Thomas Willingale School and Nursery
Spring Term
Week commencing 11th March.
This week has been assessment week and the children have been working very hard and showing off everything they have learnt in maths, reading and writing this term. They have done very well and we are very proud of them.
In art, we have been learning about the French Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne. We practised our sketching skills by changing the pressure to make thick, dark lines and then soft light lines. Then we practised shading. Then we created some still life drawings of fruit by looking closely at the fruit on our tables and softly drawing an outline. We changed the pressure of our pencil to shade and add detail and texture. Then we used colouring pencils to show different tones, again changing the pressure of our pencils.
In computing we have been learning about animation. We made our own flip books and then we created an animation using the camera on the i pads. We thought carefully about what makes a good photograph, such as holding the camera still, making sure it wasn't blurry and making sure the picture filled the background. Then we took a picture, then moved the object very slightly, then took the picture again. We repeated the process and then watched all the photos together and it looked like our objects were moving.
Next week we are going to be sowing carrot seeds and writing instructions.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Sheptuha and Mrs Ayaz
Computing
Art
Week 2 WC 4th March 2024
Such a busy week!
The children have been using rulers and metre sticks to explore length and height. We then moved onto weight and mass. We look forward to continuing this in the upcoming weeks.
Year 2 have been super busy with their versions of the enormous turnip. They have been writing stories that are lively and interesting. They had accomplished this by using methods including; repetition; alliteration; rhyme; adjectives; powerful verbs and more! We are so impressed with their hard work and effort!
We had World Book Day. This had a series of activities for the children to complete. Please see photographs below. The children had the best day in the pjs!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Ayaz and Mrs Sheptuha
Willow class World Book Day 2024
Week Commencing 26th February
This week we have been learning about measurement in maths. We have been measuring length and height with rulers and metre sticks. We know that we measure length in cm and m. We have been comparing lengths by saying which is longer and which is shorter. We have also put objects in order of their length.
In English we have listened to traditional stories and magpied interesting words and phrases that make the stories lively and interesting. We are going to write our own traditional stories next week. We used drama to retell and plan our own stories. We look forward to sharing them with you.
We have started our new topic this week 'From field to fork'. We have been learning about farming and where our food come from. We know that lots of food comes from plants or animals.
In Science we have been learning about the 7 signs of life classifying objects as living, dead or never been alive.
Have a lovely week everybody!
Mrs Sheptuha and Mrs Ayaz
Drama to retell and plan a story
WC 12th February Week 7
A super week for year 2.
In English we have written and published our non-chronological reports all about Austraila. The children have worked so hard on these and have done some fantastic presentation.
In maths we have come to the end of money. We have been using real-life scenarios to explore money and use it to solve problems. The children have been adding money together, finding change and the two together.
In DT this week the children have designed and habitat and made a habitat. The children have used their knowledge from science, topic and DT all about Australian animals and their habitats to create some. These are all fanatastic, they used a winding mechanism to allow the animals to move up and down, a lever and a turning mechanism to change the time of day to day- night. They are all so proud of their habitats. Please see some photographs below.
We hope you have a well-deserved rest during half term.
Mrs Ayaz and Mrs Sheptuha.
Juniper class Habitat
Willow Class DT model habitats
Week commencing 5.2.24
This week we have been writing our non-chronological reports in English. Our reports are all about Australia and we have used headings, conjunctions and interesting sentence starters.
In Maths we have been learning about money and finding different ways to make the same amount. We have also been counting coins and notes to total money. We know we should start with the biggest amount first.
In Science we went on a walk around the school to look at microhabitats. Microhabitats are part of a larger habitat where mini beasts or smaller animals may live. A microhabitat provides food, water and shelter.
In geography we compared Brisbane and the outback by comparing, climate, leisure and sights.
Next week, we will start designing and making a habitat for an Australian animal.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Sheptuha and Mrs Ayaz.
Science Microhabitat Walk
Wc 29th January
In Maths, we have continued to explore and develop multiplication skills and timestables. The children can practice their 2s, 5s and 10s timetable on TT Rockstars, their logins are at the back of their reading records. We also started exploring money recognising pounds and pence and the different money we have in England. This included notes and pounds.
In English, we have started exploring non chronological reports. We have identified the features and in the upcoming weeks we will be writing non chronological reports all about Australia.
Throughout the week we make sure we have time to enjoy some reading and this week we have taken some pictures of the children enjoying ‘Critter’ time (reading to a critter) and OTTER time (Our time to enjoy reading). Please see below.
On Friday we also had number day for the NSPCC, the children enjoyed using their maths to recap prior learning and playing games as maths is around us every day and we use it all the time (sometimes without realising!)
Have a super weekend
Mrs Ayaz and Mrs Sheptuha
Week commencing 22.1.24
This week we have been writing stories in English about a lost toy based on the story Dogger by Shirley Hughes. The children made their stories interesting by including adjectives, sentence starters and conjunctions.
In maths. we have been learning our 2 and 10 times tables. We have explained to the children that throughout Year 2 they will be learning the 2, 5 and 10 times tables off by heart.
In science, we learnt about how animals are suited to their habitats and their habitat needs to provide food, water and shelter. We then thought about how the Arctic would not be a suitable habitat for a koala.
In geography, we have been learning about the Australian city of Sydney and identifying famous landmarks. We then compared human and physical features in Sydney to those in London to see if they had any similarities for example bridges, rivers and parks.
In Music, the children have been learning to play the glockenspiels. They can follow the notes and hit the correct keys at the correct time to make a beautiful tune.
As a special treat this week, we had a visit from some Year 3 children who came to read stories to us at the end of the day. The Year 3 children had written their own stories in their English lessons on the theme of a warning. Their stories were amazing and they read them with wonderful expression. They really give our Year 2 children something to aspire to.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Mrs Sheptuha and Mrs Ayaz
Photos of music lessons and Yr 3 children reading stories to Yr 2.
Week Commencing 15th January 2024
A super busy week for year 2!
In Maths we have been exploring division. We looked at two different methods, one being sharing and the other grouping. The children have drawn the method and used multilink to notice that sharing is making equal groups.
In English we have been learning and using subordinate conjunctions to extend our sentences. We have read the story Dogger, which is about a character named Dave and he loses his favourite toy. We will be writing our own stories about a character losing a toy with their own personal twist. We have planned these on Friday ready to start writing the story next week.
In RE we have explored the feeling of belonging we had lovely class discussions about different types of belonging including clubs that the children attend.
In computing, we started looking at typing skills and word documents. You can practice these skills on the BBC website – Dance Mat.
In art, we have designed and made Aboriginal masks in the style of Pointillism. Check out the photos below!
It was also the first forest school back for year 2. They all had a wonderful time please see the app for photos.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Ayaz and Mrs Sheptuha
Art photos week commencing 15th January 2024
Week commencing 8.1.24
Happy New Year everybody and welcome back to school!
This week we have introduced our new topic of Australia.
In Science, the children learned about Australian animals such as kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, barramundis, galahs, echidnas, emus, wombats, tree frogs, salt water crocodiles and many more. They classified these animals as mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians and talked about their features.
In our Reading lessons, we explored vocabulary from the Aboriginal Dreamtime story of the Rainbow Serpent and read about how the Aboriginals believe the earth and its creatures were created.
In Art the children did animal paintings in the style of the Aboriginals. They used dots to outline the animal in bright colours and then built up the layers. Take a look at our paintings below.
In English we researched Australian animals and wrote a fact file about them. Then we used adjectives, alliteration and similes to describe them. Finally, we used all of our knowledge to create a shape poem about the animals. Have a read of them below.
In Maths we have been learning about multiplication. We learnt vocabulary related to it such as: times by, multiply, lots of, groups of, arrays, rows and columns, repeated addition. We also learnt that multiplication is commutative, just like addition.
Next Thursday we have Forest School so please make sure your child has wellies, warm clothes and a warm, waterproof coat.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs Sheptuha and Mrs Ayaz
Art and English Photos from w/c 8.1.24
