovely to see the whole class work together as a team. In history, we were focusing on Christopher Columbus. Ask your child to tell you some facts about him!

Thanks for another great week year 2, keep it up!

Wow, I think this has been our busiest week so far!

In maths, year 2 have been learning all about length and height. They have explored measuring in CM, metres and comparing lengths. They have loved using the rulers to draw lines of a certain length, but I think their favourite part of this unit so far has been measuring how many metres there is between our classroom and the lunch hall (53 metres for anyone who’s wondering). In T4W we have continued with our journey tale based on The Merchant of Venice. We have been exploring some of the features of our text map, and even managed to squeeze a bit of drama in there.

In science, year 2 continued to explore food chains, they have been reflecting and building on knowledge learnt over the last few weeks. They managed to organise themselves into some great food chains. In DT, Elm continued their work with clay, and I must say they are getting very skilled. This week’s focus was creating texture with clay, they used their teamwork skills to help each other roll out their clay, and then used the tools to create different textures.

Swimming was a huge success this week. The children have really grown in confidence and are thoroughly enjoying their sessions.

Finally, our week finished with a visit from the Toscana Stings orchestra. This fantastic orchestra told the story of Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson through the art of storytelling, music, and ballet. The children were engrossed in the performance and really enjoyed joining in with the dancing

Thanks for a brilliant week and have a fab weekend!

Wow what a tiring week!

We have been working on our innovated changes in T4W and really creating our own journey tales. It has been great to see the ideas that Elm have come up with, I can’t wait see how they progress! In maths, we finished our topic of Length and Height and are now moving onto Statistics. Year 2 have been working hard to use tally’s correctly and are now moving on to pictograms.

In science, year 2 have continued their work on food chains, and have been exploring different ways of displaying them. They have used paper plates and string, we now have a new fantastic display in our classroom!

We finished the week with National Number Day. The whole school were able to get involved with maths fun. Year 2 were split into different year groups to play different maths games; they all had such a great time! After that we played TT Rockstars (well we tried to anyway) but the site was so busy, we ended up playing as a whole class. I love seeing Elm come together as a team.

Well done for a fantastic week and have a lovely weekend year 2!

Another fantastic week!

This week, Excellent Elm have been working hard with writing their journey tale. They have made a start to planning and have even started writing their final independent story. I love to see how they are using the resources around the classroom to support them to be independent, such as their RWI sound mats and the toolkits we have created. In maths Year 2 have been thinking about using and reading pictograms and block diagrams. They are showing that they can carefully read a question and find the correct answer using the clues given.

In history, year 2 have been thinking about similarities and differences between Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, who are both famous explorers. They have been able to confidently recall facts about them both and have been having rich discussions with their peers.

In art, Elm have been sketching animals in preparation to create their clay model next week. They were working hard to draw an accurate picture of an animal of their choice then used their knowledge of clay skills to label the techniques they will be using to create their pieces. Well done year 2, I can’t wait to see the final product.

What a lovely week to end the term with!

This week year 2 have been doing a lot of independent writing, it is so lovely to see all the progress Elm have made since the beginning of the year and is great to see their lovely ideas come to life. In maths, we finished all our learning about statistics, which included using tallies, pictograms and block diagrams. Year 2 are now confident at creating and interpreting information. We also spent some time looking at some SAT’s questions, year 2 are very impressive!

In history, year 2 have finished all their learning about our 2 explorers, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. Elm were able to write some great sentences comparing these iconic figures. In science, year 2 have been using all their knowledge of food chains to create a food chain for a specific habitat. They were able to use all the knowledge that they gathered over the half term to create a fantastic piece of work.

A big thanks to all the parents that came to our ‘Be Our Best’ event on Thursday, both myself and the children really enjoyed our poetry writing session and we hope you did too.

We ended our week with a super fun PJ party where we had some snacks and watched a film. Their hundred square treat was definitely well deserved as Elm class have been an absolute pleasure this half term.

Keep safe during the break and I will see you soon!  

Welcome back year 2!
I am so happy to see all of Elm’s cheery faces this week, we have had a fantastic first week back. This week in Excellent Elm we have started our new unit which is a diary entry written by the greedy dragon. We have started to think about the skills needed to write a diary recount. I am looking forward to seeing how year 2 progress over the next few weeks.

This week in maths we have been thinking about deepening our addition and subtraction skills further. Next week we will be thinking about adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers.

In science, we have started to explore the different properties of materials. We completed an investigation about the different objects within our classroom and our outdoor area. Year 2 were able to list the different materials the objects were made of and had a clear understanding of their properties.

Well done for another fantastic week year 2. Keep it up!

This week has been a busy one that’s for sure! Year 2 have been learning a few different skills to help them with 2-digit addition and subtraction in maths. They have just been introduced to the column method and they have shown such resilience! All of Elm have given it such a good go – this will be something they develop throughout the years so its incredibly important they have a clear understanding now!

In T4W, we have started exploring the skills we need when writing a diary entry, such as using past tense verbs. Year 2 are excellent at looking at verbs and converting them into its past tense form. We have also been thinking about different sentence types, and how to use exclamation sentences. They were fantastic! See what I did there. 

In DT we have been exploring puppets and this week we were thinking about finger puppets. We discussed what audience finger puppets are targeted towards and how they should be designed. Year 2 had a clear understanding that they are often used by toddlers and children, meaning that they should be colourful and appealing. We then had a go at practising with some of the materials and creating our own.

 Keep up the hard work year 2!

This week in T4W we have been piecing together and planning for our very own diary entry. Year 2 have been thinking hard about the skills they need to write a good piece. We have made a start to writing and have included some of our changes, I love reading the innovations that Elm have come up with, they are so creative!

Maths this week has been all about column method. We first dipped our toes into this area last week but went in full force the last 5 days. We have started to explore exchanging and how to do so (and have solved some really tricky 2-digit questions along the way.) I am so proud of the progress we have made with this so far, and I look forward to continuing to develop it throughout the year.

In science we planned an investigation into what material would be suitable to use for a tent on a rainy day. We are looking forward to testing this next week and finding out if our predictions are correct.

DT was full of fun! We have been learning how to stitch this week in preparation for our puppet making in a few weeks. Year 2 learnt about needles, thread, suitable materials for sewing and even learnt 2 different types of stitches. This was quite tricky for Elm, but they worked so hard and not one of them gave up.

I am so proud of all the hard work this week. Keep it up year 2!

Another great week in Excellent Elm.

This week, year 2 have been doing their hot write in T4W. They have all produced fantastic diary entries with their own innovated changes based on our original text map. I have loved seeing all the progress they have made since September, and I can’t wait to see their skills progress further.

This week has been assessment week. It has been really great to see what year 2 are made of, and how they are able to put their newly learnt knowledge into practice. I am very impressed.

In science we held an experiment to find out which material would be the most suitable to use as a tent in rainy weather. Elm had all written their predictions beforehand which were very accurate. We tested 5 materials, these were paper, tissue, plastic, tin foil and orange peel. Year 2 were able to identify that plastic would be the most suitable material for a tent. 

Well done for another fantastic week year 2, Keep it up.

Year 2 have had such an awesome week!

In T4W we have been thinking about instructions. YR2 started the week by doing their cold task, where they wrote instructions for an alien called 'Blerg' who had EXTREMELY stinky breath. After they had all written their cool tasks we tested out their instructions to see how effective they were. We then had a visit from robot teacher which all of year 2 were so excited about! Robot teacher follows all instructions, so year 2 worked together to come up with instructions of how to make a sandwich. It’s safe to say some of the instructions had some interesting outcomes, however, got there in the end with a fantastic jam sandwich!

We have been learning about multiplication and division in Maths. Year 2 have been exploring equal and unequal groups, and have been representing this using counters. Elm have shown that they have very clear knowledge of this already which is fantastic. We have also explored equal groups, Elm can recognise that 5+5+5=15 is equal to 3X5=15. I can't wait to see next weeks progression with this. 

Thanks for a great week Year 2!

This week has been full of incredible activities.

In T4W, Elm have been thinking about the skills used to write instructions. They have also been internalising our model text which is a set of instructions for how to trap a dragon. At the end of the week, we planned our own innovated writes. As a class we will be writing a set of instructions for ‘How to trap a teacher’. Elm have got some fantastic ideas for this. Should I be worried?

In Maths we have continued our learning with multiplication and division where we have been learning to share and group. Some of us found this to be a bit of a challenge but all of year 2 have been incredibly resilient.

In DT we have been working towards making our puppets. They have finally all been sewed (WOOHOO). This was incredibly challenging as this is a tricky skill, but year 2 were able to persevere and they all supported each other which was great to see. Next week we will be evaluating our work.

Thanks for another great week year 2.

This week, Year 2 have been all about money after showing their clear recognition of coins and notes. Each child has been given £5 worth of plastic coins and have been buying things such as their snack and lunch bands with their £5 allowance. Elm have been told they need to save 50p for Wednesday 20^th December for their Christmas party, it turns out that year 2 are great at budgeting. All students are excited about paying and are becoming experts at finding correct amounts and asking for the correct amount of change when needed.

In DT, Year 2 have finished decorating their puppets (some photos attached!) and have all evaluated. I am so impressed with the resemblance of their initial designs and their final products and the development of their skills overtime.

We are all so excited to perform our Nativity to families and friends on Monday 18^th December. All of KS1 have worked so hard and it truly is brilliant. Our final dress rehearsal to the rest of the school was incredible and we can’t wait to do it all again on Monday.

We hope to see you then!

 What a fantastic start to the new year!

It has been so lovely to see our new year 2’s come to school so happy and eager to learn. I have loved to see each of them reunite with their friends after a well deserved 6-week rest.

This week, in Elm class we have been thinking hard about our emotions and how to regulate ourselves. The new year 2’s have enjoyed using their lollipop sticks and thinking about what zone they are in throughout the day. I can’t wait to see how this progresses over the year.

In maths, we have been revising what we already know about numbers to 20 and they have definitely been showing off their skills and challenging themselves! In T4W we have been refreshing our knowledge of descriptive sentences and have even had a go at writing sentence of 3’s using 3 different adjectives to describe something! Everyone had such fantastic ideas!

In art, year 2 have started to think about tone and how different pressure shows different pencil marking. We were able to create some fantastic gradient pieces out in the lovely sunshine on Friday afternoon.

This week, Elm have been utilizing our new and improved outdoor area and have absolutely loved it. They have been working as a team to build a house using loose materials and have also made a delicious mud pie. We have a new sand area and water tray with lots of toys for KS1 to play with, and it has been fantastic to see our mud kitchen utilised again this year.

A huge well done to all the year 2’s this week for all their efforts. I can’t wait to see them all again next week for more amazing learning!

Another fantastic week for year 2!

We have continued our maths learning of place value by exploring counting in 10’s and 1’s. Year 2 have been practising representing numbers using our base ten resources and have now moved on to representing numbers through drawing. They have done such a fantastic job; I can’t wait to see how their maths learning progresses next week!

In science, Elm have been exploring different materials and our lesson focus was ‘can we change the shape?’. We explored many different materials and tested whether they could bend, twist, stretch or squash. We had lots of fun feeling different materials. Year 2 were able to make accurate predictions along with an explanation.

In art, year 2 were exploring texture and had a go at drawing different textures on a page. They enjoyed trying out different patterns to make texture, they are such a creative bunch.

Thanks for an excellent week, Elm. Have a lovely weekend!

Year 2 have had another awesome week this week!

In T4W we have been focussing on settings and how we can help a reader build a better picture with our fantastic writing. We focused on telling the reader the time of day and weather, similes to describe a setting, using prepositions to extend and sentence of 3’s to give the reader more detail. Year 2 have done a fantastic job and have worked really hard!

In maths we are continuing our place value journey. We have been able to successfully represent numbers and have been able to use a place value grid to show tens and ones. Year 2 have also been exploring comparing and ordering numbers.

Science this week has been full of experiments and exploring. Elm class split into 2 groups to find out whether different materials could bend, stretch, twist or squash. They made a few predictions first and were then able to explore freely. They really enjoyed feeling the different materials and had incredibly accurate predictions.

Thank you so much for a great week with some fantastic learning. Have a lovely weekend!

What a week!

Year 2 have been on the ball this week and it feels like we have been on a crazy learning journey.

This week we started our new T4W unit- Kassim and the greedy dragon. We have been exploring some poetry and have even been able to come up with some fantastic transferable sentence patterns. I can already see that year 2 are using some of the skills we have been focusing on over the last few weeks! Speaking of a greedy dragon, did any parents hear from their year 2 children about a dragon being on our playground? Scary stuff!

In maths we are nearing the end of our place value unit. Year 2 have massively impressed me with their knowledge of numbers. Towards the end of the week, we have been focussing on estimating numbers on a number line, which we found quite tricky. Despite this, year 2 are both ambitious and resilient so they definitely do not give up easily!

In science we have continued to explore materials. This week we focused on whether a material can ‘change shape and stay changed’, ‘change shape and then change back’ or ‘not change shape at all’. Year 2 love getting all the materials out and feeling the different properties each material holds.

Well done for another fantastic week. Enjoy your weekend!

This week year 2 have been getting ready to start innovating their writing based on our model story ‘Kassim and the greedy dragon’. We have been discussing the tools we need to write a fantastic description text and have created our toolkit so that it is ready to go for next week. I am looking forward to seeing their ideas come to life!

In maths, year 2 have been really delving into fact families. We have been using part-whole models a lot which has helped us understand both addition and subtraction questions at a greater level. We have been using both hundred squares and bead strings to help us with number bonds to 100- this was quite tricky at first, but Elm have really started to master skill.

In art we focussed on hatching. Year 2 have been able to have a go at different ways of doing this, they then had a go at using it to help complete a picture. Next week we will be looking into this more. In science, Elm have been exploring different fabrics in preparation for our experiment next week. We will be trying to find out which fabric stretches the most out of cotton, nylon, silk or denim. We have completed our planning grids and are ready to go next week!

Well done for a fantastic week year 2, have a lovely weekend!

Another week complete!

As we come to the end of another busy week, I can see that a lot of Excellent Elm are in desperate need of the upcoming week off. This week, year 2 have all been feeling quite tired (including myself) meaning we have been in the blue zone a lot! However, we have not let that interrupt our hard work.

This week we did 2 art sessions. On Monday we learnt about the artist Stephen Wiltshire who has a fantastic memory. We explored a drawing of his that he did at the age of 7. He had seen the Royal Albert Hall on a bus journey and was able to draw it from memory when he arrived home a few hours later (pictured below). I challenged the year 2’s to soak up as much of the image as possible and then set them off to try and draw from memory and they did a fantastic job. At the end of the week, we then had a go at putting all our art skills that we had learnt over the term to create a detailed observational drawing. I am so impressed with the artistic skills that all Excellent Elm possess and am so impressed with the resilience of those who found it tricky.

In science we completed our experiment to find out which material was able to stretch the most. Elm class were asked to write a prediction in their book before completing our fair test and most of their predictions were very accurate. We had great fun exploring the different fabrics over the last few weeks and I’m looking forward to working on writing our conclusions over the next week.

Well done year 2 for yet another splendid week of learning and have a lovely weekend!

What a week! I think we all deserve this upcoming week off!

We loved starting our week off with the ‘Be Our Best’ maths event where we were able to show our work off to you all. I know that all of Elm really enjoyed playing games with their families and friends too. I want to thank all the parents/carers that were able to make it.

This week, in T4W we have completed our hot writes and published our work into our fancy new publishing books. All of Elm have worked hard to edit their work and make it the best that it can be and then took time to write it out in their best handwriting. I am really enjoying reading the stories that they have written.

In maths we have been thinking about adding and subtracting across 10, which has been quite tricky, but we have been able to put all our learnt skills to good use to help us.

We finished the term off with a fantastic Halloween party which included dancing, crafting, sweets and best of all, GLOW STICKS!

Thanks again for a fantastic half term, keep safe and I will see you all soon!