Owls 2023 - 2024

Welcome to Owls 2023-24

Welcome to our class page. Here you will find all the documents you need for the Owls class this year as well as lots of updates about our learning each week. Our class page will normally be updated every Friday. Please enjoy reading about what we are doing in class and remember to email us if you have any questions.

Email address: owls@watlington.oxon.sch.uk

Useful Web Links for Learning at Home

Term 5-6

PE days will be Tuesdays (football) and Thursdays (Athletics).

Key documents for Term 5 and 6

Term 5

Week 2

Topic

We are really enjoying our new topic of 'Our Planet Our Future'. We talked a lot this week about recycling and why it is so important. Lots of us shared how we can recycle at home and at school. One of the ways is to use correct bins to sort out our rubbish. We looked at different materials, objects and general things we throw away and decided if we could recycle it and how we would do this. Many of us had lots of good ideas on how we could recycle, reuse or reduce rubbish. 

Computing

This term the unit we are learning about is digital music. This week we listened to 3 pieces of music by Gustav Holts - Mars, Venus and Jupiter. They were all very different pieces of music and we discussed how each of them made us feel, which ones we liked and which ones we didn't like.

English

The Owls have been writing in the first person as a character from our story 'The Journey Home.' They have accurately used a range of ambitious adjectives to help describe WHAT happened and HOW the characters feel.

PE

In PE this term the children have been learning about the elements that make a successful long jum in athletics. This week they remembered the importance of BENDING their knees and SWINGING their arms. They also continued to work on sprint skills including looking forward, pumping their arms and taking long strides!

Week 1

What a great first week back we have had. It has been lovely to see the children all looking refreshed and ready to learn.

English

This term we are learning all about diary recounts. We started to read our new book 'The Journey Home' and discussed some of the characters and how they were feeling. Over the last few days we have been learning our story map which is a diary of the Polar bear in our story. He talks about what has happened to him and how he is feeling on the first part of his journey. We also enjoyed coming up with our own actions for the map - we are becoming experts at this!

PE - Football

We had a great first session of football this week. Our focus this week was passing the ball. We had to learn a variety of skills including scanning the area so we knew where to pass the ball. We also learnt which part of our foot to use and how important team work is when playing football.

Reading

This term we are enjoying a book called "Agents of the Wild, Operation Honeypot" by Jennifer Bell and Alice Lickens as our class reader. It follows the adventures of Agnes as she tries to save endangered speices. There are others in the series if you want to check them out!

Our Reading lessons this term will focus on the book "The Invisible Dog" by Dick King-Smith. There are so many fantastic books by this classic author, often on the theme of animals-see if you can find and enjoy some others-we have lots in our school libraries.

Maths

We have started our new unit on fractions.

We are thinking about the importance of ensuring all parts or groups are EQUAL when finding fractions.

We are using these stem sentences to help us this term:

The whole has been split into ___ equal groups.

There are __ in each equal group.

One third/one quarter of ___ is equal to___.

Science

Thank you to all the families for helping with our plant investigation over the holidays! We have had a fantastic lesson today exploring the difference between putting plants in the sun or dark and watering or not watering the plants.

Here is an example of some of our outcomes.

Key Documents terms 3 and 4

PE days are Wednesdays (Dance at ICC) and Thursdays (outdoor, Tag Rugby and then invasion games). Please bring in a spare pair of shoes on Thursdays to change into after PE as it will be muddy on the field.

Term 4

Week 6

What a great STEM week we have had in Owls!

Highlights include.....

1. A wonderful visit from Dr Edwards who talked to Owls all about her work with plants. She brought in some interesting specimens and objects made using plants. The children asked lots of interesting questions and this has set them up for their continued study of plants next term in science lessons.

2. DT project on moon buggies. The children put their designs to the test this week building their moon buggies using axles and wheels. The children learned how to use a saw and sand paper as well as a range of materials to add the aesthetic dimension to their work.

3. Open Afternoon. We love opening our doors to parents and carers to come and see all our learning and this week was no exception. There was a wonderful buzz in the classroom as the children told different grown ups all about their STEM learning.

4. Maths with playing cards. We finished the week with all the children being given a pack of playing cards. We then learned some new games that will help us with our arithmetic skills. Enjoy teaching your families and playing them over the holidays.

Once again, thank you to all the families for you support this term. We hope you all have a lovely rest!

Week 5

English

This week we have been looking at a variety of shape poems. We have been enjoying reading them aloud and trying to use expression. Sometimes they were tricky to read because they were in the shape of the animal and we had to move the paper around to read the words. We noticed there was a lot of descriptive language eg adjectives, alliteration or some similes. Some of them rhymed and some of them had repeated phrases. Ask us which one was our favourite.

Maths

This week we continued our topic on measure. We had to decide if objects were longer or shorter than a metre. We then had to compare different lengths and heights and put them into order from the shortest to the longest.

Design Technology

We have been researching what types of axles and wheels will be the best for our moon buggies. We have used some new vocabulary when investigating: COMPONENTS, WHEELS, AXLES, CHASSIS (our favourite to say!), MECHANISM.

The Owls carefully considered the criteria that a moon buggy would need if it is to be successful on the Moon. Here are some of their ideas: strong, heavy ( to cope with gravity), high wheels to deal with the Moon's terrain, good suspension to ensure the axle doesn't break on the rocks, space to store equipment and safe seats....we can't wait to see if our builds are as comprehensive as our designs!

The children have said they may like to bring in a few bits to add to their creations next week too-we hope that is ok with parents too!

Week 4

NEWS FLASH!

We were thrilled to receive a video message from the explorer Lucy Shepherd who we were studying last term with lots of answers to the Owls' excellent questions about life as an explorer. Enjoy seeing what she said here.

English

A great week of writing our hot write journey stories. The children have remembered to include lots of new skills: sentences of 3, conjunctions when and if and repeated phrases. Enjoy some examples here. The children are looking forward to bringing their stories to life by reading them with expression to the Reception class.

Maths

We have started a new unit of measuring length this week. We are learning how to PRECISELY and ACCURATELY use a ruler both to measure lines and also draw lines. The children know the importance of looking for the correct unit (cm) on a ruler and ALWAYS starting from 0.

RE

We have begun looking at special occasions in different faiths and began this week by considering occasions we all celebrate and HOW we celebrate. Next week we will link this to a range of faiths and think about WHY different occasions are celebrated.

PE

We have been enjoying going over to Icknield School to take part in some dance lessons. Over the last couple of weeks we have been learning a routine to perform to others. We have to listen carefully to the music and remember the movements we have been learning.

Topic and Computing

Over the last couple of weeks we have been learning about Time Peake and Helen Sharman. We have been learning about why they are famous explorers and using the IPADs to help us with our research. We also looked at how space travel had changed over the years and compared how different it was when Neil Armstrong went into space in 1969.

Week 3

Week 2

The Owls have had another great week! 

Maths

Last week we looked at multiplication and making equal groups. We learnt some stem sentences to explain what we were learning eg There are 3 groups of 2. There are 6 altogether. This week we have been learning about division and learning to make equal groups by grouping and sharing. 

Science, Art and Dance

Some excellent learning across these three subjects this week. In science the children learned the terms CONSUMER, PRODUCER and PREDATOR in a food chain and how the arrow represents EATEN BY. To demonstrate their understanding of these terms, the children developed their own food chains using natural items. The children explained to each other which habitat their food chain could be found in AND the role of the different animals in the chain.

In Art we had a culmination to our topic on colour, combining our learning on TINTS, SHADES and colour mixing to produce more abstract artwork in the style of French abstract artists Robert and Sonia Delaunay. The children talked confidently about what moods and feelings their art work evoked-they are certainly ready to become budding art critiques!

We are privileged to be able to have dance lessons from the ICC dance teacher this term with the end product being a dance performance linked to musical interpretation...the children showed how they can listen and respond to music through movement and improvising using a range of learned moves.

Jigsaw

This term our jigsaw piece is called Healthy Me. Last week we learnt about how we can keep ourselves healthy and made some posters on what we thought was important. This week we learnt about how relaxation is important and described activities that make us feel relaxed.

Week 1

We have had a very busy first week back!

English

We started learning our new story map 'Man on the Moon'. Ask us to tell you about it and see if we can remember the actions. We also thought about where the story was set and created our own expanded noun phrases and similes to describe the setting.

Topic

In Topic we are looking at famous explorers in space over the next few weeks. This week we looked at how space travel had changed over the years and created our own timelines with key events. We had to work as a team to get the dates in the correct order.

Art and RE

We have continued our work on colour in art this week and looked at how to create tints by adding white to vibrant colours. We experimented with working like Paul Klee to produce different tints and shades.

In RE we examined different places of worship by comparing a Jewish Synagogue to a Christian church. The children spotted similarities such as: curved windows, pews, candles, turrets or spires, somewhere to do readings. The children could find the following in the synagogue: ark, memorial board, Torah script and eternal candle.

Week 5

What a wonderful last week of term 3 in the Owls!

We reflected lots on our mental health this week with the theme 'Our Voice Matters' for Child Mental Health Awareness week. We expressed what makes us proud using our voice both in school and out of school, with learning and friendships. We explored some vital issues linked to Internet Safety day too. We are really confident the Owls are clear about how they can stay safe online.

We had a fantastic day at Science Oxford too. This was an opportunity to put our enquiry skills into practice. The children explored: magnets, magnification, circuits, cogs, air resistance, sorting rocks, affects of temperature on our bodies, Venn diagrams for sorting and so much more! Please ask the children at home what they learned...they will have so much to share!

We also had the opportunity to explore Space in a planetarium ready for continued learning in our topic on Explorers beyond our planet next term....watch this 'space' for more exciting learning!

We were thrilled to welcome the Red Kites Class this week too as they shared their portal stories with us; they really inspired the children to think about the next steps in their own story telling and writing.

And finally, we couldn't be more proud of how the Owls rose to the challenge of reaching their goal of working collectively as part of a team. They were challenged to produce an imaginative bird picture to go in a garden of Hopes and Dreams. They had to work carefully together and their ability to compromise, listen, share, spot strengths and reach their goal was inspiring. This is a great foundation for future learning together.

Happy Half Term Holiday All!

Week 4

English

The children have been really excited to put their journalist skills into action this week! They have researched a treacherous expedition that a modern explorer (Lucy Shepherd) has taken through the Amazon. Now they are starting to write their own newspaper reports on the adventure putting all their writing skills this term into practice-we can't wait to see the end results!

Maths

Another excellent week of learning all about money. The children are confident in spotting which coins can combine to make £1 and why we might choose the option of less coins. We are also gaining confidence in working out how much MORE money we will need to reach one pound. Can you practise this at home with real coins:

How many different ways can you make £1?

What coins and amount would I add to 75p to make £1?

PE

The children are gaining more and more skills in Tag Rugby. They can now pass the ball using the phrase 'VASE, TIP, SWING, MAGIC FINGERS!". Can they explain what this means to you at home?

They are gaining confidence in dodging and calling to their team to work collaboratively too.

We have reminded the Owls to try and watch some of the Six Nations in coming weeks for inspiration too!

Computing

This term we are looking at programming and robot algorithms. This week we pretended to be human robots and come up with some clear instructions. We then used the bee bots and practised programming them so they accurately moved from one place to another.

Week 3

Art

We continued our work on colour this week. We considered the secondary colours and how to make them and enjoyed using this range of colours to create abstract colour block work in the style of Mark Rothko.

English

We created newspaper articles about Amelia Earhart this week, using all the text and sentence elements that make a great report. These included: headlines, sub-headings, the five 'W's and expanded noun phrases.

Science

We studied microhabitats this week, deciding how they differ to support the survival of different living things. We considered how they give energy, shelter and water. Can you find your own microhabitats in your garden or out on a walk? Next week we are going to explore the conditions that make a microhabitat perfect for specific creatures.

PE

This week in gymnastics we were learning all about different balances. We had to think about balancing on different parts of our bodies. We also had to try and complete some paired balances and use the benches to demonstrate different balances on.

Topic

This week we have been learning all about Amelia Earhart and the amazing record she broke when she flew over the Atlantic Ocean on her own. We also got the atlases out and looked at the route that she flew from Canada to Northern Island. Our other job was to identify the 7 continents in the World. Test us and see if we can still remember them all!

Week 2

RE

What an inspiring start to our topic on 'Important Places'. We visited two of the local churches today (St Leonards and St Edmund Campion) and (with help from the vicars) we learned about why a church is such an important place to Christians as well as the wider community. The children represented the school brilliantly; they asked thoughtful questions and showed great respect too.

On our return, the children decided that churches are important because:

• They help Christians worship God
• They are used for prayer
• People sing together
• They help people feel peaceful
• They are a calming place
• They are for baptisms, marriages and funerals
• They are used for events for the wider community (concerts)
• People can light candles there to remember people who have died.

Topic

We are really enjoying our topic about Explorers. We have been learning all about Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and their amazing achievement of climbing Mount Everest. We also had to look at pictures of different explorers and write on post it notes anything we knew about them. We knew who some of them might have been but there were quite a few that we didn't recognise or know anything about. 

English

We have explored newspapers in more detail this week, considering the importance of the 5 Ws, especially in the opening paragraph.

WHO were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay?

WHAT did they achieve?

WHERE did they go?

WHEN did they do it?

WHY did they do it?

We have also practised spotting statement sentences (these state facts about what is happening, what people are doing or feeling). Can you spot these sentences in newspapers at home?

Maths

We have been learning all about 3D shapes this week. We are getting better at remembering some of the names even the trickier ones like square based pyramid. We also learnt some new vocabulary - faces, edges and vertices. Then we had to identify different 3D shapes and work out how many faces, edges and vertices they had. See if you can spot any of these 3D shapes at home!

Music

We are learning a new song this term called rainbows. This week we started to learn how to play glockenspiels thinking about how to use the beater to make clear notes. We are now learning to play some of the melody for our song-hopefully we will be at performance standard soon!

Week 1

Welcome back to term 3 in Owls! What a fantastic start to our learning this term. There is a lot of BUZZ around the classroom about our new topic on Explorers. We are really enjoying the books that the children are already bringing into class to share on this topic. 

English

We are starting this term with a unit linked to our new topic on Explorers. We are studying newspaper reports this term and here is the text map for the newspaper report we are learning all about. It is about  Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and the first time Mount Everest was conquered.

There are some great new words the children may like to practise using at home too: expedition, conquered, treacherous, terrain, descent, summit and feat.

Can you practise the map at home too?

This week we also looked at some objects and had to decide what they were and who might have used them. We came up with some good ideas!

Maths

In maths we have been continuing our topic on shape. This week we looked at vertical lines of symmetry and had to explain which shapes had these lines of symmetry and which did not. We also had to draw and complete some shapes so they were symmetrical.

We followed that with sorting shapes using different types of methods; sorting diagrams like Venn diagrams and ordering too. We considered: vertices, sides, symmetry and polygons.

Key Documents and Information-Terms 1 and 2

PE days for Owls are Mondays and Thursdays. Please come to school in your PE kit.

End of Term 2

What a fantastic end to term 2 in the Owls Class!

The children enjoyed a festive Christmas lunch with Santa, a STEM Christmas quiz, lots of excellent work on 2d shapes that helped the children to carefully draw and cut out shapes for their Christmas cards and decorations.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all in term 3 for the start of our Explorers topic...

Week 7

The Owls were amazing this week at performing their song in the Church. They all worked really hard to remember the words and sang beautifully on Wednesday evening. 

Maths

We have been learning all about 2D shapes this week. We looked at all the shapes and had to identify and name them. Then we had to count how many sides they all had. We also learnt a new word this week - vertices and then had to count how many vertices the different shapes had. In one of our practical lessons we used geo boards and lolly sticks to create different 2D shapes.

Week 6

It's been another busy week in Owls this week!

On Wednesday we all had such a brilliant time at the Oxford Playhouse watching Jack and the Beanstalk. We all had lots of fun joining in with the performance.

English

We have all been busy writing our hot writes - creating a story about overcoming a monster. We had to think of our own characters and describe where they live and what they can do with interesting adjectives. We are looking forward to sharing our stories with each other next week.

Design Technology

Over the last few weeks we have been learning about Tudor houses. First of all we looked at and identified different features. Then we had to think about how we might make our own Tudor house. We had to decide how our house was going to stand up and what materials and equipment we would need to make our house. This week we got to use our designs and make our Tudor houses. The Owls were brilliant at choosing materials and thinking how they would use and attach them to their final product.

Computing

In this weeks lesson we learnt about taking a portrait or a landscape photograph. The children decided that if they were going to take a photo of something tall then it would look better in portrait and if they took a photo of something wide then a landscape photo would be better. 

Week 5

A very busy week of learning in the Owls!

Maths

The children have really been challenged this week learning how to subtract a 2-digit number from another 2-digit number when it requires them to EXCHANGE.

For example:

31 - 16

We have used our base 10 to help with this. Look at the example  in the photos if you would like to keep practising at home.

English

What an imaginative class we are!

The Owls have thought about the characters and settings for an 'overcoming the monster' story and practised telling them verbally ready for their hot writes next week...we can't wait to read all your incredible stories when they are finished!

Advent

We have begun to think about the lead up to Christmas and have made some decorations based on the parol stars from the Philippines. The children showed great perseverance and dexterity with this activity. We look forward to seeing them on the school Christmas tree in the church this month.

Week 4

Music

We have been working on learning a new song called 'Listen' that is all about how our senses can help us enjoy music in different ways. Part of our learning has focused on 'call and repeat' and today we added in percussion instruments to this. We decided that the drums  and shakers worked best for this as they didn't hold the notes too long. Great work Owls!

Maths

This week we have continued to learn about adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers using our base ten.

This helps us visualise the addition or subtraction carefully. We always remember to:

FIRST, ADD THE ONES, THEN ADD THE TENS or

FIRST, SUBTRACT THE ONES AND THEN THE TENS.

This helps us when we start to bridge the next or previous ten.

Reading

We are really enjoying some 'defeating the monster' books in class at the moment that compliment our writing in the same genre. Our class reader at the moment is called "The Shark-Headed Bear Thing" by Barry Hutchinson. It's funny but also filled with lots of ambitious vocabulary...ask the children at home what a GAUNLET is!

Science

The children may tell you they’ve been washing our dirty dishes…BUT it was all in the name os science! The children explored the the most suitable material for washing up, considering whether the properties of bendy, stretchy, squashy and flexible helped. Great scrubbing Owls! 

Week 3

PE

We have been enjoying our cricket lessons this term, Last week we really focused on throwing and catching skills. The coach reminded us to throw with one hand and catch with two. This week we continued to improve our throwing and catching skills by playing some games in pairs and small groups.

Computing

This term we are learning about digital photography. This week the children had to explain how to take a good photograph. To be able to do this they took a variety of photographs around the classroom. Including a close up, a photo from a distance, a photo of a person and a photo of a building. We shared our best photographs and explained why they were good and how we had taken them.

Maths

We have been using the base 10 to add 10s and add 2 digit numbers not crossing ten. We are getting better at drawing the base 10 to help us to work out number sentences.

Week 2

English

This week we have been learning our new story map. Our new story is called George and the Dragon. Ask us to retell it to you. This time we have been practising retelling the story using expression. Using quieter voices for some parts and then louder voices for other parts. We also had to order and sequence parts of the story. We are really enjoying this story!

Maths

This week we have been learning to add and subtract numbers across a ten. It has been quite tricky and we have been using lots of concrete objects to help us like our base ten and number lines. It has been really helpful to know our number bonds to 10 eg 3 + __ = 10   6 + ___ = 10.

Remembrance

Owls reflected on the words REMEMBRANCE and PEACE and wrote some thoughtful acrostic poems. They also made some beautiful multi-media collages of poppies. Owls also asked some thoughtful questions about remembrance. Well done Owls.

Science and Careers

We deviated from our Materials topic this week to take part in a great live online learning event. It was called 'Factory of the Future' and it was led by an engineer who works to reduce pollution in food production. We took part in an interactive session to design a factory that might be able to operate at Net Zero. The Owls learned about alternative power sources, ways to insulate buildings and how technology can help to run factories. They also learned about the job of engineers. 

Term 2

Week 1

What an exciting first week back we had in Owls. It was Halloween on our first day back and there was definitely some strange and spooky things going on in our classroom. We discovered some clues and a spooky letter from a mischievous witch. She had captured our lovely Mrs Haycock! We discovered her in Forest school and then came up with some ideas on how we could save her! Luckily Mrs Haycock is safely back in her Bats class now. Then we all wrote stories about what happened and how we could help Mrs Haycock to escape. 

RE

We had a really interesting RE lesson this week. We examined respectfully examined the Qu'ran (the Islamic sacred book). The children asked lots of excellent questions and reflected on rules that we use in our own lives that help us to be kind and caring. 

Week 7

What a busy and exciting last week of term we have had!

Art

We created our own King Charles II portraits. We used a range of materials creatively to produce our art work. We had to draw the outline of his face, neck and shoulders. Then paint the background, his face and clothes. After that we added his hair using different materials to add texture. Finally using pen we added his features and even a moustache!

Cinderella Pantomime and English

The children loved our visiting theatre company this week. It inspired them to compose their own written responses in a variety of ways. We had: wanted posters, diary entries, stories and persuasive letters. The children really embraced their imaginations and used their knowledge of different test types to write in these styles. Well done Owls!

Maths

We have focused on how to use our knowledge of number bonds to ten to support quick mental addition for two-digit numbers.

For example, if we know 7 + 3 = 10, then we can quickly calculate 27 + 3 = 30 or 47 + 3 = 50. The children need to know the 'next multiple of ten' to support this skill too. Can you have a go at this at home? 

Week 6

English

This week we have been learning all about non-fiction texts. We looked at a variety of information books and had to identify and spot common features eg contents, index, glossary, captions, headings. We then talked about why the books have them and why they are useful. Ask us to tell you all about them. Later in the week we started to create our own information text about The Great Fire of London. We had to research different questions and then write paragraphs answering some of these questions.

• Where did the fire spread to?
• How did they save their belongings?
• Why did the fire spread so quickly?
• How did they stop the fire?

Topic

We had such an exciting visitor come into school this week! Anna’s dad is a firefighter at High Wycombe Fire Station. He told us lots of interesting facts about being a firefighter and we got to ask him a lot of questions. We learned how to keep safe if there was a fire and he taught us some hand signals that firefighters use when they are trying to communicate with each other. He showed us all of the extra clothes he has to wear to keep him safe in a fire and even demonstrated how to put it all on - Mr Critchley was very hot by the time he had shown us!! As our topic is The Great Fire of London we talked about how different it was in 1666 when they tried to put out a fire. We all got to make a human chain and use a bucket to imagine what it would have been like to try and put the fire out. It took a long time to get small amounts of water on to the fire. We are glad that we have hoses to put fires out now! Thank you again to Mr Critchley for giving up his time to come and speak to us. The Owls loved it!

Week 5

Outdoor Learning Day

What a wonderful day!

We had a fantastic session in forest school working on team work and exploring and collecting natural items to help us with our challenges during the rest of the day.

The Owls created nature mobiles-there was a lot of resilience tying knots and attaching items to string. These are now decorating our outdoor canopy. We also worked on a range of number resources for this space that will help the children learn outdoors. Watch the growing resources under here in coming weeks. 

We also worked on fact families in maths and how understanding one addition can quickly help us know other additions and subtractions. We practised these using natural items and chalk outside.

We spent some of the afternoon practising high frequency spelling words outside and identifying the trees in our grounds using leaf rubbing and tree id sheets.

Well done Owls-you will all sleep well tonight!

National Poetry Day

Owls loved celebrating this special day on 5th October. We enjoyed reading and responding to some poems by Kate Wakeling and James Carter.

This poem about special treasures by Kate Wakeling really inspired the Owls. We thought about the treasures we have found in nature or would love to find in the future and created our own class list poem based on her work. We hope you enjoy it! Can you spot the treasure that your child chose?

My Treasures

By the Owls Class 2023

These are the treasures that I keep,

I hold them close before I sleep.

A rat’s skull,

A peacock feather,

Rainbow sea glass,

A dead clam,

A pound coin,

A muddy fossil,

A precious rock,

Some human skin,

Samuel Pepys’ diary,

A shiny ring with a purple gem,

A shiny French coin,

A colossal conker,

An elf acorn,

A dinosaur bone,

A rainbow jewel,

A Roman coin,

A smooth piece of pottery,

A massive eagle feather,

A snowy owl,

An old horse skull,

A shiny, black seashell

And a special conker.

These are the treasures that I found,

I keep them safe,

I keep them sound.

We also loved watching Michael Rosen perform 'Chocolate Cake'-one of Miss Sharman's favourites...enjoy it at home too...does it make you hungry?

Week 4

French

On Tuesday we celebrated European day of languages. The Owls class learnt a bit about France. We looked at where the country was in Europe, what their flag looked like and shared our experiences of visiting the country. We learnt a few songs in french, one of them was Frere Jacques. We also learnt a song that helped us to remember french numbers. Ask us if we can remember any of the numbers in french!

Topic

We have been making our own timelines of the Great Fire of London this week. We worked in groups to decide on which event happened first and on what date and then put all of the events in the right order. We were very good!

English

The children have imagined that they are Samuel Pepys this week and written a recount of his time during the Great Fire of London. We looked at some of his real diaries for inspiration too. The children have used a range of tome conjunctions and adjectives to bring his story to life.

Science

Wow! What great investigators we have in Owls! Today they explored the question "What material is the most absorbent?" to help Miss Sharman mop up all her spillages.

The children explored a range of materials and came up with their own methods to test this including how to measure it and make useful observations.

Week 3

Computing

This week we used the IPADs to practise our 2x and 10 x tables. We are also looking at IT around us this term and keeping ourselves safe online.

Topic

We are really enjoying finding out all about The Great Fire of London. This week we looked at all of the events and the order in which they happened. We made a large timeline of events into a display and then used this to help us order the events in our books.

Library

We enjoyed our visit to the KS1 library. We got the chance to take a new book out to take home and enjoy with our families. We also had some time to enjoy new books with our friends.

Maths

This week we have looked at how we can use a number line accurately to support our understanding of tens and ones. We learned that number lines do NOT always start at 0. We now remember to think about these strategies to help us use number lines and especially ones with missing numbers:

1. Check the starting number

2. Check the end number

3. Decide what the intervals are (jumps).

We also extended this learning to using bead strings to 100 to partition numbers, count the tens and ones and EVEN work out the missing number in sentences like this: 11 + ___ = 100 (well done Max on that one!)

RE

We started our new topic on beliefs and values in Islam today. The children asked lots of interesting questions and were really observant looking at photos too. Some new words we have discussed: Islam, Muslim, Quran, Mosque, Shahadah.

Reading

Miss Watts brought in her copies of Samuel Pepys' diaries (all 1 million + words!) and we enjoyed reading some extracts from the Great Fire of London. What a fantastic source of primary evidence!

Week 2

English

It's been another busy week in the Owls class. In English we have been learning our new story map - Vlad and the Great Fire of London. We have really enjoyed making up actions to retell the story, ask us to tell you all about it.

Maths

This week we have been continuing to look at place value. How many tens and ones are in a 2 digit number. We also used the part part whole model to partition numbers into tens and ones up to 100.

PE

This term one of our units of PE is dance. We are going to recreate The Great Fire of London using movement and dance. We started by linking movements together to make a sequence about how the fire started in the bakery.

Music

Owls started learning a new song today in our music lesson called 'Music in my Soul'. The children listened and responded to the music by thinking about the beat, instruments and how it made them feel. Here are some of their responses:

Calm

Shocked

Happy

Weird

Want to dance

Sleepy

Didn't like it

We all danced and enjoyed keeping to the beat of the music and we began to learn the song too. Watch out for a performance coming soon...

Science

We started our now topic about 'Everyday Materials'. The Owls loved exploring a range of objects, thinking about the materials and their properties- some fantastic language! The children have thought more deeply about what a material might look like under a microscope and tried to guess what objects are from VERY close up photos! A huge well done to Olivia who spotted a sponge immediately.

Maths Journalling

We had our first go at maths journalling today (showing our understanding and learning in lots of different ways). The children really got to grips with it and loved the independence it gave them to explain ideas in their own words and diagrams. 

Week 1

Wow!

What a fantastic start to year 2 for the Owls. They have really impressed us with their polite, kind and resilient attitude to school life. We may be biased, but we know we are going to have a year ahead filled with very WISE owls...we can't wait for all the adventures to come.

Maths: we have started our place value topic by recalling how we can use a range of concrete resources to support our understanding of tens and ones. Try asking your child at home to complete this sentence for a two-digit number:

There are ___ groups of tens and ___ ones. The number is ___.

English: We have started our first unit of work on a recount of the Great Fire of London from a rat's perspective. We have imagined life as a rat escaping from the bakery where the fire started by creating our own mini puppet shows. Hopefully the children have brought the puppets home and are impressing you with the story! 

Art: The Owls have started our unit on sketching by demonstrating the skills they already have in looking closely at images from real life and sketching them in a realistic way. Can you work out what types of owls they have drawn from the pictures below?

We can't wait to get stuck into learning again on Monday...well done Owls on a great start...