Friday 21st July 2023

The last week in Deer Class! A totally action packed week in which many memories were shared and more made. After three awesome years at Jordans, our superstars enjoyed their final days in style. We had our last forest school session, made photo frames as mementos of each other, baked chocolate cup cakes in science, showcased talents in the Leavers' Assembly and danced gleefully at the Leavers' disco. A week they will never forget!

Friday 14th July 2023

In our Design and Technology lesson this week, Deer Class made moving pictures with wheel mechanisms. At the beginning of this project, we evaluated children's books with moving parts such as flaps. sliders, levers and wheels. We have spent the past weeks learning how to make each of these mechanisms. We have linked our learning to traditional tales, this week it was Little Red Riding Hood. In our scene from the story, the wolf appears to get closer and closer to Red Riding Hood. Turning the wheel makes one of 3 wolves appear in the window. The wolf gets progressively bigger in each picture so it looks like he is getting nearer!

Science

We went exploring around the school grounds for a science investigation. The question was 'Where do you think the most woodlice will be living?' Would it be in the hedge? In the log pile? Under a stone? Or on a tree? The children enjoyed making predictions and testing their hypotheses.

Friday 7th July 2023

Deer Class and their parents spent a wonderful afternoon at Dropmore School yesterday for their annual country dancing festival.

We do-si-do-ed, we promenaded, we galloped, we weaved and we swung our partners! The children have been preparing for several weeks and looked splendid in their neckerchieves and skirts. It was a treat to watch our neighbouring small schools perform their show pieces as well as joining them for ensemble dances.

Friday 30th June 2023

We released our butterflies this week!  Deer Class learned about the life cycle of butterflies in their science lessons. They then got to observe it in real life! Five caterpillars came to stay in the classroom two weeks ago. We watched them, we drew them and we measured their growth. One morning there were five chrysalises instead of caterpillars! In just seven days the metamorphosis was complete and the brand new butterflies could be released outside.

R.E.

Most religions have special places where members can go to worship, pray, celebrate or just be still and silent.

Deer Class contemplated what their individual special place might be like. We discussed the activities we would like to do in our very own special place. These included reading, napping, playing games, listening to music and just thinking. The children designed the space and then made shoebox dioramas.

Friday 23rd June 2023

Deer Class have been punctuating speech this week. In Year 2, we learn a range of punctuation including commas, exclamation marks and question marks. We also use full stops and capital letters consistently in our sentences. When using speech marks , or inverted commas, the children learn to surround the spoken words and put a comma after the speech. Here are some examples of our fabulous writing!

Paralympic Sports

Jordans had a wonderful sports day today. Our teams were named after the world class paralympians- Thomas Young, Kare Adenegan, Andrew Small and Maria Lyle. The children put their hearts into a variety of events like obstacle races, running races, egg and spoon and foam javelin throwing. In the afternoon, Deers tried out some sports where they experienced the challenges of paralympians. We played 'wheelchair bench ball', pulling ourselves around on the floor with our arms. We also tried the shot put with blindfolds. The dedication and fitness of our paralympian superheroes became clear.

Friday 16th June 2023

In our geography lessons, we are learning about maps. We are using the points of the compass and 'left', 'right' 'forwards' and 'backwards' to navigate. This week we discovered that map makers, or cartographers, use aerial photographs from aircraft and satellites to draw maps. Deer Class imagined what our classroom would look like from above. The children mapped out the furniture in the room and made a key to explain the shapes.

P.E.

The children have been practising our Sports Day events today. They cheered on their classmates and participated in the races with determination. We worked on our agility, speed, balance and concentration. We are superheroes!

Friday 9th June 2023

Deer Class drew self portraits this week. We learned how to divide the face up into sections so that our features were in the right place. The children were surprised to learn that their eyes were in the middle of their face rather than at the top! We used mirrors to make sure that our mouths, noses and eyebrows were the right shape. Using a light pressure on the pencil allowed them to make corrections and rub out guide lines. Can you tell who is who?

Thursday 25th May 2023

It was our trip to Mop End on Wednesday! It was a beautiful, sunny day where the children spent the day enjoying the natural world.

Deer Class were invited to build on their scientific studies of plants and animals. The children immersed themselves in activities such as building up labelled pictures of trees and flowers, blindfolded tree hugging, walking in the woods with mirrors held to their eyes that only allowed them to see the sky, making potions from petals and grasses and pond dipping. They also spent some time in quiet reflection in the woods, listening to the birds singing, drawing and writing about what they could see around them.

Today, they wrote gleefully all about their experiences. Here are some quotes from their writing:

'We had to guess which tree we had hugged and it was really fun!'

'We put the mirrors to our nose and looked at the tall trees.'

'We saw some tall, beautiful bluebells in the deep, dark forest.'

'Our group found 4 newts. It was amazing!'

'Getting 4 newts was extraordinary!'

'It was the best day ever!'

Friday 19th May 2023

Our Religious Education topic this half term is 'Special Places'. Deer Class thought about places that were special to them, considering how their special place makes them feel and what activities they do in their special place. We then learned about places that are special to Christians, Sikhs, Moslems and Buddhists. We discovered some of the practices of religious people when they enter their place of worship such as washing, removing shoes and covering their heads. This week, we found out about the shape of Buddhist temples. They are built to symbolise the 5 elements of water, air, earth, fire and wisdom. The children designed their own temples, using the symbolic shapes of the elements.

Art

We learned that a monoprint is a printed image that is used repeatedly to form a pattern. We had messy, creative fun printing found objects from around the classroom. The children experimented with repeating patterns and rotated patterns of printed objects.

Friday 12th May 2023

Heavier, lighter, grams, kilograms, mass and estimate were our mathematical key words this week.

Deer Class began by using balance scales to compare the mass of two objects. We then learned how to read weighing scales to determine the exact weight of our classroom objects. The children can even read scales when not every division is numbered!

Friday 5th May 2023

The whole school celebrated the upcoming coronation of KIng Charles III on Thursday. We spent a memorable day dressed in red, white and blue, learning about the traditions of a coronation and the history of our royal family. Deer Class also made origami crowns and lolly stick guards. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and a special cake that Deer Class had helped to make. The afternoon was full of fun as we danced on the playground.

Friday 28th April 2023

Year 2 had a treat today! We were visited by the artist, Miyuki Kasahara from Milton's Cottage in Chalfont St Giles. She is part of a project to create an environmentally friendly art installation at the historic site. The children learned how to make origami insects and animals. They were able to take some of their creations home, but also made butterflies from seed paper which will become part of the display at Milton's Cottage until October. This is part of The Wild Escape – a national initiative by The Art Fund to engage young people with nature and biodiversity.  Inspired by the BBC series The Wild Isles, presented by Sir David Attenborough, it invites young people to create animal artworks inspired by UK wildlife within museum and gallery collections. Get creative with creatures and creepy crawlies in the Folding Wildlife origami workshop led by Japanese artist Miyuki Kasahara.  Then look for them outside in the bug safari, and help to seed bomb so they can continue to encourage butterflies, bees and moths into the garden.

We explored the issue of consent in our PSHE lesson. The children learned the importance of asking permission for physical contact with others. Different people are comfortable with varying levels of contact. For instance, we are not all happy to be hugged or tickled. We also affirmed our own right to say no to any contact that we don't want. To illustrate this, we sat in a circle and asked our neighbour if we could hug them. The children employed their right to say yes or no and have their wishes respected.

How much are we influenced by gender stereotypes? In this lesson Deer Class sorted statements into groups, assigning them to boys and girls. The activity sparked lively discussion,

'My cousin does ballet and he's a boy.'

'Boys AND girls have long hair.'

'The England female football team are champions!'

'We all love cuddly toys.'

In the end, a wise child said 'I think they ALL belong in the middle,'

Friday 21st April 2023

Sketching a tree is a difficult skill involving close observation. The Deers had some tutoring and practice in how to draw the branches linking to the trunk before going to the Bluebell Woods. We had a peaceful, contemplative afternoon sketching our chosen trees.

Science

Careful observation was also required in our science lesson this week. We used magnifying glasses to look at different seeds and bulbs.

They will all produce different flowers. Our mission was to notice the differences between these two kinds of plant producing structures.

The children planted them all and will be monitoring their progress. More photos to follow!

Friday 31st March 2023

In our R.E. lesson this week we used the drama technique of 'freeze framing' to retell the Easter story.  We shared our photographs with the rest of the school on Wednesday in assembly. Deer Class loved seeing themselves on the big screen in the hall with captions to teach the younger children about this Christian festival.

Design Technology

On Thursday we made potato salad! Each child customised the recipe to their own taste.

Optional ingredients were black peeper, spring onions, Greek yoghurt or mayonnaise.

We all chopped cooked potatoes using the 'bridge' technique and cut chives using the 'claw' method.

The children tasted their own creations and evaluated the outcome. There were lots of smiling faces!

Friday 24th March 2023

We went off to the woods again on Monday! Deer Class had a wonderful time, despite the pouring rain. They played 'Marco Polo' which taught us how we can be found if we are ever lost. The searcher shouts 'Marco!' and the lost children reply 'Polo!'. We also played 'The floor is lava'. When given the instruction '3, 2, 1, floor is lava!' the children have to remove their feet from the ground. There were many giggles as we hopped onto logs and tree roots or grabbed hold of a firm low branch. In groups the children then busied themselves making dens for themselves or our friends, Jordy and Edward (the puppet squirrel and hedgehog)

Design Technology

Next week we will be making potato salad. In preparation for this we learned food hygiene rules on Thursday. Surfaces will be cleaned, hands washed and aprons worn. The children wrote the recipe for their salad and decided whether they would include any of the optional ingredients of spring onions, chives, Greek yoghurt or pepper. Using bananas to practise, they perfected the 'bridge' technique of chopping. We will be using this method to cut the potatoes next week. Yes, we did eat all the bananas!

Friday 17th March 2023

Meet The Recycling Children of Jordans! Inspired by Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of The Gambia, we decided to find our own way of recycling plastic bags. We made friendship bracelets by cutting strips of plastic from different coloured bags and plaiting them.

Our writing task was to write instructions on how to make them. We used imperative verbs and time conjunctions.

Friday 10th March 2023

Hurray! It's Forrest School time again for Deer Class! Even more exciting is the fact that we went to Crutches Wood in Jordans Village instead of our own Bluebell Woods. The children got to explore a new woodland environment and make comparisons between the two areas. Along the route we were able to spot signs of spring such as crocuses, daffodils and blossom. We followed our 'Ready, Safe and Respect' rules at all times and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon. 

Design Technology

We love healthy food in Deer Class, so Thursday afternoon was a treat! Our task was to evaluate different salads made from root vegetables. The children thought about the look, smell, taste and texture of the salads. They each wrote  adjectives to describe them and rated them out of 10. We made a class tally chart at the end to establish the favourite. Was it beetroot salad? Coleslaw? Potato salad?  Or carrot and raisin salad?

Friday 3rd March 2023

The Deer Class scientists have set up an experiment this week. We are growing cress seeds in different conditions to see how growth is affected. Some seeds will have no light, others no water, some no soil. We are also growing some seeds with all 3 of these factors. The growth of the seeds will be measured and recorded. This week we made predictions about the outcomes. We can't wait to see what we will find!

World Book Day

On Thursday we celebrated the joy of reading. We love dressing up at Jordans! Staff and pupils alike came to school in costume as book characters. We spent the day talking, drawing and writing about our characters. We also discussed our favourite books and authors.  This wonderful day concluded with a gallery of everyone's work in the hall and a story telling session.

Friday 24th February 2023

We are all so happy to be back at school after our half term break! It is exciting to see signs of spring beginning to appear.

Deer Class used their close observation skills this week in our art lesson. We sketched a vase of tulips and here are the results:

Friday 10th February 2023

What a thrilling day we had on Tuesday! To round off our learning about Roald Dahl we visited his museum in Great Missenden.

We were treated to a guided tour of the exhibits and Deer Class were able to share their extensive knowledge about our famous local author, as well as learning more about his life and works. We loved hearing the story about how he put a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the sweetshop as a boy. We saw the hole that he cut in his armchair to accommodate the lump on his back. We dressed up as some of his favourite characters and pretended to be fighter pilots in a mock aeroplane. The children were a credit to our school, superbly behaved and full of enthusiasm!

Friday 3rd February 2023

In Deer Class we enjoy our daily oracy sessions where we discuss philosophical questions and ponder issues that affect our lives. Recently we have debated the following questions:

Should the school holidays be shorter to allow more time for learning?

What super power would you like to have?

Can we have happiness without sadness?

Is school uniform a good idea?

If you make a cake, should you get the biggest slice?

This week we tackled ‘Would you like to live forever?’

Here are some of the responses:

‘No, I don’t want to live forever because I want to find out if Heaven is real and if you can become a ghost.’

‘Yes, I’d like to live forever. I’d live on a farm and grow all my own food.’

‘No, because people I love will die and I want to see them again in Heaven.’

‘Yes, I’d like to live forever because there would be more time for eating!’

The children know how to use the language ‘I agree or disagree with………..because……..’

We love enriching our speaking skills and sharing our thoughts in a way that we might not do in other lessons.

Friday 27th January 2023

We have loved learning about the author Roald Dahl and his story The Enormous Crocodile. Our art work has centred around the illustrator of  Roald Dahl's children's books, Quentin Blake. He has a very distinctive drawing style and uses water colour paints to colour his illustrations. Deer Class have looked at many of Quentin Blake's own books too, which he has written and illustrated. We copied some of his pictures and experimented with water colours to produce our own homages to Quentin Blake.

Friday 20th January 2023

Deer Class have been getting creative in Science this week. We have been learning about animals and their habitats. The children brought shoe boxes into school and transformed them into different natural habitats. Our dioramas depict jungles, under the sea, the arctic, woodlands and deserts. They are now proudly displayed in class!

Friday 13th January 2023

In maths this week we were looking at arrays. These are arrangements of objects in equal rows and columns.

They are a pictorial representation of times tables. By the end of the week the children were writing number sentences using the 'X' multiplication symbol. Here we are writing sentences to describe arrays.

Geography

We used our new atlases on Monday to locate and name the countries of the United Kingdom. The children also found the capital cities and labelled the bodies of water that surround our islands.

Friday 6th January 2023

Deer Class returned to school full of enthusiasm for a new term of learning. We have embarked on a fresh topic, The Best of British. Check out our topic web to see all the avenues we will be exploring. Today, our first outdoor P.E. lesson, was all about practising hockey skills. The children were taught to hold the hockey stick correctly and control the ball while dribbling it through small spaces.

Friday 16th December 2022

A cold and frosty week full of Christmas festivities! The wintry weather kept us inside most of the time, but we did have some safe fun in the snow on Monday afternoon. It was a treat to see the children's happy faces as they built little snowmen!

Design Technology

We analysed, we assessed, we designed, we practised cutting and sewing skills and we made Christmas tree baubles! This week the children sewed their unique designs and evaluated the results. They are very proud to be bringing them home to hang on the family Christmas tree.

The Nativity

The school Nativity play is always a highlight of the year. Our wonderful children showcased their singing, dancing and acting talents in two memorable performances this week. Here are our wonderful cast of narrators, shepherds, wise men, angels, Mary, Joseph, the innkeeper and the census takers. 

We were also able to take a sample of our Nativity songs to Jordans Village residents on Thursday. Deer Class were warmly welcomed to the Village Hall where they entertained the local community with beaming smiles! Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday 9th December 2022

Our Christmas tree baubles are nearly ready! Deer Class have been cutting and sewing their lovely felt decorations. They will be adorning a Christmas tree near you shortly! Here are some sneaky peeks at their flourishing creations...

Friday 2nd December 2022

We had an AMAZING day in London yesterday! Deer Class visited St Paul's Cathedral to round off our topic on The Great Fire of London. We were treated to our own workshop where the children shared all their knowledge with our tour guide. They dressed up as some historical figures of the time- Samuel Pepys, Sir Christopher Wren and Thomas Farriner. We were given special access to the quire where the children were allowed to lay on the floor and look up at the ornate ceiling. It was a truly memorable trip!

Science- Materials and their Properties

This week the children were challenged to find a material suitable to make a mop for Cinderella. They tested the absorbency of foil, kitchen roll, plastic bags, paper and J-Cloths. Which one do you think they chose after their experiments?

Friday 25th November 2022

Deer Class re-enacted The Great Fire of London in a special Forest School session. We travelled back to 1666 on our pirate ship time machine! Once there, we visited Thomas Farriner's bakery and watched the fire start! We all had pictures of 17th century houses  and each child got to add their house to the fire. The final picture was St Paul's Cathedral. We also added wood to the fire to represent the material that so much of London was constructed with. We talked about Samuel Pepys and Mrs Finn brought some parmesan cheese for us to smell. Then, just like the people of the time, we put out the fire by making a line and passing along water from the River Thames. (Our River Thames was a plastic trug)

Design Technology

In preparation for making Christmas tree decorations, we learned some sewing skills this week. We can now all do running stitch, over stitch and sew on buttons!

Friday 18th November 2022

We waved 'fire sticks' as part of our drama session on The Great Fire of London. The children thought about the characters who were there and their activities throughout the 4 day inferno. We were pretending to be King Charles II, Samuel Pepys, Lord Mayor Thomas Bludworth and the baker, Thomas Farriner. This learning experience helped them with their creative writing on Tuesday where they used adjectives and impressive verbs to describe The Great Fire.

Science

We are investigating materials and their properties in Science. This week we explored the different ways that we can change the shape of materials. Here we are bending, squashing, twisting and stretching. Some things, like wood and metal, didn't change shape at all!

Friday 11th November 2022

Deer Class have been practising balance, agility and coordination in P.E. this week. Having developed balancing skills on different parts of our bodies, we worked with a partner to create collaborative balances.

Subtraction, minus, take away, fewer, difference- These are the mathematical words we have been using this week. The children learned a range of strategies to solve subtraction problems. They counted back on a number line, used Base 10 equipment and practised column subtraction. 

Friday 4th November 2022

We are preparing for Christmas! 

Deer Class have been busy with pencils and felt tips creating their own Christmas cards! These jolly snowmen will be professionally printed and available for you to order in packs soon! 

Friday 21st October 2022

We have had a lively week of learning in Deer Class!

Our final Forest School session had a Halloween theme. The children wove spiders webs around the trees, mixed up potions with acorns and conkers and decorated a haunted house with natural objects. We also made fire! Mrs Finn taught us about the fire triangle. A fire needs fuel, oxygen and heat in order to burn. She closely supervised us as we used a flint to make sparks. The sparks then burnt our cotton wool ball.

In Maths we were adding one digit numbers to two digit numbers. We used our Base 10 equipment to regroup ones and tens.

Look at us making healthy sandwiches in our Science lesson! Having discussed what a balanced diet is with Mrs Taylor, we designed our own sandwiches. We made them and ate them on Wednesday!

Friday 14th October 2022

In our art lesson this week, we moved from collage to sculpture. Using clay, the children rolled, stretched, squashed, pinched and fashioned model snails. We all loved manipulating the clay and strengthening our finger muscles. Our sculptures have all been given names and will be painted next week when they are dry. 

Friday 7th October 2022

On Monday we learned how to use tools in forest school. Mrs Finn demonstrated a palm drill, loppers, secateurs and a conker clamp. We also built a den in the woods! There was lots of discussion about the size and shape of the materials needed. Den building was a topic in our R.E. assembly this week too. We learned about the Jewish celebration of Sukkot. It is their harvest festival and families build a temporary shelter outside to eat their meals and pray together.

Lunchtime Helpers

Deer Class are proudly assisting our lunch staff in the hall each day. All the children work on a rota. They give out trays, fill up water glasses, serve food and help the smaller children with cutlery skills.

PSHE

Today we discussed some of the uncomfortable emotions we might feel sometimes. Emotions like anger, disappointment, loneliness, fear, nervousness and sadness. We talked about the events that could happen to trigger these emotions like an argument with a friend, visiting a new place, performing on stage or a pet dying. These feelings are normal, but it is helpful to have ways to deal with them. The children thought about how they can make themselves feel better. Ideas included talking to a friend or adult, cuddling our favourite soft toy, taking some exercise and having a cry. We chose the strategies that we thought would work best for us and made a little keyring tool kit.

Friday 30th September 2022

Here's our week in words and pictures!

Forest School- We, the intrepid explorers of Deer Class, went hunting for minibeasts and plants in the woods. Some of us made art from the things we found! We made a tally chart to show how many natural objects we discovered. Mrs Finn helped us to prune the prickly brambles to keep the woods safe.

Art

Following on from our harvest collage work, we learned about Henri Matisse who was the first artist to use paper cut-outs. He created a collage picture called The Snail. We thought this would be a great piece to take inspiration from. Thinking about the snail from our book The Snail and the Whale, we used coloured paper to cut different shapes and arranged them to make a sea snail.

Wednesday 21st September 2022

In English this week, the children are writing sequels to The Snail and the Whale. Today, we planned our new stories in words and pictures. We had to make sure there was a problem and a resolution. Tomorrow we will begin our careers as authors by writing the opening scenes of our stories. Watch this space!

Friday 16th September 2022

We spent some time this week reflecting on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The children had fond memories of celebrating the Queen's 70 years on the throne earlier in the summer. They enjoyed watching the lovely tea party with Her Majesty  and Paddington Bear. After looking at photos of her life from a baby to old age, Deer Class shared their thoughts with each other.

"She was a lovely lady."

"She wore a beautiful crown."

"She was 96 years old."

"She can be with her husband now."

Forest School

We were all so excited to restart our forest school lessons on Monday! We said hello again to Jordy the squirrel and reminded ourselves of the rules we follow to keep everyone safe. We noticed that there had been some changes in the environment since we were last there. The bluebells are not flowering now. This was a sign of the changing of the season as we move into autumn. The children then got to be explorers and hunted around the woods to see what they could find. They sorted their discoveries into natural and man-made objects. (We found Lego and a cup as well as leaves and minibeasts!)

Friday 9th September 2022

 Deer Class have been settling into their new environment with excitement! Here we are using our brand new atlases.

We revised some learning from Year 1, naming the 7 continents of the world. We sang a song about them too!

In Science, the children sorted pictures of animals and their babies. We found that some baby animals look just like their parents (elephants and cats), but others are completely different (caterpillars and butterflies, tadpoles and frogs)