Welcome to Autumn Term

Our learning journey this term will be all about communicating effectively with the title 'spreading the Word'. We are connecting our individual subjects such as History, Art and DT through the idea that all learners need to be good communicators to work effectively. 

How do we communicate?

An exhibition of learning

This term in Year 2 we have been thinking about the ways that we can communicate.

In History, the pupils learnt about 2 different significant inventions in British history. Our learning centred around William Caxton- the first man to bring a printing press to England- and Alexander Graham Bell who -with his associate Watson- created the first telephone after being inspired by his own deaf mother. These feats of invention pushed forward the methods of communication for the population and made modern technology possible.

This also led to a discussion around chronology (ordering events in time) and the changes that had taken place between the 14th and 19th Century. 

Beth Krommes-Artist

We have been studying the work of Beth Krommes to meet our Art objectives. We have looked at

been experimenting and create different effects with pencils, pastels and paint. We have selected different drawing tools to create different types of line within the same piece of work, investigating cross hatching, swirls, smudging and stippling. Finally, we investigated tone and texture by drawing light/dark lines, light/dark patterns.

Design Technology

In D.T. we put our design and making skills to use by painting and embellishing fabric, cutting and stitching to create different effects. We focused on the world of famous American artist Faith Ringgold and her work on quilting. Faith makes story quilts and we were inspired to tell the story or communicate thoughts of our own on the seasons.

In the design stage we planned how we would make our designs, showing the different elements and the steps we would take. There was lots of experimentation with ideas away from the making of a final product including learning to use running stitch to improve our skills.

In the making stage we looked at the importance of working safely when handling tools when working with textiles. We selected from different fabrics appropriate to purpose and appearance, explaining our choices. Use appropriate tools to cut, shape and finish. Finally. we experimented with ideas and materials to add decorative qualities such as stitching and beads.

The Final Quilts

The final quilts are beautiful with a little help from a sewing machine elf (Thanks Mum!) the final quilts have been made. They are hanging in the corridor outside Y2 and have stitching done by the children as well as beads and embellishments. The used their own mixed fabric paint to create picture of autumn taking through and applying further some of our art skills. 

The children are so proud and so are we!

Writing to communicate

Another way we can communicate is by writing effectively. We started off the term looking at owls and the children were keen to write non-chronological reports about them. We have also worked on poetry using our outdoor morning to gather vocabulary from the forest area. 

The children were inspired by COP26 and writing to the Prime Minister to campaign against climate change. We linked this with our geography learning and looked at the impact of climate change on people as part of human geography. Below are a sample of the letters that are being sent to 10 Downing Street. They are a great example of taking action in our community and supporting change for good.

Great job eco-warriors!

Please share our learning with us and have a wonderful conversation about how your child has grown this term!

Marvellous Maths

We have been working hard on place value in maths. We have been looking at the different ways we can partition the same number. It was tricky at first but we used our resources to help us calculate effectively. Elm class really showed their self -regulation which is one of our KASE skills! Great job!

Art can used to communicate in different ways. We were inspired by the art work of Beth Krommes an American story book illustrator and artist. We focused on building our skills when applying paint in different ways on different surfaces.

The new vocabulary we explored included tone, texture, monochrome and pressure. 

As a class, we layered paper and glue to trial different ways to apply paint; dotting, cross-hatching and smudging. This will all contribute to our final piece later on this term. 

Elm Class does Archery

Elm have worked really hard over the last two weeks trying out a new sport! We have been working on our Archery skills and it was brilliant. This inclusive and safe sport takes precision and accuracy which many of Elm class had in spade! I absolutely loved seeing them supporting each other and coaching each other to succeed using their KASE Empathy attribute so amazingly! 

Year 2 had a forest school session this week and went listen, look and touch the different elements of the forest. It helped us to explore the ways we can interact with our surrounding and assisted us in gathering new vocabulary around the different adjectives we could use to describe.