This week has been a mixture of everything for the Year Twos’s! Hedgehogs’ have been working hard on the Nativity ready to show all our mums and dads next week. They’ve also been completing a variety of ‘Queen Quizzes’ in between all the Christmas chaos that has been going on! Our naughty elf has been causing such a mess in our classroom too. Make sure you ask your Hedgehog. They have all worked super hard and with such great determination in their work this week and Miss Hall is super proud of every happy Hedgehog. 8 Sleeps to go…. We’ve got this!
We've had a special visitor!
Well… on Wednesday, Hedgehogs came into the class and spotted a special visitor that had come down from the North Pole through a secrete door and got snow everywhere! Since then, the naughty elf has been moving around the classroom leaving notes and tasks for the children to do linked to their learning and topic ‘Street Detectives’. One of the tasks was art (Miss Hall was very pleased!) where Hedgehogs had to recreate old fashioned teddies using chalk and pastels. The elf was very impressed with their artistic skills and variety of teddy bears. See if you agree with the naughty elf…
We make a great cream!
As part of our ‘Street Detective’ topic, Hedgehogs explored local towns and villages in geography. We got our magnfying glasses out and spotted different places. One of the things we spotted was a bakers. YUM! So, Year Two used their imagination and ended up in the local bakers.
Monday they started by visiting the bakers in PE, Tuesday they learnt nursery rhymes linked to bakers, Wednesday we got to bake cookies (with Miss Hall - seriously dough!) and then Thursday we thought of rhyming couplets linked to cooking in preparaion for our own nursery rhymes. All you ‘knead’ is 29 Hedgehogs turned into bakers.
We will be doing a take two of the cookies and I will try not to ruin them. Batter late then never…
Hedgehogs have come back with a BANG!
Welcome back happy Hedgehogs! After a lovely week off, Year Two have come back refreshed, eager and ready to learn. One thing that shone this week was the Hedgehogs’ firework pictures. We learnt about the history of bonfire night and the gunpowder plot story. They were then given the opportunity to explore different media’s and create their very own fireworks. We used paint, oil pastels, chalk and even glitter (Miss Hall couldn’t resist). The outcomes were so individual and very expressive. Take a look and remember to ooooo and ahhhh…
Hedgehogs have turned into ROYALS!
To finish our castle topic, the Hedgehogs’ became royals and wrote diaries about their day living in a castle. We started the week exploring what diaries were. Then we got our acting shoes on and pretended that we were kings and queens. Hedgehogs’ were brilliant at moving like king and queens as well as using a very posh voice to tell their fellow royals what they had been doing that day. They came up with brilliant ideas… they had been jousting, riding horses and some of them even had a feast of salmon and chips! We then made some tea stained paper (to make it look old of course) and wrote our diaries entries. Queen Miss Hall was very impressed! Take a look below…
This was not so mellow…
This week hedgehogs were given a DT task to create a castle or tower built from only spaghetti and marshmallows! Gosh, we did get into some sticky situations but some of our Hedgehogs are definitely architects. Year 2 had to plan and build a strong foundation and then build upon this to create a stable and sturdy building. Each castle and tower were different which was very impressive but Miss Hall was even more impressed with the team work that was going on during the lesson. We all agreed that there should most definitely be a marshmallow land somewhere in the world!
Where can you find rivers with no water, cities with no buildings and forests with no trees?
MAPS! In geography this week, we got the maps out and used our skills to read the key to spot bridges, castles, towers and tunnels on them. Some of the map were bigger than the Hedgehogs! Year Two were brilliant at pointing out different landmarks and were able to highlight where a bridge was in our local area. Some children even got side tracked and found Fishers Farm which was very exciting! Miss Hall has set Hedgehogs a mission to find a bridge on the week… Will they succeed?
Rapunzel… let down your hair!
This week has been all about story writing and Miss Hall has been super impressed! We spent the week exploring the story of ‘Rapunzel’ and then completed different activities linked to it. There was some brilliant hot seating, acting and story board planning. Best of all was the stories written by our happy Hedgehogs! They spent a whole morning rewriting the traditional story and making it there own.
Tower off!
This week with bake off starting, hedgehogs thought they’d get involved… It wasn’t a bake off though, it was a tower off! During the week we have been exploring lots of different famous towers and how they are built. So the challenge was to build the tallest, most stable tower with paper and tape BUT Hedgehogs only had 10 minutes. They worked brilliantly in teams the results well… look for yourself.
Castle Crazy!
Hedgehogs started their new topic ‘Towers, Turrets and Tunnels’ and they have made an excellent start! We focused on castles through the ages this week, researched lots of facts and even did an experiment to see if we could knock over our own castles with different materials. Who knew that paper wouldn’t be strong enough to knock over even one brick… Have a look at Hedgehogs hard working below and see what you think!
Happy Hedgehogs!
WOW, What a week! It has been lovely settling into our pile of cosy leaves this week, with our very grown up and smart looking Hedgehogs. They’ve had their spikes at the ready and noses down working super hard on their English, Maths and adjusting to new routines. We’ve had so much fun learning, exploring, and making all things hedgehogs. Did you know hedgehogs can’t drink milk (Miss Hall didn’t)! Have a look below at some of our hedgehogs in action…
Sunflowers!
As part of our topic called Scented Gardens, we have been studying the artist Vincent Van Gogh. The children have learned to compare what life was like when he was alive, in contrast to now. They have made some beautiful sunflowers to put on display in the classroom.
In Science we are growing sunflowers with a view to gaining a better understanding of what plants need to be strong and healthy. We also have a mini greenhouse to keep outside of our classroom, so that we can conduct our science observations on a regular basis. Who knows what else we might be tempted to grow?
The children are really enjoying exploring plants using all of their senses.
Anti-Bullying Week
The children have been learning about how to be kind to each other, how to be good friends and to recognise when someone’s actions are hurting other people’s feelings. They took part in a workshop on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed acting out different scenarios with the help of James and his puppet.
In class we made an odd socks display, celebrating being different and what makes us unique. The children also made a ‘friendly hands’ arch to walk under each time they go out to play. They wrote words or a phrase on each digit of the hands, to describe what being a good friend looks and sounds like.
Turrets, Towers and Tunnels
The children spent time last week taking part in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) investigations. They had to create a tower for Rapunzel using paper, and then discover how many cubes the tower could support before falling down.
The next project was to build a bridge out of 2 sheets of paper. The children looked at different designs and structures before deciding how they would work out the solution. The bridge had to support a toy car without collapsing in the middle. The additional challenge was to find out if they bridge could also support an increasing number of marbles, without them falling off! The children had lots of fun and there were a few marbles rolling onto the floor throughout.
Friday 18th September, 2020
It’s the end of the second week back and the children have been amazing! They are becoming used to the expectations of a Year 2 classroom and are already well established in the daily routines and lesson format. They have learnt some information about castles, studied the artists Paul Klee and James Paterson, and practised their understanding of place value in 2 and 3-digit numbers.
Here are some pictures of us doing art today. The children were inspired by examples of Paul Klee’s art to create their own images of castles using 2D shapes and bright oil pastels.
Thursday 7th May 2020
Good morning
A final reminder that there will be no learning activities posted on the class blog after today. Everything will now be available on Google Classroom, using your child’s login details.
If you have any difficulties accessing Google Classroom, please email the Office and we will endeavour to help.
Please watch the video to learn some facts about why we are celebrating VE Day.
Then have a look at the maths, we are learning about repeating patterns using position and direction.
Wednesday 7th May, 2020
Good morning
Only four pupils are still to transfer over to Google Classroom. I will give these families a phone call today, to ensure they are able to enrol. Please remember that tomorrow is the last day I will be putting work up on the blog.
I have attached the Hot chili challenges for the learning activities on here today.
We continue to look at noun phrases and descriptive writing in English and in Maths we are doing more work on Position and Direction.
Tuesday 4th May 2020
Good morning,
Most of the class have moved over to using Google classroom to access their learning. If you have not yet done this, please look at yesterday’s (3rd May) blog for instructions for how to do this. I think it was relatively easy to do and not many problems arose. I will continue to add the work on here until Thursday 8th. After that everything will be on Google classroom and the blog will revert to it’s original purpose.
Today, we are carrying on with studying stories by the author Anthony Browne. This time the story is called Gorilla. Please watch the Youtube video before attempting the chili challenges.
In addition, we have the second lesson in Position and Directions. This takes practice to be accurate and I highly recommend you work through the slides before doing the work.
Monday 4th May, 2020
Good morning everyone,
I hope you had a fun and relaxing weekend?
Today is the first day of Hedgehog class trying to use Google Classroom to access set learning activities. The intention is for everyone to have moved over to using it by the end of the week. With that in mind I will post work on both this blog and on Google classroom for this week but will discontinue using the blog for posting learning after Thursday 7th May, Friday 8th May being a bank holiday. The blog will revert to being used for short messages and photos etc, as it used to be.
I have added here a copy of the google classrooms guide which will help your parents log on. Click on the Google Classrooms Parent Guide below for the guide.
You have to create your own email in the format as set out in the guide (firstnamesurname). These have already been created by school but we are unable to add a list here for GDPR reasons. One or two of you have complicated surnames - if that is you, please contact me asap to ask for the email details that have been created by school for you.
The classroom can be found at: https://classroom.google.com/u/4/c/Nzg2MTU0ODQ0Nzha
Password to join is: nyxpdhf
P.S. Make sure you are logged out of all your google accounts.
I have added a screenshot of the front page of the classroom. This is from the ‘stream’ page. To access lessons, you need to click on ‘classwork’ (top, of screen, second from left).
If you have any difficulties logging on or accessing Google classrooms please email Paul Hannan on pkpsgooglesupport@plaistowandkirdford.org for support.
Once you have joined Google classroom, I will be able to assign work to your child. Occasionally it might be set for specific children where it may be more appropriate. For example if they are struggling with a certain concept.
Please note, most of the time I will not be providing individual feedback on the work. I will be providing the answers the next day in order for the children to self-mark their work. I am absolutely happy to answer queries or make suggestions if they are stuck on any concepts etc.
Today’s work is on this blog post as well as on Google Classroom.
Please get in touch if I can help you with the transition over. I will be sticking to normal working hours, 8.30 - 3.30, as I need to home educate my own son and plan your learning for the next day! However, I will do my best to respond the same day or the next.
Today we are looking at the story called What If? by Anthony Browne and working on identifying and using nouns and adjectives.
In Maths, we are starting new work on position and direction.
Both Maths and English have chili challenges, so make sure you choose the correct challenge for you.
Times Tables Rock Stars latest news
Hmmmm, some of you have not logged on to play since the 13th March. If this is you, I would really like you to give it a try this week. Practise is the key and without it you are going to struggle with your times tables and problems solving.
Well done to those of you have been logging in regularly and working hard to master the times tables I have set you. Congratulations Maisie W, you have made it onto the leaderboard and Arabella is now an unsigned act! There has been a lot of movement in who has the most coins, with Arabella remaining the richest but Ronan is chasing her hard. This is getting quite exciting!
Friday 1st May, 2020
Today is the first of May and I know that Eleanor is already counting down the days to her birthday!
I thought that we might learn some facts about May Day before finishing off with a times tables quiz. It is Friday after all and we like to have fun! I have also included some art and craft ideas if you feel like being creative today.
If you have signed up as a parent to Twinkl, you can find the interactive quiz here: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/go/resource/spot-the-incorrect-2-5-and-10-times-table-calculation-multiple-choice-quiz-tg-367. If you haven’t then I have uploaded the slides as screen shots, so the interactive part is not accessible but your child can still answer the questions.
