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Year 2: How can we prove dinosaurs existed?
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This term, our big enquiry question was: “How have people from the past changed the way we live today?” We began our history and reading lessons by learning about Mary Seacole and her inspirational work caring for sick soldiers during the Crimean War, as well as how she paved the way for diversity in nursing.
To deepen our understanding of the topic, we took part in a special drama workshop where we enjoyed acting as soldiers and nurses. We loved putting bandages on each other as part of the role play, and we even learnt a Mary Seacole song. At the end of the workshop, we were introduced to the life of Florence Nightingale and worked together to create a timeline of her life. The workshop gave us some wonderful memories, which we enjoyed recounting as we created diary extracts about the event in our writing lessons.
We have had an incredibly busy and exciting half-term in Year 2, exploring the world of palaeontology through ourlearning question: “How can we prove dinosaurs existed?”
Our studies focused on the remarkable Mary Anning, one of history’s greatest fossil hunters, whose discoveriesrevealed a prehistoric world filled with fascinating creatures.
One of the highlights of the term was our Dino Day workshop, where we took part in a range of thrilling activities,including fossil hunting and examining ancient specimens—some over a million years old! The most exciting partof the day was digging for fossils in our very own school digging pit. This immersive experience allowed us to stepinto the shoes of real-life palaeontologists and apply our newfound knowledge of fossils.
Our learning was further enriched by exploring museum artefacts, which helped us understand the tools used inpalaeontology. We were fascinated by how different they were from the objects we use in our daily lives, sparkingcuriosity about their purpose and significance.
We were also fortunate to visit the Natural History Museum in Tring, where we stepped back in time andexplored prehistoric life as detectives. We learnt what the Earth was like during the age of the dinosaurs,discovered other animals that lived alongside them, and found out how scientists learn about the past. We alsotook part in a hands-on workshop where we investigated real fossils and identified what they were.
As part of our High Stakes Project, we proudly hosted an exhibition to showcase our learning to other yeargroups. We also shared our DT project, where we designed, created, and evaluated our own moving monsters!We carefully considered key features and materials, demonstrating our creativity and problem-solving skills.
This half-term has been a fantastic journey through time, filled with hands-on learning and unforgettableexperiences. Well done, Year 2 —we can’t wait to see what exciting discoveries await us next term!
