It has been all smiles in Class 2 this week!
In English the children have continued to read our story books through our Read Write Inc scheme. Some of the children have also focused on non-fiction texts about animals that swim and have produced some excellent sentences about things that are factual. We have also used and practised the personal pronoun ‘I’ in our work and have looked in greater depth at using capital letters for names of people and places. Each child also had a focus on particular aspects of their handwriting which they needed to show an improvement with in their work. The children did this brilliantly.
The children have had problem solving lessons in maths involving addition and partitioning numbers and relating this to number bonds within 20. The children have used lots of equipment in order to help and support them with their learning for addition. The children have now started writing complete number sentences for addition and have related them to number bonds within and to 10. In Class 2 we have started some rhymes to go with our number bonds to 10. Maybe the children can share a few with you at home!
The children have had a wonderful music lesson yet again with Mrs Tan playing their instruments to a song in complete unison. It was very easy on the ears this week and is coming together really well for them.
In other subjects the children have had the project of starting a 3D map of Antarctica from various materials. We are going to include animals on it next week when we investigate the ones which inhabit such a place and how they survive there. A very enjoyable afternoon was spent learning about the Northern Lights and why they occur as a natural phenomenon in that part of the world. We then did a step by step chalk drawing in an art lesson.
The new spelling list is in their books. The children have done wonderfully well yet again with learning them this week.
Have a lovely time together over the weekend and see you Monday!
Mr Mavin

Every child has done themselves proud this week in Class 2!

In English this week the children have been reading a variety of short stories. Green group have been reading the story ‘Stitch the Witch’ and red have been looking at ‘Cat in a Pot’ and have been devising their ever improving sentences about what they have read. Once the children have read the story with their partner and have heard a teacher read it with expression, they are encouraged to discuss the story and answer questions. We then write sentences relating to the stories. We have also enjoyed visual literacy with short animated stories in which we have had some glorious speaking and listening sessions together. The children in Class 2 have such wonderful imaginations.

In Maths we have done lots of practical lessons involving number lines and place value, and have most recently moved on to number addition. A very important building block for us was to develop our understanding of the concept of a ‘whole’ and how it is used in our everyday maths lessons to mean an entire object or group of objects. We did practical activities with an autumn theme of using whole collections of conkers to develop their understanding of the word ‘part’ as used in their maths to represent the portions of the whole object/group of objects. Towards the end of the week the children represented this ‘part-part-whole’ relationship with pictorial representations after using appropriate apparatus. They all developed the understanding that a part cannot be greater than a whole.

In Science we have had fascinating discussions about the autumn season in which we find ourselves in and what being in an autumn climate and surroundings means to them. The children then came up with a list of ideas to suggest what to expect from an autumn setting. We are now gearing up to making some weather testing equipment next week.

In topic we have studied igloos and are in the initial stages of constructing our miniature models. We have learnt about the people whom inhabit extremely cold places in the world and what they would need in order to survive and what infrastructures they have in comparison to our own in the UK.

Our army of clay penguins are in production too……

The children have all been working really hard with their spelling practise and this has been evident in their results. Thank you for your continued support with reading and spelling practise at home. New spelling lists have gone home today and will be done next Friday in class as usual with the children.

Have a brilliant weekend together and see you on Monday.

 Mr Mavin

We have had another lovely week together in Class 2 where everybody in class has been sharing their learning journey beautifully together.
In English during Read Write Inc the children have been focusing on the sounds ll, th, ng, nk, tt, ch. We have continued to learn about the importance of capital letters and full stops in sentences. The children have proofread simple sentences and have checked them extremely well.
In maths, Class 2 have had lots of practical lessons in which they have been mastering their key understandings of place value and number recognition. The children have been representing numbers in a range of different ways and I have been so pleased to hear them using their mathematical language such as more than, less than or equal to in order to show their reasoning in different scenarios.
In topic, after Penguin left us some maps for locations, we boarded our airplane at the airport and we flew thousands of miles together across the world to Antarctica. We explored what it is like there looking at landmarks, people, wildlife and weather conditions and then compared it to Shrewsbury.
We wrapped the week up today by getting messy in art using our fingers to paint. There were some very arty autumnal scenes of a Bicton school tree we decided to show moving through the season of autumn, linked to our Science topic of Seasonal Changes.
Spellings have gone home today and we are starting with the Year 1 Common Exception Words which are essentials. I would like to thank you in advance for helping your child with these. The spellings are to be learnt for a test next Friday (28.9.18). You will be able to see their tests in the back of their spelling books.
Homework- The children have been given their homework today on capital letters and full stops to link to our work in class. Please could this be completed and returned by Friday 28th September. Please feel free to write notes on the homework or in reading records to allow me to see how much support your child needed in completing their homework or reading books.
Have a lovely weekend together and see you all on Monday.
Mr Mavin

Upon entering school, Class 2 had a very exciting surprise when they discovered that something had left footprints both inside and outside of their classroom.
After registration they heard a knock at their door….only to find a suitcase outside. The children then worked together to make sense of what it was doing there and who or what it belonged to. Another knock at the door revealed all. It was a lost penguin! The penguin shared its story ‘Lost and Found’ which prompted the children to ask questions concerning its journey and where it had come from and how it got lost.
This sparked the children into action where they created ‘FOUND’ posters to alert anybody looking for Penguin. The children recorded their questions concerning the penguins’ journey, homeland and feelings. They also planned and wrote about what they would have in their own suitcase if they were to take Penguin back to the South Pole. Penguin was then taken to our Class 2 airport where it had its destination found on a map, luggage weighed and in-flight meal of ‘fishy meat’ and a drink of ‘ice buy lorazepam uk water’ submitted on a form. Penguin was then seen off at terminal 2 for its flight back to the South Pole. At the end of the week we went penguin crazy writing down facts we learnt about our new favourite bird from Antarctica.
In maths the children have focused on place value and have really enjoyed all of the practical activities they have done. They have been learning about number sequences both using counting forwards and backwards verbally and with objects and have identified resources in class which can help them check their work in the future. They have been counting 1 more and 1 less than numbers from 0-20 and beyond and have compared groups of objects in various scenarios. Their group and individual work has been superb as a collective.
In other news, Class 2 now have another PE slot. So our days for PE will now be on a Monday & Thursday. Please make sure that your child has their kit in school on those days.
Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you all next week!
Mr Mavin