Minibeasts and Goodbyes!

What a hectic last week in Y2. Our trip to Charterhouse in the Mendips was much enjoyed by the children. Here are a selection of photographs showing them pond dipping, minibeast hunting and generally getting in touch with the nature in our relatively local area. A big thank you too, to the parent helpers who were marvellous sports trudging through the long, bumpy grass (and yes, at one point, a small stream....) facing bugs, beasties and (sorry Deb Taylor!) a shiny, wriggly snake like slow-worm.

I would like to say a massive thank you to you all for the generous presents and touching cards and messages I felt inundated with yesterday. I have greatly enjoyed teaching Y2; their funny stories and tremendous hard work have consistently inspired and motivated me this year - and their relentless interest in my dog has amused me greatly!!!!!! If the weather is kind enough for us to go camping I'll post a picture of Teddy in her camping gear on the blog later in the holiday.
Have a wonderful summer and enjoy the time you spend with your lovely children.
Again, thank you.
Laura

Swap Day

Today was very exciting for everyone as Y2 spent the morning with Mrs Christmas in the Y3 classroom getting ready for next year.
The first topic will be Victorians and Mrs Christmas will be sending a letter out about this next week. The children had lots of fun practising being in KS2 (even if, they say, they'll miss their afternoon play!)
Katherine said 'It was exciting!'Ryley said 'I enjoyed making postcards' and Alec said 'It was really, really good - we made big postcards on cardboard - it was really fun!'
Here are photographs of the children working in their new classroom.

We're still keeping our fingers crossed for a sunny day for our trip on Monday - the last time I looked the outlook was good....! Don't forget sensible shoes, school fleece and waterproof / sunhats and cream. Look out for the photos on the blog next week.

At last - our Fountain is launched!

Many thanks to everyone who joined us for the Fountain Launch on Wednesday. Despite the relentless rain we had a fantastic turn out – nearly all of our Y2 parents were there to support the children and encourage everyone with their clapping! This was particularly important because it was not until Wednesday morning when we knew that there was no chance whatsoever (we were optimistic for as long as possible!) of an outdoor performance that we had to completely replan KS1’s input. The children were fantastic and incredibly GROWN UP and adaptable – Well done Y2!
Of all the fantastic moments on Wednesday that sheer Luckwell determination is perhaps shown in the photograph – unable to have a lovely picnic in the sunshine here are the parents and children crammed into Y2’s classroom – thank you for your resilience and commitment to making Y2 have a truly wonderful afternoon. I imagine there were a lot of very sleepy children in Bedminster on Wednesday night!

Another thank you to everyone who came to Profile Evening, it was lovely to see so many faces. If you were unable to attend but would like to pop in to see your child’s work please let us know and we can arrange this.

Finally, our trip on Monday. If you still haven’t received a letter please check your child’s bookbag or ask for a replacement. Hopefully our visit to the Mendip Hills will be a lovely end to Y2 – I’m hoping for sunshine……..!

Top Link Festival

This week Y2 impressed Bedminster with their P.E. skills at Ashton Park's Top Link Festival. Young Sports Leaders at Ashton Park organised a morning of fun P.E. activities for the Y2 children at local schools. One of the activities was Parachute Games - you can see Max and Elena listening carefully to parachute instructions in the picture.
We had a beautiful sunny day for the event and 'warmed up' with a walk to Ashton Park to get us into the mood. Many thanks again to all the parents who joined us on the walk through Bedminster - as always your support is very much appreciated!
We are also in the process of making up a fountain dance for the fountain launch (which hopefully you've received your invitation to - let Mrs Shore know if you haven't) next week. Watch this space!

Mrs Thwaites says goodbye!

This week we have been learning about the life cycles of tadpoles. Tadpoles breathe through special holes called spiracles.

In numeracy we have been learning to tell the time which is very useful indeed. we have also been sharing our times table knowledge with each other.

In science we sorted foods into 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' and designed some delicious healthy meals. Maybe we can cook them for our families over the weekend. "Joe really liked the fish" said Katherine and Isobel. We questioned each other on Thursday about our eating habits - it made some very interesting reading! Marmite and jam anyone?!

We are really sad that Mrs Thwaites is leaving and we will miss her very much! Mrs Thwaites is very sad to be going too : (

Sports and Performance

Another busy week in Y2 passes.

After all their hard work writing and recording radio plays Y2 presented their work to the whole school this week. Mrs Thwaites led our celebration assembly where the children shared their ideas and some of their recordings with the rest of the children - everyone was very impressed!

Following all the fantastic homework the children did over half term the children have been 'brainstorming' what they have found about the past. We were very impressed by their knowledge! The picture shows one of the 'brainstorm' pages. Many thanks for all your support in helping the children with this, parents, and all your precious photos and artefacts will be returned intact very soon!

Sports Day was a great success. We had a fantastic afternoon on Wednesday and Y2 showed what excellent 'sports' they are! Well done everyone, whatever position they were in the races, and well done to Yellow House for their first overall win in 13 years!

Finally next Thursday - as I wrote on my note that the children took home we are have won all our marbles and the children have voted for a 'Spy Day' where they will, well, 'be spies'!!!!! For the children who are not inspired by spying it will be a general dressing up in own clothes and bringing in a game/toy day. We don't require any party food on this occasion. This is also Mrs Thwaites' last day and an opportunity for her to relax with the children. I'm sure you will all join me in wishing her well in her teaching career and thanking her for all her hard work in Y2 over the last 8 weeks.

TALK week in Year 2

This week was TALK week, so instead of our usual timetable, the teachers planned lots of fun activities. With Mrs Thwaites we did lots of drama, and made our own plays for the radio. It was lots of fun choosing the sound effects. We used the musical instruments and our voices in all sorts of unusual ways!

Although Sports Day was postponed, we still spent lots of time outside and really enjoyed our mini-Olympics and afternoon of Playground Games!

We are looking forward to Sports Day next Wednesday and crossing our fingers that the sun will be shining!