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, as specified in the email that went home before the holidays. 
* 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

Summer Week 11: Back to normal.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

It was such a relief to have some more normal summer temperatures this week!

In maths:

Year 1 children have been looking at 2D and 3D shapes. A good way to practice this is to do some shape hunting around the house: furniture, food containers, toys.... . Look for:

circles
triangles
squares
rectangles
pentagons
octagons
hexagons

spheres
cylinders
cones
pyramids
cubes
cuboids

Year 2 children have continued their work on time. They have now been taught: 
o'clock
half past
quarter to
quarter past
five minute intervals past
five minute intervals to

The only way really to learn to tell the time is to practice it! As mentioned before, a watch or an analogue clock in your child's bedroom is a good way to get them telling the time. 

In spellings, both year groups have been looking at suffixes. 
Year 1 - adding 'er' or 'est' to an adjective to change its meaning, eg big, bigger, biggest
Year 2 - adding the suffix 'ful' or 'less' to a word

The children have been doing a lot of printing recently and have started to process of designing a block print. They will learn how to apply paint to their polystyrene tile in order to create a print. If you have the resources at home, doing printing is a great way for your child to be artistic and to create patterns. 

The children were fantastic at Sports Day - they were cheering their friends on, smiling even when they didn't win and persevering when things went wrong. They were very keen to have a go with the space hoppers that Class 4 used, so on Friday we did our own space hopper races. When I have found the correct ipad with photos on, I will share them!

On Friday The Word Guerilla, Dave Bowden visited the school. He performed for the children in the morning and then led a poetry-writing session with them in the afternoon. It was incredibly engaging for the children and we will continue with some poetry writing as a result next week. 

Finally, although we didn't have a Forest School session we have been going up there to water the trees and plants - we are determined they will survive the heat!

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 10: ..... quite warm.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Well... it's been an interesting week. Thank you for your patience and flexibility!

First - there will be no Forest School next week because we have a visiting poet in school. Children can come to school in school uniforms and with book bags. 

On to this week:

Monday and Tuesday were fairly straightforward...

In maths we have been telling the time using analogue clocks. All the children have been looking at o'clock and half past times. Year 2 have also been learning quarter to and quarter past times. The only way to get better at telling the time is to practice! A few children have been wearing a watch to school recently which is a great idea - just a simple watch with an analogue face will really help your child to learn to tell the time.  Aside from that, practise at home as much as you can! You can also play Hickory Dickory Dock - this includes o clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past times (year 1s can have a go at the later two!)

In phonics the Year 1 children have continued to look at suffixes. They have now learnt how to add -ing, -ed, or -er to a verb to change its meaning. 

In spellings the Year 2 children also started to look at a suffix: -ful. Look out for words with these suffixes in when you are reading. 

Wednesday and Thursday were a little warmer...

Having finished  our story last week, the children embarked upon an art project. They' learnt a bit about Orla Kiely and the way she uses printing. Then they had a go at printing using different objects from around the classroom. The weather also helped us with our art - the children had a go at using their hands and feet to do some printing! They created a beautiful green turtle using hand and foot prints. 

Forest School
Although it was warm, Forest School was the best place to be this morning! We had a lovely morning of planting and creating. Thank you to everyone who helped plant something, create something, and play with the children! Thank you also to anyone who couldn't be here but who sent a plant in - they have been found a home at Forest School. 

Special thanks to Zachary's dad Callum for making us a mud kitchen - the children are going to love it!

 Here are a few photos:

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Summer Week 9

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

It's been a busy week in Class 2 and the rollercoaster that is the British summer has kept us on our toes!

Firstly - Forest School open morning. 
Thank you to everyone who has responded regarding next Friday's open morning. If you want to bring a plant, but aren't sure what to bring, some good options are:

Buddleia
Californian lilac
Lilac
Rosemary
Comfrey

More information about the open morning will be emailed to you next week - but I plan to keep it all quite informal and please don't worry if you are not able to make it. 

In our Mantle of the Expert story this week:
The children set up their Honu Beach nature reserve. They fenced off the beach and bay and put up some helpful information and signs for Honu island residents and tourists. The beach was once again a peaceful place with no human interference. Soon after this they found Kekepania - the chief who originally sought their help - sitting on the beach. She explained to them that there was a tradition on the island, many years ago, of calling the turtles to the beach. The children joined her and, amazingly, the turtles came. 

The Turtle Detectives' work is done!

In maths we have contined to look at measure. This week the children have been learning about capacity and volume, in particular what 1 litre looks like and what 1 millilitre looks like (and knowing that there are 1000ml in 1l). They had a go at measuring capacity and reading the volume of sand in different containers. 

Over the past few weeks they have measured:
length and height in metres and centimetres. 
weight in grams and kilograms
time in seconds and minutes
volume and capacity in millilitres and litres

The best way for children to embed these skills and the related language is to do so practically. You could:
* use a tape measure to measure family members
* as suggested last week, do some baking by measuring in grams
* use an ipad to time family members doing different activites, such as running, doing star jumps etc. 
* make potions by measuring different volumes of different liquids in a measuring jug. 

In spellings the Year 2 children have continued to look at homophones and the Year 1 children have been learning about verbs and adding the suffix -ing to change their meaning. 

At Forest School this week:

It was a beautiful morning! The children enjoyed building dens (with some sticks and branches kindly brought in by Seth and Emma), climbing trees, watching butterflies and playing with some newly-acquired oil drums. 

Summer Week 8.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope you've had a good week and are recovering from the 20°c drop in temperature since half term!

This week in Class 2:

The Turtle Detectives have been busy. Having rescued turtle no.6 from the centre of Durban, South Africa, they learnt about some of the negative impacts that humans can have on turtles, such as:
* light pollution confusing turtles (especially hatchlings)
* vehicles on beaches crushing turtle nests
* vehicles on beaches compacting sand, making it hard for turtles to dig nests
* humans on beaches scaring turtles away
* boats in turtle habitats injuring turtles or damaging sea grass meadows

The turtle detectives got to work. They decided to re-design Honu Island to ensure that Honu Beach and Honu Bay remained human-free - a conservation area. They created maps to show where the human features should be, including the boat docks. Hopefully this means the turtles will have a safe, quiet beach and shallow waters to return to. 

In maths the whole class has continued to work on measure. The children measured some turtles on the playground in metres and centimetres. They also started some work on measuring mass using grams and kilograms. 

To practise at home, your challenge is to do some baking with your children using scales that measure in grams!

In phonics the Year 1 children completed their Phonics Screening Check! They did a great job. Results will go out with their school reports. Going forwards we will continue to revise and use phonics, but will also begin to look at some spelling rules. 

In spellings the Year 2 children have started to look at homophones - words that are spelled differently and have different meanings, but sound the same - eg bear/bare,  to/two/too. 

To practice, it would be great if they could play this game. 

In writing the children have finally finished publishing their turtle non-fiction books! It's been a long process and they are very proud of their work. At some point they will bring their books home to share with you. 

In other news the children have been learning about Islam in R.E. recently. If you are around and about and happen to see a Mosque, please point it out to your child! 

I think that's all for now - have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 7: important Turtle work.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Welcome to the final half term of the year! I hope you all had a good week last week and managed to enjoy the sun. 

Firstly - no Forest School next week. 
The older children in school are going to have a chance to experience Forest School, so Class 2 can come to school in their school uniform and will have a morning with Mrs Neal. 

The children have had a great start to the half term. Daphne joined our class this year - she is in Year 1 and so will be with us next year too. The children have been very friendly and welcoming and it's lovely to have her with us. 

In our story the Turtle Detectives had an important job to do. During their turtle tracking before half term, they discovered that one turtle had left the ocean and was on mainland South Africa. Yesterday, they found out why. The turtle had been following the moon, but became confused by some beachside street lamps on Durban beach. It followed those lamps instead of the moon, and found itself in the middle of Durban! The children of course agreed that a city is not a good habitat for a green turtle, so they set to work rescuing it. They went on to discover that Honu Beach, on Honu Island, also has several lights on it that glow all night... they are going to have a closer look at this next week, to see whether this might be another problem for turtles on Honu Island. 

In maths the two year groups are joining together for a few weeks to do some work on measure. This week we looked at measuring length and height using cubes, cm and m. To practise this at home you can measure anything you like! Encourage children to estimate first whether it is longer/shorter/taller than 1 metre, and then help them to measure accurately. A fun project is to measure the heights of all the different family members, or to draw around hands and feet and measure those. 

In spellings the Year 2 children have looked at words ending with -tion. I have added these to The Spelling Shed as well. 

In phonics we have had our final week practising alien and real words, ready for the children's phonics check next week. They will just carry this out 1:1 with me, they don't know they are being tested and they have had lots of practice. Please help your child to practise reading alien and real words over the weekend using these QR codes - practice really does make a difference!

In English the children have been making some turtle books. Before half term they spent time writing five different chapters, and this week and next are set aside for publishing their work!

At Forest School this week:

With all the sun and rain we've had, Forest School is looking lovely! It's very green and everything is growing. The children spent the morning making wild crowns (using the many different grasses that have appeared), making mud potions and spotting dragonflies. 

Have a good week end - see you next week!

Mrs Simpson