Welcome to 2W's Blog!

On Thursday 10th May, Year 2 had the privilege of being able to visit the Nottingham Synagogue.
We walked the excited boys from school down to the Synagogue and they all behaved very sensibly. When we arrived at the Synagogue we were greeted by Rabbi Perez who kept them engaged with information and stories about the Jewish religion. They were asked to wear a Kippah as a sign of respect whilst in the Synagogue.We were lucky enough to be shown the Ark with its treasures inside and Rabbi Perez unrolled a Torah scroll so the boys could see (but not touch) the sacred manuscript written in Hebrew. They were also able to handle some of the artefacts from the ark, including the Yad. Please ask your son what this is. We all had a lovely and informative time with everyone learning something new and a respect for another religion. I particularly liked the idea of the Sabbath because you are not allowed to hoover! The boys were a real credit to the school and Rabbi Perez was very impressed with their knowledge.

2W had a very important mission today;- to learn how to look after a newborn baby!
We are learning about Health, Growth and Change in Science and we have started our topic at the beginning (a very good place to start!). The first problem they had to solve was how to put a nappy on and they worked as a group to do this. The results were mixed! We have got a couple of experts in the class already it has to be said. They were then charged with caring for the babies for the rest of the academic day and they couldn’t believe that they could not just put them down to go and do whatever they wanted to do. It was a steep learning curve! I have to say I am very proud of the boys, they have been gentle, caring, thoughtful and to watch them carrying, soothing by stroking the babies head or winding them almost absentmindedly whilst listening, has been lovely. Well done 2W, I think you will all make fabulous daddies.

This week 2W have been exploring, reading, drafting and writing shape poems. In line with our topic on The Olympics we chose to write them about different sports. The boys all had some fantastic ideas and their use of words was very clever. We then decided to see if we could make them alliterative too. You can see that they produced some brilliant work. Well done 2W!

On Tuesday our Eco team invited Stacey from Severn Trent Water Authority to our assembly to talk to us about the importance of water. We found out that our Earth is 70% water, but only a little bit of that water is drinkable. Stacey told us about how we collect water and how it is treated to make it safe for us to drink. We also learnt different ways that we can help to save water.

The Eco team are running a Save Water Competition over the Easter Holidays to encourage everyone in school to turn off the taps when they have used them. The overall prize winner will have their poster reproduced and displayed around Lovell House.

The boys have worked very hard creating some dinosaur dioramas depicting one of the three dinosaur ages. They would like to share some with you.

Today, every class in the school took part in Sport Relief by running a mile or 13 laps of the playground. Isaac managed to run 2 miles in the time-congratulations to him. Miss Clarke joined in too, sadly, Mrs Williams had forgotten her trainers!! 2W were also joined by the squirrel as a last minute addition after the whole class had been awarded the squirrel for their excellent behaviour on the trip to New Walk museum. He thoroughly enjoyed himself but needed a bit of cake after to replenish his energy! Well done to all the boys.

2W have created their own erupting volcanoes as part of our work on Dinosaurs and taken part in their first Chemistry lesson! It was very, very exciting for everyone involved. Don’t forget to ask them what the magic ingredients are. Perhaps you could make one at home!

On Thursday 22nd March Year 2 went to visit a dinosaur exhibition at the New Walk Museum in Leicester. Each group was given a backpack of activities to complete, based around becoming a ‘Dinosaur Detective’. There were some fantastic fossils and an amazing skeleton of a Cretiosaurus which had been discovered in Rutland. The boys all had a wonderful time and got to develop a real sense of the size and scale of dinosaurs from the Jurassic era. Some even had to wear safari hats for authenticity! The museum is well worth a visit for its other exhibits too. A big ‘Thank You’ must go to the parents who came to help us on the day as well.

The boys have been preparing their own news reports about different dinosaurs as part of their non-chronological reports in literacy. Please take a look at thier reports they are very proud of them.

Dinosaur report 1 from Mrs.Barker on Vimeo.

Stegosaurus from Mrs.Barker on Vimeo.

Untitled from Mrs.Barker on Vimeo.

Untitled from Mrs.Barker on Vimeo.

Untitled from Mrs.Barker on Vimeo.

In Science today, 2W have been exploring what a bean needs to germinate. We have all planted our own beans and have also set up four experiments to test what a seed needs to grow. We have even put one in the fridge! The boys will be keeping a plant diary to record the progress and you may find yourself planting a lovely little beanstalk in your garden at Easter!