Week 4

It was an exciting start to the week with England's World cup match on Monday and we enjoyed coming to school in red and white clothing or football kits. It was great to cheer each time England scored and we all got really excited! In our maths learning this week, we have been focusing on shape. We have discussed 2d and 3d shapes and lots of vocabulary to help us ideintfy and describe shapes. It was fun to spot where the vertices are on 2d shapes and we found that the number of vertices match the number of sides...but that isn't the case with 3d shapes. Using plastecine and a range of resources, we made lots of different shapes and used our skills to draw shapes, too. Having lots of practical resources out has allowed us to sort shapes in a range of ways and describe shapes in a variety of ways. In English, we are looking at non-fiction texts with the aim of writing an information text about the Accrington PALS and this links with our learning in History. As scientists, we have sorted a range of animals into a venn diagram to consolidate our understanding of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. As performers, we have been doing so well in our rehearsals for the Christmas production and can't wait until you all get to see it!

We have also been completing our work for the winter display and we have been looking at the artist Paul Gauguin. We have also been speaking about using safe search engines such as 'Kiddle' and 'Swiggle' to ensure a safer and more appropriate online search. Here is a link to some facts about the artist Paul Gauguin Facts for Kids (kiddle.co) Please always check website suitability beforehand.

Her is the link for the Swiggle search engine Swiggle.org.uk - Child Friendly Search Engine for Kids

Week 3

This week began with us all wearing odd socks in aid of anti bullying week. We thought about this important issue in our whole school worship and at different points over the week. This week, as historians, we have started to look at the Accrington PALs and who they were. We found out that over 1000 men from the Accrington area volunteered for the army in 1914. By 1916, 700 of those men went to France to prepare and fight in the Battle of the Somme. As scientists, we looked at the various types of consumers in animal food groups. We placed a range of animals into the group of either a carnivore, a herbivore, or an omnivore. In English, we have written our own Mr Majeika stories and have really impressed Mrs Clitheroe with our writing! In maths, we have been adding and subtracting two digit numbers and compared different numbers as to whether they were ‘less than’, ‘ greater than’, or ‘equal to’ another number, or amount. We ended the week with a day of dressing up for Children in Need and we all learnt about how our fundraising can support the charity.

Week 2

We have enjoyed continuing The Mr. Majieka stories and finding out what happened to Hamish Bigmore and whether he remained a frog forever. In maths, we have been looking at addition and subtraction and using our knowledge of our number bonds to 10 to help us. As historians, we watched a short video about Learie Constantine and considered what made him 'significant'-he campaigned against racial injustice and became the first black man in the House of Lords! We have been rehearsing our songs for the nativity and have been doing an impressive job so far! As scientists, we thought about the changes in humans from a baby into adulthood to when we become elderly.

Week 1

We’ve had a great first week back after the half term and have started a new English unit based on The Mr Majieka stories by Humphrey Carpenter. We have enjoyed reading about Class 3’s new teacher arriving on a magic carpet! We went through a ‘magic mirror’ to enter his classroom and think about some questions we’d like to ask him. Some of the children acted in role and answered some questions- there were some great ones! In our maths learning, we have been adding and subtracting and using a range of resources to support us. We have become historians and have started a mini unit that looks at a significant person and what ‘significant’ could mean, and we looked at different information to work out who Learie Constantine was and what he did. I wonder what we can remember...

We had a visit from PC Dave and PC Ahmed early in the week and they taught us a song to help us to remember the different people that help us. They very impressed with how well we all joined in...but we do love songs in Year 2! As scientists, we have continued our unit based on animals, including humans and had to find out who we belonged to...we had to find the adult or young version of our animal and see what we could name. We were then given a range of animals and had to work out which was the odd one out, and why this was. After that, we had to see whether anyone else belonged within our family and find them around the classroom.

In Design Technology, we will be looking at creating a healthy soup that could be made using rationed foods. We began the unit by thinking about our favourite meals and placing them into a healthy or unhealthy category. We then discussed whether we were correct and why this could be. We have started our Christmas tasks that are linked to community events associated with Hyndburn schools and Accrington market- our crafts will be used to decorate their Christmas tree and hall.