It's Christmas!

Year 1

We have been getting into the Christmas spirit this week. On Monday we watched The Snowman and mapped out the 5 main parts of the narrative (opening, build up, problem, resolution and ending). We then working in small groups to retell the narrative using puppets.

Children in 1A acting out the story

On Thursday we pretended to be the little boy from The Snowman. We imagined how we would feel if we were flying to the North Pole with a magical Snowman. We wrote our ideas in the form of a diary.

Success Criteria:

• Openers
• Connectives (and, because)
• Time connectives (first, next, then, finally)
• First person (I.....)
• Punctuation (caps, . ! ? )
• Ambitious vocabulary

Iria 1M

We used alliteration to write a Christmas wish list:

Careis 1D

We used our list to write a letter to Santa.

Careis 1D

What features can identify in the two text types?


Year 2

This week we have been writing about Christmas! We wanted to write some poetry to share our ambitious vocabulary so we mind mapped some of the poetic forms that we have looked at this year and decided which one would best suit our Christmas poem. We chose...*drum roll*... an acrostic poem.

Ethan 2S

2D

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
See you in January.

A glowing nose and burning buildings ...

Year One

This week in literacy we have continued our learning about non chronological reports and wrote a fact file about Rudolf the red nosed reindeer. We started the week by brainstorming and planning our report:

Nikol 1D

We then used this information to help write our fact file:

Julia 

In science we were set an investigation challenge. Inuit teddy needed a new hat that would keep him warm and dry. So we set about testing different materials to see if they were waterproof or not:

We conducted a fair test and recorded our findings:

 Pranav 1M

Year Two

We have continued to improve our diary writing skills. We assumed the role of Samuel Pepys and wrote a diary describing the events of The Great Fire of London. Here is Phoebe’s start to the diary:

Phoebe 1D

Phoebe has used descriptive sentences drawing on the senses to set the scene for the reader. She has described the sounds and sights of London during the first night of the fire. Phoebe has also reread her work with her learning partner Grace to edit and up-level her sentences in green pencil. To extend her diary entry Phoebe could now draw on other senses to add to her description of the night’s events.

This week 2D wrote instructions on how to build a 17^th century house using a cardboard box:

Alina 2D

Thank you for looking at our blog, please leave a comment!

Penguin Reports and Diary Writing...

Year One

This week in Literacy we have been developing our comprehension skills. We watched a clip from a documentary about emperor penguins and then used our reasoning to answer questions about what we had seen and heard.

 Daniel 1D

We have also been busy creating our own non-chronological reports about emperor penguins.

Lennon 1M

Year Two

This week we have been developing our diary writing skills. Using James Mayhew's book Katie in London for inspiration, we assumed on the role of Katie to write an entry about our fantastic adventure in the capital.

Maten has started to write his diary including key features such as an opening phrase and use of the first person. To extend his writing he should now think about using different time connectives to add detail to his diary entry.

 Maten 2F

After watching a video clip of WW1 soldiers playing football on Christmas Eve, Ethan wrote a diary account, detailing the events of that night.

Ethan 2S

Thank you for looking at our blog, please leave a comment!

Penguins and Punctuation

Year One

This week in Literacy we have moved onto our non-fiction unit.  In keeping with our Polar Regions theme, we have been exploring non-chronological reports about penguins. First we learned about the different features of a non-chronological report:

• Title 
• Introduction
• Subheadings 
• Final point
• Technical language 

 On Wednesday a penguin expert came to share her knowledge about penguins:

We worked as a class to generate questions to ask her. We discovered that when we asked a question beginning with who, what, when, where, why or how we got a much richer answer.

 1M

After her visit, we felt like penguin experts too. We decided to work in pairs to interview each other about our emperor penguin knowledge:

Children in 1D interviewing each other

Year Two

In History we have been learning to sequence the events of The Great Fire Of London.

Sophia-Mai

We also attended a grammar show...

"We had to find the capital letters in the piece of writing" Ashwin 2D

"Captain Grammaticus was helping us to find adjectives." Ervin 2D

“Captain Grammaticus taught us how to use exclamation marks correctly.” Oli 2F

“It’s helped me to up-level my wiritng.” Phoebe 2F

“I really enjoyed seeing  Captain Grammaticus win the trophy for writer of the year.” Lilly 2F

Thank you for reading our blog, please leave a comment!

Arctic Adventures and Magical Tours

Year One

This week Year One adapted the story of Where’s Home Little Pip to include a new character... the polar bear Large Larry!

On Monday we used similes, alliteration and onomatopoeic words to describe him.

Iria 1M

On Tuesday we created a new story plan including Large Larry:

Claudia 1A

On Wednesday and Thursday we used our plans to rewrite the story. We edited our work in green pencil:

Swayde 1D

Year 2

This week Year Two have also been busy writing.

In Geography we have been writing letters to our link school in America to find out about their school and how they learn. We looked at features of a letter to help us introduce ourselves to our new pen pals.

Sarah 2D

We also wrote diary entries about  a statue that comes alive. The statue takes some children on a magical tour around London…

Iman 2S

Poppies and Pip

Year 1
This week we have moved onto Narrative. We read Where Is Home Little Pip? by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. It depicts a story of a little penguin who's curiosity gets the better of her and she ends up wandering off from her home. 
We discussed what we liked and disliked about the narrative. 
1D enjoyed listening to the onomatopoeic words like Whoosh! Wheeee! and Whisssh!
Listen to some children explain their favorite parts of the story:

Two children in 1D explain why they enjoyed the story

On Tuesday we mapped out the story onto a story map. We used ambitious vocabulary to describe what was happening in the problem, resolution and ending.

Joanna 1M

Year 2
We have also moved onto narrative this week and our focus text is Katie In London by James Mayhew. In 2S we have sequenced pictures and sentences to highlight the main parts of a narrative.

Naseem 

Nisa

In 2D we have been exploring Remembrance Day by designing our own poppies.

 We were inspired by John McCrae's poem Flanders Field and decided to create an action for each line of the poem to help us to remember what the words mean.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

2F have compared houses from the past and present in their theme this week. Tegan noted some of the features from a house from 1666. Tegan identified the features of the house  by using:

• Adjectives
• Connectives to link ideas

Thank you for taking the time to look at our learning. Please comment below and tell us what we did well and what we could improve!

WIZZ POP BANG!

Year 1

This term our theme has changed to the Polar Regions. We have therefore infused our theme into the poems that we have looked at this week. We looked at a poem about Emperor Penguins and created actions to accompany it. 
Here is a small section of our wonderful acting:

1A

Later on in the week we used ambitious vocabulary to describe objects that you might find in The Arctic. Each class worked hard to incorporate their word of the week into their poetic verses.

Hannah 1M 
(word of the week: glimmering)

Year 2
We have also started our term off with a poetic bang.  In 2S we were so inspired by bonfire night that we generated adjectives and descriptive phrases towards a class poem.

 In 2D we have been writing calligram poems in the shape of fireworks. Below Toby has used the word Bang! to create his poem.

2F worked in small groups to reassemble lines of a poem in a way they thought read well. The objective of the lesson was to realise that poetry may or may not have a specific structure or order. 2F then highlighted the poetic devices they recognised in the poem as a class. 

 Maten: “The word Boom is using onomatopoeia, that means its making the sound of the word when you say it,”.

If you celebrated bonfire night we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thank you for looking at our blog. See you next week!

To write or not to write?

Year 1
On Wednesday it was No Pens Day across the whole school. It was a day where none of us were allowed to do mark making of any kind. Luckily we were able to use glue!
We created snow flakes out of different materials and used ambitious vocabulary to describe them.

“Sparkling snowflake.” – Ife

“It’s shimmering.” - Careis

“It’s very delicate, it will melt.” – Daisy

“It’s white and fluffy.” - Frazer

In literacy we acted out different activities that we could do with a lion if he came to have lunch with us. 

Success Criteria:

• Facial expressions
• Clear gestures
• Clear voices

Year 2

Linking to our author of the week Anthony Browne, we wrote descriptive phrases about the forest.

Each table had a different picture of a forest for inspiration. We went around the tables writing a phrases or sentences using adjectives to describe it.

We have also developed our instruction writing skills in literacy this week. Using a recipe frame we have practiced using the imperative verb, time connectives and adverbs.

Grace has displayed some of the skills needed to write instructions by using time connectives to order such as first and next. 

She has also used a range of adverbs such as carefully and gently to add detail to the verbs used.  

To build on Grace’s instruction writing skills she could

now vary the range of imperative verbs used in her writing.

Have a lovely half term!

The Tiger who went into the forest

Year 1
We had a huge surprise on Monday when we discovered the left overs of a tea party. In our classes we found dirty plates, cups, a foot print, orange and black fur and a picnic blanket. After studying the evidence we linked what we have found to Judith Kerr's story The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

In Tuesday's lesson we took turns to hot seat each other to collect information for a newspaper report. We took on the roles of the newspaper reporter and the tiger. 

Children in 1D

We took a closer look at the story and identified the five main parts to put onto a story map: opening, build up, problem, resolution and ending. 

Oskar 1M

Claudia 1A

Year 2
We have also been exploring narrative this week. We watched and listened to Anthony Browne's story Into The Forest.

We retold the story's five main parts using actions.
Here are 2S demonstrating their actions for the opening:

Children in  2S

We wanted to rewrite the story in our own words. In our 

writing we aimed to use interesting openings and 

punctuation. 

Success Criteria

• a range of different openers
• exclamation mark for effect
• adverbs in character descriptions

Diara 2F

This week in theme we are taken on the role of inventors. We had to create a description of our own dinosaurs using the follow:
Success Criteria

• Always writing success criteria (capital letters, full stops and finger spaces)
• Adjectives
• Alliteration
• Similes

 Alina 2D

 We would really enjoy hearing your comments about our work so please post below. Thank you for reading our blog. See you next week!