African drumming workshop

Sedgeberrow had a fantastic African drumming day.

We really enjoyed ourselves and Glamba were amazing.

Thank you Foss for organising it!

 

Tennis Coaching

We have been really fortunate to have had tennis coaching with Simon from Beckford Tennis club. The children have progressed fantastically and have thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to develop and refine their skills. During our final session with Simon the class took part in a mini class tournament.

Easter and Resurrection Gardens

As part of our RE topic 'What is Easter really about?', we worked in groups to create Easter Gardens. We talked about what each part of the garden symbolises, referring to the Easter story.

It was lots of fun and we enjoyed searching the school grounds for natural materials, to be used in our gardens.

  


Here we are designing and creating our gardens.

Final touches!















Here are our finished creations:

Countdown to our New Topic!

Yesterday, we had an exciting start to our new topic, On the Move, when we launched rockets to send mice into space!

First, we had to create our mice from thick paper.  Once all our mice were ready, we were given our launch vehicles which looked very much like milk cartons.  We got into groups, and prepared for countdown.

The mice were carefully placed on top of the launch vehicle: we found this took a steady hand and a bit of patience.  Once they were on, we all took part in the countdown.  We couldn't wait to see how our mice would cope with the flight and where they would land.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... blast off!  Seven mice were launched on each countdown, as we used our hands to squash the launchers.  Some of the mice flew straight up, others went off at an angle.  They hit the ceiling, the wall, the door, the next-door table ... even George's head!  It was hilarious!

After we had all launched our mice at least once, we thought about what was happening.  We discovered that you didn't have to hit the bottle hard: even if you hit it softly, the mouse was launched but he didn't fly as high.  However, the truly impressive flights happened when the launcher was slapped really hard. 

We realised that a lot of pushes were being used in the launch.  We had to push the mouse onto the launcher; when we slapped the launcher, we were pushing the sides in; by pushing the sides in, we were forcing air out of the bottle which then pushed the mouse up.  After the mouse had launched, gravity pulled it back down.

Some of us decided to take our mice home, so that we could have a go at launching them again.  If you have a Year 2 child in your house, you should watch out for low-flying mice!

Fun on the Farm!

What an amazing time Year 2 had last week at Sandfield Farm!  We were busy and active all day and did lots of activities that helped us to explore our topic, 'The Great Outdoors'.

Our first activity was a run around in the orchard.  We were joined by the farm's two dogs, Nellie and Fly, which added to our fun.  In the orchard, we spotted some fat bumble bees: our first mini beasts of the day! 

Once everyone had arrived, we started finding out more about the farm.  We were told that conservation is very important at Sandfield, so our next activity was to search for pictures showing farmers looking after wildlife: that really helped us to think about the difference between ordinary farming and the sort of farming that helps protect mini beasts, birds and other animals. 

We were then reminded about some of the features of the farm; we could remember quite a lot from our past visits, so we quickly decided which places we hoped we would get to see this time round.  Now it was time to get out there and explore!

Because of the recent rain, the farm was rather muddy but that added to the fun.  What was more worrying was the wind: some of us found it hard to walk up one of the fields that was on a hill, but the views were worth it.  We spotted Sedgeberrow's church spire, the village of Hinton on the Green, and, in the distance, Evesham's Bell Tower.  We could see Bredon Hill and Broadway Tower, all places we'd been looking at on maps back in our classroom.  We thought about features we liked in the landscape, and things we would like to change: our ideas were extremely varied! 

Our walk back from the hilly fields took us by the pond.  This had been one of the places we hoped to visit so we were very excited when we were told we could have ten minutes of pond dipping.  We're experts at pond dipping!  We worked in groups, taking it in turns to dip the net into the water which was quite murky because of the rain.  Every group found something: water boatmen, pond snails, funny slugs.  But we were all jealous of one group that found three greater crested newts!  They were not very big but they were very active and we were pleased that we had been able to see them.  Maybe there will be more newts for us to find on our next visit.

After lunch, we went to meet some animals.  We were introduced to a barn full of heifers, who, we discovered, are teenage girl cows.  They were rather puzzled by us, but they were happy when we fed them silage.  In one corner of the barn, there were some lovely calves who no longer need to get milk from their mums.

We then saw the hens, and two small pigs who are new to the farm.  They are rather beautiful as they have different colours and markings.  We had been told how they got their looks from their parents and grandparents, so it made sense that they were so different even though they are sisters.

Our final activity of the day was exploring the play wood.  For many of us, this was the best part of the day!  We split ourselves into groups and went off to find things we wanted to do.  Some of us experimented in the mud kitchen, which really helped us to develop our imaginations.  Some of us played in the mud, seeing how far we could jump without falling over; we had to work together to make sure no-one got stuck in the mud!  Some of us thought about how we could build shelters, and some of us just wanted to run around and chase each other.  We had a fantastic time!

Year 2 become explorers for a morning.

Last week, Year 2 travelled back in time to 1914 so they could join Ernest Shackleton on his mission to be the first person to cross the continent of Antarctica.  














Having responded to Shackleton's newspaper advert, asking for people willing to go on a hazardous journey where safe return was doubtful, the children were put into small working parties.  They prepared for the voyage by measuring ropes to make sure they were long enough to go across crevasses; checking what food was available and loading up a sledge before practising man-hauling it; and designing an expedition flag.  They even wrote letters home, just in case they didn't make it back!
















After refuelling with a ship's biscuit (making sure that no crumbs were wasted), the working parties headed off to Antarctica.  Once there, they experienced the difficulties of trying to cross camp in a blizzard: luckily, Shackleton had insisted on putting up ropes between the tents so everyone was able to feel their way and no-one got lost.



Fresh water was going to be a problem, so the working parties made sure they knew how to melt freshwater ice.  Even though this proved tricky because the wind kept blowing the flame out, some drinking water was produced and those lucky enough to taste it agreed it was delicious.

The final challenge was to cross crevasses and climb glaciers.  Everyone tried their best, with all the working parties supporting and encouraging one another.  The explorers even managed to spot some seals and penguins while on their trek: they will come in useful when food stores run low.

              
After an exhausting morning, everyone made it back safely, just like Shackleton's team a century ago, although, like them, our children didn't quite make it to the South Pole!






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Year 2 on a mission to help an elf!

Today, Year 2 started the new term by helping an elf.  Having heard about one of Father Christmas' elves who was having a problem putting away all the bits and pieces used for making toys, the children set out to decide which boxes different materials should go in.

Firstly, they looked at a selection of different items and thought about the materials that had been used to make them.  That helped the children to describe the different materials, including wood, glass and paper, so that they knew what they were looking for.  They also thought about what those materials could be used for.

Once they were a bit more familiar with the different types of material, they investigated them so that they could tell the elf which materials could be stretched, bent, twisted or squashed: very useful for when you are deciding what to use to make toys!  Hopefully, the children's work will have helped the elf in his tidying up, and he will soon be able to enjoy a well-earned rest after all the Christmas activity.

Take a look at some of our children, working as scientists.