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Fernhurst Primary School

Owls (Year 2)

Owls Class is taught by Mr Mike Shaw.

28/03/24

Spring 2 has been fun-filled with facts and investigations!

Computing - Digital Photography:

We spent this half term learning how to take great photos and how to edit them. With the iPads and then Google Slides, we experimented with the lighting, colour settings, cropping and whether the photo was best taken in landscape or portrait. Have a look at some of the results!

DT - Axles and Wheels

We designed, made and evaluated our trolleys and they were all successful in fulfilling their purpose - safely transporting 'Mr Heart'! The class had  a lot of fun creating their trolleys and discovering the best ways to attach the axle to the chassis of their trolley through trial and error. 

Maths - Length, Height and Mass

Our learning journey has brought us on to units involving measures. We have learnt to problem solve questions involving centimetres, metres and grams. This has been very hands on but has also made us make use of our adding and subtracting knowledge. We were excited to measure our school hall with metre rulers when we found out an efficient and accurate way of doing so!

Music - Dynamics, Tempo and Timbre

We spent this half term imagining and composing music to tell the story of space exploration! We listened to music by Gustav Holst and drew what the music sounded like with symbols and patterns to show how loud (dynamics), how fast (tempo) and what sounds were being used and what that made us feel like.

We then learned about motifs like Beethoven's famous fifth symphony in C minor (Da, Da, Da, Daaah). We then composed our own 10 note motif and performed it on the Glockenspiel.

Science - How bouncy is a ball and how Flexible is our clothing Experiments:

We had to work together to find the answer to these two important questions. We made predictions and then tested these predictions. After each test we spent time looking at the data we had and applied our scientific understanding to make sense of the results. We learned that some materials are more bouncy than others but they need air inside them to spring back up (we were astounded when we watched a slow motion video of a ball bouncing and it changed it's shape). We easily identified some very flexible materials for clothing but then we had to add another question to our investigation to check that the materials we were choosing would be comfortable!

22/2/24

Parents, you will have seen the fascilitated play ideas posters that have been on our playground since before Christmas.  (If not, take a look at the side of the PE shed and the fence around the top playground).   In conjunction with our Sports Leaders we have chosen a new set of games that the adults and older children will be helping the younger children to play during break and lunchtimes.   This wonderful aspect of our school is a joy to see as different age groups mix together and enjoy playing games.   Take a look at the ideas here: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/veu6fIls326JdxDg?ref=Link  Do these bring back fond memories? Maybe you could play these at home with friends and family members.   

Spring 1

This half term always seems to fly by. We pack so much learning into the school day that the time really does fly.

Art - 3D Sculpture.

This has been a very fun but a very messy unit of work. We started by exploring clay - the texture and what it could be made to do and resemble. We then looked at the work of Rachel Whiteread and created some tiles using the techniques of score and slip. FInally we made our own house tiles. Look at our work on the Sway below:

https://sway.cloud.microsoft/HIRgSBCXvIYrDRF2?ref=Link

Explorer Dome Visit - 8th January 2024

Owl Class had a fantastic afternoon crawling into the Explorer Dome. You never quite know what you're going to find inside it, so it is always quite an adventure! We learnt about light and light sources and how they can make shadows - it turns out some of Year 2 are superb shadow-puppeteers! We even learnt how artificial light relies on electricity, how electricity can make connections and how electricity can be made visible with a plasma ball. We discovered that some things we believe are light sources can only reflect light and that light is made up of all the colours we see in a rainbow. Year 2 had a great time, and we are looking forward to seeing the Explorer Dome back at Fernhurst.

 

  

December 2023 - Autumn Term Round up

It is incredible to think that we are already a third of the way through the school year! Everyone in Owl Class has done a fantastic job of settling in, and we have all enjoyed the thrilling enrichment activities we have done alongside our daily schedule of learning.

Great Fire of London Immersion Day

Owl Class had a blast one wintery Friday day with lots of drama! The class dressed up in 17th Century costume and took part in a wide variety of mime, role-play, freeze-frame and chronological sorting for our immersion day. It was an amazing way to finish a topic that has had the whole class thrilled from start to finish and to put into context all the knowledge and enquiry skills we have been using this half-term.      

Anti-bullying week and workshop

Owl Class were fantastic listeners and participants in the anti-bullying workshops we did this term. We were able to help others to understand that bullying is a targeted and repeated behaviour and how we should deal with it.

 

Lights, Camel Action!

The work that Year 2 and 1 put into this year's Nativity was incredible and seeing their hard work develop a stronger performance, each and every practice was thrilling to watch. Their final performance was the best they had done to date. The songs and lines were read and sung loudly and with confidence. It was so fantastic to see them all so enthusiastic to dance and sing for this fun show!

     

Computing

We started to look at what data means and how it can be collected in the form of a tally chart. We then learnt that ‘attributes’  can be used to describe and organise data. We then progressed onto presenting data in the form of pictograms. We then were able to use the data presented to ask each other questions and answer those questions.

   

Design and Technology

At the start of the half-term, Year 2 had a problem! Baby Bear had a broken chair! We set about researching the solution to Goldilocks' mischief. After the initial planning and design phase, we began making our chairs. We had to revisit these plans a couple of times to create a final product that met the requirements of Master Bear and learnt a few things along the way too!

 

PE

Our focus was on gymnastics and developing the skills required to play a range of games with a ball. As the weeks went on, we combined the skills taught lesson by lesson to be able to perform a sequence of linked movements and play opposing games.

  

13/11/23

We are delighted to share with you the 2023-24 trips and enrichment programme on this Sway link (https://sway.office.com/zdCan1CGYcbMUck0?ref=Link). The school team have been busy securing the best coach prices as well as several grants to cover or reduce costs where possible. We are delighted to have such a fabulous range of visits which will explicitly compliment learning in history, geography, DT, PSHE, RE and science.

We do recognise that asking for any contribution can feel like a lot and would like to take this opportunity to advise that if you are eligible for pupil premium funding, we will be able to cover the costs of all day visits and visitors for you. If you think you might be eligible, please apply online at https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/education-children-and-families/schools-and-colleges/free-school-meals/

As always, there is the opportunity to pay for the year or to pay per visit. You will receive a reminder ahead of visits about payment options.  We are currently swapping from ScoPay to Arbor for payments, so you will not see all trips on your ScoPay account. Details of Arbor will be sent to you next half-term and everything will be available via a single app which should make life easier for you all.

 

Autumn 1 Learning:

The Autumn term is halfway through and Owl Class has managed to fit a lot of learning and great experiences into it!

We were lucky with the weather most weeks and were able to walk up to the woods to experience outdoor learning with our Woodland Adventures leader, Mrs Corps. Our favourite things to do were climbing trees, making dens and toasting marshmallows!

  

Geography:

This half-term we were learning about the differences and similarities between London and Fernhurst. We learnt to identify settlement sizes and their names. We looked at the features of both London and Fernhurst using online maps and found out about some of the physical and man made features of both. We finished our learning with a fieldwalk to identify the features of our village that we spotted on the map and some we did not.

  

Phonics:

We have been reviewing Phase 5 phonics as part of our start to Year 2. The reading and spelling of these Graphemes and Phonemes (Letters and their sounds) is very important and support us in our everyday reading and writing of words. We learn to match these words and read them to understand how they sound, what letter patterns are in them and how we can write them in sentences. We also play sorting and matching games too.

  

Music:

This half term we have been using untuned musical instruments to make call and response songs like Che Che Kule. We have worked in groups to practice and compose our songs and then perform them back to the class.

  

Dog's Trust:

The Dog's Trust came in to tell us all about how we could be safe around dogs and help dogs to keep healthy and happy. Owl Class were able to answer all the questions and learnt new facts about our four-legged friends. 

  

Topics

Please find our topics for Spring 1 on the link below:

https://sway.office.com/sZs9ygGfK5LnikDP?ref=Link

Home Learning:

Please read with your child three times a week for five minutes. The key to a lot of knowledge and skills in Year 2 is regular reading in order to access new vocabulary, to build links in understanding and to make sound predictions and inferences about different people and situations. Please log any and all reading with a quick click on the Boom Reader App.

We will be having weekly spellings. Your child will come home each Monday with five new spellings to learn for a spelling test the following Monday. At the most they will have a test of 25 spellings but these will be words that they will have learnt and relearnt across several weeks. The words are selected from our phonics and spelling curriculum, which we will be learning in class that week.

Each week another five words will be added to learn in the next column. Please use the strategies on the sheet, or your own, to practice the spelling rule of the week. There is a space on the other side to practice these spellings and room to write the spellings in the box on the following Monday. Please encourage your child to try their best and remind them that it is ok not to get full marks.

PE

Our PE day is on Thursday and Friday. We have it outdoors if the weather permits. Otherwise, it will be in the hall. Please make sure your child comes in wearing the approved PE uniform.