Summer 2 Week 7- wb 15.07.24

And that’s a wrap! What a lovely year we have had! I cannot believe how fast it has gone!

This week, we have had a great time completing our DT unit. We have constructed our own fairground wheels and this week we have finalised our products by adding pods and decorations to the fairground wheels. We have evaluated our products as well as given feedback to each other. In English we have used drama techniques to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Geography we have answered the enquiry question, “What makes a wonder?” Maybe you can ask us this at home! We are super at knowing our seven continents and five oceans and identifying which wonders are from which continent. In Music, we have explored different instruments in the paddock.

We have also explored the Olympics and we have been encouraged to watch some over the holidays! We used our vote as a democracy to vote for a sport we wanted to learn more about. We voted to learn more about archery. The countries who have won the most medals in Archery in the Olympics are South Korea, USA and Belgium. Sporting NRG leant us their Archery equipment so we could all have a go which was a super experience.

We have also thoroughly enjoyed our behaviour treat. We had a Mrs Peach Party! We voted for an Under the Sea theme! It was amazing. All of our personalised pictures have been put onto Seesaw for you to see. We have also enjoyed playing some board games together as an end of year treat.

On Monday we had a non-uniform day to raise money for Tearfund. On Tuesday some of us were invited to wear non-uniform as a reward for getting Hoddlesden Hero over the course of the term.

And that’s the end of our Year 2 2023-2024 class blog! I hope you all have an amazing summer. Please stay safe and enjoy lots of family time together. I look forward to seeing you all refreshed and ready for Year 3 in September. Thank you for being such an amazing class, especially one to return back to after maternity leave! You have all been exceptional and I am so proud to have taught you all. Good luck in Year 3!
 

Summer 2 Week 6- wb 08.07.24

Our penultimate week in Year 2 has been a busy one! In Maths we have focused on solving 2 step problems. We have been learning about how to interpret a question to know what calculation we need to do first and what calculation we need to do next in order to solve the problem. We have incorporated money into these too. Mrs Bullen came in to see our Maths learning this week and she was extremely impressed with our secure knowledge of addition and subtraction with exchange to solve the steps in a problem. In English we have continued our A Midsummer Night’s Dream learning by exploring newspaper articles! We have explored the features then we have planned and written our own articles with headlines like PUCK’S POTION PROBLEM! Followed by an article about Puck putting the love potion into the wrong persons eye! In Geography, we developed our skill of using atlases to find locations and map work through finding Wonders of the World in Europe. We explored why Stonehenge and The Northern Lights are a wonder of the world! Mrs Bradley and Miss Easton came in to see our amazing Geography learning and they were so impressed with our geographical knowledge and understanding. In French we sang some Olympic themed songs and then we played a competitive game of boules! In DT we have had a great time building our own ferris wheel prototypes! Organised chaos is the only way to describe it! They move and spin on their axel and we had some problem solving to do along the way! Next week we are going to add pods. We have also thoroughly enjoyed some musical concerts this week as as we are in KS2 soon, from September we will be able to have music lessons with Mr Berry. Letters are going to come home next week to be able to sign us up! In RE we have explored Hinduism and the Hindu place of worship. 

On Friday, we wore our England themed clothes or red, white and blue in celebration of England being in the final of the Euros on Sunday! Good luck England!! 

Summer 2 Week 5- wb 01.07.24

What a busy start to July we have had! 

This week we have had a very exciting couple of days for transition! We went up to Year 3 for two days! We impressed Miss Sivill with our hard work and superb listening in Year 3! We wrote a fact file all about ourselves and added pictures so Miss Sivill knew all about us! We also wrote a letter to Miss Sivill to tell her what we enjoyed and what we were nervous about for Year 3! We created an abstract piece of artwork as a self portrait for the classroom display! We worked very hard and were proud of our final pieces! On Thursday, we had an an extra gymnastic slot with Mrs Winward and practised different ways to move before we started to learn a Year 3 routine! We are so excited to go into Year 3 in September! 

So this week has looked slightly different, but we have still managed to fit in some English and Maths! In English this week, we have continued exploring our focus text, A Midsummer Night's Dream. We have conducted a role on the wall as Puck, created some persuasive poster to encourage people to purchase the love potion as well as write some sentences with different forms! In Maths we have been working on two step problems and knowing what to do first and next. In Geography this week we have explored the Wonders of the World in North and South America! We created Top Trumps cards for them! In RE we explored the Islamic faith, including their Holy book and where they worship. Our PSHE focused around respecting privacy. 

On Friday, we wore blue to raise money for ELHT&Me and celebrate the NHS's birthday! Elmore came to visit us and we all enjoyed singing him happy birthday and saying hello! 

Summer 2 Week 4- wb 24.06.24

What a lovely week we have had in Year 2! In maths this week, we have been focusing on fractions. We have been exploring how to find one quarter and two quarters. We have also looked at how one half and two quarters are equivalent fractions and have explored this in depth. In English we have started our new text, which is an adapted version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. To create interest, we went on a fairy hunt in the woods. We found lots of fairies and fairy doors! They had come to tell us some different facts about a man called William Shakespeare. We remembered him from our learning in Year 1 and were able to retrieve lots of facts about him. We then researched more facts before developing fact files about William Shakespeare. Then we have watched an animated version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and written some excellent reviews. We are looking forward to exploring the characters next! In our Computing learning this week, we built on the programming skills we learnt in the last lesson. We created a quiz on Scratch Jr, changing the backgrounds and programming sprites to answer a question. In Science, we learnt about the life cycle of a plant. We learnt what the different stages of the life cycle are (using our key vocabulary, such as the term germination) and then acted out the cycle by becoming seeds! In Geography we have used the atlases to find the continent, Africa. Then we located the country of Egypt in order to find out about one of the Ancient Wonder’s of the World, The Pyramid of Giza! We researched different facts about it before creating non chronological reports. In PSHE / RSHE we have learnt the scientific names of our body parts. In DT, we have started to created prototypes for the ferris wheel we have designed. In PE we have recapped our farmers jig we have been learning before adding some more steps! In French we took part in transactional role play, pretending we were shop keepers and customers in different French shops. We were able to use key vocabulary such as le croissant, la baguette, la brioche, le pain au chocolat, le steak, le poulet, les saucisses, les hamburgers. We also had to remember to ask how much we needed to pay by saying C’est combien svp? In Music we used the djembe drums outside. We composed our own pieces of samba music and performed them for the class!

Summer 2 Week 3 - wb 17.06.2024

We have been working really hard this week in year 2. In Maths we have been exploring fractions of amounts, particularly focusing on 1/2, 1/3 and 1/3. We have been using counters to split total amounts into equal parts I order to find a fraction of an amount. In English, we have continued learning the poem The Owl and the Pussycat. This week we have focused on retelling the poem as a story, using adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions and exclamation. We have written some fantastic stories about this poem. In Science, we have been looking at the requirements of plants for germination, growth and survival. We looked at different types of plants and whether they start as a seed or a bulb, what time of year they germinate, and how much water and sunlight they need. We continued our programming unit in Computing, writing algorithms in Scratch to change the background and to make the sprite speak! In Geography, we are continuing our exploration of the Wonders of the World. This week we focused on Asia and the Taj Mahal. We used atlases to locate India on the map and discussed where the Taj Mahal in located. We generated questions of things we would like to know about the Taj Mahal and completed a fact file. In DT, we have designed our Ferris wheels, labelling them with the appropriate materials we are going to use to build them. We revisited our learning of wheel mechanisms to ensure our designs incorporated wheels and axles so they can move. In RE, we have looked at what churches are for and what they look like, exploring some of the different features within a church and what they are used for. In computing, we continued our programming unit by creating a seasons animation design. We looked at changing the background to replicate different season whilst programming the sprite to say the name of the season. In PE, we continued our passing and receiving skills as part of our invasion games unit, and we also started exploring traditional UK dance by learning moves to the farmer’s jig. We focused on skipping and galloping whilst keeping a circle formation. In PSHE we have been looking a changes when we grow. We explored different things that we could do as a baby and child, and what we will be able to do as an adult. In French we have used role play to explore what conversations they might have in the 4 types of shops we have been focusing on. 

We also had a visit from Tri-Kidz this week and we worked in teams to complete a triathlon! Everyone worked so hard and had a great time.

Summer 2 Week 2 - wb 10.06.24

We started this week in year 2 with a great OAL session in the woods. We took part in some great Geography themed activities. We focused on learning the 7 continents and made our own salt dough, then worked together as a team to make the continents and then create a world map on a tree! The collaboratively learning and discussion which took place was wonderful. We also explored the Wonders of the World, which is our Geography focus this half term. One way we did this was through transient, natural art. We had pictures of the Wonders of the World and we then used natural resources to create representations of them in the woods. After that, we put our trust in each other! We had a blindfold and then had to use positional and directional language to direct each other through the woods in order to locate the different Wonders of the World. What an amazing, hands on Geography/OAL lesson! In English, we have continued learning the poem The Owl and the Pussy Cat. This week we have focused on setting descriptions. We have written some excellent expanded noun phrases describing the different settings in the poem; the sea, the shore, the sea at night, the land where the bong trees grow. In Maths we have been exploring arrays and what they show. Then we have explored bar models which represent division and multiplication fact families. We have explored how the inverse supports us to check our answers. In our Science learning, we investigated whether plants need the same amount of things such as water, light and space in order to be healthy. We found that they don't! We went on a walk around school to look at where plants are growing and we saw them growing in lots of different places. We found out that some plants need lots of light but others can live in the shade. There are plants in the desert that can last without much water (they can store it for the future) and there are other plants that actually grow in the water! In Computing, we continued our programming unit by learning that a sequence of commands has an outcome (what happens at the end). You can sometimes change the sequence of the commands but still get the same outcome, even if something different happens in between the start and the end. In RE we have learnt about how Moses and the people of God built the Tabernacle to house the Ark of Covenant. In PE we have continued developing our passing and receiving skills as part of our invasion games unit. In PSHE we have been looking at changes. This week we explored what happens when people move away. We have also made some fantastic Father's Day cards using a play on words and images! I hope you all have a lovely Father's Day with your Daddys, Grandads and other great Father figures in your life. 

Summer 2 Week 1- wb 04.06.24

Welcome back to Year 2 after half term. I hope you have all had a lovely half term break, the children have thoroughly enjoyed telling me all about their adventures this week. In true St Paul’s style, we have hit the ground running and started our final term in Year 2 as we mean to go on, with rigour and enthusiasm! 

In our English this week, we have started a new unit, exploring the book The Owl and the Pussy Cat. So far, we have created a text map of the poem and began to learn actions to help us recite it. We have written a post card in role as the owl to share about his journey and travels. We have also written a diary entry in role as the pussy cat! We have focused on using first person and conjunctions. In Maths this week, we have consolidated our learning around position and direction. We have made and described patterns using half, full, quarter and three-quarter turns. Then we have begun to revisit estimating numbers on a number line. In our Science learning about plants, we continued our investigations about what a plant needs to grow and stay healthy. Last half term, we discovered that seeds don't actually need light to germinate (start to grow) so we are now focusing on whether they need water, soil and the right temperature. We have planted some more seeds and some have no soil, some won't get watered and some will be either really hot or really cold! We are going to measure and observe them over the next few weeks. We also started our new Computing unit for this half term. We will be using Scratch Jr for programming and we started off by learning that a sequence of commands has a start. We started our sequences by using the flag icon or clicking on the sprite. We have also started a new DT unit, we are going to be making our own ferris wheel using the appropriate mechanism. We revisited our prior learning from Year 1 and could articulate the axel mechanisms etc which were needed for the amazing cars we created! Then we explored different wheels and how they work using technical vocabulary. In Geography, we have also been revisiting our prior learning and reminded ourselves of all the key information and vocabulary we have learnt previously. Our new topic is the Wonders of the World and this week we have ensured we are secure with the seven continents and 5 oceans so that we can begin to identify the wonders of the world. In PE, we have been practising our dribbling skills to progress our invasion game skills. In French we have been learning the names of some of the foods we have previously learnt the shop names for. 

Summer 1 Week 6 - Wb 19.05.24

This week has been full of treats and excitement!

We have been very lucky this week to have Sports Day, Circus Skills Behaviour Treat and Outdoor Adventurous Learning. 

We had a very wet experience during our OAL session but it didn’t stop us from having a fantastic time in the woods. Our learning was linked to our English focus text, The Wind in the Willows. After doing some team building activities, we worked in our groups to create Mr Toad’s car! We made wheels out of willow and axles out of the branches that we had to find ourselves. We then took the cars for a spin around the woods! While we were waiting for the fire to be ready to toast marshmallows, we had fun playing musical instruments or being creative in the mud kitchen. (Video coming soon!)

In English this week we have completed out innovated versions of the Wind in the Willows. They were fantastic. We had tried very hard to use a wide range of writing skills. Ask us at home how we innovated the text! In Maths we have been revising some of our place value skills such as finding numbers on a number line. In RE, we have explored how Pentecost is represented in the Church today. We have explored how we show the fruits of the Holy Spirit too. In Art, we have produced some fantastic collages of natural objects, such as concurs and trees. We have used different material to build texture to our collages. Then we have evaluated and improved them using fine liners. In History we focused on exploring our enquiry question. We have delved deep into how significant Samuel Crompton was to our local area. 

Have a lovely, safe half term. Please have lots of fun and hopefully we see an improvement in the weather. Don’t forget, Monday 3rd June is an INSET day so we are back in school on Tuesday 4th June. 

Summer 1 Week 5 - wb 13.05.2024

This week in Year 2 was even busier than usual because we came to school on a Sunday! We have been learning all about Ascension and Pentecost in our RE lessons. We showcased our learning to St Paul's Hoddlesden Church congregation on Sunday morning which went wonderfully. We made the Church some birthday cakes (as Pentecost is the birthday of the Church) and we helped the congregation eat them afterwards! On Tuesday we performed our worship for Year 1, 3, 5 and our parents. It went superbly and many parents and parishioners commented about how wonderful it was, how confident we were and how well we articulated themselves. Well done Year 2! Mrs Harrison is extremely proud of you all. In our English learning this week, we have been gathering content and planning our innovated versions of Wind in the Willows. We received an interesting letter from Ladybird publishers asking us to help them write a new version of the famous story! We have decided to innovate Mr Toad’s vehicles and how he crashes them. Our ideas are amazing! From sparkling helicopters colliding with swarms of bees to camouflaged tanks bulldozing into ditches we have had it all! Next week we are going to use our plans to write our innovated versions before sending them off to the publishers! I am very excited to read the finished pieces! In our Maths learning, we have been learning about position and direction and how to describe it. We have focused on using the vocabulary, right, left, forwards, backwards and different turns eg, quarter turn right. We have had double History this week! First we became historians by exploring different sources. We looked at a variety of sources in order to find out how the invention of the spinning Jenny changed the cotton industry. Following that we continued to explore a range of sources in order to establish what the working conditions were like for Victorian children working in the cotton mills. We decided we would not like to be poor children in this era. Never the less, we stepped into our magic mirrors and became poor children from the late 1800’s who worked in the mills and we wrote some strongly worded letters to our mill owner boss pleading with him to improve our working conditions and why. In Gymnastics this week, we perfected our routine and performed it for some of the adults in school as well as the Year 1 children. You can watch our performance by following this link.  We loved observing the results of our seed investigation in our Science lesson this week! The seeds that were planted and left to grow in the light have germinated, but so have the seeds that were in the dark! We were all surprised by the results because we thought that seeds needed light to grow. We found out that the seeds in the dark were taller and less green than the others because they were trying to reach the sunlight. They couldn't make their own food to stay healthy because they need light to do that. In our Computing learning, we used Chrome Music Lab to create a rhythm that made us think of an animal. We made musical rhythms that sounded like animals such as an elephant, a crocodile or a bird. We have really enjoyed this half term's unit! 

Summer 1 Week 4- wb 06.05.24

Even though it has only been a 4 day week, we have managed to fit a lot into it! In English this week we have been looking at recounts and what features make a great recount. We used a recount of Mr Toad’s disastrous driving to identity the features. Then we wrote a recount of our trip to Bolton Museum! In maths, we have continued our learning about pictograms. This is something we are very good at! This week we have progressed onto using the key to identity when the symbols represent 2,5 or 10 rather than just 1.  In our Science learning, we started an investigation to find out if seeds need light to germinate (start growing). We have planted some seeds and then put some in the light and some in the dark. Next week, we will observe whether the seeds have germinated. We made sure that we made the investigation fair by keeping some things the same, such as the amount of soil in the pot, the amount of water we give the seeds each time and the amount of time they have to grow. We changed the amount of light the seeds will have so that we can try to find out whether if the seeds do need light to germinate or not. In our Computing lesson this week, we became musicians again! We used a different part of the Chrome Music Lab to create musical patterns, thinking about the sounds we made and the tempo of our music (the speed). In RE, we have looked at what the fruits of the spirit are. We have started to make some dream catchers which show the different fruits of the spirit and how we represent them. We are looking forward to sharing our RE learning with the congregation at Church on Sunday. We have also made some cakes to celebrate Pentecost (the birthday of the church) in Church on Sunday. We have also enjoyed an enthralling music session with specialist, Mr Richard’s outside again! 

This week we have enjoyed a cricket session lead by Chance to Shine. We all had a fantastic time and developed our cricket skills. 

On Thursday, we had a wonderful day at Bolton Museum. Once we arrived, we enjoyed an informative Samuel Crompton Workshop. Lindsey, who led the workshop was very impressed with our knowledge of Samuel Crompton. We initially looked at Bolton and Blackburn in the past and what it would have looked like on a model. Then we looked at the real life Spinning Mule! After that we explored the similarities between Samuel Crompton and Richard Arkwright. We then discussed what life would have been like for children working in the mills at the time. We each got a hat and got in role as the children! We examined different artefacts which was exciting! We also used our senses to explore ‘sniff’ boxes that smelt like the mills at the time. We then looked at the towns as a whole and where the mills were and where the workers lived. After that, it was time for more hands on exploration! We used paddles to brush the cotton and make sure all the fibres were going the right way. Then we twisted it to make it less breakable. Following that we discovered what sorts of toys and games children of that era would have played. They would have used bits of left over equipment from the mill to make games. After our lunch we explored the rest of the museum which included an Egyptian section, an Art gallery, some Space information and rocks, taxidermy and also an aquarium! We finished our day by relaxing in the library and listening to Mrs Harrison read us a story. Our behaviour was exceptional and, as always, Mrs Harrison was very proud of us.

A video of our day can be found on the following link- https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/bolton-museum-trip-may-2024

Summer 1 Week 3- wb 29.04.24

This week has been a lovely one in Year 2. 

In English, we have delved deeper into the interesting but dangerous character of Mr Toad! We have explored and used different drama techniques to develop what we would say to Mr Toad in role as eye witnesses to his dangerous driving. We stepped into our magic mirrors and became some of the character's he had upset during his alarming driving! Then we wrote him some strongly worded letters which included the 4 different sentence types we have been focusing on this week. In Maths, we have been exploring when we would use a tally and when we would use a table. We have also been understanding and interpreting pictograms! We have been super mathematicians and we are really enjoying learning about statistics! In History, we have been introduced to Samuel Crompton and James Hargreaves. We have explored when they were alive and what they had in common. We have researched their inventions using different sources. Then we have learnt about the Industrial Revolution and why this was important to the country and to Darwen. In RE we have explored the different ways the Holy Spirit is often represented and has presented itself in different ways. We also learnt about the Holy Trinity and the symbols for this. We have designed some stained glass windows which represent the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity. They are beautiful! We have done two Art lessons next week! In our first lesson we went on a nature hunt where we collected natural items with different textures then once we came back into class, we explored using lots of different materials in order to create those textures we had observed and collected in nature. In our second lesson, we looked at some collage work by our focus artist Romare Bearded. Then we used our knowledge from the first lesson about how to create different textures using paint in order to create a picture using different collage materials that we had painted in order to create! It was messy but great fun! Our Music lesson was excellent! We went outside and did some great musical exploration outside. We discussed how the open environment changed the dynamics of our instruments. We did some call and response songs and also played the glockenspiels to different songs. In our Science learning, we continued our topic about plants by learning more about seeds. We looked at a variety of seeds and discussed that seeds can be very different. We then classified the seeds (grouped them) using our own ideas, e.g. by colour, size, what they grow into, whether they can 'fly' and so on. We loved our Computing lesson! We used the Kandinsky section of Chrome Music Lab (https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/) to create our own music. After spending some time experimenting by drawing pictures that played sounds, we composed some music that reminded us of being in space. We were using technology, being artists and becoming composers all at the same time! 

Summer 1 Week 2 - wb 22.04.24

This week in Year 2 we have focused on chapter 3 of Wind in the Willows in English. This is where Mole journeys through the woods to try and find Badger’s house. We have explored Mole’s actions and emotions during this journey and have written some wonderful retells of it, using adverbs and suffixes! In Maths we have continued our time unit. We have been telling the time to 5 minutes and also focusing on how many minutes are in an hour and how many hours are in a day. In RE, we have learnt the story of Pentecost in Acts 2. We have learnt a poem which retells the events and put actions in to help us recite and perform it. Following that we had a super RE lesson with lots of collaborative learning and great opportunities for discussion. First, we discussed the different colours and key times in the Church calendar, such as ‘ordinary time’ and ‘Advent’. Mrs Harrison gave us some key events for this time of year in the Church calendar. These were, Pentecost, Ascension, Palm Sunday, Lent, Easter Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Week and Maundy Thursday. We then had different prompts to help us sequence the key events. In our Science learning this week, we explored some seeds and bulbs so that we could observe the similarities and differences. We found that bulbs don't have the same hard seed coat that seeds have but they both contain a food store and can germinate (start to grow) if the conditions are right. Bulbs can also survive underground during the winter and then grow again when it is warmer. In our Online Safety Starter before our main Computing lesson, we discussed 'clicking to buy'. The children talked about what happens if you click on the button and what they should do instead. In our main lesson, we recapped the music terms pulse (the steady beat) and rhythm (the pattern of sounds of different lengths) before using the Chrome Music Lab website on the iPads to create our own rhythms. In Music with Mr Richard’s we played the glockenspiels and explored Hans Zimmer’s role in The Lion King. In French with Madame Wardle, we continued learning about different types of French shops and used some actions to remember how to say the words. Mrs Harrison has put the video on Seesaw for us to watch and practise! In Gymnastics with Mrs Winward we focused on our performance and moving in time to the music and in time with each other. Our Art lesson was great! We worked together to explore colour mixing. We had primary colours and explored what other colours we could make from these, then what colours the secondary and tertiary colours made too! Our PSHE this week focused on how to positively encourage others. Super job Year 2. 

Have a restful weekend after all your hard work and I will see you on Monday! 

Summer 1 Week 1- Wb 15.04.2024

Welcome back to another busy term at St Paul’s. As usual, we have some exciting learning opportunities in place for the children over the next 12 weeks. 

In English, we have started a new book called The Wind in the Willows. In our first lesson we were surprised by a wanted poster in our classroom about a green toad, who was last seen wearing a fancy suit! At the beginning of the week we focused on the character ‘Mole’. We looked at how the Mole spring-cleaned his home, and wrote some past and present sentences using verbs. We also made some predictions about what Mr Toad will be like (the character on the wanted poster), and created word banks using adjectives. So far we have read up to chapter 2 and in Fridays lesson we made some predictions about what might happen next.

This week in Maths, we have been learning how to tell the time. We have learnt about o’clock, half past, quarter past, quarter to and telling the time past and to the hour. In these lessons we have used some plastic clocks to see visually how the time goes round. 

In History, we have been looking at what a hero is. Children said their heroes were their family, friends and also some famous people, in this discussion they also gave reasons why. We then looked at 10 heroes, amongst these were Queen Elizabeth ll, Neil Armstrong and Jessica Ennis. We set up a hero hunt in the classroom and tried to find all these significant individuals and some facts about them. We created a timeline in chronological order  using these 10 heroes. In Art this week we have been learning about a new artist called Romare Beardon. We learnt some exciting facts about him and sketched some his pictures. 

In PSHE this week, we had our online safety session. We discussed what YouTube is and why we should be safe on it. We watched a a video about Kim and Lee’s adventures, in this it talked about why we have to be safe online and how it can make others feel if we are mean. We talked as a class about how we should treat people online how we should in the playground. We talked about how it is important not to ever speak to strangers and definitely do not share personal information with anyone you don’t know. In groups the children created an online safety poster. 

In outdoor PE this week, we began athletics. We warmed up with our daily mile and then we played a game of sharks and fishes. The children loved this game! Two children are the sharks, then the rest are fishes. The aim is to try to get from one side to the other without getting caught. If they do get caught they become a stationary seaweed. We continued to play this game but switched movements between skipping, galloping, jumping and hopping. In Gymnastics we began to learn a routine for a performance later on in the term. In our Music we had a wonderful first session with Mr Richard’s! We played the Glockenspiels and learnt a new song which had some aspects of call and response. We also looked at the work of Hanz Zimmer and used our arms to show the dynamics. We learnt to word crescendo and decrescendo which is similar to ascension in RE! In RE we began our Ascension and Pentecost topic. We learnt a poem all about the story of Ascension from Acts 1 Vs 11. We love our new rhyming Bible! We have written about what we think Heaven is like which is where Jesus went when he rose up to the sky! 

In Science, we started our new topic about plants. We tried to remember our learning from Year 1 and anything else we know about plants already. We then learnt that seeds have a seed case to protect them, an embryo (a baby plant) and endosperm (a food supply) that are ready to go when the seed germinates (starts to grow). We leant how a seed grows into a mature plant and we worked in a group to create a freeze frame for each stage of the process. Our Computing learning this half term is all about creating music. We started by listening to some music composed by Gustav Holst, who wrote music to make us think and feel different things. He named his pieces of music after the planets; we listened to music called Mars, Venus and Jupiter. The pieces of music are all very different so we thought about what each one made us think and feel and which one was our favourite.

This week we have also had the introduction of our new ‘Hoddlesden Hero’ initiative! As a class we have earned 1134 dojos this week! How amazing are we!! 

We have also taken part in the East Lancashire Hospice- Hop, Skip and Jump event. We hopped, skipped and jumped a whopping 32 miles as a class! Well done Year 2. Your super hard work and sponsorship money will mean a lot to lots of families. You have shown our values of hope, respect, determination and above all kindness, in your actions. I am very proud of you all. 

Spring 2 Week 6- wb 25.03.24

And that’s a wrap on the final week of our Spring term, meaning we are two thirds of our way through Year 2! Let’s hope for some better weather over the holidays! This week has been another fun one in school, albeit only 4 days! In English we have finished writing our own chapters for the Aladdin text. We have written some truly amazing descriptions of what Aladdin and Jasmine may have seen as they flew on the magic carpet. In Maths we have looked at quarters and thirds. In Science we have created some beautiful work for our display. I will share a picture once it is all up! In History we explored the diversity of holidays in the past compared with the diversity of holidays today. This included exploring why people from the same town all went on holiday at the same time. We then answered our enquiry question showing how much we have learnt. In PSHE we looked at how we can look after the local environment. We have also made some beautiful Easter cards before writing some instructions about how to make them. In Gymnastics, we played some different team games and had lots of fun! 

On Tuesday, we thoroughly enjoyed our Behaviour Treat, which was an inflatable obstacle course! Great fun was had by all of us! 

We also had our Rock Steady concert this week and we enjoyed going to watch the live music from the children who attend Rock Steady!

At the start of the week we had a special worship led by Jess and Eliza in Year 5. They told us all about Holy Week. Then, on Wednesday, we had a special afternoon called Spirituality Afternoon. We started with a worship with Reverend Ben and then we had three different sessions in the afternoon. We learnt more about three of the important events of Holy Week, thinking about Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus washing the disciples' feet on Maundy Thursday and Jesus dying and then coming back to life on Easter Sunday. We made a palm cross, thought about what we could do for people to help them after a hard day (instead of washing their feet!) and wrote a prayer of thanks to God for what Jesus did at Easter.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter and a relaxing break. See you all in a couple of weeks! 

Spring 2 Week 5 wb 18.03.24

We have had a lovely penultimate week of the Spring term. 

A real highlight of this week was our Science themed OAL. We had a survival themed session! We turned into hunter gatherers and made bow and arrows by whittling sticks! Then we explored the main things that animals including humans need to survive, we went on a scavenger hunt and foraged for food! Then we had a water challenge where we had to try and fill a bucket from the stream and transport it to our shelter. We also created shelter in the trees! We discussed how the air helped us achieve all these things! We also played a game called hunter and prey! What an exciting afternoon we had! You can watch the video of our session here. 

In English we have continued with our text, Aladdin! This week we have planned and begun to write our own chapter! We have written our openings and then described two settings exploring where Aladdin and Jasmine might have travelled over on their magic carpet! In Maths we have started our fractions unit. So far we have explored parts and wholes. We have looked at wholes, halves and quarters. In History this week, we have looked at a story called, ‘When Grandma went on Holiday’ and discussed how although it is fiction it has some facts in it too. We then wrote our own stories about people who went on holiday in the past and included some important facts such as how they travelled on a steam train! In our R.E. learning, we completed our Easter unit by thinking about the reasons why Christians celebrate Easter and how important it is in the Christian faith. We also thought about how we celebrate Easter ourselves and what our favourite part of Easter is. Not surprisingly, chocolate eggs came up a lot! In Computing, we finished off our learning about pictograms by displaying our data (information) in a different way. We used a block diagram to present data that had been collected in a tally chart. In DT we have evaluated our paper chairs we made last week, seeing if they are strong, stiff and stable. In Music we played the glockenspiels and focused on the notes E, G, F, A, C. Then we improvised and composed our own piece of music using these notes. In Gymnastics we used the vaults and practised jumping on it with two feet and jumping back off in a pencil formation! In PSHE we have looked at what we would do with £5. We have discussed how we could spend or save! We have looked at being responsible with our money and what that means. 

On Tuesday we had a special visit from athlete, Molly Tanner, she is a Team GB cyclist! We enjoyed a circuit of exercises which we had been sponsored to complete and then she did a super assembly all about healthy eating and keeping our bodies healthy. Then she told us some information about herself and we asked some super questions about her inspiration and her career. 

On Friday we had an exciting visit from author, Simon Hunt! He did a book reading for us. His book, Billy The Bottom Burping Pirate was so funny! We laughed very hard! We were also very lucky because Simon had some spare time so read us his other book too, Delilah the Bogey Princess! It was very exciting and it was super seeing how one day we could become an author too! 

Spring 2 Week 4 - wb 11.03.24

We have had another lovely week in Year 2. 

In our English learning this week, we have delved into persuasive techniques. We have created persuasive posters! They have rhetorical questions, command sentences and exaggerated language amongst many other features! In Maths we have spent some time revisiting addition and subtraction and reminding ourselves how to complete these two calculations using base ten (concrete) and dashes and dots (pictorial). We have focused heavily on exchanging. History was very exciting this week! We have had a lovely enrichment opportunity. We had a History workshop by One Day Creative. To get into character we all wore our outfits which we might have worn to the seaside in the past. We looked great. We WOW’d the workshop leader, Jessica, with our fantastic knowledge. We did some superb drama activities and games whilst learning about seaside holidays in the past. In our R.E. learning this week, we explored the symbolism of Easter food. We tasted some traditional Easter foods and we discussed what they represent. For example, a hot cross bun has the symbol of a cross on it to remind us that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. It also contains spices that remind us of the spices used for Jesus when he died. We also used our sense of smell to explore the foods and we smelt cinnamon, which is often used in Easter foods. The plain bread reminded us of what people may fast (go without) during Lent and then the chocolate represented the special, rich Easter food that is eaten at the end of Lent because people want to celebrate! In our Computing lesson, we continued our Pictograms unit by doing a tally chart of car colours and then creating a pictogram using the data. We could then answer questions about the data that we had collected, such as which colour was the most popular. In Science we have explored the importance of exercise, a balanced diet, hygiene and nutrition. We looked at the different food groups too. Then in PE we developed our understanding of the effects that physical exercise has on our bodies. We have enjoyed an outdoor PE session where we worked striking for accuracy and a session working on our gymnastics with specialist, Mrs Winward. In DT we have been building a deck chair ensuring we stick to our design criteria. 

In addition to all of the above wonderful learning, we have also had 2 non-uniform days! On Thursday we came in non-uniform and showed our incredible generosity by bringing in chocolate donations for Chocolate Bingo which raises money for the PTFA. On Friday it was Red Nose Day! We wore an item of red clothing and generously brought in a monetary donation for Comic Relief. We also had a competition in school to raise money which some of us bravely entered and a special worship lead by the Values Committee. 

Spring 2 Week 3 - wb 04.03.2024

Welcome to March Year 2! Thankfully we have seen some brighter skies this week, which we have all been enjoying and has definitely put a spring in our steps this week!

This week we have continued our amazing Aladdin learning in English! We have used our unbelievably good descriptive language to write a setting description of The Cave of Wonders. Mrs Harrison was blown away by our choices of adjectives, see if we can tell you any at home. We have also used the song, 'Friend Like Me' from the new version of Aladdin to write our own friendship poem. We have sent a link on Seesaw for you to watch. In Maths we have continued our mass, capacity and temperature unit. We have learnt the difference between ml and l and how to read a scale. In Science we have focused on the life cycle of humans. We have made a timeline of the life stages humans go through and what we can and can't do at different points in our lives. In History we have continued to examine primary sources. We have explored different photographs and used our knowledge of clothing in the past and in particular how seaside clothing has changed to decide how recent the photographs had been taken. We arranged them in chronological order on a timeline. In our Easter R.E. learning this week, we looked at some more of the symbols of Easter and what they mean. We learnt about the symbols on a Paschal candle. The candle is lit in church to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and that he is with us all the time. The cross reminds us that Jesus died and rose again for us and the bread and wine represents Jesus's body and blood. In Computing, we continued our learning about pictograms. We did a survey in class about favourite fruit and completed a tally chart to record the data. We then created a pictogram on the computer to show the information. We found out that strawberries are the favourite fruit in Year 2...they got 18 votes! In DT we have been looking at every day materials like paper and seeing how we can strengthen them in order to make them more stable. In PSHE, we have looked at online safety and ensuring we only speak to people who we know online. Many children shared they had access to online devices. We went through what to do if we were worried or unsure about something online and Mrs Harrison was impressed we were so sensible with our answers and knew how to keep ourselves safe. This is an area we will be heavily focusing on throughout 

This week has also been night one of our Spring Parents Evening. Thank you to those of you who came, it was a pleasure to speak to you about your lovely children. A couple of parents mentioned about the KS1 SATs and I referred to an information Powerpoint on the website. You can find it here, should you require any further information.

Most excitingly...this week we have also celebrated World Book Day! As you all know, Year 2 LOVE books! Reading is one of our favourite things to do! This year it was even more exciting as we could either come dressed up as our favourite character or as a word! Well done to everyone for taking part and well done to you all for all the effort you put into your outfits. You looked outstanding. Our whole school writing challenge was based on the book 'The Pirates Next Door' by Jonny Duddle. We worked really hard to reply to the letter at the end of the book. We didn't have an address though so we had to put our messages into a bottle to send across the ocean! We also thoroughly enjoyed a Reading Buddies session with the Year 5 children. We shared some of our favourite books together and it was a lovely experience!

Spring 2 Week 2- wb 26.02.24

I am sure the end of the week is coming round faster and faster!

This week has been another busy one in Year 2. In Maths we have started our new unit mass, capacity and temperature. We have explored mass and how to use balancing scales to measure in non-standard units. Then we have introduced grams and kilograms and measured in these! We have solved some really tricky worded problems about mass too! We have all been Brave Banana’s and tried super hard. In English we have explored the thoughts and feelings of Aladdin and Jasmine and how they changed during different parts of the text. We have written some amazing diary entries in role as Aladdin! They are fantastic and we are looking forward to you seeing them at Parents Evening. We have begun to explore the character, Jafar! We have written some persuasive letters in role as Jafar. In History we have used primary sources to find out about holidays at the seaside in the 1950s. We examined a photograph and said what we could see and suggested what that might mean. We also explored the chronology of recent or living History using a timeline. In our R.E. learning, we looked at the important events of the Easter story and we explored why Easter is so important to Christians. We discussed that Jesus had to die on the cross and come back to life so that people could have their sins forgiven and they could have a relationship with God. In Computing, we continued our learning about pictograms. After completing a tally chart about how people travelled to work, we used the computer to enter the data (information) onto a pictogram. We could then use the pictogram to answer questions about the data. For our PSHE learning we have explored what it feels like to ‘erupt’ and different strategies we can put in place when we feel like we are going to erupt. In Science we have explored the life cycles of frogs.  In PE we have used bats and catching techniques as part of our sending and receiving. In Gymnastics we did a carousel of balancing activities, coordination activities and backwards and forwards rolls. In DT we have been exploring stability. In French we have been learning the story of Jack and the Beanstalk!

We have also had a very interactive and engaging visit from the Fire Brigade who spoke to us about fire safety, how to stay safe in our homes and what to do in an emergency.  See if we can tell you about our visit and keeping our homes safe. 

Spring 2 Week 1 - wb 19.02.24

Welcome back after half term. I hope you have all had a lovely break and spent some quality family time together. We have had a busy week in Year 2 (when do we not!) and we have lots of exciting things to look forward to this half term so please ensure you keep on top of the key dates! 

Our theme this half term is Traditional Tales. 

Thank you to everyone who has shared their family holiday pictures and holiday pictures from the past. The children have loved sharing these. Our new History topic this half term is 'Seaside Holidays in the Past' and we will be answering the enquiry question, 'What were holiday's like for our grandparents and great grandparents?' This week, we have looked at each other's interviews with our grandparents and great grandparents and shared what we have learnt. We have focused on drawing comparisons between our holiday's and holidays in the past. In English, we have started our focus text, Aladdin. So far, we have explored some of the different versions and focused on writing a setting description of the market scene by using expanded noun phrases. Then we have focused on writing character descriptions to describe Aladdin and Jasmine. We worked really hard to uplevel our vocabulary and came up with words like, 'compassionate' and 'stubborn.' In Maths, we have been exploring length and height. We have used rulers to measure in centimetres. We have also measured the playground using metres! We have discussed what we would measure in cm and what we would measure in m. Then we have compared different heights and lengths. Finally, we have used the four operations to answer worded questions. In Science, we have started our animals including humans topic. We have recapped that animals reproduce and what different animal's off spring are called. This also linked to our French learning because we learnt some different animals in French! In DT we have begun to explore structures. We have explored small and large structures and have suggested some different examples. We have also investigated what made a good, stable structure. In PE, we have had our outdoor session focussing on striking and receiving. For our indoor session, we are very lucky to have Mrs Winward teaching us Gymnastics this half term! 

On Thursday, it was Founder's Day for Scout and Guide organisations so some children who attend these wore their uniform to celebrate. 

Spring 5 Week 5 - Wb 05.02.24

And that is a wrap on the final week of Spring 1! That means once we return after half term, we are half way through Year2. How fast is time going?! Next half term seems to be a busy one with OAL, a workshop, parents evening and science week to name but a few. All dates etc will be released in due course. 

So, what have we been up to in Year 2 this week?

In our English learning, we have had a challenge! Mowgli had decided to leave the jungle and move to the man village. The only problem is he has been brought up by animals so he has no idea how to play human games! We have decided to write some instructions to tell Mowgli how to play some different party games. He now knows how to play musical bumps, musical statues, corners and what time is it Mr Wolf? Well done, everyone! 

In Maths, we have concluded our multiplication and division unit by spending a lot of time focusing on how multiplication is the inverse of division. We have explored how we can use the inverse to find the answers to missing number questions amongst other other things. 

In Science, Mowgli had another question for us! Now he was in the man village, he needed a home! He asked for our help in designing him a home. We used all of our material knowledge to design him a house with materials suitable for the job. We explained why they would and would not be suitable. 

In our R.E. learning, we completed our learning about Jesus by thinking about the stories we have heard during this unit. The stories are all found in the Gospels in the New Testament and they have shown us that Jesus is the Son of God because he did many miracles, like healing lots of people. He welcomed and talked to people that other people didn't want to be around, showing that he was a friend to everyone.

In French, we have been exploring how to say different foods as well as practising our numbers with a matching game. 

In Geography, we worked in teams to research on the iPads where different foods originate from and then used atlases to locate this area on a map. Our team work was exceptional! 

In PE we have finished our pirate dances, see if we can show you them at home. In Art, we have used oil pastels to explore how colour helps us draw in 3D. We used them to create planets. 

This week has also been Children's Mental Health Week. The focus this year is My Voice Matters. We have done different mindful activities all week, such as mindful colouring, journaling etc. We have also focused on our self esteem and why we are amazing! As well as using our voice if something makes us feel uncomfortable This has linked with knowing the difference between a good secret, like a surprise and a secret that makes someone feel uncomfortable. On Friday, we took part in 'Wear your Scarf to School Day' our scarves celebrated the values of 'Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship.'

On Thursday after school, we also had our Valentine's Disco. Lots of fun was had by all and we had some super cool dance moves!

On Friday, we had our KS1 Lunar New Year celebrations. We had a carousel of fantastic activities! We completed some chopstick racing, some Asian food taste testing, creating our own Chinese dragons, listening to the 'Great Race' story and using the iPads to research what year we were born in as well as participating in some Chinese Ribbon Dancing. It was a lovely afternoon and we all had a brilliant time.  

Spring 1 week 4 - wb 29.01.24

This year in year 2, we have once again been busy! 

In English it has been our writing phase. We have written innovated versions of The Jungle Book. We have innovated the story by changing Shere Khan into a different villain. Our new versions of the story are amazing and we can’t wait for parents to see them at the upcoming parents evening! 

In Maths, we have continued developing our multiplication and division knowledge by exploring the links between different multiplication tables. 

In our P.E. Dance lesson this week, we enjoyed adding another part to our pirate-themed dance. We worked with a partner to put together a sequence of movements where we acted like pirates! We thought about using different levels during our sequence, such as doing some movements low to the ground and some movements higher up. We also tried to count how many times we would do each movement. In our other PE session, we have continued developing our own games.

In our R.E. lesson, we read another story about Jesus, who was a friend to everyone. In the story, a paralysed man was taken to Jesus by his friends so that he could be healed. We focused on the faith of the man's friends and why they took him to see Jesus. They knew that Jesus was the Son of God so they were determined to get their friend to him...they climbed onto the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus!

In our Science learning, we focused on the properties of materials and how this makes them suitable or unsuitable for a particular purpose. In Art, we have been exploring 3D pencil drawings using tone, shading and other techniques to develop the 3D aspect. In Geography, we have continued exploring where our food comes from and what food comes from different places in the UK. In Music we have been learning a song called, ‘Hands, Feet, Heart’ and we have been learning how to play the glockenspiel alongside the song. 

This week we have also took part in the NSPCC Number Day, raising money for the charity. We have all worn or dressed up as something linked to Maths or number. We looked fantastic! 

Spring 1 Week 3- wb 22.01.24

I am sure writing the weekly blog comes round quicker each week! This week in English we have been focusing on poetry. We have explored the poem, Through the Jungle which is a rhyme from India. Through the poem, we have explored different word classes and then we have innovated the poem to write our own versions all about our new villain! In Maths, we have continued our multiplication and division unit by looking at what an array is and how that links to repeated addition and multiplication. We have explored the two times table and how to divide by two. We have been exploring the related facts. In RE we have learnt about the story of Bartemaeus and created news reports all about the event. See if we can tell you the story at home. In Science, we have explored how the same material has different uses. In Art we have continued learning about the artist Max Ernst and his technique, frottage. 

We had an exciting OAL session this week, led by Wild One Adventures. We went out into the woods and our Geography learning was about the cereal crops that are grown in the UK and what they become. We learnt about barley, wheat and oats. We also had lots of fun using charcoal for drawings and rubbings, doing an assault course, having a tug of war and drinking hot chocolate! Louise showed us how to make charcoal by putting wood in the fire. See if we can remember what cereal crops are, where they are grown and what is made from them. You can watch our video showing our session by following this link, https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/year-2-oal-spring-term-1 

In Phonics/Spelling, we have been focusing on words that end in ‘le’ and ‘ly’. In French we have continued learning the names of different vegetables. In PSHE we looked at keeping safe and what to do if we were ever unsafe. In PE, we have learnt some more of our pirates dance. It is coming along excellently! See if we can remember the moves at home, it is to the theme song of Pirates of the Caribbean. In our other slot, we have been learning other games and today we have created and developed our own games. We have also described and shown the games to our peers who gave us some feedback. 

Spring 1 Week 2 - wb 15.01.24

Another busy week in Year 2! In English we have continued our superb learning around The Jungle Book. We have focused heavily on description, writing some brilliant setting descriptions. As well as this, we have began to innovate the story in our Gathering Content phase. We have decided to change the villain so we have invented our own villains! Ask us about who our new villain is! Then we have decided how Mowgli will chase away this villain, just like he overpowers Shere Khan! In Maths, we have started our multiplication and division unit and we will continue this learning until half term to ensure the concept is deeply embedded. This week we have started with recognising equal groups. We have then explored how equal groups can be represented as repeated addition and then multiplication. In Science, we conducted an investigation whereby we explored, by working scientifically, which materials could bend, stretch, squash and twist. For our Geography lesson this week, we went on a field trip to a local farm to learn about where our food originates from and what different farm animals in the UK are reared for. We sorted lots of foods into farm or shop, but then through exploration and discussion, we realised that actually all the food originated from a farm! In our R.E. learning, we looked at the story of the ten lepers from the Gospels. We worked in a group to do freeze frames to show how the healed man felt before and after Jesus' miracle. We then wrote a letter in role, thanking Jesus for healing him. We talked about how the miracles that Jesus did show us that he is the Son of God. In Music, we listened and responded to some of Joe Hisaishi's music, thinking about how it made us feel and what it made us think of. We then imagined we were conductors and had a try at keeping in time with the music! In Art we have been exploring and developing the skill of rubbings. Next week we will develop this further with the technique of frottage, in the style of artist Max Ernst. 

Spring 1 Week 1 - wb 08.01.2024

Welcome to our first class blog of 2024. We have had a great first week back and it has been loving hearing about the children's Christmas and New Year celebrations. 

On Monday, your child received a new reading pack as well as the Spring 1 newsletter, home learning grid and learning overview. These can also be viewed by following this link, Newsletter and Home Learning | Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School (secure-primarysite.net) and Curriculum Overviews | Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School (secure-primarysite.net). In our Guided Reading sessions we have focused on the author Roald Dahl and specifically the text, The Twits. We have completed a comprehension about Roald Dahl and designed our own Mr Twit beard! 

This week we have started our new whole school theme, Amazing Asia. In English, we have thoroughly enjoyed our new focus text, The Jungle Book. We have explored the characters in the story and thought of some superb vocabulary to describe them. We have created a WANTED poster for Mowgli and a character description using because for reason for Shere Khan. Our Phonics/Spelling rule focus this week has been plurals and what to do when a word ends in a 'y' with a consonant beforehand. So we change the y to an i and add es. 

In Maths this week we have finished our money unit by looking at how to make a pound, how to calculate change and two step problems where you have to work out the amount someone has spent and then what their change will be. Next week, we will be beginning our Multiplication and Division unit.

In Science we have started to explore Materials by conducting an experiment to see which materials are waterproof and which are absorbent. In Geography, we will be developing our knowledge about where our food comes from. This week, we have focused on our local high street and what shops are in our immediate local area, and then in Darwen. 

PSHE has involved us exploring safety when it comes to medicines. In Art we have explored creating repeated patterns using print as part of our traditional arts unit. In French we have been looking at how to say 'Happy New Year' which is "Bonne Annee". In PE, we have started our Dance unit, we have learnt how we count in beats of 8 and have begun to learn a sequence. In our outdoor session, we have been learning different group games.

In RE with Mrs Scholes, we looked in the Bible to find where the stories about Jesus can be found. We learnt that they are in the Gospels, which are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We read the story of Jesus welcoming the children and we looked at a variety of paintings that show this event. We then worked in a group to create our own artwork to show Jesus welcoming the children.

In Music, we learnt about a new composer called Joe Hisaishi. He is a composer, conductor, musical director and pianist! We learnt a few facts about him and will listen to his music in future lessons. We then listened and responded to a new song called Rainbows.

Autumn 2 Week 8 - wb 18.12.23

And that’s a wrap for the final week of the Autumn term! Looking back on the last 14 and a half weeks- wow! What a lot we have achieved and the progress we have made is phenomenal! 

This week, we have completed our Reindeer fact file, we filled a giant reindeer face with many different facts and also created a video of them. You can see our video by following the link https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/year-2-reindeer-facts . 

We were rewarded for our efforts with a fantastic treat! We got to meet two real life reindeers and their elves! It was simply fantastic and such a magical treat. 
 

As well as this, we have enjoyed creating Christmas cards for our families. We also had our class Christmas party. We had such a lovely time dancing together and playing party games. 
 

Surprisingly, we have managed to complete our Poetry unit in English! We have innovated the list poem, 10 Things Found in a Wizards Pocket. We each wrote our own versions of the list poem. Then we picked our favourite line each and recorded them in order to collect them, producing a class list poem. You can watch it by following the link- https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/27-things-found-in-an-astronauts-pocket

Another fun filled busy week! I think all that’s left to say is I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year with your families and I look forward to welcoming you all back safely in 2024! Enjoy! 

Autumn 2 Week 7 - wb 11.12.23

What a festive week we have had! It is such a special and magical time to work with children and I have been soaking up every moment with our amazing Year 2s!

First of all, a big well done to everyone for your fabulous performance in the KS1 Nativity. You were all absolutely wonderful and Mrs Harrison and Mrs Matthews are very proud of each and every one of you. You can see som pictures and hear us sing our favourite song by following this link, https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/ks1-nativity-2023 .

This week, in English, we have also finished our non-chronological reports all about Neil Armstrong and they are fantastic. Then we have started our poetry unit. We have listened and responded to Ten Things Found in a Wizards Pocket by Ian McMillan before beginning to innovate the poem, making our own version called Ten Things Found in an Astronauts Pocket. 

In Maths, we have been looking at pounds and pence. We have been comparing different amounts and also exploring how we can make the same amount in different ways. 

In History, we have continued to explore the significant individual, Neil Armstrong, by sequencing key dates in his life. 
We have completed this terms DT unit, which has been textiles. We have evaluated, designed, hand sewn, decorated and evaluated our products. I am sure you will agree they are phenomenal and show that when challenged we can achieve anything! 

We have also been challenged by Mr Dugdale to create the best Reindeer Fact file! The winning class gets an extra special treat on the last day of term. So far we have researched the facts we want to use and early next week we will be compiling it to create our (hopefully winning!) fact file.

On Monday, those of who are in a Rock Steady band participated in a concert for our parents and the KS2 children. We were Little Rock stars and had the audience captivated. 

On Thursday it was Christmas/Winter Jumper Day. We all wore our Christmassy themed non-uniform and brought in donations for Our Christmas Mission. Thank you to all those who kindly donated on Thursday and also at the Nativity productions. Your support will be invaluable this Christmas to 71 local families. 
 

We also had a VERY special visitor! Father Christmas popped by to say hello and check we were all on the good list (of course we all are, we are fabulous!) He left us a little gift, thank you Father Christmas! 

Autumn 2 Week 6 - wb 04.12.23

This week has been our Elf Enterprise Week! We had had such a productive time, consolidating our DT skills in order to produce a product to be sold at the Christmas Fair this weekend. 

We started by using our PLP brains to retrieve information from last year to recall what Elf Enterprise is. Then we explored who our audience was and what ideas we had to produce a product to suit them. We decided to make Sweetie Stockings! Over the course of the week, we have designed a product, followed by designing some packaging for it. Also, we have put our Maths skills to the test to work out how much money we have spent per stocking and how much we can sell them for at the fair. We learnt that this is our profit. We have also thought about how we were going to advertise and market our product. We decided to produce some excellent posters using some catchy slogans! And this was all before we even made the stockings!!

To speed up the process, just like they do in industry, we had a production line! On the line we had a cutting team, who used a template to cut the stocking shape out of the material. We had a sewing team, who had to use their sewing skills to join the stockings using a running stitch. Alongside, we had a decoration team who cut out stars and glued them to the stocking. Followed finally (but perhaps most importantly!) by the sweet team! Who have added candy canes, Christmas lollies and Christmas chocolates to the stockings! Penultimately, it was time for some quality control to double check our stockings were suitable to be sold, before packaging them ready for Sunday!

We are going to set up our Elf Enterprise Stall and we hope to see you all there on Sunday to purchase one of our incredible creations! 

We have also been practising REALLY hard for our Nativity production - Hey Ewe! next week and cannot wait to see you there on Tuesday and Wednesday!

Autumn 2 Week 5 - wb 27.11.23

That’s a wrap on another fun and learning filled week in Year 2. This week has been full of curriculum enhancements and the children have been so enthusiastic about their learning. In English, we have been writing our non-chronological reports all about Neil Armstrong. To support these, and our History learning about significant individuals, we have had a virtual visit from Neil Armstrong! Thank you to Virtual School Visits for this great session. We listened to Neil Armstrong tell us about; his childhood in Ohio and early interest in flying, his experiences flying planes in the Korean War, the day he found out he would be flying to the moon, the terrifying moment before landing when they nearly ran out of fuel and the ‘one small step’ that remains on the moon today. It was an enthralling, interactive session and we were able to ask lots of questions too. In maths we have completed our shape unit and have begun to move onto money. We have focused on coin and note recognition and value. Then we have explored how to make the same amount but in different ways using different coins. In DT, our stockings are almost complete! We used our designs to cut shapes out of felt to decorate our stockings, before gluing the design. Next wee we are going to use the skills we have developed in our DT unit to make stockings to sell as part of Elf enterprise. 

As well as the wonderful curriculum enhancement in history, we have also thoroughly enjoyed our RE themed OAL session. Mrs Harrison and Miss Bateson are just finalising the video and then we will share it! First, we split into mixed year group teams which was exciting as we could work with new children and new adults. Then we took part in a carousel of activities. We explored what the journey to Bethlehem would have been like for Mary and Joseph compared with now. We travelled on a tricky journey, which even included a stream walk! On our way, we drew our own maps using symbols for different aspects. We also explored how the wise men travelled from the East, following a star to find the Messiah. We used the compasses to travel East and followed a map. We went down a mud slide, before eventually finding Baby Jesus in a manger and settling down to read the Nativity story in the Bible together.In another wonderful activity, we used our den building skills to build a Christmas tree. We used longer, thicker logs at the bottom to create a base. We then stacked them methodically, whilst strengthening our team building skills by communicating and working together. If we needed a shorter log, we used the safety gloves, bow saws and team work to cut the logs. The Christmas tree represents how Jesus is a gift. We also created wonderful advent wreaths. We wrapped twine around the cardboard wreath and then used coniferous tree leaves to decorate them. We discussed the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees. The wreaths represented the unending circle of live and the evergreen leaves symbolise eternal life.The children all had a fantastic time and thank you once again to the amazing KS1 staff for their support. 

The excitement doesn’t stop there! On Friday, we saw the arrival of December so we had a whole school trip to The Mayor’s Christmas Concert, ehancing our Music curriculum. listened to an extraordinary orchestra and listened to the different instrument families. We sang along to some Christmas classics and overall had a lovely time! 
 

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to participate in an Inclusive Sports Event. 
 

Phew! What a busy week! We will sleep well this weekend! 

Autumn 2 Week 4- wb 20.11.23

We have had a lovely week in Year 2. In Maths we have continued or shape unit. We have been sorting 2D and 3D shapes. We have also been looking at the properties of 3D shapes, such as how many faces, edges and vertices they have.  In English we have begun our Non-Fiction unit. This is to enhance our already great Non-Fiction November focus! We have been on a spacecraft and orbited the Earth. Whilst we were there we found some other planets and discussed what we would see from the International Space Station! Then we noticed that some of the planets had facts on them! We flew our spacecrafts to them and conducted a space walk to find out the facts. They were all about Neil Armstrong. Then we have been looking at the features of non-chronological reports and finding out facts to add to ours. They are going to be extraordinary! In History, we had an exciting visit from a planetarium. We learnt more about the history of space exploration as well as the future and how our career and lives could be impacted by it. In DT, we are still preparing for Elf Enterprise. We have been using a template to cut out our felt stockings shapes. Then we have pinned them together and begun to sew them using a running stitch. They look fantastic. In PE we have had another great jag-tag session as well as gymnastics where we put together our own sequences involving travelling and different rolls. In RE we have explored the journey to Bethlehem to visit the newborn King from the perspective of the shepherds. We discussed why God chose shepherds to go and visit his Son. Then we wrote postcards to our friends in role as a shepherd! In PSHE we looked at our special people. In our Science learning this week, we continued looking at food chains, including one with humans. We identified sources of food and revisited the terms herbivore, carnivore and omnivore from Year 1. In Computing, we learnt about the importance of lighting when taking a good photograph. You need just the right amount of light...too much or too little will affect your photograph!

On Friday we showed our generosity by wearing non-uniform and bringing in a donation for the school fair. 

Autumn 2 Week 3 - wb 13.11.23

Every week when I sit down to write our class blog I have to look through the pictures to remind myself of all the amazing things we have achieved in just one week! It is wonderful looking back through and seeing the children enjoying their learning and the progress they have made over the week being evident in just a few pictures, never mind their books and their minds! 

So Autumn 2 Week 3! In English we have finished our narrative focus around 'A Right Royal Disaster' by innovating the text and writing our own versions. We have worked hard to use adverbs in our writing. In Maths we have started a new unit, shape. We are really enjoying a little break from number into a different area of Maths. So far, we have seen what 2D shapes we can create with lolly pop sticks, we have accurately counted sides and vertices (our new fancy word!) and we have explored lines of symmetry and accurately drawing 2D shape. In RE we produced some lovely angel pictures after being inspired by different art work and different stories in the Bible where angels deliver good news. Can you guess which good news we are starting to focus on?! In DT we have formulated a design criteria and then designed our Christmas sweetie stockings. This is building up to our much anticipated Elf Enterprise week! In PE we have continued to focus on rolls, we consolidated our teddy bear and pencil rolls and introduced forward rolls and pencil rolls. We have also enjoyed a jagtag session. In History, we explored primary and secondary sources to find out about The Space Race, we researched using the iPads too. We have been exploring how this is a disciplinary skill that all historians need. In Science with Mrs Scholes, we have looked at the food chain and ordered some different food chains. In Computing we have continued to explore digital media. In French with Madame Wardle we have developed our language around pets. In Music we have asked and found answers about our focus composer, Nkeiru Okoyo. We have also begun to practise our Nativity songs and we are going to blow your socks off with how good we are already! 

We have continued our 'Non-Fiction November' focus by exploring different non-fiction texts in Guided Reading. Next week we will start our non-fiction writing unit in English looking at non-chronological reports, leading into us writing our own reports about famous astronauts.

This week has also been anti-bullying week, so we wore our odd socks on Monday to raise awareness. We also focused on it in PSHE and watched a virtual lesson with different scenarios so we could explore what bullying actually is and how to 'Make a Noise About Bullying' which was the theme this year. 

It has also been inter-faith week, in our worship time we have discussed and shared what we know about different faiths and drawn some different religious symbols. We have also explored friendships between people of different faiths and watched some clips about this. We have linked this to our British Values learning. 

AND! On Friday it was Children in Need day! We came in our best Pudsey, spotty and bright attire to raise money for Children in Need. 

WOW! What a busy week! I am sure we will have a well deserved rest this weekend.

Autumn 2 Week 2 - wb 06.11.23

Another busy week in Year 2! This week we have continued our focus text, A Right Royal Disaster in English. We have learnt how to use adverbs to describe verbs and also using when as a time subordinate. In Maths we have compared number sentences using the less than, more than and equal to symbols, as well as reading worded questions carefully to decide what calculation we need to do to work them out. 

In PE we have enjoyed learning how to do pencil and teddy bear rolls as well as different ways of travelling. We then put these together as a sequence in small groups. In History we explored the NASA website to find the astronauts who have walked on the moon. We discussed how a website is a secondary source, then we further developed our disciplinary skills by sequencing their missions in chronological order. In DT we learnt how to thread a needle and how to join two pieces of material together with a running stitch. In French we learnt the names of pets and began to learn how to describe them. In Science with Mrs Scholes, we identified and named a variety of plants and animals in their habitats including microhabitats.  We also found out how the conditions affect the number and types of plants and animals that live there. In Computing we explored landscape and portrait digital photography. 

During this week we have also been thinking a lot about Remembrance Day. We have created a class poppy which is currently displayed at the war memorial in the village. On Friday, we walked to the war memorial with the rest of school and participated in a worship there. We showed respect for the fallen and sang a song. 

This month we are also celebrating Non-Fiction November! We have been looking at a variety of different non-fiction texts linked to our History topic. We have discussed the difference between them and fiction texts. 

On Friday, some of us participated in a KS1 multi skills festival at St Bedes. We had lots of fun!

Autumn 2 Week 1 - wb 30.10.23

We have enjoyed welcoming the children back to school after the October half term holidays. As usual it has been a busy week and this half term looks like it will be the busiest Christmas term ever! 

This week in English we have started our new book, A Right Royal Disaster! We have read the first few chapters and completed some super reading response activities. At first we looked at some pictures linked to the text and tried to make connections between the random objects! We have written character descriptions of one of the characters, Queen Battleaxe, using some adventurous vocabulary like ‘ferocious’ and ‘stern’. Also, we have written letters to Queen Battleaxe, suggesting some imaginative ideas for her birthday party! We had some ideas that were out of this world! In Maths we have been adding two 2-digit numbers where we have to exchange the 10 and have moved onto subtraction by the end of the week. Ask us what exchange means in maths. 

In Science, we went on a local area walk and identified the different plants living in our local area. In Computing we are beginning to look at digital media. In History we have started our new unit looking at the enquiry question, ‘How has space exploration changed over time?’ We began the unit by looking at primary and secondary sources linked to Apollo 11 and who the significant individuals were on that mission. Can we tell you who they were? We used a timeline to label when the Apollo 11 mission was and when Ernest Shackleton journeyed to the Artic (prior learning from Year 1). We discussed the chronology of these. Our DT learning this half term is going to centre around our Elf Enterprise project. We are going to be designing and making Christmas sweetie stockings. We have also started two new units in PE. One is balancing in Gymnastics where we used benches and the agility tables to balance on one leg for 5 seconds. We discussed how to find our centre of balance and also swapped legs! Most of us had a stronger and a weaker leg. For our other session we were very fortunate to have JagTag with a specialist sports coach. In RE we have explored the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth who received some special news from an angel, we have discussed news and what different types of news there are and how they are delivered. Then we retold the story. 

This half term, we will also begin to welcome Mrs Scholes back off maternity leave and she will be coming into class some Wednesday’s to get to know us all and prepare to return mid-December.

Autumn 1 Week 7 - WB 16.10.23

What a lovely week to finish our first half term in Autumn 1!

We started the week with an excellent Outdoor Adventurous Learning session! In the session we enjoyed going on a bug hunt in micro habitats. We observed the bugs with magnifying bug observers. We followed a map to the stream and went on a stream walk. This linked to our Science learning. We also whittled sticks and made conker characters linked to our focus text in English, Anna Hibiscus SPLASH! We used the natural material, clay and natural resources to make impressions, consolidating our Art learning and also created the continents and labelled them as well as the equator. This supported our Geography learning. You can see our video here - OAL Year 2 Autumn 1 | Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School (primarysite.media) 

In Maths we have been adding two digit numbers and have also began to introduce exchange. In English we have written letters to Sonny Belafonte in role as Anna Hibiscus. We told him all about our trip to the beach. We used some incredible adjectives, first person, time words as well as question marks and exclamation marks! Aren’t we amazing. In RE we compared the Bible to other Holy books. In PE we completed our dance unit and our sequences came together wonderfully. In French we practised saying how many people were in our family and what their roles were. 

On Monday we also participated in TriKidz we each became triathletes by completing some running, ‘swimming’ and cycling! Tri Kidz | Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School (primarysite.media)

On Friday it was non-uniform day and we showed our generosity by bringing in chocolate donations for Chocolate Bingo. We also had a games and film session for our Behaviour Treat, recognising our outstanding efforts all half term. 

Autumn 1 Week 6 - wb 09.10.23

This week in Year 2 we have covered a lot! In Maths we have been subtracting and adding using our number bond knowledge to support us. In English, we have started our non-fiction letter writing unit. We have written some incredible letters about ourselves to children in Kenya. Our families helped us upload some pictures to Seesaw of our favourite things and this has formed the basis for our letters. We had to scan the QR codes with our information on using the iPads. In Science we used the maps and a key to locate different habitats on a map of the school and woods, where we went on our micro habitat adventure last week. In Geography we explored the northern and Southern Hemispheres as well as the equator. We looked at the impact this has on the weather in these places. Then we used the atlases to find countries in the northern and Southern Hemispheres. In French we have continued learning about of families and have learnt how to say how many brothers and sisters we have. In RE we have been exploring the difference between the Bible and Holy Books in other religions. In PE we learnt how to dribble and pass a football and in dance we have continued to put together our sequences and we will record the finished outcome next week!

This week has also been very exciting as we had Bishop Philip join us on Thursday. He lead a fantastic worship and then we were able to ask him some questions when he came to see our classroom.

Tuesday was also World Mental Health Day. We participated in the #helloyellow to raise awareness and show support. We all wore a bit of yellow as an accessory to our school uniform. We took part in a virtual workshop where we discussed what feeling anxious feels like, we wrote down some of our worries and either put them in the worry jar where an adult will help us work through them, or in the bin so they are out of our minds. Then we looked at some strategies we can use to help self-regulate and manage our anxieties. 

As part of Black History Month we have written a list poem about Ranti Bam who we have focused on in Art. Here is the link to our BHM poem. https://stpaulshoddlesden.primarysite.media/media/bhm-poem-y2

Autumn 1 Week 5 - wb 02.10.2023

How are we in October already! We have taken full advantage of the Autumn weather this week and in Science we explored micro habitats in the woods. In Maths we have been exploring using our number bonds to help us calculate larger numbers. In English we finished our unbelievable writing all about The Ugly 5, then we have started our non-fiction unit linked to Kenya and writing letters. So far we have explored and labelled the features of letters and also written some questions we would like to ask a Kenyan child. In Geography we have compared the weather and seasons in the UK to Kenya. It is very different! In RE we have explored the story of Mary Jones, see if we can tell you about her journey at home! In Art we have decided whether to add colour to our clay tiles like Ranti Bam or whether we want to leave them grey to emphasise the negative space and relief like Rachel Whiteread. Then we have evaluated our wonderful pieces of art. In Computing we focused on safety when using IT and how to keep us safe online. 

In our worships this week we have been looking at Black History Month. The theme this year is ‘Saluting Our Sisters’ we are working towards writing a poem all about our focus artist, Ranti Bam. 
 

We have also enjoyed a live virtual lesson / farm visit from NFU Education called Harvest Thali. It explored how to make a dish called a Thali but for each ingredient it explored its journey from farm to plate, including how it is harvested. 

Autumn 1 Week 4 - wb 25.09.23

What another brilliant week in Year 2! This week in English, we have been planning and writing retells of our focus text, but in first person pretending we are the wildebeest! Mrs Harrison’s socks have been blown off with how fantastic they are! We have been using some amazing adjectives, such as divine, glorious and revolting! In Maths we have started a new addition and subtraction unit, focusing on using number bonds and related facts. We have also begun something new to school called ‘Mastering Number’ which will help embed our core number facts. In Science we have looked at our homes and how they make excellent habitats for humans and have begun to explore why different animals are suited to different habitats. In Geography, we have explored the weather and have started our own weather reports. In Art we have created our clay tiles using different techniques. In French we have practised adding a preposition to our family member’s names. What a busy week! In Computing we have been looking at IT and where it is useful in our homes and people’s places of work. In RE we explored the importance of the discovery of the Old Testament scrolls and also why owning a Bible is important to Christians. In PE we have continued to practise our sending and receiving skills and also our dances are coming along brilliantly! 

We have also enjoyed the MacMillan coffee afternoon and discussed it’s link to our value of generosity. 

Autumn 1 Week 3 wb 18.09.23

The weeks are flying by and we have had another busy week of great fun in Year 2. In English we have focused on riddles, writing our own about one of the animals from The Ugly Five. In Maths we began the week by estimating numbers on a number line and have also been counting in different multiples. In Science we wrote a set of rules to help us decipher if something is a living thing or not. Our Geography lesson this week was wonderful! We all absolutely loved it. We went into the paddock and used some ribbon to create wind sticks! We held them up and used our compasses to decide which direction the wind was coming from. In Art we have explored African patterns and then designed our African inspired tiles. In PE we have loved our dance session and have looked at how we can add lifts into our sequences. During computing we explored technology in our school and how we can use a mouse to create shapes. In French we learnt the key vocabulary for family members. 

We had an exciting treat on Wednesday. We participated in an African Drumming Workshop to enhance our curriculum learning! We thoroughly enjoyed learning a different style of music and playing instruments. 

Thank you to all the family members who joined me for the ‘Meet and Greet’ on Tuesday. It was lovely to meet you all and have a natter about your wonderful children. 

Autumn 1 Week 2 wb 11.09.23

This week has been another busy one in Year 2!

In English we have focused on using some adjectives in our writing and have looked at how we can use the suffix -ful to create adjectives. We have written some wonderful character descriptions of the vulture from our focus text, ‘The Ugly Five.’ In Maths we have continued our place value learning with a focus on finding different numbers on number lines and counting in various intervals. In Science we have categorised items into ‘living, dead and never been alive.’ In Geography we have looked at the four seasons and how the Earth rotating around the sun means that we have the four season and they follow a pattern. Music has seen us exploring the composer Pamela Z and her song, Echolation. In French we have been learning the names of our family or ‘le famille.’ Art has been interesting, we have been looking at the artist Rachel Whiteread and how she used negative space and the ‘in relief’ technique to create her designs. Then we explored clay and used different impression and joining techniques. In RE we have looked at how the Old Testament and the New Testament make up the Bible. We also had a special visitor on Tuesday. Steve from Life Education came to do a session with Harold! We focused on our feelings and how we can manage them. We learnt how to resize images in Computing and sorted different IT resources into categories to explain what they are used for. 

Autumn 1 Week 1 (wb 04.09.23)

What a lovely first week we have had in Year 2! The children have settled in absolutely wonderfully and I can tell we are going to have an amazing year together. They have enjoyed the new routines and thrived in their new learning, I am sure you are all very proud of them - as am I. 
This week we have started lots of Year 2 learning. In Maths we have begun our Place Value learning, we have explored how we can represent tens and ones in different ways. In English we have started our focus text, The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson. We went on a safari to find different animals around school! Then we have focused on using adjectives to describe them. In Science we are focusing on living things and their habitats. This week we have begun by describing now we know something is living.In Geography we are exploring weather, we have conducted field sketches in order to observe the weather. In Art we have focused on the ceramic artist Ranti Bam and explored clay. In PE we have focused on sending footballs by kicking and bean bags by throwing during one of our sessions. In the other session, we enjoyed an energetic dance session! In music we have been singing some soul music and beginning to play the glockenspiels alongside. In RE we have discussed why the Bible is a special book for Christian’s and what our favourite books are. In Computing we have looked at the uses of IT. In Art we have begun to explore our clay unit by using different clay techniques like score and slip to join pieces of clay. We have explored the artist Ranti Bam who makes clay sculptures.