Welcome to the Class 2 page! We are Year 1 and Year 2. We are joined by Reception each afternoon. Our teachers are Mrs. Morrell in the mornings and Mr. Napper in the afternoons (Monday to Thursday). Mrs. Pett teaches us on Friday afternoons.

Lancaster Castle Trip

04/07/18

For our Summer Term trip, Mrs. Morrell and Miss Brookes took us on the train to Lancaster! We got to explore the castle, including the dungeons and law court. We even had fun dressing up as criminals and policemen before our journey home! Who got a turn in the stocks…?!

Music – Crochets and Rests

08/01/18

After learning about various musical terms last term (such as tempo, dynamics, rhythm and pulse), today we began to put these into practice when we were introduced to musical notation. We found out that the crochet is only one kind of note, and that music is quite mathematical when it comes to counting note durations in our heads! We created our own rhythms to clap out by becoming crochets and crochet rests; when we swapped ourselves around, we created a new rhythm for the class to clap aloud. Everybody was great at remembering not to clap on the rests!

Science – Signs of Winter

22/11/17

Now that winter is approaching, we discussed the signs of the changing seasons. We agreed that it is getting colder and much wetter! When it was Autumn, we discussed how the trees were changing. To take this further, we discussed how trees may appear in the winter months. Between us, we agreed that deciduous trees will have bare branches, and that they may become frosty, covered in snow and maybe even icicles. We then worked in small groups to try and create our own wintery trees using a selection of craft materials.

R.E. – The Days of Creation

06/11/17

After listening to the Creation Story from Genesis, we had to work in our table groups to see if we could remember the order in which the seven stages took place. This was quite a good memory challenge, but we managed to all correctly order the images and captions in the end!

P.E. – Gymnastics

06/11/17

A new half of term sees us starting a new unit in P.E.: gymnastics! We are getting to grips with a variety of positions, including the dish, straddle sit and back support. We will perfect these, and many more, over the coming weeks!

Remembrance Day – Poppy Crafts

02 & 03/11/17

In preparation for our upcoming Remembrance Day service, we have contemplated the significance behind the poppy as a symbol of this occasion. After discussing our ideas, we began to make some poppies of our own. After we made the flowers on Thursday, we went outside to gather as many sticks as we could find to use for the stems. We added these to finish our poppies on Friday afternoon!

Science – Putting Materials to Use!

01/11/17

After discussing the properties of materials for much of the term, it is only right that we get to put some to use for ourselves! In small groups, we have drawn plans for our models, annotating to describe which materials we will need and why. We have now moved on to the construction stage! We have palaces, castles, robots and even a hairy tower(?!) appearing; check back soon to see the finished results!

Music – Keeping in Time

29/09/17

Over the last few weeks, we have been learning our class song ‘Rhythm in the Way We Walk‘. Today we got out some percussion instruments so that we could develop our skills of feeling the pulse of the piece and playing the instruments in time with the music. We also tried to sing and play the instruments at the same time!

Science – Natural or Man-Made?

27/09/17

Today we contrasted natural vs. man-made items. How do we know which are which? Can an item made of plastic or pieces of technology be natural? We discussed our ideas, with one good idea being that plants could be considered man-made if people decide where to place them or control them. Would we see hedges if it wasn’t for people shaping them?!

Our first mission this afternoon was to venture outside into our woodland area and find three different natural items. We had to clear up some misconceptions when some children returned with some clothes pegs!

Once we were back inside, we were tasked with using our natural items to make printed patterns. We explored the marks we could make and worked well with our partners to share items to build up our printed image. These will be up in class soon for everyone to have a closer look at!

P.E. – Exploring Balance

25/09/17

Our first unit in P.E. this year is ‘Body Management‘. We have been exploring the different ways in which we can move, and the positions in which we can balance and keep still. Today, we investigated how far we could stretch outside of our hula hoops whilst keeping contact with the floor inside them. We then enjoyed navigating a simple obstacle course which required us to cross balancing beams and leaps between ‘stepping stones’.

Library Bus

25/09/17

We had a change to our routine this afternoon when the Library Bus paid us a visit. We enjoyed choosing from the fiction and non-fiction selections so that we could check out a book for the term!

R.E. – Celebrating our Differences

21/09/17

To link in with this term’s Christian Value of Respect, the children were asked to bring into school items which were dear to them. We are celebrating our different tastes and are respectful of our friends’ different choices. To read the captions which go with these images, please come and view the children’s additions to the current whole school Respect display!

R.E. – Why is Harvesttime Special?

21/09/17

Today we discussed why harvesttime is a special time in the Christian calendar. Why do we need to thank God for all the foods we get to enjoy? For what do we feel grateful? To help us to explore these ideas, we all made Harvest mind maps with a partner.

Science – Waterproofing

19/09/17

Continuing our look at the Uses of Materials, today we looked at how wax can be used to protect other materials from water. The Year 1 children added a layer of wax to paper, and the Year 2 children added wax to pieces of fabric. In both cases, we looked at how the wax prevented the absorption of water into the respective material. Could we make our pieces of paper and fabric waterproof? Many of us found that we could!

PSHE/Citizenship – What is ‘Fairness‘?

15/09/17

Mr. Napper was joined by four very hungry volunteers this afternoon! It was just as well that there were some pears in the classroom to help them to feel better. Mr. Napper gave 3 pears to the first child, 5 pears to the second, 2 pears to the third and no pears to the last child! Was this the right thing to do? We had an interesting discussion about how we should treat everybody fairly, and that if we can help people in need we should always try to do so. You never know how grateful the recipient will be, and after all, one good turn deserves another.

Music – Exploring Reggae

15/09/17

We have started learning about the features of reggae music, and from whereabouts in the world it comes from! We listened to several pieces of reggae, and had to try and pick out the features which they shared. We picked out the instruments used, and were introduced to the steel drum. Next week, we might even get to try one for ourselves! After learning the verses of our new song, we had fun trying to keep up with the movements on the screen as the tempo increased!

Science – Investigating Absorbency

05/09/17

To start our Uses of Materials topic, we investigated a number of different types of paper to test their effectiveness at mopping up spilt water. Which would be the most absorbent? Which type of paper would be too weak and fall apart? We had fun discovering the answers to these questions and recording our observations.

Last updated: 22/07/18