Swallows: Blog items

Swallows - Wednesday 6th January, by Miss Gillam

Date: 5th Jan 2021 @ 10:48pm

Wednesday 6^th January 2021

Good morning super Swallows!

I hope you are all well and ready for a busy day of home learning.  Home learning is going to look a little bit different to our last lockdown. We hope that you will enjoy learning in this new and exciting way.

Please take a few moments to look at the class discussion page each day where I will be available to ‘chat’ to you about the work that I have set for that day. This is a fantastic way that we can keep in touch and I will be on the class discussion throughout the school day.

  Maths

Addition and Subtraction- Please see the talking Power point attached at the bottom of the page. You will see a little icon on each page which needs to be clicked on in order to hear my voice. Our home learning maths lessons will be guided by a recording of my voice which will explain what to do (like I do each day in class). Just click on the little speaker icon on the power point page)

Here is a link to our video PowerPoint if you are struggling to access the Talking PowerPoing. 

https://youtu.be/MDQx1JhX590

 

  Times Tables

Swallows have really enjoyed learning how to count in multiples of 2, 5 and 10 over the past few months. We have now started to answer multiplication and division number sentences for the 2, 5- and 10-times table. Can your Swallow write out the 2 x table? When writing each number sentence, please encourage your Swallow to say ‘ 1 lot of 2’ ‘2 lots of 2’ ‘3 lots of 2’.

1 x 2  =

2 x 2 =

3 x 2 =

 

 Writing

Setting description - See the Power point attached at the bottom on this blog post. Like the maths, I have recorded the instructions so just click on the audio button to hear what to do.

Here is a video link to our talking PowerPoint if you are struggling to gain access. https://youtu.be/3gqhOwrkqZs

   Reading

Please spend some time reading either the school book you took home with you or a book you have been reading at home each day.  Please also remember to use our Oxford Owl website to access reading books online.

• https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/?view=image&query=&type=book&age_group=Age+6-7&level=&level_select=&book_type=&series=#

 

• https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/free-ebooks/

 

• https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/library-page?view=image&query=&type=book&age_group=&level=&level_select=&book_type=&series=Read+Write+Inc.#

 

If you get an adult to sign your reading diary each time you read, you will still be able to collect your raffle tickets when we are back in school.

 Links to your daily Read Write Inc lesson can be found on our English PowerPoint.

EDIT: Here are the links to our RWI lesson today. I know some links have not been working. We are working on fixing the problem. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ATg1lPk0Lg - Reading
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB4HzZpnPX0 - Spelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4XgMAptHA - Red Words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAXeT-cVqHM - hold a sentence

Spellings

Our spellings will be on our English Powerpoint each day. Please use your spelling whiteboard and roll and spell game to help you to learn them. We will complete our little spelling quiz each Friday.

 

 Story

Please have a listen to our new and exciting story ‘WE ARE NOT FROGS’. You will find the audio at the end of our English PowerPoint. I will read a little bit of the story to you each day. 

 

Have a wonderful day Swallows and don’t forget to let me know how you are getting on with your learning in our class discussion today.  I would LOVE to see what you have been up to.

Lots of love from

Miss Gillam

17.12.20, by Miss Gillam

Date: 17th Dec 2020 @ 10:58pm

Hello and welcome back to Swallows class blog.

Swallows have had the most wonderful final week of term. We enjoyed watching the Christmas Pantomime, solving tricky maths problem for Santa and partying our Friday away. We indulged on a delicious Christmas dinner on Wednesday and had lots of fun guessing our brand new story book for next term.

 

For our last worship of the term, we shared our hopes and dreams for the new year together and wrote these onto guiding stars. As always, Swallows shared their thoughts beautifully and reflected on what went well and what could have been better for them this year.

Read Write Inc

We completed our Read Write Inc assessments this week and will have some new groups in the new year. A sticker will be put into diaries with information about changes in groups in the first week back.

Meanwhile, in phonics our groups have worked hard on the following this week:

 

Green Group	Orange Group	Blue Group	Grey Group
Hunt the Tortoise Revisit set 2 sounds	Hunt the Tortoise Revisit set 2 sounds	Revisit set 2 & 3 sounds	A Celebration on Planet Zox   Revisit set 3 sounds

 

Spellings 

Here is a list of all of the spellings we have learnt so far this year. Can you play our special 'Snakes and Ladders' board game to help you to revise each spelling? If you are struggling to find a dice, just write the numbers 1-6 on small pieces of paper, turn them over and take it in turns to choose a number. 😊 Remember to check your diary to see which spellings you need to focus on from previous weeks.

after  again  any  bath  beautiful  because  behind  both  break  busy  child  children  Christmas

class  climb  clothes  could  cold  door  even  every  everybody  eye  fast  father  find

 

 

When we return to school in January, we will continue to focus our writing on the beautiful story ‘The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark’. We will learn about how adjectives can be changed into adverbs to describe how the owl in the story is flying by adding ‘ly’.  We will also focus on the use of lists of words separated by a comma and the application of adverbs ending in ly to describe the movement fireworks.

 

Our Maths learning will focus on money after the holiday. We will count money using coins and notes and show different amounts. Please spend some time looking at money over the Christmas break. How many different coins are there? How can we tell how much a coin is worth? Which coin is worth the most/least?

 

We hope you have enjoyed watching our virtual Christmas plays and carol service this year. The children had a wonderful time putting them together and I know I will certainly cherish the memories we have made this year. If you have not received the links for any of the performances, please email admin who will send it to you.

 

Finally, Mrs Elson and I and I want to say a huge thank you for the lovely gifts and cards we received this year. We are overwhelmed by your generosity and kindness. THANK YOU!

Thank you for being such super Swallows this year. Mrs Elson, Mr Sephton, Theresa and I are all SO proud of you. 

 

We can’t wait to welcome you back in January for another year of laughs and learning together.   

Miss Gillam

x

 

 

 

 

10.12.20 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 10th Dec 2020 @ 10:34pm

Hello Swallows!

I hope you are all keeping well and are looking forward to the Christmas break! I can’t believe we are looking ahead to the last week of term already. Time flies when you are having fun!

What a fun, festive week we have had! The children have worked exceptionally hard to put on a Christmas production for you with their Starling and Owl friends over the past few weeks. We hope you enjoy our very special performance and that it helps spread some Christmas cheer! We certainly enjoyed having the opportunity to watch both the KS1 & 2 performances in school as a little preview this week.

Read Write Inc

Swallows loved having the opportunity to showcase their Fred Talking skills in our Phonics ‘show me what you know’ this week. Miss Gillam is so proud of the super progress all of our Swallows are making with their reading. Next week, we will be looking at groupings for the new year. These new groupings will be shared after the Christmas break.

Pink & Orange	Blue & Yellow	Grey
New Text: Up in the air (Non-fiction focus week)	New Text: How to make a peach treat (Non-fiction focus week)	New Text: The ice and snow book (Non-fiction focus week)
New Sounds: tion – pay attention, it’s a celebration cious/tious – scrumptious delicious ure – sure it’s pure	New Sounds: Longer word (chunking) focus week Ph – take a photo Wh – whisk whisk Ck-  tick tock clock	New Sounds: Longer word (chunking) focus week Ph – take a photo Wh – whisk whisk Ck-  tick tock clock

 

As we look ahead to the final week of the half term, we have lots of fun and festive activities planned to keep us busy. Over the week, all of the children will have the opportunity to watch a virtual Christmas Panto, complete some Christmas maths challenges and get creative with some lovely Christmas crafts.  We will have our school Christmas Dinner on Wednesday 16^th December and each class will also have a Christmas party on Friday 18^th December. We can’t wait!

 

We are looking forward to starting a brand new unit of work based on the wonderful story ‘The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark’ in our Writing lessons next week.  We will consider what we already know and what we want to find out about owls. We will make links to the familiar story ‘Owl Babies’ and write a description of an owl. Swallows will be introduced to commas and will be encouraged to use them to separate adjectives.

E.g. Plop has a wide, gentle and friendly face. His eyes are sparkly, shining and bright. His curved, yellow beak shines as bright as the sun. He has fluffy, soft brown feathers all over his body. He sits on the branches of a tree with his sharp and deadly claws.

 

We will solve addition and subtraction problems involving money in our Maths lessons next week. Will Swallows solve our problem before Miss Gillam has a Christmas shopping disaster?

Homework

Maths

Can you solve the problem below? Please record on the slip inside your reading diary.

 How many number facts can you think of? Remember to use the example at the top of the slip to help you.

 

Spellings

Please remember to practise spellings this week again, ready for our final quiz on THURSDAY this week. Thank you for the continued efforts with learning these. It is clear to see how hard the children have been working at home and it has such an impact in class.

New spellings: fast   father   find

 

Thank you for your continued support with home reading, spelling and maths challenges at home. These three areas continue to be the homework for Swallows class until after the Christmas break.

 

Have  a wonderful weekend everyone J. Please don't hesitate to ring me at school or send me an email via admin@lostockgralam.cheshire.sch.uk if you have any questions or queries.

 

Miss Gillam

Swallows Blog 3.12.20, by Miss Gillam

Date: 3rd Dec 2020 @ 3:58pm

Hello and welcome back to Swallows class blog.

 

What a busy week Swallows have had this week! We just love the run up for Christmas in school. We made our own Christingles, videoed our final Christmas play performance, created Christmas cards for the residents of local care homes and even went outside to create a whole school socially distanced surprise. Swallows also enjoyed having the opportunity to ‘show what they know’ in some of our special quizzes this week.

 

 

Homework

Can you solve the mixed addtion and subtraction problems below? Please record your answers on a piece of paper or in your reading diary.

 

45 + 32 =         38 – 16 =          56 + 33 =        100 – 80 =       50 + 30 =

 

Read Write Inc

Blue & Yellow Group	Green Group	Grey Group	Pink & Orange Group
Text: A hole in the hill   New Sounds: e-e – go Pete and Steve kn -  Knock, knock, who’s there? ue – come to the rescue ph – take a photo	Text: Stitch the witch   New Sounds: Revisit set Ay – may I play? Ee – what can you see? Igh- fly high   ew – chew the stew ire- fire fire ear – hear with your eat ure – sure it’s pure	Text: Vulture Culture     New Sounds: e-e – go Pete and Steve kn -  Knock, knock, who’s there? ue – come to the rescue ph – take a photo   Spelling focus: Kn  ly  wh  ph	Text: My Best Shirt   New Sounds: ew – chew the stew ire- fire fire ear – hear with your eat ure – sure it’s pure

 

Spellings

Please use your 'Look-Cover-Write-Check’ whiteboard to learn these spellings at home. The children are really enjoying making up their own little rhymes to remember their spellings in school. Perhaps you could think of some to help you to learn how to write our spellings this week?

every       everybody        eye 

Note: I have only set 3 spellings this week as they are particularly tricky. Please also spend some time revisiting spellings from previous weeks. Remember to check the sticker in your diary to see how many spellings you got correct in our quiz.

Quiz date: Friday 11^th December 2020

 

Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. Will we beat our record once again next week? We were so close last week!

Please contact me via the school admin email address or give me a ring if you need me, I am always here to discuss any questions or queries.

Have a great weekend Swallows!

 

Many thanks J

Miss Gillam

 

27.11.20 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 26th Nov 2020 @ 10:04pm

Hello and welcome back to Swallows class blog.

 

We have had another busy week of laughter and learning in Swallows class this week.  We have been making Christmas cards, reading play scripts, creating costumes, signing songs, playing musical instruments and using our best acting skills to perform the Christmas story.

 

 

Swallows have enjoyed creating and describing their own new characters in our writing lessons this week. They sequenced events from our story ‘Troll Swap’, created story maps and started writing their own innovated version of the story. We will complete our ‘big write’ next week.

Our Maths learning proved to be quite a challenge this week. We have been solving subtraction problems using exchanging. We continued to use the column subtraction method to help us. Here is a video showing how to use the column subtraction method at home. In Year Two, we only calculate within 100.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zy2mn39/articles/zc78srd

 

Homework

Can you solve the problems below? Please record on a piece of paper or in your reading diary.

Read Write Inc

Blue & Yellow Group	Green Group	Grey Group	Pink & Orange Group
Text: A box full of lights   New sounds: tion – pay attention, it’s a celebration   cious- scuptious delicious   ue- come to the rescue   kn – knock knock, who’s there?	Text: Tug Tug   New sounds:   Ar – start the car Or – shut the door Air – That’s not fiar   Please continue to speed read both your Set 1 and 2 sounds at home.	Text: Andrew   Spelling Focus: Homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings.   see sea son  sun blue  blew night  knight saw  sore   Challenge: How many homophones can you think of? Record them in your diary.	Text: My sort of horse   New sounds:   Ow – brown cow Ai – snail in the rain Oa – goat in a boat   Please continue to speed read your set 2 and 3 words at home.

 

Spellings

Please use your 'Look-Cover-Write-Check’ whiteboard to learn these spellings at home. The children are really enjoying making up their own little rhymes to remember their spellings in school. Perhaps you could think of some to help you to learn how to write our spellings this week?

clothes  could  cold  door  even

Quiz date: Friday 4^th December 2020

 

Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. Will we beat our record once again next week? We were so close last week!

Please contact me via the school admin email address or give me a ring if you need me, I am always here to discuss any questions or queries.

Have a great weekend Swallows!

 

Many thanks J

Miss Gillam

20.11.20 Swallows Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 6:21am

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Swallows class blog.

 

I can’t quite believe that it is the end of yet another week already. Swallows have been so busy this week!  We continued to learn how to use written methods to solve addition and subtraction problems during our maths lessons. Can you answer the questions below in your reading diary?

 

78 – 16 =         84 – 41 =      29 – 28 =     43 + 31=

 

We loved applying the skills we learnt in our writing lessons last week in different contexts this week. We wrote a pursuative letter to Tabitha and a diary about what happened when the troll and little girl swapped places in our story ‘Troll Swap’. Swallows are completing longer, more extended pieces of writing this year and I love to see the detail that they are adding to their work. Please use the vocabulary list below to challenge your Swallow to use more powerful word choices when writing at home. Can your Swallow give you a spoken definition for each word? Can your Swallow tell you which words are appropriate for describing Tabitha and Timothy? Are the same word choices appropriate for both characters?  Do you have a favourite 3 words from the list?

Here is a link to Troll Swap to support you with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM3k3nH_eZA

 

Anti-Bullying Week

This week we have been marking Anti-Bullying by wearing odd socks, discussing how we are all unique and different and thinking about ways that we can unite against bullying. Swallows loved creating their own special ‘No Outsiders’ artwork using a range of drawing techniques and inks to show that although we are all different, we are all valued and special. We love to celebrate our differences in Swallows class.

 

We have been getting into the Christmas spirit this week as we prepare for our virtual Christmas play. You are in for a special treat this year as we have never done a virtual play before! All the children who asked for a speaking part have been given one and lines will be sent home on Friday 20^th Novemmber for practising. Please spend time learning these and become confident with using your loudest and proudest voice to say your lines in the best possible way on filming day!

 

We do hope you saw on the Newsletter that our Swallows School Council representatives have been voted and chosen in class and we are so looking forward to see how these superstars represent our class this year. 

Well done Archie and Harriet!

 

 

Read Write Inc

Blue & Yellow Group	Green Group	Pink Group	Grey Group	Orange Group
Text: Jelly Bean New Sounds:  Oa - goat in a boat ire - fire fire ear - hear with your ear This week we have been focusing on reading and spelling mixed sets of words containing all of our set 3 sounds. Please use your yellow Speed Sound books to speed read each sound at home. Can you spell words containing each sound?	Text: Black Hat Bob   This week we have been focusing on reading and spelling mixed sets of words containing all of our set 2 sounds. Please use your yellow Speed Sound books to speed read each sound at home. Can you spell words containing each sound?	Text: So Cool!   New sounds:   aw – yawn at dawn are – care and share ur – nurse with a purse er- a better letter	Text: Andrew   Adding the suffix y with a short vowel sound such as fun- funny and then as the long vowel sound as shine, shiny.	Text: A good cook?   New sounds:   aw – yawn at dawn are – care and share ur – nurse with a purse er- a better letter

Spellings

Please use your 'Look-Cover-Write-Check’ whiteboard to learn these spellings at home. The children are really enjoying making up their own little rhymes to remember their spellings in school. Perhaps you could think of some to help you to learn how to write our spellings this week?

child        children       Christmas     class      climb

To see how many spellings your Swallow spelt correctly in our quiz this week, please refer back to the sticker in your diary where we have ticked or dotted against each word. Please continue to learn any spellings that your Swallow is finding tricky. 

Next Week

We will continue to focus our writing on the fantastic story ‘Troll Swap’ next week. We will be completing our ‘Big Write’ where the children will have the opportunity to write their own story using their own new characters. We will use what we have learnt about Tabitha and Timothy to help us to consider personality traits and we will use our A-Z vobaulary list to encourage exciting and appropriate word choices. It will then be time for us to reveal our new and exciting focus text!

In Maths we will be continue to focus on on written methods for subtraction this week. We will solve problems involving two 2 digit numbers using the bar model to help us.

Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. Will we beat our record once again next week? We were so close last week!

 

Please contact me via the school admin email address or give me a ring if you need me, I am always here to discuss any questions or queries.

Have a great weekend Swallows!

 

Many thanks 

Miss Gillam

 

12/11/2020 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 12th Nov 2020 @ 9:36pm

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Swallows class blog.

        

 

It was wonderful to speak to so many of you on Tuesday during our parents evening phone calls. Please do not hessitate to contact me if you have any futher questions or concerns.

 

We have had yet another fantastic week in Swallows class.  We continued to learn how to use column addition and subtraction to solve a range of problems during our maths lessons. Can you answer the questions below in your reading diary?

 

28 + 13 =  ____    25 + 18 =  _____    19 + 8 =  _____

 

We loved writing diaries, letters and descriptive sentences about the charactes in our story ‘Troll Swap’ this week. We had lots of fun getting the glockenspiels out during our music lesson and we enjoyed completing our decorated wooden crosses and taking them over to the Cenetaph on Remembrance Day. Have you been to see the end result of our whole school remembrance project yet?

 

 

Read Write Inc

Your child will be coming home with a Speed Sound book this Friday. Instructions for how to use the book are on the first page. These books can stay at home. It would help if  your child could practice speed reading and writing these sounds as often as possible. It is important that any incorrect pronunciation is re-modelled where approriate both in school and at home. We appreciate your support with this.

In addition to this, your child has brought home a Read Write Inc bookmark which corresponds with their current RWI group this week. Please continue to speed read and write these words to help with fluency.

Spellings

Please use your 'Look-Cover-Write-Check’ whiteboard to learn these spellings at home.

because  behind   both  break  busy

New sounds

Blue Group	Yellow Group	Green Group	Pink Group	Grey Group	Orange Group
Text: Jades Party   New sounds:   Er- a better letter   Au – launch the astronaut     Ie – apple pie	Text: The Foolish Witch   New sounds: Er- a better letter   Au – launch the astronaut     Ie – apple pie	Text: The Spell   New sounds:   oo- poo at the zoo   oo – look at a book   ar – start the car	Text: Snow   New sounds:   oo- poo at the zoo   oo – look at a book   ar – start the car	Text: Toad   New learning: Soft C   When C comes just before I, y, or e it usually makes the s sound. It is called soft c. city cell icy Exercise fancy	Text: Too Much   New sounds:   o-e – phone home   u-e – huge brute   aw – yawn at dawn

 

 

Next Week

We will continue to focus our writing on the fantastic story ‘Troll Swap’ next week. We will continue to write letters from Mum and Dad asking Tabitha to come home and we will describe our own new Character. We will orally re-tell our new story with partnets, focussing on getting the sequencing and vocabulary right. In Maths we will be focusing on written methods for subtraction this week. We will solve problems involving two 2 digit numbers.

Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. Swallows were thrilled to notice that we had more children than ever completing their three read challenge AGAIN last week. Keep it up! We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. Will we beat our record once again next week?

 

Please contact me via the school admin email address or give me a ring if you need me, I am always here to discuss any questions or queries. 

Have a great weekend Swallows!

 

Many thanks J

Miss Gillam

5/11/20 - Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 5th Nov 2020 @ 10:16pm

 

Hello SUPER Swallows!

Welcome back to our weekly blog. I hope you all had a restful half term full of fun and precious family time together. It has been wonderful to have you back in school this week, I am sure you have all grown! Thank you for coming back to school so sensibly, I can tell you are all ready for another half term of super learning.

This week we have enjoyed decorating wooden crosses in prearation for Remembrance Day next week. In writing, Swallows loved describing Tabitha Lumpet and compared her to the very naughty ‘Horrid Henry’. Swallows even got to watch a short clip of the cartoon during their writing lesson!  We then wrote some brilliant letters to Grandma using the conjunction ‘because’ to help us to exaplain how the characters might be feelings in the story. In Maths, we used our knowledge of place value to add and subtract two digit numbers. I wonder if your Swallow could use column addition to show you how to solve a tricky problem using just a pencil and piece of paper?

 63 + 5=  ____ 54 + 20= _____ 42 + 14=___

Swallows enjoyed working in their new Read Write Inc groups this week and are excited to show you their brand new books.

Blue Group	Yellow Group	Green Group	Pink Group	Grey Group	Orange Group
Text: The jar of oil   New sounds: ea- cup of tea oi – spoil the boy a-e – make a cake i-e – nice smile	Text: Grow your own radishes New sounds: ea- cup of tea oi – spoil the boy a-e – make a cake i-e – nice smile	Text: On the bus   New sounds: ay – may I play ee – what can you see? Igh- fly high Ow – blow the snow	Text: In the night   New sounds: ay – may I play ee – what can you see? Igh- fly high Ow – blow the snow	Text: Wailing Winny's Car Boot Sale   New learning: The /or/ sound spelt a before l and ll   Can you read the words below?   small also almost always talk walk chalk stalk	Text: A bad fright   New sounds: ea- cup of tea oi – spoil the boy a-e – make a cake i-e – nice smile

 

Next week your child will be coming home with a Read Write Inc bookmark that corresponds with their current RWI group. Please continue to speed read and write these words to help with fluency.  In addition to this, 5 common exception words will be sent home in diaries to learn each week. Please use the 'Look-Cover-Write-Check' whiteboard provided to learn these spellings at home.  Each child will be given their own spelling board and pen, these can be kept at home. The children will complete a spelling quiz in school each Friday. Children will then tick and dot against their spelling list to let you know which words they need to continue to learn.

 

Next Week

We will continue to focus our writing on the fantastic story ‘Troll Swap’ next week. We will write a diary entry as Tabitha, write letters from Mum and Dad asking Tabitha to come home and describe our own new Character. In Maths we will continue to use written methods to solve addition and subtraction problems to 100. We will then move on to adding three 1 digit numbers, three 2 digit numbes and we will solve addition and subtraction word problems.

 

Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. Swallows were thrilled to notice that we had more children than ever completing their three read challenge last week. Keep it up! We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. Will we beat our record once again next week?

 

Reminder

Parents Evening phone calls will take place next Tuesday 10^th November for Swallows class. If you haven’t already, please log on to School Spider to book your appointment time. If you have any problems doing this, please contact the school office who will assist you.

Finally, incase you missed it last week, here is a link to our very own YouTube video showcasing our talented Swallows playing the ukulele. We hope you enjoy listening to us play. 

https://youtu.be/S2PaNbQbKzA 

 

I look forward to speaking to you all next Tuesday during our Parents Evening telephone calls.

Have a wonderful weekend J

Miss Gillam

22.10.20 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 9:53pm

Hello everyone!

We have reached the end of the half term and our lovely little Swallows have absolutely smashed it! Thank you all for your hard work and determination so far this academic year. Swallows are the most fantastic team and Mrs Elson and I could not be prouder of our fun, creative and determined super learners.

We hope the children all have a lovely rest over half term as they have worked so hard over the past 8 weeks.

 

As you are aware, Swallows class have been learning to play the ukulele during their music lessons this half term. We wanted to create a video to showcase their outstanding learning. Here is a link to our very own YouTube video. We hope you enjoy listening to us play. 

https://youtu.be/S2PaNbQbKzA 

As we look ahead to the first week back after the holidays, we will be continuing to focus our writing on the fantastic story ‘Troll Swap’. We will be writing our own diary entries as Tabitha, writing letters to Timothy from the trolls and using drama to consider what the characters could be thinking and saying about each other.

In Maths we will continue to focus on using our knowledge of place value to add and subtract 2 digit numbers. Swallows loved using column addition to solve problems this week and particularly liked the speed and simplicity of the written method.

Swallows will enter new Read Write Inc groups after the half term. Please watch out for a sticker in your child’s diary informing you of their new group and Read Write Inc teacher.

Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. We have enjoyed a consolidation week in our Read Write Inc lessons this week and will be bringing home two new reading books tomorrow. Please remember the importance of rereading texts for fluency.

 

Spellings

Thank you so much for taking the time to learn your spellings at home this half term. We have attached a breakdown of personalised spellings in your reading diary this week. Please continue to learn any highlighted words from the list over the next week weeks. Here are some fun ways of making learning spellings more fun at home.

Cloud Writing

Say a target spelling word and then your child has to write the word in the air whilst saying each letter aloud. The movements can be as big and as exaggerated as he or she wants. The bigger the movements, the more fun they’ll have!

Lily Pad Spellings

 A fun and physical way to reinforce target spellings. Write all the letters of the alphabet on pieces of paper or sticky notes and lay them out (in any order) on the floor like lily pads on a pond. Say a word for your child to spell and they then have to step from one letter to the next spelling out the word correctly. If he or she gets a letter wrong, pause at the incorrect letter and remind him or her of what letter should come next. Then, start again from the beginning of the word. This can be made into a game by giving a point every time a word is spelt correctly or a time limit within which he or she has to spell the word, i.e. 30 seconds. Alternatively, allow your child to hold the spelling words and test you to see if you spell them correctly. This will help your child to think of the letters sequentially as they check if you are stepping on the correct letters in the correct order.

 

Chalk Words

Use chalk to write your spelling words on your driveway or on an area of outside paving. With our typical British climate, it isn’t long until the words will be washed away by the rain ready to start again. Children love this activity as it allows them to write where they wouldn’t normally be allowed to!

Words on your Back!

A fun and sometimes ‘tickly’ way to learn words. Sit with your back facing your child and ask them to write one of his or her spelling words on your back. If spelt correctly, he or she gets a point. If spelt incorrectly, provide the spelling on paper or say each letter aloud so your child can write it on your back correctly. Allow your child to check if you can spell the word correctly too by swapping roles.

 

Spell-Leader

Pretend to be a cheerleader and spell out the words by saying the letters individually and then the word altogether. Use a high cheer for tall letters (like t, l, h, etc.), put hands on hips for letters that sit within the line (a, e, n, c, etc.) and a low cheer for letters that drop below the line (y, g, j, etc.). You could even buy or make pom-poms to make it really authentic!

 

Spell Text

Many children love to use phones and tablet computers so why not let them practise their spellings on them? Ask your child to write all their spellings in a text or as message and send it back to yourself or another phone owner within the household. Check the spellings once sent. Encourage them to re-send any that they get wrong. Alternatively, you could ask your child to text or message a silly story with their target spelling words in. They often love the opportunity to engage with technology and write nonsense stories!

 

When we return to school, you will receive an email asking you to book a parent-teaching phone call using School Spider. Swallows phone calls will take place on Tuesday 10^th November. Our appointments will be 10 minutes long and will take place between 8:30am and 5:45pm. Please don’t worry about booking your slot yet, you will receive more information about this when we return to school after the half term.

 

Unfortunately one of our lovely Swallows lost a PE hoodie during our lesson with Mr Ault last Friday afternoon. It would help enormously if you could all double check to ensure that your child has the correct hoodie at home. Thank you for your help with this. 

 

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy half term break.  We can’t wait to see you smiling faces ready for another half term of laughs and learning.

Lots of love from

Miss Gillam & Mrs Elson

15.10.20 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 15th Oct 2020 @ 9:45pm

Hello everyone,

Yet again, we have had another brilliant week of learning in Swallows class this week. Can you believe we are looking ahead to the final week of this half term already? The children have made a super start in Year 2 and have made Mrs Elson and I very proud with both the work that they have produced and their super attitudes towards their learning.

 

Some highlights from the week include writing our own space diaries, uncovering our brand new story ‘Troll Swap’ and spending lots of extra time running around our golden mile track. We also had lots of fun using Lego to represent key events from our Bible story this week.

 

Next week we will be describing characters, writing letters and completing lots of role-play activities focusing on character during our writing lessons. Our Maths lessons will continue to focus on using addition and subtraction number facts to check calculations. We will experiment with making number bonds to 100 and finding 10 more and 10 less than any number up to 100.

 

It has been lovely to see so many children complete their 100 square as part of their homework this week. Please continue to focus on reading, writing and ordering number to 100 at home next week. I have attached a selection of missing number problems in your child’s diary this week. Please encourage them to count forwards and backwards to find the missing numbers. If you notice any number reversal, it would help if you could model the correct formation of each number, allowing your child to ‘fix’ their own work.

 

Read Write Inc

We have enjoyed an exciting non-fiction focus during our Read Write Inc session’s this week. Can your Swallow teach you the difference between a fiction and non-fiction text? If you are unsure, use this video to help you. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z2yycdm/articles/zty8xfr

 

Throughout the week we have been assessing the children’s phonic knowledge. Next week you will find a sticker in your homework diary informing you of your new Read Write Inc group. We will begin working in these groups after the half term break.

When reading at home, please encourage your Swallow to continue to take note of the punctuation when reading. Try and match your reading pace and tone to reflect each punctuation mark. For example, pause for a comma. For a full stop, pause a little while longer or take a big breath before you start the next sentence. If there is an exclamation mark, make sure you shift to a quicker and more imperative/louder tone. For a question mark, raise your tone on the word just prior so it sounds like you are asking a question.

Challenge: Can you undress a sentence?

Write down a sentence from a book your child is reading but take out all the punctuation marks. Ask them to try and punctuate the sentence, then compare with the sentence in the book. You can then read over the punctuated sentence with them, making sure to pause and inflect different tones to account for each punctuation mark. This could be evidenced in your homework diary or attached on a post-it or scrap of paper.

 

New Sounds and Spellings

Red Group Jam	Grey Group A job for Jordan	Yellow Group In the park	Pink Group Jay’s clay pot	Blue Group On your bike
wh – whisk whisk ph- take a photo ck – tick tock clock	er – a better letter oa – goat in a boat ai – snail in the rain ow – brown cow	ea- cup of tea oi- spoil the boy a-e make a cake	Or - shut the door ou – shout it out ar – start the car oy – toy to enjoy air – that’s not fair	u-e - huge brute aw – yawn at dawn are – care and share
Spellings Next week the children will complete a spelling quiz to see which of our Year One Common Exception Words they are still finding tricky to spell. We will then begin learning our Year Two Common Exception words after the half term break. Please use the links below and the attached spelling list to focus your home learning for this week. http://www.ictgames.com/littleBirdSpelling/ http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/spookySpellings/index.html https://www.spellzone.com/word_lists/games-259517.htm

 Home Reading

Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. I am loving giving out more raffle tickets than ever at the moment! Please remember that the children are allowed to record their own reading but it must be signed by an adult to count towards our reading challenge.  Read Write Inc books are changed each Friday and bedtime story books are changed each Tuesday and Thursday. Reading your own/library books still counts towards your three reads so please let us know of any additional reading that you are completing throughout the week.

 

Reminders

• Please ensure that your child has a labelled jumper and coat in school each day. They each have a labelled tray where they can store their belongings safely.
• Please ensure that lip balm is only sent into school for medicinal purposes. As we are trying to encourage the children to keep their hands away from their mouths as much as they can, lip balm can often cause problems in the classroom.

Finally, thank you all for your continued support, please e-mail or phone the school office if you would like to contact us. Please remember that although we are not able to talk on the gate, we are always here if you need us.

Miss Gillam & Mrs Elson

 

8.10.20 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 10:48pm

Hello everyone,

What has made you smile this week?

We have had another fun, creative and challenging week of learning in Swallows class this week. Some highlights from the week include helping 'Discovery Dog' to create his own teabag during our science lesson, creating our own gratitude jars and teaching Teddy how to count in multiples of three.

Next week we will be introducing a brand new story ‘Troll Swap’ during our writing lessons. Our Maths lessons will focus on using addition and subtraction number facts to check calculations. We will then use this knowledge to help us to compare number facts. Our History and Geography learning will focus on understanding how planes and cruise ships changed the way we travel today.

 

Read Write Inc

In Read Write Inc we have continued to focus on using ‘Fred in our head’ to help us to read at speed. When reading at home, please encourage your Swallow to take note of the punctuation when reading. Try and match your reading pace and tone to reflect each punctuation mark. For example, pause for a comma. For a full stop, pause a little while longer or take a big breath before you start the next sentence. If there is an exclamation mark, make sure you shift to a quicker and more imperative/louder tone. For a question mark, raise your tone on the word just prior so it sounds like you are asking a question.

Challenge: Can you undress a sentence?

Write down a sentence from a book your child is reading but take out all the punctuation marks. Ask them to try and punctuate the sentence, then compare with the sentence in the book. You can then read over the punctuated sentence with them, making sure to pause and inflect different tones to account for each punctuation mark. This could be evidenced in your homework diary or attached on a post-it or scrap of paper.

Next week will be our special non-fiction focus week during our Read Write Inc sessions.

New Sounds and Spellings

Red Group Book: A cat in a pot	Grey Group Book: Looking after a hamster	Yellow Group Book: Robin Hood	Pink Group Book: The greedy gremlin	Blue Group  Book: King of the birds
Sh Slither down the snake, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back. th Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back   ch Curl around the caterpillar, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back. Spellings: I To The My	u-e huge brute aw Yawn at dawn are – Care and share ur Curse with a purse Spellings: Mother Come Other Mr Mrs friend	or Shut the door ou Shout it out Ow Brown Cow Spellings: So Tall Who Are want	Or Shut the door Air That’s not fair ir Whirl and twirl ou Shout it out Spellings: The To My Has here	a-e Make a cake o-e Phone home i-e Nice smile Spellings: Water There Their Would Some Today

Please remember that we complete a spelling quiz each Friday during our Read Write Inc session. In order to meet the expected standard in Year Two, the children need to be able to both read and spell these words. 

Well done to so many of you who are reading at home regularly. We have given out more raffle tickets than ever this week. Keep it up!  Please continue to support your child to read at home. This can be a mixture of them reading independently, reading to you and you reading to them. Mrs Elson and I are loving reading your comments and really appreciate the effort that is being put in to support your child with their reading at home.

Maths Homework

Can you create your own 100 square at home? Using your hundred square to help you, can you find one more and one less than a range of numbers up to 100?

Eg. 1 more than 70 = ?   1 less than 90 = ?

Counting both forwards and backwards regularly is a vital part of our Maths learning in school at the moment. We want the children to be able to read, write and order numbers to 100 with ease. The more the children count, the more familiar these numbers will become. Please remember than counting backwards is not trickier, we just tend to do it less.

• Can you count forwards from 34?  (34  35  36....)
• Can you count backwards from 72? (72  71  70 ...)
• Can you count on from 48?
• Can you could back from 26? 

http://ictgames.com/rangeArranger/

Here is a lovely game where you can order number blocks from the smallest to the largest. Can your Swallow explain how they know which is the largest/smallest number using their knowledge of place value to help them? How many tens and how many ones?

Reminders

• Please ensure that your child has a jumper and coat in school each day. They each have a labelled peg and tray where they can store their belongings safely.
• Please ensure that lip balm is only sent into school for medicinal purposes. As we are trying to encourage the children to keep their hands away from their mouths as much as they can, lip balm can often cause problems in the classroom.
• If you haven’t yet done so, please return the Teddy permission slip or e-mail the school office to give your permission for your child to spend time with Teddy when he is in school.

 

Finally, thank you all for your continued support, please e-mail or phone the school office if you would like to contact us.

Miss Gillam & Mrs Elson

 

1.10.20 Swallows Class Blog, by Miss Gillam

Date: 1st Oct 2020 @ 9:56pm

Swallows have had a wonderful week and continue to make Mrs Elson and I proud each and every day. Swallows have enjoyed having some extra time with Mr Ault this week and appreciate him taking the time to provide us with some extra active breaks. We enjoyed being historians this week, learning about Neil Armstrong, Mae Jemison and space missions of the future. I wonder if your Swallow can tell you what makes both Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison such inspirational figures?

Swallows loved having a poetry focus this week and have read, performed and written a range of poems. We loved changing the tense of the poem ‘IT’ from the present to the past tense. We also loved performing a lovely poem about autumn leaves. Swallows really noticed the autumn leaves in our Maths lessons this week when we took our learning outside and created our own tens and ones using natural materials. We then used the greater than, less than and equal to symbols to compare two digit numbers to 100.

 

Next week we will be exploring different Bible stories and discussing how God is represented in each one. We will use playdough to re-enact stories and praise God through the use of sign language and hymns. In Writing the children will continue with diary writing using conjunctions and the plural noun suffixes –s and –es. In Maths we will be ordering and comparing 2 digit numbers. We will also focus on counting in multiples of 2,5,10 and 3. This will naturally then lead us into starting to learn our times tables. Watch this space for more details on how we aim to learn Timetables at home in Year Two.

 

Home Reading

Thank you once again to the children who have been reading at home. We already have lots of raffle tickets in our jar! Please continue to read at least three times each week.  Re-reading books in important for the children as it allows them the opportunity to use ‘Fred in their head’ and develop fluency. To help your Swallow to develop fluency when reading, it would help if they could have a go at playing the game linked below which focuses on reading and spelling some of our Year Two Common Exception words.

http://www.ictgames.com/littleBirdSpelling/

 

This Friday 2^nd October will our first spelling quiz in Year Two. Learning how to spell ‘red words’ will really help your child to write sentences quickly and independently without the need to ‘Fred Talk’ every word. This impacts massively on pace, stamina and confidence. Please remember to check the blog each week for the relevant words for your RWI group. Remember, some of the words will repeat. This is because these are the words that we want your child to be really secure in before moving on to new spellings.

 

Read Write Inc

Grey Group

This week we have been reading the brilliant story ‘I dare you’. We have enjoyed using expression to make the story more exciting. Why not have a go at our special one minute challenge at home this week? How many words can you read in one minute? Can you read your story book quicker the second time you read it? Please do ensure that the listener understands what you are reading and that you take note of the punctuation.

Spellings: should   through   does   many   who   could

Blue Group

This week we have been reading the hilarious story ‘Hairy Fairy’. We have enjoyed sequencing events from the story and using expression to engage the listener. Why not have a go at our special one minute challenge at home this week? How many words can you read in one minute? Please do ensure that the listener understands what you are reading and that you take note of the punctuation.

Spellings: could   I’m  any  ball  watch  other

Yellow Group

This week we have been reading the brilliant story ‘The gingerbread man’. We have enjoyed referring to the text when answering comprehension questions this week. This has been a super text for supporting us with the skill as it is a story that we were all familiar with already. Can you Swallow refer to the text when answering the questions at the back of the book at home?

Why not have a go at our special one minute challenge at home this week? How many words can you read in one minute? Please do ensure that the listener understands what you are reading and that you take note of the punctuation.

Spellings: their   small   school    were  do  they

 

Pink Group

Pink group have loved reading a story all about being off school poorly this week. It had us all feeling very thankful that we are feeling so fit and healthy. This week we continued to focus on Fred Talking unfamiliar words. Please encourage your Swallow to spot the ‘special friends’, ‘Fred Talk’ and say the word. I hope you enjoy reading ‘Sanjay stays in bed’ at home as much as you did in school.

Spellings: of   are  put  I’ve  call  your  want

 

Thank you once again for another wonderful week in Swallows class.

Miss Gillam and Mrs Elson

Swallows Class Blog - 24.9.2020, by Miss Gillam

Date: 24th Sep 2020 @ 5:26pm

Hello everyone,

It was so lovely to speak to so many parents this week during our phone calls. I'm sorry if I missed you! I will be continuing to telephone parents tomorrow but if you do wish to discuss anything urgently, please do not hesitate to email or phone the school office to arrange this. 

We have had another fantastic week in Swallows Class.

The children have been working extremely hard and I am very proud of their positive attitudes and work ethic.

 

In our English lessons we have been writing our own space poems, recounts and sentences to describe the night sky. Next week we will be using quotes to help us to understand Mae Jemison’s thoughts and feelings. We will consider how her achievements make us feel and create a feelings grid to help us to write sentences. We will then write a diary describing Mae’s space flight.

 

In Maths we have been representing 2 digit numbers using tens and ones. We also represented numbers on a place value grid. Next week we will be comparing and ordering numbers to 100 using our knowledge of place value to help us. To help your Swallow with their mental maths learning next week, it would help if you could practice counting in 2s, 5s and 10s at home.

                                                 

Swallows have enjoyed our first science lesson focusing on materials this week. They have been sorting objects in different ways and using scientific vocabulary to spot the ‘odd one out’. Next week we will identify which materials are appropriate for certain objects and which are not base on their properties.

 

In our Religion work, we have been reading the story of the Good Samaritan this week. Next week we will be using role play to act out the story and we will be considering how Christian’s care for one another.

 

Read Write Inc

Pink Group – Miss Gillam

This week we have been reading the wonderful story ‘Tab the cat’. We focused on using ‘Fred in our head’ to help us to become more fluent, accurate readers.

Our new sounds the week were –ow (blow the snow), oo (poo at the zoo) and oo. (look at a book).

Next week we will be completing our first spelling quiz. Please learn the spellings below at home.

• All
• My
• The
• Like
• To
• He
• She

 

Grey Group – Miss Gillam

This week we have been reading the wonderful story ‘The lion’s paw’. We focused on reading with speed. Please remind your Swallow to take note of the punctuation in the text. This tells them when to pause and take a breath.

Our new sounds the week were -i-e (nice smile), o-e (phone home) and u-e (huge brute). We continued to focus on spelling each sound.

Next week we will be completing our first spelling quiz. Please learn the spellings below at home.

• Should
• Were
• Call
• There
• Want
• Come

Yellow  Group – Mrs Elson

This week we have been reading the brilliant story ‘Off Sick’. We focused on applying our knowledge of ‘Special friends’ when reading books. We played ‘jump in’ to develop pace and fluency when reading.

Our new sounds the week were –oy (toy to enjoy), -ir (whirl and twirl) and -ou (shout it out).

Next week we will be completing our first spelling quiz. Please learn the spellings below at home.

• Me
• Was
• To
• You
• All
• Said
• want

 

Blue Group – Mrs Elson

This week we have been reading the brilliant story ‘The poor goose’. We focused on We focused on applying our knowledge of ‘Special friends’ when reading books. We played ‘jump in’ to develop pace and fluency when reading.

Our new sounds this week were – are (care and share), ur (nurse with a purse) and -oa (goat in a boat).

Next week we will be completing our first spelling quiz. Please learn the spellings below at home.

• Any
• Other
• Two
• All
• There
• Said

 

As we will be changing reading books tomorrow, please ensure that your child has all of their books in school. If you do find any old Read Write Inc books at home, please return ASAP. 

 

I have also attached the ‘Year Two Common Exception Word’ list so that you can see which spellings the children need to learn by the end of this year.

 

We look forward to another lovely week together and will be back in touch in next week’s blog.

Miss Gillam & Mrs Elson  :) 

 

Swallows Class Blog - 17.9.20, by Miss Gillam

Date: 17th Sep 2020 @ 9:30pm

Welcome to Swallows Class Blog. We will be in touch weekly to keep you updated with all that is happening in our class. It has been fantastic having everyone back in school and welcoming back our brand new, sparkly Swallows! Mrs Elson and I are thrilled to be back in school with our wonderful class. They have been brilliant and we are so proud of how well the children have settled into our new classroom.

Thank you to all of you for your continued support during lockdown and since we have returned to school. It is strange not to be able to talk to you each morning and evening but I am always here at the end of the phone or via the admin email address if you need me. 

We are working on our whole school topic ‘All Together Now’ celebrating being back together as a class and reflecting on past experiences through art work, mindfulness, circle time and other nurturing activities.

In Maths we are working on Place value, being able to read and write numbers to 100. We are learning how to represent numbers in different ways and how to partition two digit numbers into tens and ones. We are also revisiting counting forwards and backwards from different points up to 100.  

In English we are using the book ‘Look up!’ as a stimulus for our writing. We have loved learning about Mae Jemison and have been thinking carefully about our own hopes and dreams for the future. Next week we will be writing space themed poems, writing recounts and using drama to help us to describe a flight into space.

In RE we are currently reading the story of ‘Moses and the burning bush’.  We will be exploring the Christian value of ‘Thankfulness’

In Science, we will begin our new topic – materials. We will be exploring materials and considering the scientific vocabulary that we can use to describe what a material looks and feels like.

 

In Music, we will be learning how to play the ukelele this half term. We have had two fantastic sessions with Dan so far where we learnt about the different parts of the Ukelele and how to play along with the brilliant song 'Get Funky'. 

Home Reading

Swallows are excited to be bringing home their first Read Write Inc books this Friday 18^th September. The children will bring home their Read Write Inc story book, as well as a book bag book. Swallows have enjoyed their first week of Read Write Inc phonic lessons and have really impressed us with their love of reading.

Read Write Inc - Blue Group

This week we have been reading the exciting story ‘Barker’. We have been focusing on ‘Fred Talking’ unfamiliar words. We have to remember to spot if there are any special friends, ‘Fred Talk’ and then say the word. Please remember to answer the comprehension questions at the back of the book.

New sounds: ea – Cup of tea, oi – Spoil the boy, a-e – Make a cake, i-e – Nice smile

 

Read Write Inc - Yellow Group

This week we have been reading the beautiful story ‘The Duckchick’. We have been focusing on ‘Fred Talking’ unfamiliar words. We have to remember to spot if there are any special friends, ‘Fred Talk’ and then say the word. Please remember to answer the comprehension questions at the back of the book.

New sounds: ay - May I play, ee - what can you see, igh - fly high, ow - blow the snow

 

Read Write Inc – Grey Group

This week we have been reading the lovely story ‘Rex to the rescue’. We have been focusing on ‘Fred Talking’ unfamiliar words. We have to remember to spot if there are any special friends, ‘Fred Talk’ and then say the word. We also thought carefully about spelling our new sounds this week. We applied our knowledge of the suffixes –s, es, ed and ing. Please remember to answer the comprehension questions at the back of the book when reading at home.

New sounds: ea – Cup of tea, oi – Spoil the boy, a-e – Make a cake, i-e – Nice smile

 

Read Write Inc – Pink Group

This week we have been reading the lovely story ‘Scruffy Ted’. We have been focusing on ‘Fred Talking’ unfamiliar words. We have to remember to spot if there are any special friends, ‘Fred Talk’ and then say the word. Please remember to answer the comprehension questions at the back of the book when reading at home. To develop fluency, it would help your Swallow if they were to reread familiar texts. We want them to develop their sight vocabulary and to begin to read with increasing speed.

New sounds: ay - May I play, ee - what can you see, igh - fly high, ow - blow the snow

 

Read Write Inc – Red Group

This week we have been reading the lovely story ‘Pin it on’. We have been working on being able to Fred Talk unfamiliar words independently and understating what we are reading.

New sounds: m, a, s, d, t

 

Please continue to write in your Swallow’s reading diaries as a record of reading completed at home. The children can still earn a raffle ticket for three reads or more and comments in their diary. I am currently unable to write in the diaries however a green stamp lets you know that I have read your comment. If you write me a note in there that requires feedback from me, I will call you to discuss any little problems or concerns that you may have. 

 

Here is a selection of recommended reads for Year 2.

• The Cat Who Lost His Purr- Michelle Coxon
• Frightened Fred- Peta Coplans
• Friends- Kim Lewis

• Mog Stories - Judith Kerr
• Mr Wolf’s Pancakes- Jan Fearnley
• Frog is Frog - Max Velthuijis
• Cat and Mouse Story - Michael Rosen
• The Snow Lady - Shirley Hughes
• Grace and Family - Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch
• The Adventures of Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey
• The Diary of a Killer Cat - Anne Fine
• Little Wolf’s Book of Badness - Ian Whybrow
• The Magic Finger - Roald Dahl
• Mrs Wobble the Waitress - Allan Alhberg
• Pirate School: Just a Bit of Wind - Jeremy Strong
• George’s Marvellous Medicine - Roald Dahl
• The Giraffe, Pelly and Me - Roald Dahl
• The Guard Dog - Dick King-Smith
• Emily’s Legs - Dick King-Smith

Our PE day is Friday so please send your child to school wearing their PE kit on that day. 

Water Bottles - Just a reminder to send your child with a named water bottle (with water and not juice) which they have access to throughout the day.

As always, if you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact the office who will arrange a phone call with myself.

Once again, your children have been amazing and it is just magical to be all back together again as Year Two Swallows. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Miss Gillam and Mrs Elson

 

Y2 16.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 15th Jul 2020 @ 10:59pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

Our final blog! This has been such a great way of me talking to you during our time apart, I'm going to miss it over the summer! Don't worry though, I'll be ready and waiting to welcome you all back in September when we start our journey together as Robins. 

Today has been a happy but sad day for me as my William left his gorgeous primary school . I have cried lots, that won't surprise you! His teachers were crying too as for us, it has been such a difficult time being apart from our children. All teachers have really missed their classes. I am one of the lucky ones who gets to keep their fabulous children! 

I have loved our short time together in Y2 and am so excited to have many more adventures in Year 3. Thank you for being such a gorgeous class of children. I hope that you know how special you are to me. 

I am so proud of how hard you have worked at home. It was just amazing for Mrs Elson and I to spend time with you this week, we absolutely loved seeing your smiles and hearing your giggles again. How we have missed that!

Please have a wonderful summer with your families. Thank you for my lovely cards and presents, you are very kind! William,Thomas and their Dad say thank you too as they have been munching some of MY choccies!

A final message from Mrs Powell

It is hard to think we break up from school today. I cannot tell you enough times just how amazing you have been since we were all last together, I am so proud of how you have managed, learnt and kept smiling. All the staff can’t wait for September until we are back again but missing some very special Year 6 pupils who are going onto new adventures. When I was looking for a worship on how to end the year I found this, I hope you like it!

All of us will have preferred ways to say goodbye. However, the actual word ‘goodbye’ means, ‘God be with you.’ Christians believe that God is always with us. It is good to remember that when people leave us, they are not left on their own. Whether it is just over the holidays, or as some of you move to a new school, we all wish you the very best and, as we say goodbye, we pray that God will be with you wherever you go.

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” —Winnie the Pooh

Have a wonderful summer!

Let's say our class prayer together Swallows:

 Father in heaven I come to say

Thank you God for school today

Thank you for my family

And all the friends you give to me

Guard me in the dark of night

And in the morning, send you light

Amen. 

 

God bless you all.

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxxxx

Y2 14.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 13th Jul 2020 @ 9:18pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

Thank you for coming to school yesterday, what a fun afternoon we had! I have waited since March to read you all stories, it was worth the wait! I loved watching you all playing together happily on the field. 

In Maths, let's continue to look at measures, Kilograms this time. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3qk3j6

 

In Reading, we will explore how to summarise what has happened and predict what will happen next.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmp2mfr

Don't forget that you have lots of activities to do in your home learning packs as well.

 

Here is the link the the next part of our Twitts story. I wonder who is reading today?

The Twits Part 3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLDe3vLAD80&t=13s

A message from Mrs Powell

Sometimes people make us sad. When it comes to being hurt, the bravest, happiest, strongest thing we can do is to forgive. Forgiving is not to hold onto the hurt and to let it go. Jesus said to forgive not 7 times but 77 times. What can we do today to love someone else more?

Jesus instructs us to forgive others over and over again just like he does for us. He clearly teaches his disciples in this story that they are to forgive “seventy seven times” or over and over again

Just like his forgiveness doesn’t run out, neither should our own. Use this story to share with your child that we should forgive others just as he forgives us. Jesus provided the way and the model for humility and forgiveness. His example is one we can follow daily because parents, siblings, teachers, friends and loved ones will make mistakes that affect us. “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

 

Have a terrific Tuesday children. 

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson

xxx

Y2 13.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 12th Jul 2020 @ 9:13pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

Welcome to the final week in school. I can't believe the end of the school year is almost here. Hopefully I will be seeing you all later this afternoon for some fun and games together on the field. The last time together as Swallows, before we all become Robins in September! 

This final week, let's look at measures in Maths. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zcdrsk7 Today we will explore how to measure mass in grams. I have attached 2 activiies for you to complete. 

Let's focus on Reading this week. Today, we will read Funnybones by Janet and Alan Alhberg. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfmtpg8

 

Our Twitts story continues , I wobder who is reading to us today?

 The Twits Part 2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRnox40nSLo&t=18s

A message from Mrs Powell

Never judge anyone by the way they look.

Once upon a time, in a desert far away, there was a rose who was so proud of her beautiful looks. Her only complaint was growing next to an ugly cactus.

Every day, the beautiful rose would insult and mock the cactus on his looks, all while the cactus remained quiet. All the other plants nearby tried to make the rose see sense, but she was too swayed by her own looks.

One scorching summer, the desert became dry, and there was no water left for the plants. The rose quickly began to wilt. Her beautiful petals dried up, losing their lush colour.

Looking to the cactus, she saw a sparrow dip his beak into the cactus to drink some water. Though ashamed, the rose asked the cactus if she could have some water. The kind cactus readily agreed, helping them both through the tough summer, as friends.

What have you done for a friend? The cactus and the rose look very different but we are all unique and have special gifts.

The things that make me different are the things that make me, me.” —Piglet

 

Have a great day children, we are  really looking forward to seeing you this afternoon. 

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx

Y2 10.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 10th Jul 2020 @ 8:12am

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

 

The day has arrived where we can all be together again and Mrs Elson and I are SO excited. I'll see you at 1.40pm, please remember your water bottle and a carrier bags for your books. 

We have decided to resad a whole story book to you during the last few days of this year. We have chosen The Twits by Roald Dahl. It is such a funny story, I hope you enjoy it. 

Here is part one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ne7IT8w_9M&t=42s

 

Here is the link to some great FridayMaths Challenges https://wrm-13b48.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Family-Challenge-Friday-15th.pdf

Challenges 1 and 2 are the best for you but your family or older siblings may like to try the others. 

Here is a message from Mrs Powell

Another famous person from the near by city of Manchester is Lowry.

L. S. Lowry (Laurence Stephen Lowry) was born on 1st November 1887 in Stretford, Lancashire.

· Lowry had an unhappy childhood. He wasn’t very popular at school, didn’t have a very close relationship with his parents, and he had few friends.

· The Lowry family moved to the industrial town of Pendlebury in 1909. The landscape was dominated by textile mills and the chimneys of factories, and this imagery left its mark on the young L. S. Lowry.

· Lowry had taken art classes as a child and he went to the Manchester School of Art and then Salford Royal Technical College.

· In 1932, Lowry’s father died and he looked after to his mother. After his mother fell alseep, Lowry started to paint, often finishing at 3 a.m.

· Lowry’s paintings often featured industrial Pendlebury and they captured scenes of life in industrial England. His landscapes are often populated by stylised ‘matchstick men’ figures.

· Lowry didn’t complete many paintings of London. However, his 1960 painting of Piccadilly Circus sold for more than £5 million in 2011.

· Some of his most famous works include: Industrial Landscape, Going to the Match and Coming from the Mill, The Viaduct and The Football Match.

· Lowry became an official war artist in 1943 and he was the Official Artist of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

· Lowry was a massive fan of Manchester City Football Club just like Mr A

 

Have a great morning and I will see you this afternoon.

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx

 

Y2 09.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 9th Jul 2020 @ 8:19am

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

What a miserabe, rainy day! Who has been singing?  I know that you will all manage to have a great day despite the weather.

Our story today is brought to you by Mrs Southern reading- A duck so small. This is the perfect day to cosy up with a story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6n9-ufbARY

Our Maths lesson today can be found under https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/.

We are adding and subtracting ones. 

 

In Writing, we will look at an axtract from the fabulous story, George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl and learning how to summarise the main points. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfqsm39

A message from Mrs Powell

 

Gillian Ayres

In the 1970s, she became the first woman ever to run an art department in a British Art School! When she was older, she moved to North Wales. In Wales, she started to use oil paint again rather than acrylic paint to make her artwork. Oil paint is really thick and sometimes she would apply the paint so it would be inches thick! While she lived in Wales her artwork became even bolder and more joyful.

Gillian Ayres wanted people to be happy when they looked at her art and the world around them. Does her art make you feel happy? What other emotions do you feel?

Gillian Ayres was obsessed with painting. She is one of the most famous British abstract painters. Being an abstract painter meant you didn't care about artworks looking like real things, like people or buildings, but you care about shapes, colours and emotions. Someone asked her once what her artwork was about, and she just listed random things like ice cream, cakes, seaweed, shells and hats!

 

I will see you all tomorrow, I am really excited, we can't wait to see you all together again as a class. 

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx

Y2 08.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 8th Jul 2020 @ 7:49am

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

It was so lovely to see lots of you yesterday. Thank you for coming out and braving the rain. Don't forget to come in for PE on Friday with Mr A, myself and Mrs Elson who can not wait to see you all. You have your new home learning packs to be getting on with, there are more in school if you didn't manage to pop in yesterday. 

Our story today is brought to you by....... ME! Please listen to this one! 

" And Tango makes Three"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50xjPmHgvM&t=21s

Our Maths leson today is all about related facts in addition and subtraction. Lessons are under the 4th May tab. 

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/

 

In Writing, we explore and revise how to put things into alphabetical order.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zsv6wnb

 

A message from Mrs Powell

Stephen Hawking - Another incredible person

Arguably one of the world's most famous scientists, Stephen Hawking is known for his contributions Stephen made many important contributions to the world of science. He developed theories about how the world began and furthered our understanding of black holes, stars and the universe. Stephen was always keen for his work to be accessible to everyone, not just scientists. He wrote books that explained his theories in simple terms for everyone to understand, including a children’s book. His most famous book, A Brief History of Time, sold more than 10 million copies! In 1985, Stephen developed a life-threatening infection. He had an emergency operation that saved his life but left him unable to talk. He was given a special computer that talked for him, which he controlled by moving a muscle in his cheek – clever! Stephen received many awards for his work including the 1979 Albert Einstein Medal, the Order of the British Empire (Commander) in 1982 and the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics.

Stephen is remembered as an inspiration to many people. He had an amazing mind, incredible determination and didn’t let his illness stand in his way.

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday and I will see you all on Friday.

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx

Y2 07.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 7th Jul 2020 @ 6:36am

Buenas Dias Swallows Children

Hopefully I can see lots of you today in the car park. The sky looks a little dark and grey though so fingers crossed the rain stays away for us...

Our story today is read by our Magic Fairy, the lovely Mrs Elson, reading Silly Billy. This is all about worries and how we can make them go away. It is a gorgeous story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnUdvdAfS_k

 

In Maths, we are looking at the more than and less than signs when we compare two numbers <  >. The lessons this week are underneath the 4th May tab https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/. We have looked at these signs a few times, so you should be an expert!

 

In Writing, we are looking at how to use exclamation marks. We have two main ways of using these, commands when you are being bossy and giving an instruction eg "Get down from there now!" Or an exclamantion sentence that starts with what or how eg What a kind person you are! How sunny it is today! Again, this is revision for you. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z8cn2v4

 

I've also added a game and video lesson about Dinosaurs! There is a little boy in my Year One bubble who ,oves dinosaurs and he said that you would enjoy this! https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z8cm8hv

A message from Mrs Powell

Good morning! This week, we are going to find out about amazing people who have done amazing things. As you read the stories, just imagine what you will do when you are older… all these amazing people once sat in a classroom just like you!

Beatrice Shilling

Born in 1909, in Hampshire, Beatrice - universally known as Tilly - was obsessed with engines from early childhood.

"As a child I played with Meccano," she recalled in an interview with Woman Engineer magazine. "I spent my pocket money on penknives, an adjustable spanner, a glue pot and other simple hand tools."

"From a child she was pulling engines apart. Her real passion was mechanical engineering."

Beatrice saved countless lives by inventing a gadget that stopped planes stalling in mid-air and crashing. Beatrice was a brilliant scientist and engineer.

 

I agree with Mrs Powell, you are all amazing and have made us so proud during our time away from school. I have been busy getting our new Robins classroom ready.

I am really looking forward to seeing you later and for our PE lesson on Friday.

Love from Mrs Rice xxx

Y2 06.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 5th Jul 2020 @ 10:17pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

I hope that you have all had a great weekend. Are you coming to see me tomorrow in the car park to say hello and to get our final home learning pack? I'll be there between 9.30 and 11.30 am and then again in the afternoon, 1-2pm. It would be great to see you all, I'm sure Teddy will be there to say hello. 

This is an exciting week as we also have our PE lesson with Mr Ault, Mrs Elson and me on Friday at 1.30pm until 2.30pm. This is going to be a great opportunity for us all to be together again as a class. I can't wait to see you all. Maybe even Teddy will come and say hello! 

 

Our story today is brought to you by Mrs O’Marah reading "The Tiger who cameTea."  An oldie but a goodie! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-0xCovsrKA

 

Our Maths lessons today are recapping number facts within 20. The lesons are under Summer Term, Week 3, 4th May. It is really important to keep these facts ticking over as these facts help when we calculate with larger numbers. 

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/

 

In Writing today, we will look at how to write questions. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zg2cf82

 

I have found an introduction to German lesson for you, which will be great to take a look at as that is the language that we learn in Key Stage Two. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3py6g8

 

Have a marvellous Monday Swallows. I hope you are all full of smiles.

Love Mrs Rice xxx

Y2 03.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 2nd Jul 2020 @ 5:00pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

I hope that you are all well and full of smiles. It is Friday and very nearly the weekend. 

Are you enjoying listening to all of the stories that we are recording for you? Today, Mrs Powell is reading a story about a very important person in our History, Marie Curie. Follow this link to find out all about her. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VEISPlRks4

Mrs Powell is busy today! Here she is again reading a stroy linked to Save Our Seas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqBBeLFnYs&feature=youtu.be

I have attached some Family Maths Challenges for you to have a go at. You will enjoy these. 

Have a super weekend. Remember to come and see me in the car park next Tuesday to pick your packs up. 

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx

Y2 02.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 1st Jul 2020 @ 10:04pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Class

I have some very exciting news! We have planned some opportunities for you to come back into school to spend time together as a class before the summer holidays and I CAN NOT wait to see you all. We are even having a PE lesson together back in school with Mr Ault! It is going to be amazing to see you all together again after all of this time apart. I might be a bit teary, you know what I'm like! I have missed you all more than words can say and so to know that we are going to have a couple of sessions together again as Y2 is fantastic. The information has gone out on the newsletter.

Visits to school for Years 2, 3, 4 and 5

 Tuesday 7th July;    Please pop into school sometime between 9:30am-11:30am or 1pm-2pm.

We would also like to invite the children in Years 2, 3, 4 and 5 to come into school on Friday 10^th July for an outdoor PE lesson led by Mr Ault alongside their current class teacher . Your child will just need their water bottle and can wear their own clothes, please make sure that any trainers they wear can be done up independently. 

Swallows Year 2 – 1:30pm-2:30pm

We also plan for the children in these year groups to spend either the morning or afternoon with their current class teacher to end the year together. Swallows  Year 2 – 13th July 1pm-3pm 

 

Our story today is read by Mrs Ahern reading The Everywhere Bear

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Lm3RA0pFg

 

Our Save Our Seas story is brought to you by Miss Beattie who has chosen to read Listen to Big Blue Whale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjS9AT2HrsQ&feature=youtu.be

Daniel's family have all made a pledge (a promise) to make one change to try and help the plastics in our oceans problem. Like his Mummy, I am going to try and buy loose fruit at the shops where I can, instead of fruit inside a plastic container. I wonder what you and your family could try and change to reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic that we all use? 

We continue our length lessons today, this time with some problem solving!

Summer Term Wk 2 27th April https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/

 

I saw a gorgeous idea today on line and so I have attached the photograph to show you. Maybe you could make one and fill it with flowers? Please always ask an adult before you pick any flowers. 

 

A message from Mrs Powell

Georgia’s Story

Georgie is 21. She’s a scuba diver and underwater photographer.

Introduced to fishing by her dad, Georgie made her hobby into a career when she followed her obsession with the ocean all the way to the sea bed.

Georgie’s dad is a keen pike fisherman and introduced her to wildlife conservation at a young age. As she grew up she became more and more fascinated with the ocean.

Wanting to improve her diving and marine identification skills, Georgie joined a project called Seasearch which encourages divers and snorkelers to record the marine life they see during their underwater adventures. Their findings are used by the Marine Conservation Society to make important management decisions.

The ocean covers around 71% of the world’s surface, so knowing what’s going on beneath the waves is just as important as knowing what’s going on above ground. And that’s where marine conservationists come in.

Marine conservationists play a crucial role in keeping our oceans healthy. Through monitoring marine life and underwater ecosystems, they can help us make better environmental choices. They can highlight the impact of plastics on the ocean, for instance, or identify which beaches are and aren’t safe to swim at.

Their findings can help protect endangered species or habitats.

How could you help our oceans? Could this be your job? What could you do now? How could you make a change?

Prayer Thank you, Lord, that you created such a beautiful place for us to live. We pray, Lord, that we may live out the trust you put in us to look after your world for you. Help us to love and care for those around us both near and distant. Amen

Have a great day my lovely Swallows class. Pop on over to our discussions page to let me know what you would like to do in PE with Mr Ault .  I will see you very soon! 

Love Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx

 

 

Y2 01.07.20, by Mrs Rice

Date: 30th Jun 2020 @ 9:21pm

Buenas Dias Swallows Children

Happy 1st of July.  I have two more stories for you to enjoy.

Today's story is brought to you by the lovely Miss Gillam reading How to catch a star. I will show my Starlings bubble this video of their teacher. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_lDCNQfwBo

Our "Save Our Seas" story today is read by Miss Thwaites who reads  A Sea Turtle Story withttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IOIi1kFHSU&feature=youtu.be

I have attached our ideas sheet again for you, there are lots of brilliant website links and ideas for you to choose from. Maybe you could hop onto our discussions page and tell your friends what you have learnt about at home in this mini Save Our Seas project, or which activity you have enjoyed doing. There is also a  recipe to make a salt dough star fish attached! 

Today's Maths lesson looks at the 4 operations with length. SummerTerm Wk 2 27th April

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/

A message from Mrs Powell

At the age of 11, Tom Gregory became the youngest person ever to swim the English Channel.

It was 05:00 on 6 September 1988 and Tom Gregory stood on the tip of France. Behind him was his coach, John Bullet. In front of him was the vast, black, English Channel. Tom, in swimming trunks, faced the water. Out there, somewhere, was home. On the water, a light appeared in the dark. A small boat came to shore. Tom put on his cap and goggles, and walked into the Channel. He followed the boat, and, when it got too deep, he started to swim. He didn't stop for 12 hours.

Tom was 11 years old, this record has never been broken!

Wow! What do you think he saw? How do you think he felt? What would have been his biggest challenges?

 

I hope that you have a wonderful Wednesday. I miss every single one of you lots and lots.

Mrs Elson and I talk about you often and we can't wait to welcome you back into school. 

Love from Mrs Rice and Mrs Elson xxx