Well what a fantastic week it has been! The children who came on our overnight stay at Downe had a brilliant time and all behaved themselves perfectly, making them a credit to our school. Thank you to all of you for taking time out to transport the children to and from Downe, special thanks to those of you who helped and picked up other children aswell. 

After returning from Downe we had fun continuing with the story of Traction Man, making videos  in small groups using the iPads. We have also celebrated Eid in RE, written a recount in English and worked on our typing skills in Computing. Well done to all the children for their efforts during Sports Day. They all put 100% into the events and showed off their skills well.

Even in the sweltering heat, the children have worked really hard this week. In Maths, we have been working on the column method for both addition and subtraction, using their knowledge of place value and partitioning. We then extended this to looking at word problems and the children demonstrated how much they have learnt by applying their skills really well. In Art, we followed our designs to create our own superhero logos. We used fabric with a milky mixture and pastels to create this artwork, as part of a whole school project. Hopefully you managed to see these during our Celebration of Learning. In English, we had a go at writing a set of instructions to explain how we made our superhero logos. We realised that we needed to include as much detail as possible in our instructions, for the person who may be reading them, so tried to include adjectives and adverbs as well. We have also completed our final STAR reading test for the Year. We are really happy with how the children have progressed using the Accelerated Reader tests and quizzes and have no doubts that they will continue to do so next year.

Well done to all of the Year 2 children who went on the trip for achieving 100% attendance over the Spring Term. It sounds like you all had an amazing time!

This week we have planned and written our own superhero adventure stories after being inspired by ‘Traction Man’. In Art, we have designed our own logos for our new superheroes. We will be using these designs next week which we will be presenting as part of Celebration of Learning next Friday afternoon. In Maths, we have been learning how to partition 2 digit numbers into the respective tens and units, before using this as a method for subtraction and addition.

In Science, we have started our new topic of ‘Materials’. We have started unpicking what a material is and how it is different to a fabric, before investigating why different objects around the school are made from a particular material. The children enjoyed thinking about idioms such as; ‘That’s about as much use as a chocolate teapot!’

This week we have started to learn a new story called ‘Traction Man’ by Mini Grey.

In Art, we have continued with our clown masks, following our designs.

This week has been Science week in school. We have had a whole school theme of explosions and have linked it to our topic of the circus by making cannon balls! We first planned our investigations by choosing a liquid and a solid that we thought would create a chemical reaction and then made predictions about which combination would make the cannon balls travel the furthest. We then designed and made our cannon balls using a plastic bottle and lots of creativity! We had great fun testing the cannon balls by firing them outside in the playground through a cannon. We learnt a lot about which combinations of liquids and solids create a chemical reaction and also looked at which other factors may have affected how far the bottles travelled. In Art, we began decorating our clown masks, following our designs. We have also finished our SATs this week, completing both reading papers. The children have been extremely mature and hardworking during these past two weeks and we are very proud of their attitude and dedication.

In English this week we have been writing circus poetry focusing on rhyme and use of adjectives. In Mathematics we have focused on arithmetic and the 4 different calculations as well as giving directions. The children have also completed their two maths SATs papers and we are really pleased with the effort and focus they put in during both tests. In science we have learnt all about muscles and how exercising them helps to keep us fit!

In English this week we have been writing a letter to a friend about an imaginary trip to the circus. In Mathematics we have focused on arithmetic and the 4 different calculations. We have also worked on our problem solving skills. In science we have learnt all about the human skeleton and we have been improving our cricket skills in PE.

In English this week we have been writing a non-fiction text about the different circus acts. We explored seeds inside different fruits in science and how it is these seeds that then go on to make a new plant.

This week we have been learning about capacity in mathematics. They have learnt to read the scales on measuring jugs and compare using greater than and less than signs. (< >) In English we have been writing a non-fiction text about the three different types of clowns. In science we have learnt that plants make their own food in their leaves.

We had a fun start to our ‘Circus’ topic this week, when Matt from ‘Splats’ came in to teach year 2 circus skills. The children learnt to balance feathers, juggle, stilt walk and spin plates amongst other tricks. We apologise if any plates have since been broken at home! We have written about the different circus acts and concentrated on spelling words associated with the circus. In mathematics we have been learning to find fractions of shapes and amounts.

Our trip to Drusillas’ Park has been the highlight of the week. We had a wonderful day learning lots about rainforest animals. We have been learning about statistics in mathematics and how we can understand the different ways data is represented. (Tables, diagrams, tally charts etc.) Our writing has focused on creating our own stories using correct punctuation, exciting adjectives and interesting verbs.

We have really enjoyed our book week this week. The children have learnt a class story and have also adapted the original to make their own. The children have participated in lots of activities based around the books, including using the computers and producing art work. They have also written their own stories and some children took part in the ‘Spelling-Bee’ competition. All children took part in the ‘drop and read’ day on Thursday and the dressing up as a book character on Friday. On Friday we discovered a crime scene in the hall and spent the day investigating!