Year 2 have had fun this week when they completed their computing day.  They found out how different games work and had to predict what would happen in the game if they gave it certain instructions.  They have learnt about algorithms and that we use these to give the computer instructions.  We invented our own game with a partner and thought about what instructions we would need to give the computer in order for it to work.  We had some very inventive ideas!

In  English, we have learnt how to make notes from non-fiction texts in order to answer questions.  We chose our favourite pirate and found out more about them using books and the internet.  We found out about their ships, where they lived, what they looked like and what their crimes were.  We used this information to create a wanted poster for our pirate.

In Science, we have been finding out how materials can change.  We investigated whether or not materials in the classroom could be bent, squashed, stretched or twisted.  We found out that hard, rigid materials, like stone, could not be changed but some materials like sponge, could change shape.

This week in Year 2, we have had lots of fun completing our DT day.  We made dioramas with moving mechanisms.  We started off by learning how to make a slider mechanism, a lever and pivot mechanism and a hinge mechanism.  The children then designed an under water scene and included a part of their scene that would move.  We had moving fish, starfish, deep sea divers and opening treasure chests!  The children created their moving scenes using card, tissue paper, glue, paint, split pins and lolly sticks.  They were very proud of their finished product!

In Science this week we had to help Captain Cuttlefish to find out which was the most absorbent material to use for the pirates to swab the decks.  We planned a fair test to find out the answer for him.  We tested several materials and found out that kitchen roll and newspaper were the most absorbent.  We realised that tin foil would be no good to swab the decks at it didn't absorb any water at all!

We have also used our sewing skills in our Art lessons to design and make our own colourful fish.  We used running stitch to sew around our fish shape and decorated it with fabric pens, buttons, sequins and fabric shapes.  We were very impressed with their detailed designs and careful sewing!

In year 2 we have been inventing our own pirate character. We used expanded noun phrases to describe his or her appearance, hobbies and personality. We used conjunctions to extend our sentences to add more detail.

We all had lots of fun making a variety of Christmas decorations ready to decorate the school for the Christmas Fayre. We were really impressed with the way the year 2 children took responsibility and showed excellent leadership skills as they helped the younger children to complete the tasks. They were incredibly kind and patient - it was really lovely to see.

In Topic we found out about the infamous pirate Blackbeard and had fun designing our own pirate flag.  We made sure that they were scary so that treasure ships would surrender without a fight!

This week was very exciting for Year 2 when we had our pirate Wow Day! We were lucky enough to have Calico Jack and Anne Bonny, some real life pirates, visit us in school.  The children enjoyed finding out facts about pirate lives 300 years ago.  They realised that a pirate life was not all that easy and some of them decided that they would rather not be a pirate.  They watched a demonstration of a sword fight and then had a go at learning some moves themselves!  We also made our own pirate hooks and pirate treasure maps which had some scary pirate places that we might not want to visit, like Deadman's cove and Shark Bay.

In Science, we needed to find out which material would be the most hard-wearing to make a pair of pirate trousers.  We thought about how we could make our test fair by changing only one thing - the type of material and keeping the other factors the same.  We rubbed our material with a stone until we made a hole - the one that took the most rubs was the most hard-wearing!

This week in year 2 we have been adding and subtracting multiples of ten to a 2 digit number. We moved on to adding and subtracting near multiples of ten eg.11, 12, 21 and 31.  We used our number squares to move on and back in multiples of ten and then ones. 

In English we have been writing our own version of the story Plunge into the Pirate Pool. We have added some exciting adjectives and detail into our stories. We finished by writing our stories up in neat to be displayed on the wall.

Our new topic in Art this term is Textiles. We have been practicing our weaving skills ready for sewing in a couple of weeks time!

Year 2 have come back from half term really excited to find out about our new Topic!

We started the week by reading our new story 'Plunge into the Pirate Pool' and created our own story map.  We used these to retell the story orally, trying to add in detail and use expression when we spoke as each of the characters.  We all had to work on our pirate voices! AAARGGHHH!

In Topic, we thought about what we already knew about pirates from films and books that we have read or seen.  We came up with our own questions that we would like to find the answer to: 'Do pirates really bury treasure?' 'Do pirates have parrots?' 'When were pirates around?' and 'What was a pirate boat like?'.  We are all looking forward to our Pirate WOW day on Wednesday 16th November.

In Science, we are learning about the uses of materials.  We started by sorting a variety of objects into the materials that they were made from and then searched the classroom to find more objects made from those materials.