This week in English the children have been reading some lovely stories together in their RWI groups. Some groups have been reading about Pirates, some about bath times and others about play days. They have all read ever so well and are more readily recognising that answers to comprehension questions can sometimes be retrieved from a text. The children have been assessed on their phonics and some children have been moved on to different stages of the RWI scheme. We have also done an independent write linked directly to our Victorian school experience we had at Blists Hill. The children have also been doing some work based on our class story ‘Beegu.’ They have been using adjectives to describe both feelings and appearances of the characters during different stages of the story. The children’s repertoire of vocabulary is flourishing more and more by the day.
In Maths the children have been learning more about adding and subtracting. By using partitioning they have been working systematically through their calculations. They have also tried to fully understand the concept of bar models. More work has been done on related facts and comparing number sentences involving addition and subtraction too. The children have also been assessed on their learning in certain areas through practical activities.
In Science the children have been looking at different parts of common animals. The children then used their knowledge of specific body parts to create their own creatures from a given criteria.
In Topic the children have talked about and written about their trip experiences at Blists Hill. They have also learned about the different jobs the children of their age (and younger) used to do in Victorian times. Not only has it been extremely thought provoking for them, it has made them realise that they may need to do a little more around the house to help you at home.
In PE the children have continued with both outdoor hockey with Embrace and games with Mr Sudlow. Please make sure that your children have the appropriate PE kit including outdoor trainers for a Monday and Friday.
Spelling lists have gone home today. Please see attached for our spelling list if your child has been off ill.
A big congratulations to Kyler for getting star trophy award for the week. He has worked incredibly well in all areas of the curriculum and has set a wonderful example in class.
Have a lovely weekend together and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Mr Mavin

In Class 2 we have loved listening to the children’s prior knowledge about the Victorians (or what they believed the Victorians and that era to be like) each day.
In English the children have continued to flourish in their RWI groups. In some cases they have been encouraged to use simple conjunctions to link their ideas when either writing or using talk for writing. They have moved onto the next part of the whole class story Beegu and have devised instructions on making sandwich.
In maths we have been using very practical means to add and subtract. We have used part whole models, number lines, apparatus and also using a bar model when subtracting. We have agreed ways of double checking our calculations to see if they make sense and have used reasoning well when explaining to our maths buddies. They children have also discovered that addition is commutative (done in any order) and some children have completed problems and explained their reasoning to give themselves an extra challenge.
Our art lesson has been linked to our History topic of The Victorians and the children have learned about the Victorian artist William Morris. They have now started to recreate strips of wallpaper with their own version of his designs. I can’t wait to see them all on display.
In Science the class have been learning about the grouping of animals. They have investigated sorting them based on certain features, characteristics or traits the animals may have. The prior knowledge and reasoning the children gave was very interesting to listen to indeed and it was something of real interest for this class.
In computing the children have been experimenting with the touch pad on the laptop. They have also been using an online learning platform to practise further their Maths and phonics work.
The children have been doing ever so well with their spellings and a new list is in their books. A special well done to both Dylan and Evie Webster who achieved Star of the Week status for lots of effort with their work in all lessons and tenacity even when they found something quite challenging. Well done to you both!
As a reminder, we have our class trip to Blists Hill on Wednesday. Please refer to the letter which went home for any additional details you may need to know.

Have a lovely weekend together and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Mr Mavin