Class 2

Welcome to the Class 2 page

I hope you’ve had a wonderful summer and are ready for the new school year!  I’ve been working hard bringing together some exciting plans for the coming year.

For the first few days in class, I hope to settle us all back in – talking through class routines and expectations and familiarising them to the learning environment.  I will be sharing some stories from my travels to Scotland (including sharing a story about the Loch Ness Monster!).  Please could you send in one thing that reminds your child of their holiday or a special day out that you’ve had…it might be a postcard, fridge magnet, pair of flipflops, a photograph (which you can email to me) or even a teddy which they got whilst they were away.  It will be nice to share in all the exciting things they’ve been doing.

Our first topic is called Movers and Shakers and this will take us all the way to Christmas.

This project teaches children about historically significant people who have had a major impact on the world. They will learn to use timelines, stories and historical sources to find out about the people featured and use historical models to explore their significance.

I’ve been to visit Melton Carnegie Museum and am arranging for us to visit the center and learn more about John Fernley our most famous local person!

If you’d like to share with your child some of the people we will be looking at more closely then please see the attached overview.

Overview

We also do 6 mini topics building on skills the children have been developing in their time at school.  These companion projects are:

• Mix It – This project teaches children about basic colour theory by studying the colour wheel and colour mixing. It includes an exploration of primary and secondary colours and how artists use colour in their artwork.
• Humans – This project teaches children about the basic needs of humans for survival, including the importance of exercise, nutrition and good hygiene. They learn how human offspring grow and change over time into adulthood.
• Living things and their habitats – This project teaches children about habitats and what a habitat needs to provide. They explore local habitats to identify and name living things and begin to understand how they depend on one another for food and shelter.
• Let’s explore the world – This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children about atlases, maps and cardinal compass points. They learn about the characteristics of the four countries of the United Kingdom and find out why there are hot, temperate and cold places around the world. They also compare England to Somalia. Children carry out fieldwork, collecting primary data in their locality to answer geographical questions.
• Remarkable recipes – This project teaches children about sources of food and tools used for food preparation. They also discover why some foods are cooked and learn to read a simple recipe. The children choose and make a new school meal that fulfils specific design criteria.
• Still life – This project teaches children about the work of significant still life artists and still life techniques. They explore a wide variety of examples and learn about the use of colour and composition. They create still life arrangements and artwork.

My email address is jward@greatdalby.bepschools.org and I usually respond to emails within 48 hours.  For more urgent matters please phone the school on 01664 562750.

Kind regards,

 

Jacqui Ward

Dinosaur Planet

Well guys we’ve made it!  It’s Summer Term 2 and we only have a few weeks to go…but before we break up we’ve got our last exciting topic to cover!

This term we’ll be learning all about dinosaurs including when they lived and why they became extinct.  We’ll also be making-up dino riddles, poems, fact sheets and posters as well as doing large-scale craft projects, chalking out dinosaurs and learning about our very own fossil hunter, Mary Anning.  We’re also going to get really creative and have asked local artist, Kathryn Saunby, to come in and take a session with us.  I can’t wait to share this term’s learning with you all.

All the best,

Jacqui Ward

Beachcombers!

Welcome back to the Summer term Class 2!  Pull up a deckchair and put on your sunglasses because we’re heading to the Great Dalby seaside (aka the outside classroom)!!!

This half term we will all become beachcombers:  exploring rockpools, looking at shells, learning about sea creatures and microhabitats.  The science-based topic means we’ll be using microscopes, making predictions, recording observations and grouping and sorting.  we’ll also make our own hybrid sea creatures using the elements the children feel work well in real life…maybe we’ll use crab claws, with a sting ray’s tail mixed with a shark’s fin…who knows what amazing creatures we will create!  Watch this space!

In our writing, we will write labels, lists and captions detailing the creatures we learn about as well as write information booklets and narratives based on fictional sea characters.

Importantly, we’ll also focus on the impact of plastics on our marine wildlife and what we can do to help this situation by cutting down on single use plastics and going on beach clean-ups!

I can’t wait to share this exciting summer term’s learning with the children and look forward to the coming weeks with them all,

Mrs Ward

jward@greatdalby.bepschools.org

Happy New Year Class 2!

Our new topic is Muck, Mess and Mixtures.  I ‘m so excited about this term’s learning as there’s lots of exciting things coming our way!  We kick start the topic in the first week back with a Messy Mixtures Day.  The children will get to explore clay, jelly, cornflour, oil, shaving foam, paint and hand cream with their hands and feet so let’s get messy!  They will play with liquids, squish some dough and check out the slushiest and mushiest foods. We will pour, mix, stir and splat! How will it feel to get our hands covered in goo?… Make a wobbly jelly?…or draw with wibbly clay?

Our class books are George’s Marvellous Medicine and Revolting Recipes by Roald Dahl.  We will write recipes, instructions, riddles and poems.

We will become scientists, making predictions and observations about what happens when we dilute substances in water.  we’ll record and measure which household items make the most bubbles plus investigate melting!

Through our topic, we will make recipes and perform taste tests, make ice cube art, bubble art, explore dangerous liquids and how to stay safe, make oil/water craft and much much more!

Thursday 7th January is our Messy Mixtures Day so please send your child in to school wearing old clothes.  No tights please – trousers/leggins are preferred as socks can be slipped off in order to explore the mixtures more easily.  Please also pack a small, oldish towel in a named plastic bag.

We continue to operate as Covid Securely as possible so if you need to speak to me then please email me in the first instance at my usual email address ~ jward@greatdalby.bepschools.org

 

Kind regards,

Mrs Ward

Beat Band Boogie

Left, right, left, right, here comes the marching band!

Class 2s topic begins as we watch our very own Year 4 Great Dalby Brass Ensemble who will perform for us in our school hall, conducted by Mr R!

This half term, we’ll be stepping in time to the beat and learning all about music. We’ll identify pulse, rhythm and pitch, and move in time to the music. Reading and following instructions will help us make percussion instruments and we’ll also design our own. We’ll learn nursery rhymes including The Grand Old Duke of York and read the story of The Little Tin Soldier. Our bodies will turn into instruments as we try to master the art of body percussion. We’ll learn lots of new songs and write lyrics and tunes of our own. We’ll listen carefully to different sounds outdoors, test our sense of hearing and find out how far different sounds can travel.