We had great fun at forest school where we built shelters, did whittling, made potions and even toasted marshmallows on a fire! We can't wait to go again next term! 

As part of our learning on Diwali, the whole school held a 'Diwali Day' on Monday 6th November. We took part in lots of fun activities which included making card lamps and also painting our diya lamps too. Take a look! 

In Science, we have been learning all about rocks. We learned that there are three types of rock: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. In this lesson we had lots of fun grating different types of chocolate to represent the different types of rock and then either using pressure or heat to form the 'rocks.'

At the start of this year in Design & Technology, we were learning about levers and linkages. Take a look at what we learned and created in our first lesson! 

We went on safari!

This term we have been lucky enough to visit and explore the safari park. We had a fantastic time searching the African plains trying to spot the big 5! We then explored and discovered lots of animals and reptiles from different periods including the ice age and the dinosaurs. After that we visited Safari Academy where we came face to face with an African land snail named Shelly, a ferret named Ghost and finally a super cute rabbit named Hazel. We explored and identified the different habitats of each animal and even got to stroke and hold some! We had a brilliant day from start to end.

Its desert time!

What better way to end our cooking curriculum this Year, we made yummy ginger biscuits. Lots of adults and children around school smelt our amazing cooking and commented on just how amazing it smelt. The entire school was filled with a delicious ginger scent. 

In PSHE we have been looking at the importance of giving feedback. We do this regularly in Year 2 but we needed to ensure the accuracy in the way we give feedback to make sure it is as constructive as possible. To do this, Miss Beaumont set up an obstacle course and split us into groups, one person in our team was blindfolded and another person could not use their hands. She set us the task to get our two team members from one end of the course to the other but we could only give feedback that was helpful. We very quickly realised that we had to be precise and explicit with our feedback to make sure our team members understood and could do exactly as we wanted to ensure we could get them to the other side safely. We had great fun and we learnt a very important lesson of listening and understanding.

In DT this term we have been looking at the concept of wheels and axles, we designed an emergency vehicle toy and explored how wheels and axles worked. We designed and made our vehicle and then we wrote a persuasive advert to persuade children to buy our fabulous creations.

This term we have had lots of fun with Paddington. We have based lots of writing on our book including a recount and a postcard. This time around Paddington was trying to teach us how to make a marmalade sandwich so that we could write a set of instructions. First we tried explaining to Mrs B how to make the sandwich but she was taking everything literal and putting an entire jar of marmalade on a piece of bread. She used her hands to spread the marmalade, we very quickly learnt that in our instructions we needed to include specific detail to avoid those sticky situations.

Year 2 really got into the spirit of World Book Day this year as they dressed up as their favourite book characters. We spent the day sharing stories, becoming authors and embracing our love for reading.

Our new class text Cinnamon is based in India. What better way to explore the setting of a story than to fly there! We received our boarding passes as we started the day, we took off and flew all the way to New Delhi. We were so excited! When we got there we explored the food, the culture, the sights and some of the traditions of the country. Once we had finished exploring and building our fantastic vocabulary we had to board the flight back to Wall Heath. 

We have been learning all about armistice day and have created some fantastic artwork as we remember those at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month.

In maths we have been learning about the concept of exchanging. We used our number bond skills to help us add to the next 10. We then exchanged our ten ones for a whole ten to help us calculate the total. It was really tough to begin with but we persevered and now we are exchanging experts!

We have been working super hard in our house teams in our inter house competition, we teamed up with Year 1 and split into our house teams. We were lucky enough that our house captains could come and support us. They were great at leading us and setting a good example of sportsmanship. We put into practice all of the skills we have been learning in PE this term and our house captains tallied up our scores as we moved around each station. We tried really hard and our teachers were very proud of our sportsmanship. After visiting all of the stations our teachers counted the scores and our house captains revealed the winners of our inter house competition. Well done everyone and thank you house captains for a fun afternoon!

This week we have been lucky enough for our Inspired playground leaders to teach us how to use our playground markings effectively. Since moving to Year 2 and moving playgrounds we have had great fun using the playground markings in lots of different ways. Thankyou inspired playground leaders for helping us!

We have been very busy becoming newspaper reporters as an incredible discovery of a UFO in the area of Wall Heath had come to our attention. We have been gathering evidence, questioning people who had spotted it  ready to write our newspaper report. We worked as a team and questioned the witnesses to help us with our enquiries. The witnesses did an amazing job and really added detail to their responses, which in turn made us ask even more questions! A wonderful discovery documented by our wonderful Year 2 writers.

Year 2 have had a wonderful afternoon in our outdoor learning area exploring their senses. We used our senses to navigate our way around our outdoor learning area. In groups, our first task was to create our own paintbrushes using only items we could find in the forest school area. We worked incredibly well and I am sure you will be very impressed with our creations. Next we had to create our own paint, what better tool to use in our outdoor learning area than mud? We really enjoyed this part, particularly because we had to add lots of water to make sure our paint was the right consistency to use with our paintbrushes. Our final mission was to go on a scavenger hunt using our senses to source all of the items on the list. As we gathered the items in the basket we had to mark them off on our sheet. In the end we realised Miss Beaumont had tricked us because we worked out that some of the items we would not be able to find because it was not the right season. We had a fantastic time!

In English we have been exploring the similarities and differences between fiction and non-fiction texts. Children worked together to explore the features of fiction and non-fiction texts before separating texts in the relevant options. The children discussed in detail whether a text is fiction and non-fiction and justified why they thought some texts fit into both options. Great sorting Year 2!

In History this term we have been looking at the Gunpowder plot in great detail. The children split into groups to become Guy Fawkes conscience in order to help him make the decision of whether he should continue with the plot or not. The children debated some fantastic reasons as to why he should continue and why he should not. We then created a conscience alley where children shouted their opinion for Guy Fawkes to listen and make a decision. I wonder whether he listened to his good conscience or his bad conscience...

Exploring how we celebrate bonfire night and our perceptions of fireworks. The children in Year 2 had great fun drawing and exploring fireworks as they recreated fireworks they had previously seen and heard, they were using great sound effects as they created their night sky master piece. 

Year 1 had a Taekwondo taster session. They had lots of fun learning about a martial art.

Year 1 had lots of fun at forest schools. We enjoyed treasuring hunting, map drawing and bird watching.

Year One have been designing and making free standing structures for Fred. Look at some of their creations.

We have been acting out the Easter story. Look at us welcoming Jesus on a donkey with palms.

Year One all dressed up for 'World Book Day.'