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Adi Widdop

Y2 Story Writing based on Leigh Hodgkinson’s “Troll Swap”

By English, Writing, Year 2

As part of our English lessons, Year 2 have been reading and writing about the text Troll Swap. We have also read other stories with troll characters like Trolls Go Home and The Finger Eater to further inspire our independent writing. For our final piece, we invented our own troll character and our own child character before writing a story in which the two swapped places, emulating the work of the authors that we had studied. I am so impressed with the standard of writing produced by all of Year 2. They have been working extremely hard on their handwriting, remembering punctuation and using conjunctions to extend their ideas. Well done Year 2!

01/11/2023
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RSE in Year 2

By Equality, PSHE, Year 2

Today Y2  had their first Relationship and Sex Education lesson. This largely focused on considering similarities and differences between girls and boys and challenging gender stereotypes.

Children had to place the objects into the hoop they thought the item was for: boys, girls or everyone. I picked random children to place the items and the first picture shows the children’s initial perception. I then asked if any child disagreed with where any of the objects were placed and to explain their reasoning as to why they disagreed. Isla definitely disagreed with football being for “boys” and argued her case brilliantly. As a class, children debated where they thought the items belonged and the final picture shows what the majority of children agreed upon.

After this, we discussed biological differences between males and females using the correct scientific language. I was really impressed by the children’s maturity, as they were very sensible during the lesson.

11/07/2023
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Year 2 coding

By Computing

Year 2 have been practising coding using Espresso coding. Children know that each line of a code is like an instruction. We have started using a variety of inputs in our codes including clicking with the mouse and pressing different keys on the keyboard.

23/06/2023
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Geography in Year 2

By Geography, Year 2

Year 2 have started learning about the 7 continents in the world. We practiced locating these on our balloon “globes.” To help us do this, we first added the equator around the middle of the balloons to use as a reference point. A few balloons may have popped but the children all had fun learning about the geography of the world in a hands on way!

01/02/2023
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Y2 History- Remembrance day

By History, Year 2

For the last few weeks, Y2 have been learning about what happens on remembrance day and why we still commemorate it today. People wear poppies, as these were the on of the only flowers growing in Flander’s field after the war ended. We think it is important to wear poppies to remember those who sacrificed their lives in the World War 1 and 2. Wearing poppies is a good way to raise money for veterans and show respect.

We have been thinking a little bit about what life was like in the Great War for both the soldiers and their families back home. We found out about the trenches and the harsh living conditions there. It made us feel very lucky to be able to go to our nice, warm homes and sleep in a comfy bed!

To conclude our learning about Remembrance day, we walked to the the Wickerlsey cenotaph where we had a minute silence to think about the men of Wickersley who fought in the war. Each child was given a card with a solder’s name and some information about that soldier. (birthplace, family, job, age of death and where they are buried.) The children then had to find their soldier on the cenotaph. It was interesting to see that some of the soldier’s lived very close to some of the children in the class and a few were even buried in St.Alban’s churchyard.

 

11/11/2022
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Science in Year 2- Materials

By Science, Year 2

This half term, Year 2 have been learning about different materials and their properties.

First, we tried to group different objects by the material that they are made out of.

Next, we explored the properties of different materials (e.g metals, fabrics, wood, glass, plastics.) We asked and answered questions about the different materials such as: “Is the material hard or soft?”, “Is it flexible or rigid?”, “Is it shiny or dull?” “Is it transparent or opaque?” Does it make a ringing sound when tapped?”

After this, we drew some generalised conclusions about the properties of the materials. In our conclusions, we had to use the word “usually” in most of our answers, as there were always exceptions to the rule! For example, while most metals were hard, the aluminium foil ripped very easily.

Next, we tried to answer the question “What material is suitable for a raincoat?” We decided that the material would need to be strong, flexible and impermeable so no water would soak through. We tested a range of materials to see whether they were permeable or impermeable, strong or weak, flexible or rigid. After experimenting with the materials, we decided that the pvc table cloth would be the most suitable because it fit all our specified criteria.

We still have some more learning/experiment to do about different materials and their properties but I think Year 2 have made an excellent start to this science topic!

14/10/2022
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Music in Year 2

By Music, Year 2

As part of our Music lessons, Year 2 have been learning to sing the song “Music is in my Soul.”

First we listened to the song and unpicked some of the key elements together and considered how the song made us feel. We asked and answered questions about the song such as: “What instruments can you hear?”, “What is the tempo?” and “Can you find the beat?”

Next, we started looking at notation in music. We know that crotchets last for one beat while quavers last for half a beat. You often see two quavers joined together to make one beat. We practised clapping crotchets and quavers and composed our own rhythms using these.

Finally, we learnt to play the song on an instrument- the glockenspiel. The children were very excited to play despite it being quite tricky to play the correct notes at the right time.

Well done Year 2!

14/10/2022
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Y3- Parts of a flower

By Science, Year 3

Year 3 have been learning the scientific names for the female and male parts of a flower. Our key vocabulary for this lesson included: stamen, anther, filament, carpel, stigma, style, ovary, sepal and petals. Some tricky stuff! To do this, we dissected a range of different types of flowers to see if we could identify the stamen(male reproductive part) and the carpel (female reproductive part.) This then led on to learning about the pollination process for plants and how each part of the flower has an important role in this process.

06/07/2022
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Y3 Science- Human skeleton

By Science, Year 3

In science, Year 3 have been learning all about our skeletons and why we have them. We know that the skeleton has 3 main jobs:

  • Support- the skeleton keeps our body upright and supports our weight
  • Protect- the skeleton protects our internal organs
  • Movement- the bones form joints and act as levers, allowing muscles to pull on them to produce movement.

We have also been learning the scientific names for some of the most important bones in the skeleton including: skulll; spine; rib cage; humerus; pelvis; femur; patella; tibia and fibula. To check our knowledge we labelled the skeleton of one of our students outside before transferring this information to our own informative posters!

06/07/2022
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Y3 trip to Sheffield Cathedral

By History, Religious Education, Year 3

Last week, children in Year 3 were lucky enough to visit the beautiful Sheffield Cathedral. The cathedral was a perfect place for children to experience “awe” and “wonder.” Whilst at the cathedral, Y3 explored the different features of a cathedral in a guided tour. They had opportunity to learn about the cathedral’s rich and colourful history. Furthermore, the children were given opportunities to reflect on the importance of symbols in Christianity. We all had  a fantastic day and Y3 represented our school brilliantly!

06/07/2022
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