January Learning in Action - Happy New Year!

Bread Week

What an exciting start to the new year at Joseph Cash. The whole school were involved in Bread Week. The children explored the ingredients needed to make basic bread dough (as well as where we get some of these ingredients – flour comes from wheat fields) and the children loved being able to make their own dough! 

Year 2 had a fantastic start to the week exploring different breads from around the world including baguettes from France, naan bread from India and focaccia from Italy. After trying each bread and discussing the similarities and differences (shape, size, colour, texture), the children voted for their favourite bread and we put this in a tally chart. The favourite bread in 2RD was naan bread!

 Each year group had a different task linked to making bread. Year 2 had to make wholemeal bread rolls. We used no dairy products in our baking so, in fact, our bread rolls were vegan (perfect for Veganuary!) To create an exciting showstopper for the esteemed school judges, we decided to design wholemeal bread rolls shaped as different animals. We chose a variety of animals including a hedgehog, elephant, turtle and an octopus. The children thought through their designs really carefully, thinking about how they could create patterns on their turtle shells or use raisins to make the animal's facial features stand out.

English - An Eggstraordinary Story!

With the new year comes a new book. Year 2 have started looking at The Egg. The children started the topic by creating their very own fantasy stories based on a picture of a mysterious egg. There were some lovely ideas shared about what may be in the egg:

"It might be a Christmas egg!"

"I think it's a baby dinosaur."

"It could be a dragon."

Before we read the book to find out what was in the egg, the children then made predictions about what would happen at different sections of the story. There were some fantastic ideas about what might happen. Take a look at some of our shared ideas for each part…

Since reading the story and finding out all George and the dragon he takes care of, Year 2 worked altogether to create a story map. The story was very long but the children created some fantastic actions. If we practice, our story map will help us when we come to retell the story.

Maths - Multiples and more!

Since we returned in January, we have been exploring lots of different areas of maths, including time, money, shape and units of measure. A big focus this month has been encouraging the children to try out Times Table Rockstars! It has been fantastic to hear positive feedback, both from parents and students in 2RD. Along with our times table tests each week, the children now have the chance to improve their times tables at home or during computing club at lunchtimes.

While we have been continuing our maths learning every day, we have also been exploring different maths learning during one afternoon per week. We have been looking at telling the time (starting with o’clock and half past). This is something we will keep returning to so the children can gain confidence telling the time independently. As well as time, we have been refreshing our memories about 2D shapes. We have been exploring vocabulary like edges (sides of a shape) and vertices (the corners of a shape). It was really promising to see lots of children remember a good number of different 2D shapes and were confident using the key vocabulary that had been introduced. We will soon be looking at different 3D shapes and their various properties.

As well as plenty of new learning, the children have also been revisiting different methods and elements of their maths learning from the Autumn term and Miss Dolman has been really impressed with what the children have remembered from their previous learning!

Creative Curriculum - Kinder Surprise!

We have finally completed our learning about the Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. Our new topic, ‘Kinder Surprise’, will see Year 2 focus on the development of toys over time. We had a great time launching our new topic by bringing in toys from home and playing with our different entertainment choices. A group really enjoyed playing Miss Dolman’s colourful jenga!

Have a look at our knowledge organiser for our latest Creative Curriculum topic:

Super Science - Animals, including Humans

This month, we have been introduced to our next science topic, Animals, including Humans. First, we decided to think about what we might be learning about in this topic and what, in particular, we would really like to find out. Have a look at some of the questions we shared as a class before we added our priority questions to our science question matrix:

Following on from our questions, the children have been introduced to different animals and their offspring.
The children were challenged to match the animal to their offspring, using pictures or animal names to help them.
We will also be looking at the basic needs of animals, what they all need to survive and whether there are any similarities/differences between the basic needs for an animal and that of a human. 

Mindfulness Miles...

2020 is off to an incredibly busy start and the children have been working very hard. Not only have we been introducing lots of new learning and topics into our classroom, we have also been doing more practice of our 'special learning' which is certainly a challenge for the children. With that said, we have remembered the importance of taking a step outside for a breath of fresh air and enjoying some time together, sharing a laugh and a smile before we head back in for more learning. We look forward to walking more miles together in the sunshine as the year goes on!