MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 Happy Christmas!

I hope you all have a very good Christmas!

Firstly, thank you very much for the cards and gifts - you are very kind. 

This week the children have:

* performed their nativity - twice.
   (they did an exceptional job!)
* created some pieces of art work in the style of Nerys Levy (see photos below).
* continued with many Christmas crafts
* had Christmas dinner
* watched a Christmas film
* taken part in the Class 2 Christmas party
* been to church to sing more Christmas songs
* said goodbye to Mrs Pacitto (what will we do without her?)

... among other things. 

I have also tested your children on their common exception word spellings. I have updated the lists in their homework folders, however, not every child had their list in school with them. If that is the case, I have photocopied their school list and put that into their folder instead so you can see which words they still need to practise. 

There is no particular homework, but here are a few ideas if you'd like them for the two weeks. I'll put a copy in your children's homework folders as well. 

The children have worked very hard this term and have done a great job. 

I look forward to seeing you all in January!

Merry, merry christmas,

from

Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 13: A whole lot of Christmas.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Firstly, a couple of notices:

Apologies to Year 2 parents - your children did their spelling challenges last week but I completely forgot to put their yellow books back into their folders. They will return this week. 

Reading books have all been taken in for the holidays. Please check at home for any reading books - we have a set number, and our group reading doesn't work if we don't have enough books. Thank you!

Thank you for all of your support with nativity costumes - the children look fantastic, as you will see!

Spelling cards need to be in purple folders on Monday please - we are going to be checking your children's progress with their common exception word spellings, and will update their cards accordingly. 

Aside from that...
this week has been very much about the Nativity and preparing for Thursday's Christmas Open Afternoon. I am so excited for you to see your children's Nativity - they've been working so, so hard and have done so with simles on their faces!

We've also continued to decorate the classroom and carry out Rainbow Jobs. The children completed an independent piece of writing for their purple progress books - they all did a great job and I was particularly proud of the Year 1 children who have not done independent writing like this before. 

Next week will be all about final end of term assessments (phonics, spelling, reading) and feeling the joys of Christmas. 

I am not setting homework this week. Next week I will set a few suggested activities for the holidays!

Below are a few photos of our beautifully decorated classroom - all the children's handiwork. 

Have a good weekend

From Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 12: Snowflakes and Paper Chains

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Water bottles. 
Water bottles should only have water in, for health and stickiness reasons (spilt squash is so much more troublesome than spilt water!). If your child has a medical reason for needing squash, please let me know.

Nativity costumes:
Please bring in the items on the list we circulated, on Monday. Thank you!

In Class 2 this week:
As you may have seen on our classroom windows, Christmas has hit with full force this week. The children have had a great time decorating the classroom and watching the Panto and it feels like Christmas is rolling around rapidly

Nativity rehearsals have taken up quite a bit of time. The children are doing a good job. Continual practice with loud voices is required though please!  Thank you for all your help with your children's lines. 

In between Christmas, we have managed to fit:

Maths: Finishing off work on fact families and starting work on place value to 100 (representing 2-digit numbers as 10s and 1s). 

Phonics: learning about vowels (short and long vowel sounds) and starting to collect all the different graphemes we have been learning. Also adding 'ey' to our 'ee' collection. 

Spellings:  words with 'u' spelt 'o' (mother, other, brother). Their words are here - please feel free to practise them, though with the dress rehearsal next week I'm not completely sure we will fit in the spelling challenge. We will do our best!

Ernest Shackleton: The children wrapped up their history learning with a quiz on Ernest Shackleton. They've learnt a lot!

Our story: After a break from our story, we got back to it. Following their own instructions, the children relocated the lost penguin to Antarctica. It went well, and the penguin waddled happily off with its colony. 

To the children's surprise, on the way back on the boat we saw a small iceburg floating in the water with a.... polar bear on it. This was surprising, because the children know that polar bears belong in the Arctic, no where near Antarctica! It looked very thin and weak so the children decided that it needed help. 

We did a bit of research about polar bears and their features - the children made some fantastic polar bear posters and we'll be thinking about how to help the polar bear next week. 

Christmas:
See below for a couple of photos of the children making paper chains and snow flakes - they had a lovely time. 

HOMEWORK:

* Year 2 spellings (see above)

* Everyone please practise your nativity lines, slowly and clearly. Narrators, practice holding your booklets in front of you but not covering your face!

* Everyone please practice your common exception word spellings (on the cards in your homework folders) as we will be doing our end-of-term check of these soon. 

Have a good weekend!

From Mrs Simpson