Have a look at what we’ve been learning…
Forest Schools
Year 2 had lots of fun during their Forest Schools afternoon this week. They started off working in teams to try and travel across a short distance by standing on their ‘magic carpets’. It took a lot of thinking skills and needed them to work together as a team, two teams out of the four managed to cross the finish line and earn themselves 3 DoJo points each! Then we went into the wooded area to learn how to make a mobile from sticks and string, learning how to tie knots securely. Finally we had time to use the rope swing, climb a few trees and build some dens.
Homework Heroes
Year 2 have made a good start to their homework this half term. One of their tasks was to create a ‘book in a jar’ – here are some of the wonderful examples that have been brought in. Can you guess which stories/books they represent?
Forest Schools
Year 2 really enjoyed their Forest School’s experience this week as we learned how to light fires safely. First we talked about our fire circle and how we have to use it correctly and sensibly. Then we all had a try at using the flint and steel – some of us even managed to make it spark! Once the fire got going, we put chocolate into bananas and then wrapped them in tin foil, before placing them in the flames to warm up. We then enjoyed our delicious sweet treat whilst sitting in our fire circle.
All Stars Cricket
Darren from All Stars Cricket came in to give the children a chance to have a taster session. The children thoroughly enjoyed learning some key skills from the game. If you are interested in signing up to the cricket sessions, look out for a leaflet which will be coming home with the children.
Forest Schools
Year 2 started their Forest Schools activities this week. They spent the afternoon down by the river in the wooded area exploring their surroundings. They searched the area for objects that were spiky, slimy, soft, hard and bumpy and then compared them to what others had found. They then spent time in a fire circle (without the fire at this point), learning about fire safety and how we need to behave when there is a fire. Finally, they spent time familiarising themselves with the environment, climbing trees, building dens and finding their own personal ‘chill out’ spot.
World Book Day – Sharing stories
The children in Year 1 and Year 2 brought their favourite books into school for World Book Day. They spent some time in the afternoon listening to each other read and then had a chat about what their favourite book was about and why. It was lovely to hear the expression that was being used and the discussions that were taking place.
Then Year 2 tried making up their own oral stories starting with just one single object – we got some very strange things happening in our stories and it was a lot of fun!
Year 2 visit to Durham Cathedral
Year 2 had a lovely trip to Durham Cathedral this week to consolidate the work they had been doing in RE on ‘signs and symbols of being a Christian’ and St. Cuthbert. During the morning session, they explored the cathedral and its features and compared them to our local church in Wolsingham; they discovered that the cathedral is only a cathedral because it has a throne – a cathedra (Latin for “seat”) of a bishop. Then, after discussing special ceremonies that go on in the cathedral, they took part in a reconstruction of a christening.
After lunch they focused on the life of St. Cuthbert. The class was split into three teams and they had to work together to solve a puzzle which led them into a special story about the saint. They then had to present the story to the rest of the class through the medium of drama.
Diary of Samuel Pepys
We have been learning about the Great Fie of London and the diaries that Samuel Pepys wrote about what happened. We wrote our own diaries as though we were Samuel Pepys and recorded ourselves performing our writing using morfo on the iPads. Click here to watch our videos.
Year 2 Homework Heroes
Our new homework system has got off to a fabulous start this half term. In order to gain 30 points for their colour team some of the children designed and created their own inventions and brought them into school to share with the class. Some of the inventions included –
A television that can see into the future, by Annabell.
A robot that does all your jobs for you, and it even had flashing lights, by Elliott.
And, Ashleigh said she had heard lots on the television about the wild fires in Australia so she designed and built a house for koalas.
Fantastic work Year 2 – Keep it up!
Maths
Year 2 started the off the spring term by carrying out active maths. They spent their first maths lesson in the hall playing lots of place value games to consolidate all that we had learned in the last term – things that can be practised at home such as – looking at the value of each digit in a 2-digit number, identifying odd and even numbers, finding multiples of 2, 5 and 10 and counting in steps of 3, 4 and 5 from any number forwards and backwards.
KS1 Christmas Party
KS1 had a fantastic time at their Christmas party. After they did the conga into the hall they had lots of fun playing party games and danced till their feet hurt. Well done to Teddy and Chester who won the pass the parcel too…..it was very tense! When the classes returned to their classroom they were surprised to see that Santa Claus had paid us a visit – as he left big snowy footprints on the carpet and a lovely present for each and every one of us.
Science – Materials and their Properties
This half term Year 2 have been learning all about materials and their properties in Science. We have looked at the special properties of different materials, investigating whether their shape can be changed or not. We have looked at the importance of recycling and we have created our own investigations to test a selection of materials to see if they were waterproof or not. Our work on materials will continue into the next half term where we will be carrying out lots of investigations to develop our thinking and questioning skills.
Design and Technology – Windmills
Our DT work was focused on windmills this half term. We started the topic by looking closely at existing windmills from all around the world and noting their special features. Then we looked at how to create a strong base and we worked in pairs to create our own. This then led us on to look at different ways of creating sails, which we then designed and made to attach to our bases. Finally we tested our windmills in the wind – some of them worked and others didn’t so we discussed what we believed the problems were when we were back in the classroom.
Same But Different Week – Bullying
On Friday, Year 2 saw the end to their work on diversity by coming to school dressed in bright colours to celebrate differences between people. Their work was focused on bullying and they read the story “Are you are boy or a girl?” After discussing what happened in the story the children then looked at the different ways people can be bullied – cyber, physical, emotional and verbal and then they sorted through some photographs to think why the people had been bullied. They then came up with a bank of words and captions which describes how people feel when they are bullied and used these on a poster.
Same But Different Week – Are Families the Same?
On Wednesday, as part of our Same but Different week Year 2 looked at how families aren’t always the same. We read the story Picnic in the Park which showed us how families can be made up of people in many different ways. Then we had to read about some of the characters, draw their family and then find the others members to our family in the class – this was good fun. We ended the session by introducing the families that we had made to the rest of the class.
Judo
This week, we had a visit from British Judo. All the children from Reception – Y6 took part in taster sessions on Monday and Tuesday morning. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and it gave the children a chance to try a different sport. Keep an eye out for photographs of the sessions appearing on the website.
If your child would like to take part in more Judo sessions, there is a new Judo club opening in Willington and all the information is on the flyers that were given to the children after their taster session.
A big thank you to Ian from British Judo for running the sessions.
Same But Different Week – What Makes Me Special?
To kick off our Same but Different week in Year 2 we read the story “It’s Okay to be Different” and talked a lot about our differences. Then we played diversity bingo, where we had to go around the class asking our friends questions to find out about how they were different to us. Ben was the first to call ‘Bingo’. We finished the session by creating our own motto for why being different is a good thing. Here are some that we wrote:
“It’s ok to be different, because inside we are all the same” – Anya
“It’s ok to be different because we are all special and you should be proud of who you are.” – Zach
“Just be proud of who you are, and don’t forget everyone is the same from legs to heart” – Carlton
“It’s ok to be different. You are special and important.” – Mia
Learning about measures
Year 2 have spent the last couple of weeks learning all about different measures. They started with work on capacity, then mass and finished by looking at length. This gave them the opportunity to use different types of scales and to understand the language that we use for each measure and we discussed the importance of measuring accurately. Some of the activities that they carried out included measuring liquid in a range of different sized containers, weighing items found in the classroom and making playdough snakes to given lengths. They finished the work by measuring, marking out and making their own movable teddy bear to a set of given measurements.
Movie Trailers
This half term, Year 2 have focused a lot of their English work on traditional tales. As part of this work, they researched what a movie trailer was and how they were presented before planning and creating their own for The Gingerbread Man or Jack and the Beanstalk stories using the IMovie app. Click here to watch their videos.
Who was here before me?
Year 2 have been busy learning about people from the North East who have made history. They started their research looking into the lives of St. Cuthbert, Bishop Anthony Bek, Captain James Cook, Grace Darling and then today they learnt about Joseph Swan and John Henry Holmes. They discovered that Joseph Swan, who was born in Sunderland, was one of the first people to invent the incandescent lightbulb and John Henry Holmes, from Gateshead, later invented the light switch. So they were then challenged to become scientists themselves and create a working electrical circuit to make a lightbulb light up – which they did very well. They were then challenged to add a switch into their circuit – which, once again, they discovered how to do it all by themselves. Super work Year 2!
The Gingerbread Man
Year 2 have focused a lot of their English work on and around the traditional tale of The Gingerbread Man. After looking at instructions and writing their own, they then had to read and follow a recipe to bake their own gingerbread people. Next week they will be reading and re-telling the story to develop their story writing skills.
Year 2 discover who lived here before us
As part of their History topic “Who was here before us?”, Year 2 spent the morning with Gemma from Auckland Castle to carry out some activities finding out who Bishop Anthony Bek was.
They discovered that he was sent to County Durham to be a Prince Bishop and his job was to rule over the people of County Durham. They all got the chance to wear curators gloves and held ancient artefacts that were hundreds of years old. They dressed up as knights and felt how heavy a piece of real chainmail was and then they learned what to do to become a knight’s assistant. Finally, they heard about what makes a good castle and designed their own for our classroom display.
Getting to grips with Year 2
The children in Year 2 spent their first few days of the new school year playing a range of ‘getting to know you’ games to settle into their new routine. They tested their memory skills and worked as a team – a great start to the year!
