Autumn 2022

Autumn Term One

Welcome back everyone. We hope you have had a wonderful summer break filled with lots of amazing memories. We are looking forward to seeing all of your achievements and creating happy memories of our own with you this academic year.

This half term is filled with lots of exciting learning. We will be off on a journey in Geography around ‘Our World’ where we will be learning how to use a world map to locate countries, continents, and oceans. We will explore the continents features, people and landmarks.  In art we will look at an artist from another continent called Frida Kahlo and create some pieces of work in her style.

Year 1 / 2 will also be looking in science at ‘Ourselves and Other Animals’ where we will take the opportunity to learn about animals in other countries and distinguish the similarities and differences to humans.

Literacy this half term will be focused around the story ‘Meerkat Mail’ by Emily Gravett. During these lessons we will be creating a narrative text in the form of a diary entry, using new vocabulary from the sessions to improve our writing. We will also be creating an information text in the style of a fact file about Meerkats.

PE this term will be on a Monday (pm) and Wednesday (pm) please make sure your child has a PE kit in school on those days.

Week One - 09.09.2022

Wow what an amazing first week back. We are extremely proud of how well the children have managed to settle back into school after summer and also their dedication to work and learning the new routines of Key Stage One.

During this week we have seen some amazing Mathematicians. Year One have been looking at sorting objects and counting objects. They have been particularly good at using a tens frame and cube towers to help them with this. Year Two have also been working hard on place value using base ten to work out how many tens and ones are in a number. Well done everyone!

We received a special delivery too this week, a large box which was addressed to Year 1 & 2- that’s us!! Inside we discovered a note from a meerkat called Sunny. He even sent us a book which documents his journey around the Kalahari Desert. Seemingly the Kalahari Desert is just too hot and too crowded with his family who like to stick together, so Sunny needs a new place to live!! I wonder where his travels will lead him next?

We also enjoyed talking about people we ‘Trust’ which is our value of the term. Children came up with some wonderful heartfelt suggestions of people they trust such as ‘My Daddy because he isn’t a stranger and is always in my life, I know I can trust him’, ‘I trust my friend because she looks after my things and I look after hers and we always give them back because we are kind’ and ‘We can trust ‘people who help us’ like police, fire and doctors. I had to trust doctors when I was sick with pneumonia because nobody else knew how to make me better’.  We then created our trusted adult and hung them in class to help us be mindful of who we trust and why.

Week Two - 12.09.2022

Year 1/2 have had yet another fantastic week.  

This week we have been enjoying our Music sessions using our programme called 'Charanga'. This half term we are learning a piece of music called Hands, Feet, Heart by Joanna Mangona - A song that celebrates South African music. The children really enjoyed moving to the music, finding the pulse and really engaging how the music made them feel. One child expressed her love for the music by saying 'I really like this song, it makes me feel good inside. You know how the music just makes your body want to move and be alive and you just don't know how?'. I am sure you will agree the children's faces show the fun we have had in class with this music this week.  

In PE we started to look at 'Fitness and Agility' this week children really impressed the staff with their precision and ability to move and negotiate spaces while jumping. Excellent work everyone. 

We have continued to have some amazing Mathematicians this week showing us how to correctly represent numbers in tens frames. 

This week we also sadly heard the news that Queen Elizabeth had passed away, bringing her amazing reign of 70 years to an end. Children in class requested to create a piece of art in her memory to mark this historic occasion. 

Week Three 20.09.2022

This week we have continued to have many wonderful learning experiences in our class. The children enjoyed seeing an animation about Yayoi Kusama or 'The Princess of the Dots' a Japanese artist who moved to the USA to persue an art career. Children were inspired to create their own dot art and began their journey into experimenting with colours and sizes of dots, which will later in the term be adapted into prints. Their pieces of work made everyone smile! 

In Geography we have begun our journey around the world. First stop 'Europe', Country- France! We learnt how to locate a continent on a map, and then were able to find the UK and France. We learnt about the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks in Paris.Children even tasted some French food. Safe to say the broiche was a sucess! 

In Maths we have enjoyed using resources to help us consolidate our counting, and sorting. The children had lots of fun ordering towers,and finding 1 less than a given number in the sand. 

 

Week Four 26.09.2022

Yet another busy week in Year 1/ 2 class this week!

We have continued our Literacy activities this week still looking at ‘Meerkat Mail’. We are learning how to use our VIPERS in class reading time and have had some amazing discussions. This week we debated which motto was the safest to follow for the Meerkat ‘Run and Hide’ or ‘Stay safe, Stay together’. We trialed these options and found that we would prefer to be together in a burrow (or in our classroom- huddled under a table).

 

We also continued our journey discovering more dots. Children in year 1/ 2 have become really wonderful young artists and have astounded us with their ability to experiment to create their own images in the style of this famous Japanese artist.

In RE we have been looking at ‘The Harvest Festival’ children discussed the importance of helping the environment and others around them before creating their own individual prayers.

In Science we have been looking at the senses we use every day. This week was hearing, we enjoyed listening out for noises in other classrooms and also learnt a song to help us remember what each part of our body does. We learnt a song to help us remember this… please have a look of Facebook to hear us sing!

Finally in Geography we moved to Asia this week and discovered how much we know and love about China. Making Chinese Dragons was a big hit! 

 

 

Week Five 03.10.2022

This week we had an exciting opportunity to meet a therapy dog and puppies. We used our senses to explore the puppies and enjoyed having lots of snuggles and kisses. Children were able to use the dogs to help us work out similarities and differences between babies and fully grown dogs as well as humans and their babies. We had a fantastic time!

Year 1/ 2 also continued their journey to Australia. We were eager to look at different animals and many children were especially excited about koalas. We shared our knowledge of Australia with our peers and were surprised at how many interesting facts we knew such as ‘a baby kangaroo is called a joey and they live in pouches in the mummy kangaroo’.

On Friday we had a magic maths morning where the children enjoyed a rotation of different hands on maths activities. It helped us to consolidate our understanding and knowledge from the previous weeks and apply them in a variety of ways.

We have continued our 'Read Aloud' this week, and even were visited by our very own Willy Wonka with Rockcliffe Chocolate Factory 'Golden Tickets'. 

Finally as a class we made a ‘Harvest Pudding’ children were fantastic at working as a team to create all the layers of bread, eggs, milk, raisins, and apples. Once baked in the oven we delivered portions to local residents, it was so wonderful to see such happy faces and spread the joy of harvest time.

Week Six 10.10.2022

This week we have visited Africa. We learnt about the safari animals in Kenya and tried on traditional dress from Nigeria. The children were very enthusiastic to look at photographs, and objects.

In art we continued our journey of dots. Children created lino prints which they sketched into polystyrene. They then used these to print onto pre-prepared backgrounds. I am sure you will agree there are some wonderful modern and colourful designs.

In Science we continued look at senses and this week we were able to think about food to create a Venn graph. We sorted food into three categories made by a plant, made by an animal or both.

Children in year 1/ 2 also found out what it would be like to lose the sense of sight and completed two challenges where they needed to trust in the guidance of a friend.

Week Seven 17.10.2022

This last week of term has been another busy one!

We joined all our learning together for a fantastic ‘Around the World Day’ Children came to school dressed in colours or outfits from different countries they all looked fabulous. We enjoyed a day full of activities including, African drumming, making Indian sweets, and Aboriginal Art.

 

We hope everyone has a restful half term and look forward to seeing you next term.

 

Autumn Term Two

Week One: 31.10.22

Welcome back. We hope you have had lots of family fun and have been able to relax a little too!

First week back and children have really worked hard. We have moved on to our new Literacy text ‘The Tear Thief’. Children have been exploring the new text through drama. They have had some fantastic expression and our budding actors have certainly taken on the character roles perfectly.

Year 1&2 have also been looking at World War 2 in History this week and have discovered that they are ready to become History detectives to find out more about that time period. They have been able to order some simple events chronologically and we have thoroughly enjoyed the discussion which has come from this.

Linking to this in DT- Food children have begun their work on ‘Dig for Victory’ using fresh produce to prepare and taste a pasta sauce. Children worked hard, followed instructions and stayed safe resulting in some delicious food being produced. We can’t wait to see what we can make next week!

We ended our week with some wonderful writing produced in RWI phonics, a visit to the library van and some paired reading with Year 5! We love literacy!

 Week Two- Four 7.11.22-25.11.22

Wow what a busy few weeks we have had since returning to school. We haven't even noticed how fast the time has gone. 

Over the last few weeks children have been learning new yoga moves through the 'YOGA BUGS' Program. They have become very flexible and have some wonderful balance and core strength. We have been to the circus where we became acrobats and clowns. Then we also travelled around the world visitng a variety of places including Australia where we were able to surf the waves.

We have continued our ‘Dig for Victory’ Theme in DT producing some amazing Healthy Eating Plates as well as enjoying baking ‘Honey Cake’, ‘Banana Bread’ and  preparing seasonal ‘Salads’. Yummy!!

We celebrated diversity with the whole school by wearing mix match socks for 'Odd Sock Day'. As a school we have also been raising money for 'Children in Need' by wearing PJ day.

In Music we have been reinforcing finding a ‘pulse’ in songs. The children especially enjoy particpating in this action pulse finder activity as they like moving! We have begun to learn our songs for the annual Nativity which we are sure will be a BIG hit.

French continues to be a area of interest for our class and we have been expanding our knowledge and vocabulary to include colours.

Some children have brought in many wonderful pieces of home learning such as Santa Letters, Poppy Wreaths and also this amazing piece of marble art.

In Maths Year 1 have moved onto 3D shapes. We have been really enjoying sorting shapes based on their properties. While Year 2 have begun their journey with money.

We have enjoyed all our weekly reading sessions with Year 5. Its one of our favourite times of the week. They even recently helped us complete our ‘Nativity Stables’ for RE.

Final Weeks of December

Wow what a busy few week we had towards the end of term. 

We started our Polar Express Journey with finding the true meaning in Christmas. We really started to 'Believe' when we recieved our own North Pole bells and could hear them ringing. As a class we recieved our golden tickets and boarded the train. It was truely magnificent. The air filled with the scent of hot chocolate and there was a buzz of excitment in the air. Our writing excited Mrs Pieroni so much she awarded several star writers for their hard work. 

In Maths year 1 worked their way through 2D and 3D shapes and created some wonderful patterns and pictures. Year 2 tried hard learning about money and although it wasn't always easy they persisted completing a range of activities. 

We continued to enjoy our time 'Buddy Reading' with Year 5 and they even found time to help us create Nativity Scenes for Christmas. Thnak you Year 5 for supporting us in our learning. 

In DT we continued baking and making, banana bread and smoothies were the biggest hits with nearly everyone wanting seconds. 

We throughly enjoyed the lead up to Christmas with a trip to the Pantomime, Christmas Dinner, Nativity, Chrsitmas Crafts and Baking! 

Merry Christmas Everyone x