Autumn Week 6: Open morning and other things.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Firstly, it was lovely to see so many of you on Wednesday morning for our open maths morning. I hope you enjoyed spending time with your children at school and seeing the sort of thing we get up to. Please don't worry if you couldn't make it - all of the children had a great time and there were plenty of adults to go around!

This week in Class 2...

In Maths:
The Year 1 children have been comparing numbers using 'more than', 'fewer than' and 'equal to'. The best way to practise this is in everyday language - particularly the phras 'fewer than' which is correct mathematically but that we rarely use. Encourage your child to use whole sentences eg 'I've got fewer sweets than my brother'. You could also play a card game, where two people draw a card, your child says eg 'I have fewer than you' or 'I have more than you' and the player with more gets to keep the two cards. 

The Year 2 children have continued their work on number lines. In class they have enjoyed using a large number line with 10 intervals, and guessing where different numbers go. You could do this at home, using a large piece of paper, or chalking a number line on a pavement somewhere. The aim is for children to identify which two multiples of 10 a number comes between (eg 43 comes between 40 and 50) and also whether it is in the middle, or nearer the smaller or larger multiple of 10. You can also play last week's game again.  A couple of you mentioned having a prompt to log in to it - using it on a laptop you should not need to, just click on the link and scroll down to this image of the game to play it, or scan the QR code to play it on a mobile device - again just scroll down to the image of the game. If you continue to have problems, please pop in to see me after school one day and I'll see whether I can help. 

In phonics we have revisited ow, oi and ur and learnt to spell the word 'said'. 

In spellings we have been looking at words beginning with 'kn' and 'gn'. The list has been added to The Spelling Shed!

In our story the children received a reply from Ernest, saying that while he had accepted that Bruno was a bear and not a dog, he really wanted to keep him. The bear keepers helped out by outlining the bear's needs (such as how much water he would need, what sort of food, and the habitat he was used to). Unfortunately, Ernest decided following this that he was unable to care for Bruno in the way that a sun bear needed, so Bruno has joined our bear sanctuary. This brings our total number of bears to five. The children carried out some health checks on the bears (checking teeth, vaccinations, weighing) and unfortunatley discovered that one bear had some serious injuries, suggesting they had been fighting. A decision was made to separate the bears, as it turns out bears are generally solitary creatures, so our Bear Santuary is in the process of being redesigned to ensure there are suitable enclosures for each of the bears based upon their different needs. 

Forest School...
was blustery! We had a really lovely, sunny and blustery autumnal morning. Some of the children made some bird kites and enjoyed running around in the wind with them! Other children particularly enjoyed the barrels this week, standing and balancing on them, listening to the sounds they made when hit with different sticks, and spotting things from high up. 

Have a very good week end!

Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 5: A sun bear and our first V.I.Ps.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Most importantly: our first V.I.Ps! 
Congratulations to Ophelia and Phoebe, Class 2's first V.I.Ps!

Forest School Clothing. 
Going forwards, please can you ensure your child has waterproofs with them on Forest School days. Even when it's a dry day, we are getting to the time of year when Forest School is soggy from the night before. You can either send your child in lined waterproofs, or thin waterproofs over the top of their other clothes. Similarly, they are going to need wellies from next week onwards. 

This week in Class 2:

In our story the children received a letter from Ernest, who had brought a puppy a while ago but wasn't sure it really was a puppy. The photos suggested it might in fact be a bear, so the children drew some diagrams for Ernest outlining the features of a bear. They looked at features such as small ears, a small tail, large powerful legs, enormous claws for digging and climbing, and a large, stocky body. 

In Maths:

The Year 1 children continued with their work on numbers to 10 by finding '1 more' and '1 less'. They recognised how to add or remove one item, and also how to use a number line to find the next or previous number. A good way to practice this is by making a giant number line from 0 to 10 and having your child run to a given number, eg 'run to the number that is one less than 8' or 'run to the number that is one less than 6'. You can also use practical objects to help your child physically to remove one item. 

The Year 2 children have been looking at number lines. They have been placing numbers in the correct places on number lines by looking at how many tens and ones the number has.  They can play this game -   click on the game, select '0 to 100', press 'play' then choose 'show divisions'. Help your child to decide where the number should go by finding the relevant  multiples of 10 and then deciding whether it should go exactly in between (i.e. if it ends in a 5) or more towards one or the other multiple of 10. 

In Phonics the children have revisited ar, or, ow and oi reading and spelling words with these digraphs in. 

In Spellings the children looked at words where the letter g makes a /j/sound, before the letters e, i or y. I have added these words to The Spelling Shed. 

Forest School this week:
We had a short but lovely session on Friday afternoon:

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 4: A(nother) bear problem

Hello Class 2 Parents,

This week in Class 2...

The police contacted the Bear Keepers to let the know there had been a suspicious break-in at a local supermarket. They sent a photograph: the berry aisle was in carnage and several large, muddy paws covered the floor. The children were quick to decide this was probably a bear (not a tiger, because tigers are carnivores) and, using a map the police provided, they went to investigate various other clues. They found more paw prints, a half-eaten fish by a river, a large patch of flattened grass and some brown fur stuck in a prickly bush. Finally, following these clues, they found... a brown bear. Unlike the other bears they've found, this one was fast asleep. We returned to our classroom to discuss this and talked about hibernation and the fact that the bear had to eat all those berries to prepare for winter. The children are making a plan: should they somehow transport a sleeping bear to the Bear Sanctuary, or should they simply build a den around it?

In maths:
Year 1 have continued their number work, learning how to complete a simple worksheet involving representing numbers and counting on. Again, lots of practice of counting is important and any games you play involving counting will help. 

Year 2 continued their work on two-digit numbers by learning how to partition them flexibly - for example, 56 can be partitioned into 50/6,  40/16,  30/26... and so on. To practice this, you could create a pairs game, with one set of cards showing the 2-digit numbers, (eg 39, 45, 28...) and the other set of cards showing the parts - eg  20 + 19,  20 + 25,  10 + 18). 

In phonics the children spent time revisiting the digraphs ai, ee, igh and oa, remembering how to read words containing them but also how to use them to spell words. Magnetic letters containing digraphs such as these ones are very useful to have around - it's easier to practice spelling with digraphs without the addition burden of writing the sounds. 

In spellings the children looked at when the -ge digraph is used at the end of words (last week it was -dge, which comes after a short vowel, this week the -ge digraph comes after the other sounds!). I have added both sets of spellings to The Spelling Shed (logins are glued in the front of your child's reading record and more information is here) - please do encourage your child to play these games, as they will help with their spelling. 

Forest School was shorter than usual, but lovely. It continues to be warm and try. I didn't take any photos but the children were busy in the mud kitchen, making birds' nests from the recently cut grass, building dens with sticks and looking for minibeasts. 

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Autumn Term Week 3: Settling into routine.

Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope you've all had a good week. Class 2 has been busy this week as we start to get into more reading, writing and maths in the classroom. 

First - a couple of notes:

No bookbags are needed on Fridays - this helps with your children's management of their Forest School belongings and other things!

Water bottles should only contain water please. This is for health reasons, but also because when squash spills on the carpet (as inevitably happens in a KS1 classroom) it is much harder to clean up!

On Monday you are invited to come into the classroom after school and I will talk to you about the year ahead. 

In Class 2 this week...

In Maths:
Year 1 have continued to refresh their counting skills. This week they have been learning to count on, instead of starting from zero or one each time. For example, if there are six counters hidden in a pot, and three outside the pot, they know to count '6-7-8-9' instead of starting from one. This is a good skill to practice at home when you are counting different objects and playing games. 

Year 2 have been partitioning and recombingin two-digit numbers (for example, 67 is partitioned into 60 and 7).  They can practice their skills using this game.

In phonics the children have been revisiting the digraphs sh, ch, th and ng. They have been reading words with these digraphs in and segmenting words to spell them as well. 

In spellings the children learnt that the trigraph 'dge' makes the 'j' sound at the end of words, following a short vowel. I will be setting  Year 2 children up with fresh Spelling Shed accounts by next week, and will set them weekly spelling games. 

In writing we started Drawing Club with the story of 'Lost and Found'. At the moment, the children are writing a single sentence punctuated with finger spaces, a capital letter and a full stop. Year 2 children have been adding some of the extra vocabulary (such as different sentence openers) they learnt last year. 

In Mantle of the Expert the Bear Keepers have rescued two bears this week: a black bear that was seen wandering around some woodland and a panda bear that was found in someone's back garden, eating bamboo. For each bear, the children learnt about their habitat, continent of origin and diet, before safely bringing them to the sanctuary. As part of this, they created a beautiful bamboo forest in the sanctuary, especially for the panda bear, using some art and DT skills. 

At Forest School this week:
The children had a very good time exploring in the sun. Any parents who came to our open morning in the summer will be pleased to know that the herb garden is flourishing and the children were shown today how to use small bits of herbs in their potions - they smelled great!

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Autumn Term Week 2: Settling in

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Firstly - clothes
What with our first P.E. lesson and first Forest School session, there was a bit of a pickle particularly with shoes. Please just check the clothes your child has come home with are in fact theirs - thank you! Please also name your child's school shoes if they do not yet know which ones are their own. 

We've had a good week in Class 2. The children have started to settle in more and are adapting well to the new routine. 

This week we have:

* done a bit of maths. Year 1 are revisiting counting skills within 10 while Year 2 have been looking at counting and representing two-digit numbers. 

* made progress with our Mantle of the Expert story. The children learnt that the first bear in our Bear Sanctuary (Paddington) is in fact a spectacled bear from South America. The children learnt a bit about spectacled bears and in particular what to feed them on (such things as dragon fruit, prickly pears, avocadoes and insects!)

* done some PSHE and music with Mrs Neal. On a Thursday afternoon I have my non-contact time so the children are taught by Mrs Neal. 

* practised some handwriting

* got used to our new morning routine - the children come in and settled to a given activity such as peg boards, colouring, or lego. 

The children came home with a free choice reading book this week, along with an explanatory letter. I will endeavour to begin reading groups next week, at the end of which they will come home with their group reading book. 

Finally, we have had our first Forest School session - it was good to be back! The children spent this first session exploring the area and resources together. I have taken a few photos - I don't always have time for photos but I will endeavour to add a few each week if I can!

I hope you have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

A quick 'welcome back'!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Year 1 parents: welcome to Class 2!
Year 2 parents: welcome back to the Class blog!

As we have only had two days so far this will be a short post, but I just wanted to say 'hello' and welcome back to school. The children have had a good couple of days: these first few days/week is very much about setttling back into being at school and learning the classroom layout, staff and expectations. 

So far this week the children have, among other things:

* started to learn where everything can be found in the classroom
* learnt which class group they are in (a colour group - for organisational purposes)
* met their new 'thinking friend' (a friend to talk to and share ideas with during carpet time) and found their own carpet space
* played with their friends
* taken part in some parachute games
* started a new Mantle of the Expert story
* met and chatted to Mrs Powell, our new head teacher. 

It's been a good start. Next week you will receive information about this term with some additional notes. For now, please:

* ensure your child has a book bag, not a backpack. 
* ensure you child comes to school with a water bottle that contains water (the only exception is medical need - please talk to me if this is the case)
* send your child's P.E. kit in (if it's not already here) as per the information that has been sent to all parents. It is helpful if Class 2 children have a change of underwear as well in there if they are likely to have an accident. 
                                                                                                                                                                

The children all seem happy to be here! Please don't hesitate to come and find me if there is anything you want to talk about. 

With best wishes

Mrs Simpson

Happy Summer Holidays!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

After a long, hot but very successful half term, the summer holidays have finally arrived! 

Thank you so much (on behalf of both myself and Mrs Neal) for the lovely, generous gifts we have received. Thank you also for everything you have done this year to support the school and your children's education. We are lucky to have such kind, supportive parents to work with. 

We have had a great year in Class 2. A few things the children have done:

* cared for bog babies as the B.B.P

* helped a queen to build a castle and establish a kingdom

* brought turtles back to Honu Island

* a LOT of maths - numbers, shape, space, measure, fractions...

* written quite a few stories and some other things

* studied the art work of Gwen Millward, Paul Klee and Orla Keely (and used a range of art materials)

* learnt a bit about Islam

* sung a lot of songs and learnt to play the boomwhackers

* taken part in all kinds of P.E. lessons including tag rugby, dodgeball, tennis, cricket and gymnastics 

* learnt about a lot of different creatures (including turtles) and what they need to survive and thrive

* taken a trip to Warwick Castle

* set up Little Houghton's first Forest School

* endured (and enjoyed) all kinds of weathers at Forest School (from around 5 degrees to around 30 degrees!)

* designed, made, eaten and evaulated some fruit kebabs

* completed many, many Rainbow jobs

Over the summer, please, please read with your children. You can make use of the library service and local libraries often have summer challenges. 

Goodbye to AJ, Andrew, Florence, Katie, Leroy, Oscar, Seth, Seven, Stanley, Timmy and Zachary. You have been great Year 2s this year!

See you soon for Year 2 Alice, Benjamin, Daphne, Liam, Louis, Martha, Ophelia, Pippa, Rachael  Tallulah, and Toby. 

Goodbye for now - have a good summer!

Mrs Simpson