Autumn 1

Wow, what a fantastic start to year 2 we have had!

We have focused on emotions in the story ‘The day the crayons quit’ sequenced the story, created our own crayon and have been writing character descriptions! We have also been learning about punctuation and when to use exclamation and question marks.

In Maths we have explored 2D shapes in our environment and focused on their properties. We have also been practising adding and subtracting using a variety of resources. It’s been great jumping forwards and backwards on our number line outside to practise one more and one less!

Our project this term is ‘WE ARE Time Travellers.’ We have LOVED learning about how children living in the Victorian era lived differently to how we live today. It’s been fascinating learning about how different schools, food, clothing, toys and general living was for children!

Did you know that there would be up to 80 children in one class?

 If you were left-handed you would wear the dunce hat!

We can’t wait to continue with our time travellers research after half term!

 

Autumn 2

It’s been a busy half term for us in Challenge and Venture! We have been busy with a variety of exciting activities!

In English, we have been learning about the features of a narrative, focusing on setting and character description, and enjoyed reading the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk.

In Science, we have explored plants by growing cress seeds, labelling different parts of a flower, and investigating what each part of a flower’s job is.

In Maths, we have been practising our measuring skills, working with both length and weight. We have also consolidated our knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes, going on lots of shape hunts and building 3D structures with a variety of resources.

Our Project learning has been amazing. This half term we have compared different countries by researching their typical clothing, popular food, capital cities and cool traditions. Did you know that Germany is home to the world's first modern playground? It was built in 1840, and since then, playgrounds have become a popular place for children to play all over the world! So, next time you’re at a playground, you can thank Germany for starting this fun tradition!

We have also looked at the differences between a village, town and city, and discussed where we would prefer to live!

It’s been a fun half term full of hands-on learning and creativity - what a fantastic end to the year!

 

 

Spring 1

We have had a fantastic start to the year this half term, filled with amazing activities and exciting topics!

In English, we explored the world of poetry. The children learned what a poem is, how to perform one and key poetic features such as rhyming words, alliteration and similes. They also discovered different types of poems, including shape poems, acrostic poems, and haiku. Before writing their own poems, they read poems by famous writers and learned about different styles. Finally, they had the opportunity to write their own acrostic poems about themselves and perform them for their classmates. Poetry has been a big hit in our class. Who knows, we may have some future poets in Challenge and Venture classes!

In Maths, the children dived into fractions. They learned about halves, quarters and thirds, how to find a fraction of a number, and how to compare fractions. In Finance, they have been practising budgeting through fun, hands-on activities, such as buying clothes for their superhero and pretend shopping at a restaurant.

In Science, we explored different materials and their properties, discussing what materials are best for certain uses. The children investigated whether materials are waterproof, bendable, or absorbent, linking their learning to our project ‘We Are Toy Makers’.

As part of our Project learning, the children discovered how toys are made, who creates them and the design process from start to finish. We were even lucky to have a real engineer visit us to talk about designing and evaluating trains. To make our project even more meaningful, some children visited a local nursery to interview younger children about their favourite toys. After gathering their responses, we decided to create the most popular toys and will be making them over the next few weeks. The children are incredibly excited to make toys for others and bring joy to younger children! Did you know the oldest known toy in history is a doll dating back over 4,000 years? Toys have always been a way for children to learn, create and imagine!

In Art, we explored the vibrant work of the British-Cornish John Dyer and learned how to paint African elephants inspired by his colourful style. The children enjoyed using bright colours to create their own artwork.

We are so proud of everything the children have accomplished this term and can't wait for more exciting learning ahead!