Happy Holidays!

Hello Class 2 Parents,

I say it every year, but I'm sure that year passed by even faster than usual! 

Firstly, thank you so much for the cards and gifts I have received. They are very thoughtful  I really appreciate your kindness. 

We've had a fabulous year in Class 2. The children have been very busy and have worked incredibly hard. Some of this year's highlights include:

* The Nativity performance
* Learning about Ernest Shackleton 
* Designing and baking bread
* Visiting Northampton Museum
* Our trip to Salcey Forest
* The Rhino Olympics
* Creating a 5 metre long Nile crocodile
* The whole school Forensic Science day
* Creating a Maasai boma
* Having SO much time learning outdoors in the shade this summer
* World Book Day and the Alice in Wonderland dance workshop

(I'm sure there are more that I simply can't remember!)

We've spend this final week finishing off a few things. In our Mantle of the Expert story the children finally found the Enormous Crocodile. They went on to make some clay crocodiles complete with carriers, in the style of Kenyan soapstone souveniers. We also had a couple of days learning about money! Over the summer, please help your child to use small amounts of money to pay for things in shops - this is the absolutely best way to learn about money!

Your children have been fantastic this year - it's been a pleasure to teach them. 

Year 2 parents, I will miss your children hugely - they are such a happy, confident and chatty bunch, full of good ideas. They've been great company these past two years. 

Year 1 parents, it's been great working with you and getting to know your brilliant children. I look forward to teaching them (and working with you) again next year!

Whatever you get up to, I hope you have a good six weeks. 

See you in September!

Mrs Simpson  :0)

(photos are of the team finding The Enormous Crocodile, represented by Annabel).

Summer Week 11: The Olympics!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

The news of the week revolves around...

THE OLYMPICS!
Class 2 attended the KS1 Rhino Olympics at the Towcestrian Rugby Club on Thursday. They were representing Germany and so on Wednesday the children created flags, a banner and some headdresses. The day started with a parade of countries, during which Class 2 were without a doubt the best cheerleaders for all of the other countries! Then the children completed nine different activities, each of which came with points:

* howler throw
* javelin throw
* relay
* long jump
* beanbag and hoop throw
* water run
* treasure chest run
* hoppity hop (hoping sideways and back over a block)
* hurdle race

For each activity the children collected as many points as they could in six minutes. At the end, every team gathered around to hear the results, and (out of 10 countries), we came FIRST!

The children were rightly very proud of themselves. I was proud of them for winning, of course, but even more proud of their good sporting attitude throughout the day and for how hard they worked. 

In other news...

* the children have continued to learn to tell the time.

* they have started to write some instructions for how to save the children from the 
    crocodile (in our story).

* they have also been creating their own piece of art in the style of Tingatinga. 

* On Friday the Year 1 children will be completing their sponsored walk to raise money for our new Forest School. 

Reading books have been taken in for the holidays. Please continue to return any that you find at home (a list of missing books was emailed home too!).

There is no more homework! BUT please do keep practising telling the time with your child - Year 1 need to focus on o'clock and half past, while Year 2 have started looking at five minute intervals ( on analogue clocks). 

Enjoy the week end - see you next week!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 10: Lots of sun and Salcey Forest

 Greetings Class 2 Parents,

What a great day we had at Salcey Forest! It was lovely to have so many of you there and the children had a super time building dens, identifying trees and spotting minibeasts. 

In other news:

In maths the children have been learning to tell them time. For this we use an analogue clock, so if you have one at home please encourage your child to practise telling the time! Year 1 children have focussed on o'clock and half past, while Year 2 children have also look at quarter to and quarter past. They've also just started looking at five minute intervals. 

There is no particular homework for this - but please help your child to practice telling the time as much as possible. It's one of those skills that simply needs a lot of practice! You can use this as well to help  -  it shows the real time, but you can also switch it so that you can show the time you want!

In spellings the Year 2 children have continued to look at homophones:  knight/night, sun/son, won/one, bear/bare and great/grate. 

In phonics the Year 1 children have been learning some spelling rules: adding suffixes to change the meaning of verbs (painting, painted, painter) and adjectives (bigger, biggest, smaller, smallest). 

In writing the crocodile books are just about finished! The children are incredibly proud of their work (and rightly so) - the books will come home for you to see in a couple of weeks. 

On Monday afternoon the whole school has a move-up afternoon, so Year 2 children have the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Mr Howard, while Year 1 children will spend the afternoon being helpful Year 2 children with me!

I think that's everything for now. The term is flying by and I can't quite believe there are only two weeks left!

Have a great weekend and I will see you next week. 

Mrs Simpson