Year 1

We have started a new book in English, called ‘The Storm Whale’, which the children have really been enjoying. They have explored time conjunctions and using these during their retelling of the story. They have practised their sentence writing, making sure we have our finger spaces, capital letters and full stops. We have also made sure to orally say our sentences multiple times before writing it, writing each word one at a time to not miss anything out, and remembering to read our writing back to spot any mistakes. In maths and fluency, we have practiced using part-whole models, understanding that a number can be broken down to 2 parts or more and using the stem sentence ‘___ is the whole, ___ is a part and ___ is a part’. We have used counters, Numicon and bean bags and the Rekenrek to help with our learning. We have also been continuing to use our ‘greater than, less than, and equal to’ symbols, with some of us drawing out crocodile teeth to remind us that the crocodile wants to eat the bigger number! We have finished our geography topic with a map for Beegu’s parents to help them find their way to Beegu in our learning gardens. We created our final piece of artwork with inspiration from Yayoi Kusuama’s stippling. We have explored sound in science and created our own musical instrument ‘shakers’ using rice, stones and a water bottle. The children predicted how the experiment was going to turn out.

  

  

                                         

w/b 14.10.24

Keywords: counting backwards, 1 less, adjectives, sight, hear, smell, taste, touch, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, maps, stippling

Sounds: ea, oi aw are

 

w/b 21.10.24

Keywords: greater than, less than and equal to, part whole model, adjectives, maps, outline, sketch, sight, hear, smell, taste, touch, eyes, ears, nose, tongue

Sounds: a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e

 

Messages: 

Please ensure your child brings their reading folders in with their reading record and books on Mondays. 

The reading record should be signed by an adult five times. 

If you would like to watch some videos to support phonics teaching at home, please check out: https://www.youtube.com/@MrTsPhonics 

 

Dates: 

Wednesday 23rd October  - End of term

 

Year 2

It has been a great first-half term in year 2. It has been a pleasure getting to know the children and seeing them explore a wide range of skills throughout the curriculum.  

In English, the children have rounded off their English learning by writing their diary entries from their Traction Hero’s perspective, writing about the journey they went on to find their sidekick ‘Scrubbing Brush’. The children have put themselves into the mind of their hero and discussed how the character might be feeling at a range of different points on their journey. Whilst stepping through the story the children added in a range of time connectives as sentence starters, such as first, then, and finally. The children worked on using time connectives, exciting past tense action words (verbs), emotive words and interesting adjectives. In maths, we have been exploring number bonds to 20 and 100, as well as addition and subtraction fact families. This week we are continuing with addition by exploring the idea of ‘adding ones’ to a two-digit number. The children have been working with their peers to problem-solve a range of sums. In Geography, we have been learning about human and physical features, specifically focusing on London and Belfast. The children learned about iconic landmarks in both the cities, as well as the natural surroundings that both cities offer. We then compared the similarities and differences of both cities. We continued with our ‘how animals grow’ topic in science, with a focus on comparing the life cycles of a butterfly, frog, swan and butterfly and understanding the similarities and differences between them. Finally, in art, the children created some amazing Orla Kiely inspired wallpaper using their polystyrene matrices. The children carefully carved their unique designs into the polystyrene, which allowed them to print their beautiful patterns onto the wallpaper. The children have been working on throwing and catching a range of objects. Last week, we put this into practice, playing some basketball-related games. The children worked with a range of their peers, practising their throwing and catching, as well as exploring dribbling and shooting. It was lovely seeing the children creating their own games and exploring the skills they have been working on.

  

  

         

                                    

w/b 14.10.24

Keywords: past-tense, verbs, number bonds, fact families, adding, subtracting, landmark, Government, transport, yearling, foal, mare, stallion, matrix.

 

w/b 21.10.24

Keywords: nouns, adjectives, prepositions, number bonds, adding, life cycles, compare, human feature, physical feature.

 

Messages: 

As the weather is changing, please ensure your child has a labeled coat in school and appropriate shoes. Without, your child may not be able to join in with outdoor activities.

Please ensure your child brings their reading folders in with their reading record and books on Mondays. 

The reading record should be signed by an adult five times. 

All hair needs to be tied up. Half up and down needs tying completely back please. 

Please ensure your child has a book bag - we cannot safely house rucksacks due to our limited space. 

The new spellings have been stuck in books, please practice week 1 over the first week of Autumn 2. The first spelling assessment will be on 11.11.24.

 

Dates: 

Monday 4th November - Friday 8th November - STEM week 

Tuesday 12th November - Family teacher meetings 

Thursday 14th November - Family teacher meetings 

Friday 15th November - Odd socks day for anti-bullying week 

Thursday 21st November - PTA children’s disco 

Tuesday 10th December - Christmas Performance - 9.30am 

Thursday 19th December - Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day

Friday 20th December - School Closes at 1.30pm for end of term