Hello everybody! We've had a busy few weeks in Squirrels class getting back into school routines and finding our feet with lessons again. The children have been brilliant with everything that's been thrown at them and we are especially proud of them for the friendships they're making with all the Hedgehogs. After so much time in two separate bubbles, it's wonderful to see all ages mixing and playing together.
Some of the things we've been up to over the past few weeks:
English
We've been all about traditional tales recently. We've learnt the story structure and key elements of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and have had fun imagining the story from different viewpoints. The children have been busy mastering adjectives, expanded noun phrases, speech sentences with inverted commas and different verbs for 'said'. This Friday they wrote tremendous 'twisted' fairy tales based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We've had everything from 'Pigeon and the Three Squirrels', "The Cat and the Three Dogs' to 'Archie and the Three Gamers'. All children had incredible attitudes to their writing and amazing stamina. Some produced 2 page stories! Next week we intend to turn them into physical books with illustrations and we are hoping to visit Hedgehogs and read our new stories to them.
Maths
This week we've been focusing on 2D shapes. Year 2 have been getting to grips with polygons, vertices, sides and lines of symmetry. Year 3 have been learning all about perimeter and how to measure it and calculate it. Everyone's done a great job. Why not go on some shape spotting walks over the weekend or challenge your child to tell you what a triangle isn't...
Perfectly Imperfect Art
Every Thursday afternoon the Squirrels have been doing an art based wellbeing session with Miss Taylor. This is a calm time for reflection and mindfulness which the children have embraced. We've been focusing on finding positives in our drawings no matter what and challenging the mindset that finished artwork has to be 'perfect'. Abstract portraits were a lot of fun for this and we now have some super colourful artwork to hang on the walls.
Learning about Light
We've had a science focus this week and have been exploring how we see. The children had fun sorting light sources from non-light sources (e.g. cheese, dogs, scooters) and pondering reflective objects that don't actually produce light (such as the moon). We are hoping for sunshine next week to allow us to do a shadow investigation.
Maths facts SPLAT!
In Squirrels we're having a big push on learning our maths facts and being able to recall them INSTANTLY! We've been having regular SPLAT! battles to encourage the children to practise at home and win rounds answering questions on the 2, 5 and 10 times tables (and their matching division facts), number bonds to 10 and 20 and even the 11 times tables (by popular demand!). Please keep practising at home as maths facts really do help confidence and ability in maths lessons. If you're not sure which maths facts your child should be learning, please check the 'Maths' section of the school website or email me via the office. Remember, your child should be able to know and recall any fact within 3 seconds to know it fluently.
Next week I will be sending out information about your child's back to school assessments and will outline what their priorities are post lockdown. As always, please contact the office or grab me after school if there is anything you need to speak to me about.
From Miss Cartwright
