Welcome to Year 2

Our team:  Mrs Bayes, Mrs Redgewell, Mrs Golby, Mrs Davis, Mrs Bowen, Mrs Ladbrook, Mrs Jolly and Mrs Robinson

Take a minute to look at the wonderful things we have been doing!

How Our Town Began - The Story of Eof

On Thursday we went on a walk to the Abbey Trust Site in Evesham. Mrs Spencer, one of the Trustees, told us the story of Eof, which is how our town began. She told us all about the monks who lived in the monastery and the jobs they had to do. We even got to dress as the monks. We then walked around town and looked at some of the evidence we still have in Evesham of how our town began such as the bell tower, St Lawrence’s and All Saints Churches and the stain glass windows in the All Saints Church.

Fascination of the Forest

Music

Today, we have been learning to play the glockenspiels. We had so much fun!

Art

Today, we have been making visual notes on pieces of artwork by Van Gogh and Heckel.

Geography

Today, was the best day ever! Dave from the Rainforest Roadshow came to visit us and taught us all about the wonders of the rainforest. We learned about incredible and unique animals that make the rainforest their home such as leaf insects, giant snails, tarantulas and gargantuan millipedes. We even got to handle some of the curious creatures! We decided the tarantula was actually quite cute. Dave also shared orangutans’ favourite fruit – the durian fruit, but it smelt absolutely disgusting – like rotten eggs! Dave even showed us how indigenous people of the rainforest catch their food with a blow pipe and dart because they can’t just pop to Tesco. We really hope Dave will come back and visit soon!

Today we came to school dressed as a word! Everyone looked absolutely amazing! Thank you parents for all your efforts. We read the brilliant book 'Barbra Throws a Wobbler' by our fantastic author of the term - Nadia Shireen along with the rest of the school and all had to admit that we have also been know to throw our own 'wobblers' from time to time. The children said their favourite part was when Barbra and her wobbler shouted 'Raaaaaargh!' at each other and called each other 'stinky bumhead!' - it was a real laugh out loud moment! 

We spent the afternoon in our lovely school library immersed in the wonderful world of books. Here's what some of our brilliant children had to say:

'I like reading non-fiction books the best!'

'I love to read about geography.' 

'I like reading about spiders because they're scary and funny.'

'I like reading stories because they're fun!' 

Thank you to all our wonderful parents for coming along to our reading cafe. It was lovely to see so many of you enjoying the magical moments of sharing a book together! We appreciate all your support!

Maths

Writing

Incredible Icescapes

History

We placed Captain Scott’s race to the South Pole on a timeline which includes events in our lifetime and events throughout history. We talked about placing the events in time order and discussed the word ‘chronology’. Then we found out more about Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his fateful jounrney to the pole.

Wilson Gallery Visit

Today the Wilson Gallery visited us at school. We had the opportunity to handle artefacts from the expedition to help us learn more about how Scott explored the Antarctic. We saw some of the paintings created by Edwin Wilson during his time in Antarctica and even tried to draw like him with gloves on – it was very tricky. We looked at the clothes they wore and equipment they used and even imagined walking through a blizzard with snow blindness. We tried some of the food they would have eaten during their trek and designed meals with the rations they had. We finished off with the brilliant story of Tom Crean’s Rabbit. What an experience!!!!

Geography

we used google Earth and atlases to locate The North Pole and the Arctic and the South Pole and the Antarctic. We found out these places are very cold. We then found the equator and learned that the countries located around the equator are very hot. We also found out that mountainous areas can be cold too because the higher up you go, the colder it gets. We then discussed what mountains might look like on a geographical key and that we need keys to help us understand the symbols on maps.

Maths

This term we have been learning about money. We have learned about the value of the different coins, added amounts of money and even visited Mrs Davis' and Mrs Bayes shop to buy some goods and work out our change. 

We have now learned how to multiply by 2, 5 10 and are learning our 3 times table. We were whizzes with this because of all our practice on TT rockstars! 

We then went on to learn about division and understand that when we divide we share. We have use concrete apparatus to help us and are beginning to use our knowledge of times tables to help us divide. 

Religious Education

This half term we are learning all about Islam. Today, we were lucky enough to welcome two visitors to our year group who are practicing Muslims. Azlan who is in Year 5 and his mum came in to tell us all about Islamic prayer (Salah) which is the second pillar of Islam and answered lots of our questions about Islam! They even told us all about Ramadan! We had a wonderful time, looked at special prayer mats and special scarves that ladies wear during prayer. They also wear scarves as a sign of respect when they read the Qur'an. The children and the adults learnt a lot! 

Today, we learned all about Christian prayer. India’s mum came to school to show us how Christians pray and talked about why prayer is important to her. We had the chance to ask some questions about Christian prayer, how she prays and how it makes her feel. She showed us her cross that reminds her God is with her. We also said the Lord’s prayer together. She explained that these were the words Jesus gave to help people when they didn’t know what to say to God. The experience helped us to understand the Christian faith more deeply and helped us to put our vision in to practice; understanding that everyone is unique and should be treated with respect and dignity.

We then compared the two faiths and thought about how prayer is similar and idfferent for Muslims and Christians.

Fly Me to the Moon

Neil Armstrong - Fabulous Finish Visit

Today Neil Armstrong visited us in class via zoom. We learnt all about his early life and how his love of flying developed when he earned his Eagle Scout Badge in the Boy Scouts. He then went to university where he learnt to fix and build planes before becoming a pilot in the air force. He then went on to work for NASA and became the first man to walk on the moon. We acted out what it was like to launch into space in a rocket and to walk around on the moon. He told us about his time on the moon and how he hit a golf ball which flew off into deepest darkest space. We had the chance to ask him some of our own questions and learned how he ate his meals, went to the toilet and kept warm in space! He told us the BEST thing about going to the moon was the fact that he was the first person to ever walk upon it! 

History

In history we have been learning about significant people our parents and grandparents might remember. We learned all about Neil Armstrong and now we know he was significant because he was the first man to ever step foot on the moon in July 1969 and said the famous words 'One small step for man, one giant leap for man-kind.' We also found out about Tim Peake who visited the International Space Station in 2015 and that their experiences in space might have been different. We now know that space travel and exploration is important because it impacts how we live today. forexample, we would not have things like mobile phones, trainers, wireless headphones, cordless hoovers, solar panels and so much more if it wasn't for space travel. 

Geography

Today we learned all about the continents. We used Google Earth and atlases to locate the continents on a map. We then used these to help us piece together and label the continents on our own paper plate globe. After that we used ICT to find out more about the continents and what makes them unique and even learned a fantastic continent song!

Maths

Fire Fire Fabulous Finish!

To end our brilliant topic all about the Great Fire of London, we had a wonderful day celebrating what we had learned. The Evesham Fire Department paid us a visit and demonstrated how they use their equipment to combat fires in our local area. They inspired many of our children to want to become fire fighters one day! We baked bread to remember Thomas Farriner and how the fire began and made fire crowns in art to remember the fierce blaze that changed the face of London forever. 

History

We placed the Great Fire of London on a time line and learned that it took place in September 1666 after a long, hot summer. We learned more about the events of the fire and sequenced them in chronological order.

Geography

In Geography we have been learning about the United Kingdom. We've found out about the countries that make the UK, their capital cities and the seas that surround the UK. We investigated some of the UK's physical and human features and added these to our map.