Week 4: The Society for the Protection of Bog Babies

 Greetings Class 2 Parents,

Welcome to another installation of 'life in Class 2'. 

We have done a lot this week, so here is a little snapshot. 

In our story:
The children continued to make their display about bog babies. The display had photos on it and facts about bog babies. 

One day, a visitor came to see them. She had this 'photograph', and was looking for the Society for the Protection of Bog Babies to see if they could identify the creatures in the photo (when children ask if the photo is real,  I tend to say, 'It is part of our story').

The children quickly identifed that the creatures were definitely bog babies. They agreed that they could be the Society for the Protection of Bog Babies, and they wanted to find out more about this pond. 

We did a bit of geography, making maps of the woodland with geographical features, including a key, and marked on the maps where bog babies were likely to be found. We then stepped into the story and went to look for bog babies. Sure enough, when we crept quietly around the woodland, we quickly spotted a pond. Sitting quietly next to it, the children began to spot bog babies. Each time they spotted a bog baby, they showed everyone else where it was using chalk. 

As we sat watching the bog babies, we decided that we definitely needed to look after them. The children said that they were rare, and that we needed to make sure no one harmed them or took them away. 

For the rest of the term, the children will be The Society for the Protection of Bog Babies and will work to protect the pond and the bog babies, and to keep the public informed about them. 

In writing:
The children have been writing instructions for how to care for a bog baby. 

In maths:

Year 1 have  continued to look at numbers to 20 and the fact that they are made up of one ten and some ones.  They were introduced to base 10 (10 rods and single cubes). Their homework is here and will be in their folders.

Year 2 have continued to work on representing numbers to 100 and this week have been partitioning numbers to 100. Their homework is simply to play this game. Go to the link and select '10s'.  Children select the correct amount of 10s (snakes) and 1s (snake heads) to make the number If your child is very confident, have a go at 100s too!

In phonics:

Blue group has been continuing to revisit phase 3 digraphs and have been reading words with consonant blends in as well, such as stamp, trick, best, frog. Here is a phase 2 and 3 sound mat, which will help you to spot digraphs with your child in their reading book. 

Green group has been looking at 'igh' alternatives: igh, ie, i_e, y, i. 
Year one parents, see if you can spot these graphemes with your child in their books. Have a look at the spellings if you want to. 

The Year 2 spellings are here and will be in their book bags. 

Finally, Year 1 parents are invited to a reading workshop on Wednesday (4th October) at 3.20pm. Reception parents will be invited too. I will go over phonics, the Year 1 phonics check and some strategies for reading, similarly to last year. I will also be talking about Litttle Wandle and its phonics and reading programme. 

I think that's all for now!

From Mrs Simpson

Week 3: Bog babies and their habitats.

 Hello Class 2 parents,

What a very wet and wild week! The children have enjoyed running around in the blustery weather and finding the first conkers on the ground. 

Thank you to those of you who managed to come to the meeting on Monday. It was good to have a chance to see you all and for you to see the classroom. Hopefully you have all received the class information that went out following Monday. If not, you can find a copy here. 

This week the children have continued their work on bog babies. In writing, they have been describing bog babies ready to make some useful posters for the wall. The Year 2 challenge was to include two adjectives in a list: for example, 'They have small, round bellies.' In science the children looked at the bog babies' habitat - a woodland habitat. We looked at features of a woodland habitat and created a habitat for a bog baby out of a range of materials around the classroom. The children went on to draw and label a habitat for their own bog baby. 

In maths:

Year 1 children have been looking at numbers to 20. They have written them and represented them using ten frames, learning that the numbers from 10 to 19 all have a '10' in them. Their homework is here, and will also be in their folders. 

Year 2 children have been looking at numbers to 100, refreshing their memories of 10s and 1s and writing numbers to 100. Their homework is here and will also be in their folders. 

In phonics:

In your child's homework folder I have included a note about which phonics group they are in. I have based this upon my initial assessments of the children. Each week I will outline the graphemes each group has learnt, and Year 2 will have spellings linked to their graphemes. 

Blue group has been looking at some phase 3 digraphs: oa, ur, or, ow, oi, ear. They have been practising reading and writing words with them in. 

They have been spelling the tricky words: my by no go so to do of

Green group has been looking at 'ee' alternatives. For Year 2, this is a refresher. For the Year 1 children in the group, this is a first brief look at some sounds they will be learning in more depth later on in the year. The graphemes are:   ee  ea  y  e  e_e

They have been spelling the tricky word: people

Year 2 spellings are here and will be in their folders as usual.
(Year 1s in the group are welcome to look at these spellings if they are keen, but I will not be testing them on them). 

In other news, the children are all settling back in to school well. The Year 2 children continue to be helpful and the Year 1 children are getting the hang of being Year 1 children. 

I hope you all have a good week end!

Mrs Simpson

Week 2: A bit cooler and a bit busier!

Hello Class 2 Parents,

The first full week is done!

It's been a week of  the children getting to know routines and expectations, and of us getting to know them and where their learning is at. 

Among other things, the children have:

• learnt about passport jobs. These are jobs the children can choose from each morning (usually 6-8 jobs throughout the week)
• done some maths assessment activities with me and Mrs Neal
• done some ERIC time (Everyone Reading In Class) - looking at big books, non fiction books, fiction books and phonics books
• done some group reading
• done some whole class reading
• done a piece of independent writing (so I can see what they have remembered!)
• taken part in their first P.E. lesson of the year - they got changed incredibly independently, I was impressed!
• taken part in their first music lesson of the year
• practised lining up very smartly and quietly to go into worship
• started phonics lessons

Importantly, we also shared the story The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis. We read it twice and discussed the book. It will be our whole class reading book for this half term (more on whole class reading during Monday's parent meeting). The children went on to make and decorate a clay bog baby. I was very impressed with them - they really tried hard with their clay work. They are very into Bog Babies, which is good because the story will form the basis for some of our learning this term. 

Ordinarily, there will be weekly homework but this will start next Friday. For now, please just enjoy reading with your child. 

I hope to see you on Monday for our meeting.

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Here are a few photos from the week:

A warm welcome to a new school year

Hello Class 2 Parents and welcome to a new academic year!

Year 2 parents: welcome back to the Class 2 blog!

Year 1 parents: a very warm welcome to Class 2! I use this blog to let you know what we have been up to each week in class, to give you any information you might need and to set homework. Sometimes homework will be printed out and put in a homework folder, but at other times it may be a link to an online game, or a suggestion for an activity to do that doesn't need printing out; so if you're ever unsure of what the homework is, check here!

It has been a good first few days in Class 2. We have taken things slowly (even more so than usual thanks to the confusing temperatures!). We have focussed on getting to know the classroom (which looks quite different to last year), getting to know each other again, and learning our new school rules:

Be kind
Be safe
Be ready to learn

Mrs Neal and I have been starting some assessments of phonics, spelling and reading and these will continue next week. The first week or so will very much be seeing where the children are with their learning and helping them to settle back into the routine of school. 

A note about reading books.
The way we read with your children is going to change slightly. More information will follow. One aspect of this is that your child will take home a badger book every Friday. They should have one in their bag, along with a letter explaining what badger books are. In case the letter has been mislaid, you can find a copy here. 

Your children will also have reading books - Year 2 have come home with one to be getting on with, and Year 1 will have one by the end of next week. It just takes a bit of time to assess everyone and make sure they have the right books! In the meantime, enjoy your badger books. 

If you have anything you want to catch me about, please do! I can usually be found at the end of the day (except Thursdays) and am always happy to talk. 

I don't always remember to take photos, but this week I've taken a few just so you can see the class getting reacquainted. Hopefully everyone is in there somewhere!

Have a good week end,

Mrs Simpson