Class 2- Autumn 1- Week 4

What a busy, brilliant week it's been in Year 1 and 2! From crafting our own stories to becoming little nature scientists, the children have thrown themselves into every lesson. Here's a peek at what we've been getting up to. This week, we all became authors, inspired by Rod Campbell's classic, 'Dear Zoo'. Year 1 has been focusing on the fundamentals of good writing. We've been busy retelling the story, making sure every sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. The progress in clear sentence structure has been fantastic! Year 2 had a tougher challenge: to write a better book than the original author! They've been concentrating on enriching their sentences by adding descriptive adjectives and linking ideas with conjunctions (like because, so, and but). Their stories are getting wonderfully complex and exciting! We've kicked off our new unit on addition and subtraction with a lot of hands-on, practical learning. The children have been using objects and resources to truly understand how numbers are made up. We’ve done lots of work on finding the 'parts' that make up the 'whole', and we’ve been practising our number bonds to 10 and 20—essential knowledge for all their future maths. We've been thinking geographically this week, focusing on our wonderful village. The children discussed all the things they like about Kings Bromley and the reasons why. They then put their local knowledge to good use by writing a postcard to the children at St Mary's school, telling them all about what makes our village so special. Year 1 continued their amazing outdoor learning journey this week with a lesson focused on quiet observation and tuning into the natural world. We introduced the powerful concept of the "Sit Spot." Think of it as a little nature meditation! The children found a special place to sit quietly and used their "super-senses" to observe everything around them:

• What could they see? (A tiny bug, the movement of the clouds)
• What could they hear? (A distant plane, rustling leaves)
• What could they smell? (Damp earth, a flower)

It takes real concentration and stillness, and they all did a marvellous job practising this mindful observation. We then got even closer to nature with the "What's in Your Circle?" activity. Using hoops, the children sectioned off a tiny piece of the environment to become scientists! They investigated everything inside their small circle—leaves, sticks, stones, and tiny patches of moss. They had a go at drawing what they saw before settling down for a little show-and-tell. It’s been wonderful watching them engage with the outdoors in such a reflective way. Why not try the 'Sit Spot' game at home? You might be surprised by what you all notice! The Year 2 artists had a wonderfully messy time in Art this week, learning the ancient skill of making a pinch pot.

1. We started by rolling the clay into a smooth ball.
2. Holding the ball in one hand, we pushed our thumb into the top to make a dent.
3. We then went around pinching and smoothing the clay until we had a neat pot shape.

Finally, we looked back at our design plans to decorate them. We used clay shapes to add raised decoration and various clay tools to make intricate marks for our individual designs. We can’t wait to show them off once they are dry!

Another jam-packed week of hard work and fun! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!