Drake Primary School and Little Pirates Child Care

2021 - 22

Our Journey through Summer 2

Our last half term as Year 2 is going to be busy and exciting! We will be continuing with our theme 'Connections' and comparing Australia and the UK. In English, we will be focusing on the book 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dahl and exploring the characteristics of the different characters through out the story. In Maths, we will be looking at different ways to measure length, height, weight and mass. We will also be continuing to secure our recall of the multiplication facts.

Our half term has started with our Values Day and a focus on Friendship. We talked about what makes a good friend, sorted pictures into friendly behaviour and unfriendly behaviour, created a good friend recipe and planted a sunflower seed. Look at the photos below to see our journey through Summer 2.

We have used manipulatives in Maths to multiply and divide by 3, found fractions of shapes and quantities and secured our understanding of place value. We have looked at wild flowers and sketched them as part of our Botanical project.

A visit from PC Norton and PC McArdle

We had a visit from police officers PC Norton and PC McArdle. They talked about how to keep ourselves safe and even let us try on some uniform and handcuffs!

Map Skills and Orienteering

We enjoyed a map skills and orienteering session with Adrian Hall. First, we looked at a map of Scotland and identified land and water. We learnt that in Scotland they have Lochs. We then showed Adrian how many map symbols we knew and he showed us the newest symbol, solar panels.

We counted how many of our steps covered 10 metres and found out that the Romans soldiers counted their steps when they marched. When they reached 1000 steps they had travelled 1 mile and would bang a piece of wood into the ground as a marker.

A large map was created and we helped Adrian get treasure from different locations to the Pirates treasure chest using compass directions. We were then ready to follow our own maps and search for the hidden flags! Look at the photos below to see us in action.

Our Journey through Summer 1

This Term our new Theme is 'Connections'.

In English, we will be using the book 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark' by Jill Tomlinson to guide our writing and develop our comprehension skills further. In Maths, we will be focusing on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with an emphasis on strategies for completing these calculations.

We have started the new term by exploring our school value Respect. Discussing what this means to us, creating Acrostic poems and sorting scenarios into respectful and disrespectful. Have a look at the pictures below, which show our journey through this term.

Jubilee Celebrations!

Quick, march!

Attention!

Artist Workshop

Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Year 2 visited the Cambridge Botanic Gardens. We explored the gardens and glasshouses where we really enjoyed looking at the cacti and the tropical plants. We had a workshop on seeds and the plant lifecycle. We held a real 'coco de mer'- the biggest seed in the world and looked at orchid seeds- the smallest seeds in the world, they looked like dust! We had a guided tour of the gardens and compared the different trees.

Active RE

We have a visitor from 'The Sports Factory' to teach us RE this term. We are learning about what Christians believe. Today we learnt about the story of creation from Genesis, the first book in the bible.
We have been learning about Noah and the Ark as well as the journey of Abraham and his family.

Our journey through Spring 2

This half term, we are continuing with the theme ‘People'. We will be focusing on position and direction, money and fractions in Maths. In English, we will be using the story ‘The Paperbag Princess’ by Robert Munsch as a focus for our writing where we will be writing our own defeating the monster stories. In science, we will learn about seeds, bulbs and what plants need to grow healthily. We will be continuing to learn to play the glockenspiels in music and drawing during our art lessons.

Our first day back was a very windy day! We explored the school value of 'Love' and created hearts in the style of Kandinsky. Earhart class enjoyed some Forest School activities in the classroom. Looking through binoculars to search for birds, investigating natural objects, designing different areas for Forest School and so much more.

Have a look through the photos below to see our learning:

British Science Week

During British Science Week, the whole school focused on Space. Year 2 explored rockets and investigated forces. We created pipe cleaner rockets and used a magnet to launch them. We made a straw rocket and investigated whether the size of the rocket affected the distance it travelled. Our final task was to make rocket mice, we learnt that the greater the force, the higher our rockets went.

Earhart launch their rocket mice!

Puzzle Workshop

On Friday 18th March, we had the Problem Solving Company back to share their Puzzle workshop with us. The children had an enjoyable session which promoted team work and problem solving. It also required logical thinking and perseverance!

Ancient House Museum

We visited the Ancient House Museum and took part in 8 workshops! In the morning, we learnt about: the Maharajah Duleep Singh, Campaigning Princesses (Catherine Duleep Singh and Sophia Duleep Singh), Anglo-Sikh Wars and Prince Frederick Duleep Singh. We learnt about migration, the suffragette movement and held a cannon ball! In the afternoon, we had workshops on: Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, Henry VIII and Edward VIII. We acted out Henry VIII and his wives, created Union Jack flags, and learnt lots about soldiers.

World Book Week

The 28th February to 4th March was World Book Week! Year 2 made a 'Paper Bag Princess' window and door display, created plant fact files, dressed up as a book character, stopped everything and read throughout the day on World Book Day, created front covers for their own stories and so much more. Have a look at the pictures below to see our World Book Week in action:

Listen to Earhart playing the Glockenspiels!

Listen to Tabei playing the Glockenspiels!

Our journey through Spring 1

This term our new theme is called 'People'. We have started the term positively with all the children keen and eager to learn. In Maths, we have explored Place Value with a focus on identifying tens and ones in a number. In English, we have started to read the story 'Amazing Grace' by Mary Hoffman which we will rewrite and adapt later this term. Our Science topic has started with us exploring life cycles. In Music this term, we will be learning to play the glockenspiels. So far, we have looked at how to make a sound using the beaters, what happens when you hold the beaters in different places and the smaller the bar the higher the pitch.

Look at the pictures below which show our learning so far.

Royalty for the day

Our journey through Autumn Term 2

We are continuing with our theme, Explore! We have started putting actions together to perform a pirate dance and we have been busy writing adventure stories. We made poppies out of recycled materials for Armistice Day. We are continuing to test materials in Science and we are looking at stretchiness, strength and reflectiveness of different materials.

Our Autumn 2 learning in collages

Problem Solving Day

On Wednesday 13th October, we took part in a problem solving day. We worked collaboratively to solve problems in class which involved more than one solution. We had to persevere with some of the challenges because they were quite tricky! We also enjoyed a workshop in the Hall with The Problem Solving Company. We worked in teams to solve a selection of different problems involving numbers and shapes. Look at the photo's below to see the fun we had!

Time and Tide Museum Visit!

On Tuesday 12^th October, Year 2 visited the Time and Tide museum in Great Yarmouth. We went on an epic adventure around the world! First, we joined Randall and sailed from Norfolk to British Columbia. Then we joined Ida Flower, (who had just returned to Great Yarmouth after spending 2 years exploring far off lands) and looked at the artefacts she had brought back from her adventures. We decided that the characteristics an explorer needed were: brave, curious, strong and resilient.

Our journey through the Autumn Term

We have been investigating which materials are waterproof in science, using manipulatives in maths and developing our movement skills in PE. We have been climbing trees, building dens and exploring through imaginative play in Forest School. In Geography we have been exploring an atlas, looking for familiar places and locating the United Kingdom

Our Learning in collages

Earhart Nonsense Poetry.MOV

In Year 2, we have been exploring tongue twisters, nursery rhymes and nonsense poetry. The children read a few nonsense poems by Spike Milligan and then, as a class, voted for their favourite one. They rehearsed the poem in groups and then as a whole class. Watch the video to hear the poem 'Today I saw a little worm' performed by Earhart Class.

Nonsense poem: On the Ning Nang Nong!

Lost and Found Year 2 drew a story map for 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers. The children added actions to retell the story.

Exploring in Forest School

Welcome to Year 2!

Both Earhart and Tabei classes have started their Year 2 journey with a bang! The children have been excited to take on any challenge which they have been given, working well in groups and independently too. They have made predictions about our new Theme 'Explore', looked at ways to care for the environment, created group posters for Internet safety and watched a Jazz band play live in the school Hall! Have a little look at some pictures taken during our first week.

Our first week in Year 2

Transition Week

Merian and Stephenson Classes enjoyed a week in their new Year 2 classrooms as Earhart and Tabei. During the week, the children got to know the staff in Year 2, found out what it will be like in Year 2 and completed different tasks. They made worry monsters, aspiration (dream) catchers, described different pictures in English, demonstrated their understanding of place value in Maths, found out about their theme of Explore for the Autumn Term, made treasure maps and so much more. Have a look at the pictures below to see some of the work from the week.