Welcome to Year 2
Our Wonderful World
Year 2 have started to learn about the wonderful world that we live in. So far we have learnt that there are 7 continents (which we can sing to you), 5 oceans and many, many countries.
We are travelling around the world learning something about each continent that we get to. We started in the UK and learnt about our own continent of Europe. We found out about the art work of Piet Mondrian, one of the many famous European artists in Europe. We painted some pictures in the style of Mondrian, but instead of using the primary colours of red, blue and yellow, we mixed the secondary colours of orange, green and purple and used these. You can see some of our paintings below.
Moving on from Europe we crossed the Atlantic Ocean to North America. We learnt a bit about Christopher Columbus, the first European to really open up the route to America. We discovered that the largest country in North America was Canada, but the most famous was probably the U.S.A. When trying to think of a famous American many of us came up with the President, Donald Trump as he seems to be on the news a lot these days!
Hurrying on, we went South to South America where we learnt about the largest country there - Brazil. We found out that a lot of Brazil is in the Amazon Rainforest which is a hot, humid place because it is close to the Equator. We learnt about some of the fascinating animals that live in the rainforest and we painted these animals and wrote reports about them. You can see the results below.
Next stop is Africa, Asia and Australia before we finish up in cold, cold Antarctica. Come back soon to find out what we learnt about these parts of the world.
Lights, Camel, Action
Strictly come dancing, but better?
December 2017 saw Year 2 working hard with Year 1 to produce our wonderful Christmas show, Lights, Camel, Action.
You all know the characters from the Nativity story: the angels, Mary, Joseph, the inn-keepers, the shepherds, the wisemen, not to mention Caesar Augustus and the various animal cast of sheep, camels and the donkey...well did you know they can dance?
In our retelling of this familiar story we saw the people of Nazareth doing a line dance, Mary singing beautifully, ballet dancing angels, the shepherds performing a Morris dance, ably helped by their sheep, the disco star...and who could forget the funky camels and the moody passion of the tangoing innkeepers?
All this to announce and celebrate the arrival of baby Jesus all those years ago in Bethlehem.
Take a look at our pictures to remind you of the show.
On Monday 29th January 2018, the children of Year 2 mysteriously travelled back in time to 2nd September 1666 to experience a very special event in the history of London...the Great Fire.
We all came to school dressed, not in school uniform but in clothes similar to the ones they wore in 1666. One of us had magically transformed into the celebrated diarist Samuel Pepys, complete with curly wig!
We couldn't risk a fire in our classroom, so we went to the hall which had been transformed with shops and businesses from 1666. There we met our guide to the city who told us all about the activities that we were going to do. These included making wax candles, weaving, sewing, leather working, making button mouds with clay, writing with quill pens, making perfumed bags and medicine bags to protect us from the plague...and of course the favourite activity of some of our more blood-thirsty children, the barber surgeon where we got to chop off arms and legs, extract teeth with pliers and to drill holes in heads to cure headaches.
While all this was going on, rumours of a fire began to circulate and children were needed to pass leather buckets full of water to try to put out the fire. Eventually we tried to pull down houses with fire hooks to create gaps to stop the fire spreading, but nothing worked due to the strenght of the wind and the intensity of the fire burning the crowded wooden houses.
Luckily we heard that the fire eventually stopped as the wind died down and gunpowder had created sufficient gaps so the fire had nothing left to burn.
In the afternoon we had to search in trays of sand to find out which businesses had stood in different spots and we learnt how artefacts help us to understand what has happened in the past.
We all had a great day, including the teachers who got to join in with all the fun. Thank you to all the parents who helped us and to the Company 'History off the Page' who led the day and brought all the exciting equipment that we needed.
Take a look at our photos. Can you work out what we were doing in each one?
Do you know what life was like in Victorian times? Year 2 visited the Royal Gunpowder Mills in Waltham Abbey and found out for themselves.
Read these reports written by Shardae and Millie to find out more.
On Friday 6th October we went to the gunpowder mills. First we went on the coach and I played with my friends. It was exciting. The first thing we had to do was wait outside for our teacher to show us the first activity. Our first activity was learning all about Victorian toys. We learnt about china dolls and a cup and ball and a yoyo. My favourite toys was the china doll.
Next we went to the seaside. Me and Johnny dressed in a swimming costume and I was walking up and down holding an umbrella. I held a bucket and spaed and we coloured pictures of Mr Punch, Judy and a crocodile and the baby.
Then we had lunch time but it was a picnic. Then after lunch we ran around the trees.
Then we had school. The Victorian teacher was very strict. We wrote on slate boards and if we were naughty, we had to have a dunce hat.
Then we went to wash some clothes. I washed some shoes and some cloths.
Then we went back to 2017
By Shardae
On Friday we went to the Royal Gunpowder Mills. First we got on the coach and I played some games. Then, when we got there, we were met by a lady with grey hair. The lady told us that we were going back in time.
Our first big activity was to learn about Victorian toys. After that, we learned about a Victorian holiday. Ladies fainting and there was a really disgusting thing Victorians did. There was a thing called a penny lick. One person had a lick (of ice-cream) , then another person, then another.
Then we had lunch and a run about.
Next we had to learn the Victorian school rules. The we wrote our names on a slate, but Sam's mum did a funny face instead so she got hit by the cane!
Then it was time to wash some teatowels and clean some shoes.
Then we went back to 2017 and Ladbrooke School.
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Old Macdonald had a farm...
Year 2 have been learning about Food, Glorious Food. Earlier this term we visited Tesco to see what happens in the shops that we buy our food from. But where do the shops get the food that they sell. Ofcourse, the answer is that farms have to produce it. We went to visit a farm to see the animals that give us so much of our food...and to enjoy the rides and activities that are there.
The first animals we saw on the farm were meerkats. We don't eat these, but they were fun to watch. We then saw more traditional farm animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, hens and even a shire horse.
As well as these animals there were some other animals that might be found in the countryside such as deer and even some animals from other countries such as rhea and wallabies.
The strangest thing we saw was a talking, moving tree.
After our lunch, which some of us shared with a cheeky runaway chicken we had fun with the other activities at the farm. There were lots of things to do. The train ride, the carousel, the bouncy slide, the trampolines and the climbing frames were all fun but our three top activities were probably the helter skelter, the enormous sandpit and of course the doggy dog roller coaster. The teachers were too scared to go on the roller coaster, but most of the children were brave enough...and had a great time!
Take a loook at some of our pictures below