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Orchard Primary

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Orchard Primary & Pre-School

"Small enough to care, Big enough to inspire"

Photos 20212- 2024

Summer 2 Week 7

That's all folks! Year 2 2023/2024 has come to an end. To finish off our year we visited Pershore Abbey to sketch the Abbey as part of our Stephen Wiltshire Art topic. We also had a week of finishing off jobs and then a little treat on Friday afternoon to see the year out... hence the chocolate faces. Thank you so much to the children for being amazing and thank you to all of the parents and families for their fantastic support. The year really has flown by. Although we've had lots of children saying goodbye ... remember I'm only next door next year!

Summer 2 Week 6

This week Year 2 completed our summer performance of Staggering Stanley at Number 8. Year 2 did a fantastic job of learning their dance (and everyone else's songs and dances). This week, in D&T / Geography we have always been protecting our beaches! We have learnt about human / physical geography and how the two interact. We applied our knowledge of materials from earlier in the year to make sure we could protect our beaches from coastal erosion! 

Summer 2 Week 5

This week Year 2 have been polishing off their top secret dance for the summer performance as well as celebrating that little Judes (all of the tadpoles are called Jude because we can't tell them apart) now have little legs! Hopefully we'll have some frogs before the end of the summer. In literacy Mr Bayliss wrote Mrs Bitcon a persuasive letter attempting to convince her to buy Year 2 a class puppy instead of tadpoles next year. Year 2 then had great fun pretending to be Mrs Bitcon and writing her response argument; they came up with some very mature well thought out answers.  In maths we have been looking at decimal numbers and rounding to the nearest whole number... yes we're 7. 

Summer 2 Week 4

This week we've had a tragedy involving two of our tadpoles and the tank filter. We understand that this is part of the lifecycles we've been learning about; it's survival of the fittest / smartest and if you're daft enough to swim into a filter... Year 2 still have 4 tadpoles that are thriving and getting nice and plump, hopefully we'll see a leg or two soon. In class this week we used our tally charts from our maths lesson to create pictograms using PurpleMash, completed our next Pocahontas mission escaping the English  in the dead of night and made toad in the hole in D&T (unfortunate timing). 

Summer 2 Week 3

This week in D&T Year 2 have been making Rock Cakes, the left overs ended up in the Staff Room for our weekly meeting and all of the teachers thoroughly enjoyed them. In Science this half term we've been learning about animals and their offspring as well as looking at the different lifecycles of animal groups. This week we were learning about amphibians and the lifecycle of a frog... soooooooo Mr Bayliss & Mrs Bitcon got the Year 2 some tadpoles to observe this lifecycle in action. Hopefully we'll see some legs / froglets over the remaining 4 weeks of our topic!

Summer 2 Week 2

This week Orchard Primary completed their annual Sports Day and Summer (ish / torrential downpour)  Fayre. We are super proud of all the children that took part this week and we are looking forward to seeing who has won once the totals have been added up! 

Summer 2 Week 1

We've kicked off the Summer 2 term! This week in literacy, before we found out our new text for the term, we were presented with a box full of sand... and some clues for our new story. We wrote our own 5 sentence stories using the clues before finally unwrapping our book and discovering we're learning about Sally and the Limpet. In PSCHE we completed an activity around supporting / helping each other and in COJO we had to create a bridge for Pocahontas to escape the English. This week Year 2 have also started their D&T block with Mrs Marks. This will be a weekly session and the children are super excited to see what they'll be creating over the next few weeks.

Summer 1 Week 7

That's the Summer 1 half term wrapped up; just one more to go until the children are Year 3! This week in topic we've been completing one last Matthew Cusick art lesson. The children reviewed their pieces over the past few weeks before attempting to improve upon one of the activities. In COJO we've been working as a team to escape the English (in our Pocahontas missions) and in Science we planted our two successful bulbs to see if we can something to eat after the 1/2 term break. We also threw away all of the failed onions and water as they were beginning to stink out the school. 

Summer 1 Week 6

This week we have in Science we have been observing the progress in our bulb experiments. Although only two of the bulbs have developed shoots as well as roots as has helped Year 2 to understand that bulbs repeat their lifecycles. In Topic we have been using our knowledge of Fair Trade to create some Fair Trade posters and in COJO our mission (as Pocahontas' tribe) was to transport our crops through the forest without touching the poisonous vines (which explains 1 or 2 of the photos). 

Summer 1 Week 5

This week we have been creating some artwork in the style of our focus artist Matthew Cusick. Year 2, linking with our Geography this year, hid animals from the continent of Africa within the continent itself. The idea was that the outlines of the animals loosely fitted with the lines the countries within the continent. Some children decided to camouflage their animal within the lines and colours of the continent whereas went more in the style of Matthew with their choice of colour... he did blue horses so why can't we have blue rhinos? At the end of last week, Year 2 also took home their mystery magic seeds that we planted in our first lesson back after the Easter break as many of them had outgrown their starter pots in the classroom. 

Summer 1 Week 4

This week's science 'Sticky Knowledge' question focused on bulbs and how they change over time. We created a lifecycle of a bulb to help us make a prediction for this week's experiment. Year 2 placed a bulb (onion) over a glass jar of water (no BBQs in the near future so Mr Bayliss was happy to donate his mason jars). Stay tuned to see if the bulb will begin another lifecycle! In photography this week  our focus was lighting. Year 2 practiced photographing Mr Men in darkness before experimenting with torches to create the best lighting for the photographs. 

Summer 1 Week 3

This week was our final Commando Jo mission focusing on the Queen. In today's mission the children were throwing street parties to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. The Year 2 party planners had to navigate the assault course in their teams to successfully deliver the food to the banquet in time (and in one piece). In computing this 1/2 term we are looking at photography. This week, now we understand the important rules for taking a photograph, we focused on landscape and portrait. We learnt the importance of landscape / portrait depending on the subject that we were photographing.  

Summer 1 Week 2

This week, in literacy, we have been writing up our mystery seed recounts. After writing two sets of instructions in our last two topics, we had to make good use of our 'Recount Toolkit' to make sure we writing them correctly (telling the reader what we did and not teaching them what to do). In science this week we began learning about seeds and bulbs. We cut up different examples of both to observe the similarities and differences. We learnt that most fruits have their seeds on the inside but there was one delicious exception to the rule. Can the children remember what it was? HINT: They're delicious with cream whilst watching tennis. 

Summer 1 Week 1

It's the first week of the Summer 1 term! Where has this year gone? This week, on our return from the Easter break, we arrived in Year 2 to a mysterious golden present box. Inside we found magical seeds (can you guess where this is going?). Year 2 wrote about what they wished their magical seeds might grow into... PS5 trees, First Aid plants, Big Mac bushes etc. In Monday's PM session we planted the magical seeds and began writing a recount of what we did in the rest of our literacy lessons this week. We will be caring for our plants for the next 7 weeks until 1/2 term when hopefully they're big and strong enough to come home (hopefully everyone remembered to put a seed in this year). In Art this week we have started learning about Mark Rothko, discussing the primary colours and how we can make secondary colours. Next week we will put this knowledge to the test and replicate his pieces to match certain emotions. 

Spring 2 Week 5

It's the end of another whirlwind term! This week we have been looking at personal hygiene including keeping our teeth in tip top condition. We learnt about how to keep our teeth clean, the relationship between age and the amount of teeth (that's what the mirror pictures are) and the effect of sugar on our teeth. We looked at different food items and the amount of sugar in them using sugar cubes. We then, at the end of the week, went against everything we had learnt this half term in being healthy and went on an Easter egg hunt!

 

Happy Easter all. 

Spring 2 Week 4

Year 2 have had another busy week, we started the week off making healthy alternatives for Mr Wolf's pancakes. After a quick taste test  we have since been writing our instructions for how to make them! In Science this week we have been learning about germs and the spread of germs when we don't wash our hands properly. To finish of our focus artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo we made fruit / vegetable faces using real foods. Don't panic about the waste though, Mrs Hadley took it all back to her garden to compost. 

Spring 2 Week 3

This week Year 2 had a visit from All Star Cricket! We practiced some of the skills involved to play cricket and were told about some exciting clubs that we could join now that we've had a little taster. In Commando Jo this week we completed the next part of our mission to become one of the Queen's guards. This week we had to work as a team to protect the Queen's jewels from a potential theft. 

Spring 2 Week 2

In Science this week we've been learning about what our bodies need to be healthy. We already knew about having a balanced diet but not everyone knew the importance of exercise. We completed an experiment to see which was the best exercise for raising a heart rate and dealt with the misconception that exercise was bad because it makes you out of breathe and hurts. In Art this week, after learning some simple facts about Giuseppe Arcimboldo last week we made our own face collages using food wrappers. 

Spring 2 Week 1

In the first lesson of our new topic we were confronted with some sort of weird green food item. We used our imaginations and 'box up' plans to create our own stories using the ' green thing' to inspire out imaginations. We later found out that our new story book is Mr Wolf's Pancakes. The story of a wolf that doesn't know how to make pancakes and so visits his neighbours in search of some help (Fairy-tale characters). Year 2 loved role-playing as Mr Wolf at different parts of the story and discovering how he got his own back on his greedy neighbours. SNIPPETY SNAPPETY! 

Spring 1 Week 5

In the final week of our Victorians topic  we have been learning about what life would have been like as Victorian children before Queen Victoria made school compulsory. We role-played lots of different jobs including bird scarer, servant and chimney sweep and discussed how these different jobs made us feel. To finish our topic we even completed a Now Press Play mission where we were responsible for our family and had to go to work in the mines and in the workhouse. We decided that life as a child in 2024 is much much better (less hard work) than in the Victorian era.

Spring 1 Week 4

It's been another busy one... This week we created our Victorian lemon curd so that next week in literacy we can write our instructions / recipe for our Victorian treat. In topic we have been learning about famous Victorian designer / artist / poet William Morris and have attempted a couple examples of his work. Although we loved the designs, we thought £100 for  a William Morris dog bed from John Lewis was a little expensive. We have, this week, also completed out final Grace Darling COJO mission. The children (Grace and William) had to navigate their way across the slippery rocks to rescue the Forfarshire survivors in the terrible storm (whilst having weather balls thrown at them). 

Spring 1 Week 3

What a week!! This week we have: created our Victorian ball & cup using our designs from last week; set up a Science experiment testing the conditions for seed growth; learnt all about what happened to Grace Darling after the rescue so that we can write our Grace Darling letters and even tested a few Victorian foods! We tested gruel (cold porridge) and Victoria sponge cake... the majority of Year 2 decided they would have preferred to be a rich Victorian. Next week we will be creating our own 'Mrs Wheatley's Victorian lemon curd'!

Spring 1 Week 2

Last week in our Grace Darling Commando Jo mission we pretended to be Grace and William Darling; our mission focused on navigating through the dark to the row boat and tying it down before it blew away. This week we were the survivors of the Forfarshire and our mission was to create a tower tall enough that Grace Darling would be able to see us from the lighthouse... considering our height, the results were pretty impressive! In Victorian toys focus week in History we first compared our toys to Victorian toys (materials and how you play with them) before creating our very own Thaumatrope! Next week, now that we've designed our Victorian ball and cup we will create them to match our designs. 

Spring 1 Week 2

In the first week of our new topic we have been learning all about Grace Darling. This week we have learnt lots of facts about Grace, the Forfarshire rescue and have began learning our class story map. In History we completed a timeline of key historical events and in Science we recapped our knowledge of plants by dissecting a flower into its key parts. Year 2 are amazing at our dates so make sure you test us on: when Queen Victoria died, when plastic was invented and how many years Queen Victoria wore black for after her husband died.

Autumn 2 Week 7 1/2 

In the final 1/2 week of our topic we concentrated on finishing off our projects. In Science we created a material that could stretch, squash, bend and twist... we all know how that went! In D&T we completed our pirate swords and in Maths we completed a practical carousel of measuring activities (volume of hot chocolate, length of Christmas ribbon and weight of Christmas presents). 

Autumn 2 Week 7

This week we completed our Autumn 2 Art project focusing on texture. Our project required us to use a lot of the skills we learnt in Autumn 1 but apply them to create texture. We created a wood texture by painting a base yellow over our pirate ships, adding a second coat of brown and then brushing the excess paint away using forks to give the illusion of wood grain. For our oceans we did a white pastel wave pattern before adding shades of blue and finally pouring salt over our work. To give our masts texture, we painted our rough toilet rolls - simple but effective. Thank you for all of the loo roll supplies!

Autumn 2 Week 6

This week we created and tested our D&T pirate ships, putting our knowledge of materials and the features of a pirate ship to the test. Would anyone attempt to use metal for the ship? Would we remember which materials floated and which didn't? Would everyone manage to create a floating pirate ship? Sadly not.... but we all did have fun!

Autumn 2 Week 5

This week  Year 2 went into the hall and acted out 6 different pirate activities to form the basis of our diary entries in Literacy. We got dressed in our pirate clothes (this station had to go first so nobody was doing their chores in the nude), untie the rigging, clean the captain's parrot, carry the cannon balls, scrub the deck and make a delicious pirate stew!

Autumn 2 Week 4

Mr Bayliss told us that next week we would be putting our knowledge of materials to the test to create our very own pirate ship. Our ships had to have all the features of a pirate ship that we have learnt e.g. crow's nest, rigging, mast etc and they had to float! This week Year 2 tested lots of different materials to see which would be best to make our pirate ships. 

Autumn 2 Week 3

This week, as well as raising lots of money for Children in Need, Year 2 have been looking at plastic. Everyone brought in an item that was made of plastic so that we could see that plastic has lots of different purposes, colours and properties. This week we started learning the terms transparent, translucent and opaque... this was GCSE Science when Mr Bayliss was at school!

Autumn 2 Week 2

This week in Science we started our new block focusing on materials. We first tested the properties of card and paper to see which material was the best at bending, ripping or scrunching. We then made paper aeroplanes to understand that we choose materials everyday for a purpose based on the materials' properties.

Autumn 2 Week 1

We returned after the 1/2 term break to two mystery pirates! We used the story sack and our experience 'hot seating' to think of some questions we'd like to ask a pirate as well as some questions we'd like answering within our new topic. In COJO we completed our last mission focusing on Steve Backshall and in computing we've been using our swanky new Ipads to start to learn about algorithms and debugging. To show our support to the Poppy Appeal and  respects to those that have fallen we made some Remembrance Day themed artwork utilising some of the skills we learnt last 1/2 term. 

Autumn 1 Week 7

This week in Science, as our topic draws close to an end, we've been looking at humans. We already knew that a human was a mammal and what they needed to survive but was this all a baby human needed to survive? We looked at ALL of the items Mr Bayliss has to help his baby survive (it's not just water, food, shelter and air). With Mrs Wheatley the children set up a vets practice to check our 'sticky' knowledge. Did we know the animal group? How did we know? What did they need to survive? We also completed our first Now Press Play experience this week; consolidating our knowledge of all the animal groups as well as carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. 

Autumn 1 Week 6

This week in Science, as well as consolidating some of our learning from the past 6 weeks, we have been learning about food chains. We learnt that a food chain shows the transfer of energy and even made our own food chain through a little dressing up and role play. We also, now that we know all the animal groups, categorised the Year 1 toys into the correct hoop and checked in on our amphibian habitats. Although we didn't get any amphibians in our habitats we did get a few insects. We decided that next time to attract an amphibian we might need a little more water!

Autumn 1 Week 5

This week Year 2 had their first trip of the year! Year 2 visited the Cotswold Wildlife Park to see first hand the animals that we have been talking and learning about in class. We were able to see mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds as well as having a keeper talk all about Geronimo (penguins). Although our little legs were tired when we returned to school, the children were all super excited to write their recount of the trip in the coming weeks!

Autumn 1 Week 4

This week in Science our focus was amphibians. We looked at some zoomed in photos of a mystery creature and eventually came to the realisation that it wasn't a monster but a frog! We talked through what all animals needed for survival before using this knowledge to create our own amphibian habitats; hopefully next week our habitats will have tempted some amphibians inside. In COJO this week we had to plan our essential items for an expedition to Borneo; on Monday we will be putting our knowledge to the test when we look at Ernest Shackleton and his expedition to Antarctica. 

Autumn 1 Week 3

This week in Science our focus was fish. We now know what scales, fins and gills are so are now obviously amazing at identifying fish as well as describing the differences between fish and mammals that live in the ocean. In COJO we completed our first Steve Backshall adventure which involved rescuing a stranded whale. In COJO this 1/2 term we are focusing on teamwork, not giving up and understanding that it's okay to make mistakes... that's the best way to learn! In Art we looked at examples of Antarctica sunsets and then used our colour mixing skills to make our own. We will use this skill again for our end of topic art project in a couple of week's time! 

Autumn 1 Week 2

This week in school (after Mr Bayliss' extended Summer break) we have been learning all about birds. In literacy on Monday we were confronted with an egg, we made predictions based on our previous knowledge of what could be inside... nobody predicted chocolate! On Tuesday we discovered that the egg had hatched and inside was a baby penguin... Geronimo! In Science we: looked at: what made a bird a bird; went bird watching around the playground (we spotted a pigeon) and created our own bird-feeders for next week's 10-minute-challenge. 

Summer 2 Week 2

 

This week we have continued to learn about human and physical geography. We have been looking at various examples that we should / may have seen from living in Pershore. We now know the difference between human and physical and can give some examples of both. Next week we will be looking a little further than what's on our doorsteps. In Maths we've been learning how to partition 4 digit numbers and some 'special' names for different triangles!

Summer 2 - Week 1

 

In the first week of our new topic we were presented with a box of sand. We quickly discovered that hidden in the sand were clues for our new focus story book. After pulling out flippers, goggles, spanners and many other items we wrote out own story based on what we knew so far. In topic we started our new block in computing entitles 'quizzes' and in geography have began looking at what 'human' and 'physical' geography means. 

Summer 1 - Week 5

 

This week in computing we have learnt that photographs we see online may have been edited. Before next week's lesson when we look at real or 'fake' images, this week we had a practice at editing our own photos. Although filters were fun for a few minutes; our imaginations soon got the better of us. In Science we learnt about the lifecycle of a plant and seed dispersal. After learning the the many different ways plants might disperse their seeds (including a fab video from Sir David Attenborough on exploding seed pods) we made our own sycamore seeds and had great fun watching how far they could travel once they had been caught by the wind. 

 

Summer 1 - Week 4

 

This week we finished off our cress experiment; we were shocked by what we found out. This experiment really tested our prior knowledge from Year 1 but Mr Bayliss made it clear that the best conditions for a seed is still warm temp, sunlight, water and soil. We also this week began learning out story of Jim and the Beanstalk. Because our focus text has lots of tricky speech we practiced using paper puppets and even had the green screen to act out the story using the real story puppets. 

 

 

Summer 1 - Week 3

 

Although it has only been a three day week for the children, as always we've been packing in the excitement. In Science we set up our second experiment of our topic. We've planted cress in lots of different conditions to test our knowledge from Year 1. Seeds need soil, water, sunlight and a nice temperature to grow... or do they! We'll find out next week. We have also been getting ready for The King's Coronation by writing congratulatory letters and getting organised for the Orchard Primary picnic. 

 

Summer 1 - Week 2

This week we set up our first plant based scientific experiment - the carnation experiment. We made predictions about what we thought might happen based on our knowledge of the job of the stem. We also this week were introduced to one of the main characters from our focus story; we wrote character descriptions to include what they looked like as well as some of their interests! 

Summer 1 - Week 1

In the first week of our Summer 1 topic we arrived at school to some mystery magic seeds, we planted them to see what would happen and wrote a recount about our experiences. In ICT this half term our focus is photography; our challenge this week was to learn about permission and the correct way to take a photograph... Year 2 had great fun taking photograph bingo; especially getting an action shot! On Friday we refreshed our Year 1 knowledge on plants but dissecting a labelling a flower; don't worry they were bargain bucket and soon to have been thrown away!

Spring 2 - Week 4

 

We are fast approaching the Easter break so we are cramming as much learning as we can again. In literacy we've finished our alternate version of Mr Wolf's Pancakes so we've moved onto making Mr Wolf a healthier alternative to all of his pancakes and neighbours. We will write our instructions for healthy oaty pancakes in our final week of our topic. In Art we are continuing with our sketching and in computing we made our own examples of Piet Mondrian's abstract squares. 

 

Spring 2 - Week 3

 

What a busy week this week has been! In science this week Year 2 have been learning about the digestive system. We completed a very basic model of the digestive system so that we understood what happens to out food after it has left out plates... it's not magic! We were also very fortunate to have a forensic science workshop. The children had a hands on experience of solving a crime! We used our detective skills and new knowledge of finger prints, foot prints and DNA to identify the thief. Mr Bayliss was very jealous he didn't have a chance to play. We also made some mother's day cards and even had a special treat on Friday afternoon when the grown-ups came in to see our fantastic Mr Wolf's Pancakes stories. 

Spring 2 - Week 2

 

This week in computing we moved on from digital music and onto digital painting. We learnt about lots of the different tools and had a practice creating our own pictures using as many different tools as we could. In art this week we practiced sketching Mr Wolf using a video made by author and illustrator Jan Fearnley! You might get your own copy in next week's invitations. 

Spring 2 - Week 1

 

It's the first week of our new topic and we returned to school with a mystery blue food item. The children used their knowledge of the  5 senses from last half term to investigate what this item was. The children made predictions of what our new story book was going to be about. It was also World Book Day and to celebrate Year 2 came to school wearing our pyjamas; it was a real struggle not to nap all day!

Spring 1 - Week 7

 

In the final week of our Victorian topic we have been completing our 'hot' check out tasks in topic to prove to Mr Bayliss how much we have learnt in the past 7 weeks as well as writing our recipes for Mrs Wheatley's Victorian lemon curd. In computing we listened to Neptune by Gustav Holst and drew how it made us feel. We discussed the impact of pitch and used ChromeMusicLab to experiment with different pitches. When we return after 1/2 term we will be using our knowledge on pitch, rhythm and tempo to create our own pieces of music.

Spring 1 - Week 6

 

This week our focus has been Victorian foods! On Monday we tasted two Victorian foods; one that rich Victorians may have eaten and one that the poorer Victorians may have eaten.Surprisingly, lots of the children loved the gruel and didn't like the jam in the Victoria sponge cake! After our food review we went on to make Mrs Wheatley's famous Victorian lemon curd; hopefully not too many grated fingers were added to the recipe! We taste tested our creations and working towards creating our own recipes. 

That's No Way To Learn!

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As part of their Victorian topic Year 2 have been learning a poem entitled 'That's No Way To' Learn;. The poem describes the differences between going to school in the Victorian era compared to our wonderful school life at Orchard Primary. This time, the whole of Year 2 learnt the entire poem instead of learning a verse each, a massive step - up from our Autumn 1 poem 'Pirate Pete'. Enjoy.

Spring 1 - Week 5

 

In literacy last week we finished our Grace Darling write up. This week we began learning how to write a letter. We looked at the different features of a letter in an example that Mr Bayliss had already written pretending to be Grace Darling the day after the rescue. We then went on a fact finding mission around the hall to discover what happened to Grace in the weeks, months and years after the rescue. Did anyone write an interesting statement for their 10 minute challenge for us to use in our letters? 

Spring 1 - Week 3 & 4

 

In weeks two and three we have been continuing our Victorian adventure and learning what it would have been like to be a Victorian child. We have tried our hand at lots of Victorian jobs (bird scarer, chimney sweep, domestic servant) as well as learning what it would have been like to go to school in Victorian times. We finished off our Victorian child focus with a Now Press Play experience as a Victorian coal miner. We have also been learning all about William Morris over the past few weeks, we've tried to create repeated patterns as well as creating our own stained glass windows.  

Victorian Experience (09.01.23)

 

Today, Year 2 were very lucky to have received a visit from 'The History Man'! Year 2 learnt all about life in the Victorian era and had a WOW hands on experience with dozens of authentic Victorian artefacts. I'll let the photos do the talking... 

Spring 1 - Week 1

 

It's 2023 and we are back! This week we learnt that Year 2's Spring topic will focus on the Victorian era and the Victorian heroine Grace Darling. In our first literacy lesson we were greeted by Grace (Tilly) Darling in strange attire and holding some weird objects. We used what we could see to ask questions, who was this person and why are we learning about her? In topic as well as learning about what a timeline is and beginning to plot some important Victorian events (compulsory school for children) we painted our own lighthouses. 

Autumn 2 Topic Book

Autumn 2 - Week 7

 

It's the final week of our Autumn 2 topic! Where did that go? This week we have been getting ready for Christmas with some Christmas themed maths. We've looked at what tools we would use to measure the weight of a present; the length of a snake and the volume of some hot chocolate. We have also been finishing off all of our D&T snake projects: we painted our clay snakes to match our designs of real life species from a continent around the globe and also made our sock snakes. Year 2 cut, sewed and hot - glue gunned the snakes to make this project. They also burnt Mr Bayliss a few times as it was his job to hold on the googlie eyes. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year; see you in 2023!

Autumn 2 - Week 6

 

This week we have been working on grouping animals based on common characteristics. We already knew what a bird, insect and fish was but now we can also group reptiles, amphibians and mammals. In COJO we had our first session with Commando Callum; we are very excited to be completing our missions with a real Commando over the next few weeks. In D&T, after designing our sock snakes, we began the creating them. They aren't currently looking overly cuddly but we trust the process!

Cotswold Wildlife Park

 

Sadly, were coming to an end to our Snake In My School topic with Christmas fast approaching. However, today Year 2 visited the Cotswold Wildlife Park. This was an experience for many in the class to see and learn about animals that they had seen only in books or on TV. It was a fantastic trip, although a little chilly, and we're sure the children's recounts next week will be our best piece of writing so far this year. Hopefully everyone's highlight of the day wasn't their lunches... although they did look pretty good!

Autumn 2 - Week 4 & 5

 

In COJO this week we have been rescuing endangered Siamese crocodile eggs from poisonous snakes; thankfully we managed to rescue lots of the eggs without anybody being bitten. In topic, as well as completing lots of work on animals in our run up to the CWP trip, we have been designing a clay snake. The snakes we designed are real life species that we have plotted in their correct continent in previous weeks. Will the children make a Vine Snake from Asia, an adder from Europe or a Red Pipe Snake from South America? Lets find out. NOTE: Photographs this week have been taken by a few pupil helpers... they definitely give a good reflection of life in Year 2. 

Autumn 2 - Week 3

 

This week in topic we have been looking at the world's continents. We used Google Earth and an Atlas to locate and name all 7 continents. We then plotted them on our own world map. Next week we are going to be learning about different species of snake and plotting them in their correct continents. I wonder if we'll have any snakes in Antarctica? In COJO Steve Backshall and his team (Year 2) worked as a team to rescue a stranded humpback whale. Because of iSingPOP our mornings have been a little hectic and so we have been completing some of our maths lessons in the afternoon. We practiced creating arrays for multiplication maths stories using finger prints! We hope to see you all at our concert on Wednesday at Pershore Abbey.

Autumn 2 - Week 2

 

We started our official Autumn 2 topic this week with a search around the playground. We found glasses, shoes and lots of snakes... they were all clues for our new focus text 'There's a snake in my school'. This week we began looking at carnivores, herbivores and omnivores; food chains and in COJO planned out items we'd take on an expedition to Borneo.  In SCARF we had a special visitor... Harold the giraffe. We helped Harold and his pals Kiki, and Derek with a little birthday party dilemma. 

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Autumn 2 - Week 1

 

Before starting our official Autumn 2 topic next week, this week we completed a mini-topic on Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot. On Monday we created our own fireworks using alca-seltzer tablets and water. We also created some firework masterpieces over the Houses of Parliament, made posters on Bonfire Night safety and wrote a fact file on Guy Fawkes and his plan. In our final Pocahontas COJO mission this week we followed a number of clues Mr Bayliss wrote to save Pocahontas! Autumn 2 ssssssurprisssssssseee on Monday.

Autumn 1 - Week 7

 

This week we finished our Autumn 1 topic with a BANG (if you'll pardon the pun) as we made our own fully functioning pirate cannons. To complete this D&T project we had to follow our research and designs closely as well as using some fairly specialist equipment, including; hot glue guns, sand paper and a saw! On Friday afternoon we made our own targets to test how good our cannons are. Hopefully nobody uses parents or grandparents as target practice over the half term! Enjoy!

Autumn 1 - Week 6

 

This week we began planning out our big D&T project for the Autumn term. We learnt all about cannons before designing a cannon and listing all of the special equipment we will be using to complete our task next week. The children are very excited to be using the hot glue guns and saws... hopefully we don't need to use the glue guns to attach any missing limbs. Also this week in COJO we escaped the English in the dead of night who refused to stop stealing out crops and water and in maths learnt about two tricky concepts: commutative law and the rule of inverse! 

Pirate Pete

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After Year 2 having their performance delayed last week because of sickness, today 11/10/22 we finally were able to perform our poem 'Pirate Pete'. Thank you to all the children (and grown-ups) for supporting the children with practicing their lines at home. We have definitely set the bar for the older children in school! Well done all!

Autumn 1 - Week 5

 

This week in Art we finished our first big art project focusing on texture. We created a wood texture to our pirate ships by painting a yellow background before painting brown over and scraping it using a fork; it sounds simple but we'll let you judge how effective it was. In COJO, Pocahontas had to transport water to the English before they died of dehydration. We didn't have drought this week and that's why Year 2 were transporting their 'water' down the KS1 corridor. In geography / computing we have been looking at BeeBot maps before attempting to create our own next week. We also introduced compass directions and practices navigating around the playground. Cam was so busy walking South that he didn't spot the tyre and ended up sat in it! 

Autumn 1 - Week 4

 

This week in Art we began our first big project of Year 2, where our focus will be on texture. This week we created our sea scape backgrounds focusing on how we could make them look and feel as real as possible - we even threw salt at our work to create the illusion of texture. In Commando Joe we worked in teams to create bridges to help the Natives transport their crops to the English and in Geography we began looking at some maps. We particularly focused on Map Keys, what the symbols meant and how they were used / useful. 

Autumn 1 - Week 3

 

This week we used our scientific knowledge of floating materials to create our first D&T project of Year 2; a floating pirate ship. Although we didn't get to take the ships home (they were a little damp), the skills of designing creating and reviewing our ships will come in very handy later on in our topic when we create our very own fully functioning cannons! SHHH the children don't know yet. Also this week we had a special visitor Commando Pete, Pete completed a special COJO session with all of the children and was pleasantly surprised how well Year 2 worked as a team considering how young we were. Mrs Wheatley's COJO sessions are paying off. 

Autumn 1 - Week 2

 

Next week Year 2 are going to be making their very own junk model pirate ships! This week we tested our Year 1 knowledge of materials and completed a scientific experiment to see which materials would float; now we know the best materials for our ships. We also learnt some of key parts of a pirate ship including the mast, sail, porthole, crow's nest and flag. Hopefully we see a few of these features on our ships. This week we have also been learning our new focus story The Pirates Are Coming. We have so far learnt the story using actions orally and even made some Tom hill sliders to practice rehearsing the sentences we will be writing next week!

 

 

 

 

Autumn 1 - Week 1

 

This week we started our first Year 2 topic. In literacy, after writing about our summer holidays, we learnt that our Autumn 1 topic is about pirates! After successfully guessing the topic using our Year 2 Feelie Bag we then thought of questions we'd like to ask a pirate or questions we'd like to learn during our topic. In our afternoon sessions we completed self portraits for our new 'Who made it to rainbow?' display, our first COJO mission as well as going on an IT scavenger hunt around the school!

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