Welcome to JC2!  We are a class of 17 Year 2 children and our teacher is Mrs Loram.  We are looking forward to a busy, fun-filled term!

Welcome back to the summer term!  I hope that you enjoyed the Easter break and didn't eat too much chocolate!  To find out what JC2 will be learning this term please take a look at our Newsletter below.

History

We started the summer term with a fantasic history morning, involving all KS1 children from the NCSF.  It was lovely to see all the children mixing together and making new friends at the St James' site.  The children took part in four different activities, throughout the morning, and these included mixing herbs and natural resources to make herbal remedies, just like Mary Seacole.  The children also practised bandaging each other and cleaning the hall, just like Florence Nightingale did in the hospital in Scutari!  They also visited the museum in JC2 and discussed what different artefacts were for and how they are useful historical resources for historians today.  In JC1 the children enjoyed making medals as Florence Nightingale was awarded a medal by Queen Victoria.

Music

The children have been busy learning a new song called Zootime in music this term and they have just started to learn how to accompany the song with musical instruments.  Watch this space to see how we are getting on...

This term our new key question is 'How have Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole made the world a better place?'  To find out more about this, please read the termly class newsletter. Information about PE days, spellings, homework etc can also be found here. 

Science

Our science unit this term is Animals including Humans.  This week we started to learn about how humans grow and the different stages of development.  Did you know that your shoe size is roughly as long as your forearm?  We had fun discovering if this was true!  We also practised our Working Scientifically skills and measured each other's height.  We then decided who was the tallest and shortest in our groups.  We discovered that even if you were older than another child, this didn't necessarily mean that you were taller!

RE 

It was RE Week last week and we were trying to answer the question 'Who is Muslim and how do they live?  We learnt about the Five Pillars of Islam, the Shahadah, prayer beads,prayer mats and lots more...  Ask your child what they can remember about the religion of Islam.

History

This week we have been learning about Mary Seacole.  We have been plotting her life on a timeline and finding out who she was, what she did and why she is a significant individual in history.  We split into partners to play a game which focused on facts about her life.  Who won?

Music

We have had great fun in our music lessons so far this term.  We have been learning about pulse, rhythm and pitch, whilst listening to and appraising the style of rock music!  So far we have listened to Queen's 'We Will Rock You' and Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water'.  The song we have been learning is called 'I Wanna Play in a Band' and we have also learnt to play the glockenspiel to accompany the song.  What fun!

Art

JC2 have been experimenting with different grades of pencils during their sketch book skills sessions this term.  They have also made viewfinders in Forest School to use during these sessions.  The children chose a picture from a book, placed their viewfinders on top and sketched what they could see within the frame of their viewfinder!

Design and Technology

We have been learning about different types of mechanisms this term and the children had to design a moving picture using a mechanism of their choice.  We looked at wheel, lever, sliding and pivot mechanisms.  After we made our moving pictures, the children evaluated their finished product.  Do you like them?

Today we celebrated World Book Day!  The children dressed up as their favourite book character and we met with all the other year groups in the school hall for a parade.  We had a great day talking about our favourite stories, making bookmarks and we even chose a book to take home!

R.E.

The children from JC2 and JC1 had a wonderful time at the Masjid E Noor Mosque in Gloucester.  The visit really brought the children's learning to life and their favourite part was washing their hands, feet and faces! Thank you to everyone at the Mosque for making us feel so welcome.

We were also invited to St James' Church in Chipping Campden to 'Experience Easter'.  JC2 went with JC3/4 and the children took it in turns to visit various stations that told the story of Holy Week.  We very much enjoyed it and the children even left with mini chocolate eggs!  A big thank you to Amy, the youth leader, for organising the visit and to the volunteers for giving up their time to talk to the children about Holy Week.