Autumn 2, Week 4

English:

In English we have started to look at the diary of a Victorian school child, Maggie Johnson. We have picked out features of a diary entry such as ‘first person’, ‘past tense’, ‘chronological order’ and ‘time connectives’. We have compared Maggie’s school day with our own and discussed some key differences between modern and Victorian school.

Maths:

In maths, we have been using knowledge of ‘make 10’ to add and subtract two single-digit numbers and then used this method to add or subtract a single-digit number to or from a two-digit number. For instance, 8 add 5; “I know that 8 needs 2 to make 10, and 10 add 3 is 13.” We have been using part-part-whole models to show these equations and find the missing parts.

P.E:

In P.E, we have continued to work on a short gymnastic routine, including different movements, balances and jumps. We have practised transitioning from move to move and have had some time to perform. In outdoor PE, we have been ‘sending and receiving’ a range of equipment, thinking about how we can throw, hit or kick accurately. We have practised these skills and then used them in some team games.

Science:

In science this week, we have learnt how physical activity can help to keep humans and animals fit and healthy. We developed our own ‘workout’ routines and took time to recognise and explain what we can feel after doing some exercise.

---

Autumn 2, Week 3

English:

We have been thinking about the emotions of the Christmas pine and why it might be a grumpy, grouchy Christmas tree. The tree had been chopped down and taken to a different country, it might be missing home. It was decorated with itchy, irritating tinsel and heavy, clanging baubles. The noise of the city kept it up all night and the tree was tired of people staring at it and taking pictures. Worst of all was all the singing, the poor tree couldn’t get any peace and quiet!

We have been thinking of ideas to create our own grumpy Christmas pine poem and have started to write our stanzas using ambitious vocabulary and even some rhyme!

Maths:

In maths, we have been doing lots of work on addition using our knowledge of number bonds, make 10 and adding 10’s and 1’s to solve problems. We have thought about using what we know and how this can help us solve some more challenging problems; for example, if I know that 6 and 4 is 10, then I know that 16 and 4 is 20 and 26 and 4 is 30. We have been practising partitioning numbers to make a 10 and then add on. So, 18 + 6… 18 needs 2 to make 20 (4 left), 20 + 4 = 24, 18 + 6 = 24.

        

History / Topic:

In History, we had an afternoon in a Victorian classroom! We had to be on our best behaviour, sit up straight, no calling out and no mistakes or we would be sent to the dunce corner! The teachers were so strict and some cheeky children even got a wallop with the cane! (A pretend wallop of course!) We thought about how school has changed since Victorian times and picked out a few similarities and differences between school then and now.

          

P.S.H.E:

As it is Anti-Bullying Week, we have been thinking about appropriate behaviour in and out of school. We discussed some scenarios that children may experience and how we can manage these situations. We discussed what bullying is and what this looks like, as well as how this is different to a one-off unkind comment or action. We came up with some steps to take if we ever feel uncomfortable or that someone is deliberately being unkind.

---

Autumn 2, Week 2

English:

We have been exploring more of the Christmas pine poem written by Julia Donaldson and have been learning to use a range of word types such as conjunctions and punctuation; like possessive apostrophes. We have listened to and watched some performance poetry, and thought about how we can use our voice, body and gestures to bring a poem to life!

Maths:

In maths, we have been spotting patterns when adding or subtracting 1 and 10 to or from a number. We used resources to show how when adding or subtracting one, the total will be consecutive – the next number. We used 10’s frames and dienes blocks to show how in most cases, when adding or subtracting 10, the ones digit will not change.

History / Topic:

In History, we have been looking at Victorian artefacts and asking questions about them. Some of the items were very odd to us and we had to work together to find clues about what they are, what they are called, who may have used them, what they were made out of, and what they do.

      

Science:

In science, we thought about the importance of diet to keep animals and humans healthy. We learnt the 5 main food groups – carbohydrates and starchy foods, fats, oils and sugar, fruit and vegetables, dairy and proteins. We designed our own ‘eat well’ plate and added some of our favourite foods for each food group.

PE:

In indoor PE, we have ben continuing to build a simple routine, including different movements, stretches and balances. We have learnt how to do and hold a bridge and a plank and thought about the muscles we can feel working as we perform the routine.

In outdoor PE, we have been using different equipment to send and receive accurately. We have been practising throwing and catching and kicking and stopping. We have used these skills in simple team games.

 

---

Autumn 2, Week 1

English:

In English this week, we have started to explore our new Julia Donaldson text, The Christmas Pine.

This is a fantastic poem that tells the story of the Christmas tree that is chosen each year to be brought from Oslo to London and displayed in Trafalgar Square.

We have picked out key words and phrases and have spotted key features of poetry – stanzas, lines, rhyme, rhythm and alliteration.

We worked in groups to learn parts of the poem and created our own actions to show when performing.

          

Maths:

In maths, we have been looking at pictograms. We discussed what these are and what information (data) can be shown on them. We gathered data to complete our own pictograms and answered questions about them, using subtraction to find the difference between amounts.

History / Topic:

We have started our new topic, ‘home sweet home’, where we are learning about the Victorian Era. We found out  lots of information about Queen Victoria and created a class timeline of significant events that have occurred from the Victorian Era until now. We also created a mind map to show what we already know about this time and what we would like to find out during our history lessons.

Science:

In science, we have had a very exciting lesson trying to survive on a desert island. We thought about what essentials animals and human need to survive and how this is different to items humans want. We learnt that we will die without oxygen, water and food and we also need enough sleep, warmth and shelter from the elements. There were many things that we found would be useful on a desert island such as a map, a compass, a bed etc., but these were wants as we could survive without them.

          

 

 

---

Autumn 1, Week 7

Our topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’.

We had a very special visit from Mike, a ranger for Brighton and Hove Council. He spoke to the children all about the different vegetation in our city and the children decided whether certain plants grew naturally or whether they were planted by humans.

English:

This week, we have been writing book reviews. We had to get into two teams, choosing between ‘The Snail and The Whale’ or ‘The Baddies’ by Julia Donaldson. The challenge was to write the best book to review to convince Mr Gunn to buy your teams book for the KS1 Reading Raffle.

Maths:

We have been finding the difference using a number line and multilink.

Science:

We investigated whether the tallest children had the longest feet. After lining up in height order, we measured our feet using cubes.

Home Learning:

• Spellings - Please practise your spellings ready for after half term.
• Reading - Remember to read at least 4 times per week and record in your reading journal. If you read at least 4 times a week and record this in your reading journal, you will receive a raffle ticket and an opportunity to win a book during our celebration assembly!
• Maths – Please logon to Numbots and start earning those coins! There will be a certificate each Friday for the child who has made the most effort.

---

Autumn 1, Week 6

Our topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’.

Computing:

In computing, we have been using ScratchJr to program our own interactive games. In the process, we are learning how to solve problems, design projects, and express ourselves creatively on the computer.

Art:

In Art, we are very proud of our Lowry style paintings of local landmarks.

English:

We received a letter from Julia Donaldson asking for help. She needs us to create a baddy for her new story. After designing our baddies, we came to school to find they had been up to all kinds of mischief! So, we made ‘Wanted’ posters to try and find the culprits.

Maths:

We have been using our knowledge of bonds within 10 to add three numbers efficiently.

Home Learning:

• Spellings - Please practise your spellings ready for next Friday.
• Reading - Remember to read at least 4 times per week and record in your reading journal. If you read at least 4 times a week and record this in your reading journal, you will receive a raffle ticket and an opportunity to win a book during our celebration assembly!
• Maths – Please logon to Numbots and start earning those coins! There will be a certificate each Friday for the child who has made the most effort.

---

Autumn 1, Week 5

Our topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’. This week we created maps to show our journey to St Matthias Church. We included a key and lots of human and physical features we passed on our way.

English:

This week, we have been focussing on describing the different characters in ‘The Baddies’ by Julia Donaldson. We worked together to create a class mind map of ambitious vocabulary for each character. Then, we used our ideas to write our character descriptions including similes too.

Maths:

We have been using Dienes, cubes and a part part whole model to partition numbers 100. Later in the week, we used this knowledge to record all the equations represented by the model.

• Home Learning:
• Spellings - Please practise your spellings ready for next Friday.
• Reading - Remember to read at least 4 times per week and record in your reading journal. If you read at least 4 times a week and record this in your reading journal, you will receive a raffle ticket and an opportunity to win a book during our celebration assembly!
• Maths – Please logon to Numbots and start earning those coins! There will be a certificate each Friday for the child who has made the most effort.

---

Autumn 1, Week 4

Our topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’. In RE, we have been finding out what makes a church special and the meaning of signs and symbols that are found in churches. We had great fun on our trip to St Matthias Church.

English:

We are now reading ‘The Baddies’ by Julia Donaldson. We started the week by comparing stories by the same author and noticed lots of familiar characters, rhyming and repetitions in many of Julia Donaldson’s books. After that, we worked in small groups with scripts to role play the story.

Maths:

We have been using Dienes and cubes to represent numbers 20 to 99. Using a blank number line from 0 to 100, we were able to estimate and then mark the position of the numbers on our number line.

Home Learning:

• Spellings - Please practise your spellings ready for next Friday.
• Reading - Remember to read at least 4 times per week and record in your reading journal.If you read at least 4 times a week and record this in your reading journal, you will receive a raffle ticket and an opportunity to win a book during our celebration assembly!
• Maths – You should all have received a login for Numbots to practise your maths fluency. Please speak to your class teacher if not.

---

Autumn 1, Week 3

Our topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’. In Geography, we have been looking at the human and physical landmarks of Brighton, ready to compare with Shoreham by Sea.

English:

We are reading ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson. This week, each class has chosen a different setting to describe. After editing our writing, we now ready to publish our work. Watch out for our fabulous classroom displays!

Maths:

We have continued to count in 10s to 100. We have been using a variety of resources to represent multiples of tens, including 10p coins, Dienes and towers of cubes.

After recapping on our number bonds to ten, we were able to use our knowledge to record our bonds to 100.

Home Learning:

• Spellings - Please practise your spellings ready for next Friday.
• Reading - Remember to read at least 4 times per week and record in your reading journal.  If you read at least 4 times a week and record this in your reading journal, you will receive a raffle ticket and an opportunity to win a book during our celebration assembly!
• Maths – You should all have received a login for Numbots to practise your maths fluency. Please speak to your class teacher if not.

---

Autumn 1, Week 2

Our topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’. In Geography, we have been looking at the human and physical landmarks of Brighton. 

English : We have been reading ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson. During our immersion lessons we sequenced the story and learned actions to help us to memorise the story. Then using expanded noun phrases, we wrote sentences to describe the settings. 

Maths: Our focus this week has been counting in 10s to 100. We had great fun dancing to the macarena as we chanted our multiples! In the playground, we worked in pairs to create a hopscotch style game using our knowledge of multiples of 10. 

                           

Home Learning: Please practise your spellings ready for next Friday!       

 

---

Autumn 1, Week 1

Our new topic this half term is ’Sussex by the Sea’. 

English: We have had a great week in Year 2, settling into our new classrooms and sharing our holiday news. After illustrating our favourite moments, we then wrote sentences to describe the events. 

Maths: This week we have been reviewing our previous learning in Year 1. We have been counting to 100 each day, representing numbers using resources and matching coins to amounts.  

Home Learning: Please practise your spellings ready for next Friday!