Mrs Potter Year 2 - Kingfishers

Welcome to Kingfisher Class

Our class teacher is Mrs Potter and our class class teaching assistant is Mrs Rowe. Mrs Hooker and Mrs Fisher also work with us.

Term 5 - How does your garden grow? 

We will be venturing outdoors for a lot of our curriculum this term, with our science based topic of 'How does your garden grow?' We shall be learning all about plants; we will find out what they need to grow healthily from seeds to mature plants and investigate this for ourselves. We shall be getting our hands dirty whilst we plant and grow different plants, observing the changes that will take place over the term in small pots and our very own planters in the school grounds. 

Our artwork will again focus on printing, where will we investigate new techniques and also hope to sketch some of out own grown plants and flowers! 

In English, we will be looking at traditional tales but perhaps adding our own interpretation and in Maths we will be learning about fractions before consolidating our understanding of the four operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Term 5 - Week 6 

We have been observing our sunflowers ever since week one, when we planted our seeds in small pots. Fortunately most of the seeds grew into small plants and we have been recording their growth in a seed diary. Today we planted these small plants into the raised bed outside to enable them to grow into tall sunflowers. We also did a bit of weeding to maintain the bed. 

Term 5 - Week 5

It's been a very busy week for us in Year 2 so in the afternoons, we have been focusing on art. As our topic is 'How does your garden grow?' this term, we have been looking at plants in detail in all curriculum areas. In art, we have been using sketching pencils to add shade and tone to our observational sketches of flowers. 

Term 5 - Week 4 

We have been focusing on geography this week. We decided as a class what we would like to find out about and what would be our enquiry question. We then discussed the difference between primary and secondary data, followed by opportunities to gather both. The data was then collated and finally discussed and evaluated. 

Term 5 - Week 3 

As part of our science this term, we are doing enquiry based learning. This involves the children deciding what and how they want to learn. The children have worked in groups to decide what they are going to investigate, completed their own research and now they have set up their own experiments! 

Term 5 - Week 2

For well-being week, we took part in a lot of activities. We had two extra PE sessions, to focus on how exercise can help our well-being, and also took part in a mindfulness session. We discussed what we do when we feel angry and practiced techniques to help us to calm down. We considered how kindness makes us feel and made a bookmark to give to a friend. We also developed our computer skills by typing up all of our events in a well-being diary. We finished the week with a class swap with year 5 to enable us to make new friends within the school. 

Term 5 - Week 1 

We have made a great start to the term by getting outside and planting some seeds! Everyone has there own sunflower seed in a pot so fingers crossed that they all grow big and tall. 

Term 4 - London's Burning

We will be going back in time to 1666 to The Great Fire of London. We will look at how the fire started, how it spread and what happened after the fire had been put out. We will compare and contrast the fire service in the 1600s with today. We will also look the most significant person from this time, Samuel Pepys, and his famous diary. We will make our own warning systems with electrical circuits and our artwork focus will be printing.

In English our poetry focus this half term will be the nursery rhyme ‘London’s Burning’ which we will be using to refine our oracy skills. We will also be writing non-chronological reports about the Great Fire as well as introducing the children to an old classic ‘Paddington Bear’ by Michael Bond.

In Maths we will be solving multiplication and division calculations and recalling the 2s, 5s and 10 times tables.

Term 4 Week 5 

In history this week we have been learning more about Samuel Pepys and his diary. The children could recall a lot of the events that took place during the Great Fire of London and they used those events to create freezeframes. They also added in some speech bubbles and thought bubbles to really display what they thought people might have been thinking and feeling at this moment in history. 

Term 4 Week 3 

Snow is so rare in this part of the world that we could not let a snow day pass by without a little fun! We made snow angels, caught snowflakes and generally had a brilliant time, adults included. 

Term 4 - Week 2

This week we celebrated World Book Day by reading the book 'Don't Touch My Hair.' We talked about the importance of consent and always asking permission before touching someone else and then had a go at creating some crazy hairstyles of our own using our photography skills. Look how great our work looks - it is on display in our classroom for all to see!

Term 4 - Week 1 continued 

A great end to week one as we had a visit from a real explorer! James Ketchell recently travelled across Greenland and came into school to share his experiences. First, we learned all about his expedition and the dangers he faced. Then Kingfishers got to experience some of it for ourselves! We tried on some of the equipment needed, tested the strength of the rope system and even tried some of the packet food - which was surprisingly tasty. 

Term 4 - Week 1

This week we began our new topic with a WOW day! First we learnt all about where the Great Fire of London  fits into British history and looked at differences between London now and London then. Then we moved onto building our very own Tudor houses out of cardboard boxes, paper and straw. We had planned to recreate the fire later that day, but unfortunately it was just too windy. So, the following day we went out into the nature area to set our houses alight. It was amazing to see how quickly the fire spread - just like it did in 1666!

Term 3 - Extreme Habitats

Off on our travels around the world we go again! This time we will be visiting the extreme climates of the world, flying to the North and South Poles and along the Equator to compare and contrast the hot and cold environments. There we will discover the animals who call these extreme locations home. We will look at how they have adapted to their habitats and how they manage to survive in these harsh climates. We will look at famous explorers, Captain Scott and the local explorer Matthew Flinders, who have travelled to these continents.

Our English will focus the story of Climate Change by Catherine Barr and the books Lost and Found and Tin Forest. We will be writing narratives linked to extreme habitats and climates as well as writing poems with similes.

In maths we will begin the term by looking at shape and its properties before moving onto solving multiplication and division calculations and recalling the 2s, 5s and 10 times tables. They will also be recognising coins of different denominations and adding and subtracting amounts of money.

Term 3 Week 6 

In science, we have been learning about habitats. We have looked at what types of habitat animals live in and also how animals have adapted to live in extreme habitats. We then discussed what is a micro-habitat and what kind of animals might live there. Using cardboard and natural resources, we had a go at making our own bug hotels! To complete this activity, we wrote some instructions on how to make the hotel. Hopefully this will provide a lovely home for some bugs in your garden! 

Term 3 Week 5

Baptist Church Visit

This week we ended our RE unit with a visit to the Baptist Church to learn all about what baptism looks like if you are part of the Baptist Church family. We saw the baptistry (which is the large pool in which people are submerged in water in) and heard from Debbie and the minister about how people might feel after they have been baptised. We also learnt about the work of the Baptist Church family in our local community. Christians feel that it is important to help others (even those that they do not know personally). 

We have been exploring modelling materials in Art this week. We watched some stop motion videos to see how these models are used and then had a go at using wire to create shapes and practice joins. Then we made a penguin shape as we have been learning all about their habitats in our topic this term. Some of us even made an explorer to visit these extreme habitats. 

Term 3 Week 3

This week in Science we have been learning about what all animals (including humans) need to survive. We learnt that the three basic needs of animals are: food, water and fresh air. We designed posters to share our learning with others. Take a look.

This week we have been learning all about shape. We explored the difference between 2D and 3D shapes, counted sides and even had a go at drawing lots of shapes. We then looked at symmetry, learning the difference between vertical and horizontal. We discussed how to sort shapes into groups and enjoyed lots of practical activities. 

Week one saw the start of our outdoor learning! We began by acting out a story as a class and then made a picture of the monster from our story using only natural resources that we could find. We also made a cave for our monster to live in. Then, working in groups of four, we began constructing a fort. It was a little bit cold but we all had a great time, getting very muddy in the process. Looking forward to our morning sessions next week! 

Term 2 - World on a plate

What’s on your dinner plate? Do you know where your food has come from? This term we will be flying around the world, over the seven continents and 5 oceans to find out where our food comes from. We will stopping off in Kenya to compare this African country to England: looking at food grown on the land, climate and clothing.

English – We will read the stories of Lila and the Secret of Rain, The Enchanted Wood and a variety of traditional tales. We will write instructions and look at the poetry of a local poet – John Clare.

Maths – We will add and subtract numbers using objects and pictures and will solve missing number problems using inverse. We will also explore the properties of 2D and 3D shapes by classifying them in different ways and creating patterns.

Term 2 Week 5

This week in RE we have been learning about how Christians celebrate Advent (the build up to Christmas). We learnt about the advent wreaths that you may see in a church and had a go at making our own. There are 4 candles on an advent wreath which are lit each Sunday during advent. these represent hope, joy, love and peace. There is also a candle in the middle that is lit on Christmas day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Look at our wonderful wreaths:

Term 2 Week 4

Sam came into school to do some pedestrian training with the children. She took half the children at a time and the children learnt how to cross the road safely. She told them that the bobbly pavements show the safest place to cross the road. When crossing the road, the children looked left and right and also were told to look in front and behind them if they were crossing at a junction.

Term 2 - Week 4

This week we have had great fun taste testing lots of different combinations to see which ingredients we would like to put in our wraps that we will be making as part of DT later this term. We had to choose foods from different food groups to ensure we make a balanced meal. For proteins we could choose from ham, tuna or hummus. For vegetables we could choose from grated carrot, yellow peppers or cucumber. Finally from dairy products we could choose from cheddar cheese or cream cheese. It was great fun trying different combinations and some of us even tried new foods too! Watch this space to see our finished wraps.

Term 2 Week 2

We had great fun on Science Day. First we used balloons to build up static electricity and we stuck them to the classroom ceiling. We rubbed them on our partner's head and watched their hair rise up with the balloon!

Then we made paper helicopters and used stopwatches to time their descent. We then predicted if a larger paper helicopter would hit the floor first or last.