The end of Autumn Term part 1.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

And, just like that, we have finished the first half term of school! It was really good to be able to sit down with you all this week and talk about your children.

The children have settled so well into the new school year and have been learning so much, including, but not limited to:

in science:

• about the diets of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
• how to identify birds, reptiles, mammals, fish and amphibians
• the useful features animals have, and how penguins are adapted to life in Antarctica
• the different habitats animals live in and why

in geography:

• the names of the seven continents and five oceans
• where Antarctica is
• that Antarctica is the windiest, coldest, driest place on earth
• how to survive in Antarctica

in history:

• all about Ernest Shackleton and his unsuccessful bid to cross Antarctica
• what it was like to go on an expedition in 1914

in art:

• all about the art work of Oliver Jeffers
• how to create art in the style of Oliver Jeffers
• how to use watercolours to create illustrations
• how to use oil pastels and how to blend them
• looking at the art work of Nerys Levy and her cold coloured pictures of Antarctica and the Arctica (to be continued)

in RE:

• about the Christian story of creation and what it means for us looking after the world

The children have also been working on computing and PSHE with Mrs Neal on a Thursday afternoon, and have sung lots of songs and begun to learn about pitch in music. In PE we have been learning basic games skills. And, of course, we have been doing lots of phonics, spelling, writing, reading and maths!

On Friday the children made some fantastic Children in Need flags and banners to take down to the church yard, to wave for Matt Baker on his Rickshaw Challenge. It was a bit of a wait - I think he got held up - but they proudly waved and cheered when he did eventually come by. The delay meant that I'm afraid the children's library books couldn't be changed, but we did manage to change all reading books ready for the holidays. 

In your children's home learning books I have put a copy of these home learning ideas for half term. They are just ideas, and  not compulsory! I would love to see any homework they do complete.  I have also updated their spelling lists to show words that they can now spell (the lists in the back of their home learning books). Ideally, by July Year 1 children will be able to spell the first 50 words and Year 2 will be able to spell at least the first 50 by Christmas, ready to move on to the next Year 2 list. 

I hope those children who missed the last day are feeling better, and that you all have a good week! 

See you on Tuesday 2nd,

From Mrs Simpson. 

More Ernest Shackleton and a few other things.

 

Hello Class 2 parents!

Edited to add: the children have nearly filled their class marble jar. They have voted for their treat - they'd like to bring their teddies to school for a day. When they have filled their jar completely I will let you know the details!

And just like that, we are heading into the final week of the first half term. It's flying by! 

This week the main news is that the children have been exceptionally dedicated authors. Following several weeks of learning to write in the style of Oliver Jeffers' 'Lost and Found', the children have been writing their own versions. They are rightly very proud of their work. Next week we will be publishing the stories to create a class book. 

The children have also continued their work on Ernest Shackleton. They looked at photos of the expedition to see what we could learn from them, and then in pairs created a photo album with captions to remember the trip. They also watched a short clip from David Attenborough's Frozen Planet II to get an idea of what Antarctica is like - I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it!

In Maths we have wrapped up our unit on number and place value and have started a unit on addition and subtraction. 

Year 1 children have been focussing on the language of 'whole' and 'part' and understanding what these mean. For example, if I have 8 sweets, 8 is the whole number. I can give 5 to Mrs Neal (one part) and keep 3 for myself (the other part). They have looked at part whole models such as this one:

With Year 1 we start by using objects - for example getting 5 beanbags and two hoops, and finding all of the ways we can split 5 into two parts. Then the children learn to draw the objects and write numbers in the part whole model.

To practise this, your child will have a whole page in their home learning book to show me all the ways the can split 6 (the whole) into its parts. This includes numbers in different orders, eg 2/4 and 4/2. 

Note: even if your child can recite bonds to 6 by heart (which some children can), getting them to show their maths using objects and pictures ensures that they have mastered the concept and know what numbers and number bonds 'look' like beyond the abstract numbers. 

Year 2 children have started the unit of work by revisiting number bonds to 10 and then looking at fact families to 20. To practise this, they have this 'odd one out' sheet in their home learning books. The idea is that they understand what is behind the symbols and numbers of a fact family. As with Year 1, I would recommend having 20 objects to support your child or, if they are confident, to ask them to show you how they know using the objects - put them in role as the teacher! This will help them to articulate their answers and deepen their understanding of the concepts. 

The phonics group have been looking at 'air' and 'ear', two trigraphs which are often confused! Their spellings are here and will also be in their home learning books. 

The spellings group have been looking at when to use 'j' and 'g' for the 'j' sound. Their spellings are here and will also be in their home learning books. 


I think that's all for now. I have a growing collection of unnamed jumpers and cardigans (I think from across the school, not just our class!) which I will leave outside one dry afternoon after school for you to all peruse. 

I am looking forward to meeting with you all next week!

Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 5: Ernest Shackleton

 

Hello Class 2 Parents and happy Thursday to you.

Having relocated the penguins to Antarctica, we have taken a break from our story this week and have been looking at someone else's story... that of Ernest Shackleton. We have been having a history week. Our core concepts for history are 'lifestyle' and 'legacy' so we have been learning about Ernest Shackleton's 'Endurance' expedition, which began in 1914, went very wrong and ended in 1916. 

To begin with the children heard the story of Ernest Shackleton's life. Then they raised questions about it. Next, we compared modern day expedition equipment with equipment from 1914. We imagined that we were about to set off on Shackleton's expedition; the children were given a 'catalogue' of equipment and 20 shillings to spend. It was interesting to see who prioritised a leather football over a woollen balaclava!

Tomorrow we are going to be looking at the rations the travellers had - the children will be planning a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu using their rations. 

Next week, we will continue to learn about the expedition and Shackleton's legacy (I am explaining 'legacy' to the children as 'what he is remembered for'). 

In other news: the children did a fantastic job of telling the story of "The Enormous Turnip' in the church on Monday!

In further news:

Spelling/Phonics.

The phonics group have revisited the digraphs  ur, or, ow, oi this week. Their spellings are here and will also be in their home learning books. 

The spelling group have looked at the graphemes  ge and dge. 
Both of these graphemes make the 'j' sound at the end of words. In general, dge comes after a single, short vowel sound (eg fridge, bridge, badge, edge) and ge appears after any other sound.  Their spellings are here and will also be in home learning books. 

Maths.

Both year groups have been looking further at 'more than' 'less than' and 'equal to'. They have also been looking at number lines.  Year 1 have been finding missing numbers on a number line, identifying whether the pattern goes forwards or backwards. Year 2 have been estimating numbers on a number line. This can be quite tricky! Some tips:

• A number exactly between two multiples of 10 will end in 5
• A number somewhere between two multiples of 10 will always start with the first multiple of 10 (e.g. between 60 and 70, the number will start with 6 tens)

Some ideas:

Play counting caterpillar. You can choose the number range depending upon your child. They then need to order the given numbers from smallest to largest. To support with the smaller numbers, have your child represent each number using counters. To support with 2- or 3- digit numbers, look at how many 10s/100s first to compare the numbers, then look at the next digit. 

Year 1 will also have a version of this sheet in their home learning books, to write on rather than cut and stick. 

Year 2 will have this sheet, but if you want an extra challenge try this one as well. (if you don't have a printer, it can be replicated in any way you like using the idea of 'estimating numbers' on a blank number line). 

All the time, when your child gives an answer, ask them 'how do you know?' This will help to build up your child's reasoning skills and mathematical thinking, beyond just 'I just know'!

I think that's all for now. I have a growing collection of jumpers and cardigans with no name in - I will put them outside some point soon, or please come in to look at the end of the day if your child is missing an item!

Have a good weekend,

From Mrs Simpson