7th Nov '25
Welcome back to a new term. We hope that you all had a lovely holiday. The children have been very keen to tell us what they have been up to!
The children have all settled in back to our routines and the week started with Year 2 reading a poem by Michael Rosen. It was called "Woolly Saucepan". It is a poem where all the materials and objects get muddled up. For example, a woolly chair and a glass jumper. This poem links in with our topic on materials that we will be doing in science. Year 2 have also had a focus in their spelling lessons on the homophones to, too and two.
In maths Year 1 and Year 2 have both started on their new focus topics of addition and subtraction. Year 1 have been thinking about part part whole models. This is where the whole number is made up of two parts. For example 5 could be made up of 2 and 3, each of these being a part of the whole.
Year 2 have been thinking about their pairs of numbers that make 10. We used tens frames and counters to systematically work out all the pairs of numbers that make 10. For example 10 yellow counters and 0 red counters makes 10, 9 yellow counters and 1 red counter makes 10, eight yellow counters and 2 red counters makes 10 etc. They have then been applying this knowledge to pairs of numbers that make 20. We have thought about fact families and all the facts we can write if we know three numbers - 2 parts and a whole. For example, 18 + 2 = 20.
We also know that 2 + 18 = 20, 20 - 2 = 18, 20 - 18 = 2, 20 = 18 + 2 etc.
In science, Year 1 and Year 2 were learning about materials. We named lots of different materials, we went on a materials hunt outside and we played a game using a feely bag where we had to guess the object and what material it was made from. Year 2 also thought about why certain materials might be used for certain objects.
Bonfire Night was mid week and we thought it would be great fun to create our own bonfire night artwork. The fireworks all make lovely patterns in the sky. The paintings followed on from our project "Starry Night" in art last term. Lots of glitter and coloured paint was used. We think that you will love the seasonal pieces of art! Have a look below...
Year 1's were feeling very 'curious' this week - our classroom just had a 'curious' vibe about it. "Oh look" said Margo, something has happened to the display - it's different". We all agreed, the Curious Quest Board was looking......different.
And then we spotted a suitcase in the classroom! At first we thought it belonged to Stanley as he mentioned he had forgotten his book bag, so we just thought he had brought a suitcase instead - but he looked as confused as the rest of us - whose suitcase was it? There was a note inside......(you just have to imagine the suspense here). The note inside was from a Professor Klunk telling us how he had been stealing all our drawings and feeding them into his Story Dream Machine - and he was asking for more pictures.
The Curious Quest is taking us on a writing journey - well it's actually called inventuring - a mix of inventing and adventuring - the children are absolutely loving it and we are looking forward to officially starting the journey next week.
The other excitement in Year 1 this week was the introduction of Phase 5 Phonics. Here is a quick glimpse of the sounds we have been learning this week.
Next week, we will be using these sounds in our writing - here is a little heads up of some of the words we might be using (for those of you at home who enjoy a little bit of pre learning).
Monday - hooray, stay, play
Tuesday - seat, treat
Wednesday - spied, pie, cried
Thursday - claws, paws
Friday - clue, venue
We had reached Thursday of our first week back and were ready to get back to measuring in Maths! Kingfishers did a super job at remembering their learning from before half term, thinking about cm's and m's and which measurement we use for different objects.
This week we put all our knowledge into practice and started to make comparisons between different lengths and heights, using the language shortest, longest and tallest to compare. Kingfishers particularly enjoyed measuring objects around the room in cm's and then comparing them!
"The rubber is the shortest!"
Kingfishers showed that they could confidently measure items using a ruler to the nearest cm so on Friday we moved onto solving problems involving measurement. This was slightly harder for us but they all showed wonderful perseverance even with problems that involving halving and doubling! Next week we will continue with us but why not have a go at this problem over the weekend?
In RE this week we started to explore our questions for this term....
What do most Christians celebrate together?
We started our lesson by asking what was meant by a celebration and what different celebrations had the children enjoyed? Year 1 and Year 2 came up with lots of different celebrations, some of these religious celebrations and others celebrations that they had enjoyed, here are just a few of their ideas....
"Christenings"
"Birthdays"
"Easter"
"Celebrating a new Reverend coming to the church!"
"Firework night"
"Weddings"
The celebrations that we will be particularly exploring this term was then mentioned......
"Christmas!"
As you can imagine the sounds of excitement filled the classroom as we began to discuss the celebration of Christmas, firstly exploring what this meant to the children by the children working in groups to write words that they related with Christmas and then discussing how most Christians celebrate Christmas.
From Christmas dinner to baubles, the all important Christmas tree to the Nativity, we were blown away by how many words the children associate with Christmas!
We can't wait to continue to explore Christmas each week!
It was soon time for our first MNR session of the year and it certainly didn't disappoint! This term we are focusing on developing our shooting, defending and attacking and our coach this week started us off by using rugby tags to help us develop our attacking skills!
We loved playing alongside each other and trying to use the space to avoid our tag being taken, it sure was a fast game!
With all of us now warmed up, our coach gave us more of a challenge with a game centered around.....cleaning our bedrooms! Yes you've heard us correctly, Year 1 and 2 worked in small groups against their team mates to take it in turns and run to get the coloured cone for their group, therefore 'cleaning their bedroom'!
It was now time to add in the defenders! With a defender now trying to get the tags of those who were 'cleaning their bedrooms', it became harder to get the cones, so Year 1 and 2 needed to use all their attacking skills to move quickly past the defender!
With our week coming to and end we can't believe how much learning we have already started! Just a few reminders for next week;
PE days for Year 1 and Year 2 are now a Monday and a Thursday so please ensure your child is dressed in PE kit on these days with trainers not plimsoll shoes please on Thursday as we will be having PE outside.
Monday is also odd sock day so please feel free to come with odd socks! Odd Socks Day is a light-hearted but powerful way for pupils and staff to mark the start of Anti-Bullying Week each year by wearing odd socks.
It’s a simple, fun way to celebrate what makes each of us unique – and to reinforce the idea that differences are something to be celebrated, not bullied. It sends the message: everyone is welcome, everyone belongs, and kindness to each other matters.
A final thought for our week!
This week we have started exploring the Victorians and began by looking at the picture below and asking questions about Queen Victoria.
What facts can you remember about Queen Victoria?