Our Journeys

Kingfishers have taken part in a number of journeys this week.

Our first journey was around our new school track. Kingfishers completed their first lap with the whole school and then as a class we discussed how we could pace ourselves during our second lap.

Our next journey was to Swindon and Cricklade Railway. Kingfishers had an incredible day exploring the railway and made all their teachers very proud of them!

We will be writing a recount next week all about our day at the railway. I wonder what Kingfishers can remember. What was their favourite part of the day? What did they find interesting? How did they feel riding on the train?

Our final journey this week was our pilgrimage to Chaddleworth. We first walked up the hill which was rather challenging but the views were spectacular so the effort was worth it. We were amazed that we could see the new running track and we even waved at Mrs Kimber. Dr Brown, who walked with us, asked us to look and listen while we walked. Ask your child what they saw and heard. The next part of the journey was through some fields and the golf course. Lastly we walked the final part up to the Chaddleworth school. What a welcome sight that was! Even though it was rather tiring, we all managed very well in the icy cold wind and reflected on things around us.

We've been busy

Over the last two weeks we have been busy with our learning.

During British Science Week, Kingfishers used their knowledge of their bodies to create an obstacle course which would keep you fit. As we tried our obstacles we made changes to improve them!

Here are some photos of us trying it out:

We also took part in a live lesson all about habitats and used this learning to create the perfect nest for a penguin.

Here are our nests:

In English we have been exploring recounts and learning all about the features we can find in a recount.

In Maths we have been recognising doubles and halves of numbers or amounts. We used arrays to help us to find the double and the half!

In Maths, we have also been exploring numbers and amounts. We used lots of resources to represent numbers in different ways.

Kingfishers also had some time this week to choose their own learning.

It's repeated!

A Weekend Wonder:

If you fancy a challenge this weekend, why not see if you can create something crafty! Don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Teams assignment or bring it in ready for show and tell on Monday!

This week in Maths we have been focusing on different ways to represent ‘groups of’ a number. For example, drawing an array, sorting objects, drawing a bar model and writing the repeated addition number sentence. Year 2 even challenged themselves to use the multiplication symbol.

In Science this week we explored how the number of hours of daylight is different in each season. We created a pictogram to show our findings. Next week we are going to investigate this further.

In RE, we started to explore our new key question (Should everyone follow Jesus?). We discovered what following is by playing follow the leader and discussing who we follow and why. We read Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and thought about who follows Jesus.

We were very lucky this week to have the handwashing machine again. We enjoyed seeing how well we washed our hands when we follow the steps carefully. However, it surprised us to witness how many germs were left on Miss Rignall’s hands after she just used hand sanitiser! We all agreed to carefully use soap and water.

Half way

A Weekend Wonder:

We had a class discussion this week to decide on what type of Weekend Wonders the children would like to have and when they would like to share it with the rest of the class. The children came up with a list of ideas and picked one for this week. We decided that show and tell would be the perfect time for everyone to bring along their weekend wonder and share it.

If you fancy a challenge this weekend, why not see if you can create your own book! Don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Teams assignment or bring it in ready for show and tell on Monday!

This week in English we started our new topic all about informal letter writing. We read the story The Day the Crayons Quit and decided on which features made a piece of writing a letter.

Maths this week was very different as we came together as a whole class. The children enjoyed exploring making ‘groups of’ objects and some of us started to create arrays! We will continue to explore multiplication next week and question each others thinking.

In Science this week we discovered why we have different seasons in different countries. Do you know why the Northern Hemisphere has summer when the Southern Hemisphere has winter?

Have a look at this video if you’re not sure:

We had an amazing day on Thursday. For World Book Day our teachers turned into crayons, we explored what the VIPERS are and took part in six different workshops.

Which one?

A Weekend Wonder:

If you fancy a challenge this weekend, why not see (with adult help) if you can create the most amazing hot chocolate you’ve ever had! Don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Teams assignment!

In English we explored a variety of ways to retell the story of Hamilton’s Hats and choose which way we wanted to change it.

Here are some of our ideas:

In Science we investigated what mammals should wear in the different seasons. We discussed which one we would prefer to wear in Winter. Why do we wear coats in Winter and not as much in Spring?

In Topic we learnt all about Brunel and his engineering constructions. How many times have you seen or been on one of his constructions?

On Monday, make Mrs Oberholzer, Mrs Dale and Miss Rignall smile by letting us know a synonym (a word that means the same thing) for small.

Bridges, viaducts, steam ships and railways?

A Weekend Wonder:

If you fancy a challenge this weekend, why not see how many different paper aeroplanes you can make! Don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Teams assignment!

What an incredible week we have had in Kingfishers.

Using an expanded noun phrase to describe our week: The magnificent Kingfishers learnt lots this week.

Did you know there is more than one way to describe the hat Hamilton is wearing?

We’ve been learning about how to use powerful adjectives to describe our nouns and make our sentences exciting.

How would you describe this hat?

Miss Rignall’s maths group have been exploring how numbers to 20 are made, here are some of our discoveries:

Mrs Oberholzer’s Maths group has continued to learn about money. Did you know that there is more than one way to make amounts of money? We know that there is not a coin for every number so must remember to look the value of the coins to make the amounts.

What’s the weather like today?

Kingfishers had a very special science lesson this week, as they used a range of equipment to take measurements. We used a thermometer, rain-gauge and anemometer. We recorded our results in a table and compared the weather to a day in Autumn.

You may be wondering about the title of this weeks blog. Well in Topic this week, we looked at pictures of different constructions and we then wrote questions about what we would like to find out. Some example questions are - Who is the engineer Brunel? What is a viaduct? Where is the Clifton Suspension bridge?

These questions will play a big role in our learning next week.

On Monday, make Mrs Oberholzer, Mrs Dale and Miss Rignall smile by saying 20 is made of __ and __.

Whose hat?

A Weekend Wonder:

If you fancy a challenge this weekend, why not see how many different shapes you can make with your shoes! Don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Teams assignment!

We have had another busy week in Kingfishers building on our previous learning.

This week we started our new topic in English. We read, acted and retold our new class book called Hamilton’s Hats. Wow, how many extraordinary hats does Hamilton have?

We learnt that Hamilton is a vain pig who is fond of hats. He has a hat for every occasion!

Miss Rignall’s Maths group explored numbers within 20. We counted forwards, backwards and from different starting points! We built our knowledge to explain how numbers between 11-20 are made.

Did you know that ‘teen’ means ten?

Did you know that thirteen is made of ten and three?

If you don’t believe us, ask us to prove it!

Mrs Oberholzer’s Maths group has been learning about money. We are learning how to identify the notes and coins and it is the value of the coin that is important when calculating an amount of money.

We became weather reporter in Science as we explored a cold, cloudy day in Winter.

Do you think the weather is different everyday or the same?

Who are The Wright Brothers? What are they famous for? Well, let us tell you.

In Art we have been looking at the work of the Welsh artist Rhiannon Roberts. We looked at some examples of her art and discussed how her work made us feel, what we liked or disliked about the paintings.

We are in the process of painting our landscape pictures in a similar style to that of Rhiannon Roberts. Here are some of our paintings which still need finishing.

Where have all the sounds gone?

We have noticed some sounds going missing this week around our school.

We invented a new version of The Sound Collector using lots of sounds we hear at school.

Miss Rignall’s maths groups extend their learning of 3D shapes to find and explore 2D shapes in lots of different ways:

Mrs Oberholzer’s maths group have been practising hard subtracting using the exchange method. We are also very excited that the rekenreks have arrived and cannot wait to use them.

Our science learning allowed us to discover how the weather changes in the different seasons.

In Art we learnt about the Welsh artist Rhiannon Roberts and enjoyed discussing her colourful landscapes. We looked at some of her paintings and discussed what we liked about them and decided which one our favourite.

We went on a...

We have had a busy week with lots of different learning journeys.

Miss Rignall’s Maths group went on a 3D shape hunt around the school.

We then continued our learning journey to sort 3D shapes into groups by their simple properties. Here’s an example of our 3D shapes sorted by size.

Mrs Oberholzer’s Maths group explored crossing 10 when subtracting. We are learning to exchange 1 ten for 10 ones.

In English, we continued our poetry learning journey and explored a range of language features used in The Sound Collector.

In Science, we started our new topic of Seasonal Change and began to investigate how the weather is different in each season.

In Topic, we learnt all about the Montgolfier brothers who are credited with inventing the first hot air balloon. We were most surprised to find out who the first passengers were. Ask your children who they were?

In Art, we continued our journey drawing landscapes. We learnt that a tree in the foreground will be bigger than the trees that are further away. Here’s some of our landscapes so far:

Happy New Year!

We have had a busy first few days back.

In English, we explored poetry for the first time and started to recite The Sound Collector by Roger McGough by heart using actions. If you close your eyes and really listen you’ll hear sounds you’ve never heard before.

In Spelling, we learnt three different strategies to help us to remember how to spell a word - rainbow sounds, pyramid and drawing around the word.

In Computing, we explored the uses of word processors like Microsoft Word and started to identify the different keys on a keyboard. Which part of the computer do we use to add letters onto the pages?

This term our big topic is Journeys, so in our Topic lesson we discussed what a journey was. We discussed ways we could go on a journey and why we would go on a journey. We concluded that when we go on a journey we use various means of transport so in Art we pretended to be on a train. We looked out the window and noticed the landscape beyond. We then drew a landscape in our sketch books and will continue to look at landscapes this term.

Ground Control to Kingfisher Class

We started this week as Kingfishers but soon became astronauts!

We had so much fun on space day. NASA sent us a special mission to investigate the best material for a rocket.

First we completed our cadet training and learnt all about how to be an astronaut. Then we graduated and Mrs Stephenson presented our certificates.

Finally we explored space in our very own rocket and completed our space mission.

In English, we planned our recount all about space day.

In topic, we compared two of the key individuals that we have looked at this term.

We enjoyed performing our nativity. Thank you to all who came to watch us!

Winchester and more

What an incredible time we have had in Kingfishers!

In English we finished our non-chronological report about life in space. Have a look at some of our work below:

We then started our learning journey for a recount. We explored an example recount about a trip to the museum. Next week we will be planning and writing a recount about our Space Day.

We learnt lots at Winchester Science Centre, while having fun too! The planetarium seems to be majorities favourite part, even though it made some of us feel very dizzy. It is a trip we will all remember.

Year 2 enjoyed their fire in forest school:

Lift off!

Wow, what a week! Kingfishers have learnt a lot this week.

In English, we started off by finding facts about life in space.

Then we planned our own non-chronological report all about life in space.

In maths, we had a go at some reasoning challenges.

In Science, grouped and compared the best materials for different objects.

In Topic, we discovered who Neil Armstrong is and why he is famous.

Ask any Kingfisher: What were his famous words?

We remembered

We have had a busy week in Kingfishers class this week by making lots of links within all of our learning.

In English, we have been exploring past and present tense. Miss Rignall and Mrs Oberholzer set us lots of activities to discover the present tense verbs.

For remembrance day, Kingfishers took part in a range of activities to build on their learning from last year.

We carefully painted poppies on stones.

We wrote acrostic poems for the words REMEMBER and POPPY.

First week back

Kingfishers have had an amazing first week back.

In English, we started our new learning journey and working towards creating our own non-chronological report about space.

Have a look at the pictures below of us exploring a variety of text types:

In Spelling, we have been using different techniques to practise blending our phonics sounds to spell a variety of words.

In Maths, both groups have been practising their number bonds.

Year 1 had lots of fun in forest school this week: