This week the children have done a super job of writing their own version of The Fox and the Star. We have been really impressed with their hard work and determination when it comes to writing. We have been continuing looking at two-digit numbers in our place value unit and learning how we can partition them in different ways. In science, we have continued to learn about light by thinking about how we see. In History we learnt about Medieval Britain and how William the Conqueror built The Tower of London. We had a great Indoor PE session and I was really impressed with how well the children worked to follow instructions.. We are going to be completing our Christmas cards this week ready for you to order over the next few weeks. Please look out for these.
Thank you to all those children who sent their home learning in so promptly this week. We have been really impressed by all their practising! We hope you have a great weekend. Year 2 Team
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Hi Everyone
It has been our first full week and it has flown by. We have been busy continuing our learning in English based on The Fox and The Star. We have gained a greater understanding of the story and written wanted posters and our own phrases based on those from the book. In maths, we have continued to learn all about place value in two-digit numbers. We have used Base 10 and place value charts to help our understanding. We have been enjoying our PE lessons with Saints and Real PE. We will continue this learning next week. There is a photo below which shows some of our learning in science. We have been investigating light sources and learning which objects are light sources. We hope that the children will be able to begin to talk to you about this at home. We will look further at understanding how we see next week. For home learning, you will have a new reading book and spellings inked to the children's phonics learning on a Monday. Please continue to practise as often as possible. You will have maths home learning on a Friday. Please also practise using Numbots and the Minute Maths app on the White Rose website. Any support needed with these, please do let us know. Thank you so much. The children have worked really hard and we hope you have a good weekend. Year 2 Team Hi Everyone
Wow! The heat has been intense. In spite of this, the children have made a fantastic start to Year 2. We are already very impressed with their enthusiasm and energy. We have started looking at our number fluency. We are part of a project to look at how we teach this and how we can improve the children's knowledge. We have also started to think about our number bond knowledge. We have completed some artwork on The Fox and the Star and we will continue our learning on this next week. We are also going to be learning about place value in numbers up to 100 next week. In Science, we have started to think about light and look at where we get our light from. I have put some links on Dojo and I will also share them on here for their home learning in maths. They also have their reading diaries with them and hopefully have started reading at home! Numbots https://play.numbots.com/#/intro White Rose One Minute App https://whiteroseeducation.com/1-minute-maths They have had a fantastic couple of days and we have really enjoyed teaching them. Hope you have a great but not too hot weekend. Mrs Ahmad will be in on Monday. Thanks Year 2 Team Week Beginning 19.04.23 It was lovely to welcome the children back after the Easter holidays and hear about all things they had been up to. They have all come back with an amazing attitude and have worked really hard this week. In Literacy we started our new book ‘Slime’. The children had enormous fun following instructions to make gooey, stretch slime! We then reviewed the instructions based on our experience of making slime. We then investigated different features of instructions before looking at the difference between commands and statements. From this we turned statements into commands and uplevelled these using conjunctions and frontal adverbials. In maths we started the week by learning about weight. We used scales to balance items and weight. We then used the four operations to solve problems involving weight. On Friday we started to learn about capacity. We had lots of fun using the water tray and bottle of various sizes to solve the problem: Does the height of a container mean the greater the capacity? In science we concluded our topic about the human body. We learnt about different ways you can help people apart from being a doctor or nurse. We also learnt about vaccinations and how these can help protect us from diseases. We then made a poster to show what we had learnt in our experiment. Next week we are moving on to our new topic about changing states. This week we also had an extra special treat! One of the children in our class brought in some of their lambs from their farm that they are hand feeding. We learnt all about what you need to do to care for lambs. We asked lots of great questions which were brilliant answered. We were then very lucky as well all got hold one of the lambs. We were all really surprised by how heavy they were! We were very lucky to have this opportunity. Week Beginning 19.03.23 This week we have had another very busy week in Beach Class! In Literacy we started a new book ‘Lila and the Special rain’ which is set in Kenya. The story links to our geography topic. We really enjoyed the story and performed brilliantly in role at various points in the story, using inference to understand how the characters were feeling. We then drew a picture of the village in which Lila lives and labelled it using adventurous adjectives. From this we wrote about the setting and used fantastic expanded noun phrases. In maths we have finished our topic on multiplication and division We can now confidently multiply and divide by 2, 5 and 10 and apply this to problems. Next week we are going to be learning about measurement. In science we learnt about how our bodies change when we get older. We looked at the differences between babies and children, children and adults and adults and older people. We investigated how our bodies changes at these stage and what that enables us to do for example children go to school, walk and talk. We then started our bread experiment. We have placed bread in different locations and rubbed how hands on some pieces to investigate germs. We are going to be learning more about this next week. We have also been learning a song with Year 3 to perform at our sharing assembly next week. We are sounding beautifully and are looking forward to performing it for the school community. Week Beginning 11.03.23 We had a very busy and fun week as part of science week! On Monday we had a brilliant day visiting Newquay zoo. We saw lots of interesting animals and learnt all about zebras. We then wrote a recount all about our amazing trip which were very interesting to read. We also had visitors in school this week; a vet and police officers. The police officers showed us the car and we listened to the very noisy siren! We then learnt all about fingerprints and how they are unique to us. We all had our fingerprints taken and compared them to different shapes. We also learnt that kola bears have unique fingerprints too! After we got to try on lots of different hats that have different functions. For science week we held a science Olympics! We made paper aeroplanes to see which could fly the furthest. We also made towers out of paper to see which was the tallest. We also tried to make the biggest marble run! Lastly we made boats out of tin foil and tried to see if we could make it carry a Duplo person without getting wet! We also learnt about healthy eating and a balanced diet. We learnt about different food groups and why it is important to eat from every group. We also made peppermint creams, drizzled in chocolate. We learnt that it is ok to have a small amount of fats and oils but we need to eat more of the other food groups. Week Beginning 06.03.23 We had another very busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy we wrote our own stories based on the Disgusting Sandwich. We set our stories in very exotic locations for example the desert and the jungle. All the animals were desperate to get their hands on the food items but unfortunately ran into lots of problems such as in delicious, yellow bananas getting dropped in thorny, tangled vines! We all used amazing, expanded noun phrases to help the reader form a picture about what was happening. We also used perfect punctuation! Well done Beech Class! In maths we continued our topic of multiplication and division. We learnt about the difference between odd and even numbers and how to half and double. We found this quite tricky at first but tried really hard and can now apply these concepts to problems. We then learnt multiplying and dividing by the 10 times table. We stopped the pattern that all numbers in the 10 x table end in a 0. This helped us to make sure that our answers were correct. In science we had lots of fun learning about exercise. We conducted a fair test to see how our heart and breathing is affected when we do vigorous exercise. We learnt why we need to breathe more and why our heart beats faster. We then learnt about why it is important to exercise. We were surprised to learn that exercise can help us to sleep better at night. Next week we are going to be learning about healthy eating and make some treats. In Computing we continued to learn about computer programming. First we programmed the BeeBots to go in different directions to reach a destination. Then we made it more complicated by adding obstacles! Some of our BeeBots went a little bit crazy but got there in the end! On Friday we also had a virtual author visit with Rachel Morrisroe author of The Drama Llama. We listened carefully as she read the story all about a little boy who when he gets worried, a Llama appears! We then took part in an interactive quiz before learning techniques to help us when we are worried. We were then shown how to draw the Llama from the book before we had a go. Our Llama’s looked amazing! Next week is science week! We are really looking forward to going to Newquay Zoo on Monday and all the other exciting visitors we have coming in. Next Friday we are going to take part in the Science Olympics! Week Beginning 27.02.23 We have had another very busy week in Beech class. We have continued with our story 'The Disgusting Sandwich' and on Monday we acted out the story using props. We were brilliant at pretending to be the different characters and used great expression and voices to retell the story. We then wrote a version of the story and confidently used expanded noun phrases and speech marks. Next week we are going to write a brand new story based upon this book. In maths we continued with our work on division and multiplication. We were able to make arrays and from this device multiplication questions before applying these to problems. We also learnt about using formal methods to record 2 times table. We are now very confident at counting up in twos and use reasoning to answer questions. This week was also World Book Day. The class looked amazing in all their different costumes. We had some characters from fiction stories for example Willy Wonker and some from non-fiction books for example Marie Curie. We shared our favourite stories and listened to stories throughout the day. It was a really fun day! Week Beginning 20.02.23 It has been lovely welcoming the children back and hearing about their half term. In Literacy we started our new story 'The Disgusting Sandwich.' We thought the story was really very funny, especially the ending. We learnt how to use the correct punctuation for speech and wrote sentences expressing what the characters might say. On Thursday we went on a hunt around the school to find items that the characters from the story had left. From this we wrote amazing expanded noun phrases explaining what the item was, where it was left and why it was left there. On Friday we found examples of expanded noun phrases in the text and used these to describe a character and setting. In maths we have continued our work on multiplication and division. We enjoyed using counters to group and share different amounts. From this we wrote division sentences and used our oral rehearsal to help us write these the correct way around. We also learnt how to divide using number lines. We were very good at remembering to start at 0 and count up in equal groups. We are going to continue with this topic next week. In science we started our new topic all about the human body. We learnt about the functions of the main organs and their names. In groups, we then drew around each other and drew these organs onto the body. We then labelled each part. We had lots of fun doing this. We also started learning our new song which we are going to be performing with other schools in the MAT. Week Beginning 06.02.23 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy went on a journey down the river and saw lots of different things. From this we wrote descriptive pieces about our journey. We then read the story of Manfish and learnt all about the adventures of Jacques Cousteau. We found lots of examples of expanded noun phrases within the text and from this wrote a description of a fish that Jacques saw. We also investigated how conjunctions can improve our writing. On Friday we watched a group of divers explore the underwater world, just like Jacques did. From this we role played what it would be like to wear diving gear before exploring below the surface of the waves. We then pretended to Jacques and used expanded noun phrases to answer questions we had written. In maths we started our new topic of multiplication and division. We learnt about the importance of equal groups and had lots of fun organising ourselves into equal groups. We then made equal groups using counters. From this we wrote multiplication sums to match our groups. We were brilliant and understanding the difference group and the number within the group. We will continue with this after half term. In Computing we pretended to be robots and programmers. We had to give our robot clear instructions to get to different places in the playground. From this we then had to get our robot around a maze but to make it trickier, the robot had to close their eyes! In science we finished our topic on habitats. We reviewed the different animals and plants we found around the school and discussed why these are in this habitat. We then produced a bar graph to show our results. Next we discussed which other animals that we didn't see live in this habitat and which animals and plants we would not find. Next term we are going to be learning about the human body. This week was also Children's Mental Health Week. On Friday we dressed to impress and all looked so colourful in our clothes! Week Beginning 30.01.23 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy we wrote all out the life of Ernest Shackleton. We remembered to use a range of conjunctions to extend our sentences and correct punctuation. We also tried really hard to join our handwriting and remember the spellings that we know. We then published our writing. Next week we are going to be reading Manfish. In maths we finished our topic about money. By Friday we were able to confidently use a number line to add amounts and find change. We were also able to apply these skills to a range of problems. We also practiced counting forward and backwards in 10s from any number as this really helped us with our money problems. Next week we are going to be learning about multiplication. In science we investigated two contrasting habitats - the rainforest and the desert. We were amazed to discover how cold the desert can get in the night compared to how hot it is during the day. We also looked at different animals and plant and how they are suited to their habitat. On Friday we then investigated the habitat around our school. We got very muddy but really enjoyed ourselves. Next week we are going to be making bar graphs from what we found. This week we also collected items from nature to use in art. We made islands that Amelia Earhart or Ernest Shackleton may have discovered on their adventures. The art looked amazing and is going to make a wonderful display. Week Beginning 21.01.23 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy we finished our biographies about Amelia Earhart and started learning about Ernest Shackleton. We performed in role key areas of his life and pretended to interview him. We the wrote a plan about his life. Next week we are going to be writing about his life. In maths we continued to learn about money. We applied our addition and subtraction skills to adding amounts and finding the difference. We remembered to use the pound and pence symbols to show the amounts. Next week we are going to finish our topic on money. In history we started learning about Mary Seacole and her life. We then reordered the story and found it interesting to see how determined was. This linked to what we discovered Ernest Shackleton. In science we continued learning about habitats. We looked at pictures of plants and animals and from these we made food chains. We were very careful to ensure the arrows were in the right direction. We also learnt about mico-habitats and the different animals and plants that can be found. Next week we are going to go on a hunt around the school trying locate different animals and plants that live within our grounds. On Wednesday we had the visit from the Dog Trust. The talked to us about how to look after a dog safely and what they like and don’t like. Week Beginning 16.01.23 We have had a very exciting week with all the snow! In Literacy we found more facts about Amelia Earhart and used these to write a biography about her life. We are now very good at using conjunctions to extend our sentences and remembering to use the correct punctuation. In maths we started a new topic - money. We learnt about the different coins and notes and how much they are worth. We counted different amounts of money and found as many ways as we could to make £20. We learnt that when adding money we need to separate it first into pounds and pence first. In science we learnt what a habitat is and debated whether a zoo is a habitat. We then sorted pictures into habitats and non-habitats before researching which animals we find in different habitats for example woodland. We discovered that some animals can have different habitats for example frogs. Next week we are going to investigate micro-habitats. We have also started to use Numbots to help us improve our mental maths skills. We were very excited at all the coins we collected! Next week we are going to be continuing with our topic of money and we are going to be reading a biography of Earnest Shackleton. Week Beginning 09.01.23 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class! This week we did some practice assessments in reading and maths. We were so proud of everyone and the progress they are making. Well done Beech Class! In Literacy we continued learning about Amelia Earhart. We reenacted parts of her life and imagined how she must have felt. On Friday we watched a newsreel of Amelia setting off on her final journey around the world. We then pretended to be someone in the crowd and wrote an eyewitness account. Next week we are going to be writing a biography about her. In maths we continued with our topic on shape. We learnt the names of 3d shapes and counted the edges, vertices and faces. We then sorted shapes using Venn diagrams in a variety of ways. In science we learnt about the 7 processes that all living things do. We acted out each stage and drew a picture to match. We thought about how each of these processes applied to plants. We then sorted pictures into living and non-living things. Week Beginning 04.01.23 It was lovely to see all the children back and hear about their holidays. We have started our new topic, famous people. In Literacy we read Little People Big Dreams Amelia Earhart. We were amazed to discover that she wanted to be a pilot from a very young age and that her determination and courage helped her to achieve her dream. We also revised the simple past tense and found examples throughout the book. In maths we continued our shape topic from last term. We learnt how to complete a shape with vertical symmetry by counting squares. We had lots of fun sorting 2d shapes in different ways and applied this to Venn diagrams. On Friday we started to investigate 3d shapes. This week we also performed our nativity from last term. Everyone did so amazingly well and we were so very proud of everyone. Well done Beech Class! Next week is assessment week and we shall be completing reading and maths tests. Week Beginning 05.12.22 We have had another busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy we thought really carefully about different conjunctions and adjectives that we could use in our writing and how we could use vocabulary from ‘Stuck’ in our own stories. We wrote all about a very naughty cat who tried to eat a fish from its bowl but disaster struck! In maths we started our work on shape. We reminded ourselves about the names of different 2D shapes before counting the sides and deciding if they were straight or curved. We then named 3D shapes before learning about symmetry. We had lots of fun folding shapes to see if they had a vertical line of symmetry. We had to be very careful to make sure we folded down the middle. In science we learnt about constellations. We were amazed to learn that on a clear night we could see 3,000 stars but that there are billions more we cannot see. We also discovered that blue stars are the hottest and red of the coldest. We found this a bit confusing as we usually associate hot with red and blue with cold. We then looked at different constellations that can be found in the northern and southern hemisphere. From this we used stars and chalk to draw the Big Dipper and we made a wonderful display for our classroom. We have been practicing very hard for our Nativity ‘Lights, Camel, Action’. We had to get used to speaking into a microphone and where to stand on the stage. Our production is sounding amazing, and we are looking forward to having a real audience. On Tuesday we had a wonderful surprise…Santa Clause came to visit! We absolutely loved it and we were very thankful to receive a present. On Friday we took part in the whole school carol concert which we really enjoyed. Week Beginning 28.11.22 In Literacy we have started a new book Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. A little boy gets his Kite stuck up the tree and tries all sorts of things to get it down. We had lots of fun adding items to the tree in the order of the story. We found conjunctions in the text and used these to write our own stories. On Thursday Fred the frog got stuck on top of the tall bookcase in our classroom. We tried all sorts of things to get him down from a scarf to headphones but nothing worked! We then wrote different solutions to how we could free him. In science we learnt about different ways that we have explored space. We were amazed to discover that flies were the first living organisms to be sent into space. We watched a video of the moon landing and heard Neil Armstrong's famous words. We then produced a timeline showing the important explorations. In Maths we finished our unit on addition and subtraction and the children are now starting to learn about shape. Miss Genduso has taught the children about 2D and 3D shape names and we will continue to look at the properties of shapes next week. Much of the week has been spent practising the Christmas show, learning lines, dancing and singing songs. It's been a busy one! Week Beginning 14th November 2022 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class! In English we wrote non-chronological reports about octopuses. We remembered to use conjunctions to extend our sentences and answered the humorous questions we had set. We then used the computer to research about an animal from a hot cot country. We were brilliant at selecting the correct facts. On Friday we converted our facts into a visual map and were able to explain these to our partner. In maths we continued our work on addition and subtraction. We were confidently able to add and subtract 10s from two digit numbers. We then learn how to use number lines to add two digit numbers that don't cross the 10s. Next week we are going to using number lines to add across the 10s barrier. This week we made Christmas pouches to sell at the Christmas fair. We practiced how sew before choosing which material we would like for our pouch. We then followed a line to sew before turning our pouches inside out. They look very Christmassy! We also have been practicing very hard for our Nativity and it is going to be a wonderful performance. On Friday we took part in activities for Children in Need. We went on a walk around the playground talking to Year 6 before sharing our favourite books. We even had our faces painted! We all really enjoyed ourselves. Week Beginning 14th November 2022
This week we have welcomed Miss Genduso into Beech class. She is completing her teacher training and we already feel very lucky to have her! She has supported the children wonderfully with their learning. In English we have been working hard writing information about octopuses. The children used a text to find information and then wrote it down under headings. We found out lots of interesting facts. Did you know that octopuses have a brain in every tentacle and three hearts? In Maths the children have been focusing on subtraction methods, using number lines, tens frames and cubes to help them take away. The children have really persevered with their learning and we are very proud of them. The children have also been looking at the countries of the UK in Geography. This week we learnt about famous human and physical features. We looked at photographs taken around the UK and listened to some bagpipe music. In PE we have been learning to do different types of jump, trying to land without wobbling! We've been really impressed with the children's attitude towards their learning and super behaviour. Well done Beech Class! Week Beginning 17th October 2022 We had had a busy final week to end our very busy half term! In Literacy we watched Michael Rosen perform some of his poems. Chocolate was our favourite poem! We then read poems about the Great Fire of London and how we can change our voice to make it more exciting for the listener. We then investigated rhyme poem. On Thursday we learnt about onomatopoeia and had fun making sounds and using onomatopoeia to describe the sound. We then listened to a raging fire and wrote words to describe it. On Friday we used these words to write poems all about the Great Fire of London. After the half term we are going to be starting our new book 'Can A Penguin Ride a Bike?' In maths we started our topic on addition and subtraction. We started by finding our number bonds to 10 and investigating how we could use these to work out number bonds to 20 and 100. We used practical resources to help with our understanding. On Friday we found one more and one less from any given number. We were able to apply these to a variety of problems. In science we finished our light topic by conducting an experiment to see how we could change the size of shadows. We predicted that the further away the light the bigger the shadow. However after we had conducted our experiment we understood that this was not true, instead the closer the light source the bigger the shadow. Next half term we are going to be learning about space. On Friday we performed in front of our parents by showcasing what we have learnt this half term. Everyone did brilliantly and spoke very loudly and clearly. Week Beginning 10th October 2022 We have had another really busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy we investigated the difference between past tense and progress past tense. We then read diaries from Samuel Pepys and found all the common features between them for example feelings and final thoughts. We then role played a person who had to escape the fire and how they would leave London. From this we wrote diary entries using tea-stained paper. In art used red and yellow paint to great a fire scene by blending the paints together. We used black paper to cut out a silhouette of London and stuck this on top of the fire. Next week we are going to be writing poems about the Great Fire of London. In maths we finished our topic on place value. We learnt how to count backwards and forwards in 3s and investigated patterns. When we reviewed what we have learnt we were amazed by how much we now know about place value. Next week we are going to be learning about addition and subtraction. In science we sorted objects into transparent and opaque. We then used a torch to shine a light on each of the objects. We discovered that opaque objects block the light and form shadows but transparent objects do not. Next week we are going to be learning how we can change the shape of a shadow. On Friday we celebrated harvest festival. We walked to the church and sang beautiful songs and listened to stories. We also dressed up as farmers and scarecrows. Week Beginning 3rd October 2022 We have had another busy week in Beech Class! We started reading diary entries by Samuel Pepys and discovered what it was like for the people living there at the time. We listened to a roaring fire and imagined what it would be like if we had been living there. This week we have also learnt about how the spelling of verbs changes in the in the simple past tense. We know that for regular verbs we add the suffix ‘ed’ but for irregular verbs the word changes completely. In maths we have continued with our topic of place value. We were really good at comparing and ordering numbers. We were able to use resources to explain our thinking. On Friday we investigated patterns when we count in 2s. 5s and 10s. We then applied this to our own counting and could say why a number did or did not fit the pattern. Next week we are going to be learning about addition and subtraction. In science we continued with our work on light. We conducted an experiment to see which materials were reflective and which were not. We discovered that shiny and metallic surfaces were reflective but dull and hard materials were not. Next week we are going to investigate shadows. Week Beginning 26th September 2022 We have had another busy week in Beech class! In Literacy we continued with our book Katie in London but we imagined that Katie had come to Devon. We thought about all the different places that she could go and visit and came up with amazing adjectives to describe these places. From this we then wrote brilliant adventure stories. On Friday we edited and published part of our stories at took a copy home to share with our families. Next week we are going to be moving on to diary writing. In maths this week we have continued to learn about place value. We are really good at counting in 10s. We were all able to successfully continue to put numbers on a number line and find the missing number. We used our reasoning skills to help Tiny the Turtle who had become very muddled in his understanding of number lines. Next week we are going to finish our topic. In science we continued with our topic of light. We learnt why we have night and day. We used a ball to imagine this was the Earth. We then labelled where North Tawton would be. We then rotated the ball like the Earth does. When North Tawton was facing the sun it was day time and when North Tawton was facing away from the sun it was night time. Next week we are going to investigate reflective surfaces. In computing we investigated the different type of technology found inside and outside. We sorted different technological appliances and discussed their uses. We also investigated which jobs use information technology and which do not. Week Beginning 19th September 2022 This week we have had another very busy week and everyone has worked so very hard! In Literacy we found facts about some of the sights that Katie saw in London with the lion. From this we then wrote stories about Katie's time in London and used our facts to add detail and interest. We were all most surprised to learn that there are 78 bathrooms in Buckingham Palace. Next week we are going to imagine that Katie visits Devon and what she see. We are also going to try to remember our full stops and capital letters. In maths we continued with our work on place value. We used diens to partition numbers into tens and ones. We then played a game and created our own numbers before using diens then drawing our numbers. On Friday we used part models to partition and recombine numbers. We also investigated how we could generate as many two digit numbers as possible from 4 given numbers. Next week we are going to be containing with partitioning. In our science lesson we learnt how our eyes see light. We had lots of fun going around the school and finding places that had different light strengthens. We then looked at how our pupils change in different strengthens of light. We especially enjoyed going into the dark music cupboard then turning the light on. In computing we investigated the different used of information technology. We walked about the school and collected examples of how it is used. We found many examples in the school office although we especially liked the signing in machine! Next week we are going to be learning about night and day. In Saints with P.E we worked on our throwing and catching skills and how the position of our bodies can help us to be more accurate. Week Beginning 12th September 2022 This week we have had a very busy week completing our assessments for the MAT. The children all tried their very best and we are very proud of them. In Literacy this week we started our new book Katie in London. We had lots of fun performing in role as Katie and the lion. We thought about how they would feel when the saw the many sights of London, what they might be thinking and what they would say. We thought of questions we would like to ask the lion or Katie then used hot seating to ask our questions. On Friday we wrote a postcard describing what we had seen. In science we started our new topic light. We watched a video showing different light sources. We were able to think of an enormous list of light sources! We then sorted objects into light sources and not light sources. After we conduced an experiment. We tired to make a light from a torch shine through holes in pieces of card. We discovered that the holes had to be in a straight line for the torch to shine through. We concluded that therefore light can only travel in straight lines. Next week we are going to be continuing writing stories and we are going to be discovering how our eyes see light. Week Beginning 7th September 2022 Welcome to Beech Class! It has been brilliant welcoming the children back and they have all settled really well. We discussed what we would like our class to be like this year and how we will respect and care for each other. We also wrote about our holidays and did a book review about our favourite books. In maths we started our place value topic and have started the Numbots programme. After we become more familiar with this in school, we will send home login details. In art we painted some wonderful watercolour pictures of Dartmoor and the beach. With the sad news today, we have had a sombre end to the week as we felt this was appropriate. The children have taken part in a memorial assembly rather than a praise assembly. We will be observing the national mourning in line with our Trust schools and as age appropriate. Miss Penny will write more about this in her news letter. Next week we are going to be starting our new book 'Katie in London' and are going to be starting our science topic all about light. Week Beginning 10th July 2022 This week we have had another busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy we continued with our work on the Disgusting Sandwich. We thought of spectacular expanded noun phrases. We then thought about ideas for our own stories based upon the Disgusting Sandwich. Some of our characters lost cake in the jungle or others lost ice cream in the Arctic and many more interesting ideas! On Friday we started writing our stories. In maths we finished our measurement topic and learnt how to read temperatures using thermometers. We then started our new topic time. We revised how to read the time to the nearest hour and half hour. We investigated how the hour hand moves as the minute hand goes around the clock. In science we completed our topic about materials. We investigated how materials are changed from raw materials into synthetic materials using different methods. We had an interesting discussion as to whether rubber is a natural or a synthetic material. This week we also had two very special visitors. On Wednesday we looked after the new hatched duckling Waddle. We gave him lots of cuddles, made sure he had the right food and watched him waddle around the classroom. On Friday we saw him swim! Friday we also had a special visit from John's Hedgehog Rescue. We had a fascinating talk about what hedgehogs eat and their environment. We were also exceptionally lucky as we got to hold a hedgehog. We had to wear gloves and be very careful of the spikes! It was enormous fun and we all learnt so much. Week Beginning 4th July 2022 We have had a very busy and enjoyable week with our Festival of Hope. On Tuesday we had our geography day. We made postcards about Hot and Cold Places linked our geography topic. Wednesday was our art day and we made gigantic feathers. We designed our own patterns which represented us. From this we used crayons to draw pattern and over the top added water colours to form the resist painting technique. This will form part of our whole school display. On Thursday morning we held our science morning and completed an experiment to find which materials were waterproof and which we absorbent. We made sure that we conducted a fair test by using the same amount of water for each material. We then ranked each material from most absorbent to least absorbent. In the afternoon we had our sport's day. It was so much fun especially as our families came to cheer us on. We had lots of different races from long distance running to egg and spoon to sack races. We all tried our best and showed great determination and perseverance. It was a brilliant afternoon! Friday was music day! This term we have been learning the drums and played them to the song 'We will Rock you' all in time. It was such a huge achievement to be all playing at the same time in time to the music. We also sang beautifully! It was a fantastic afternoon and took great courage to perform in front of such a large audience. Week Beginning 27th June 2022 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class! We have continued with our writing about the Disgusting Sandwich. We used expanded noun phrases to write about what happened in the story and were able to confidently use speech marks to show when the characters were speaking. This has definitely been our best writing yet and we should be so proud of ourselves. In maths this week we have continued with our topic measurement. We learnt how to measure in grams and read different scales. On Friday applied our measurement skills to our science lesson in which we had to find the difference between how much a material could stretch. In science this week we also learnt about the properties of materials and how you can change a solid by squeezing, squashing, twisting, bending and stretching. We took a range of solids and tried to apply these different techniques to see if we could change the shape of a solid. In P.E we continued practicing our skills for sports day. We are very much looking forward to having our families come and see all our sports skills. On Friday it was Rainbow Day in which we all wore bright colours to celebrate inclusion. We read different stories about inclusion. Our favourite story was 'The Hug' by Eoin McLaughlin. Next week it is the Festival of Hope and we are going to be completing lots of different activities. Week Beginning 21st June 2022 Well what a week it's been! The children have really risen to the challenge this week and showed what an incredible bunch they are! They have worked hard in all areas and we are very proud of them. In English we have started a new story that involves a very disgusting sandwich. The children have started to develop their use of speech marks and continued to produce interesting writing by using expanded noun phrases. On Thursday we found some objects from the story, including the very disgusting sandwich! We had a conversation about the three most disgusting things we could find in a sandwich. Mrs Ahmad said that she would be repulsed if she found bird poo, bogies and spiders in her sandwich. The children loved coming up with the most disgusting things they could think of. In Maths we have been measuring mass, using the balance scales to weigh different objects from the classroom. The children will be starting to look at grams and kilograms today before moving on to measuring capacity and temperature next week. In Geography we have started learning about hot and cold places. We have looked at the globe and talked about how hot countries near the Equator are. We have sorted pictures into hot and cold countries and looked at the colours we use when we draw hot and cold pictures. I wonder whether anyone at home could produce some hot/cold artwork? We wanted to visit a hot country and thought a school trip to Hawaii would be nice but in the end we settled for the school field on a sunny day. In PE we have started to think about Sports Day and have been practising our running. The children all tried incredibly hard and we had lots of fun running relays. Forest school was super on Thursday. The children went on a bug hunt before creating homes for bugs (and fairies). We found lots of wildlife on the field and there was much excitement when we found a frog! This is just a snippet! There is so much more! Well done and thank you to our wonderful children, from all of the Beech Class team. Week beginning 13th June 2022 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class. This week we continued to focus on using expanded noun phrases in our writing. We watched clips from the Blue Planet showing different aspects of the oceans. We used this and our text 'Manfish' to write our own descriptions of the our oceans. On Thursday we learnt about human impact and what we can do to make changes. On Friday we then recorded parts our writing to create our own version of 'Blue Planet.' We used our voices for effect to inspire the audience. Next week we are starting a new book 'The Disgusting Sandwich.' In maths we learnt about positional language. We now understand the different between clockwise and anti-clockwise. We can also describe positions accurately using the words quarter, half and three quarters turn. We had lots of fun working in pairs using this language to get from one place to the next. Next week we are going to be learning about mass and capacity. In science we investigated the difference between irreversible and reversible changes. We discovered that water is an reversible change and a cooked egg is an irreversible change. We tried to cook our egg on the very hot pavement although unfortunately it wasn't hot enough! We then mixed coffee with water to see if we could separate them once they had been mixed, however we found we could not do this and therefore it was an irreversible change. Next week we are going to be investigating materials and their properties. In P.E with Mr Berry we developed our athletic skills. We learnt how to throw a javelin, shot put and discus. We also learnt how to jump over hurdles and pass a baton during a rely race. These skills will be very important when we have sports day. As you are aware, your views are important to us. If you haven’t already, please sign up and add your views to the Parent View here Give your views | Ofsted Parent View As always, if you have a concern or suggestion, please talk to us or to Miss Penny. We really want the very best for your children. Week beginning 7th June 2022 It was lovely to see all the children back after the holidays and hear about all the exciting things that they had been up. This week we started forest school! We started off by playing team building games before we were set a challenge to build a den using the environment and items from a trolley. We had to work together as a team to complete the challenge and share our resources. We all were able to work brilliantly together and built some fantastic dens that would have kept us dry from the rain! We very much enjoyed looking the dens the other groups had built. In Literacy we continued with our book Manfish. We have really been enjoying this story and were very excited to act out a day in his life. We imagined what it would feel like to put on a diving suite and the magical underwater world. From this we wrote recounts pretending to be Jacques. We also used precise expanded noun phrases to explain what we saw. We also structured our writing clearly without repeating any ideas. Well done Beech Class! In maths we continued with our measuring topic. We are all able to use a ruler to accurately measure different items and read measurements from scales. We now understand different units of measurement and are able to say which is shorter on longer. On Friday we tried to apply our measurement skills to word problems but found this quite tricky. We are going to do more of this on Monday. In science this week we really enjoyed learning all about separation. We used different methods to separate objects for example we used a sieve to separate flour and rice and a magnet to separate metal from rubbish. We did however get covered in flour! In P.E with Mr Berry we have started to improve our athletic skills in preparation for sports day. We had to work as a team in rely races a learnt how to jump over hurdles. This week we also started forest school! We were set a challenge to build a den using the environment and items from a trolley. We had to work together as a team to complete the challenge and share our resources. We all were able to work brilliantly together and built some fantastic dens that would have kept us dry from the rain! Next week we are going to be using the environment to create pictures. In Literacy we are going to be continuing our underwater journey using Manfish and David Attenborough as our inspiration. Week beginning 16th May 2022 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class. This week we completed our reading assessments. We all tried our absolute best and preserved. We are so very proud of you all. In Literacy this week we edited our biography writing and used the computer to publish it. We added pictures from the book to go alongside our writing. We have made a big book for everyone to read. Next week we are reading another form of biography - Manfish. This week in maths we have been revising all that we have been taught in KS1. We especially focused on adding and subtraction and using a range of methods. Next week we will be completing our maths assessments and we sahll do brilliantly! In science we had a very fun experiment all about mixing. We mixed different substances with water to see which made the best bubbles. We made bubble wands out of pipe cleaners to test our mixtures and were very careful to ensure we completed a fair test. We discovered that orange juice did not make bubbles but washing up liquid makes the best bubbles, even better than bubble bath which was our initial prediction. Next week we are going to be conducting an experiment about separating. In P.E we continued to develop our cricket skills with Mr Berry. We know the names of the different pieces of equipment and how to use each one. We were all able to score lots of runs! Next week we are going to be using the Beebots in computing to see if we can follow a route. Week beginning 9th May 2022 It's been a super busy week in Beech class again and the children are continuing to work hard. In English this week we have been planning a biography for Ernest Shackleton and discussing why he was such a great explorer. We talked about what optimism is and why it's important to believe in yourself and chase your dreams. We wrote the most amazing biographies all about his life. We used a range of conjunctions and expanded noun phrases to add detail and interest. In Maths we have continued our work on Fractions. The children have found this a challenging topic, so any extra follow up you do at home would be most appreciated! They have all worked very hard to understand halves, quarters and thirds. We then moved onto measuring, a topic that we know lots about! We were able to accurately measure in cms by making sure we started measuring on 0 not where our ruler starts. In PE on Monday it was too lovely not to go onto the field. We played lots of running, ball games and a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Much fun was had by all. With Mr Berry on Thursday we continued to practice our cricket skills. We are coming to the end of our topic on the Ancient Egyptians. The children have really enjoyed finding out about life in ancient Egypt, the pharaohs and learning how to write their names in hieroglyphs. In science we did a very fun experiment all about melting. We found that the ice cube melted the quickest followed by the butter. We were unable to melt the plastic or the wood! From this we discussed what was happening to the particles at they changed state. Well done Beech class - you continue to make us very proud. Week beginning 3rd May 2022 We have had another very busy week in Beech Class. In Literacy this week we have continued with our work on Amelia Earhart. We created a time line of key events from her life. From this we wrote the most amazing biographies all about her life. We included why she is remembered and how her bravery can inspire us. Next week we are going to be writing about another inspirational person, Ernest Shackleton. In maths this week we have continued to learn about fractions. We have found this topic quite tricky but have worked really hard to develop our understanding. We are now able to find quarters and three quarters of numbers and shapes. On Friday we were able to confidently explain the difference between the numerator and denominator. We were also able to find patterns in fractions and put fractions on a number line. This week in art we learnt about the illustrator of 'Little People, Big Dreams' Olivia Holden linked to our Literacy. We watched a video in which she created an uninhabited island just like Elephant island. From this we went around the school and collected items from nature. We then used these to create our own islands before painting the different sections. Week beginning 25th April 2022 Welcome back to the last term of this school year! It was lovely to see all the children back and hear about what they have being doing. The children have settled back really well and have all worked very hard! In Literacy we have started a new book all about Amelia Earhart. We really enjoyed reading her biography and learning all about the amazing adventures that she went on. We used role paly to act out key moments from her life before writing excellent pieces about these events. We watched a video of her setting off on her around the world trip. From this we wrote eye witness account as though we were waving her off. We were able to use precise feelings to describe the excitement. Next week we are going to writing our own biographies about Amelia Earhart. in maths we have continued with our work on fractions. We used practical resources to help us deepen understanding. From this we found fractions of shapes and objects. We now all understand that the denominator is the number of pieces altogether and the numerator is the number of pieces shaded. We were able to apply this to a variety of problems. Next week we are going to be finding fractions of numbers. In science we started our new topic mixing and making. We had lots of fun recreating particles in solids, liquids and gases and how they move. We then drew diagrams to show the differences between the two. We were able to find lots of examples within the classroom of each state of matter. We changed our P.E day to Thursday and had our new P.E teacher. We had enormous fun playing lots of team games. We had to use good communication skills to succeed. One of our favourites was following routes without getting caught. Next week we are going to be using the outdoors to create mysterious islands linked to our Literacy lessons. Week beginning 4th April 2022 We cannot believe that it is the end of the term already! The children have all worked so hard this term and it is a delight to see the progress they are making. In Literacy this week we completed writing our instructions about the slime we made. We then made an Easter chick and from this independently wrote a set instructions. Our writing was amazing! We all remembered to include adverbs and extended noun phrases. Our instructions were precise commands that told the reader exactly what to do. We also used a range of punctuation and our spelling as definitely improved! We have really loved this book and this was clearly reflected in our writing. In maths we have continued with our work on fractions. We were able to recognise quarters and halves and shade shapes showing these amounts. Next term we are going to be learning about fractions of amounts. In science we investigated habitats in our local environment. We went on a walk around the school and looked for different animals and plants. Some of our class thought the saw foxes although we were not quite sure! We did however see lots of trees and woodlice! In computing we finished our topic on pictograms. We thought of fun pictograms we could create and asked every member of the class their opinions. From this we devised pictograms using the Jet2 data programme. We then presented our results to the class. Next term we are going to be learning about the Egyptians in history. In Literacy we are going to be learning about Amelia Earhart and write biographies and in science we shall be investigating materials. Week beginning 27th March 2022 This week we have had another very busy week in Beech Class. We completed our Spring Assessments and are really proud of all we have achieved. In Literacy continued our work on Slime and learnt how to extend our sentences using subordinating conjunctions. We also revised our work on expanded noun phrases. We then devised our own recipes for slime and made wonderful, gooey creations. From this we wrote introductions to try and persuade the reader to make our slime. We used high level vocabulary and a question. We also used bullet points to show what you need. Next week we are going to make tasty treats and independently write a set of instructions. In maths we completed our work on shape before moving on to our new topic fractions. We had remembered lots from our previous learning which is was amazing! In science we learnt all about the rainforest. We investigated why not all forests are rain forest. We used maps and a globe to locate them on a map. We then looked at what animals live in the different layers. From this we produced amazing, labelled diagram to show the different layers. Next week we are going to be continuing with our work on fractions and in computing are going to be creating our own pictograms. Week beginning 21st March 2022
This week in Beech class we have been working exceptionally hard on our Spring assessments. The children have all tried their best and concentrated really well. We are so very proud of them for trying their best. In the afternoons we have been working on our art after looking at the artist Henri Matisse. The children have all produced work using positive and negative space and it looks really effective. In science we have been learning about the different between a habitat and a micro-habitat. We had a very interesting discussion about why a zoo is not a habitat. We also looked at where we might find different micro-habitats before looking at deserts in greater depth. In computing we have been applying our data handling skills to computing. We created tally charts about how we travel to school and which is our favourite colour before using a computer programme to input the data. We then created our own pictograms all about colours that could be found in the classroom. We have also been enjoying the sunshine and making sure we get outside in the afternoon, especially after all the hard work in the mornings. Week beginning 14th March 2022 This week in Beech class we have been looking at the features of instructions. We thought the most useful thing we could make was slime! So, we carefully followed the instructions in Ms Birnie’s Slime Book, but we found that (like Mrs Ahmad’s cooking) even though we followed the instructions carefully, our slime didn’t work terribly well! It was far too sloppy and gloopy and we made quite a mess. We talked about the fact that the instructions were clear and easy to follow but that the quantities were not quite right. We recruited the help of a slime expert (Mrs Ahmad’s daughter) and finally managed to produce some wonderful slime. Mrs Ahmad even tested the consistency by tipping the bowl upside down over her head! Fortunately (or unfortunately for the class) Mrs Ahmad didn’t get slimed! The children have learnt a lot about what makes a good set of instructions and how to spot the different features. In Maths we have focussed on the properties of 3D shapes, counting the faces, edges and vertices. We’ve played a few games of ‘Guess my shape’, which is a nice game to play at home. We also continue to answer ‘flashback’ questions, which are a reminder of things we have already learnt. In Geography we have been super busy! We’ve continued our journey around the seven continents. This week we have travelled to North and South America and then Antarctica – we had to put on our warm clothes for that journey! The children have worked incredibly hard looking at countries within each continent, famous landmarks and animals that are native to each continent. It has been yet another busy week and I feel very proud of the class and how hard they have worked. We have managed to get some extra outdoor time whenever the sun is shining, and it was lovely to watch many of them playing football together on Thursday. We hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend. Week Beginning 28.02.22 It has been another very busy week in Beech Class. In Literacy we learnt about adverbs and how they give the reader more information about the verb. We investigated spelling patterns and applied this to our writing. Using the language patterns found with our book 'Ellsworth Extraordinary Electric Ears' we wrote our own anecdotes for other items found within the pictures. Here are some examples from our independent writing: Holly the happy horse hastily hopped over the horrid, huge house; The big baby badly batted the blue balloon over the baboon's bottom; The playful pirate's pet perfectly pecked the purple pants. On Friday we then turned our anecdotes into calligram poems. We were also able to brilliantly write these in the shape of something found within our picture. In maths this week we have continued our work on shape. We were successfully able to find lines of symmetry within shapes. We had lots of fun sorting shapes into different categories. We then used mathematical language to compare how we had sorted the shapes. We then applied our knowledge to problems. In science we have continued to learn about living things. We revised all the different processes that living things do and came up with an action for each one to help us remember. We also investigated different types of food chains. We looked at what different animals eat and how the energy is transferred. From this we drew our own food chains. Next week we are going to be starting a new text called 'Slime' and are really looking forward to following the instructions to make our own slime! Week Beginning 28.02.22 It has been a very busy first week back in Beech Class! In Literacy we have started a new book 'Ellsworth Extraordinary Electric Ears' which has has lots of interesting vocabulary. We really enjoyed playing eye spy trying to find all the objects with the same letter within the pictures. We also learnt about the possessive apostrophe and found the many examples within the text. From this we wrote our own sentences that use this punctuation. On Friday we wrote new dictionary entries for some of the words we were unsure about from the text. We found synonyms and antonyms and made a picotword. Next week we are going to write new anecdotes for the pictures. This week in Maths we have started learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We are beginning to look at the names of the different shapes and how we can sort them. We will be looking at their properties, focusing on how many sides, edges, faces and vertices they have. It would be super if the children started to look for shapes around them in their environment, talking about their properties. We have started our new Geography topic on the Seven Continents. The children did Miss Radbourne's Geography quiz and all found it quite a challenge. The key things the children need to know are the names of the seven continents and five oceans. They also need to learn the four compass directions. We will continue to learn these at school too. This week we looked at which are the biggest and smallest continents and where we are in the world. In PE we worked on our balance, working hard to balance along a line, travelling forwards and backwards. We watched each other and gave each other useful feedback. In Life Lessons, we talked about big feelings. We talked about good and bad big feelings and how to deal with the ones that aren't so nice, such as feeling angry or upset. This week we also celebrated World Book Day. On Thursday we all designed our own T-Shirts using our favourite books as inspiration. Our designs looked amazing! On Friday we dressed up in our favourite characters or in our T-Shirts. In the afternoon we completed some fun World Book Day activities. Week Beginning 14.02.22 What a busy week last week of half-term we have had in Beech Class! In Literacy we read poems about the Great Fire of London. We investigated what makes interesting to read. We watched videos of Michael Rosen to see how he uses actions and his voice to make the poem interesting to the listener. We found his poems very funny especially Hot Potato. This inspired us to read our poems with interesting voices and actions. We then discovered how rhyme can also make a poem interesting. We found all the rhymes in the Great Fire of London poem and discovered the pattern. We then made other rhymes for some of these words. Finally we investigated the effect of onomatopoeia. We listened to the sound of a burning fire and came up with words that could describe this. Next half term we will be starting a new, unique book which we be a surprise! We shall also be learning how to use the apostrophe for possession. In maths we continued with our statics topic. We learnt how pictograms can have different scales and what half a picture means. We then learnt about block diagrams and how we can represent tally charts and pictograms as block diagrams. Some of our class investigated which chart we should use for various sets of data and why some were better than others. In science we completed our topic on the human body. We looked at the results of our bread experiment which we started last week. However, because the bags were very strong and air tight it had prevented the bread from going as mouldy as it should have! We then investigated the different roles scientists have both in the past and present at keeping us healthy. Next half term we are going to be learning all about habitats. Week Beginning 07. 02.22 It's been a bit of a back to front week this week, with Ms Birnie and Mrs Ahmad swapping days but the children have been super. As always we have been very busy but we have also tried to also think about how we look after ourselves for Children's Mental Health Week. The children created a happiness list of things they enjoy doing and could use if they were feeling a bit sad or low. We thought about all the people and activities that bring us joy and make us feel better. The children also created some leaves for a display, which they painted and wrote about their strengths. In English the children have been writing diary entries for a day that is really memorable to them. They were encouraged to use past tense, correct punctuation and lots of feelings words. In Maths we have started our unit on Statistics and have started to learn about tally charts and pictograms. Today the children were interpreting data on a pictogram and answering questions. This week in science we looked at the importance of good hygiene. We conducted an experiment to see how far germs can spread and the importance big washing our hands. We also looked at other ways we can be hygienic. We set up a bread experiment to see the conditions which mould grows. In Art we have started to look at Cityscapes and we are exploring the work of Ton Schulten. We examined the lines he uses in his pictures and also what he does with the different colours. We will continue this next week. We hope you all have a lovely weekend and look forward to our last week before the February break! Week Beginning 31.01.22 Well done Beech class for another very busy week. This week in Literacy we learnt all about the past progressive tense. We are able to confidently use 'was' and 'were' correctly! We also understood the difference between simple past tense and past progressive tense and were able to use both in our writing. We planned a diary entry for the Great Fire of London. We imagined we had to escape from the raging fire that was getting close to our wooden house. What would we do with our possession? How could we escape? From this we wrote the most amazing diary entries that not only included main events but lots of feelings. We all up levelled our vocabulary and instead of using 'sad' and 'tired' we used words such as devastated and exhausted. We wrote our diary entries on tea-stained paper which we made. Next week we are going to be writing personal diaries about our favourite day. In maths this week we have continued to focus on multiplication and division. We know all understand why the biggest number goes first when we divide and goes after the equals sign when we multiply. We are now very confident at counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and are able to now count mentally using these numbers. We also investigated odd and even numbers and found out what happens when you add different variations of these numbers. In science this week we investigated the human life cycle. We discussed how the differences between each stage of the life cycle and drew labelled pictures to explain each stage. Next week we are going to be investigating the importance of hygiene. In computing we listened to a piece of music that reminded us of an animal. From this we made our own animal sounds using Chrome music. We changed the different sounds and experiment with pitch and length of sounds. We had lots of fun listening to each others animals and trying to guess which animal was which. Week Beginning 24.01.22 We have had another very busy week in Beech class! This week in Literacy we did lost of work on the simple past tense. We investigated the difference between regular and irregular verbs. We also learnt that when we change regular verbs to the past tense, we use the suffix 'ed' not 't'! We started a new text 'the Diary of Samuel Pepys,' which is linked to our history topic. We closely read his diary and inferred what was happening. On Thursday we imagined we were a policeman around the time of the Great Fire of London and thought of questions we would like to ask someone who was there at the time. We then took it turns to ask our questions! On Friday we listened to a raging fire and we saw pictures painted at the time. We then used our senses to write about what was happening in one of the pictures. We used very impressive, high level vocabulary. Next week we are going to be writing a diary as a person living during the Great Fire of London. In maths we have continued with our multiplication and division topics. We have got really good at understanding equal groups. We were able to apply this to a number of questions and apply to reasoning questions. On Friday we looked at different mental maths strategies for addition and subtraction. We found this very difficult so we are going to continuing working on this. In science we investigated food groupings. We looked at the purpose of each food group and different foods that are in these groups. We then researched how much of each group we should be eating before designing a healthy meal. We decided that our favourite group was the fats and oils! Next week we are going to be investigating getting older. We used chrome music maker to make music! Some of our beats were very funky and we all had a good dance. Some of us were very surprised to see that we could use a computer in this way. We are going to be continuing with this next week. Week Beginning 10.01.21 This week in Literacy we continued with our new book 'Katie in London.' We focused on the function and purpose of adjectives and found lots of examples in the text before thinking of our own. We then applied this to our story writing. We wrote exciting stories all about Katie's adventures in London. Next week we are going to make our own stories about Katie visiting Devon. We also discussed which is our favourite book and why it is our favourite. We were able to talk about the characters and main plot. From this we wrote book reviews. In maths we continued learning about multiplication and division. We learnt want the times symbol meant. From pictures we were able to write multiplication statements and sums. We also started a weekly arithmetic lesson in which we focused on accurate addition. In science we learnt why exercise is important for not only our bodies but also our mind. We planned an experiment to test how our heart and breathing are effected by exercise. Next week we are going to conduct our fair test experiment. Week Beginning 03.01.21 Welcome back Beech Class! This week in Literacy we started our new book 'Katie in London.' We are really enjoying this story! In groups with pretended to be one of the characters from the story then inferred how they would be feeling and thinking. We freeze framed a scene from the book. We then came up with a list of questions that we would like to ask about the exciting adventure before interviewing one of the characters. We used conjunctions in our speech to extend our answers. Next week we are going to be using this information to write stories. In maths we have started our new topic - multiplication and division. We were all brilliant at being able to recognise equal and unequal groups. Our reasoning skills have certainly improved as we were able to confidently explain our answers. We are going to continue with this topic next week. In science we have moved on to learning about the body and healthy eating. We looked at some of the main organs and the different functions that they had. We used the model to look closely at each organ. We then considered what it would be like if we had no bones. Next week we are going to be conducting an experiment to see the effect it has on our breathing. In computing we listened to 'The Planets' by Holst. We discussed the differences in music and which was our favourite and why. We then created a repeating pattern, first with clapping and then using different musical instruments. Next week we are going to create a piece of music using a computer program. Week Beginning 06.12.21 Across the school it has been assessment week and in Beech class we have tried our very best which is the most importance think. We all should be very proud of ourselves! In science this week we looked at the different roles people can have in relation to space. We discovered that there are lots of important jobs that people to to enable astronauts to go to space. We discussed each of the different jobs and decided to pick the one we would like to be. Most of us would like to be a design the space suits. We came up with some really cleaver and interesting designs including making them colourful so astronauts would stand out in space! We also performed our Nativity. We had all learnt our lines and delivered them with great performance. We have a lot of budding actors and actresses within our class. We also sang all of the songs loudly and clearly. We all looked amazing in our costumes! Our performance could be shown in the cinema! We also made Christmas pouches in DT. We carefully cut a piece of Christmas fabric. We then drew an outline of where the stitches should go. From this we used a very neat running stitch making sure each stitch was small and with no large gaps. We then turned our pouches inside out. We now have to think of goodies to put inside! Next week we have lots of exciting and fun things planned for our last week of term. We are also going to be learning about poetry by looking at poems about the Nativity. Week Beginning 29.11.21 It has continued to be another busy week in Beech class! This week we used the computers to research about an animal of our choosing. We found lots of facts about habitats, diet and appearance. From this we then wrote humorous questions to match each of the headings. From this we then wrote the most interesting reports about our animals. We used all the skills we had learnt this year to make our writing interesting for the reader for example conjunctions and sentence openers. We then edited our writing as next week we are going to publish it! In maths this week we have continued learning about money. We have had great fun using the coins to make different amounts. Our counting has improved considerably! We were able to confidently compare two amounts and use our reasoning skills to say why they were different. In science this week we looked at space exploration. We were amazed to discover that fruit flies were the first living things in space as most of us thought it was a dog! We also watch a clip from the 1969 moon landings. We made timelines to show when the important events in space exploration have occurred. In our P.E lessons with Southwest Saints, we continued to practice our throwing and catching skills. We applied our skills to a game of bench ball! We were great at finding spaces! We have also been learning our songs and words for the Nativity. We are sounding really good now and it is going to be a great performance! Week Beginning 22.11.21 This week we have had another busy week in Beech class! We have continued with our book. We investigated different types of sentences and how conjunctions can add or change the meaning. Using what we learnt last week, we created a fact file about octopuses. From this we then wrote a list of humorous questions. On Friday we answered our questions by using the facts we had found: Would an Octopus go to MacDonald's? No an octopus would not like going to MacDonald's because he east raw fish, shellfish and crabs! A better place would be a sushi restaurant! (Able). Next week we are going to be researching our own animals to write about. In maths we started a new topic: Money. We were very good at recognising the value of different coins and notes. We were able to find which amounts had the most. We also used a number skills from last week to rearrange the amounts to find number bonds before adding. We also developed our reasoning this week and how we can explain our answers. In science we discovered what stars and constellations are. We were blown away by the number of stars within the universe. We had lots of questions about what might be in our universe. We then looked at different constellations and using stars and chalks drew the Big Dipper. Our pictures looked amazing! For computing this week we investigated whether it is better to take a picture landscape or portrait. We also continued practicing for our nativity. Week Beginning 15.11.21 This week in Beech class we started our new book ‘Could a Penguin Ride a Bike?’ We found the book very humorous as some of the questions were quite silly! From this we learnt the different between a fact and a statement. We also very much enjoyed learning lots of new facts about penguins and we used the text to make our own fact files. We then used this to create visual maps. Next week we are going to be writing all about octopuses. In phonics we learnt about silent letters. In maths we have continued with our addition and subtraction topic. We used a variety of resources and methods to add an subtract including the bar model, part whole model and column method. We were able to efferently add 3 numbers by first finding the pair of numbers that made 10. We also used our number bonds to add to 100. We were able to apply our knowledge to a range of problems and reasoning questions. In science we learnt how the Earth orbits the sun and how the moon orbits the Earth. We discovered it takes 365 days for the Earth to go around the sun. We also used a model to show how the Earth rotates on its axis. We then our own models to show how this works. On Friday we had great fun dressing up for Children in Need. We had super heroes, footballer, Anna from Frozen, Mildred Hubble and many more. We completed some exercises around Mindfulness and how breathing can help us to relax. We also sang and danced to the Children in Need song. We have also begun to practice our songs for our Nativity. We are already sounding amazing; it is going to be a wonderful performance. Next week we are going to be learning about starts and constellations in science. In Literacy we are going to find out if an octopus can climb a skyscraper! In phonics we are going to be reading words that end in the suffix /tion/. Week Beginning 08.11.21 This week have had a very busy week and produced some amazing work! In Literacy we wrote all about how the items in our classroom got stuck on top of the bookcase! We looked at a picture book about a very cunning cat who tried to eat the fish whilst the man was sleeping. Using what we learnt last week about conjunctions and sentence openers, we wrote the most brilliant and funny stories to show what happened. We also learnt how to use ellipsis in our writing and really enjoyed using sound effects for these when reading out loud. Maths this week we found quite tricky especially splitting numbers into tens and ones. We used lots of practical resources to help us as well as using our own drawings. We then carefully counted in tens and ones to find the answer. By the end of Friday we were able to confidently do this and was really proud of our determination to keep going! We had lots of fun in science learning about the planets. We were really surprised to discover that Venus is the hottest planet despite not being closest to the sun. We found interesting facts about all the planets and then discussed the appearance of each one. We then made our own solar system which we will display. In our Saints P.E lesson this week we played lots of team games. We especially liked trying to get the tails from the foxes! As part of our work on remembrance, we made beautiful poppy pictures. Next week we are starting a new text, 'Can a Penguin Ride a Bike?' and in maths we are going to be subtracting. We are also going to be learning the songs for our nativity. Week Beginning 01.11.21 It was lovely to see everyone back after the half term. This week we started a new book called Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. We really enjoyed the story and found it very amusing that Floyd threw a house and a whale up a tree just to rescue a kite! Unfortunately our frog Fred got stuck up the top of the very tall bookcase in our classroom. Just like Floyd in the story, we tried throwing all sorts of objects up to rescue him! In the end he was saved by a smelly, old welly! We wrote some excellent sentences using high level conjunctions to explain what we had done. Next week we are going to write about a naughty cat getting into lots of trouble just like Floyd. In maths this week we have been adding and subtracting crossing tens. We used lots of different resources including number lines. We are very good at counting forwards and backwards in jumps of ones. Our next step is to try and jump in bigger jumps. We also started our new topic in science: Space. We were all very excited to hear this was our new topic. We learnt what is meant by space and what we can find there. We watched a live video showing the astronauts on the international space station. We were very lucky to see them do a space walk. From the international space station we say the moon and Earth. Next week we are going to be making the solar system. We also designed our own Christmas cards using a range of techniques. They look amazing and could definitely be sold in the shops! Week Beginning 18.10.21 It’s been a busy last week of term in Beech class! In English we have been writing letters to children in our book ‘This is how we do it.’ The children in Beech class have been telling the children from around the world all about their lives here. We have been really impressed with how hard the children have worked to include expanded noun phrases and ask questions to the children they are writing letters to. In Maths we have continued to work on addition and subtraction. This week’s focus has been on adding and subtracting ones and tens. The children have found this pretty challenging, but we are using our Growth Mindset and not giving up. In Geography we continued to compare our lives with the lives of people in a village in Zambia. We used the food diaries that the children completed at home to compare diets. We also looked at houses and home life. We did get a bit distracted by the food diaries and had a lovely conversation about our favourite foods! In RE we touched upon the religion of Islam and the beliefs of Muslim people. In science we finished our topic about light by looking at shadows. We investigated how shadows are made and how we can make them bigger and smaller. We watched a video about the three little pigs using shadows and used this to inspire us to make our own shadow puppet show. We hope you all have a lovely, restful week and look forward to seeing you all again after the half term break. Week Beginning 11.10.21 We have had a really great week in Year 2 enjoying the last of the summer sunshine. In Literacy we wrote brilliant reports all about a day in the life of a child in Japan using the knowledge we had gathered from our class text. We were able to confidently include expanded noun phrases and uses commas to separate adjectives. We all were able to maintain the present tense throughout our writing which was a major achievement. On Friday we thought about what life is like for us and produced thoughtful plans for our writing next week. It was really lovely to hear everyone talk so proudly about their families and what they like to do. In maths this week we have continued with our topic of addition and subtraction. We have made lots of progress since last week and are all much more confident at finding the inverse. We were also able to use our knowledge of number bonds to find known numbers. In the afternoons we have continued with our geography topic and learnt all about African animals. We also looked at a Nshima recipe. In P.E we continued to practice our throwing and catching skills and also played lots of team games. Next week we are going to be finishing off all of our topics in time for a well deserved holiday. Week Beginning 04.10.21 We have had another very busy and enjoyable week! In Literacy in class we have started a new book called 'This is how we do it,' which is all about the everyday lives of children in countries around the world. We really enjoyed finding out about different families and discussing the difference between each country. This week we have been learning about expanded noun phrases and how they can improve our writing. We wrote some fantastic sentences about scenes from Devon and also about life in Italy. Next week we are going to be writing all about Kei who lives in Japan. In our Read Write Inc lessons we have been reading a book called 'Come on Margo.' We have really improved at doing our hold a sentence activities and thought very carefully about the order of words when writing a sentence. In maths we have now finished our work on place value and have started our addition and subtraction block of work. We investigated fact families and used Numicon to help us understand how to write a number sentence. We learnt that when we subtract the biggest number goes first. This was a very tricky concept and we all tried really hard. We are going to be continuing with this next week. In science this week we completed an experiment to find out which materials were reflective. We found that shiny, metallic materials were best for reflecting. We came up with some actions to describe why some materials are reflective and some materials are non-reflective. This week we also started our geography topic; contrasting localities. We are comparing North Tawton with Mugurameno Village in Zambia. We completed a fact finding mission looking at flag, animals and food found there. We also investigated the importance of the river. Next week we are going to be continuing with our geography topic and in science we are going to investigate how shadows are formed. Week Beginning 27.09.21 We have had another very busy and enjoyable week! In Literacy in Read Write Inc we have been reading a book called 'Too Much' about a very grumpy girl. We wrote interesting stories about why she was grumpy and how we could make her happy. In class we wrote interesting stories all about our tiny friend using the ideas that we have gathered in the previous week. We learnt about expanded noun phrases and how we could use the adjectives from last week in our stories to make them more interesting for the reader. As part of our computer work, we were learning how to use a keyboard. We used these skills to publish our favourite part of our stories. In art we used water colours to paint a picture that matched a scene from our writing. In maths this week we continued to compare numbers using mathematical vocabulary and symbols. We then learnt how to count in 2s. We investigated which numbers were in the two times table and why. On Friday we then learnt how to count in 5s. We discovered that when we count in 5s our numbers always end in either a 5 or 0. We were brilliant at counting up in both 2s and 5s and are working hard at being able to count backwards! In science we discovered learnt about why we have night and day. We found that there are 24 hours in a day because this is how long it takes for the Earth to do a complete rotation. We also looked at how the moon changes and now know that the moon is not a light source. In groups we then used equipment to demonstrate how the Earth and Moon move in relation to the sun. This week we also had a visit from the OCRA coaches who helped us to improve our football and basket ball skills. The coaches were most impressed with how the children preserved with the tasks. Next week in Read Write Inc we will reading a book called 'A Good Cook' and in class we will be starting a new book 'This is how we do it,' which is all about children around the end. In science we are going to be learning about reflective materials. Week Beginning 20.09.21 We have had a very busy and enjoyable week! In Literacy in Read Write Inc we have been reading a book all about a bad fright. From this we then wrote interesting descriptions about a witch. In class we have continued with our story 'My Favourite Game,' and wrote an introduction to our miniature person explaining where they like to go and what they like to do. We then came up with solutions to some of the problems our friends encountered and came up with interesting solutions for example using a paperclip as a grapple hook. We then thought of many ambitious and interesting adjectives to describe the objects and setting in the story. In maths we have had a very successful week. We have been counting objects to 100 and learning to read and write the appropriate numbers. We have been partitioning into tens and ones before recombing. We had lots of fun using the place value coins and deines to represent our numbers. We are also very skilled at drawing our own diagrams to represent each number. On Friday we learnt that addition can be written in different ways but will still give us the same answer. We have also been trying really hard to extend our fluency skills. In the afternoons we continued science topic about light. We discovered how a light source produces a light before travelling in a straight line to the object. It then bounces off object before travelling to our eyes and into our pupils. We have also started our computing topic 'technology and the world around us.' We learnt the names of different parts of the computer and their uses. We the developed our mouse skills by completing many jigsaw pupils. After we drew pictures using a paint programme that were very colourful! In art we enjoyed doing some rubbings outside. Next week in Read Write Inc we will reading a book called 'Too Much' and in class we will be writing our stories about the exciting adventures of our miniature people. In maths we are going to be counting in 2s and 5s. In the afternoons we will be continuing our computing topic by developing our keyboard skills and in science we will be learning about night and day. Week Beginning 13.09.21 We have had a very busy and enjoyable first full week back! In Literacy some of our class have continued to follow our Read Write Inc programme to improve our spelling and reading. In class we have started a new text 'My Favourite Game,' from the 'Book of Hopes.' Using our clay models from last week, we went around the school and found different situations that our miniature people might find themselves in from enjoyable settings like a picnic to more dangerous situation for example in a bin with a gigantic spider! We then wrote feeling, thought and speech bubbles from the point of view of our miniature people. We also watched a video of a bee to see what it is like to be a tiny thing in a big world. In maths we have begun learning about place value. We used resources to find tens and ones in different combinations. We partitioned numbers and recombined. We also used greater than, less than and equal symbols to record our answers. In the afternoons we have begun our science topic about Light. We had great fun in the dark investigating what is a light source and ways the light shines. We found that some of our shoes were a source of colourful light! From this we then investigated how light travels. We used card with holes and torches to make the light shine from one end to the other. We discovered we had to make sure that the holes were in a straight line for the light to appear at the other end. In Art we looked at patterns all around us and in nature. We then used various objects to print patterns on clack and white paper. In P.E we played a range of games and continued to improve our ball skills. Next week we are going to be continuing with our new text and learn to write introductions. In maths we are going to further our knowledge of place value and in science learn how we see light with our eyes. Week Beginning 8.9.21 It was delightful to welcome the children back and be able to all together again for assemblies. The children have all settled really quickly and are happy to be back with their friends. We have spent the first few days settling back into normal school life and agreeing our class charter based around three basic ideas: We are READY to learn; We are RESPECTFUL of each other and school property and We are SAFE in and out of school and online. As well as this we made miniature people out of clay which we are going to use as part of our lessons next week. We added wool to them and gave each one a name to make this as individual as we are. We also painted a self-portrait using water colours. This afternoon we had lots of fun in our P.E lesson with Saint Southwest and developed our throwing and catching skills. We then moved to look at how we can bounce the ball effectively to each other. Please see our Class Dojo page which has lots of information about our class routines and also reading at home. There are also lots of photographs of the class. Next week we are going to be learning about place value in maths and read the Book of Hopes in Literacy. We will also be starting our science topic all about Light. Week Beginning 5.7.21 This week we have had another busy week in Beech class ending in our sport's day! The children tried their best and completed each event with great enthusiasm. They also cheered loudly for each other and the other classes. We are now eagerly awaiting the results in Monday's special assembly. In Maths this week, we have been measuring and comparing capacity. We have been working practically with the water bath, measuring millimetres and litres. We also solved lots of reasoning problems. Some of us got a bit wet but we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! In Literacy we started our new book 'Slime!' We evaluated the instructions from last week before investigating the different features of instructional texts. We then turned statements into commands before up levelling a set of instructions to include conjunctions and sentence openers. We have carried on with Geography this week, comparing a rural village in Zambia with our town. We learnt a lot about the school in Mugurameno. We studied photos of the children, teachers, classrooms and playgrounds. We thought about what was the same and different to our school, and we had a go at explaining our ideas to each other. We voted with our feet, moving around the classroom to stand under the sign which we agreed with. We then used our oracy skills to justified our opinions. It was great to hear children using ‘because, so, if, but and although’ to extend their answers. They were interested to see that the children have a similar climbing frame but that only the boys were climbing on it. They also had a similar uniform to us and the same writing pencils! We noticed that they were studying Geography and that they had the same letters above the chalkboard. Some big differences were the lack of equipment such as computers and interactive whiteboards. We noticed that some children had to do PE without shoes. Once again, it was lovely to share some thoughtful conversations with Beech class. In Music, we have been practising singing this week. We learnt how to sing along to a backing track, and then compared this to following a vocal track on YouTube. After some practise, we decided it was much better using the backing track, as we could really showcase our voices. We also tried singing a song in difference keys in order to decide which was the most comfortable. Finally, we learnt how to hold a note without tailing off! Next week we are going to be inventing our own slime recipes before writing instructions. Last time we got very messy so we will see if we can improve! At the end of the week we are also going to be making edible slime which will be delicious, hopefully! In maths we are going to be learning about temperature and mass. We also going to be doing some junk modelling. Week Beginning 28.6.21 This week we have completed our end of year assessments. We are so very proud of every member of Beech class for their hard work and determination, not only during the assessments, but this entire year. This week in Geography, we have been using aerial photos to compare a village in Zambia with North Tawton. We noticed that both areas have roads and rivers. We spotted the traditional and modern houses in Mugurameno by looking at the shape of the roofs. We noticed that North Tawton has a lot more facilities. We are lucky to have a place of worship, town hall, restaurants and shops. Both places had schools! Next week we will compare the schools! Also this week, in RSE, we have been talking about the differences between male and female bodies this afternoon. We have learnt the proper names for parts of the body - which was a bit embarrassing at first, but after a fit of the giggles, I was really impressed with the whole class's attitude. We also talked about the different stages of the human life cycle from baby to old person. In Music, we have been learning to play the glockenspiels. We noticed that the notes have letters and there is a high and low C. We tried making loud and quiet sounds, like raindrops falling. We also played Baby shark together! Some children had a go at improvisation. In line with the RSE (relationships and sex education) curriculum for Key Stage one, we have been talking about the differences between male and female bodies. We have learnt the proper names for parts of the body - which was a bit embarrassing at first, but we were very impressed the whole class's attitude. We also talked about the different stages of the human life cycle from a baby to an old person. We drew a picture of what we might look like when we are an adult and as an older person. In P.E with Mr strong we had lots of fun practising for sport's day. Friday afternoon we had enormous fun making slime! At times it was very messy and the classroom looked we had been paint balling! However we had lots of laughs and it was certainly memorable. Our last Literacy topic is all about slime and if today is anything to go by, we are certainly going to enjoy ourselves! Next week we are going to be learning about measures in maths and continuing with our topic work. Week Beginning 21.6.21 Time is going so quickly in Beech class as we reach the end of another week. In Maths we have continued learning about time. We have learnt the time to the nearest five minutes using the words 'past' and 'to' but we haven't learnt digital time yet. We have been working out how much time has past by counting in jumps of five minutes. We noticed that a clock is a numberline. We have also recapped the four operations - both mental and written calculations. It's great to see how much our place value and number sense has improved over the year! In Literacy we invented our own stories based upon 'Lila and the Rain.' We decided that a great snow storm had come to North Tawton and had sent the scorching sun away. It was up to us to unfreeze the village by going to some of the landmarks within the local area for example the highest Tor in Dartmoor or the clock tower in the center of the village. We were all able use extended noun phrases and a range of conjunctions to make our stories more interesting. In Geography, we have been comparing traditional and modern houses in a Zambian village and North Tawton. We studied photos of houses from both locations. We noticed that both traditional houses were thatched. The big difference between our houses and those in Zambia were that we have running water, central heating and electricity. The person who showed us around their house in Zambia had to use batteries for power and a candle for light. One thing we had in common was the need for enough electricity to keep our gadgets powered up - people from both places love keeping in touch with others and listening to music! In science we looked at the importance of good hygiene. We put pepper in water and saw what happened to it. When then put soap on our fingers and compared what happened to the pepper. It showed us the importance of using soap to remove germs from our hands. Next week in assessment week and we know everyone is going to try their very best. In the afternoons we are going to be continuing with our geography and science topics. Week Beginning 14.6.21 We have had another busy but enjoyable week in Beech class! In maths we have continued to learn to tell the time and can show and tell the time confidently to half past, quarter to and quarter past. We also know how to tell the time past the hour. We all found telling the time to the hour quite tricky especially reading the minute hand. It is really important that we keep practising at home and at school so we can embed this necessary skill. In Literacy this week we had lots of fun role playing scenes from our book 'Lila and the Rain.' We freeze framed key points in the story, exploring characters' thoughts and feelings. From this we then changed the problem that Lila encountered. After carefully planned a new version before writing incredible stories. On Friday we edited and improved our writing using thesaurus to help up level our adjectives. Some extracts from our writing can be seen below. Next week we are going to continue to link to our geography topic, contrasting localities, and write a story based in our local area. In science this week we had enormous fun continuing with our health and wellbeing topic by devising exercise plans. We compared our heart rate at the start and after each of the different exercises. We also recorded how each of the exercises affected our bodies and the reasons why. We found some of the exercises had greater impact on our bodies than others. Next week we are going to look at the importance of good hygiene. In the afternoons we have also been making tally charts and inputting the data into an online pictograph. We practised labelling each item carefully. Next we collected data about pets to make block charts. We discovered the most popular pet was a dog and the least common were guinea pigs and hamsters. We used J2 data to make our block charts. Week Beginning 07.6.21 We have had a busy but very enjoyable first week back. In Literacy we started a new book called 'Lila and the Rain.' We used the book to create a map of Lila's village in Kenya and used thesaurus to up level our adjectives to describe the different parts of the map. From this we then wrote a description of the setting making sure we used all the words we had found. In maths this week we have been learning to tell the time and have played lots of games to support our learning. We are all able to confidently tell the time when it shows o'clock and half past. We were also able to find one hour earlier and later from a given time. We also learnt to find half an hour earlier or later although this was tricker and we will need some more practice next week. Telling the time is a really important skill so we need to keep practising at home! We have had lots of fun in the afternoons learning about health and well-being. First we investigated the types of food we should be eating. Next we found how much fat and sugar there are in our favourite treats. We carefully measured the amount of sugar in each product and compared the amounts. We were very shocked by the amount of sugar in some of our favourite foods. We then learnt about the importance of good dental care. We used 'Fred' the giant teeth and his friends to learn how to brush correctly. We also put a hard boiled egg in coke and left it for 24 hours. We couldn't believe that the shell peeled away so easily after it came out of the coke. It really showed us the importance of brushing our teeth. Finally we looked at the importance of different types of exercises and the impact on our bodies for example yoga to help keep us flexible so we can move easily without any pain. Most of all we decided that exercises should be fun and we had lots of fun trying out different exercise on the trim trail! In P.E with Mr Strong we have started our athletics topic. This week we learnt how to throw a javelin. One member of our class managed to throw it the entire length of the playground! We are going to be continuing to learn new skills this week in preparation for our sports day. Next week we are going to be writing new stories based upon 'Lila and the Rain' and are going to be continuing to learn to tell the time. Week Beginning 24.5.21 We have had a very busy week to finish off a very busy half term! In Literacy we continued with our writing from last week and wrote descriptions about different aspects of our oceans for example coral reefs. We also wrote about the impact of humans on our oceans in particular the impact of plastic. We finished our writing by telling the reader what they can do to save our seas. On Friday we turned into David Attenborough and recorded parts of writing to create our very own addition of 'Blue Planet.' In Maths, we have been learning about position and direction. We have been using the words ‘forwards, backwards, left, right and a quarter turn’. Most of us have learnt our left and right, but this is still something to practise at home! We have also learning how to write programs for the Beebots. First we wrote a set of instructions using ↑ ↓ → ← (this is an algorithm). Next, we programmed the instructions into the Beebot to make it move around a set of obstacles. Parents may remember carpet robots when they were at school – very little has changed in that respect apart from the computational language that we now use! Programming Beebots is the first step towards the more complicated Scratch programming that children will learn in KS2. We have been learning how to play B and A notes on the recorder. We have also learnt about the different musical notes and their time values. We enjoyed an online percussion lesson with some very talented musicians on Monday afternoon. They showed us how to play the vibraphone and marimba – explaining the way the damper bar works. The musicians played a medley of Disney tunes and challenged us to name each tune. They also playing ‘Baggy Trousers’ by Madness and we had a great dance! Finally, we joined in with some call and response on our percussion instruments. In RE, we have been learning about the special places, people, books, leaders, symbols and practises of the Jewish faith. We have compared these to similar special things in Christianity and in our own lives. We’ve also remembered the things we learnt about Islam last term and found similarities and differences between all three faiths. We shared an interesting conversation about how we might remember special people in a personal way. We also linked our RE to our other topic work and researched important people within the Jewish faith. We also completed our P.E topic which focused on batting, throwing and catching. We applied our skills to cricket and had enormous fun trying to knock down wickets. We definitely have the next Stuart Broad and Heather Knight in our class! Next term we are going to be learning all about Zambia and Kenya through a story called 'Lila and the Rain.' In science we are going to be investigating life cycles and the importance of staying healthy which also links to our PSHE topic 'health and wellbeing.' We also have lots of fun things planned to ensure our last term in KS1 is memorable! Week Beginning 18.5.21 This week in Literacy, we have been reading and writing all about Jacques Cousteau. We have been using expanded noun phrases and conjunctions to write very descriptively about deep sea diving. We enjoyed describing all the sea creatures that Jacques may have come face to face with! On Friday we watched a clip about how the Earth looks from international space station and from the moon. We used the writing we have been doing this week to write incredible noun phrases about the Earth. Next week we are going to be diving further into the sea before filming our very own version of Blue Planet. In maths we have been using different methods to take away. We are all now very confident and using number lines and can count forwards and backwards in multiples of tens and ones. We are also able to bridge through ten for example 54 - 27 we were able to take away 4, then 3 before taking away 20. We were able to apply our knowledge to dive deeper questions. Last week in Art, we experimented with modelling small figures. This week, we have been learning how to draw facial expressions. We learnt that the eyebrows, eyes and mouth convey the most emotions. We created different expressions by differing these features. We looked at some famous Pop Art and learnt a little bit about comic book art. We sketched our own portraits and then made a number of copies which we then coloured in the style of Andy Warhol! We have also continued with our explorer topic by focusing on Ibn Battuta. We mapped his exploration and found interesting facts. We found it quite surprising that he had ten wives! We looked the evidence left behind which ensures we know all about him and also why he is remembered. We then made a time line to show where he fitted with other famous explorers and found facts about each one. In groups we discussed where would would like to explore and why we would like to go there. Week Beginning 11.5.21 We have had another busy week in Beech Class! In Literacy this week, we have started reading about Jacques Cousteau, linking to our topic work on explorers. As a starting point, we thought about what it might be like to travel down a river on a boat. We imagined the rocking of the boat and the feeling of water splashing on our faces. We always try to make our lessons as immersive as possible - so some of us got a bit wet! We also found many examples of expanded noun phrases and used these in our writing about fish and plants living in the deep, blue sea. In maths we have been focusing on addition and subtraction. We used fact families to write associated number sentences and our mental maths skills to investigate whether statements were true or false. We also used the greater than and less than symbol to show which of our answers was bigger or smaller. On Friday we also added using number lines. We were all really good at adding tens to any number! In the afternoons, we have been modelling with wire. We made a small figure on day 1 and then thought about how we could improve it the next day. We used extra wool and wire to strengthen the body. We decided that modelling with wire is fun because we can make lots of small adjustments. We have also been learning about the equipment used by Robert Falcon Scott and Earnest Shackleton. We learnt that Scott preferred to wear wooden goggles - to protect his eyes from the blinding sun. Scott and Shackleton would have had to wear lots of layers with a heavy coat on top. They would have had buttons in stead of zips and velcro. While their clothes were much heavier, they were much less insulating and extremely hard to move in. These days Arctic explorers wear very light down coats which trap the body heat very effectively. On Friday we also participated in the whole school event 'Pyjamaram" We got to wear our pyjamas to school and listened to lots of stories. We wrote book reviews to help our friends choose their next book and we made book marks. We also read extracts from our favourite books. Next week we are going to be continuing with our explorer topic that we are very much enjoying. Week Beginning 4.5.21 This week we been especially focusing upon our writing. We continued to gather facts about Ernest Shackleton and looked at pictures of his adventures. From this we wrote the most incredible biographies that were not only bursting with facts but also used ambitious vocabulary, a range of sentence openers and accurate punctuation. We were so very proud of ourselves! On Friday we edited our writing by improving sentences and correcting any spelling mistakes. We also published a piece of our writing using the computers. We were all inspired by Shackleton's motto, "difficulties are just things to overcome." We discussed how when we find things hard we shouldn't give up and keep dreaming, just like he did. In maths we applied the four operations to problems involving length. It has been a little while since we used the more formal methods for addition and subtraction and we got a little bit muddled. Next week we are going to go back and focus on addition and subtraction to build our confidence once more. We were however, able to apply our multiplication and division skills to a range of problems including ones that had more than one step. We also all remembered how to find fractions of numbers from the previous weeks which was really great. In the afternoons we have been investigating other important explorers for example Christopher Columbus. We also looked at Walter Raleigh who was born in Devon like many of us! On a map we plotted where each explorer went and the dates they travelled. Everyone had so many interesting questions about all sorts of things related to the different time periods and we had lots of interesting discussions. From this we focused on Ibn Buttan and where he went. We planned what we would take on a expedition and why it would needed for example book to record the adventure. Next week in literacy we are going to be learning about Jacques Cousteau and in the afternoon we are going to be continuing to learn about Ibn Buttan. We are also looking forward to next Friday when we can wear our pjs to school and read lots of wonderful stories. Week Beginning 25.4.21 We have had another very busy week in Beech class! In Literacy, we have been finding out lots of information about Amelia Earhart. We enjoyed using the highlighters to mark the important information. We made lots of notes which helped us when writing biographies. Our biographies were very interesting with much improved sentence structure and vocabulary choices. On Friday we started to research another explorer, Ernest Shackleton, in preparation for our writing next week. In the afternoon we took inspiration from the illustrator of 'Little People, Big Dreams', Olivia Holden, and recreated our own islands. We thought about adjectives to describe what our island would be like and used natural materials that we had found during our Captain Tom challenge. In Maths, we have been measuring in centimetres and metres. We found making accurate measurements a bit tricky, especially when the object was more than one metre. We had to put our finger at the end of the metre stick and then move the stick to measure the next metre. We practised this a lot up and down the hallway! We learnt how to use a trundle wheel and measured the tennis courts. We then compared and ordered items in the classroom. We even ordered ourselves from the shortest to the longest. In Science, we have continued to learn all about plants and trees. We have been naming the parts of flowers and trees, and describing what each part does. We have been testing the conditions needed for germination and trying to investigate what plants need to stay alive. Over the weekend, we left one plant without water, and made sure that the other plant had plenty. The dry plant looked a bit sorry for itself after a few days. Unfortunately we didn't complete a fair test as some our plants in the dark had light! We also took part in the 100 challenge for Captain Tom. Linking with our science and maths work, we found 100 items from nature and then put them all in line before measuring the total length. Some of the items were really small for example a leaf and some were really big such as tree branch. To make it even more or a challenge we split into two teams to see who could make the longest line. The total length of the girls' items was 60m and the total length of the boys' items was 66m. Next week we are going to be continuing learning about explorers in our Literacy and history lessons. In maths we are going to be apply our knowledge of measure to the four operations. Week Beginning 18.4.21 It was lovely to welcome all the children back and hear about their holidays. In class we have started a new text, ‘Little People, Big Dreams Amelia Earhart’ and everyone is really enjoying it. We imagined we were Amelia and used role play and freeze frames to recreate her life. From this we wrote a class timeline showing the key events. We then watched a video showing her taking off on her final voyage before writing eyewitness accounts. Our writing has really improved as we were are using precise and ambitious vocabulary. In maths this week we finished learning about fractions and were able to apply our knowledge to a range of problems. We are all very confident and using our oral rehearsal to help us understand what we are doing and why. We’ve been doing lots of Science this week. On Monday, we learnt all about the different ways seeds find their own space to grow. They can be blown by the wind, carried on water or via animals and some seedpods explode to throw the seeds a distance from the plant. We designed our own seedpods and tested how far they could be blown by the wind - the winningdesigns were by George, Marnie and Ashton. What’s inside a broad bean? On Tuesday, we soaked the broad beans in water over night. We noticed that the seed coats split and came off easily.Inside, there was a yellow part. This is food for the baby seed. We spotted the seed embryo, which was very tiny and pointed. The seed embryo will grow into the shoot and root. We had lots of fun using the magnifying glasses! On Wednesday, we looked at different types of seed - pea, sweet corn,runner bean, broad bean, coriander, tomato and some flower seeds. They were all different sizes! We talked about the conditions needed for a seed to germinate and set up a test together. We planted 10 runner bean seeds,changing the conditions for each one. The factors we have changed are light,water, soil and temperature. What do plants need to live? On Thursday we investigated the importance of leaves and roots to a plant’s survival. We planted strawberries and changed their conditions to find out which is the optimum condition for growing. On Friday we had enormous fun pretending to be bees! We made attractive flowers and bees for our fingers. We went from flower to flower spreading pollen (Wotsits) just like real bees! Next week we are going to be continuing to learn about Amelia Earhart and we are excited to see the results of all our science experiments. Week Beginning 29.3.21 We have had a very a busy last week! In Literacy we used our imagination to write stories based on 'The Disgusting Sandwich.' The unfortunate animals got into all sorts of trouble with their food item ending up in swamps, the darkest depths of the sea, muddy puddles and many other places. Some of the animals in the stories even ended up being dinner for another creature! In maths we continued our work on fractions as we moved to investigate non-unit fractions. By the end of the week we were even able to apply our knowledge to finding non-unit fractions of Easter eggs! We have been throughly enjoying our P.E lessons with our new P.E teacher. We have participated in lots of games that have not only strengthened our hand eye co-ordination but also our team work skills. We really enjoyed working as a team to try and knock over all the cones! In the afternoons we have also continued learning about the Easter story and Spring. We had enormous fun in the nature garden again not only looking for signs of spring but also playing with our friends. We also had a discussion about the Easter story and made Easter baskets with some Easter treats. We are so proud of everyone in our class for the resilience and enthusiasm they have shown since returning to school. Everyone has worked hard and tried their very best which is why all of Beech Class was our Learner of the Week! Week Beginning 22.3.21 We have been learning about the Easter story in RE this week. We tried to spot Judas in the painting The Last Supper. The children had some good ideas about which person he was in the end though we had to Google it! We also learnt about Palm Sunday and watched a short film about Dan the Donkey - which explained about the parade Jesus took through Jerusalem. Although only Year 2, Beech class have been mature when talking about religion- they know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that respect of each others believes is an important British value. We had some fun acting out both the Palm Sunday parade and the Last Supper (everyone wanted to be the donkey and Judas). We also had a discussion about the importance of Jesus' words at the Last Supper. We then created friendship flowers with each petal showing a different quality that like about us. We are learning also about why Easter is important to Christians. We talked about new life and the changes we can see around us in Spring. We had a great time looking for signs of new life in the nature garden! We also had lots of fun playing outside with our friends. We have been rolling, jumping, running and chasing! We are so happy to be altogether again! In celebration we planted either a sweet pea or a pea in pots that we had made ourselves out of newspaper. Once the shoot grows we can then plant these in our garden as the pots are biodegradable. In Literacy, we have continued reading and retelling the story of the disgusting sandwich. The children really enjoyed all the revolting adjectives and came up with lots if their own! They have also got much better at editing and improving their writing and used dictionaries and word maps to help correct any spelling mistakes. In maths we have continued learning about fractions. We all understand the difference between the denominator and the numerator and able to apply this to halves, quarters and thirds. We also wrote really clear explanations about why fractions should have equal parts. Next week we are going to be continuing with our work on Fractions and we are going to be writing our own version of the Disgusting Sandwich. We are also going to do some Easter craft activities before we finish for the holidays. Week Beginning 15.3.21 This week in Maths, we started learning about fractions . It’s interesting how division helps us to understand fractions. We practised sharing counters into equal groups - this helped us understand halves. We also talked about equal shares of shapes.......pizzas, cakes, anything delicious! By the end of the week we were able to write precise explanations which demonstrated our knowledge and understanding. In Literacy we have started a new book called 'The Disgusting Sandwich' which we are very much enjoying. We used our acting skills to retell the and discussed at which point in the story we not eat the sandwich. One member of our class said they would eat it with sand on it because it is called a sandwich after all! We have also focused on developing our proof-reading skills, ensuring our spelling, punctuation and grammar are correct. In our Wider Curriculum lesson, we have been learning about hot and cold countries. We have naming continents, countries, poles and the Equator. On Monday, we actively gathered lots of information about Antarctica! On Tuesday, we learnt about how people, animals and plants survive in the desert. Wednesday we learnt that rainforests are very dense and have a number of layers. We learnt that they are close to the equator like deserts. Deserts are dry and hot, whereas rainforests are wet and hot. Antarctica is cold and dry. In some places it hasn’t rained for over 2 million years. On Thursday we investigated how animals have adapted to their environment and created a new animal that could live in either a hot or a cold country. We are learning so much about hot and cold places! On Friday we took part in the cross-country challenge and everyone ran a whole mile! We were very proud of our certificates. Next week we are going to be continuing learning about fractions and are going to be writing stories based upon 'The Disgusting Sandwich.' We are also going to be looking at why Christians celebrate Easter. Next week we are going to be revising Set 3 sounds in spelling as we are able to read them confidently but are not applying these to our writing. Here are some photographs from this week. There are lots more on our Class Dojo page. Week Beginning 08.3.21 We were delighted to welcome all the children back to Beech Class. The children have all settled back into school really well and have had lots of fun completing a wide range of activities including those that supported our mental wellbeing. In Literacy we linked our home learning to our writing and children brought in lots of facts to share about an animal from a hot country. From this we wrote interesting reports and painted some amazing watercolor pictures of our chosen animal. In maths we completed a range of activities that involved going outside and using musical instruments for place value and adding. This week we were also fortunate to work with the Dartmoor Ogden Partnership who provided us with the equipment to make rocket cars. Firstly we had to make the cars ensuring that the axel and the wheels were straight and the cap was screwed on tightly! Next came the fun part! Using a bicycle pump, we pumped air into the bottles and then tested to see how far they could travel. Lots went whoosing down the corridor although some liked to bump into the walls! It has been a really great week back and we are looking forward to all the interesting and fun activities we have planned for next week. Week Beginning 01.3.21 This week we have completed, what we hope is the very last, week of home learning and CWC. We have been learning all about 3D shapes. We learnt the difference between a flat shape and a 3D shape and we started describing 3D shapes according to the number of edges, faces and vertices. We also looked at repeating patterns, made 3D shapes with the polydron and with playdoh and straws. In Literacy we have continued to learn about reports. We used all the information we found last week to write leaflets about Emperor penguins. We edited and improved these before using our compute skills to publish them. In the afternoons, we learnt lots of new words for a range of emotions. In our topic work, we are learning about hot and cold places. We discovered that penguins and polar bears are from different poles and that there is an aurora in the South Pole, like the North Pole! We also celebrated World Book Day and dressed up as our favourite book character. We had great fun guessing who everyone was We shared stories and made a book character from a tube. In our final week of learning apart, we spent some time this week chatting online – it was so great to catch up with our friends! We are very much looking forward to being together as a class next week. Week Beginning 22.2.21 This week we have been learning all about 2D shapes in Maths. We have learnt how to spot vertical and horizontal lines of symmetry and we noticed that some shapes have lots of lines of symmetry. We have been making patterns with shapes. In Literacy we have been reading reports all about Penguins and learning how to extend our sentences. We have continued to practice our cursive and pre-cursive writing and we have revised different ways to write the sound /j/. We created beautiful hare collages using some colourful wallpaper. We have been programming Beebots to follow simple pathways through mazes and maps. We also practised being robots in the playground and following a simple set of instructions. From this we created maps with instructions to find buried treasure. It was lovely to catch up with home learners over Google meet, and some children who had not seen each other for a while were able to have a chat. Our home learners have continued to work very hard and we are looking forward to when we are all back together. Week Beginning 8.2.21 This week we have been reading the Shoemaker and the Elves, and developing our descriptive writing by using pairs of adjectives. We are really good at spotting and using adjectives but still need to think about using better words - for example ‘enormous’ instead of ‘big’. We also wrote a postcard imagining what the elves did once they had left the workshop. We are continuing to practice our cursive and pre-cursive writing and we learning about soft ‘c’ in our spellings – fancy, race, nice. In Maths we are learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We were able to apply our knowledge of shapes to a range of problems. In the afternoons, we have been doing lots of arts, crafts and some junk modelling. We have been using watercolours , masking tape and wax crayons to create different effects. We made marble runs and catapults and even had a competition to see which catapult could fire the furthest! We have also made many objects associated with Chinese New Year and wrote our name using Chinese characters. Our home learners have also been very busy this week completing their work to a very high standard. It has been a very strange half term but the class have shown enormous resilience. We are incredibly proud of every child in our class. Week Beginning 1.2.21 This week, we have been looking at performance poetry based on the Great Fire of London. We have investigated rhyming and sound within poems. We recreated the sound of the fire and the gunpowder. We also devised actions and changed our voices when performing poems. We watched poems performed by Michael Rosen to inspire us. At the end of the week we wrote incredible poems all about the Great Fire of London, taking into account all that we have learnt. We definitely have the next Michael Rosen in our class! In mathematics we begun looking at data handling. We are now very confident at interpreting tally charts. We also applied our knowledge of multiplication to pictograms. We have continued to have lots of fun with our science experiments. We devised an absorbency test to see which material absorbed the most water. We also sorted materials into natural or human-made. We used this knowledge to make a chair from junk modelling which could hold a 1kg weight. All our chairs were very sturdy and survived the test! Finally this week we have also been involved in many activities for mental health week, dress to express. As part of our activities we discussed why it was important to look after ourselves and what makes us happy. Our home learners have continued to join us on our Zoom lessons and are continuing to work incredibly hard. Week Beginning 25.1.21 This week, we have become really confident with the ÷ symbol. We already understand grouping and sharing and have done lots of practise with counters. We can now tackle more abstract maths using the ÷ symbol. Learning how to use the division symbol has meant that we can get higher scores on Times Tables Rock Stars! In Literacy we have continued to write interesting diary entries but this time about an important event within our own lives. We have also been investigating verbs in the past progressive form. In the afternoons we have been doing Science - learning all about the properties of different materials and their uses in the real world. We had a lot of fun testing different materials for a hamster cage. Instead of using our teeth like a hamster, we used a nail file to recreate the chewing action. We enjoyed testing the polystyrene as it looked like it had snowed in Beech class. Another investigation we conducted was to test which material made the best umbrella. Beech class were very careful to ensure they carried out a fair test. We have also continued learning the ukulele. We are getting really good at 'My Dog Has Fleas' and have started strumming a C chord. We have learnt about beats and rests. The home learners have continued to join us everyday for our Zoom Literacy lessons and they have contributed many ideas. They are working incredibly hard and we are so proud of the work that they have produced. Week beginning 18.1.21 This week we have carried on our learning about the Great Fire of London. We have looked at how the fire spread so quickly and why it was so difficult to put out. We have compared the equipment used by the fire brigade now and in 1666. We have learnt that the famous diarist Samuel Pepys buried his parmesan cheese and wine in the garden to protect it from the fire. We have explored colour mixing with water colour paints to create a flame effect. We have overlaid a silhouette of Tudor houses. In Maths, we have begun looking at division. We are sharing and grouping counters. In Literacy, we have continued with our diary writing. Home learners have been baking bread and painting watercolour pictures too. We are getting good at unmuting ourselves during a zoom lesson, so that everyone gets a turn to share their ideas! Week beginning 11.1.21 We have learning been all about the Great Fire of London this week and were able to interview Thomas Farrinor, who popped into Beech class to say hello. He told us all about his bread over and how the fire may have started. We learnt about how houses were built and what they were made in 1666. We designed and made our own Tudor houses, with beams and straw roofs. We have also started learning the ukuleles this week. In Maths, we have been continuing to learn all about multiplication and linking our learning to real problems. We have been writing diary entries in the style of Samuel Pepys in Literacy. The children who are home learning have been joining us everyday for Literacy lessons and to share our work at the end of the day. Week beginning 4.1.21
Hello everyone, This week we have been reading Katie in London and have learnt all about the famous landmarks around central London. We have been writing information texts, explaining all about Buckingham Palace and the London Eye. In our Maths lessons we have been carrying on with multiplication. We have been looking at pictures and writing the different multiplication sentences that we notice. We have been catching up with those children doing home learning through our daily zoom lessons. |
AuthorWelcome to the blog for Beech Class at North Tawton Primary School Archives
March 2024
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