Alison Patel

What a fantastic first week back we had! The children have shown such a positive attitude and have already learnt so much!

In English, we started our book, Beegu. The children have acted in character focusing on her feelings throughout the story and have used this to write a character description. We have begun our new PSHE style of teaching called Jigsaw and the children have been introduced to Jigsaw Joe – writing letters to him to help him with his worries about starting a new school year.

We have also begun to learn about this term’s artist, Piet Mondrian, and created their own fabulous artwork in his style. In Maths they have been consolidating their knowledge of number bonds and place value and are beginning to give thoughtful reasons for their answers.

Just a little reminder that our PE day is Thursday so please can you make sure all of your child’s kit is in school and labelled. This year the afternoon structure has changed slightly whereby the children will receive one longer PE lesson rather than two short ones as we have introduced cooking sessions with Mrs Quinn, which we are very excited about.

We have been extremely impressed with the mature attitude of all of the children as Year 2s!

The children are settling in to their new environment and exploring all of the new changes to the Year 1 classrooms. We have transformed the Year 1 classrooms into the Workshop (Willow), the Wonder Room (Oak) and the Discovery Room (Cherry) but not forgetting the exciting outdoor area.

The children have been carrying out science investigations with a range of resources. They are beginning to use scientific language to become a real scientist. A popular area outside has been the wood work. Children are safely using new skills to build and create models which are secured by nails. Children have been advised to keep their models and build upon these every day. We have been continuing with helicopter stories and introducing more challenging language to make it more interesting to read. They have also looked at the work of Picasso and applied their new knowledge to make famous buildings in the Wonder room.

As the autumnal weather starts to kick in, please can you send in your child’s wellies.

In English this week the children have been learning about persuasive writing. We have learnt how to take part in a conscience alley, whereby we have been giving the Fox advice on whether to stay in the den or go and look for the Star. From this we started to write our own persuasive letters to the Fox. We discussed how our letters need to be persuasive to encourage the Fox to either stay in the den or go look for the Star. 

Home Task – Can you write your own persuasive letter to a friend? 

In Maths this week the children have been looking at capacity and measure. The children have been exploring different sized containers and water. We have developed our capacity mathematical vocabulary, including full, half full, nearly empty and empty. From this knowledge, we moved on to comparing capacities. 

Home Task – Can you explore capacity in different containers from around your home?

In Topic this week we have been learning about what effect different liquids have on each other. The children started our experiment by predicting what they thought was going to happen and drawing a diagram of the experiment. As groups, we then tested the experiment, whereby we put food colouring into milk, then used a cotton bud with washing up liquid and used this to put into the milk. The children were amazed to see that the cotton bud with washing up liquid was able to move the food colouring. 

In English this week the children have been learning facts about beetles. We have learnt that some beetles are as big as our hand, some change colour and some can emit gas that can burn their predators. From this we started to write our own riddles about beetles. We discussed how riddles are written in the first person and that riddles are a description of the animal itself. 

Home task: Can you write your own riddle for a different animal?

In Maths this week the children have been studying repeated addition, grouping and arrays. They have been learning how we can group multiple objects in a variety of ways. They developed their understanding of putting objects into groups by looking at arrays. Arrays are an arrangement of objects in either columns or rows which help us to work out repeated addition sums and multiplication.

Home task: Can you group your toys into multiple groups/arrays?

In Topic this week we have been learning the skill to sketch before completing a piece of art work. We have looked at landscapes and what this entails, starting by using our skills to sketch our own landscape. The children were given an option of pencils, paint, pens, crayons and chalk to complete their landscape picture. ​After completing this they were able to add layers to their art work through the use of alternative media. For example, children who used paint were then able to add chalk or pencil on top to give the picture depth and detail.