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

 

Spring Week 4: Serfs at work and a muddy Friday morning.

 

Hello Class 2 Parents,

This week in Class 2...

In maths the Year 1 children have continued their work on place value within 20 and addition within 20. They practised counting on from one number, instead of starting from one every time, and used a number line to aid this. They also began to look at how they can use their small adding skills (or even better, their number fact knowledge) to help them to solve bigger additions. For example, if they know that 5 + 3 = 8,  that fact makes the addition 15 + 3 much easier. 

The Year 2 children have contined their new unit of work on multiplication and divison. They looked at the 'x' symbol today, learning that it means 'groups of' (it is, of course, generally known as 'times' but for the purposes of the next few weeks we will read it as 'groups of'). They practised drawing an accurate representation of a multiplication problem in order to find the product. 

Both year groups have been practising counting 5s, and for Year 2s, the 5x table. 
Year 1 homework is to play Whack-A-Mole, counting in steps of 5. Year 2 homework is to either do the same (as a rehearsal, or if your child is not yet counting accurately in 5s) and then also to play Hit The Button using the 5x tables. 

As a side note on homework - It would be very good practice for Year 2 to start playing TT Rock Stars regularly, as by the end of Year 2 the aim is for them to know their 2, 5 and 10x tables and division facts. Also, once they get into Year 3 this (and homework in general) becomes more of a focus. 

In phonics the children have continued to revisit the many graphemes they have been learning, focussing specifically on the oa and oo alternatives (oa/ow/oe/0_e and oo/ew/ue/u_e. 

In spellings the children have this week looked at -el endings, after last week looking at -le endings. One spelling rule that does help is that the words with double letters in the middle tend to end -le.  I have added the spelling list to The Spelling Shed and, again, I would encourage you to get your child playing these games to help their spellings. 


In our story the children have taken on the role of Serfs, working hard on the land surrounding our Medieval village. They learnt what it took to care for their plot of land (milking the cow, picking fruit, tending to vegetable plots, collecting eggs...) but also how hard they had to work for the landowner. When we stepped into the story, the landowner (a role taken on by Toby) travelled from plot to plot, giving the serfs extra tasks to perform at a moment's notice. The serfs found it very hard work!

Other things we've been up to:

Science this term has been focussed on materials. 
In R.E. the children are answering the question of 'What is the Good News that Jesus brings?' (so far - friendship, forgivness and peace). 
In P.E. they have been learning some basic skills needed in netball. 
In Music we have been learning a bit about dynamics (how loud or soft a piece of music is, and how this changes throughout a piece of music) and about using music to tell a story. 

The term is going very well so far. 

Forest School this week:

.... was exceptionally muddy! You will see when your child's clothes get home exactly why we ask for old clothes, waterproof clothes, and clothes that are allowed to get muddy!  They had a fantastic time carrying out a bear mud-crawl: the challenge was to get from one area to the other, under and over paracord, without touching any of it. We also created a tyre swing, during the creation of which several children had a go at climbing up a rope. 

Today was a very good example of just how good Forest School is for children's physical development!

Spring Week 3: More on the medieval village

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope your week has been as good as ours!

Our new Mantle of the Expert story is under way. Having created the Medieval village of Hocton Parva and filled it will homes, other buildings and residents, the children learnt about the people on the edges of the village - the serfs. They learnt that the serfs were some of the poorest people in the village, who had to work very hard in exchange for very little. Each child was given a plot of land and asked to imagine that they were a serf, and this plot of land was theirs. They created their plots of land by adding a cottage, some crops, fruit trees and animals. Next, the children will be taking on the role of serfs and imagining what daily life was like as a serf. 

In Maths:

The Year 1 children have been comparing numbers to 20, using 'greater than' and 'less than'. They have also been ordering numbers to 20, describing them as 'the greatest', 'the smallest' and 'in between'. 

To practise this skill, they can play this caterpillar ordering game. If your child is confident, you can extend the numbers up to 100. 

The Year 2 children have started a new unit of work on multiplication and division. This week they have been making and adding equal groups, using the language of 'groups of ' and 'how many in each group'.  Their homework is here and will be in their folders.

In phonics the children have spent this week revisiting the many digraphs they have been learning since the start of Year 1. They have enjoyed playing Obb and Bob again - if you want to practise this week's graphemes, they have been looking at:

ai alternatives - ay ai a_e

ee alternatives - ee ea ie e_e y

igh alternatives - igh ie i_e y

In spellings the Year 2 children have looked at words ending 'le'. Some words have a double letter in the middle (following a short vowel), others don't.  The list has been added to The Spelling Shed. Please do login with your child and play some of the games - they are a fun way to learn spellings. 

At Forest School this week:

We had a lovely Forest School session, despite the cold and damp! The children toasted marshmallows, learning how to sit next to the fire safely. They also made some wind socks and enjoyed hanging them in the trees to watch the effects of the wind. A very popular activity was creating paint from crushed charcoal and water, and using it to paint stones and trees. 

We took many photos of the marsh mallow roasting, but sadly the Ipad had an issue and I've been unable to upload them!

Have a good weekend

From Mrs Simpson

Spring Week 2: A medieval Little Houghton

 

Hello Class 2 Parents,

It's been a fairly ordinary but good week in Class 2. 

Following our walk around the village last week and some work on the differences between villages, towns and cities, the children did some work making a map of the village including the key geographical features. Friday afternoon then started with, 'Let's say we are in Little Houghton, but it is 1000 years ago.' The children learnt a bit about what a medieval village might look like, comparing its features to modern Little houghton. They created a 3D map as a class, locating the features around a village green. 

In maths:
The Year 1 children have continued their work on place value to 20, learning how to find 1 more and 1 less than any number to 20. They used the words 'before' and 'after' to describe numbers on a number line, for example '18 comes before 19' and '13 comes after 12'.  They also looked at numbers to 100 to understand where 0 to 20 come, and completed some 100-square jigsaw puzzles. 

The Year 2 children have finished their unit of work on addition and subtraction by learning how to add and subtract multiples of 10 using a 100- square. 

Year 1 homework is here and is also in their folders.

Year 2 homework is here and is also in their folders.

In phonics the Year 1 children have been looking at alternative 'oo' graphemes -  ue, ew and u_e. These can be pronounced 'oo' as in June, blue, threw, or 'yoo' as in few, rescue, tune. 

In spellings the Year 2 children have looked at words starting wr - I have set the list as an assignment on The Spelling Shed as usual for them to practise in their own time. 

At Forest School:

It was lovely to be back at Forest School after quite a few weeks away. The children enjoyed a fire and some of them had a go at whittling sticks to a point (using vegetable peelers) ready to toast marshmallows next week (hopefully, weather depending!). They also had a great time creating a giant obstacle course - lots of core strength development and turn taking went on!

Happy New Year!

Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year time. 

We have had a good week back, only enhanced by the little bit of snow at the start of the week! The children have enjoyed getting reacquainted with one another. 

In Maths:

The Year 1 children have started a new place value unit, looking at numbers to 20. This week they learnt to represent numbers 11 to 19 using a ten and some ones. They learnt that numbers 11 to 19 all contain one ten and that the '1' in the tens column is worth 10. 

To practise this, the children can play this game of pairs. 

The Year 2 children have been revisiting work they started before Christmas, adding and subtracting two-digit numbers, crossing a ten. 

I am not setting any Year 2 homework for maths instead please take the time you would have spent on maths, to visit the Spelling Shed (see below). 

In Spellings the Year 2 children have been looking at words starting with 'kn' and 'gn'. I have set these words for them to practise in The Spelling Shed. Instead of maths homework this week, please take the time to visit and get to know The Spelling Shed (all children received logins last term and there is information here if it is your first time using it).

In Phonics the Year 1 children have learnt some alternative 'oa' graphemes - ow, oe and o_e. We also played a game which they enjoyed - Picnic on Pluto.  This game is great for practising using the different graphemes to read words. Pick 'phase 5' and choose on of the graphemes we have learnt so far. Children read the words and decide whether they are real or nonsense, feeding them to the relevant alien. 


In other news we started a new music unit of work looking at tempo, a new R.E. unit of work looking at the good news that Christians believe Jesus brings and to start of our Mantle of the Expert story we took a walk around the village, learning a bit about villages versus cities. 

I hope you all have a good weekend! 

Mrs Simpson

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Firstly - THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for all of the kind cards and gifts I've been given. You are all very kind and I very much appreciate them all!

We've come to end of a long but very good term. The children have worked very hard and every day has seemed so busy. A few things they've been learning include:

Art: The art work of Gwen Millward, illustrator of 'The Bog Baby'.  The final pieces can be seen below. 
D.T: The children have learnt a few key D.T. skills this term, ending by learning how to sew by making their Christmas stocking decorations.
Science: Through their 'Bog Baby Protectors' Mantle of the Expert story the children have done a lot of learning about animals and their needs as well as habitats. 
Geography: Again, as the B.B.P the children have done some learning about human and physical geographical features and have used Google Earth to look at the geographical features around Little Houghton to identify the best habitat for bog babies. 
History: We had a discrete history week, learning the story of Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night. 
Computing: Various skills have been practised during the children's Rainbow Job time including coding, recording videos and creating images on the Ipads. 
R.E: The children have learnt about various special places in Islam, Christianity and Judaism and have, of course, been focusing recently on the story of Christmas. 
P.E: We have focussed on the basic skills involved in rugby, dodgeball and hockey, as well as doing a lot of fitness and balance games. 

Amongst all of the above we have, of course, been doing a LOT of reading, writing and maths!

It's been a great term. Thank you for all of your support of the children's learning. 

Have a great Christmas - see you in 2026!

Mrs Simpson

This week - gingerbread men, films, Rudolph drive and other things!