Class 2 Weekly Update 07/12/18

What a pleasure it was taking Class 2 to see Mother Goose at Theatre Severn the other day. Not only did the children have a fabulous time, they once again demonstrated impeccable behaviour outside of school.
In our English lessons we have been revisiting phoneme sounds and have applied these when blending them into more unfamiliar words. In RWI we have enjoyed reading our new stories, drawing on their own experiences and talking about what they have just read. Some of the children are being encouraged to use a storyteller voice too. We have also done some detective work whilst spotting alternative graphemes for specific sounds in short comic strip passages. Some have also attempted the initial joining of specific graphemes in their handwriting sessions. Today we have all incorporated Fred talking into our everyday classroom life when asking for certain objects or things during routine. We have also learned how to add the suffix ‘ing’ to make a new words from a root word and then we added the word within our own sentence. We based our words and sentences on our experiences of what happened at the pantomime the day before.
In maths we have looked at the properties of both 2D and 3d shapes and how their shapes correspond to objects in the world around them. We have sorted them based on certain criteria during practical activities and have experimented with pattern linked to clues given on the shapes properties. We aim to link some of this maths work to a whole class piece of artwork next week for our classroom. We have also linked this to design and technology when discussing the shapes used for our Class 2 house model.
Our weekly spellings have gone out today to be tested next Friday. The children are reading to adults throughout the week and we have been so impressed with the enjoyment they are having reading to adults at home.
A big thank you to those who have helped their child learn their lines at home for our Christmas performance. They have remembered them really well when during our practises in Church. Please can we remind you that it would be ideal if your child could have their costumes in by Monday 10th December as stated in the letter which went home. On the letter it stated what your child is and what they would need to wear if they require a costume. Please do not hesitate to come and see me if you have any questions concerning this.
Have a lovely weekend together and I will see you all on Monday.
Mr Mavin

 

PANTOMIME

PANTOMIME

THURSDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2018

Just a reminder that this Thursday we will be going to the Pantomime.  We will be leaving school at 9.30am and returning at 1.00pm. Children will need to bring a packed lunch to eat when we return to school. They can bring a snack to eat (nothing containing nuts please) during the interval.

Thank you

Class 2 Weekly Update 30/11/18

Class 2 have been practising for their Christmas performance in church this week and have been gearing up for the festive season together. There has been lots of talk about Santa (for November), so we have tried to take their minds off the big day with some almost equally exciting work!

The children are starting to practise reading real and nonsense words using sounds they have had a weekly focus on. This week we identified that the children needed to learn more about and practise using their split digraphs.  They have played phonics games, have done pre-cursive handwriting and have written words and sentences using them.

In RWI they have moved on to their new stories ‘Cluck’ and ‘Tim and Tom.’ Their reading has been delightful and they are taking real pleasure in spotting ‘special friends’ within their words. Special friends for the children are 2 or 3 letters together which make 1 sound in words.

In handwriting, the children have really tried their best to make their lower case letters the same height and size as each other. They have then demonstrated that they can apply this within their written pieces across the curriculum in their exercise books.  

In maths the children have been assessed on what they have consolidated in addition within 20 and have had practical tasks to show their abilities of subtracting using a given models and using resources. We have tried to explain how we have come to get an answer and to double check that we have counted objects or diagrams accurately.

Mr Mavin’s favourite story of the week has been Roald Dahl’s ‘The Magic Finger’ which has made us giggle. We are moving onto ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’ next week for some creative letter writing in role as a character.  After all, it will be December!

In geography, we have made a start at comparing our own location of Shrewsbury to that of a Polar region. We have a focus on various geographical features such as hills, buildings and bodies of water to consider and contrast.

Thank you again for practising spellings at home with your children. Please ask your children to show you where the special friends are in the word making the sound in which the spelling list focuses on. For example the special friends in the word fear would be ‘ear.’ There is space beside the weekly spelling list in order for it to be used by the child to look, write and then check their spellings. Thank you for continuing to support your children with this.

We have the pantomime next Thursday which we are all looking forward to. Oh no we’re not! Oh yes we are!

Have a lovely weekend together and see you next week.

 

Mr Mavin

 

Class 2 Weekly Update 23/11/18

Once again, Class 2 have had an ‘I can’ attitude in all aspects of their school work this week.
In English they have moved on to different story texts in their RWI groups and have looked more in depth at improving their sentence structure when recording text related sentences. Talk for writing has been key with the children experimenting with more adventurous vocabulary. In reading we have worked on answering verbal comprehension questions, giving more of an evidential answer as well as a predictive one. The children have also enjoyed our whole class story times where I am sharing some of my favourite stories. Next week….one from Roald Dahl. For their spelling and grammar we have used the conjunction ‘and’ to link sentences and our ideas together in our writing based on their ideal birthday parties.
In maths the children have been looking in greater depth at subtraction and how we can use apparatus to help when working something out independently. We also talked about how subtraction is relevant and used in their everyday lives in the world around them. We then moved on to finding the difference between 2 quantities in practical contexts and have recorded our number sentences from this alongside ways to record findings in models used to help us. The children are also starting their times tables journey again with their 2 times table.
In topic the children have been exploring ‘the Polar Bear Capital of the World’, a little natural haven called Churchill, a town in Canada. They have been in role as tour guides who are trying to persuade people to visit there. They watched a visual tour presentation of the place and learned about the bear’s habitats and habits they have there. They also reminded people what items they were required to bring to such a destination and when was best to visit. They also gained an understanding of why the bears congregate in the town and the devastating affects which are happening to the ice caps and their normal environments in the wild.
In design and technology the children have been up and down ladders, sawing and also….painting, cutting and sticking bits of their class ‘Grand Design’ house. After a mildly heated discussion as to whether to paint the door pink or not, watching the collaboration and sharing of ideas and materials this week was a joy. Some of the children have also worked on smaller structures and shapes in which resembles the skeleton of a house after they were shown some visual 3D animations of houses being planned and built.
In music the children have incorporated different instruments into their performances and songs with Mrs Tann. The timing of the children playing along as groups or a whole class is really developing. It is evident that we have a class full of budding musicians.
In Science we are continuing to monitor the seasonal weather using our measuring tools we designed and made to collect our findings. The children have a more developed understanding of the seasons and the affects they have on lives during different times of year.
New spelling lists have gone in the children’s books today to be tested next Friday.
Please do not hesitate to come and see me if you need anything and have a lovely weekend together.

Mr Mavin

Class 2 Weekly Update 16/11/18

It has been another lovely week with my Class 2 Superheroes.
In English we have been reading new stories together in our RWI groups. Every child is taking a lot of pleasure from their own reading as well as that of their peers. They have probably made this evident to you when reading their stories at home.
The children have been trying to improve their writing with adjectives and simple conjunctions. They wrote for purpose about their Chester Zoo trip as a diary entry and used talk for writing beforehand in order to compose their sentences from their very vivid memories of the day. Towards the end of the week our spelling and grammar focus was using exclamation marks. They then went onto using them in a comic strip format involving their favourite superhero’s dialogue.
In maths, we have started chanting and singing our two times tables. We have been learning how to record subtraction number stories as number sentences after using practical scenarios to help us. We have also had a focus on working through both addition and subtraction number sentences systematically explaining their reasoning along the way. All of the children have contributed so well during lesson starters involving mental maths and problems solving with real life contexts with their maths partners.
In Design and Technology the children are in the initial stages of building their class house made from various pieces of cardboard. They have taken real ownership of it in their small groups and have really thought hard about its structure, and which shaped boxes would complement other parts best. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next for it!
The children did wonderfully well again with their spellings today. The new lists have gone into their books today for next Friday. Thank you for supporting your children at home with them.
An enormous congratulations to Cerys for being Class 2’s winner of Bicton’s creative writing competition. Well done also to everybody who entered. We are so proud of you and your entries.
Thank you so much for your continued support and have a lovely weekend together.
Mr Mavin