Welcome to Class 2
Class Teachers: 2023 - 2024
Seahorses
Mrs Conyard
Learning Support Assistant
Miss King
Miss Warwick
Oysters
Miss McGill
Learning Support Assistant
Mrs Clarke
Miss Cooke
Downloads
Science Scheme of Work Year 2
The latest news from Seahorses & Oysters
Making a sleeping potion
On the last day of last term Year 2 Seahorses put their terms learning into action. They followed a set of instructions to make a potion to put the teachers to sleep. The children had learned the instructions using Talk for Writing and identified the features of the text before writing their own potions. By working together, the children then measured the ingredients before following the step-by-step instructions. They had a wonderful time in the afternoon feeding the teachers their sticky flap jack and watching the teachers all fall asleep. Mrs Mouchel has asked if next year they could make a potion to help the teachers stay awake!
Chocolate Cake Poem
Oysters have been creating their own poem inspired by Michael Rosen’s Chocolate Cake. They came up with actions for their poem in groups and performed to the rest of the class.
Fabulous Assembly Seahorses!
Plants
Seahorses have been learning about plants this half term. They are able to name the different parts of a plant and have also learned what a plant needs to survive. We will be conducting an experiment to investigate plants need for water and light.
The children have also planted their own seeds and are challenged with looking after them during the Easter holidays. When they bring them back into school after the Easter break, we will be able to see who has given the plant what it needs.
Building Dens
Oysters braved the weather today to undertake some activities outside. They started by building dens to stay dry-ish! Next, they moved onto worm charming - perfect weather to catch and observe the worms! It took a while, back in class, for us all to dry out but a fun hour was had by all.
Look what we have been learning!
In first week back, Oysters enjoyed exploring their new topic ‘chocolate cake’ in provision.
Oysters had a good time celebrating World Book Day. We had a book picnic where we enjoyed reading books we have not read before and biscuits.
Amazing Homework
Here is some of Seahorses amazing homework from last half term. We learnt all about the Mr Men, went on amazing science walks and wrote some excellent stories and diary entries.
Chinese Dragon Dance
Seahorses had so much fun learning how to perform a Chinese dragon dance. It was extremely hard and we kept getting in a muddle.We realised that you had to be quite strong to hold the sticks that carried the dragon. We also learnt that the tail is waved so as to look like the dragon is flying.
Symmetry
The children in Seahorses have been investigating a vertical line of symmetry. They cut out 2 d shapes and tried to fold them in half exploring symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes.They then used mirrors to find out if a shape or an object is symmetrical.
The children were then challenged to find a Mr Man character that had a vertical line of symmetry.
A full day for Year 2 in the Nature Area
Year 2 had a busy time in the nature area today. They used their shape knowledge to build their own 2d shapes ranging from stars to hexagons. We were all impressed with their knowledge.
Due to the cold weather, we also thought of the wildlife in and around the nature area, making lard and seed balls, also cheerio necklaces.
Year 2 tested their skills of finding and hiding with a game of Eagle Eye.
In the afternoon, Year 2 took their Tudor houses outside and re-enacted the Great Fire of London. We discussed how quickly in 1666 the fire spread, about the materials the houses were made from and the demands on the population with no access to fire engines and only water available from the River Thames.
Amazing homework by Seahorses
Sugar Cubes Science Experiment
Today, the whole school took part in a Science Experiment. Mixing water and food colouring together, they then began to stack sugar cubes observing what happened next. The experiment moved onto testing the stack of sugar cubes with foil, clingfilm and kitchen roll between each cube. Testing more, meant wrapping the sugar cubes in the materials and observing closely. The children were amazed and very descriptive after observing using and widening their scientific vocabulary.
We were ably assisted by 14 St Thomas More boys who joined each class to help/observe and ask further questions. My thanks to Mr Jones (their teacher) and the boys for giving up their time.
Paper Aeroplanes
Seahorses have been making paper aeroplanes and seeing how far they could fly them, they have been improving their designs over the last few days. Unfortunately, some pilots still need training as we had quite a few planes ending up in the trees!
Tudor Houses
Children in Seahorses designed and built a tudor house this week, next week they will be adding the straw roof before they recreate the Great fire of London.
Oh no! Seahorses have caught noseilitus!
The great fire in the nature area
Seahorses had an enjoyable morning in the nature area. We started by making a fire and discussing the Great Fire of London and how the fire would have spread and taken hold. Year 2 made some bread and this cooked well in the fire, giving them a totally different taste to bread today! They also enjoyed making smores. After this, Year 2 enjoyed exploring, climbing and digging. They also enjoyed playing Eagle Eye, hiding in some very unusual places.
Great Fire of London Day
On Tuesday, Year 2 had a Great Fire of London experience day. We travelled back in time to 1666 where we tried different activities such as making our own ink and making button moulds from clay. The children enjoyed listening to how the fire progressed and digging for artefacts.
London Landmarks
Seahorses spent the morning learning about London landmarks and discussing how London today is dfferent from London in 1666. We used different resources within the classroom to build buildings and different objects associated with London today, like taxis, cathedrals, bridges, even a London Bus. Then we built streets, houses, graveyards and cobble stone roads from 1966.
Spreading the Plague!
2 Oysters have been learning about the Great Plague as part of their Great Fire of London topic. We used green paint to demonstrate how the disease spread and learnt that the song Ring a Ring o’Roses is about what happened.
The Great Plague
The children in Year 2 learnt all about the Great Plague in 1665.
The children collaged rats, and learnt how the rats spread the plague from person to person. We played Ring a Ring o’ Roses, learning that the poem was actually created after the plague.
RING A RING OF ROSES- pink spots were a sign that you had caught the plague.
A POCKET FULL OF POSIES –the herbs and spices and flowers people carried to sniff clean air.
ATISHOO ATISHOO- related to the sneezing when the disease had been contracted.
WE ALL FALL DOWN- people died from the plague.
The children mixed herbs and spices and ground them to a powder to make sweet smelling cures for the plague.
The children loved their learning today!
Beginning our new topic
This week, Oysters have been learning about the Gunpowder Plot and have started their topic on the Great Fire of London. In provision, they have been enjoying looking at different books about London and building London landmarks. They have also created firework paintings.
Habitats
The children in Seahorses matched animals to habitats this week, consolidating their science topic of living animals and habitats. Some children also made amazing habitat models for their homework too!
Rain Makers
The children in year 2 were challenged to make a rain maker using an empty bottle, pasta and rice. They noticed the heavier the pasta, the heavier the sound. Some children liked the trickling sound of the rice when they turned it upside down. The decorations were left to them and they had a wide variety of art resources to choose from.
Seahorses taking part in the Rosary Challenge
This week in provision, 2 Oysters have been busy creating Noah’s Ark and shelters to protect themselves from the flood.
2 Oysters Rosary Challenge
Food Chains
The children in Seahorses were learning about food chains this week. They learned about the plant, the prey and the predator, creating their own paper food chains. The children were taught the predator eats the prey and the prey eats the plant. We linked our learning with our new knowledge about habitats, recognizing that a polar bear would not eat a zebra as they live in different habitats.
The story of Noah
The children in seahorses have been looking at the story of Noah in their RE lessons. They learned that God gave Noah a RAINBOW as a sign of his promise never to flood and destroy the Earth again. The children used a variety of resources to create a rainbow with their chosen work partners.
Oysters in the Nature Area
Oysters spent an enjoyable afternoon in the Nature Area. Firstly, oysters had to find items for each colour and played colour bingo. They found a variety of items which matched colours. Whilst in the nature area, they completed a bug hunt, built habitats for a variety of creatures and identified trees from their leaves. Lastly, they played a new game called Spider's web. In this game, they could not touch the blue rope but had to go over, under, through the problem!
Seahorses Posters
Building habitats
Seahorses spent an extremely windy afternoon in the nature area yesterday. As their Science topic is Living Things and Habitats, they decided to build habitats for some creatures. They undertook bug hunting and tree identification. They also enjoyed playing and eating popcorn.
In the first week of school, Oysters learnt about Stevie Wonder, who is our musician of the month. They also worked in groups to create their own music piece.
This week, Oysters have made great use out of the outside area. They worked together to create a marble run in provision.
Art Science Investigation
Habitats
Settling in
The children in Seahorse class have settled well into year 2 and have enjoyed meeting up with their school friends after a long summer break. Our topic Amazing Animals has already created some lovely writing and fantastic science work.
News from 2022 - 2023
Adventure in the nature area
The afternoon saw Year 2 Seahorses continue their adventure in the nature area. They also helped develop the sensory garden, tidying the area, moving soil and laying new patio stones. Year 2 built dens for each other and played Eagle Eye.
Seahorses in the Nature Area
Year 2 Seahorses had a very busy afternoon in the nature area. They built obstacle courses for each other, made dens to hide and enjoy time together. Also, they moved soil for our new sensory garden and played eagle eye. Many children hid successfully! We managed to escape the nature area before the wind and rain arrived!
Seahorses making baskets
Thank you for Bee-ing awesome
Enjoying the nature area and our pond
Year 2 spent an enjoyable but hot afternoon in the nature area. Many activities were covered including pond dipping, bug hunting, see-saw balancing, tree climbing and eagle hunting. Year 2 were very impressed with all of the creatures that are living in the pond including the newt.
A great Assembly from 2 Seahorses
Our trip to the Pier and Galleon
Figure Heads
Seahorse class thought about the different figure heads on the front of pirate ships. They designed their own using salt dough and painted their designs in class. They look amazing.. we had mermaids, eagles, turtles, and even a star to guide and protect our ships.
Our Pirate Ship Pictures
2 Seahorses Walking the Plank!
Captain of the Seahorses ship asked maths questions after which the children had to walk the plank.
Maths Clic knowledge entwined with our pirate topic made for a very exciting maths lesson. Our quartermaster who ensured the children walked the plank was in great form and showed terrific drama skills.
Investigating animal life
Seahorses had a busy morning in the nature area. They investigated animal life - hunting for bugs and insects. We played games involving predators and prey.
Later in the morning, Seahorses produced pirate maps hiding treasures around the nature area. They swapped their maps with other groups, leaving them to hunt for each other's treasure! Some more successfully than others. Well done Year 2.
Sealife Adventure Trip
Maps and treasure
Oysters spent a busy afternoon in the nature area. After investigating the insect life, they moved onto drawing pirate maps. In groups, they hid some treasure, producing a pirate map. The map was given to another group and they had to decipher the map to find the treasure. The children found some of the maps very obscure! An activity that will be repeated to practise our map drawing skills.
Maths Fun
Learning in the sunshine
Here are photos of children in Oysters enjoying their outside learning area in a brief time of sunshine last week! Children were working together constructively, using imaginative play, predicting what might happen when creating a marble run and using maths resources outside. Oysters love their outside space!
Infant Music Festival
UNO
Seahorses class are enjoying playing UNO. Mrs Clarke taught the children the rules and they are all desperate to beat her!
If you have any unused Uno cards at home we will happily make sure they are looked after.
Identifying plants found in the area
Science Week
2 Seahorses demonstrating agility, balance and control
2 Oysters enjoying the Drama Workshop
Super-duper Dinosaurs
The Great Fire of London
The children in Year 2 had a fantastic morning exploring life in London in 1666. They learned that children did not go to school back then but instead went to work from a very young age. They then tried an assortment of jobs; leather working, weaving, candlestick holder making, apothecary, making spice bags, bread making and perfumer.
After this the children heard the story of how the Great Fire in 1666 started, about Thomas Farriner the baker and the bakery where the fire began. The children then learned why the fire spread so quickly and why it raged for four days.
The children had a wonderful learning experience, time travelling back to 1666 and the staff enjoyed themselves too!
We enjoyed our Library visit
The children in Seahorses had a lovely visit to the Library. Not only did they find lots of lovely books to look at but……
They found out that it is free to join
That a Library card lets you borrow up to 14 books at a time
You can use any Library and there are six in the Southend area (Southchurch, Westcliff, Leigh on Sea, The Forum in Southend, Eastwood, Shoebury)
There are lots of activities and clubs to take part in at the Library too, for example a lego club, crochet club, mindfulness colouring in and so much more.
You can find out details on Southend Library‘The Forum’ social media pages or Mrs Conyard has a small amount of Library card application forms.
I am sure Miss Appleyard would love to hear that you all visited the Library at half term!!!
Collecting data on a tally chart and creating a block chart
Dinosaur Feet
Nature Area
Both Year 2 classes had a busy time in the Nature Area. They learnt new scientific vocabulary - predator, prey, carnivore, herbivore and omnivore. By playing many games they saw these words in action. They also thought about the wildlife living in the nature area so we fed the birds using cheerio necklaces and fat balls.
Dinosaur Nests
Oysters have been building nests for their dinosaurs, making sure that the dinosaurs are protected and warm.
Dinosaur habitiats
Seahorses have been learning about dinosaurs and their habitats. They created a micro habitat for their dinosaur thinking about camouflage so the dinosaur could either hide from their predator or stalk their prey.
A winning flight!
Some children in Seahorses have chosen to make paper planes during provision. They have been challenged to fly their plane and measure the distance. The plane that flew the furthest this week flew an impressive 10 metres 55 cm!
Gymnastic Dinosaurs!
Year 2 Oyster class performed gymnastics linked to their topic of Dinosaurs today. They were working individually and as a group to hold a balance in a dinosaur shape. Lots of creative ideas, along with balance and thoughtful presentation took place!
Sharing our fabulous homework
Man-made or natural
Year 2 had a fabulous morning in the nature area. They have been studying materials and today, we discussed differences between man-made and natural materials. The first activity was to describe materials whilst their partner was blindfolded. The blindfolded person had to guess what the material was. We introduced many new words to describe. Seahorses then tested the amount of water to sand to make the best sandcastle they could with interesting results.
Paper Chains
A group of children joined their paper chains together. We measured the length of their creation in the hall.Twelve children made the longest chain of 12m 30 cm. One child worked conscientiously on his own and created a chain 2m 40cm.
We then discussed which child had created more links in their chain.We worked out that 12 metres divided by 12 children meant that each child had created just over a metre, whereas one child had made a chain that was double that length.
Spice Boxes
The children in Seahorses finished off their Judaism topic in Religious Education by learning about Shabbat - by making special spice boxes (this also linked to their maths learning about 3d shapes). They decorated a net of a cuboid with pictures of things they like to do with their families and some added family member names. The boxes were then constructed by the children so they can put special items in at home.
Getting ready for battle!
Year 2 Seahorses had a great learning experience in their outside area on Thursday. They made suits of armour, axes and shields. They built a huge castle and defended it from attackers. They used collaborative play to demonstrate their learning.
Making Challah Bread
The children in Year 2 have been learning about Shabbat as part of their Judaism Topic in Religious Education and made their own version of Challah bread. IT WAS DELICIOUS!
Seahorses communicating and collaborating, building and designing, teaching and learning alongside each other.
Reading with our parents
3D Shapes
Seahorses consolidated their 3d shape knowledge by going on a shape hunt outside in the playground. We found cylinders, cubes, cuboids, spheres and even a trianglular prism. Can you spot them in our pictures?
Investigating materials
Oysters had a busy morning in the nature area. As part of their Science topic regarding Materials, Oysters blindfolded each other and described and touched a variety of resources. They discussed and used a wide vocabulary for describing. Later in the morning, they moved to making the best mixture of sand and water to produce the 'best' sandcastle. Some groups overdid the water and ended up with a sloppy mess whilst others, needed to use more water! An informative discussion followed.
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
Seahorses have been learning about Bonfire night and why we celebrate the fifth of November. They can recite the poem Remember Remember the Fifth of November and will give you lots of information about Guy Fawkes. Today outside they used chalk to create some firework drawings on the playground adding their onomatopoeia word learning too.
Whizz, crash, sparkle, boom, bang!
Seahorses playing The Colour Game collaboratively
Instructions written by 2 Seahorses
HOW TO PLAY THE COLOUR GAME
What you need
Skipping rope
Three friends
What to do
First, you need to friends to hold the skipping rope and discuss A colour together.
Next, your other friend has to jump over the skipping rope saying the colours.
Finally, when your friend that's guessing colours get your one that you discussed the person that was guessing swaps with A friend and it goes on and on.
Building Shelters
Children in Seahorses applied their science learning about materials to build shelters for teddies or bugs in the nature area. The teddies were all kept warm, safe and protected from the elements. The bug hotels were luxurious and fun with feathers for benches to create safe landings if they fell!
How to be Thor!
Members of Seahorses class sharing their instructions on how to be a superhero with their class mates. After learning a text 'How to be Spiderman!' with actions, the children in class innovated their story as a whole class producing 'How to be Thor!' before independently applying their new learning in their writing. They have all been superheroes this week!
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A class of Superheroes
Oysters finding natural materials
Oysters were very busy in the Nature Area yesterday. As their Science topic is Materials, they used the blindfolds, finding a natural material, presenting it to a friend who in turn had to describe it and guess what it was. Some very descriptive vocabulary was used by all. Moving on, oysters worked in groups to design a natural shelter for a small teddy. Again discussion was key in making their shelter comfortable, protected from wind and rain and durable!
2 Oysters enjoying reading
2 Seahorses working hard at their Maths
Seahorses enjoying the great outdoors
Year 2 had an amazing afternoon in the nature area. They were superstars at litter picking - collecting a whole bin sack! Thank you Seahorses. They also made potions and food which contained healthy items for our body. Many children had a go at climbing trees and building and designing an obstacle course and fitness trial for others to try.
