School Year 2024-2025

We are so looking forward to the year ahead.

We are Eagle Owls and Wise Owls

Information for parents

PE days: Mondays and Wednesdays.  Please wear PE kits with a school jumper or cardigan on top. 

Please make sure jewellery is removed before coming to school. Long hair needs to be tied up.

Mondays: Learning a dance routine using gymnastic shapes

Wednesday: Swimming (please ensure your child has their swimming costume, towel and a bag)

There will be times when we are outside so please make sure your child's kit has suitable clothes and footwear for inside and outside PE.

Homework

Daily Tasks

Reading and keywords

Spelling practice

Counting forwards and backwards to 100 and in steps of 2, 5, 10

Purple Mash remote learning

Rocket Phonics Reading

Children also have Merton Missions set every half term. These can be found on our topic newsletters.

Please click on the PDF or scan the QR code to practise your child's spellings.

Big Dreams   

To finish our year 2 adventures, we will be exploring different jobs and what we might want to be when we grow up. To launch our topic we are going to dress up as jobs we think we want to be now and see if by the end of the term we have changed our minds. To do this, we are going to be looking at the Little People Big Dreams books of all our heroes and maybe explore some people we haven't heard of. 

In our writing we are going to be using everything we have learnt in infant school to write an explanation of why we want to be this career. We'll be researching lots of different careers along the way. To end our topic we'll be writing fact files about ourselves for our new year 3 teachers. In maths we're going to be using our place value and awareness of the four operations (+, -, X, ÷) to solve equations and word problems. We'll be looking at 2D and 3D shapes and comparing their properties and consolidating everything we've learnt so far ready for year 3.

In Art, we'll be looking at a new artist Alma Thomas and her use of colour and 2D shapes to create our own masterpieces. In PSHE, we'll be using Jigsaw to explore things that change in our world and how we change. 

In Science we're looking at Sir Isaac Newton and how forces work and in Geography we're going to be creating our own maps. In DT we're going to be designing and making biscuits and in PE we're creating a gymnastic dance to the music of Eye of the Tiger.

During this time we'll also be reflecting on our time at Merton Infants read for our leavers assembly and getting ourselves ready for Junior School. 

Crowns and Castles

Year two are excited to enter the last term of their infant school journey and will begin this term looking at our Monarchy and the homes that our Kings and Queens have lived in. We will become historians again looking at King Charles III, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth I. We will be using all our historical learning from our Infant school journey to think about what life was like at the times of these monarchs. We will look at the castles of these monarchs to study how some have become ruins like Porchester and how some are still functioning, working castles like Windsor. 

In Maths we will be consolidating our learning on the four operations (adding, subtracting, multiplication and dividing) and linking this to measurements and shapes. In English we will be looking at the story of Here be Dragons writing our own alternative ending. 

In Art we will be looking at the work of Paul Klee and how he used abstract shapes and doodles to create his art. We will use his style to inspire our own art work. In Jigsaw (PSHE), we will be looking at our relationships with others and in PE we will be looking at competitive games and athletic skills. In RE we will be looking at how God is viewed in the Jewish and Christian faiths. 

The Titanic

In this half of our Spring term Year 2 are continuing to be historians looking at the causes and consequences of the sinking of the Titanic. Year 2 will be using the skills they've learnt so far to examine why they think the Titanic sunk and maybe what could have been done to stop it. We'll even be looking at some historical artefacts from the time period of the 1910's.

In Literacy we are reading and learning about the story Grandad's Island by Benji Davies. Using all our learning so far, we'll be thinking about how we could retell the story in our own words changing how Syd travels to the island.

In maths we'll continue to look at multiplication and division, shapes and fractions. In PE we'll be looking at invasion games using balls and creating a Jungle themed dance.

In Science we'll be looking at what plants need to grown and even look at planting our own. In art we'll be looking at the masterpieces of Ken Marshall and creating our own pieces inspired by him. 

Well done to Maisie in Wise Owls and Issac in Eagle Owls for completing their Titanic Merton Missions!

Spring 1 - The Lady and the Lamp

After a term of being geographers and exploring our Northern and Southern hemispheres we are now becoming historians and looking at the past. We begin this term by looking at Florence Nightingale and how she got the name "The Lady of the Lamp". We will be looking at how she changed and she helped shape modern nursing to what we have today. However, we will also be looking at an unsung hero in Mary Seacole and how she helped the efforts to save the soldiers of the Crimean War.

In English we will be looking at the story of The Misadventures of Frederick and writing letters to each other and understanding instructions. In Maths we'll be building on learning from the previous term and applying this to bigger numbers and more independence. 

In PE we'll be learning active circuits and how to move our bodies in dance. In Science we'll be learning about healthy eating and how to keep ourselves clean. In Jigsaw we'll be thinking about our dreams and goals and understanding our emotions. In Art we'll be looking at the artist Pablo Picasso and creating our own cubism masterpieces. 

Autumn 2: Let's Explore: Antarctica

In this half term the children will be continuing as explorers investigating into the different climates and reaches of our Planet. This time we'll be looking at the coldest parts of our planet exploring Antarctica and the Arctic circle. Through the subjects of Geography and Science we'll be looking at how animals survive in these climates and what they eat by understanding different food chains. We'll also be looking at different life cycles of animals and humans.  We'll also use what we learnt about different continents and oceans to remember their names and locations. We'll be exploring maps and thinking about where a penguin may like to live in our school. 

We'll even be launching our topic through investigating how animals of Antarctica sty warm by creating our own blubber. Come back to see how we got on. 

Using the fictional story of Blue Penguin by Petr Horachek we'll be building on our growing knowledge of sentence writing and beginning to think about how we can make our writing exciting through different adjectives and feelings. 

In Art we'll be exploring the works of Nerys Levy and using her master pieces to inspire our own drawings of a penguin in the snow. 

In Jigsaw we'll be exploring "Celebrating Difference", thinking how we are all unique and how we can use kind words to give compliments. We'll also be looking at what to do if someone is not being kind or even bullied in conjunction with Anti Bullying week (November 11th - 15th)

Topmarks Place Value game - What is the 2 digit number? 

A visit from an Artist

On the 15th November we were lucky enough to have an Artist called Holly Parkhouse come to work with the children at our school. Holly is a surface pattern designer and illustrator who creates colourful illustrations using different mediums such as gouache paint, marker pens and lino printing.

Holly works with Hobbycraft and provides many of their workshops and Holly a number of Holly's pieces of art in the form of patterned fabrics alongside other pieces are sold in the Hobbycraft stores.

Holly worked with each class on a personalised art workshop with a focus on patterns. The children were able to create their own Christmas wrapping paper using their pattern making skills learnt both in class last year as well as with Holly.

Autumn 1 - Let's Explore: The Rainforest. 

In this half term the children will be continuing their investigation into the different climates and reaches of our Planet. Along side our Science topic of animals and their habitats, we will be researching facts for writing fact files. At the end of our topic we will be sharing what we have learned with year 1 ready for their Amazing Animals topic. In maths we'll be building on our place value knowledge and applying this in our work. 

Using the fictional story "There's a Rangtang in my bedroom" and non-fiction texts on animals we will be writing a sequence of sentences using question marks, conjunctions and adjectives to build our fact files.  In Math's we'll be taking what we learnt in year 1 and applying it to numbers to 100 using place value, addition and subtraction. 

In Geography we'll be exploring the rainforests of Madagascar and the Amazon to understand why they are called rainforests and the different animals that live there. We'll also be comparing physical and human features of Popley to the Rainforests to understand the differences and similarities.

In Art we'll be exploring the works of Henri Rousseau and his beautiful drawings of animals in the jungle. Did you know Rousseau never visited a jungle and used books to inspire his art?

In Jigsaw we'll be exploring "Being me in Our World", thinking about the rights and responsibilities we have and thinking about our learning charter for year 2. We'll be thinking about applying an I can do it attitude to our learning through Trickbox. 

Please click on the above news letter to see your child's learning for this half term.

Glue sticks on strike!

Year 2 were shocked to come in from break to see that the glue sticks had shown that enough was enough. A letter was found from the glue sticks saying that they weren't going to work this year until year 2 promised to look after them by keeping their lids on, making sure they go back where they belong and using them carefully. 

Year 2 wrote a letter to the glue sticks persuading them to go back to work and promised them that they would look after them. The glue sticks were happy with this and went back to work. Year two breathed a sigh of relief.