They started to generate ideas for their own story and wrote a planning document, devising the title, the main characters, the setting of the story, the opening paragraph, the build-up of story, a problem that Bob has to overcome and the resolution. Once the stories were planned, the children were inspired by some brilliant story openings from favourite authors, demonstrating how to hook the reader. Their story openers have certainly made their teacher want to find out what will happen next – to be continued next week!
I think the highlight of the week was hearing every single member of Year 2 recite a poem of choice, off by heart, in the House Poetry Competition. We were treated to a superb range of poems and performances, and our four finalists did their houses proud at the grand final this morning. Congratulations go to all of year 2 but, in particular, to our four finalists:
York (green) – Charlie Studt (Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll)
Lancaster (red) – Jasper Regis (Nice Warm Socks, by Wendy Cope)
Tudor (blue) – Alfred Tuff (The Cub, by Russell Hannah)
Windsor (yellow) – Jacob Rashid (Snowball, by Shel Silverstein).
In mathematics the children have been exploring volume and capacity by comparing the volume/capacity of different containers, before moving onto measuring using standard units. So much fun was had experimenting with water, measuring jugs and a multitude of different containers! They have learned to measure volume in millimetres and litres, using a range of scales that count in 2s, 5s, and 10s (up to 100 millilitres, and then up to 1 litre) to measure the volume of liquid in a container. Next week, the children will be introduced to temperature, thermometers and the unit “degrees Celsius”, written °C, for the first time. The children will have the opportunity to compare places they have visited/differences in seasons to support this. Over the Easter break, the children could certainly do some baking or mocktail making to put their new-found measuring skills into practise!
In science, the children looked at what humans need to stay healthy. Having discussed why fitness is important to humans, and having watched some informative videos to develop their understanding, the children carried out an experiment to see how their body reacts to different types of exercise. They recorded their findings on a table. Finding a pulse to do this seemed to be the trickiest part of the whole lesson! But the children had lots of fun in the process.