This week, we have been celebrating science week! The Key Stage One children took part in a range of exciting experiments on Thursday morning. In Year One the children were busy exploring which materials would best stop an ice cube from melting. The children used their findings to start thinking about the effects of climate change on our world. In Year Two the children talked about what mini-beasts are, micro habitats and which animals you might see more of in each season. The children then went on a mini-beast hunt in woody corner. The children then shared their findings and thought about why certain animals live in each habitat and the similarities and differences between them. The Year One and Two children then switched over so they had a chance to take part in both activities. Here is link with lots of science experiments that could be explored at home:

https://www.britishscienceweek.org/app/uploads/2019/02/BSA_EurotunnelTerminal_handout_1118_W1.pdf

We are super proud of how keen and eager the children are to learn their spellings each week. They have been telling us about how they are busy learning them at home so thank you for your support with this.

Here are some ideas to help keep spelling fun and interactive:

1. Encourage your child to use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check technique. Get them to look at the word and say it out aloud, cover the word, then write it and finally check to see if it is correct.

2. Break down the long list of spellings they are learning. Try to help them learn one or two new words a night rather than the whole list in one go.

3. Try different methods of learning words. Make a puzzle by writing a word on paper and cutting the letters apart. Mix the letters and have your children spell the word by putting the letters in order.

4. Frequently, there will be one part of a word that trips up your child each time. Look at the word together and highlight the part that they find particularly tricky. Can they think of an easy way to remember it?

5. Put the words into sentences, or think of sentences together. This puts the word into context. It also gets them to apply the spelling within writing rather than a ‘list of words.’

6. Use visual approaches to give spellings a fun twist — Think bubble writing and rainbow words.

7. Apply multi-sensory approaches such as spelling out the words with finger paints, stamping them in play dough or writing them in a tray of sand. This is guaranteed to motivate your kids to learn.

8. Let your child play teacher. Let them teach you the words. Sound the words out to them and make the odd intentional mistake to see if they can correct you. These fun verbal and social games are a brilliant way to help your child to learn their spellings.

9. Play word games like Boggle or Scrabble to support learning new words whilst providing a great opportunity for you to have some family fun.

English
This week in English, the children have used the text ‘'Where the Wild Things Are', to inspire and create their own version of a fantasy story. They have come up with some innovative ideas and the stories from both classes have come to life – from Millie the cheeky monkey to Eric bear the adventurer! We have had a strong focus on applying all those new skills we have learnt across the week with a particular focus on exciting vocabulary. The children had the opportunity to then share their stories to the class, so that they could ‘magpie’ ideas and build that vocabulary bank! Finally they have used their Year Two Tool Kits to edit and mark their work; setting their own next steps and it has been clear to see that the children are eager to achieve them. Well done everyone!!

Spelling
It has been brilliant to see how excited all the children are about spellings, and how much they have been practicing at home. So many children have been pleased with their progress even if it’s been one more right compared to the previous week. So a huge thank you for your support at home. Keep going!! New spellings will be placed in their books Monday with a focus on the ‘or’ sound spelt ‘a’ before l or ll.

Maths
This week in maths we have continued to be ‘Super movers’ practicing our timetables. The children have then used their knowledge to assist them with multiplication word problems as well as the introduction of division. The children have used resources, pictures and arrays to solve both multiplication and division number sentences. They have now started to notice the relationships between them and learnt the term ‘Inverse’ meaning the opposite… The children have also had a great start to times table rock stars which launched last week! It’s been fabulous to see how excited the children are and how many have already accessed the site at home. Thank you for all your support with this as it is a fantastic way for the children to practice, practice, practice those times tables.

Topic
This week we had the chance to be scientists and complete our own transpiration experiment. The children have had the opportunity to watch the experiment unfold and used scientific language to record their findings. We then started to embark upon our next theme ‘The rainforest and its layers’ – The children wanted to find out firstly, how the trees grow so tall, but also what animals might live within them and why? From this the children used their 'find out flamingo' skills to research photosynthesis and drew diagrams and labels to assist them when explaining the process to their learning buddies. See if they can tell you the process using scientific language! We then looked closely at the rainforest layers and discussed which area they felt might get the most sun and why… Overall, the children have been really enthusiastic, using their detective skills to find out some amazing facts about the rainforest and the animals that live there!

English
This week in English, the children have continued to use the text, 'Where the Wild Things Are', to inspire their writing.
We have been learning all about nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and have been using these interesting vocabulary choices to write about a wild rumpus dance.... we actually had our very own wild rumpus dance! Our favourite descriptive sentence by a child was "The mean, beastly wild thing shook their crazy hips madly whilst swinging from the trees!"

We have also noticed that lots of children were starting to/ trying to use speech marks in their writing. So this week the children learnt how to use them correctly. Ask them about it at home! We were especially proud of the children's successes as speech marks normally comes in the Year Three curriculum! Well done Year Two! 

Spelling
WOW! This week the children's enthusiasm to learn their new spellings has absolutely blown us away! The children were very excited about their new spelling homework books so, thank you for your support with this. The new spelling lists are stuck in and will be going home on Monday. 

Maths 
This week in maths we have been whizzing through our 2, 5 and 10 times tables. The children then used their skills to draw arrays and pictures. Next week we look forward to lots of multiplication word problems! 

Watch this space because Times Tables Rockstars is coming soon!

In the meantime, this is a great website where children can learn their times tables...

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train 

Topic
This week we have been trying to find out... why are rainforests so wet?! 

The children used their 'find out flamingo' skills to research the water cycle of the rainforest and drew diagrams and labels to help them explain it to a friend. Our trip to the Eden Project (and several goes on the steam bridge!) has really helped bring this learning to life. 

We have also been researching where rainforests are in the world and the difference between temperate and tropical rainforests.

Next week we look forward to becoming scientists and performing a very complex science experiment!  

Congratulations to some of our Year Two children who have recently received their handwriting awards for either Tin or Bronze. They have worked incredibly hard to improve their handwriting over the last term. The rest of the children are very close to receiving their next handwriting award too! 

Well done Year Two!