We have loved hearing Class 2’s memoires of their days in The Great British Countryside. No matter how far-fetched the stories have been, the descriptions of the places they have seen and things in which they have found on their adventures of the great outdoors have been just brilliant!
In English they have continued with their Read Write Inc stories. Orange books have been reading and writing about things in which they might like to be when they are grown up, and Purple books have been reading and writing about the tale of Tim and Tom. Yellow books have been using digital media to look at images and use story telling language to describe what they can see in a freeze frame using adventurous adjectives. The children have also had a focus on using varied conjunctions to join their ideas in writing. For the second half of the week Class 2 have started their novel study work. Our new story is Alfie and the Great Outdoors and we have used descriptive language in activities linked to the first bit of the story.
In Maths the children have continued with their next steps in learning involving multiplication concepts. They have been doing both practical independent and guided group activities. We started with making arrays, then solved problems using them. We then moved on to recognising and working out doubles. We then finished the week solving problems involving doubling. The children have also continued to chant and count in their 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.
In Music the children have been both reading and playing simple pieces of music together. Their timing is getting so much better.
For PE the children were involved in relay practice, egg and spoon, obstacle and sprint. It is nice to see a competitive edge from the children even at this early stage.
Spellings have gone home today. We are all very proud of how the children are learning them. They are getting real satisfaction from their results. We would like to also say that we are delighted that your children are reading for pleasure all of the time, and thank you for your support when reading with, to or listening to your child at home.
Finally may we say congratulations to Oscar who has won Star of the Week trophy for setting an unbelievable example in school for his peers and for putting in real effort in all of his lessons.
Have a lovely weekend together and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Mr Mavin

I would like to begin by saying an enormous well done to the children of Class 2 for their celebration assembly performance. They all really enjoyed rehearsing for it and did a wonderful job. It was so lovely to see everyone who came to enjoy their assembly.
The children have done lots of reading this week in school and have been using their new phonic knowledge to try to read unfamiliar words and texts. In their Read Write Inc groups they have moved onto their last non-fiction books of their units and have been writing for purpose in different contexts and styles. The children are currently developing ideas for a new reading area in class and are going to create it next week.
In Maths we have had lots of fun learning about and capacity and volume. They have been solving real life problems involving capacity and volume in various contexts. They measured capacity using non-standard and then some progressed to using standard units of measurement in ml. They were given exciting contexts which included creating a new health drink using ml, measuring potions and also measuring capacity using dried materials as opposed to liquid. Class 6 were very impressed when taste testing their health drinks. Class 2 have also been learning number bond rhymes to make 20 and odd and even songs.
In Science the children have started their investigations into which materials they believe may or may not be good for waterproofing. Next week we have some super science experiments lined up.
In History topic the children have been learning about the games and leisure activities which Victorian children enjoyed. We tried and tested a few along the way and made our own thaumatropes.
I hope you have a lovely weekend together and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Mr Mavin

I would like to start by saying how lovely it was to witness the parent child dinners this week. Thank you so much for coming in to enjoy the Bicton Michelin-starred cuisine and spending some time in your child’s daytime setting.
In class the children have been working on their speaking and listening through whole class sharing time. They have used the 5 W’s very thoughtfully and have tried to find out more instead of just making a statement to their classmates. In Read Write Inc English the children are ready to move onto different book stages as they have just finished non-fiction texts on animals that can swim, parties and snow. They have made sure that when recording their ideas they have used conjunctions and adjectives.
In Maths we have been learning about mass and weight and have done lots of practical lessons using scales in order to predict and compare if items are heavier, lighter or the same mass. We measured in non-standard units of measurement which the children embraced and used lots of mathematical vocabulary and reasoning along the way. We finished the week by comparing masses and responding to questions like, ‘What can you say that is true about the apple and the weights?’
In Science the children have continued with their everyday materials topic by sorting materials by what they believe their properties to be. They have also been learning about transparent and translucent materials.
In History they have had a wonderful time comparing Victorian toys to their own today. They have also been practising their Victorian song which you will hear in the not so distant future.
In PE they have shown off their sports skills involving control, balance and speed with Embrace. They have had various apparatus circuits to master which all looked very exciting.
Well done to everybody for learning their spellings. The new list has gone into the children’s books for next Friday. A huge well done to Elodie too for getting Star of the Week trophy. Elodie has done amazingly well in every lesson and her attitude to learning has been outstanding.
I hope that you have a lovely weekend together and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Mr Mavin

Class 2 have all set a perfect example of how to behave in school and have been using their manners at every opportunity. In class they have enjoyed lots of practical learning experiences and have really enjoyed each other’s company as usual.
In Read Write Inc the children have been reading both fiction and non-fiction in their groups. They have enjoyed sharing their own knowledge and experiences of the wider world into their discussions too related to the texts they have read.
In Maths the children were introduced to further work on length and height through a new picture and information book, ‘Actual Size’ by Steve Jenkins. Here they continued using non-standard methods for measurement at the start of the week by measuring pictures within the book which were life size animal parts which they all found very engaging and very real. Firstly they began to estimate and measure the animal body parts with objects, and then slowly progressed into to using standard cm’s using rulers by the end of the week. We have also worked on creating our class Ostrich for a class height chart. After the children chose the Ostrich as their favourite, we read about the big bird’s height in the book and then measured and drew it for us to compare our own heights and sizes to it on our wall. This is work in progress and should be ready next week.
In History the children have been learning about famous Victorian inventions and inventors as an extension to their wonderful homework projects. Their main learning focus was on the key inventor Alexander Graham Bell who invented the first ever telephone. The children then had a go at making one of their own to try out too with their partners which was amusing to watch when it was time to test them out. Our Victorian tiles are near completion too and wouldn’t look out of place around any Victorian fireplace.
In Science the children have kick started their new topic of Everyday Materials by doing a practical investigation involving sorting materials into different categories as a group and have learned new vocabulary in order to better describe their properties.
The new spelling lists have gone out in books as usual to be done next Friday by the children. It has been so lovely to see the enthusiasm of the children concerning both spellings and their home reading materials. We are so grateful to you all for nurturing their joy for learning in the home too.
I hope that you have a lovely weekend together and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Mr Mavin

Class 2 have done English work this week based on the interests they have brought into the classroom. It has synced brilliantly with our Science topic of Animals and Humans; literacy based work on SHARKS! They have experienced visual literacy from media and simple text sources in the first instance. Then they were reading and retrieving, recording ideas for labelling and describing sharks along with facts about them. In addition to this they have been demonstrating excellent reading and sentence building skills in their RWI groups.
In Maths we have been learning about length and height in our measurement unit. We started off making comparisons and describing lengths and heights using new mathematical language. After sorting ourselves into height order we described and compared three objects at a time using words including longer, longest, shorter and shortest. Towards the end of the week we applied our learning to a maths investigation using non-standard units of measurement. We used metre sticks and toilet paper. Their investigation was to see if we could roughly measure and compare the lengths of four of the world’s best known sharks. We compared their lengths and found out how many of the children one above the other made up the lengths of each of them. By the looks on the children’s faces this was mind blowing and they got the gist of how enormous these creatures are in comparison to them.
In history topic work Class 2 have learned about the awful jobs which children were subjected to during the Victorian era. They focused on chimney sweeps and what the child needed to do and why there was a need for such a role. The children then moved onto their own piece of artwork on a chimney sweep after completing an extended piece of writing about this renowned Victorian job. We finished the week making a start on our Victorian clay tiles using various taught techniques. They have started to look fab before they are painted.
The children did wonderfully well on their weekly spellings again this week. A new list has gone in their books. A big congratulations to Cerys too for getting Star of the Week Trophy for some tenacious work done in her Maths and English lessons and for showing good listening skills in class.
I hope you have a lovely weekend together and I will look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mr Mavin