Hedgehogs have been exploring all things Design and Technology. We have started our topic ‘Push and Pull’ which is all about how different machines and mechanisms work. Year Two already knows so much about different moving machines and has a great knowledge on this topic. This week we have been exploring sliding mechanisms and lever mechanisms where we made our own! We used paper to make a sliding motion with a cut out car and road. Hedgehogs were fascinated. Then for the lever motion we used paper cut outs and a split pin. We had such fun when we made these! Take a look below…
Bugs, Bugs, Bugs and More BUGS!
This week has been all about BUGS! As part of our Science topic ‘Animal Survival’, we have been exploring a lot of different things about insects and bugs. In English, we have explored lots and lots of facts about minibeasts and Hedgehogs were great at working in teams to find as many facts as they could. In Science, Year Two looked at life cycles and created some great diagrams of the life cycle of a butterfly. We were all so fascinated with the big scientific words and different stages of the cycle. Lastly, Hedgehogs have been great bug spotters all week and keep telling Miss Hall where the best place is to find a bug in their habitat. I think we’ve all gone a bit bug crazy!
A Super Sports Week!
This week has been sports week! Hedgehogs have been very excited, energetic and enthusiastic about all the activities. They have worked together in team building games, experienced some skateboarding and even used bow some archery. Everyone has been so brave and supportive towards one another! It has been lovely to see the Hedgehogs out of their comfort zones. What a lovely week we have had (Thanks Miss Dore) and I can confirm that Year Two is definitely a sporty class.
Digital Portraits!
Hedgehogs have worked super hard in computing this week and used their skills to create some amazing work linked to our topic ‘Magnificent Monarchs’. As you know, we have created lots of different royal portraits in art using a range of materials including paint, oil pastel and sketching with a sketch pencil. However, this week, Hedgehogs had the challenge to create a royal portrait on the computers. During computing, we explored different programs to find which was best to make this. We then created a digital portrait using the mouse on a laptop. Year Two had great perseverance and super imagination too when making these. Almost everyone added a golden crown on their heads. Take a look at the concentration below…
Super Seamstresses!
As you may know, Hedgehogs have been learning about ‘Cut, Stitch and Join’ as part of their design and technology topic. This week, Year Two have become seamstresses and have learnt how to do a running stitch so they can join two pieces of fabric together. Firstly, they used a special tool to help them learn how to do a running stitch. They loved doing this and some of the Hedgehogs surprised themselves with how good they were. Then Year Two had to use their knowledge of stitching to join two pieces of materials together to make a pouch. The results were great and Hedgehogs were so excited with their finished product. Some of them even put a little rubber in them to see if the pouch worked. Miss Hall was also very impressed with the perseverance and patients that happened within the classroom!
The Very Last Castle
In English, we have explored the story ‘The Very Last Castle’. Hedgehogs have LOVED this book and have been keen to read a page everyday. Finally… We've finished the book. It’s all about a little girl who is interested in the very last castle. So, Year Two had the task to retell the story through either a comic strip or story strip. They had the choice to work as a group or individually to complete their stories. Hedgehogs worked really hard to think of the key features and the main parts of the story and then added them to their comics. They really understood the task and some of the comic strips looked great. There was so much detail in the pictures! I think there might be some authors and illustrators in Hedgehogs class!
Terrific Tags!
Hedgehogs have explored their new D&T topic, this week, called ‘Cut, Stitch and Join’. We have explored different pieces of clothing and looked at the different stitches that join the clothing together. Year Two even explored Cath Kidston who is a famous designer. They loved her prints as they were so bright and colourful. Some of her collection even had prints of London on them.
Hedgehogs then had the task of following instructions and creating their own tags which were ‘Cath Kidston inspired’. They were excellent and completed this with confidence. Year Two had to cut templates then join bits of paper together using tape. After they finished their tags by threading ribbon through the holes they made. Lastly they added their own patterns and designs. They all looked so professional and could even be sold in shops. Would you buy one?
Beautiful Bluebells…
Hedgehogs had such fun at forest school yesterday afternoon. They went to the woods and had a look at the beautiful bluebells. Year Two were great at sitting quietly and taking a moment thinking about the nature around them. Mrs Jesse was so impressed with how still and silent they all were. Year Two then played a game of ‘Magic Spots’ amongst the bluebells and also had a go on the bridge/rope swing. Thursday afternoons are so much fun!
Perfecting Letters!
In English, Year Two had fun writing on the tables…again! Sorry Mr King. They were working on making sure their lower case and upper case letters were formed correctly along with practising writing our Year Two common exception words. Who knew this activity would be so fun. Hedgehogs had super neat writing and really focused on the correct way we wrote letters. We also played some games where Year Two had to practise adding capital letters to names of people, places, days of the weeks, months etc. Well done Hedgehogs!
Royal Portraits!
This week, Hedgehogs started their new topic ‘Magnificent Monarchs’ and they have been super enthusiastic about all the kings and queens. In art, we explored different portraits of famous royals from the past and unpicked their pictures. We looked at their clothing, stances and even their facial expressions. We learnt that if the portrait takes up most of the picture then it shows the royal was very important. Hedgehogs were fascinated by King Henry VIII and how different portraits of him had different meanings.
So, Year Two had the task of making themselves into royal portraits. Firstly, we practised standing and acting like monarchs. Then we used sketching skills to produce our pictures and Hedgehogs had to be very specific with how their hair was placed, what clothing they added and even how they drew their eyes. It was great to see such detail put into the pictures and they weren’t too distracted by the mirror either. Year Two were amazing and true artists. Have a look and see what you think…
Beach huts complete!
Hedgehogs have been working super hard this week finishing bits of work linked to their topic ‘Coastline’. The main highlight was D&T!. After weeks of planning, assembly and painting… The Year Two beach huts are finished! Wow, do they look amazing? The detail and thought that had gone into them were great and every hut looks very individual. There was such great team work that went on and every single Year Two was proud of their work. Have a look at the process of the beach huts being made over the past couple of weeks…
Great Gymnastics!
Over the last couple of weeks, Hedgehogs have been working really hard in PE. This half term, we have been focusing on gymnastics. We have explored lots of different positions, movements and balances on apparatus and this week we took it up a level! We got the wall bars out. Yes, you read that right… The WALL BARS! Year Two had been super sensible and very flexible too. They climbed to the top of the climbing frame, slithered through the holes and even used the ladders. Hedgehogs also had to perform with country music too. Have a look at some very impressive gymnastics below…
Happy Homework...
Hedgehogs have blown Miss Hall with the efforts, creativity and detail they have put into their homework this week. The sea creatures they recreated were amazing and Year Two used such a range of different materials to create them. We had colourful clay, junk modelling and even glitter! They also chose a range of sea creatures to make which was interesting. There were whales to crabs to sharks to jellyfish. It was great to see how enthusiastic the children were with their creations they made at home. Here is a sneak peak of some of the sea creatures…
World Book Day!
Hedgehogs had such a brilliant day celebrating world book day. We got snug in our cosy clothes and shared exciting books with each other and Year 4! There was lots of discussion between the children about why it was their favourite book and there was some brilliant reading going on too. The love they have for books is amazing and there was a real buzz in our classroom. Year Two also made their own bookmarks for their home reading books which involved lots of bright colours and of course… They loved guessing the teachers ‘masked reader’. Hedgehogs guessed right, Miss Hall was in fact the pig! Have a sneak peak of our day below…
Facts, facts and more facts!
This week, Hedgehogs have been working super hard in English. We have explored non fiction texts about sea creatures to link with our topic ‘Coastline’. This means lots of facts which Year Two have loved. They have been great at remembering them and sometimes even better than Miss Hall. Did you know? An octopus has 3 hearts and 9 brains!!! Who knew!
Hedgehogs’ then worked in teams to write as many facts linked to sea creatures as they could. After that, they wrote their own facts and were brilliant at using either a list or spider diagram to show their knowledge. The work was excellent and very impressive.Have a sneak peak of our writing below…
Fabulous Flowers
Hegdehogs’ have had brilliant first week back! We became artists, on Wednesday, as part of our ‘Flower Tops’ art topic. Year Two had to choose different ways to express texture linked to flowers. They used tissue paper, clay and string to make their buds. Each flower was individual and Hedgehogs really took their time over the detail and delicacy of each petal. The end product looked fantastic. Have a look below!
A Busy Week!
Hedgehogs have had a brilliant half term. They have been super hard working, enthusiastic and a joy to have in the classroom. This week showed how they have fully adapted to Year Two life and stepped up to the challenge. It’s been a very busy last week and they deserve a good rest!
We have done more experiments linked to our ‘Materials’ science topic. We tested which materials can bend, twist and squash. They also worked hard in English. Hedgehogs explored poems and have written their own ‘Coastline’ poems which were a pleasure to read. They also preformed our class poem (head over to google classroom to see). Lastly, in Maths, they have learnt everything multiplication. They are pros at multiplication number sentences now. Here are a few snap shots from the week…
Perfect Paper
Another week means another experiment… On Wednesday, we lost our Hedgehogs’ and instead had a room full of scientists. The lab coats and goggles were out! Year Two had a very exciting afternoon where they tested different types of paper as part of our topic.
Hedgehogs investigated which paper was the most absorbent, which paper was the roughest and which paper was the strongest. We tested cardboard, paper, tissue paper, paper towels and newspaper. The results were very interesting. The scientists were very enthusiastic and excitement in the classroom was great. Who knew that testing papers was so much fun!
Erosion Experiment
Hedgehogs were very excited to complete our erosion experiment in science and geography this week. We learnt all about how the coastline erodes and how this happens. They were so intrigued how natural things like rain, wind and waves create erosion. We also looked out how to stop this from happening too.
So, we recreated this in our classroom! Year Two used sand, rocks and water to recreate erosion and see what happens with their own eyes. We made a cliff edge using sand and rocks and then poured water down it to see what happened. They observed the experiment and then used scientific words to describe the process. It was super exciting as you can see from the pictures…
Map Readers!
This week, in geography, we explored maps as part of our ‘Coastline’ topic. Hedgehogs used the maps to understand North, East, South and West (never eat shredded wheat) and had to work out which direction they were going in from one point to another. Year Two then looked at a key on a map. We loved looking at all the different symbols and what they meant. Our favourite was the ‘viewpoint’ symbol as it looked like sunshine. They all really got the hang of using maps and sometimes were better than Miss Hall at finding which way we should go! She would be lost without them…
