Mrs Ashton-Lovett,

Mrs Olson & Mrs Wright

welcome you to

Green Class

Term 6

'Make this World a Better Place'

How can we improve Whitstable?

This term our topic is called ‘Make this World a Better Place’. As it's a whole school topic, each class will be focusing on a different environmental issue. In Green Class we will be looking at plastic pollution and its impact on the environment both locally and globally. We will be investigating plastic and how it is made as well as writing to different organisations to try and encourage them to reduce their use of plastic. 

 Home Challenge

Thank you to all those children who have completed their home challenge work about plastic pollution. Please don't worry if your child has yet to complete it, just send it in once it's finished and we can add it to our classroom display. 

English 

We will be basing our topic this term around the book 'One Plastic Bag' which is based on an inspiring true story of how one African woman began a movement to recycle the plastic bags that were polluting her community. We will be focusing on using persuasive language to help educate other to do the right thing as well as creating a monologue for our very own Green Class TED Talk.

Maths

We will continue to consolidate our understanding of number this term focusing on the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) as well as reading measurements and scales in preparation for transition into Year 3!

Science

In Science this term we will be exploring animals including humans. We will carry out experiments to test our fitness levels and learn about how to lead a healthy lifestyle. We will explore the new outdoor classroom too (once it is completed).

As the weather improves we will begin exploring the pond area and hope to have some of our very own frogs in there soon too. 

An experiment to determine whether older children are faster than younger children. 

Further Curriculum Enrichment 

All the children will have the opportunity this term to complete some clay work with Ms Hageman, one of our talented parents, having a chance to make, glaze and fire their artwork over the course of the term. We are also taking part in a whole school art project to transform our school library space. Thank you to Bronwen’s mum in Green Class for helping to organise this.

The teaching of Spanish with Mrs Reader on a Tuesday afternoon continues along with Mrs Diamond’s music lessons which will also now be on a Tuesday afternoon. We are very lucky to have specialist teachers who can provide these experiences and thank them for all their hard work. 

Term 5

'Let's explore!'

What will you take on your expedition?

This term our topic is called ‘Let’s Explore’ and we are going to be learning all about what it takes to be an explorer and asking the question ‘What will you take on your expedition?’ We will explore the local environment as well as the wider area and will be visiting Quex Park in Birchington to spend some time exploring the Powell-Cotton Museum and handling a collection of artefacts as part of an adventure workshop.

Let's Explore Home Challenge

Thank you to all those children who have completed their home challenge work on Captain Cook. We are very impressed with your creativity and all your work looks amazing on our classroom display. Do pop in on Family Feedback Fridays to take a look at it!

Explorer Workshop

We had an amazing time learning all about the adventures of the fictitious explorer Phileas Fogg. We used our imagination and role play skills to visit different countries around the World, exploring their cultures through freeze framing, singing and dancing.

All of the children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop which also helped to develop their confidence, listening and teamwork skills.

Take a look at us in action...

English 

We are developing our writing skills this term by responding to and writing about a film. We will be sharing the short animated film ‘Taking Flight’ and looking at the relationships between the characters in the story. We will explore the differing emotions and use these ideas to plan and write the story from the film in our own words. We are continuing to think about our use of accurate punctuation and adding interesting details to our writing using adjectives and adverbs.

We are also exploring another CLPE inspired book, the title of which remains ‘top secret’ at this stage. We hope this has the same impact as ‘Leaf’ did for the children back in the Autumn term. We will use this mystery text to explore non-fiction writing and will link it our work in Science and Art too.

Our topic will explore the lives of some famous explorers including Captain James Cook and there will be opportunities for the children to write in a variety of different ways to showcase their new-found knowledge about exploring.

Maths

This term we are focusing on consolidating our understanding of all the aspects of number we have learned this year, focusing on the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). We are very impressed with how much the children have remembered already!

We have also worked on telling the time to the hour, half hour, quarter to/past, as well as to 5 minute intervals. 

Term 4

'Ready, Steady, Grow!'

How does your garden?

This term our focus is growing and we are asking the question, how does your garden grow? We started our topic by exploring our outside area and observing our plants. We thought about similarities and difference and looked at what features a plant needs in order to survive. We hope to spend a lot of the term outside, exploring and planting! 

As part of our 'Book Week' we were visited by the very talented author and illustrator, Chris Wormell. Chris worked with each class to create our own animal character. We worked collaboratively to think about what our animal should look like and watched in amazement as Chris created our unique animal. We then developed a story for our character and designed a story map. We used this story map to write the middle part of the story in our own words. 

World Book Day

Where's Wally?

What a fantastic time we all had dressing up as Wally on World Book Day. We enjoyed searching for the 'Teacher Wallys' around the school and completing lots of 'Where's Wally?' activities. 

Thank you also to the parents who came to share a story with us. It was great to see so many of you!

Science

In Science this term we will be exploring different plants and experimenting with different ways that plants grow. We will begin to learn the names of a variety of British plants and trees and see under which conditions they can flourish. As part of our topic we will also be thinking abut how we can further enhance our outdoor environment by designing and making bird feeders, supporting the current wildlife onsite and encouraging others to settle here too.

Maths

In maths this term we will be learning all about fractions!! We will start this topic by looking at fractions of shape and developing a concrete understanding of fractions as equal parts. We will then move forward by finding a fraction of a number using a bar model.

Term 3:

Tell Me a Story

Welcome to Term 3!

Our topic this term is 'Tell Me a Story'. We will start this topic with a visit from Mr Lambirth who will share a story with us. This story will form the basis of our terms English work. We will look at the process of story writing, from developing the characters to creating the plot. We will consider how an author makes many changes and adaptations to their draft before writing their finalised story. We will look at different ways to sequence a story and make revisions before writing our own version of the story.

Maths

In maths this term we will be focusing on division. We will be looking at division firstly as sharing then be introduced to the division symbol. We will continue to deepen our understanding of number in order to answer mathematical questions mentally and use mathematical language to explain our reasoning.   

History

To help with our understand of storytelling we will be looking at the history of communication, starting with the earliest form of writing. We will find out how people got in touch with each other before telephones and emails, as well as finding out about the people behind some important inventions in communication, including William Caxton, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell and Tim Berners-Lee.

P.E

This term our P.E focus will be Gymnastics which will be on a Tuesday morning and Multi-skills on a Thursday afternoon.  Please ensure that your child has the correct P.E kit in school. Just a gentle reminder to make sure that you label your child's P.E kit including their plimsolls. Also note that for health and safety reasons, children wearing earrings will not be able to participate in P.E. lessons.

Curriculum Enrichment

We will continue with our recorder lessons throughout term 3 as well as weekly Spanish and Art lessons. 

Art

In art we will be investigating patterns through exploring, creating and manipulating a variety of different kinds of patterns. We will start by thinking about patterns found at home and in the environment, we will then move on to study how shapes can be rotated and reflected to create interesting patterns.  We will be linking this to our R.E topic'Who is a Muslim and what do they believe?' by looking at Islamic patterns. 

Teacher of the Week

Well done to Molly who kicked off our first teacher of the week with a presentation all about Titanic!

Please check in bookbags regularly to see if your child has been chosen to present their teacher of the week. 

Term 2:

If you down to the woods today...

What Would You Find There?

Welcome to Term 2!

Our topic this term is 'if you go down to the woods today' which will be based a book which will be slowly revealed to the children as the term progresses to help generate excitement and anticipation. The text is related to animals and their habitats and so we asked that the children create something related to winter and/or the polar regions for their topic homework . We have already had some lovely pieces of work that have been put on display in the classroom and we look forward to seeing more of your creations!

Reading

Now that we are in Term 2 and we have all settled into our new classroom routines, the children are much better at remembering to change their books independently. We thank you for your continued support at home with their reading as well as for your comments in their reading records.

So far we have only won 'Busters Bookmark' once since starting back in September and I really hope we can do better this term! Just a polite reminder to make sure that you sign the bookmark on a Wednesday and note that only the number of minutes above that of the expected 15 minutes will be counted towards the Class total.

Happy reading! 

English

We have a really exciting term ahead in English following the CLPE Power of Reading teaching sequence and as part of this, the key to maintaining the children’s enthusiasm is to keep the title of the story a secret for as long as possible – therefore we will not be revealing the title of the book at this stage! 

So far, we have explored the first page of the book and looked in detail at the illustration. We have established that the book is about a polar bear who appears to be lost.

The children are really loving this text so far and cannot wait to read on. We have learned some facts about Polar Bears and are going to use these to make a non-fiction leaflet over the coming week. We will then explore the story further through poetry, story writing and writing in role.

We revealed that the book this term is called Leaf by Sanda Dieckmann.

Maths

In maths this term we will start by recapping addition and subtraction, particularly looking at adding and subtracting 10 mentally. We will then begin to look at our new topic of money. Firstly, we will focus on recognising and using the symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p) as well as ordering coins. We will then use our knowledge of place value to find different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money as well as solve simple problems involving addition and subtraction including giving change.This is a great opportunity to let children have a go at paying for things themselves at the shop so they become familiar with the different coins and notes we use as well as understanding the concept of change. 

We have now begun to look at multiplication using the X symbol. First we thought about the repeated addition number sentence and then we wrote a multiplication number sentence using the words 'groups of' to help us. 

Science

This term our Science topic is 'Living Things and their Habitats' which links nicely with our overarching question, who lives here? We have been thinking about the characteristics of living things as well as those that are non-living (was alive) and those that have never been alive. 

P.E

This term our P.E focus will be Dodgeball, Dance and Speed Stacking on a Tuesday morning and a Thursday afternoon.  Please ensure that your child has the correct P.E kit in school. Just a gentle reminder to make sure that you label your child's P.E kit including their plimsolls. Also note that for health and safety reasons, children wearing earrings will not be able to participate in P.E. lessons.

Curriculum Enrichment

This term Mrs Brentnall will be teaching art to Green Class. Their focus this term will be on colour mixing with a emphasis on warm and cold colours. They will then work towards creating a finished piece of artwork based on our topic theme.  

Term 1:

Fire! Fire!

What Happened During

The Great Fire of London?

Welcome to the first term of year 2!

Our topic this term is Fire! Fire! We will be learning all about The Great Fire of London. We have been thinking about what we already know and what we would like to find out about throughout the term. We will be starting the topic off with some biscuit baking (watch out Paul Hollywood) and will be visiting the local Fire Station. To help us to complete our home learning display, we would love you to create a piece of homework on this topic. You can be as creative as you like for example, a leaflet, a letter or a model of pudding lane.

We look forward to seeing your creations!

Fire Safety Talk

As part of our topic we were visited by a member of our local Fire Service who carried out an assembly all about fire safety. We found out about the special protective clothing that the fire service wear as well as the important equipment that they use to help fight a fire or rescue people and animals. We talked about the dangers of fire and what we should do in an emergency. We spoke about using our emergency number 999 as well as using the ‘Stop, Drop and Roll’ method. 

Reading

At Westmeads, we recognise the importance of promoting a love of reading, this is why we have opted for a no homework policy with a focus solely on reading everyday. We therefore will be checking reading records daily to see that children are reading at home and to check for comments. In Year 2, children are responsible for changing their reading books to help promote independence as well as support individual preferences. In Green Class we encourage children to do this first thing in the morning before putting their home reading book in the correct basket.

English

Over the first term we will be reminding ourselves of basic sentence structures as well as focusing on our handwriting and presentation of work. Based on our topic of the Great Fire of London we will be creating our own factfiles as well as writing diary entries from the viewpoint of Samuel Pepys.

When Samuel Pepys came to visit...

Maths

In maths this term we will be recapping what we learnt in Year 1 focusing on place value. We will be looking at tens and ones using a range of manipulatives including numicon, counters and dienes. The children will practise these skills whilst developing their reasoning and problem solving.

P.E

This term we will be continuing with our swimming lessons which will be on a Friday morning. We thank you for your support in walking to and from Whitstable swimming pool. Our other P.E topic this term is tag rugby where will be developing our catching, throwing and team work skills.

Visit from Roger Dengate

We were very lucky this term to have had a visit from Whitstable Rugby Club coach, Roger Dengate, who spent time coaching and teaching us the rules of Tag Rugbby. We learnt how to pass the ball, how to use the tag waist bands and a very vital rule...that the referee's word is final! We had great fun and many of the children were interested in attending the club. 

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Teacher of the Week

In year 2, each child has the opportunity to teach their classmates about something that interests them.  They will be given a 10 minute slot to talk about a subject that interests them, this can be a hobby, a club they belong to, or a topic that interests them.  Teacher of the week is a great opportunity for the teachers and children to get to know each other better as well as help to develop and promote speaking and listening skills. Teacher of the Week will commence soon and every child will have the chance to participate over the course of the year.