Autumn Week 4: the windiest, coldest, driest place on earth.

 

Hello Class 2 Parents.

It has, as ever, been a busy week in  Class 2.

We've been practising for our Harvest Festival service on Monday as well as doing some related watercolour art work. Please help your child to practise their lines over the weekend - the theme is loud, slow and clear!

Our story took a dramatic turn when we decided to try and return the penguins to Antarctica. We plotted a route, after labelling the continents and oceans on a world map. Many of the team decided the best route would take us across the Atlantic Ocean, down through North and South America and then across the Southern Ocean. Not everyone agreed though so we agreed to plot our different routes and make our own way there. 

Thankfully everyone arrived safely. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent we were somewhat underprepared. One of the team became very, very cold and very, very ill. A hat, warm clothing and hot chocolate were found and luckily she was revived. At this point we decided we should learn more about the weather and climate in Antarctica, and how to survive there. See what your child can tell you about survival in Antarctica! 

In other news:

Maths:

After a bit more work on partitioning, the Year 2 children looked at more/less/equal - or in mathematical language, greater than, fewer than, equal to. They have been using the symbols  <  >  =   to compare numbers. We noticed that when comparing two-digit numbers, we need to look at the tens before the ones. 

This sheet will be in home learning books to practise this skill - it's a bit of a puzzle which will involve a lot of discussion. 

Year 1 children have also been comparing numbers using more than/ fewer than/ equal to. They practised using the words first, and then began to look at the symbols. 

This sheet will be in home learning books to practise this skill.

Phonics/Spelling:

The phonics group have been revisiting oo, oo and ar this week. 

oo makes two sounds - the long 'ooooo' in boot, shoot and moon, and the short 'oo' in book, took and look. 

Spellings are here and will be in home learning books. 

The spellings group have been looking at words where the 's' sound is made with a soft 'c'. This week's spellings have a lot of useful patterns in and rimes which will help. 

Spellings are here and will be in home learning books. 

I think that's everything for now. Have a lovely weekend!

From Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 3: A box of penguins.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Despite the shortened week, we have managed to squeeze a lot into our time in Class 2!

In our Lost and Found story this week:

Having learnt about animal habitats and rehomed our residents, all was quiet in the Lost and Found offices. The team was, in fact, a little fed up with having nothing to do. They were pleased, if a little confused, when a box was left at their door. It was addressed 'South Pole, Antarctica' and had labels on such as 'This Way Up' and 'Do Not Drop'. 

It also appeared to have air holes in it. 

The team carefully opened to box to reveal... 24 penguins. It was a bit of a shock. Luckily, we had some fish and a cold place to keep the penguins, so we temporarily housed them while we decided what to do. To begin with we took photos of the penguins and identified their species. There was a range: adelie, emperor, king, macaroni, rockhopper, magellanic and chinstrap. Then we learnt a bit more about penguins, looking closely at their features and adaptations. You could see if your child can remember any of the useful features penguins have, and why they are so well suited to life in Antarctica. 

For a YouTube video about penguins, click here. 

Next, we began to learn a bit about Antarctica - unfortunately, we can't keep the penguins indefinitely and so will have to return them soon. For this, we started by locating Antarctica on a map and learning that it is one of the seven continents. This song is useful for learning the names of continents!.

Maths:

We continued to look at numbers and place value. 

Year 1 have been learning to build teen numbers, recognizing that there is a group of 10 in every teen number. 

Year 2 have been partitioning numbers to 100, recognising how many 10s and 1s are in each number. They also began to look at more flexible partitioning - for example, 57 can be partitioned into 50 and 7, 40 and 17, 30 and 27, 20 and 37, 10 and 47. 

For extra practice:

Year 1 children can practise writing numbers to 20 correctly. This can be done on paper, outside with chalk, with a finger in a tray of paint, or any other way. The important thing is that the numbers are the right way around!

Year 2 children can complete this sheet. There will be a copy in their home learning books. To help, you will need some 10s and 1s. You can use 10ps and 1ps, or pieces of card cut into rods (1s) and small squares (1s).

Phonics and Spellings:

The phonics group have revisited ai, ee, igh and oa. Their spellings are here. They are also focussing on writing whole sentences using these sounds, so for an extra challenge you can do some sentence writing using words such as rain, keep, light, boat, goat, moat, train, sheep...

The spellings group have looked at words beginning 'wr'. Their spellings are here. 

In other news, we have started to prepare some self portraits in the style of Oliver Jeffers. The children did a great job of sketching some ideas!

Have a good weekend!

From Mrs Simpson

Autumn Term Week 2: An injured hedgehog and some serious overcrowding.

 Dear Class 2 Parents,

Thank you all for coming along on Tuesday to hear about life in Class 2. Don't worry if you couldn't make it - the slides are here and they will also be sent out to you. If you have any questions about what is on the slides, please come and find me!

A couple of notices:
* If your child needs to change their reading book, please remind them before the day begins. We have a box for them to put their reading book and reading record into first thing, and will ask them to go and get them if they need a new book. 

* Reading books are now chosen from trays with a variety in. We are teaching your children how to choose a book that is just right for them. Because they are choosing from boxes with a range of levels in (maybe, for example, levels 2 and 3 or levels 9,10 and 11) you may find the levels your child comes home with vary just slightly. 

*In your child's home learning book, at the back, you will find a list of 'common exception words' which will be highlighted once per half term with the words your child can spell. Each week, please help your child to practice two of the words that are not highlighted. Then, at the end of half term we will see which ones can be highlighted!

This week:

In maths the Year 2 children have been looking at place value, representing 2-digit numbers and talking about how many 10s and 1s there are in a number. Year 1 children have been representing numbers to 10 in a number of ways, deciding which is the best representation and practising their subitising (saying how many they can see without having to count). 

For extra practice:

Year 1 could practise subitising using representations of numbers up to 5 or representations of numbers up to 9. Use these cards (or ones you make) to play snap or to see how many cards your child can 'read' by subitising in 2 minutes.  

Year 2 could play race to 50. Don't worry if you don't have a printer - this can easily be recreated without! As you play, talk about how many tens and how many ones each player has, and how many that is altogether. 

We have started our writing lessons this week. The children are taking sentences from the book 'Lost and Found' and making them their own. For example, 'Once there was a boy and one day he found a penguin at his door' becomes 'Once there was a boy and one day he found a small, furry rabbit at his door'. The Year 2 children had the added challenge of writing two adjectives and including a comma.

In Phonics and Spellings:

The phonics group have revisited sh, ch, th and nk. We have focussed on putting the sounds correctly into words. Their spellings are here and have also been stuck into home learning books so you will know which group your child is in!

The spellings group have been learning to spell words with 'gn' and 'kn' at the start. Their spellings are here and, again, have been stuck into home learning books so you will know which group your child is in!

In our Lost and Found story:

On Tuesday someone came to the  Wildlife Lost and Found offices with a photograph of a hedgehog curled into a ball in the middle of the road. She needed our help - she didn't know whether the hedgehog was dead or alive, or what to do about it. We visited the hedgehog and learnt about how to determine whether something is dead or alive. We decided that the hedgehog was thankfully alive (it was breathing and moving and it ate a slug we gave it) and brought it to our offices. 

The hedgehog in the road. 

Unfortunately, the next day there was chaos. As the Lost and Found officers were caring for the animals, the animals began to run around, escape the rooms and generally run wild. We held a meeting to discuss the problem. We decided that, now that the animals were healthy and we had cared for them, we needed to find out where they had come from and rehome them. This led to some learning on habitats and the team made some plans for rehoming the animals in suitable habitats. We'll keep you updated. 

I think that's all for now. I will endeavour to take more photographs of your children at work to post on here too!

From
Mrs Simpson

 

The First Week.

Hello Class 2 Parents,

We have had a really good first week in Class 2. The children have been happy and helpful. I am sure you will find they are also tired - with a new teacher, and for the Year 1s a new classroom, there has been a lot to take in. 

The week has been focussed on all of us getting to know each other and the classroom routines. Mrs Neal and I have also been assessing the children's reading, spelling and maths following the long summer break. Thank you for your patience with reading books etc - we will aim to send home learning books and reading books home tomorrow. 

Reading books. 
Mrs Neal and I have been assessing the children's word reading and comprehension. Following this we have allocated them a book level. We have found that their current levels don't always match up with where they were in July, so please don't worry if your child comes home with a different level book than you are expecting. It can take time after a summer holiday for children to regain confidence and fluency with reading. The important thing is that your child is reading at a level they are confident and comfortable with, in order to make progress.

P.E.
A couple of you have asked about P.E. days. It will be on a Monday. P.E. kits can stay in school so your child can just come into school in school uniform as usual. 

Thank you also for your patience with me as I learn which parents match which children! I am looking forward to meeting you all more soon when we have our Class 2 welcome meeting. 

This week the children have:

Been learning to find things in the classroom. I have had quite a change around and it looks very different! We carried out a classroom treasure hunt on Monday and the children are already learning where to find all of the important things they need.

Made a book tree. When you are in the classroom you'll see our book tree. Over the course of the year we will be adding characters from our favourite books, as well as thoughts and opinions about the books we read. 

Made a friendship flower. Our school value this half term is 'Friendship.' The children made a beautiful flower together, each decorating one huge petal. We thought about what it means to be a good friend. The children had some good ideas to add to the flower. 

Read the story 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers. This is going to be a key book for us over the next few weeks so you might hear quite a bit about it. 

Learnt about passport jobs. During class time, the children will either be learning on the carpet together, or with an adult as a small group, or carrying out another job without an adult, or carrying out passport jobs. Each week there will be a choice of 6-8 activities for the children to choose from. They will complete the jobs independently and receive a passport stamp when they have done so. The jobs will relate to our current learning and will cover a range of areas of learning. For example, this week's jobs have been:

To create more leaves for our tree (art and DT)
To build a boat out of anything you like (DT)
Re-create your favourite illustration from Lost and Found (art)
Go on a 5 senses hunt outside (science)
Un-muddle the giant 100-square we have in our classroom (Maths)
Find some new books in the book corner to read (English)

Taken part in a range of short assessments as myself and Mrs Neal get to know them and there next steps in learning. 


Started our topic story, 'Lost and Found'. The children learnt about a (fictional) 'Wildlife Lost and Found Office'. They learnt about the sort of wildlife that might be found in the area. After that, using drama, they found various lost animals to bring into the offices. 

The next day was a bit of a muddle. All of the animals were in one room and needed sorting out. We sorted them into mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish. All seemed well in the Lost and Found offices. 

Unfortunately, a terrible noise started coming from the mammal room! Using drama, we went into the room and found the fox chasing the rabbit and the weasel chasing the mouse! It turned out that there were predators and prey all in the same room. Luckily, once we talked about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores we managed to solve the problem. 

I hope that has given you a little insight into the first week of Class 2. Tomorrow your child will have their home learning book in their book bag as well as a reading record. 

Homework this week:
The only homework this week is this sheet. There will be a copy in your child's home learning book to fill out!

It has been a very good first week. Thank you all for your welcoming smiles!

With best wishes

Mrs Simpson

Welcome to Class 2's Blog!

 Hello and welcome to Class 2's blog!

My name is Helen Simpson and I am joining Little Houghton to be Class 2’s teacher. I’m really looking forward to the new school year with your children and getting to know this lovely school. Mrs Justine Neal will be with me each morning, working alongside me to teach your children.

My favourite things are stories and books, and a lot of our class work will be done through an overarching story. 

I will use this blog as a way to keep you up-to-date with what has been happening in the class each week. I'll  also add some suggested homework activities matched to the week's learning. 

You have received a copy of the term's overview of learning - you can also find it if you click here. 

See you soon!

Mrs Simpson