Happy Easter!

Hello Class 2 Parents,

The past half term has very much flown by! 

The children finished their Mantle of the Expert story this week. They were knighted - creating their own coats of arms (they will have brought home a shield bearing their own coat of arms) and giving themselves a knight's name. They also spent a few days learning about the artist Paul Klee and looking at his art work, in particular 'Castle and Sun'. Following this, they explored cubism and how to use oil pastels, before creating their own art work in the same style. In addition, they took part in a cricket taster session led by Northampton Cricket Club and performed 'We're Going on and Egg Hunt' at church. 

Reading books and free choice books have all been taken in for the holidays. Please do have a search at home over the holidays for any school books and return them after Easter - we are missing a few. Please also keep reading with your child - the local library is a good place to find books!

Maths facts cards and spelling booklets have been updated, as long as they were in your child's purple folder. 

Over Easter, if you/your child wants some challenges, you could...

* practise reading alien and real words using Buried Treasure (mainly Year 1, but Year 2 can as well!) - choose 'phase 5'. 

* practise maths facts using Hit the Button. 

*  practise your child's maths facts and spellings (don't forget about The Spelling Shed). 

* help your child to learn to spell their first and surnames.

* teach your child to tie their laces, particularly if their school shoes have laces!

* help your child to write a postcard to me, from wherever they are (including home) telling me about their day.

* read lots and lots of books. 

* read more books. 

I hope you and your families have a good Easter. 

Mrs Simpson. 

Spring Week 10: Everyone will sleep well this weekend.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

It's been a fantastic week in Class 2! 

... but firstly - notices. 

Mr Garbutt has joined us in Class 2 for the next 6 school weeks. He is in his second year of a three-year teacher training degree and is with our class on placement. Mr Garbutt will be getting to know the class and how a mixed 1/2 class works, and will gradually take on bits of teaching under my guidance. 

Reading books:
* children have two free-choice books this week
* Please check at home for any of our school group reading books and return them before Easter
* Due to the many events this week, your children may still have last week's free choice book in their bag! I will collect in all books next Thursday (free choice and group reading books). 

Next week:
P.E. kits as usual on Tuesday, and no Forest School on Friday due to end of term activities. 

This week in Class 2...

WE WENT TO WARWICK CASTLE!
The children had an absolutely wonderful day and were wonderfully behaved. They looked at features of the castle, recognising many from the previous learning we've done. They learnt about how to attack and defend castles (ask your child about murder holes) and climbed the mound, which was once the motte for the original motte and bailey castle. We had lunch while watching the bird of prey show, then climbed the battlements - an epic feat. Finally we visited the 'Kingmaker' exhibition where children learnt a bit about what it was like to prepare for battle. Around 1/3 of the class had a nap on the journey home!

Following which....

The children finally built a castle for Queen Matilda, on a hill in Scotland:

Finally... Forest School.
We had a lovely session making pancakes on the fire!

We did do reading, writing and maths in between times of course :)

Have a good weekend

Mrs Simpson

Spring Week 9: A sporty, castley week.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope your week has been as good as our one!

It started with the Rhino Multisports event at Hanslope Primary School on Monday. The children were in two teams and competed against 6 teams from other schools. They took part in seven events, including 'Floor is Lava', axe throwing, a penalty shoot out and a basketball challenge. We had a great morning and it was very well run by Rhino. Our teams came 5th and 6th out of 7, so it was a very good day for 'it's the taking part that counts'! The children were fantastic and showed great sportsmanship throughout. 

The rest of our week has been fairly ordinary - 

In maths the Year 1 children have continued their work on subtraction; using a number line to count back, and subtracting by 'finding the difference' between two numbers. 

The Year 2 children have been learning that the division symbol has two meanings:
'divided into groups of'
'shared equally between'

For example,  12 divided into groups of 3 equals 4 groups, and 12 shared equally between 3 equals 4 each. 

We've been doing a lot of practical division using counters. 

Year 1 homework is here and will be in their folders. 
Year 2 homework is here and will be in their folders. 

In phonics the children have been looking at trigraphs: air (as in chair) and are (as in stare), and ore (as in more) and oor (as in door). They are really enjoying phonics play games at the moment so it would be good if they could practise reading real and alien words containing these sounds using Picnic on Pluto or Buried Treasure. 

In spellings the children have learnt how to add the past tense suffix -ed to a word ending in y - they have to chop off the y and add an i. For example, try - tried, cry - cried.  I have added this week's spellings to The Spelling Shed. 

In our story, having reached Scotland and found the perfect location for a castle the children designed some castles to show the queen. They learnt about motte and bailey castles and stone keep castles, and decided that (while it would take longer to build) a stone keep castle was the best option. Working in groups, they created some example castles for the queen, featuring such useful things as thick stone walls, arrow loops, crenellations, moats and drawbridges. 

Here are the finished castles: 

Finally, at Forest School this week...
We had a lovely morning toasting marshmallows, playing 'Floor is Lava' and 'Wolf Hide and Seek' and making mud creatures. 

Note: The children completed their maths challenges on Thursday morning and I have put them into their purple folders. If they were confident in their particular maths facts, I've ticked them off on their maths cards. 

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Spring Week 8 - World Book Day (and other things).

 

Hello Class 2 Parents,

It's been a bit of a different week! 

On Thursday the children enjoyed celebrating World Book Day. We focussed on the story of 'Pinocchio'. They made puppets using split pins and some children decided to add string as well. They also experienced what it might be like in the belly of a whale, using their senses of hearing, sight, smell and touch. Each year group collaboratively wrote a poem following theses experiences. In addition, Mr Howard came to read them some stories (while I went to Class 1) and in the afternoon the children from Class 4 came to share books with them. It was another lovely World Book Day!

Following this, on Friday we were joined by Ollie from West End in Schools. Class 2 took part in a dance workshop based on part of the story, and then at the end of the day the whole school performed the story together. 

A really good couple of days!

In other news....

In maths the Year 1 children have continued to work on addition and subtraction within twenty. This week, they learnt to find the missing part by subtracting a part from the whole (for example,   for. 15 - 3 = ____. or for 15 - _____ = 3, the children subtracted 3 from 15). They also used a number line to subtract a part from the whole. 

In phonics the children revisited oo and or alternatives - ue/ew/u_e and al/aw/au. We did a lot of practise of spotting these graphemes in words in order to read them. 

In spellings the Year 2 children learnt that when you add -s to a word that ends in -y, you have to drop the y and add -ie instead. As usual, I have added spellings to The Spelling Shed. 

Maths homework - Your children now have a 'maths facts card' in their homework folders. It indicates the maths facts for them to start learning, and they will also practise their individual maths facts in school weekly. When we are confident that they know them (ie they can complete a related challenge in a given time) we will tick it off their card. These won't be 'tests' - if your child needs help, they will get it!

In our story the children travelled along the (very different) Great North Road in 1026. It was a long journey. They only took essentials, such as a thick woolen cloak, sturdy boots and flat bread. Eventually they reached Scotland, where a Thane on the border stopped them and demanded 20 silver coins. Being poor serfs, this was a problem. However, they offered to work for the Thane for a month in exchange for being allowed into Scotland. 

A month later, the travellers started to explore Scotland, looking for the perfect location in which to build a castle - somewhere with a hill to build on, a forest for wood, a river for drinking, washing and catching fish, open land to farm on and preferably surrounded by mountains for protection. 

I hope you all have a good weekend. Don't forget to send your children to school in their P.E. kits for our sports morning on Monday!

Mrs Simpson

Spring Week 7 - Sunshine and daffodils

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope you had a good week with your children. The sun has welcomed us back to school and it feels like we are once again the other side of winter. 

Firstly - No Forest School next Friday - 
We have activites relating to World Book Day going on all day (World Book Day is on Thursday and an email was sent home regarding PJs. Friday is a follow-on day!)

Maths challenges. 
We are starting a weekly maths challenge session with the children. This will be done at school, but you can help! For 10-15 minutes every Thursday morning your child will carry out and practice different maths facts, starting with number bonds to 6 and progressing up through number bonds, doubles, skip counting and times tables.  Information will be in your child's purple folder on Monday. Year 2 parents - this will be similar to last year!

Reading books. 
Your children once again have group reading and a free choice book in their bags. At parents' meetings there were some comphrension cards for you to pick up. If you missed them, you can find it here - comprehension is equally as important as word-reading so I hope you find these questions helpful when talking to your child about their books. 

In maths this week:

Year 2 have been looking at the 2x table and 10x table. Their  homework is to practice these using hit the button or TT Rockstars. 

Year 1 have been looking at doubles and near doubles (eg if you know double 4 is 8, then you can quickly work out that 4+5 is 9). They can also use hit the button to practice their doubles. 

In phonics the children have looked at aw and au - as in dawn and launch. 

In spellings the children have looked at words ending -ey. I have added the words to The Spelling Shed. 

Forest School:

Although it was another damp morning, it was good to feel a bit warmer at Forest School this week! The bulbs we planted in November have started to come up and the children enjoyed a range of different activities this week that they came up with themselves. A few children also made some ribbon decorations for the trees. 

Spring Week 6: Half way through the academic year!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Firstly - Year 1 TT Rockstars
Following a couple of requests I have added the Year 1 children to Times Table Rock Stars. There is no requirement for Year 1 children to know their times tables (though they do need to count in 2s, 10s and 5s)  but it never hurts to get ahead if your child is keen! A letter including their login details will be in their purple folders. 

Secondly - Reading books
Your children will come home with a couple of free choice reading books to keep them going over half term. A reminder - if their chosen book seems to easy for them, take the opportunity to develop your child's fluency and expression, and ask them lots of comprehension questions. If their book seems too difficult, read the book to/with them. Free choice reading books are more about children having their choice of book than about the book being perfectly matched to the children's reading ability. 

Thirdly - Spellings
I forgot to send a reminder about spelling booklets this week. I've updated the spelling booklets I found - please ensure your child's home spelling booklet is their purple homework folder when we return after half term, and I'll update any I have not yet done. 

The U.K. 
As part of our Mantle of the Expert story the children have been learning a bit about the U.K. I have explained that the U.K. wasn't actually formed 1000 years ago (when our story is set) but nevertheless we are learning a bit about the capital cities, weather and features of each country. So far we have looked at England and Scotland. 

In maths:
Year 1 have continued their work on number bonds to 20 and have also looked at doubles this week. 

Year 2 have continued their work on multiplication with a close look at the 2x tables. 

Both year groups can spend time on TT Rockstars for their homework over half term!

In phonics and spellings we have been checking where the children are up to. I have updated their home spelling booklets accordingly (assuming I found them in their homework folders of course). 

Forest School this week:

We were joined this week by Emma, Seth's mum, who kindly donated ten trees to us and helped the children to plant them! Everyone had a go at digging the holes (if nothing else, February has made the ground lovely and soft) and we are looking forward to watching them grow. 

The children also enjoyed our new tyre swing and climbing rope, and a group of children got to work building an elaborate den. 

A few children were too cold again - hopefully the weather is going to warm up next half term, but please do make sure your children have layers underneath their waterproofs, a warm coat, waterproof gloves and thick socks. 

Spring Week 5: relatively quiet.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

It's been a fairly quiet week here in Class 2...

A PE note:
P.E. will be on Wednesday instead of Tuesday next week!

Some Good News! - Marble Jar. 
The children have once again filled up their marble jar. The treat they have voted for is a film afternoon with their teddies and a snack. On Friday, children may bring in one small teddy for the day. 

In our story the serfs returned home from a long day out in the fields to find they had been evicted from their cottages for 'not working hard enough'. As they were discussing what to do next, a stranger approached them. She told them she was a queen (she had the crown to prove it) but had lost her castle and kingdom. She invited the serfs to travel with her, help her to find some new land and build a new castle. Of course they agreed. 

Currently, the children are deciding whether to go to England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland for this, learning a bit about each country. 

In maths:

Year 1 have continued their work on addition and subtraction. They have started to learn about number bonds to 20 and how they related to bonds to 10 (eg 7 + 3 = 10, so 17 + 3 = 20).  

To help with this, they can play this game (select the target number as 20). As they play, help them to use their bonds to 10 to help. If your child finds bonds to 20 too much of a challenge, you can practise their bonds to 10 using the same game. 

Apologies also for giving you the wrong link last week! If you haven't already found the correct game, you can find Whack-a-Mole here!

Year 2 have been looking at arrays this week and using them to write and solve multiplication sentences. Their homework is here and will be in their folders.

In phonics the Year 1 children have been looking at ir, ur and er - digraphs which all make the same sound and all have an r in, which helps! 

In spellings the Year 2 children have been learning to spell the days of the week and numbers to 20 (a revisit from the end of Year 1). They have chosen the word list this week, picking out the trickier ones (it not 'six' and 'ten'!). I have added the list to The Spelling Shed as usual. 


In other news:
* we have been learning about dynamics and tempo in music. When you are listening to a piece of music with your child, ask them about the dynamics (loud or soft) and tempo (fast or slow). 
* we have moved on in P.E. to begin learning some basic outdoor team skills (orienteering in its full version!). The children had a great time this week learning that the more they work as a team, the quicker a challenge gets completed!

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

Mrs Simpson