We started our new topic with a visit to Ford Green Hall to see what houses were like during the Great Fire of London in 1666.
English
In English we have explored the story of Vlad and the Great Fire of London, we have loved this story which is filled with interesting facts about the Great Fire of London as well as the exciting tale of two friends as they try to escape the great fire. We have ordered, retold and acted out the story. As well as using the facts to create our own diary entries.
In English we have also read lots of non chronological reports, looked at the features and created our own based on the Gun Powder plot. We found some really fun facts to make our reports interesting. We have then combined our swimming and English and written instructions for how to get ready to swim- we had to use imperative verbs such as pull, put, line, take and get. We hope these instructions will be helpful for the next school to have the pool!
Maths
In maths we have continued to wow our teachers with our number skills, we have practised our 2, 5 and 10 times tables and are using these skills in other areas of maths such as counting 10 pence coins when we are looking at money. We have looked at how we can add and subtract using the column method and we really like working out calculations like this.
We have revisited 2D and 3D shapes from year 1 and although we remembered lots we were still able to learn new skills and vocabulary such as vertices. Our money work was really impressive and we can add amounts together, give change and work out the best combination of coins to make an amount. Our favourite activity was definitely the sweet shop though- we got to spend some money on real sweets while we practised our money skills.
We have used our 2, 5 and 10 times tables to learn how to make arrays to help us record and work our calculations and we have discovered a new mathematical symbol- the division sign- we have found out how to divide using number lines and have loved these lessons so much…..we even asked for more!
History
We have been enthusiastic Historians and loved stepping back in time to find out about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder plot and then the Great Fire Of London. We listened to the story of Guy Fawkes by Guy Fawkes himself and were able to ask him questions. We then moved on to find out where the Fire of London started- Pudding Lane. Who recorded everything so that we know all about it today- Samuel Pepys and found out how the fire was stopped.
We were able to gather all the facts we knew together and then have a debate to decide who was the most significant person- Samuel Pepys, Thomas Farriner or King Charles II.
The main thing we have learnt is that the way we build houses today is down to what we found out from the great fire- we space houses out better, build from bricks and we have access to water, the fire service and fire alarms. We built our own Tudor houses and then tested our theory by putting some close together and some spaced out. The ones close together caught fire quickly and it spread rapidly, just like the great fire.
Science
In Science we have explored materials- how can we groups materials? What properties do materials have? What materials are the best for different products? We have also used our scientific skills to decide which material would be best to make new noodles for the pool. We had to plan and carry out a fair test and the record what we found out.
We also experimented with a variety of materials to see which would be the best material to make new noodles for our swimming pool. We found out that plastic is the best as it is flexible, waterproof and can float. It really made us understand that materials are used for certain objects for a reason.
Art
Art has been lots of fun this term. We began by looking at how we can change marks on paper by adding water to felt tips, crayons, pencil and paint. We liked that the felt tip pen bled and made a new shade. We also explored what marks look like on different surfaces such as sand paper, sugar paper, felt and tissue.
We looked at the artist Claude Monet and his watercolour pictures- we found out that he often painted the same view but at different parts of the day to show the light and colour. He also created impressions of pictures rather than fine lines and we really liked his art work.
We spent time in our own little art gallery and gave our opinion on the art work we saw and created our own art work in the style of Monet using watercolour paints.
SMSC
We have joined in 2 SMSC days this topic, where we have explored the themes of remembrance and thought about those that died in the war, Mr Thomas wore his uniform and showed us some pictures from when he was in the army. We created our own poetry based on poppies.
We also explored the topic of I believe and found out about Martin Luther King and what he believed in. We reminded ourselves of the colour monsters and though about our own feelings and related them to how Martin Luther King may have felt.
RE
In Re we have looked at how places are special to believers. We focused on how Christians worship in a church and Muslims worship in a mosque and discovered parts of these buildings and how believers worship. We got to look at real objects such as a bible, cross and candle to represent Christianity and a Quran and prayer mat for Islam.
PE
In PE we have continued to work on our team and ball skills from year 1 and practised dribbling and controlling a ball. We have also worked on our under arm and over arm throwing skills as well as working on our defending and attacking skills. This has come in handy when we have played our team games- shadow and end to end.
Our main PE this term has been our amazing swimming lessons, we have loved going to the pool each week and learning how to float, put our faces in to blow bubbles, front stroke and back stroke as well as playing some fun team games such as collecting inflatables and racing across the pool.
Other news
We have also had the opportunity this term to show our grown ups what we do at school. We invited them in for our very first class assemblies. We loved showing our grown ups how we learn our times tables, share facts about the Great Fire of London and even demonstrate our PE skills.
We were lucky enough to enjoy some unexpected snow this topic. Our teachers were kind and let us leave our lessons for a bit and go and have some fun in the snow!
We have had a great term and cannot wait to see what our new topic and love of reading book is!