Welcome to Hedgehog class! Our teacher is Mrs Jackson, who has been teaching for 15 years, and has worked at Bedwell for the last 5. Her favourite things are Lindt chocolate and reading her Kindle. She doesn’t like running very much, and is scared of spiders!

• All about Year 2 - watch our introductory video
• Our curriculum map - find out about our current topics
• Our latest class newsletter
• Meet our School Councillors, Leo and Jessica 

Home learning ideas:

• We're working on addition and subtraction this term, so look for opportunities to practice these skills when you're out and about:
  • Calculate change using subtraction at the shops - we had £10 when we left home and we’ve spent £6, so how much should we have left? How much will we need to buy these presents for Nan and Granddad? 
  • Count down days until Christmas or the holidays - We’ve just opened door number 5 on the advent calendar, so how many chocolates are left? How many sleeps are there until the Christmas holidays? 
  • Add up the judge’s scores on Strictly to work out each couple’s scores - how far ahead is the leader? 
  • Use dried pasta, rice or marbles to add groups, make totals or subtract. 
• Constant practice of reading and phonics is just about the most valuable thing you can do at home. Try to read with your child as often as possible and talk to them about what they’ve read. There’s guidance on supporting phonics availabe on the Ruth Miskin site, here.    
  
• In science, we’ve been learning about the properties of materials and the reasons why different things are made from different materials, so try going on a materials hunt when you’re out and about - how many things can we spot that are made from plastic? Why do you think they chose to use that material? What other material could be used instead?
• Our history topic this term is the Great Fire of London, which provides lots of opportunities for learning beyond the classroom - try investigating the history, building models, drawing or painting pictures or reading about the lives of people who lived through it. There are loads of resources available through the Oak National Academy, here.

Our latest news:

• As part of our Mental Health Week, we visited Fairlands Park . We art from nature, hugged trees, carried out surveys and went on the hunt for different mini-beasts, plants, leaves, trees and animals. It was lovely to get out into our environment and gave us plenty of opportunities to talk about what we can do to relax, deal with life’s stresses and look after our own mental health. 
 

 
• In science , we have been learning about materials. We have investigated what floats and what sinks (playdoh doesn't float - we were surprised), tested the strength of different materials by building bridges (uncooked spaghetti is surprisingly strong) and this week we explored different ways to change the shape of materials. We tried stretching, squeezing, twisting and bending - and, as you can see here, we tried very hard to find out what you can (and cannot) cut through!  
 

 
• In geography, we have been learning all about the country India. We have explored the country in different ways, learning about clothes, weather, languages and food. We particularly enjoyed trying out some Indian cooking, making our own chapattis and trying out new types of food. Finally, in science, we have created our own garden area, planting a range of seeds, fruits and vegetables so we can water them and watch them grow. 
  
 

We have been learning about... 

Science & DT - We investigated the work of famous inventors. We read and wrote biographies of Thomas Edison, Charles Macintosh, the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford, and then designed our own amazing inventions to help solve everyday problems (like cleaning our rooms and doing our homework!) We had great fun junk-modelling our designs, and then wrote descriptions of how they worked.

English - In the first half of the term we read and learnt the story of Where the Wild Things Are. We arrived at school to find a boat had appeared and after some in depth discussions we established it belonged to Max from Where the Wild Things Are. We learnt the actions to retell the story and thought in depth about the settings. We have developed our understanding of adjectives and verbs and now know what a noun is.

Maths - We have been exploring number in depth over the last few weeks, building our understanding of place value with two digit numbers using a variety of counting manipulatives. We have been able to count on in ones and tens and thought about how the digits change when we do this. Our chanting of 2s, 5s and 10s is taking place daily, and we are also spending lots of time rehearsing our counting to 100 so we can recognise the numbers confidently.

This term's topics

English - Our focus for the next half-term will be non-fiction reports. We will be reading reports about people who help us in the local community, such as the police, firefighters and nurses. Having learnt a report about firefighters by heart, we will use the structure and format to support our own writing, in particular focussing on the use of headings, sub-headings and paragraphs. Finally, we will have the opportunity to write our own reports, exploring a career that we have chosen.

Maths - We will begin by focussing on mental addition and subtraction, becoming quicker and more confident in our use of numbers to 20 by building on our knowledge of place value and number bonds. We will then apply these skills to measure and missing number problems. Later in the term we will move on to working with money, making totals using a variety of different coins and working out change when we are shopping. We will then investigate the language of comparison, using phrases like difference, more, less and fewer, before finishing the term by beginning to estimate and measure using different scales.

Science - We will continue to investigate the properties of different materials, sorting them in a variety of ways and designing our own tests to find out how suitable they are for different jobs. We will think about the reasons why certain materials are used for specific purposes and suggest suitable alternatives that could be used for everyday tasks.

Humanities - We will continue to learn about the Great Fire of London over the next few weeks. We will explore eye-witness accounts of the Great Fire by reading diary entries, so that we can understand what it would have been like to live in London at the time. We will also discover how the City of London fought the fire and the way that the London Fire Brigade has changed over the last 300 years - which should help us to think of lots of questions to ask when we (hopefully) get to interview real-life firefighters later in the term.

Take a look at our curriculum map for more information on our topics.