Learn and Be Happy!
Class teacher – Mrs Brown
Mrs White also helps us with our learning
Autumn 1
These pupils were given the half term hero awards this half term. However, all children have settled so well back in to class and have taken everything in their stride. We are so proud of our Fantastic Foxes!
Art
For our Art lessons, we focussed on drawing and printing and took the opportunity to get outside in nature. We enjoyed using Nature as inspiration for some fabulous pieces of work These pictures show our observational drawing of a landscape and using materials found in nature to create something fantastic!
Computing
In Computing, we have been building on our vocabulary and coding knowledge built in Year 1. We have been using Purple Mash software to build algorithms to control a program. We have also been ‘debugging’ programs to fix problems with algorithms.
English
This half term’s unit has focussed on creating a non-chronological report of where we live. Firstly, we learnt the features of non-chronological reports and read lots of different ones. We then researched various landmarks in Burnley and discussed the places we like to visit. Finally, we created our own report to showcase our learning!
Geography
In Geography, we have been learning about the place we live. We have learnt that we live in Burnley, which is in England, which is in The United Kingdom, which is in Europe and have looked at all these places on the map. We have also used Google Earth to find where we live, but also to go to lots of different places in the world!
History
In History, we spent several weeks learning about Guy Fawkes, who he was, what he did and what he believed in. We have since moved our learning on to other people who have made history. This picture shows the children’s predictions as to who the other great history makers are and what they may have done!
Maths
Place Value – We have used our outside area as much as possible in Maths, making it active and also using concrete materials to really understand the place value of numbers to 100.
P.E
Fantastic Foxes have loved their P.E lessons this half term. We have been practising our fundamental skills of running, jumping, hopping, throwing and catching through a range of games! One of our favourites was Queenie (one person –queenie – throws a ball backwards, the others try and catch it and then queenie chooses who they think have got it)
Science
Our Science topic is focussed on animals, including humans. We have learnt about the different animals in the world and studied their life cycles. We have also been learning how to keep animals safe and healthy. To do this, humans need to eat a range of different food groups. This picture shows us investigating the question: ‘Do all satsumas have the same amount of segments?’ We found out that they didn’t!
We also compared a range of cereals and ordered them on how they tasted before then ordering them on the sugar content in each.
Music
Year 2 have filled in a rhythm grid by choosing a crochet – Ta, quaver twin – Te Te or a rest, they clapped it and repeated it to create an ostinato, a short repeated pattern. Some children asked to use semi quavers.
RE
Our topic this half term was ‘Christianity – The Church.’ During this unit of work, we were aiming to answer the question ‘What unites the Christian community?’
Firstly, we looked at Christian symbols and what they represented. For example, the cross is a symbol of Jesus’ death; a fish used to be a secret symbol for people who were not allowed to be Christians; candles represent Jesus being the light of the world and a dove is a symbol of peace.
Next, we learned about places of worship and what might be found there. We looked at what can be found in a church. For example, pews, a font, and alter, a pulpit, a lectern and stained-glass windows.
Our next lesson was to discover what worship means for Christians. We learned that Christians worship through singing hymns, listening to stories from the Bible and praying. We wrote our own prayers.
To finish our topic, we found out about the church community. We discovered that lots of people belong to the church including people who play music in the services, people who clean the church and people who run children’s clubs.
PSHE
Our topic this half term was ‘Being Me in My World’
As part of this topic, we identified some of our hopes and fears for this year.
We then spent time thinking about the rights and responsibilities for being a member of our class and school.
During this topic, we have also listened to other people as well as contributing our own ideas about rewards and consequences.
Trip – The Singing Ringing Tree
To enhance our Geography and English units, looking at the place we live, we decided to visit a famous landmark in Burnley – The Singing Ringing Tree. It was magical to hear the steel pipes making their music as the wind blew! The Year 2 children were mesmerised!
Autumn 2
Maths
Fantastic Foxes have impressed us so much with the effort put into their Maths learning this half term. They have used their prior knowledge of addition and their understanding of place value and are now excellent at adding! We began using base 10 to represent our numbers, before moving on to drawing pictures to represent the numbers. Most pupils can now add two, two-digit numbers using the column method.
English
Following on from the Fantastic Foxes’ interest in Francesca Simon’s Horrid Henry books, we decided to theme our English learning around this series of books. We spent much of the half term reading and analysing the books and learning some by heart using talk for write techniques. We then gathered our own ideas using our own experiences to eventually write our very own. There were some fantastic characters produced, including Terrible Teddy, Amazing Amy, Long Lewis and some very exciting plot lines!
Science
This half term saw us continue our study on Animals, including Humans. We focused our learning on keeping healthy and safe with a focus on hygiene and what we put into our bodies. Pupils were also interested in medicines so we found out how they are made, prescribed by doctors and that we should never have anybody else’s medicine.
Geography
This half term, we have continued to look at ‘The Place We Live’, and have spent time studying maps of the local area and identifying the features around us. We were particularly interested in how the local area has changed in the last 20 years and discussing the reasons for these changes.
History
In our History lessons, we have continued our theme of ‘History Makers’ and have been focusing on the influential women from the past, including Margaret Thatcher, Malala Yousafzai and Hatshepsut. We have learnt about them and described the work that they did which was so important. We have also begun to compare these history makers and evaluate whose work we think is the most significant.
P.E
This half term, we have been practising our jumping and throwing skills. We have developed different games to help us to improve our skills in lots of fun ways.
DT
Our final week of term was spent designing, making and evaluating a vehicle which would be used to transport visitors to Burnley around the landmarks we have studied. We were so impressed with the children’s ideas, creativity and team work! Pupils were asked to design their vehicle with safety in mind before building it using different resources. They even measured their axles and used a saw to cut it down to size to attach wooden wheels to their vehicles.
PSHCE
This half term our unit was ‘Celebrating Difference’. We investigated the differences between us all and discovered that these differences make us who we are. We also realised that we enjoy each other’s differences and the world would be very boring if we were all exactly the same! We discussed how to celebrate each other’s differences and the importance of being kind and ensuring our classroom is a safe and fair place to be.
Computing
This half term, as we have had many pupils self-isolating and using their computers at home, we had a big focus on staying safe online. We learnt what information was safe to give out online and what information is definitely not safe. We learnt how to communicate appropriately through e-mail and to ensure you only speak to people who you are sure you know well. We enjoyed practising this by sending e-mails to each other and teachers. We also learnt what to do if pupils came across something that made them feel uncomfortable.
R.E. & Art
In R.E this half term, we have studied different festivals in ours and others’ cultures. We used skills learnt in Art to create Rangoli patterns for our Diwali cards. We also learnt what all of the items represent on the Christingles that we made.
Christmas
In the run up to Christmas, the Fantastic Foxes got to work decorating their classroom, making Christmas cards for their families, creating exciting Christmas decorations and also making Christingles. We were also lucky enough to have some visitors into school to help us to build our own Timber reindeer out of natural materials.
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