Rowan - Year 2

Welcome to Rowan Class 2025-26

The class teacher is Miss Darrie. The children are supported by Miss Rees. Mrs Cox will teach Music and French weekly.

Key information

Learning practice for home is set on a Monday and is due in the following Monday. Please see below for further details.
P.E days are Wednesday. Children are expected to come into school wearing their school uniform. P.E will take place either inside or outside.
Weekly Forest School sessions will begin in April.

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Learning Practice

Children are provided with a learning practice folder. The learning practise sheet for each week will be added to this each Monday and will be completed and brought back to school by the following Monday. Below are the expectations for Year 2:

Reading Daily: Five -Ten minutes of reading a school reading book every night. Record in contact book for each read. Children following the phonics progression will have books linked to their assessed phonetic/reading level accompanied by key Green and Red words.

Maths Daily: Numbots and Times Table practise using TTRockstars – games-based website supporting times-table learning. Times Tables Rock Stars: Play and Numbots Numbots Game

Weekly: 10 spellings for all children

Weekly: Maths, English grammar or English comprehension practice activity.

Termly: Topic-based menu of activities for children to complete (minimum of 2 across the term).

Our Class News

Friday 13th February

In our Geography learning we have been comparing Nairobi and Taunton.

We looked at a day in the life of a Nairobian child and compared that with our own.

We observed that both in Taunton and Nairobi the children have the opportunity to enjoy play parks, green spaces and that both locations have a river.

The children have observed how the weather, land use and wildlife differ in each location. Nairobi being close to the equator is much hotter and their economy benefits from tea and coffee plantations.

In History the children have enjoyed exploring castles, comparing Normandy castle introduced by William the Conqueror with those built later on in history without a motte and bailey and thicker walls with less tiber.

The space dome was an absolute highlight for Year 2. We enjoyed looking at plant earth and learning more about our Sun and the importance of sun’s light for human beings but also how we need to protect ourselves from the UV rays.

It was brilliant to venture into space and explore our solar system and beyond!

Friday 30th January

In Rowan Class we have created our delicious healthy snacks. We followed our agreed success criteria to produce our Fruit Kebab. Every child worked with care, enthusiasm and consideration. The fruit kebabs were enjoyed by both the children and their families - Great work Year 2.

We have recreated the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. We reflected on William the Conqueror's arrival on the British shores and we have begun to explore the impact and influence of power William the Conqueror had during his reign.

To bring our learning to life we explored artefacts and retold the Battle of Hastings with dramatic freeze frames.

We are getting creative in PSHE, considering our Dreams and Goals we are creating a dream garden and producing our own 'dream birds' to live in the garden.

Happy New Year.

Thank you Rowan Class for settling back into school routines and starting a new year ready to take on your learning experiences.

In Design and Technology we are looking at designing, creating and evaluating a healthy fruit snack. We have been exploring healthy food groups and considering what healthy snacks we could create. We investigated and gathered results considering the texture, appearance and scent of different fruit. From our results, Year 2 have decided which fruit will be best to create a delicious fruit kebab snack!

In Science we went out for an animal hunt. We were looking for vertebrates and invertebrates that live in habitats and microhabitats around our school grounds. We classified and sorted the vertebrates and invertebrates and considered how some invertebrates have exoskeletons.

Year 2 had their first swimming session this week. I'd like to congratulate every child for the courage and enthusiasm shown.

Friday 14 November

Year 2 have been deepening their knowledge and understanding of Isambard Kingdom Brunel – ‘The significant and inspiring Victorian engineer.’

We went to Bristol to gain a clear awareness of Brunel’s importance to both our national history and his impact on international travel, trade and opening people’s lives to new opportunities.

As first-class guests on SS Great Britain, we experienced the more expensive living quarters. We experienced walking in the same steps as those Victorians long before us; promenading up and down the ship.

We observed how cramped and overwhelming the living quarters would have been for those in the fourth class as well as experiencing working lift onboard; scrubbing the desks and even steering the ship.

We recreated the day SS Great Britain was launched in July 1843 and the children dressed up as Victorians. Every child played their own part in this historical event and had great fun pretending to be Victorians for the afternoon.

A great trip that I hope every child will remember for years to come.

Friday 10th October

In Year 2 we are all artists! We have been working on expressing emotions through weather in our art lessons. We have considered how a storm could make us feel vulnerable and how paintings depicting Spring scenes can bring a feeling of hope and energy. We have explored some famous artwork that demonstrates the impact of weather, pieces by JMW Turner, David Hockney and Hokusai. The children will develop their skills and produce their own weather scene.

In History, we have continued to discover more about Mary Seacole and the impact she had both nationally and internationally. We have learnt that Mary Seacole's life was beyond our living memory and made links on our learning linking Mary Seacole's life to the Victorian era.

In Maths, we have been learning to counting in steps of 10s, 5s, 2s and 3s! We have discovered patterns and looked at odd and even numbers. We have learnt a special counting song to help us remember our 2s and 3s. Keep practising these at home Year 2 and if you find or learn any other great songs to help you remember ways of counting on in different steps, please share with us.

Friday 26th September

Over the last two weeks, Rowan Class must be praised for their courage and growing confidence. This was most evident during our recent class worship in front of the whole school. The children retold the story of the Ten Leapers and reflected on how Jesus showed us the importance of being thankful to those who help us and how looking in, looking out and looking up can have a positive impact on ourselves and on the world around us.

In Reading we are enjoying the story of Paddington Bear. We discovered some oranges, bread and a jar of marmalade. We inferred that Paddington Bear would like to discover such items as he always kept a marmalade sandwich in his hat. We have sequenced events in the story and considered how life in Britain would be very different from life in Peru. Our Reading has also allowed us to explore maps and find the continent of South America.

The arrival of some cute and very still animal figures has got the children talking! In our Science lessons we will be discovering the types of habitat each animal will be found.

Friday 12th September

The children have made a brilliant start to the year.

Thank you, Rowan Class, for the effort, engagement and respect you have shown in your learning and towards each other. The compassion and friendship demonstrated has helped make our new start a happy one.

We have been very excited about our new class topic – Movers and Shakers. This topic connects our History, Geography and English learning. We are excited about our forthcoming Mary Seacole and Isambard Kingdom Brunel workshop that will bring all our learning together.

In Reading, we are enjoying 'Coming to England.' The children have learnt about the life of Floella and her memories of Trinidad.

We have also taken our learning outdoors and enjoyed forest school, exploring microhabitats and identifying insects. We learnt what a habitat provides and classified living and non-living thing.