Year 2 At Work (Spring Term)

Year 2 have had an interesting start to their Spring term.  Since Christmas we have had to have lessons in the school hall as the classroom was out of use.  On a plus side, using the hall has meant we have had a lot of space to move around, which certainly helped when selecting materials for our Puppets topic in DT.  We examined different types of puppet before designing our own, based on the story of The Jolly Postman.  This resulted in the production of some very adventurous marionettes and colourful sock and hand puppets.  We also then started to think about how we could improve our work.  All of this experience should come in useful when we start designing moving vehicles.

Our Science topics this term are Grouping and Changing Materials and Forces, both of which should be very interactive and interesting.

We will complement the work that we do on Materials with a visit to the Lookout Discovery Centre in Bracknell.  We will start to think about the materials around us, and their properties and uses.  One of the things we will be discussing is why some things are used for certain jobs.

Can you think of any reasons why rainhats are usually made of plastic?  Ask one of the Year 2 children to explain!

We will develop our thinking in Science to include reversible and irreversible changes, and hope to take part in some very exciting experiments. 

After Christmas we worked hard to find out about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, using books and the internet in order to write a short account of their work in the Crimea.

A highlight for the whole school at the beginning of February was a week long theme week exploring the story and traditions of Chinese New Year.  One of the parents in Year 1 even came in to spend a whole day cooking.  What with Chinese food and Pancake Day, we have had a very scrummy first half of Spring term.

What would Spring be without the chance to say thank you to our mums?

With overwhelming support and a packed school hall, Year 2 joined Reception and Year 1 to sing songs and read poetry to show their mums just how much they mean to them.  The acrostic poems written by the class were very expressive and the children put a lot of thought into their work.  We also benefited from the support of our students and each child was able to make a beautiful picture frame for mum to treasure at home.

One of Year 2's recent achievements has been the completion of a playground leaders course.  The pupils are taking more responsibility in the playground, helping to organise different activities, looking after play equipment, and making sure that the other pupils feel safe and secure in the playground.

We will be looking at Island Homes, and comparing a remote Scottish island to our village, thinking about what it might be like to live there, and how transport might differ.  After the Easter holidays we have lots to look forward to, including the study of the Great Fire of London as well as an overseas location.