Week beginning 21.11.16

The year 2 members of the class have been very excited this week as the preparations for the Christmas play have well and truly started. The roles have been given out, with many children in the class having learnt their lines already. Keep practising key stage 1, we can't wait to see it! 

Literacy 

We have had a grammar week this week as we fine tune our editing skills. We have been self-checking work for spelling mistakes, missing letters and words and ensuring everything is the the correct tense. We have also been learning how to use apostrophes for omission and possession. This work has all been based around the animated short 'Taking Flight'. 

Maths

In maths, we have been continuing with our shape unit. We have used mirrors to identify lines of symmetry in shapes and we have also been identifying different types of lines such as perpendicular and parallel. 

Geography 

In geography, we have continued our trip around the world as we used both globes and the iPads to learn about the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere and the equator. We researched different facts such as the average temperature, rainfall and the population of different countries. We just could not believe how many people lived in China!

Art 

In art this week, we have been looking at the work of Piet Mondrian and Kandinsky as we learn about colour theory. We have been using primary colours to mix and create secondary colours and we have also been looking at changing tones by adding white or black to a colour. 

In other news...we had a visitor this week, who came to teach us all about car safety. We did some experiments with catapults and observed how using seat belts in a moving vehicle can seriously increase our safety. 

Finally, don't forget to order your tickets for the Christmas play as seats are going fast!  

Week beginning 14.11.16

Literacy 

In literacy this week, we have written a whole five part, adventure story of our very own. We focused closely on the story structure, using a paragraph for the introduction, build-up, climax, resolution and ending. As we wrote we tried our hardest to include both our targets for writing and our newly learnt sentence structure skills such as: using adverbs; adventurous verbs and adjectives; conjunctions to add detail; adverbs and conjunctions for time; fronted adverbials and even some onomatopoeias. 

Maths

We have been enjoying our new unit on shape as we name and identify and describe 3-D shapes using their properties. Ask us about the descriptive vocabulary we have been using. It's all very impressive! 

Art 

In Art, have been learning how to build up layers of acrylic paint and paint upon different surfaces such as canvas. We have been agitating the paint to create texture as we produce our pieces of work influenced by the natural contours of the land, whilst working in response to the artist Patrick Heron. Be sure to check next weeks blog for some examples of our work. 

Science 

Year 3 have been continuing our experiments with light as we looked at how light behaves when hitting smooth shiny surfaces such as mirrors. We completed some challenging task as we learnt all about reflections. 

Don't forget to check the Mrs Cryan's page for all the latest year 2 science news.

In other news...well done Oliver for achieving Wonderful Work this week for adopting a fantastic 'can-do' attitude towards his learning and producing a high standard of work all week. Finally, thank-you to all of those who donated money to children in need this Friday. We all looked fantastic in our spots. 

Week beginning 7.11.16

Maths

In maths this week, we have been continuing with our multiplication and division. We have been learning to choose the most efficient method when solving a multiplication problem; arrays, repeated addition or using our knowledge of the tables. If you would like to learn more about the methods used in school, you can find the school calculations policy on the website. We have also been sharing and counting in for division on a number line; preparing for calculating with two and three digit numbers. 

Literacy 

We have been describing settings using our senses and trying to make our descriptions fuller by using expanded noun phrases ( the blue butterfly) and modifying adjectives (the blue butterfly with the spotty wings). This is all ready for our big write next week, when we write our adventure stories. 

Art 

In art this week, we have started to look at the abstract work of  modern artist Patrick Heron. We have been combining our geography and ICT skills, to help us create pieces in response to his work. We have studied they way he observes the lines and contours of aerial images and maps as inspiration, then fills with primary and secondary colours. We have been learning to use short, controlled brush strokes in preparation for using acrylic pain next week.  

ICT and Geography 

In ICT this week we enjoyed the start of our new topic: All Around the World. We learnt how to use digital map programmes like google maps and used street view to get an insight into living in different climates and environments. 

In other news..

it was lovely to see so many faces at parents evening this week. It is so enjoyable spending time sharing the children's many achievements with you all. Thank-you for your time. If you still have not managed to secure an appointment with me and would like to, just pop in or call to arrange a time for Monday 14th November. 

Also, we had a lot of merit badges go out this week. This is not small achievement, as the children require 75 merit points to fill their card and earn their next badge. Well done and keep up the hard work! 

Week Beginning 1.11.16

Squeezed in-between the excitement of Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night, in year 3, there has been a busy start to the new half-term. 

Literacy 

We have been really enjoying the work of Simon Murray and meeting his mischievous character: Icky-Doo-Dah. Using the five part story structure ( ask us what the parts  are called!), we have been inspired to write our own adventure stories. This week we have designed our own character, thinking carefully about where he lives, his personality and likes and dislikes. We have put our ideas into a storyboard plan ready to write in the future. 

 Maths 

In maths, we have been tackling the tricky topic of multiplication and division. We have moved forward with our techniques when doubling and halving, by using our mental maths skills to partition and then  recombine. We enjoyed halving the costs of the supplies needed for an adventure, when working out the cost of a trip for two people,

We have also been looking at how the order of the numbers in calculations can be rearranged and how this can help us check our work. 

Science 

We started our new topic this week: Light. We discussed what we knew about the subject already, before organising pictures into to groups of sources of light and reflectors of light. Some of us were surprised to find out that the bright moon does not give out its own light but reflects the light of the sun. Even at night! Don't forget to check out Mrs Cryan's blog for updates on the year 2 science activities. 

In other news...well done Millie for achieving the Wonderful Work certificate for her hard work in maths this week. Also, for the creative and tempting donations of jars that came in for FOSA this Friday. The children all looked fantastic in their bright colours. Finally, after achieving 35 stamps last term, the year 2s were awarded their Red Ted bookmarks. Superb!

Week Beginning 21.10.16

Wow! What a half-term! I can't believe how much we have got through and the children's level of dedication and ambition. Every challenge has been greeted with enthusiasm, consequently the their achievements have never ceased to amaze me all half-term. Well done year 2/3!

Music

In music, we have learnt a song to help us remember the parts of the viola. Question us and see how much we remember and can describe. 

Literacy 

We have been doing lots of writing this week, as we start to use paragraphs in our work by grouping related ideas and information. We have structured our sentences using generalisers as openers and other tools to make the starts of our sentences more engaging for the reader. We have been using conjunctions to add detail and ensuring we us lots of rich description, as we wrote our non-chronological reports about dragons of our own design.

Science 

In science we continued our investigations, as we observed the behaviour and strength of different magnets. We looked at which poles attract or repel and tested the strength of a variety  of magnets. We were quite surprised when we realised that it was not necessarily the size of the magnet which could hold the longest chain of paperclips.

D.T

We had great fun on Friday, making our movable heads using origami to create our own monsters. When we are finished, we are looking forward to attaching our pneumatic system and watching them come alive. Also, well done to Harry for winning the Wonderful Work certificate for his much improved sentence work, whilst writing his dragon report. 

In other news...

Another parliament of owls went home this week reading to become home reading buddies. Congratulations on earning 35 stamps and the improvements in reading skills that come with all that hard work.

Week Beginning 10.10.16

Music 

It was an exciting start to the week this week, as during our music lessons we got our violas out for the very first time. We asked and answers questions about the different parts and had a go at holding our instrument. We also worked with sticks to create rhythms using short and long beats. 

Science

This week we learnt about magnetic fields and discovered that planet Earth has a giant magnetic force field. We organised materials in our scrapheap challenge, into piles that are magnetic and non-magnetic. We were surprised to discover that not all metals are magnetic. 

We also made our very own compass by rubbing a magnet along a piece of metal to line up the particles. We were all amazed when we floated it in water and it pointed north. 

Literacy

Literacy we have been researching on the computers, playing games and reading all about dragons. We enjoyed some role play as we interviewed our expert dragon hunters for Dragon Watch TV. We have also been focusing on ways to make our sentence starts more interesting and using generalisers, so that our writing does not sound too repetitive.  We have also been looking at spelling with the suffix -ly. This week were pleased that we manged to change 6/7 of our jumping orange words green. Only one more left! Keep practising on the sheet that has been sent home.

D.T

This week we used an I.T package to investigate different types of pneumatic mechanisms. We also started to design our very own moving monsters on the computers too. 

In other news... congratulations to the first group of children who have received their reading owls and red ted bookmarks. They have all worked really hard at their reading at home, reading 35 to take home their reward. Well done!

Week beginning 3.10.16

Literacy

This week, we have been combining our word processing skills  and editing knowledge as we improved and typed up our newspaper reports. Pop in and see them displayed in the classroom. They look just the real thing. We have also been writing sentences using causal conjunctions such as: because, so, as, although.  These help us make our sentence structures more interesting and make sure we add more detail to our work. Finally,  have been looking at information pages and examining the content as we asked and answered questions about a text. 

In our spelling sessions, we have moved on from the prefixes un-, im, in,  and dis- to the suffix -ous. A suffix is found at the end of a root word:

Root word               Suffix  

 Danger         +            -ous     = Dangerous

How many can you name? Ask us to help! Don't forget to keep practising your spellings from your half-termly list.  Of course the Year 2s have their phonics sessions in key stage 1 so don't forget to check out Mrs Cryan's page for the latest spelling and phonic updates.                               

Maths

We have been working on our mental addition and subtraction skills. We have using number facts to help speed up calculations when adding or subtracting a single digit number from a two-digit number. We have also been adding up three or more numbers in a row by adding the larger numbers first. 

Science 

We are really enjoying our science at the moment and all of the practical elements it contains. Yet again, we had a double investigation this week as we investigated friction. We timed ourselves picking up dry jelly cubes with chopsticks and then jelly cubes covered in oil to see what effect reducing the friction had. 

We also investigated different materials such as: carpet, plastic, wood.  We observed  how the resistant force of friction changed with different surfaces and how it affects the movement of a wooden toy car on a slope. 

The Year 2s' have also been busy investigating and learning all about materials and their properties. Be sure to drop into Mrs Cryan's page to find out all about it. 

Geography 

We have been learning all about the different localities in the U.K as we researched some of our countries counties. We learnt about county capitals, rivers and geographical features and special features and attractions. 

In other news...

We enjoyed a fantastic performance of Wind in the Willows from the image theatre group on Thursday. Some of us were even chosen to do some acting and join the performers on stage. Well done Oliver and Meaghan for transforming into the naughtiest weasels!