Summer Week 11: The Olympics!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

The news of the week revolves around...

THE OLYMPICS!
Class 2 attended the KS1 Rhino Olympics at the Towcestrian Rugby Club on Thursday. They were representing Germany and so on Wednesday the children created flags, a banner and some headdresses. The day started with a parade of countries, during which Class 2 were without a doubt the best cheerleaders for all of the other countries! Then the children completed nine different activities, each of which came with points:

* howler throw
* javelin throw
* relay
* long jump
* beanbag and hoop throw
* water run
* treasure chest run
* hoppity hop (hoping sideways and back over a block)
* hurdle race

For each activity the children collected as many points as they could in six minutes. At the end, every team gathered around to hear the results, and (out of 10 countries), we came FIRST!

The children were rightly very proud of themselves. I was proud of them for winning, of course, but even more proud of their good sporting attitude throughout the day and for how hard they worked. 

In other news...

* the children have continued to learn to tell the time.

* they have started to write some instructions for how to save the children from the 
    crocodile (in our story).

* they have also been creating their own piece of art in the style of Tingatinga. 

* On Friday the Year 1 children will be completing their sponsored walk to raise money for our new Forest School. 

Reading books have been taken in for the holidays. Please continue to return any that you find at home (a list of missing books was emailed home too!).

There is no more homework! BUT please do keep practising telling the time with your child - Year 1 need to focus on o'clock and half past, while Year 2 have started looking at five minute intervals ( on analogue clocks). 

Enjoy the week end - see you next week!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 10: Lots of sun and Salcey Forest

 Greetings Class 2 Parents,

What a great day we had at Salcey Forest! It was lovely to have so many of you there and the children had a super time building dens, identifying trees and spotting minibeasts. 

In other news:

In maths the children have been learning to tell them time. For this we use an analogue clock, so if you have one at home please encourage your child to practise telling the time! Year 1 children have focussed on o'clock and half past, while Year 2 children have also look at quarter to and quarter past. They've also just started looking at five minute intervals. 

There is no particular homework for this - but please help your child to practice telling the time as much as possible. It's one of those skills that simply needs a lot of practice! You can use this as well to help  -  it shows the real time, but you can also switch it so that you can show the time you want!

In spellings the Year 2 children have continued to look at homophones:  knight/night, sun/son, won/one, bear/bare and great/grate. 

In phonics the Year 1 children have been learning some spelling rules: adding suffixes to change the meaning of verbs (painting, painted, painter) and adjectives (bigger, biggest, smaller, smallest). 

In writing the crocodile books are just about finished! The children are incredibly proud of their work (and rightly so) - the books will come home for you to see in a couple of weeks. 

On Monday afternoon the whole school has a move-up afternoon, so Year 2 children have the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Mr Howard, while Year 1 children will spend the afternoon being helpful Year 2 children with me!

I think that's everything for now. The term is flying by and I can't quite believe there are only two weeks left!

Have a great weekend and I will see you next week. 

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 9: a publishing house and a school vision day.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

This week in Class 2...

The children have started to publish their information books on Nile crocodiles. They've spent the last couple of weeks planning the text using features of a non-fiction text, and now they are putting words and pictures together to make a book. They are thoroughly enjoying the process. 

In maths, our work on fractions continues. The Year 1 children have now been taught how to find a half or a quarter of a shape or quantity, while the Year 2 children have done all of that, plus finding one third of a shape or quantity. 

Year 1 homework is here and will be in their folders. 

Year 2 homework is here and will be in their folders. 

On Tuesday the whole school took part in a morning on our school vision ('flourish like a flower of the field' throough growth, community, spirituality and the environment). Class 2 was given 'growth' to discuss so we did a little bit of work on what that meant, and on the meaning of 'potential'. We had a great discussion about what the children want to be when they are older - everything from a firefighter, to a hairdresser, to an artist, a gardener and a zoologist! We worked on our section of the whole-school display by making colourful flowers and leaves. 

For the past few weeks the children have been learning some basic tennis skills in P.E. They are thoroughly enjoying this so if you have a ball and a racquet at home, ask if you can see what your child has learnt!

In our story, the children are in the middle of solving a problem. Somewhere in the Maasai Mara, some children are playing on the edge of a watering hole. What they don't know is that there is a large, hungry crocodile lurking nearby... 

I'll keep you posted. 

I think that's all for now. Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 8: A Maasai boma and a lot of D.T.

 Hello!

First, two notes:

The summer reading challenge: information about this was emailed home to all parents. I would encourage every child to take part as it will keep their reading going over the summer and promote reading for pleasure, which is so important. You can sign up for the online challenge or visit library.  https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Year 1 parents will have received an email invite to a Forest School meeting on 2nd July. I hope to see you there to tell you about my plans for next year!

In other news:

This week has seen many a trip to the shade of a large tree to listen to a story or complete some work. The sun is lovely and it really feels like summer is well underway. We've had a productive week in Class 2 and our Mantle of the Expert story is moving along well. 

The children headed out into the Maasai Mara to begin their search for the crocodile. They chose armoured jeeps as their transportation due to the potentially dangerous animals they knew they might find. It was at a river crossing that they saw a large, crocodilian footprint. As they were inspecting it, a woman approached them. She was from the Maasai tribe and had seen the footprint - she was worried because the fence around her nearby boma (village) needed some repair. The children of course offered to help, and so they created a representation of the boma, building an enkaji (hut made from sticks, mud, cow dung, straw and grass) using joining techniques,  and learning how to weave a fence around it. 

When that task was complete, we decided we needed to be more purposeful about the search for the Enormous Crocodile, so the children learnt how to make a map using symbols, a key and grid references. They identified six possible locations for the Enormous Crocodile using the grid references. 

In maths the children have started to learn about fractions. Year 1 have looked at half of a shape or a quantity, while Year 2 have looked at half and a quarter of a shape or quantity. They have learnt that 'a half is one of two equal parts' and 'a quarter is one of four equal parts'. 

Homework is very practical this week. 
* Year 1 - lots of practice of finding half or a shape or an amount, using paper shapes, playdough shapes, pieces of pasta, peas left on their plate etc. 
* Year 2 - as above, but for a half and a quarter. Please also practice finding two quarters, or three quarters. 

There is no obligation to show me this homework at all, but if you'd like to send in photos via the school office please do!

Phonics and spellings have been a bit quiet this week, as has reading, because we have been carrying out reading assessments with the children (still ongoing due to the need to do these in small groups in Year 1 and Year 2). Instead, your child will come home with some badger/squirrel books and some one-off phonics books if applicable. 

Enjoy the sun this weekend!

Mrs Simpson