Mr Wraight, Miss Meyler and Mrs Wright

would like to welcome you to

Red Class

Welcome to Red Class page.

We hope you enjoy looking at all of the wonderful things we have been doing.

We love reading in Red Class and are so excited to explore the reading express this year as well as continue being a CLPE 'Power of Reading' associate school.

Come and talk to us about our favourite books and ask us for our book recommendations.

Mr Wraight's favourite book in Red Class is 'Owl Babies' and Miss Meyler's is 'When a Monster is Born'. 

Next time you come and visit us, climb aboard the 'Red Class Reading Express' and lose yourself in a book with us!

Term 5

Term 4

Identity

'Who do you think you are?'

This term our topic is Identity… and we will be asking the question, ‘Who do you think you are?’ We will be basing this topic around the book named ‘Croc and Bird’ by Alexis Deacon which is a story about a crocodile and bird who hatch together and become ‘brothers’ with very different identities. We will be revealing the story slowly throughout the term and will work towards retelling it in our own words. We are also looking at ‘animals, including humans’ in Science and will learn about how animals grow. We will also identify different animals and common birds. To help with this, we will be welcoming ‘Animal Aid’ a charity concerned with Animal Welfare who will be talking to us about how to care for animals. We will also be visiting Thornden Woods with the hope of spotting some local wildlife.

Pancake Races

Take a look at us competing in this year’s pancake races below.

Book Week

Year 2 have had a fantastic World book week. We were very lucky to be visited by the author and illustrator Mark Robertson, who did a wonderful assembly about his work. He also spent time with us, teaching us how to draw a dragon, which we really enjoyed. Take a look at some pics below:

English – Croc & Bird

We have enjoyed reading this term’s text ‘Croc & Bird by Alexis Deacon. We made predictions about what we thought the eggs in the story might contain and acted out their hatching. We then used these experiences to help us to write descriptions of the animals as they cracked out of the eggs. We used adjectives and adverbs to make our descriptions interesting.

PE

This term we will have Gymnastics on a Tuesday morning and Tri Golf on a Monday afternoon for Green Class and Thursday afternoon for Red Class. 

Term 3

Journeys

'Are we there yet?'

This term our topic is Journeys… and we will be asking the question, ‘Are We There Yet?’ We will be basing this topic around the book named ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker which is a wordless story about a little girl who goes on an adventure. We will be revealing the story slowly throughout the term and will work towards retelling it in our own words.

We started our topic with our ‘Stunning Start’ by going on our own journey around the local area following a number of clues. By the end of the topic we will be making a boat using our scientific knowledge of everyday material to take part in the ‘Great Westmeads Boat Race’. 

Walking Journey

As our 'stunning start' for this term, we went on a walking journey around the perimeter of the school, with rhyming clues to direct them to the next clue on the journey. We had a wonderful time and were delighted to find a cookie for each child at our final clue back in the school grounds.

We used the knowledge we had learned in maths about direction and position to help us know which way to go.

Badminton Taster session

We were lucky enough to have had a visit from a local Badminton coach to offer a taster session for Badminton. She is running a club after school on a Wednesday. If your child is interested please let the school office know.

Dogs Trust Visit

Today we had a visit from the Dogs Trust who taught us how to stay safe around dogs with 5 simple happy dog rules. 

1. If a dog is eating, stay away

2. If a dog is sleeping, stay away

3. Never take a toy away, always swap

4. Dogs do not like hugs, they prefer a stroke

5. Be quiet around dogs.

Science - Materials

This term we have been learning all about different materials and thinking about their uses. We have experimented to find which material would be best suited to keep our teddy dry in the rain. We concluded that either metal or plastic would be best.

We then tested this hypothesis by making a boat and waterproofing it with one of these materials. We then raced these against Green Class is the 'Great Westmeads Boat Race'.

English - Journey

We have enjoyed reading the wordless book 'Journey' by Aaron Becker this term and have written the words to accompany the fantastic illustrations. We are very proud of our work and Mr Wraight has contacted the author who is very keen to see some of our stories.

We are going to write him a letter and send him some to comment on. We will let you know what he says...

In the meantime, take a look at our display....

Cooking - Scones

We have had fun today making scones and pretending we were in the kitchen of the Titanic preparing cream teas for the upper classes. All the children talked about the ingredients they needed and weighed out the correct amounts. Take a look at the photos of us in action....

Term 2

'Polar'

This term we are thinking about the Polar regions and trying to answer the question 'who lives in a place like this?'.

We are exploring the texts 'The Emperor's Egg' and 'Brave and the Fox' - two contrasting texts that look at both poles, both through non-fiction and story writing.

We look forward to ending this term with an exciting trip to see 'The Snow Dragon' at the Gulbenkian Theatre.

The Power of Reading - Brave & The Fox,  The Emperor's Egg

This term, our English learning has been centred around two key texts. The children have loved learning all about Penguins and have recreated the life cycle of a penguin as well as writing their own free verse poetry. We have described penguins and responded to the text 'The Emperor's Egg' by creating chalk drawings of the landscape.

They have also written 'Brave & The Fox' in their own words using a story mountain to plot their own ideas and interesting phrases. We have learned all about adjectives, adverbs and similes and how an author uses these words to engage the reader.

Polar Challenge Day

As part of our introduction to our Polar topic, we set the children a challenge: to create an igloo using sugar cubes.

In order to be successful, they had to work together and show characteristics of effective learning including resilience and determination.

Take a look at us in action below

Beach Visits

This term, we have been getting active on the beach using the environment to help us with our maths learning. We measured different parts of the beach in centimetres and metres and then made comparisons to things back in school.

We have also been practising our spellings using the pebbles on the beach - the children have enjoyed this fun and active way of learning to spell.

A big thank you to those parents who have helped with walking to the beach - we could really do with some more helpers each week though to ensure these visits can take place.

Geography

As part of our learning about Polar regions, we have been thinking about the seven continents of the world. We learned a song about them and have really enjoyed singing this around the school.

To consolidate our understanding, we looked at the World Map and began to identify where the continents are in relation to one another. We worked as a team to sort them and place them in the correct place on a map.

Remembrance Day

The whole of Year 2 were invited to attend the War Memorial outside Whitstable Library on the 11th November.

We laid a wreath which we made from messages the children had written. We observed a 2 minute silence and thought about the sacrifices made by others to make our World a safer place.

The children were very well behaved and represented the school fantastically.

Art

In art we have been experimenting with water colour. We looked at the different shades we could make by just adding water as well as mixing colours together. We used the technique of colour washing to create a picture of the Northern Lights inspired by our book 'Brave and the Fox'. 

We also looked at the artist Henri Matisse and was inspired by his use of collage.  We worked in groups to explore the different ways we could use paper and then used these techniques to embellish our colour wash image of the Northern Lights.

Year 2 Visit to Whitstable Junior School

Thank you to WJS for inviting us to your school this term to take part in a range of activities to help us in our junior school choice. The children had lots of fun and took part in a range of activities including mindfulness colouring, speed stacking and friendship bracelets.

Year 2 Visit to Whitstable Endowed School

Thank you to the Endowed for inviting us to your school to watch your year 3/4 Christmas Nativity. The children really enjoyed themselves and had a particularly good time playing on the equipment in the playground afterwards.

Christmas at Westmeads

To celebrate Christmas we all took part in a Christmas Craft Activity session which was organised by the Friends of Westmeads. This year the Friends also offered the children an opportunity to attend a Christmas shop and pick presents for their loved ones. We were then visited by a very special someone who answered lots of interesting questions and bought a gift for each of the children. 

Term 1

Romans

'Was Rome built in a day?'

This term our topic this term is Romans and we will be finding out if Rome was built in a day. We have been thinking about what we already know and what we want to find out throughout the term. We started the topic off with a ‘Roman Day’ and we will be visiting Canterbury Roman Museum as a 'Fantastic Finish.'. To help us to complete our home learning display, we would love the children to create a piece of homework on this topic. They can be as creative as they like for example, a leaflet, a letter or a model. We look forward to seeing your creations!

World Mental Health Day - 10th October 2019

Today, we came to school wearing yellow and spent the day thinking about how we can keep our mind healthy. We talked about the importance of talking to others about how we are feeling and that is okay to feel sad, anxious or angry sometimes.

We thought about the things we do in school to look after our mental health including gentle touch, mindfulness colouring, yoga and exercise (e.g: wake and shake, daily mile).

Thank you to all the families who raised money by filling their 'sunshine pockets' in aid of the charity YoungMindsUk. We will let you know how much we raised in due course.

Brogdale Farm Visitor

To help our learning around Harvest, we had a visit this week from Mike, a Brogdale Farm Collection worker. He talked to us all about how apples are grown and harvested.

We then tasted some different apples from the collections of over 700 different varieties, including 'Great Expectations' and 'Kansas Queen'. 

Thank you to Mike for taking the time to come and talk to us! 

Poetry in Red Class

This term we are learning about Michael Rosen and have listened to him performing some of his poems.

Our current favourites are 'Chocolate Cake' and 'Washing Up'. 

We have been looking at his poem 'The Rhythm of Life' in more detail and have been practising reciting it in readiness for a National Poetry Day performance. 

We also had a go at making up our own group poems based on his poem 'The Rhythm of Life'. Do have a look at our Poet Tree in class to see our poems. 

Take a look below at some of our performances of 'The Rhythm of Life'.

Roman Art - Weaving 

We have been learning about how Romans using wool to weave. We visited the Roman Museum and had a go at weaving and in school we have also been weaving. We worked together as a class to weave our pattern and then evaluated our work thinking about what went well and what we could do next time to improve it. 

We really enjoyed this activity and it also showed what great teamwork we have as a class.

Reading

In Year 2 we ask the children to select their own reading book at the start of the day and independently write the title into their Reading Record. The children have made a great effort so far and we will continue to support them in their choice and ensure that their reading skills continue to develop as the year progresses.

Within each book band there is a range and variety of text types to encourage children to make choices according to their own preferences in reading. To support them in this, we will be reading with the children both independently and in group guided reading sessions. Guided reading is a relaxed and enjoyable time providing an opportunity to develop particular reading skills and allows the children to discuss what they have read and share their ideas and opinions with an adult and with their peers.

Maths

This term in maths we are focusing on recognising and understanding place value. We started by using the 100 Bead Bar to find 2-digit numbers by counting in 10's and then 1's. In this way the children develop a strong understanding of place value using manipulatives before moving on to problems solving mentally. We will further develop their understanding of place value by applying it to money. We will first look at making amounts using a combination of coins as well as adding amounts, finding change and problem solving. 

P.E

The children have 2 sessions of P.E. every week. This term it is swimming on a Thursday afternoon and Tag Rugby on a Monday afternoon. Please ensure that your child has a full P.E. kit with plimsolls that fit, in school. Please remember to write your child’s name in their plimsolls as well as in the rest of their P.E. kit.

For health and safety reasons, children wearing earrings will not be able to participate in P.E. lessons.

Add block

Teacher of the Week

This activity provides each child with the opportunity to teach their classmates about something that interests them. This will take place during a 10 minute slot, on a subject of their choice – a hobby, e.g. gardening; a particular interest, e.g. space, dinosaurs, birds; a club they belong to, e.g. Rainbows/Beavers; or a sport – and their classmates will have the chance to ask them questions at the end of their session. This is intended to be a fun, independent activity which will develop the children’s speaking and listening skills as well as their confidence. It is also a lovely opportunity for the teachers and children to get to know each other better as every child will have the chance to participate over the course of the year.