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

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Brilliant Bodies and Powerful Plants

Year 1
To tie in with our Brilliant Bodies theme we have been learning about our bones and organs in Science.
We had lots of fun trying to map out our internal organs! We particularly liked the felt small intestines!

Here are some pictures of 1A in action:

"The heart helps us to bump all of the blood around our body." - Zeba 1A
"A stomach chomps up food." Kasie-May 1A
"My lungs help me breathe." - Faizan 1A

We have written about the organ's functions and why they are important to our bodies. Some of the organs that we found extremely interesting were the brain, heart and small intestine.

Faye 1D

We were very lucky to have a visit from Nurse Hazell this week. Each class had a chance to examine various bones and ask some questions to deepen our learning.
Here are some examples of the questions 1M asked:

1) How many bones do we have in our feet? - Jake 1M
2)Why do we have a gall bladder? - Hannah 1M
3)What is our appendix? - Arianna 1M
4)How do we move our hip? - Tyler 1M
5)Why do we have more bones when we are babies? - Jaiden 1M



Year 2 
2S were scientists this week. We have been finding out whether plants are living or not.
We conducted an experiment using plants to find out if it would change when put in coloured water.

Here are some examples of our predictions:

Louis 2S

Steven 2S

Meanwhile in our Literacy lessons we have been continuing to venture outdoors as inspiration for our writing. Our aim is to use our experience to help us with our setting descriptions which we will use in our own narratives.
By focusing on using all of our senses we have been able to write a detailed description of where our stories will be set.

Amy 2F



Thank you for visiting our blog. We are very proud of the writing that we do in class and we enjoy sharing it with you! See you next week.

Narrative Week 2

Year 1
As part of our narrative unit we have been exploring Funnybones by Allan and Janet Ahlberg.
This week we completed a number of activities to help build our vocabulary.
Just like the skeletons we went on an adventure to the dark, dark park and used ambitious vocabulary to describe what we found.

Here are 1M recording their ideas:

During our trip to the dark dark park we jotted down our adjectives then shared them with the rest of the class back in the dark dark classroom. Here are some examples of our ambitious vocabulary:

We also wrote a character description about the Dog Skeleton and the Little Skeleton. 

Success Criteria:

• Always Success Criteria (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces)
• Write in whole sentences
• Adjectives
• Exclamation mark
• Connectives (and, because)

Miley 1A

Year 2

Year 2 have continued to explore narratives using James Mayhew’s book Katie and the Dinosaurs. This week the focus has been around the analysis of the main character and use of descriptive language. Using this analysis we have begun to re-write the story with detail. 

2F and 2D used their knowledge of Katie and the Dinosaurs to begin to re-tell the narrative in their own words.

Finan 2F

2S focused on using descriptive language to create a clear character profile for Katie. Here are two examples of our fantastic writing:

Elisa 2S

Imaan  2S

Thank you for looking at our blog! Please comment on our work and tell us what we have done well and what we could improve. We look forward to sharing more of our learning with you. 

Narrative Week 1

As part of our Narrative unit, Year 1 have been retelling the story Funnybones written by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. We created actions to help us remember the main parts of the story (opening, build up, problem, resolution and ending) and recorded these on a story map.

Success Criteria

• Opening
• Build up
• Problem
• Resolution
• Ending
• Always Success Criteria

Here are a few examples of our story maps:

Swayde 1D

Kasie- May 1A

Godfrey 1M

Year 2

In Year 2 we have also been exploring narratives this week. Our focus text is Katie and the Dinosaurs by the author James Mayhew.  In line with our theme topic, the book focuses on a little girl’s interest and adventures with dinosaurs.

2F took their learning outside and retold the story of Katie and the Dinosaurs using Pie Corbett style story actions.

In keeping with our Dinosaur topic, we have created some wonderful writing in our theme lessons.

2S have been using their imagination to think of what life would be like if they were a Dinosaur for a day.

Nisa 2S

2D created fact files about Dinosaurs which will all be collated into a class book.

Scott 2D

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