Spring 2024

As part of our learning about the Great Fire of London, Class 2 have been building fire engines to reflect the ways in which fire emergency services have developed since 1666. We used Museum of London's interactive resources to learn about the fire engines available in 1666 and contrasted these with modern day ones. The children made a detailed plan for their own fire engine, paying attention to the headlights, sirens and mirrored writing on the vehicle. We then painted a 3D-model following our plan, drilled holes in the wheels and attached axels to secure them in place. This was a fun way to expand on our learning about the Great Fire and practice our DT skills! 

This half term Class 2 have been global explorers, learning about the seven continents of the world and sailing the five oceans. We have learned about the world's largest desert, Antarctica and about the Aboriginal cultures of Oceania. We have visited safaris in Kenya and South Africa, practised West African Kanthe-blanket weaving and had a go at using an Ethiopian goat herder's wooden pillow/chair! Our European adventures have thus far taken us on a zoom to Spain where we were within picking distance of olives, lemons and oranges and could see the North African mountains in the far distance; as well as introduced us to the Finnish sweet treat, pulla, which we baked in class. We explored the Native American tale How the Raven Stole the Sun and learned about the special powers of a Navajo arrow. The Asian leg of our journey took us all the way to China where we partook in the Chinese New Year celebrations. In South America we learned about the Peruvian weaving techniques and made our own, colourful blankets. We have proven ourselves to be quite the global explorers and cannot wait to continue on our travels!

¡Estupendo! This is how we would sum up Spanish week in Class 2! We threw some shapes in flamenco class, learned a Mexican campfire song and practised our conversational Spanish. We've explored Picasso and cubism and made our own portraits in his style. Casper's Grandad took us on a zoom to Spain where we were within picking distance of almonds, lemons, grapefruits and olives! We mapped our way around the world in search of Spanish speaking countries (and were particularly curious about all the islands along the way). In Mexico we met Frida Kahlo and learned about her life and art. Mrs Edney led the class on a wonderful, Frida Kahlo-inspired oil pastel art exploration. We were really impressed with the children's colourful and expressive portraits! To finish off our Spanish week, we had some churros dipped in chocolate sauce — a suitably sweet end to a really special week!