Year 2
Year 2 Lourdes History Day
On Thursday (30.1.2025), the whole school took part in a fun historical themed day based on their learning. In Year 2, we dressed up as Kings and Queens and took part in different activities based on our topic ‘Monarchs’. We placed kings and queens on a timeline in chronological order, wrote a diary entry as William the Conqueror and even designed our own castles, ensuring that we used all of the features to make it strong and easy to defend. In the afternoon, we were royal portrait artists and used watercolour to create portraits of different kings and queens in British history.
Year 2 Lourdes Fairy Tale Trip!
On Tuesday (4.2.2025), Year 2 went on an exciting trip to Shrek’s Adventures as part of their English learning about fairy tales. The children met different fairy tales characters such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and the evil Rumpelstiltskin. The children had to escape him and his mean witches by taking part in different challenges, taking items to the Muffin Man for a potion and asking Shrek for help. After all of this excitement, the children took part in a workshop where they learnt even more about the features of a fairy tale such as the structure of a story and the characters within them. It was a Shrek-cellent day!
Year 2 Lourdes at Westminster Abbey
To conclude our History learning on monarchs, we visited Westminster Abbey. This is the church where all of the coronations took place including William the Conqueror on Christmas Day in 1066. We saw the coronation chair, lots of portraits of monarchs through history and even the tombs of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I. It was a great way to finalise our learning.
Maths
Year 2 have been learning about Money. In this lesson, they were making the same amount in different ways. They used concrete resources to support their learning before moving on to pictorial and then abstract questions.
RE
As part of our learning for this term’s RE topic, ‘Galilee to Jerusalem,’ we had the opportunity to deepen our knowledge of John the Baptist. After reading Luke 3:2-6 and 10-17, we watched a short animation of John the Baptist’s life from Jesus the Storybook Bible. After discussing some tricky words that we encountered and a quiet reflection, we split up into groups to retell the story of John the Baptist’s life and the baptism of Jesus, in a variety of ways.
Science
As part of our learning for Science 'Animals Including Humans: Growing Up and Staying Healthy', we learned about how animals, including humans, have offspring that grow into adults, identifying and classifying them. We then worked in small groups to match, sort and group young animals and their adults.
Year 2 Lourdes investigate local habitats- 10.12.2024
This week as part of our Geography learning, Year 2 have been answering the following question: 'Why are natural habitats so special?'. To answer this question, the children went to King George V Park to identify different plants and animals within their habitats. Despite many animals and insects hibernating in the winter, the children found lots of snails, worms and parakeets in the trees. The children completed a tally chart to count the total of animals and plants that they had seen. We came to the conclusion that natural habitats are important homes to many species and that we should do our very best to look after them.
Year 2 investigate materials- 25.11.2024
This week in science, we have been learning about materials and whether they are transparent, translucent or opaque. We learnt that with transparent materials, we can see through it but with opaque materials, nothing can be seen through. In groups, we tested lots of different materials such as paper, clingfilm, wood and felt using a torch to test whether they were transparent, translucent or opaque. Once we had tested each material, we had to decide which would be suitable for curtains. We decided that the opaque material would be the most suitable as it would block the sunlight from coming through the window, but would also stop people from being able to see inside.
Year 2 Maths – 18.9.2024
In Maths, we have been learning about place value and part-whole models. We discussed how part-whole models can be used to partition numbers into a variety of different ways. We investigated flexibly partitioning numbers by using part-whole models and base 10’s.
Year 2 learn to sew in D&T
This week, Year 2 learnt how to sew a running stitch, in preparation for an upcoming lesson where they will be making a finger puppet. We now have some very keen sewists!
Year 2 - Can I retell the Annunciation of Jesus? - 6/11/24
Today, we learnt about the Annunciation of Jesus. After watching a short video, we discussed all the things we wondered about the Holy Spirit and how Mary might have felt. We then listened to a version of the story from the Gospel of Luke and clarified words we didn’t understand. Then we got into a circle on the carpet and performed a Godly play of the Annunciation. To end the lesson, reflected quietly on some ‘I wonder’ questions.
Year 2 Trip to Gunnersbury- 23.4.2024
To commence Science Week, the children in Year 2 went on an exciting trip to Gunnersbury Park and Museum. The children took part in a Science and Storytelling workshop where they heard an entertaining story about a young girl who lived in the house with her cousins and wanted to become a mini-beast. Once she landed on a lily pad, her wish came true! After the story, the children went on a nature walk around the park. They found different mini-beasts and observed them in their habitats. The children saw frogs, spiders, caterpillars, beetles and tadpoles.
Year 2 Lourdes make pizzas! - 20.4.2024
This half term, our DT topic has been Perfect Pizzas. We have researched the ingredients for a pizza, tasted different toppings and discussed our favourite pizzas. We then designed a pizza and made it in class. The children had to roll the dough and add the tomato sauce, cheese and different toppings. Afterwards, the children enjoyed tasting and evaluating their food.
Maths in Action- 15.3.2024
For our Maths lesson, Year 2 Lourdes went on a trip to the Olympic Park in Stratford. The children took part in many outdoor Maths activities. They walked around the park and had to count the amount of bicycles, benches and dogs that they could find and create a tally chart. Afterwards, the children looked at the London Stadium and identified the different shapes and finally, the children went on a walk along the River Lea, creating a bar chart of the different birds.
This half term, Y2W had the opportunity to go the Olympic Park as part ‘Maths in Action’. They were challenged to take a tally of objects around the South of the Park, identify lines of symmetry and shapes on the stadium and estimate the size of Here East.
They thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor activities!
Year 2 Lourdes Spring Term Reflection
As we prepare for our Easter holidays, the children in Year 2 Lourdes have been reflecting our favourite moments. From the Citizenship project in January where we learnt all about Stevie Wonder and had a swap day with Helens to our swimming lessons at Newham Leisure centre. We have enjoyed some fun trips including the Science Museum and the Olympic Park. We have also enjoyed our two English projects, the classic poetry project and the classic mysteries project and participated in lots of assemblies. We are very much looking forward to what the summer term has to offer.
Year 2 Lourdes- World Book Day! 7.3.2024
Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed World Book Day on Thursday. Children were dressed up as their favourite book characters as they had the opportunity to visit the school library, read with Nursery children and watch all of the EYFS and Key Stage 1 teachers perform The Gruffalo. They engaged in many fun book based activities.
Year 2 Trip to the Science Museum- 5.3.2024
For our Humanities topic ‘Communication: Then and Now’, the children in Year 2 were very lucky to go to the Science Museum and look around the ‘Information Age’ section. In this part of the museum, they got to see many different forms of communication such a telephones, computers, radio and satellites. They looked at many artefacts including a model of a switchboard and a radio transmitter, and discussed how communication has changed over time.
Year 2 visit to St Helen’s 10.01.24
This week, as part of our Citizenship Project on Equal Opportunities, Year 2 went on a KS1 swap day to St Helen’s. The children split into different groups and took part in lots of fun activities. Each activity was based on different disabilities such as a sensory circuit, blindfolded taste test and blindfolded obstacle course. The children also had a special assembly with a visual impairment teacher who spoke to the children about Braille and the resources that visually impaired children need in school to help them to learn. The children made lots of new friends and learnt about different disabilities.
Autumn Term Y2W
Y2W had a great Autumn Term! From testing different materials in Science, to online researching for English and sewing finger puppets in D&T. We are looking forward to the Spring Term and all new things we will be learning!
15.12.2023 Reflection - Year 2 Lourdes
As we approach the end of our first term in Year 2, we have been reflecting on what we have enjoyed the most. From learning about the Creation Story in September to the Black History Project in October, we have had so much fun and learnt a lot. We have learnt about the use of boastful language in our story from the Myths and Legends project and have used 3D shapes in Maths to count the faces, edges and vertices of different shapes. As a class, the children agreed that their favourite experience was learning how to sew and make a puppet in DT. We can’t wait to see what the Spring term has to offer.
Year 2 Lourdes learn how to sew - 01/12/2023
For D&T, children in Year 2 have been learning all about puppets. We have researched different puppets, designed our own finger puppet and made our own mock ups using paper in preparation for our final product. This week, the children learnt the key still needed for our final product which was how to sew a running stitch. The children learnt how to thread through the needle, weave through the material and tie a finishing knot. We are so excited to sew our finger puppet and evaluate them!
As part of our learning for DT, Y2W got to make finger puppets. They used their sewing skills, learnt in the previous lesson to create their original designs. They used additional materials such as pipe cleaners, buttons and fabric paint to add extra details to their puppets.
17/11/2023 English & RE with Year 2!
For English this week, we wrote our own myth inspired by our class text, The Tall Tale of the Giant’s Causeway. We have used our imagination to plan and write a story about a giant who visits St Joachim’s. At first, we think they are a scary monster and as the hero in our story, we try to fight the beast however we learn that they are a friendly giant who is lonely and wants to join St Joachim’s. We had a lot of fun using different vocabulary to make our story interesting and can’t wait to edit and publish our stories next week.
As part of our learning for Judaism, Y2W got to role-play a Shabbat. After watching a short video, we got into small groups to perform our own Shabbat using real props.
