Year 2 - The Giraffes: Blog items
Christmas Week., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Dec 2022 @ 6:13pm
A great final week in school! Christmas parties, visits from Santa, Christmas story massage, the carol service in church and even a visit from the Grinch.
The giraffes still managed to fit in time to learn new sounds, make a huge paper chain decorated with reasons why they are all special and unique as well as unpacking our home corner when it ‘moved house’.
I wish all the giraffes and their families a very happy Christmas. See you all in 2023!
One last message - a huge thank you for all the beautiful cards and gifts which were sent to Mrs. Morrison and I. They were a lovely surprise.
Party Time!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 13th Dec 2022 @ 9:47pm
The giraffes had a great time at the Christmas party this afternoon and they were delighted to see Father Christmas.
They all got to play games, sing and dance. The giraffes seem to be enjoying singing and dancing - have you been told about our class disco corner? The children requested music to dance to and a microphone so that they can sing their favourite songs.
Our home corner has been up for sale and the children are getting ready to move house this week in our classroom.
All busy busy!
Christmas lunch., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 7th Dec 2022 @ 9:17pm
Today started with a walk on the field to crunch on the frosty grass. We also revisited our work on shadows by creating shapes and shadows on the field.
We have been working very hard on our phonics and we will keep revisiting our sounds in class and also in our new reading books.
Just a reminder that the book listed first in your record book is linked to the phonics we are learning. It will seem a little tricky so it may help to use the book with the new sound cards which will come home tomorrow. This way your child can be a detective looking out for our sounds the first time they visit their new book.
The second book is a book your child has chosen. It is closely linked to their stage of reading but may have unfamiliar names in.
Please continue using your sound cards at home. Over the last few weeks the children have learnt that two letters can make one sound.
Christmas lunch was a lovely treat today. The children enjoyed their dinner, the crackers and the music in the hall.
Baaarmy Bethlehem!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 5th Dec 2022 @ 9:54pm
We hope that you enjoyed the Christmas Play. The children enjoyed their rehearsals and worked so hard on their singing and dancing.
Last week saw more creative skills with the children creating their own ‘Kandinsky’ piece of art using squares and circles. They are beautiful and will be coming home soon.
On Thursday and Friday we made puppets to use in our shadow play. We have been learning about light and dark which also links to our maths and science work.
On a Friday afternoon the children have drama with Mr. Sumner. I am sure they have told you lots about the acting and games they enjoy doing.
Congratulations to our star readers from last week! Children who are able to read each day have their names put in a box for taking Dash bear home for the weekend. Please do not feel you have to complete eaxtra work by writing in the diary. The children asked for a book so they could draw a picture of Dash to show on the Monday morning.
Whoever left the elf today could you please make sure you take it home tomorrow! When everyone had gone home I left the room for two minutes to come back to chaos with our genius gems!!
Traditional tales and lots of dancing!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 27th Nov 2022 @ 10:29pm
A busy week - castle building everywhere, Christmas dance rehearsals, porridge making and a special celebration in church!
We have welcomed lots of visitors into our classroom this week. The giraffes were extremely welcoming to everyone and enjoyed telling them about our school and the learning we have been doing.
Our traditional tales take us to the three bears cottage this week as well as a visit to the world of ‘ Wallace and Gromit’. Please feel free to send in any ‘Wallace and Gromit or Shaun the sheep’ books for us to share in class.
A very wet walk!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 20th Nov 2022 @ 5:13pm
On Friday we decided to cut short our walk as the rain just didn’t want to stop. We headed out whilst the weather was fine and managed to use our senses, spot signs of Autumn and even have a splash in the puddles. The giraffes didn’t moan or groan once about the weather but we decided to head back to school and plan another walk for a hopefully better day.
Autumn walk, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 17th Nov 2022 @ 9:57pm
Tomorrow we will be walking to the Brickcroft Nature Reserve. We will follow the path around the Brickcroft looking at signs of Autumn and using our senses. We will stay on the path and the children will walk with a partner and adults at all times. We will leave after morning snack and be back at school in plenty of time for our lunch.
We have puddle suits and wellies ready! Please remember warm coats.
Thank you
Mrs. Thomson
Traditional Tales, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 11th Nov 2022 @ 9:34pm
This week the giraffes have carried on with their journey of traditional tales. The children have worked hard at making their own gingerbread stories as well as building boats to help the gingerbread man escape the fox. Everyone had to test their boat and most of them successfully floated carrying the gingerbread man to safety.
The giraffes have worked very hard on their tricky sounds this week. I have sent sheets to read through for homework. Two letters, one sound.
In maths we have been shape detectives. Everyone did a shape hunt around school. Please look for circles, triangles, squares and rectangles when you are out walking.
Thank you for your amazing hard work with daily reading, practising our sounds and the homework books.
We have a lovely week ahead with a new story to share, an exciting dance lesson to take part in, Jack and the Beanstalk PE and a class castle to create.
Run, run as fast as you can!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 4th Nov 2022 @ 7:14pm
It has been a great week in the giraffes classroom this week! We have started our new topic ‘Traditional Tales’. We have been looking at the Gingerbread Man. The children have had escape bridges to make, the story to retell with toy characters, ginger spiced play dough to use and lots of opportunities to create their own gingerbread man. We have been discussing language from the story - mocking, accelerate, cunning and block. We created actions to help us remember their meanings.
In maths we have been working on how to make the number three in different ways. We also created a graph to show which part of the gingerbread mans body we ate first! Of course we all needed to have a gingerbread man for this! Yummy maths!
We learnt about Diwali and enjoyed painting fireworks for the celebration. We used kitchen rolls for painting and then listened to the noises that fireworks make. We mad a word bank of words to describe the noises. The children also got busy outside creating beautiful Rangoli patterns. I am sure they will be able to tell you what these beautiful patterns are.
PE this week was Squiggle and a wriggle and also a wonderful stretch / yogi session by a yogi teacher. We had a great time! Everyone enjoyed the session and we even had a lovely relaxation time at the end! Perfect!
In forest school the children created wonderful dens and houses for the gingerbread man to hide out in! The children are hoping some fairies visit the dens this weekend.
I hope you enjoy some pictures from this week. I have also included a link for bonfire night safety.
https://capt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Fireman_Sam_Fireworks_Safety_FINAL_nourl.pdf
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs.Thomson
The last day before the half term break., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 30th Oct 2022 @ 7:33pm
Some amazing pictures to share with you! What a great day!
Lots of amazing learning at forest school and then a lovely time with our buddies. Hot chocolate and marshmallows went down a treat for the children and their buddies.
Science ambassadors, by Mr Pearson
Date: 21st Oct 2022 @ 9:51am
Longton's Science ambassadors led a whole assembly conducting two amazing investigations. Well done
Busy Giraffes!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 19th Oct 2022 @ 9:57pm
The giraffes have been very busy again this week.
In maths we have continued our work on patterns and size. We have had some tricky number puzzles this week that the children have enjoyed. Our maths work was carried out in the water area, in our autumn tray and also in our mark making area.
We have been learning about our bodies, our teeth and our bones. The children are keen to brush their teeth for two minutes and also learn the song attached below.
Because we have been talking about bones we have been reading the ‘Funnybones’ story. You will see from the pictures below that we made a story map. The children have enjoyed retelling the story to each other. Some of the children have created their own Funnybones stories. They were very proud of their stories and read them out to our class! Well done Giraffes!
Thank you for your hard work with reading and learning our sounds. We have changed the books ready for the half term. Please read the books several times and continue to use the sound cards to make very simple words such as ‘rat, cat, pull, rock’.
A homework book will be sent home tomorrow with tasks to be completed over the half term holiday. These tasks build on the skills the children have been developing. Please return the homework book on Tuesday 1st November.
Please continue to send the reading book and reading record book to school each day.
Thank you
Mrs. Thomson
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-brush-your-teeth/zv33hbk
Fantastic Friday, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 14th Oct 2022 @ 9:31pm
Today started with our phonics work and everyone going to forest school in groups with Mrs. Jackson. We continued our work on patterns and also read our story for next week which is ‘Funny bones’.
This links with the work we have been doing on ‘all about me’ as we will be talking about our bodies and looking at our finger prints next week.
We had a good look through our dressing up clothes today as you can see from the pictures.
I do apologise if you have not got your child’s reading book for the weekend. With all the excitement of showing each other their art work and also getting the school photographs some reading bags were left in the tray. I will make sure this doesn’t happen again. Please look over our sounds in the wallet as new ones have been added this week.
I had planned for the children to have hot chocolate after forest school today but the children found out today that their year five buddies will be visiting them next Thursday for a story session. The giraffes asked if we could have hot chocolate with their buddies instead of today. I have a feeling I will need to shop for more mini marshmallows but I thought it was a lovely idea from our caring and kind giraffes.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Thomson
Patterns everywhere!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 11th Oct 2022 @ 4:42pm
Today the Giraffes have been looking at repeating patterns. Everyone had a turn at creating them inside and also outside. We will be working on patterns all week so please feel free to have a go creating some at home that show a repeating pattern.
We are working well with our phonics and we are very good at spotting our sounds when we are walking through school. New sounds will be added to book bags on Thursday.
Harvest 2022, by Mr Pearson
Date: 7th Oct 2022 @ 10:42am
A lovely Harvest festival took place In St Andrew's Church on Thursday 29th September.
The Heads Team led for the first time and the Church was full of parents.
Each Tribe performed part of the presentation, through song, poetry and presentations.
Our morning adventure!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 4th Oct 2022 @ 10:38pm
This morning the giraffes enjoyed a walk to our local library. They met a librarian called Helen who read some new stories to them. Everyone was involved in a finding game in the library.
Thank you for returning your library slips. Helen will go through these and provide tickets for the children who have not joined the library.
The children picked some great stories for our classroom which we will share over the next few weeks. Helen has invited us for another visit before Christmas where the children will be able to choose their own books to borrow for three weeks and they will also take part in a Christmas craft activity.
New sounds will be coming home in your child’s book bag on Thursday. Please continue to practice them every day.
Our Senses, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 27th Sep 2022 @ 8:37pm
After our listening walk yesterday, the giraffes continued using their senses by baking biscuits. We also used our senses during squiggle and a wriggle.
The children are amazing us by learning their new sounds. Please continue to practise these at home every day as we are learning a new one each day. The children have told us that are enjoying teaching you and that you are getting very good at remembering the special actions.
Next Tuesday morning we have a class visit to Longton library. I have put a slip in each book bag which needs to be filled in and returned asap. Even if your child already has a library card please do still complete the slip so that they can borrow a book on our visit next week.
On Wednesday morning next week (5th) you are invited to a reading and phonics meeting in the school hall at 9am. Mrs. Fletcher and I will deliver information on reading and phonics and discuss how we can work together to fully support your child. If you are able to join us for a short meeting please do as the information will help your child throughout each year group in school. It will be a great opportunity to look at resources, ask questions and share experiences with other parents from our class.
Thank you
Mrs. Thomson
Super Giraffes, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Sep 2022 @ 3:47pm
New sounds are out in book bags today! The children are very excited to teach you them!
I hope the children have been telling you how amazing they are being in school. They have picked up so may of our routines and are now being helpers during many parts of our day.
The giraffes have been doing some tricky work with me this week and they may have told you they have been awarded ‘genius gems’.
Our focus has been ‘sharing’ this week and already lots of children have put a patch on Gerald giraffe.
Our Senses, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 21st Sep 2022 @ 10:22pm
This week we have been learning about our senses. We have a dark den in the classroom, we have made scented potions, we have been smelling and juicing lemons and we have been spicy writing. Today the giraffes went for a texture walk after a busy morning doing PE after learning a new sound of the day.
Thank you for help with the sounds we sent home. New cards will be coming home tomorrow.
Thursday news!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 15th Sep 2022 @ 6:31pm
Yesterday the giraffes had a busy day and enjoyed story massage. I hope they are coming home and asking to show you their ‘Humpty Dunpty’ massage. We had circle time and shared how we are all different and talked about what makes us special. We are trying to remember our new word ‘ Unique’.
Today we have used collage materials, we have done some maths work and we have been on a school treasure hunt looking for our new sounds.
The children are very excited to bring their new sound cards home to share with you (they are in book bags).
Please make sure coats are brought to school tomorrow as our ‘Forest school Friday’ will be starting tomorrow. Small groups of children will be working in our outside classroom - The Owls.
Thank you
Mrs. Thomson
Super giraffes!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 13th Sep 2022 @ 9:24pm
A busy day for the giraffes today. We started with a PE lesson in the hall. We played musical jumps before practicing our long distance jumping. We had hoops, balance beams and gymnastic mats to work on. We all completed the stations and felt our hearts beating quickly. We finished by playing sleeping giraffes.
We have started our phonics work and we will be sending home a game to play on Thursday. We enjoyed our outdoor play today and we had some fantastic engineers / plumbers! The children were fantastic in turn taking as we had the bikes out and they had fun sharing their very special ‘All about me’ books.
We have been working hard learning a class poem and have made up our own actions. We will share it with you soon!
Thursday already!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 8th Sep 2022 @ 9:17pm
This week is just flying by!
The giraffes have had another adventurous day. This morning they were introduced to their year five buddy. They were able to spend a short time together looking at stories and playing on the playground together.
Their buddies are going to visit next week and the giraffes will be able to share their very special home / school books with them.
The children had a special name writing task and scissor task to do today. They also danced to the ‘Wake up shake up’ song and also had fun learning the ‘banana meatball’ pattern dance.
As they were a little tired this afternoon we did story massage. I sang a nursery rhyme and the children carried out the actions on their friends back. This linked in with one of our class rules - kind hands.
I will post buddy pictures very soon.
Mrs. Thomson
Squiggle whilst you wriggle!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 7th Sep 2022 @ 10:12pm
Thank you for coming to ‘meet the teacher’ this afternoon. I will make sure I send letters home with the children for the parents who were unable to come along. If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask.
Please send your child’s nursery transition document ASAP, thank you.
If you did not get a school calendar yesterday please let me know as I have several left.
Terrific Tuesday!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 6th Sep 2022 @ 9:45pm
Our day started with a walk around the school grounds. Please ask the children about the owl, the eagle, the orchard and the exercises on the running track. We visited the forest school area and saw lots of mini beasts hiding.
We have started talking about our senses and ourselves. The children have started creating self portraits choosing either paints, oil pastels or natural materials.
The children are enjoying lunch time in the hall. We enjoyed playing beach ball games and friendship games in the hall later this afternoon.
A wonderful first day!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 5th Sep 2022 @ 6:40pm
What a great day! The giraffes have been amazing! They have been adventurous, friendly and good fun!
We have explored our classroom and our outside area, tested the puddle suits and wellies and enjoyed celebrating our first two class birthdays!
A huge thank you for helping your child feel excited and ready for their first day. Another big thank you for sending everything named! Jumpers, cardigans, wellies, book bags, water bottles and PE kits all named! Wonderful!
Please send nursery transition documents as soon as possible along with the ‘all about me’ books.
I hope you enjoy the pictures showing the busy giraffes!
