Year 2 – School’s Out For Summer!

10/7/20

Hello for the last time year 2! We are SUPER sad that this is our last blog of the year and that you will be leaving us! We have had so much fun with you and want you all to know that you are superstars!

Can you believe that you are almost ready to go to year 3?
This week you will have lots of fun meeting your new teachers; we have told them all about how wonderful you are and we know that they are all super excited to meet you!

If we were in school we would be having lots of fun for our last week together so our blog this week reflects that. Instead of the usual Monday – Friday lessons we have picked some fun activities that you can have a go at in whatever order you choose.

Have fun and keep sharing your work and experiences for one last week on Facebook, Twitter and via our homework email address.

Year 2 Story
Here is the final part of our Great Fire of London story we hope you enjoy it!

Lovely Literacy
You might like to try these literacy based activities as we come to the end of term.

Year 2 Reflection
Have a think about your time in Year 2. It’s been a funny one, hasn’t it!? Despite spending some of it at home, you have been absolutely amazing and managed to become geographers, historians, artists, designers, scientists… the sky really is the limit where you are concerned!
We would like you to think back through all of our topics & decide how you have been these skillful beings!

Below is a reminder of each of our topics:
Into the Woods
Titanic
Romans
Destination Unknown
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside!
Goodness, Gracious Great Balls of Fire!

Incredible Me Rainbows
Can you create a rainbow to tell your new teacher all about you?
You might like to record facts about you or adjectives that describe your personality.



Tasks for your teachers
It has been a very strange few months and your teachers have had some quite big news since lock down started.
We wondered if you could help them out?

Mrs Mullick
Just before lock down started Mrs Mullick found out that she was going to have another baby!
Edie is very excited that she is going to be a big sister and was even more excited when she found out that she was going to have a little brother!



Can you help Mrs Mullick get organised for her new baby by completing some or all of the challenges below?

1. Think of a name for the baby
2. Design the babies nursery
3. Design a safe and fun baby toy
4. A list of things that Mrs Mullick will need to buy
5. A piece of advice for Mrs Mullick

Miss Pearson
Unfortunately Miss Pearson’s lovely wedding had to be cancelled, she was supposed to be getting married this summer but that has been rescheduled to next year.



Now Miss Pearson has to plan a whole new wedding. Can you help her out by completing these activities?

1. Design Miss Pearson a new wedding dress.
2. Design a new wedding cake (you could even make a smaller version if you wanted to test it out!)
3. Decide what songs should be played at the wedding
4. Arrange the seating plan for a table of 10 teachers invited to the wedding.
5. A piece of advice for Miss Pearson

Magical Maths

Oh no! Some of the teachers at Archibald First School have a problem. Can you help them out by solving the challenges below?
These challenges will ask you to use lots of different skills that you have learnt over the year. Have fun!

Super Science

Invisible Ink with Lemon Juice
Making invisible ink is a lot of fun, you can pretend you are a secret agent as you keep all your secret codes and messages hidden from others. All you need is some basic household objects and the hidden power of lemon juice.
What you’ll need:
Half a lemon, Water, Spoon, Bowl, Cotton bud, White paper, Lamp or other light bulb 
Instructions:
1. Squeeze some lemon juice into the bowl and add a few drops of water.
2. Mix the water and lemon juice with the spoon.
3. Dip the cotton bud into the mixture and write a message onto the white paper.
4. Wait for the juice to dry so it becomes completely invisible.
5. When you are ready to read your secret message or show it to someone else, heat the paper by holding it close to a light bulb. 



Diet Coke & Mentos Eruption
This experiment is a lot of fun and sure to amaze your friends and family (assuming you do it outside rather than in the living room).

What you’ll need:
Large bottle of Diet Coke, About half a pack of Mentos 
Instructions:
1. Make sure you are doing this experiment in a place where you won’t get in trouble for getting Diet Coke everywhere! Outside on some grass is perfect, please don’t try this one in your family lounge!!
2. Stand the Diet Coke upright and unscrew the lid.
3. Put some sort of funnel or tube on top of it so you can drop the Mentos in at the same time (about half the pack is a good amount). Doing this part can be tricky – Once you drop the Mentos into the coke, stand back, it’s VERY explosive. The trick is to drop the Mentos in as fast as you can. If too much of the fizz escapes before you add the Mento the reaction won’t be as good. A funnel or tube can help the Mentos all go into the coke in one go.
4. Time for the fun part, drop the Mentos into the Diet Coke and stand back!
5. If you’ve done it properly a huge geyser of Diet Coke should come flying out of the bottle, it’s a very impressive sight. The record is about 9 metres (29 feet) high!

Marvellous Moon Landing

The Space Race
Moon Landing – 51st Anniversary

In the past, there was lots of competition between Russia and the USA. Both countries wanted to be the first to send an astronaut to space. Russia managed this first, by sending Yuri Gagarin in April 1961. He orbited Earth a little more than once and was in space for 108 minutes. The USA wanted to show they could do this too and sent Alan Shepherd in May 1961. However, the USA wanted to do something even better – they wanted to send an astronaut to the moon! In July 1969, they did exactly that.

On Monday 20th July 2020, it will be the 51st anniversary since the first ever person landed on the moon!

MISSION:
Research the 1969 Moon Landing and find out the answer to these questions…

Which 3 astronauts went to the moon and what were their jobs in the space craft?
Who was the first astronaut to set foot on the moon?
Where did the rocket start its journey?

BBC Bitesize might be able to help.

Super Challenge: The space rocket is in different parts/modules. Can you research and name these parts?

Then, enjoy the activities below. You can complete as many or as few as you like! You can even learn to draw an astronaut here!
If you have enjoyed learning about the moon landing, why not investigate some other astronauts or the hidden figures at NASA who work hard to discover the maths and physics that send astronauts to Space. Katherine Johnson is a great example.

DT
To children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes


Since our lives have changed dramatically and we find our ‘new normal’ you might find that you have been ordering more and more items online and therefore creating a hefty pile of cardboard boxes that need to be recycled. If this is the case, we have just the activity for you and your child!

Using the book ‘Not a Box’ by Antoinette Portis can you and your child create some interesting cardboard creations? See the hyperlink below for a range of creative ideas…

https://kidscraftroom.com/cardboard-box-activities-art-crafts-kids/

Awesome Art
Have you ever sat with a piece of paper and a pencil and just started to draw? Without really knowing what you were going to end up with? This is called a doodle. Many great pieces of art work start with a doodle.
This story is all about a simple line that with a little added creativity become a beautiful picture!

Use the sheet attached to see if you can draw a different squiggle in each box. Can you turn each squiggle into a piece of artwork or a picture? Let your imagination run wild!

Blue Peter’s Six Badges of Summer



Do you want to get involved with Blue Peter’s Six Badges of Summer? There are six weeks of great things to do and join in with.

There is a video here.

You can apply for an exclusive wall chart to keep track of how you’re doing and some cool stickers, too. If you want to apply for stickers to add to your wall chart you need to ask a grown-up to include your details when they are uploading a picture or video.

Have a look here

Just For Fun!

Get closer to nature with ‘50 things to do before you’re 11¾’. There’s plenty of outdoor activities to do all year round, from watching the sunset to creating some wild art. Many can be done at home and in your garden.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/50-things-to-do

Year 2, what can we say?
It has been an absolute pleasure teaching you this year. Thank you so much for being the wonderful, creative, hardworking, kind and caring children that you are. We couldn’t have wished for a better year group to teach and although the year didn’t end in the way that we wanted it to we want to let you know that we are so proud of you and super sad to see you go.

We will never forget you. Have a wonderful summer; have fun, explore, make memories, laugh and be happy. We will see you next year when you are big year 3s!

All our love
Miss Pearson, Mrs Mullick, Mrs Patrick, Mrs Tadbeer and Miss Gowland.
xxxx

Here is a little video from the teachers who are saying goodbye to you for this year. We will miss you all so much!
Miss Gowland and Mrs Patrick are both looking forward to working with you again in year 3!