Year 2 - Gandhi, glitter and number problems

Over the last few weeks, Year 2 have been exploring non-chronological reports. We have linked our English lessons with our Topic and have been researching all about Gandhi. The children came up with some excellent questions that they wanted to explore, including ‘What made Gandhi famous?’ and ‘What was Gandhi's favourite food?’ We have been identifying the features of a non-chronological report and have used this information to create our own non-fiction texts on Gandhi. The children have really enjoyed including all of the features, especially designing their pictures and captions.

We really enjoy creating cross-curricular opportunities in Year 2, and are also exploring how to keep our bodies healthy and clean in Science. Last week, we took our learning outside and the children were experimenting with glitter. We used glitter to represent the germs and the children had to work through a variety of different ways of 'cleaning' to assess what impact these had on our germs. After beginning rather glittery, we concluded that the soap, water and washing for 20 seconds, was certainly the best method of staying safe and germ free, as opposed to, the hand gel and paper towel!

In Maths, Year 2 have been learning how to add to 2 digit numbers using the expanded column method. They have been partitioning the numbers into tens and ones as part of the process, to ensure the value of each digit is clearly understood, and represented correctly within the method. As challenges, the children have enjoyed solving missing number problems, where they have had to use their knowledge of the method to problem solve and find which digits are missing and which digits have been specifically given.