Year 2 newsletter

The year 2 children have certainly had a very busy week! 

In Literacy, we explored a secret garden which was full of hidden treasures. It was amazing!  We used adjectives to describe what we could see. We then focused on an item in the garden and described what sort of character it might have. 

As part of our RE learning, we had Reverend Williams from St Michael’s church come and visit us to tell us all about Christianity. He had some photos which he shared with us. The Reverend began by telling us a bit about Christianity and what Christians do when they go to church, and as a leader of the church what his job was. We discussed all of our ideas about Christianity and Reverend Williams explained how the meaning of light and darkness was very important for Christians. We thought about how we felt in light and darkness. We were able to ask the Reverend all the questions that we had and he answered them. It was a very interesting visit!

In our topic lessons we have been learning about the Great Fire of London, and the possible reasons for its cause. Who was to blame? Was it Thomas Farriner, the baker? Was it the maid? Or was it a pile of wood which caught on fire? We discussed all the possible reasons and came up with arguments for each idea using our oracy skills. We built upon each other's ideas and argued against those that we disagreed with. We then voted with our feet and the results were very interesting! The majority in Kusama class thought it was Thomas Farriner's fault but in Warhol class, the children thought it was the maid!

          

Year 3 Newsletter

What a busy fortnight we've had in year 3!  Here are the highlights!

WE FINALLY GOT TO SEE TUTANKHAMEN!

The children were impeccably behaved once again as we visited the Saatchi Gallery for the second time and finally got to see the Tutankhamen exhibition.  It was well worth the wait!

Some of our favourite exhibits were the chair that Tutankhamen sat in when he was made Pharaoh aged 9, his funeral bed with gilded lion's feet and the throwing sticks, very similar to boomerangs, that the Ancient Egyptians used to hunt. 

Investigating Roman aqueducts and how they work

We learnt about the Roman invention of aqueducts, what they were used for and how they improved life in Britain.  We had a go at making aqueducts out of card and tape and tested them with a marble to see if they worked! We think aqueducts are a very clever Roman invention!

A visit from Rev. Sarah from the Holy Trinity Church

As part of our RE unit on Christianity, we invited Rev. Sarah to tell us a story that Jesus told.  She shared the story of The Mustard Seed with us in the immersion room, bringing her special gold story box to help her. The children were captivated by the story and her soothing voice.   Afterwards, the children had the chance to retell the story using the things in the box and also responded to the story in pictures, writing and making.

World Book Day!

We had a fabulous world book day and the children looked AMAZING dressed up as their favourite characters.  We laughed out loud watching Michael Rosen's video of him performing his poem 'Chocolate Cake' and we read some of James Carter's poems.  We then created some art work in response to four of our favourites, using oil pastels, collage and sketching pencils.

Finally... the Poetry Slam!

It was a winning Friday for Year 3 in the key stage two poetry slam!  Klee performed 'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat' and Pollock performed 'Go to the back Rosa Parks'.  Between us we achieved third and first place!  An incredible achievement especially being the youngest children in KS2. 
Miss Wadley and Mrs Smith are so very proud of all the children, especially those who were out of their comfort zones performing on stage.  They were clear, strong, expressive and passionate...and truly AWESOME!

Year 2 RE visit

On Monday, Year 2 had a visit from Reverend Sarah as part of our RE learning about Christianity. We wanted to learn about our local church, why Christians go to church and what they do there.

We began the session underneath a piece of cloth that represented the a tent under the night sky as this is what the very first Christians did. They would gather together to share their worship of God. When they started building houses for themselves, they thought that the place where they worshipped God should also be a house, and so they started building big houses to hold people in. These eventually became temples then Churches as we know them today.

Christians listen to stories of the bible when they go to church, so Reverend Sarah shared some stories with us. We listened to the story of the Good Shepard, which explains communion, which is the sharing of bread and wine in Christian churches. As she told the story, she used figurines to demonstrate it.

We  also asked Reverend Sarah some questions that we had about about Christianity and the church and we discussed what people do there (weddings, celebrations, praying, singing). We then looked at pictures of different churches, and discussed that although they were different, they all brought people together so that they could worship God. We discussed how this was similar for other religions where they have places of worship. We then looked at pictures of Reverend Sarah's church, and we talked about the different elements that make it up, and what these are used for (such as the font, the altar, and the bible). 

Reverend Sarah explained that churches not only bring people together, but it is also a space for quiet reflection. We have created a space in our classroom so that we can have a calm place to reflect about our day.