We have all been enjoying learning about our class saint, Saint Teresa of Calcutta. We learned about the significant parts in her life and created a timeline that sequences these events. We enjoyed carefully drawing portraits of Mother Teresa and have decorated our classroom door to celebrate her achievements and caring nature. She has inspired us to do small acts of kindness whenever we can.
Year 2 rise to the challenge
We are all enjoying being the oldest children in the infants and rising to the challenge of being wonderful role models to the younger children.
Inspired by a story all about Greta Thunberg, we have been thinking about what we can do to be great stewards of creation. We came up with some wonderful energy saving ideas to help to save the planet and our promises grew a beautiful tree to decorate our classroom.
If you would like to watch Greta and the Giants, you will find it below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGccpeALlgM
Year Two enjoy a visit to the library
Over the holiday, we wrote and posted some amazing postcards that have been used as part of our learning in geography and we also kept up with our reading by doing the library reading challenge. All of this shows that we are really ready for the amazing learning we can look forward to now that we are in Year 2.
Year 2 celebrate their learning
Enrichment activities
The children of St Adrian’s are offered a wide range of extra curricular activities and this week they have been able to celebrate their achievements in a many different avenues. Here are some photos that prove it!
For home learning, we played an online game about the Great Fire of London and then imagined how London was rebuilt. 
We can all be in a band with Rock Steady. 
Although not in this photo, the Year 2 children also enjoy being gardeners in Gardening Club! 
Why not join the gymnastics club that runs before school on a Wednesday? 
Cheerleading is great fun and runs every Thursday morning.
All through the year, the Year 2 children have shown that they are avid readers. They have thoroughly enjoyed choosing books from our library, learned poems to recite to the class and devoured non fiction books linked to popular topics such as The Great Fire of London, lifecycles and favourite artists.
Over the holiday, the children will not be bringing home books from school, so this is an ideal chance to visit your local library and join their library challenge. The children will find a huge selection of books to choose from and earn stickers, a certificate and even a medal as a reward for their holiday reading. You will find out more here: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/news-and-campaigns/summer-reading-challenge.aspx
Year Two get sporty
This week, we had a wonderful time preparing for our sports day on Thursday. We learned how to do a relay race and were also guided by the Year Five children as they taught us how to compete in the obstacle race as well as develop our javelin throwing skills, among other things! Sports Day was tremendous fun; we all showed great sportsmanship and supported one another to do our very best. The morning finished with a delicious lolly, provided by the PTA, so we say a great big THANK YOU to them.
Year 2 reflect with Father Francis
We love to spend time in worship and prayer and we were very pleased to celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul with Father Francis. We all had our own lines to say in this liturgy which reminded us of the important role that these saints played in the early church. Reading from the letter of Paul to the Colossians reminded us that we must try to show our love for one another in our actions and words and we filled the room with our beautiful singing when we joined in with our favourite hymns, A New Commandment, Follow Me and Magic Penny. Father Francis reflected on the lives of Saints Peter and Paul and led us in prayer.
The flowers on display describe how Jesus is alive in each and every one of us in the way that we treat one another, read the bible, go to church and say our prayers.
Year 2 are historians!
This week, we reinforced our learning in history with a day long series of activities focussing on the Great Fire of London. We all looked tremendous dressed up in our 17th century outfits and our teacher for the day, Mistress Sophie taught us many things about how people lived 350 years ago. As the day progressed, we learned more about how the fire developed and what the people of London would have done to try and stop the fire. During the afternoon, we explored artefacts collected from the fire, and considered what they told us about the owner and their life.
We-used-the-ink-we-made-to-write-our-own-messages 
Leather working using leather, a nail and a hammer 
Making our own bread 
We had fun catching those pesky rats! 
Using a hammer and nail was great fun when creating a pattern on a piece of leather. 
Using a pestle and mortar to grind down dried flowers 
Creating our own ink 
We used the ink that we had created to write our own message. 
Leather work 
Weaving was tricky 
In 1666, people thought that you could cure a headache if you put a rope on your head! 
Collecting water from the River Thames 
Passing buckets of water to put out the fire. 
Using firehooks to pull down a building. 
We looked at a huge map of London and tracked the movement of the fire. 
We were archeologists and talked about our findings. 
At the end of the day, even though we were tired, we were still ready to find out more about the Great Fire of London.
We could not have run the day without the support of ten tremendous adults from Year 2 and Year 3 and we are very grateful for their invaluable help and enthusiasm. Thank you!
Year 2 love habitats
Inspired by the story ‘The Journey Home’, about an orangutan, panda bear, elephant and polar bear who have sadly had to leave their own home because it has been destroyed by the actions of humans, we are exploring habitats around the world.
This research has continued at home, where the children have shown amazing creativity and ingenuity when designing and making a shoebox habitat that reflects their interest a particular habitat.
You are warmly invited to our Open Evening on Wednesday, when much of our learning will be on display for you all to see.
Year 2 explore habitats at Rye Meads
The Year 2 children all had a wonderful visit to RSPB Rye Meads. The rain kept away and we were rewarded with lots of minibeasts in a range of habitats including woodland, meadow and pond. The children had many questions and the air was filled with excited voices as the children found so many interesting creatures. A fabulous time was had by all and we are very grateful for all of the parents who accompanied us on the trip as we could not have gone without you! Scroll through the photos to see just how eager to learn we are!
