Friday 26th April 2024

There was shock and horror in Deer Class on Tuesday when we discovered that our glue sticks had all disappeared! We received a letter from them, telling us that we needed to treat them better or they wouldn't come back! The children set to work straight away, writing persuasive letters, asking the glue sticks to return. They made promises to always put the lids back on and not press too hard.

Thankfully, the letters worked and our glue sticks returned!

Forest School/Art

As we set off for the Bluebell Woods, our key vocabulary was texture, rubbing, print and pattern. Deer Class used wax crayons on their sides to make rubbings of the many natural textures they found in the woods. Tree bark and leaves gave wonderful effects. 

Back in class, the children tore and cut shapes from their rubbings and arranged them on coloured paper.

Friday 19th April 2024

Hooray for the summer term! Deer Class returned from their Easter holidays with lots of memories to relay. As part of our geography work, the children sent postcards to the school from around the world. We have plotted their travels on our world map.

Art/Forest School

 The children further developed their drawing skills by learning how to sketch trees. They studied how branches form from the trunk and split into smaller branches and twigs. They then applied this skill by drawing trees from our own Bluebell Woods. Using leaf identification charts, we discovered that we have birch trees and horse chestnut trees in our woods.

Thursday 28th March 2024

Happy Easter everyone! We made 'lift the flap' Easter cards this week. Deer Class practised their drawing, cutting and design skills, producing some colourful, cheery egg-themed cards.

English

Written instructions need to include:

a list of equipment

time conjunctions

imperative verbs

bullet points

The class used all of these features to write instructions for making friendship bracelets from plastic bags.

We then made the bracelets, which was a fitting way to conclude our work on plastic pollution and recycling.

Friday 22nd March 2024

The children have been studying the features of persuasive writing. We have read about the problem of plastic pollution in the environment and gathered facts about how people can help to solve the problem. Deer Class wrote persuasive texts to educate the readers about the problem of plastic. Can you spot the persuasive features of repetition, rhetorical questions, expanded noun phrases and imperative verbs?

Science

This week, the Deer Class scientists dissected seeds and observed them closely using magnifying glasses. They then attempted to match seeds to the plants that they produce. There was a wide range of sizes, shapes and colours of seed, but the investigators solved the mysteries!

Friday 15th March 2024

In maths we are studying shapes. The children can name 2D and 3D shapes, as well as describing them. We use the vocabulary of SIDES, VERTICES, EDGES and FACES. Here we are sorting 2D shapes into groups according to their features.

Oracy

What makes a good parent?

This was the subject of our discussion on Thursday.

These were some of the responses:

A good parent.....

gives you food when you're hungry.

reads you stories.

helps you when you're sad.

looks after you when you're ill.

takes you to fun places.

is sometimes strict.

still loves you even when you shout.

should not say 'yes' all the time.

Design Technology

Having tasted different types of salad in a previous lesson, this week we made coleslaw, which the children had voted as their favourite.

We learned food hygiene rules and safe cutting methods. The children sliced apple using the 'bridge' technique and shredded cabbage using the 'claw' technique. We also made a mayonnaise-free dressing with Greek yoghurt, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. The results were delicious!

Friday 8th March 2024

Deer Class had a wonderful time on Thursday celebrating World Book Day. The children came to school dressed up as an array of book characters. We enjoyed a special assembly where we were able to see the costumes being sported by Owl and Fox Classes. We decided to use our skills with water colour paints to create self portraits of ourselves in character. The children then wrote about who they were, describing how they looked and which book their character came from.

Geography

The weather plays such an important part in our lives. In Deer class, we are monitoring the changing of the seasons and the daily weather patterns. Symbols have been used for decades as a quick and efficient way of showing the current weather conditions. This week we watched some old and new weather broadcasts from the television. Deer Class then became weather forecasters! In groups, they rehearsed using weather symbols on a map of the United Kingdom. We all enjoyed watching each other's forecasts!

Science

We concluded our investigation into what plants need to grow this week. Cress seeds were chosen because they grow very quickly. However, what happens if they have no water? Or no light? Or no warmth? Or nothing to grow in? Here is what we found...

Friday 1st March 2024

Spring has sprung and the tulips are here! The children enjoyed seeing vases of tulips in class for our art lesson. Having practised getting the shape of the petals correct, they made observational drawings of the flowers. I'm sure you'll agree that they created outstanding pictures. We were able to share our drawings with our friends from the village this week too!

R.E.

In R.E. this term we are listening and responding to traditional religious stories. Noah and the Flood is a well known story from the Jewish and Christian traditions.  Noah was a good man who was instructed to build an ark and provide safety for two of each animal on Earth. We learned that God sent a flood that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Noah, his family and the animals were safe in the ark. When the rain stopped, Noah sent a dove to see if the land was dry. The dove returned with an olive branch. Deer Class made their own doves after listening to the story. We have displayed them with a rainbow which Christians and Jews believe is a promise from God that he will not flood the Earth again.

Friday 23rd February 2024

We are all so happy to be back together in Deer Class after our holiday! The theme of nature and the environment is threading its way through much of our learning this spring. In our music lesson we listened to the beautiful orchestral piece 'Earth', composed by Hans Zimmer. The children were familiar with his musical scores for the films The Lion King, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar. Our challenge this week was to respond artistically to Zimmer's 'Earth' music. We used mixed drawing media (wax crayons, coloured pencils and felt tips). The children had a large circle to represent our planet. They were free to express themselves in lines, pictures or whatever came to mind as they listened to the music.

Design Technology

We began our food technology unit this week. Our first task was to consider where our food comes from. We identified 19 different fruits and vegetables and thought about whether they grew under the ground or above it. Deer Class learned the term 'root vegetable' for those that grow underground. We sorted the fruits and vegetables as a class then worked in pairs to create two groups.

Friday 9th February 2024

What a treat we had on Tuesday when we visited the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden. Our day began with a walk through the village, stopping at sites that Roald Dahl mentions in his children's books. Our village trail led us to the church of St Peter and St Paul. In the graveyard here we visited Roald Dahl's grave and sat on the nearby memorial bench that has his own children's names carved on it.

Then we walked to the museum. Did you know that the purple gates at the entrance to the museum were a gift from the Hollywood film makers who made Charlie and the Chocolate factory? Inside we encountered a door that looks and smells like chocolate! The children dressed in flying gear and sat in the model aeroplane to commemorate Dahl's time as a fighter pilot. We saw his writing hut and learned about his early life at school.

In a workshop called 'Creative Collaborators', Deer Class worked with a partner (as Roald Dahl did with Quentin Blake). Together they made playdough monsters, invented their own story characters and crafted settings for the character using collage. 

Since returning to school, we have continued this activity and written the full stories about our invented characters!

Friday 2nd February 2024

In our maths lessons, we have moved from multiplication to division. The children have been using manipulatives to make equal groups from a given number. We have explored the relationship between repeated addition, multiplication and division. We can therefore record 3+3+3+3=12, 3 x 4=12 and 12 ÷ 3=4       

Here we are making equal groups and recording our findings.

Computing

Deer Class are practising their programming skills on the iPads. This week they worked in pairs to make a bee move around a garden. One partner wrote down the directions for a route and the other predicted where the bee would end up. They then sent the bee off to see if they were correct!

Art

Alongside our studies of the author Roald Dahl , we have been finding out about his illustrator, Quentin Blake. This week the children chose an illustration from a Roald Dahl book or one of Quentin Blake's own children's books. They used the trace and transfer method of drawing. Finally they used water colour paints just like Quentin Blake. The results are spectacular and will make a fantastic art display in school.

Friday 26th January 2024

The children are enjoying our indoor P.E. sessions on Mondays. We are practising yoga. The work focusses on controlled breathing alongside stretching, bending, balance and strength. We have learned several yoga poses including the dog, cat, mountain, squat, aeroplane and tripod. This week the children were following a pattern of movement from one pose to another. We always end by laying down on our backs and relaxing each part of our body while breathing deeply. 

English

Roald Dahl's Enormous Crocodile has given us great scope for writing this half term. On Tuesday we made 'wanted' posters, describing how the crocodile looks and why he is dangerous. This was a great opportunity to showcase the children's artistic skills as well as their writing!

Science

Deer Class upcycled shoe boxes this week and created different habitats. They included jungles, arctic landscapes, woodlands and undersea homes. The children have been learning about the lifestyle needs of plants and animals and how they have adapted to their environments.

Friday 19th January 2024

In our maths lesson on Tuesday we were doubling numbers. The ladybird mats provided a practical and visual way to record our work.

The children put spots on the ladybirds using counters or drew spots with whiteboard pens. We started with low numbers, then got more ambitious!

Art

At Jordans, we are developing our sketching skills by taking a school-wide theme each half term. Our latest task was to sketch our own shoe. Deer Class spent some time practising shapes and lines before making these observational drawings. We are very proud of the results!

Friday 12th January 2024

Deer Class have returned from a restful Christmas break and are excited for the spring instalment of their learning.

Our Religious Education topic is 'God and Nature'. We began by exploring the Christian story of creation from the book of Genesis.

The children worked in pairs to illustrate the 7 stages of the creation story. Here they are collaborating as artists...

Maths

It's time to multiply in Year 2! In this practical lesson, the children created number sentences from arrays.

Arrays are arrangements of pictures or objects in rows and columns. From these pictures, the children are able to 

construct repeated addition and multiplication sentences. They used their counting in twos, fives and tens skills to

find answers.

Friday 15th December 2023

It has been a week full of Christmas fun in Deer Class! The children acted and sang brilliantly in our Twinkly Nativity play on Tuesday and Thursday. They made beautifully crafted 3D snowmen for their Christmas cards. Our Design Technology project was rounded off with evaluations of the children's Christmas tree baubles. Watch this space for photographs of our trip to St Paul's Cathedral!

St Paul's Cathedral

Off we went to St Paul's to conclude our Great Fire of London topic. It was a great adventure! The children were treated to a workshop where they saw pictures of St Paul's in all its various incarnations over time. They dressed up as King Charles II, Samuel Pepys and Thomas Farriner, acting out the roles that these man played in the historic event. We made a chain gang with leather buckets, just as the people of 1666 did, transporting water from the River Thames to the fire. We mimed using fire hooks to pull down the wooden houses to make fire breaks. We even found out how gun powder smells!

Our guide went on to show us parts of the beautiful building that Christopher Wren designed after the fire. The children lay on the floor looking up at the amazing domed ceiling.

While touring the cathedral after lunch, Deer Class spotted a large Nativity scene and identified the characters that they had portrayed in our Christmas show.

As an added bonus, we were given a viewing of the Dean's stairs or geometric stair. These 88 stone steps appear to float. They were included in the films Paddington and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

Friday 8th December 2023

The theme of fire has permeated much of our learning this half term. From historical facts about the Great Fire of London to descriptive writing in English. This week the children actually made fire by using a fire steel in forest school. We have already learnt about the fire triangle of oxygen, heat and fuel: the three things needed to make fire. They knelt down in front of the fire area on one knee in a way that gave them access to the ground, but meant they could quickly move their body away safely. Everyone had a chance to strike the steel flint and ignite some cotton wool.

Design Technology

Now that we can cut and sew, it was time to make the Christmas tree baubles that we designed last week! Deer Class used shape templates to draw around on coloured felt. They cut out two of their chosen shapes and decorated them using buttons and sequins. The next step was to sew the two sides together using either running stitch or over stitch. Next we will stuff our baubles and sew up the hole. We will attach a small length of ribbon so they can be hung on a tree.

Friday 1st December 2023

The children  are preparing to perform our Twinkly Nativity play. We have catchy songs and wonderful characters! Rehearsals are going well. We can't wait to have an audience! Here are some sneaky peeks at some of the scenes. We are not wearing our costumes yet, but can you tell who everyone is?

R.E.

At Jordans, we want to teach the children about the diversity of faiths and beliefs around the world. This week we were fortunate to be able to interview one of our local residents who is a humanist. The class had a lesson which informed them about the humanist philosophy and then they prepared some questions to put to our visitor. It was an enriching experience that developed the children's questioning skills and added to their understanding of the world.

Here are some of their probing questions:

What does humanism mean?

Do humanists believe that the world was made by science?

Why do you not believe in God?

What do you do when people talk about God?

Do humanists celebrate religious festivals like Christmas and pancake day?

Do you read the Bible?

Do you have humanist stories like in the Bible?

Do you wear any special clothes?

What is your diet? Are you vegetarian?

Friday 24th November 2023

A week full of new skills and experiences! On Monday, Deer Class were lucky to be able to visit some thatchers at work in Jordans  Village. We have seen pictures of thatched roofs while finding out about London in 1666, but this was the real thing! The children watched as the thatchers worked. They were also kind enough to answer our questions.

Design Technology

We will be designing and making Christmas tree baubles in the coming weeks. In preparation for this, the children practised their sewing skills on Thursday. We learned how to thread a needle, tie a knot the thread, sew on a button and how to sew two types of stitch. We will be using running stitch and overstitch in our designs.

Science

What effect does heat have on some materials? That was our enquiry in Science this week. We observed bread, ice, chocolate and corn before and after exposing them to heat. The children came up with some wonderful adjectives. They loved melting chocolate buttons on their tongues! Eating the bread after it had been toasted plus tasting the 'popped' corn was a popular part of the investigation!

Friday 17th November 2023

 The Great Fire of London was brought to life through drama this week. Buckled into our time machine, we travelled back to the year 1666. There, we met the diarist Samuel Pepys, King Charles II, Lord Mayor Bloodworth and Thomas Farriner, the baker. We listened to the story and assumed statue-like poses of the important characters of the time. With scarves as flames, we created the enormous inferno, swishing and billowing around us. We smelled the smoke, felt the heat, heard the screams of the people and saw the buildings collapsing. Finally we strapped ourselves back into the time machine and returned to the safety of the classroom.

Friday 10th November 2023

Weaving spiders webs with sticks and wool, making witches' potions, threading conkers and following a treasure hunt through the woods are just some of the exciting activities that Deer Class carried out in Forest School this week. The children hunted for leaves marked with letters that were attached to branches. They then had to rearrange the letters into a word. They were jubilant when they worked out that the letters spelled 'bonfire'.

Music

We have been learning to sing 'London's Burning' in the round. Having mastered this skill, the children are now being taught how to play the tune on recorders. It was tricky covering the holes completely with the pads of our fingers and using a gentle 't' movement with our tongues when blowing. The class are loving being immersed in the world of the Great Fire of London through their English, topic and music lessons.

Maths

In maths we have been using our Base 10 equipment to subtract from a 2-digit number. We found out that we sometimes needed to exchange a ten for 10 ones before we could do the subtraction. This will be concrete experience for when we learn the written column method of subtraction.

Friday 3rd November 2023

Deer Class are continuing to show progression with their sketching skills. The school's drawing challenge for this half term was to draw a snowman. In Year 2 our objectives were to include facial features, clothes and some shading techniques. We followed a step by step method and practised on our white boards first. Here are the host of merry men that the class created!

English

In our English lessons, we have been learning to identify the 4 types of sentence. 

Statements usually end with a full stop but can also use an exclamation mark.

The cat ran away down the street.

Commands can be punctuated with a full stop or an exclamation mark.

Fetch me my cat.

Questions must end with a question mark.

Have you found my cat yet?

Exclamations must end with an exclamation mark.

What an amazing cat you have!

The children came up with an example of each type of sentence in response to a picture.

Friday 20th October 2023

Forest School was full of the smells of damp leaves, wet wood and lavender. Yes, lavender! Mrs Finn brought along some sprigs from her garden. The children tried adding the petals to their conker soap. Much enjoyment was had as they smashed conkers in plastic bags and made a foamy soap by adding the pieces to water and lavender. We also made leaf prints by pressing leaves into salt dough.

Some of us found minibeasts by looking under logs. It's a great time of year to be in the woods!

Art

Origami whales and painted clay snails! What a wonderfully artistic and craft filled end to this half term's topic! Deer Class enjoyed mixing in glue to make the paint glossy. They decided that their snails would have rainbow colours with stripes, spots and swirly patterns.

It took patience and resilience to make the origami whales. Folding, cutting and curling paper proved to be tricky skills, but look at the results!

Friday 13th October 2023

We've had a busy week of learning in Deer Class. In their science lesson, the children made healthy sandwiches. They had designed their sandwiches last week, thinking of their favourite healthy fillings. They used cooking skills like spreading, chopping, grating, slicing, mixing and combining. Of course the best part was the eating!

Art

In our art lesson we learned about sculpture. This type of art work can be made from metal, wood, stone or clay. Deer Class sculpted snails from clay, just like the character from our class book, The Snail and the Whale. We enjoyed squashing, squeezing, rolling, balling and twisting the clay before moulding it into a model snail. Look out for the finished painted versions next week!

Friday 6th October 2023

Speaking and listening skills are an important part of our learning at Jordans. In Deer Class we enjoy our daily 'oracy' time when we share our thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects. This week we have discussed:

What makes a good friend?

Should we respect everyone?

What makes you happy?

Here are some of the responses to the question 'What makes you happy?'

Having my friends for play dates...

Watching my favourite football team win...

Horse riding makes me happy...

Spending time with my family...

Riding my quad bike makes me happy....

Playing with my friends in the playground...

Going to a funfair..

Playing sport..

Science

In this week's science lesson, the children were thinking about the effects of exercise on the body. They enjoyed trying out some exercises in the classroom. They noticed that their hearts were beating faster, they were breathing more deeply and they felt warmer.

Friday 29th September 2023

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson has been a source of inspiration and creativity for us in Deer Class. We collected together our favourite words and phrases like 'starlit sea', 'coral caves' and 'fiery mountains'. The children then composed their own descriptive writing in the form of character and setting descriptions. We also wrote our own sequels to the story where a whole colony of snails go on an adventure and save the whale from a new catastrophe!

P.E.

Our football skills were honed this week. Here are the children practising aiming and shooting in their teams. There were cheers of support and celebration!

Friday 22nd September 2023

The artist Henri Matisse pioneered the art of paper cut-outs when his ill health meant he couldn't paint any more. Deer Class were eager to imitate his style. We were especially interested in his composition called 'The Snail'. We are enjoying reading and writing about a snail in our English lessons. Here we are being creative on Thursday afternoon!

Friday 15th September 2023

Hooray for forest school! Deer Class were so pleased to return to the woods and observe what had changed over the summer. We found baby oak trees growing! We explored some more, we built dens, made muddy potions, collected acorns, climbed trees and found minibeasts!

Art

This week we learned about the artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo. Arcimboldo was born in Italy in 1526. He is famous for creating head portraits made from fruits and vegetables. Deer Class have made their own homages to the artist through the medium of collage.

Friday 8th September 2023

The new Deer Class were straight back into their learning with enthusiasm this week! The sun shone and the fans kept us cool as we grew our brains together. In Maths we revised numbers to 50: how to write the numerals, the number words and different ways to represent them with equipment and pictures. Here we are using Dienes blocks and tens frames to make numbers to 50:

Topic Lesson

We began our topic, 'Intrepid Explorers' by looking at atlases together. The children remembered the names of the 7 continents from their work in Year 1. We labelled and coloured our own world maps. As a challenge, the children were asked to find and label the United Kingdom.