Friday 15th October

                                                     

                                                    

Welcome all to Squirrels' blog,

I would like to share with you the learning children have been doing so magnificently in class this week. In maths our unit on addition and subtraction is going well. Squirrels have been learning to subtract using column subtraction. As always, the children are encouraged to use concrete objects to begin with until they feel secure enough in their understanding before moving on to a pictorial representation and finally confident to apply their knowledge abstractly. They are all doing a grand job at this!

Having completed a character description using sub headings on Scaredy Squirrel, Whaddon Squirrels continue to have lots of fun in their mantle, 'The Ancient Old Oak Tree.' Unfortunately a storm struck the tree this week causing damage to two of its main branches. Thankfully our 'team' (Squirrels) of researching arboriculturists rose to the challenge of saving the tree despite the Mayor's concerns that the tree was a danger to the village and must be cut down for safety reason. As a researching team the arboriculturists have discovered ways to save the tree. 

SPaG (Spellings, punctuation and grammar) 

Continuing with work on suffixes. Squirrels have been learning the spelling rules and applying them for the ly suffix. Interestingly, Squirrels happily performed their harvest festival rehearsal magically with lovely smiles.

In class we continue to practise spellings, handwriting, maths facts and times tables.

Please remember... you can access the Squirrel class pages on the school website. Each child also has access to Doodle learning for maths, spellings and English as well as Rising Stars for a selection of year 2 reading books. 

If you are unsure of your child's log in for Doodle, please refer to Parentmail dated 15/09/2000

As always Squirrels, have a super weekend!

From Miss Swain and Daphne 

Friday 24th September

 Happy Friday 24th September to you all,

                                                              

I hope you are all well. We have had yet another super week in the Super Squirrels class. Lots more virtual marbles in the virtual marble tin for super learning. Squirrels have been discussing positive learning behaviours and applying it to their learning. 

In Super Squirrel class this week, we have completed our unit on place value. Our new unit in maths is addition and subtraction.  

In handwriting, Squirrels have bee practising letter formation and thinking about the relative sizes of the letters. Yr 3 have been looking at the suffix 'ly' and the spelling rules that apply. Yr 2 have been busy working on their sentence structure ensuring that 'every sentence every time' is neatly written, phonetically plausible and punctuated correctly.

In our mantle the children have been using iPads and non fiction books to research which animals would live in an ancient oak tree. Squirrels were very excited to learn about the famous 'Major Oak' tree and imagine the possible stories from Sherwood Forest that it may hold. They were astounded by its size and tried to imagine its width - 11 meters! 

You can view Major Oak here. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully the sun will continue to shine

From Miss Swain and Daphne 

  

Super Squirrels: Friday 17th September

 Welcome Super Squirrels families to the Super Squirrels class blog 2021 

 Red Squirrels (Yr2)

 Grey Squirrels (Yr 3)

Hello!

I will be updating the blog with the latest news and pictures from the Super Squirrel class. I am delighted to say that the children have settled into their new Squirrel cohort with endurance, wisdom and compassion. We have a very happy drey filled with lots of busy Squirrels. 

As a class, we discussed what our expectations of each other were. The Squirrels decided that kindness, being a good friend and a smart learner were of high importance. The Squirrels have been incredibly considerate towards their friends and have had positive attitudes towards their learning. As a result of their respect towards each other and their super attitude towards their learning the children have already earned 20 virtual marbles in their virtual marble tin. 

Some of the things we have been working on in the Super Squirrel class this week:

We have started out new mantle topic, 'The Ancient Old Oak Tree'

The children have all been squirreling away practising their times tables.

In maths the have been looking at place value Red Squirrels 2 digit numbers, Grey Squirrels  3 digit numbers.

We have started reading 'A Letter to Pluto' as a whole class which the chilldren are enjoying very much.

During handwriting and spellings Squirrels have been using their new posh pens.

The children have been learning about communion in R.E

and much much more...

On Monday the children's spelling booklets will be going home in their book bags. The spelling books have been updated this term. The highlighted spellings are the ones the children know. The blank ones are the ones the children need to practise. Could you please support your child/ren at home and encourage them to practise their spellings regularly. Please only concentrate on the next whole blank page. We will update booklets each term. 

                                          Thank you

You could try:

Rainbow writing   

Pyramid writing   

             c

            ch

            chi

            chil

           child

           childr

          childre

          children  

Writing backwards and forwards e.g.

The word children: nerdlihc  - children 

You could also try playing look, say, cover, write and check. Your child looks at the word, says the word then covers it over before having a go at writing it.

Please also remember to check the class page on the school website for maths facts to practise. There are some fun games on there.

Super Squirrels, do remember to enjoy a range of books at home as well as school.

Have a super weekend, Super Squirrels. 

See you on Monday, 

Miss Swain and Daphne

An Unexpected Early Goodbye

Hello to all you wonderful Squirrels. 

Yesterday was a bit of a surprise. It feels very strange to have finished our final week together early and not be able to do all of the fun activities we'd got planned. While I'm sad things ended so suddenly, I'm very glad we got to have an amazing final Forest School together yesterday morning (complete with a camp fire and smores of course!). 

I feel so lucky to have been Squirrels teacher for the past two years. We've had an amazing time and learned a fair bit together along the way! I hope you all keep asking questions and finding ways to make your learning fun, whether it's at home or at school next year. 

Our Squirrel class mantles have been a very special highlight for me. We did so many but the Gruffalo mantle (Autumn term 2019), Guy Fawkes mantle (Autumn term 2020) and our current Queen Raven castles mantle have been my favourites. What were yours? 

My plan for today in school was to build Queen Raven's castle using tables, boxes, pallets and whatever else we could find around the school. Maybe you could build your own castle at home at some point this week? If you're not ready for the history/castles learning to end, take a look at school activities page of Warwick Castle's website. 

Finally, I'll leave you with some photos from our Battle of Hastings history day from last week. We had a lot of fun exploring the Bayeux Tapestry, raising questions and re-enacting both the battles between Harold Godwinson's army and Harold Hardrada's, then Harold Godwinson vs. William of Normandy's army. 

Harold Hardrada's defeated army

William, Duke of Normandy, becomes William the Conqueror and King of England!

All that is left for me to say is a huge thank you to you all, both Squirrels and parents! You've all been wonderful through two very difficult years. Squirrels, in school you have never given up and you've always had great attitudes! Parents, throughout the lockdowns, home learning and the return(s) to school you've been incredibly supportive and generally brilliant. So thank you all. 

Reports will be sent out this week along with some ideas on how to keep your child's learning ticking over during the summer. 

A ParentMail will be sent out soon with details of when we can return together at Whaddon Park and say our goodbyes properly. 

I hope you all have an amazing summer holidays and you'll return to school in September ready to learn. I won't be there but I know you'll be incredible!

Lots of love, 

Miss Cartwright 

Summer Term 2 Update 3 & 4

Hello Squirrels one and all. I hope you're well and have had a good few weeks. This week you get twice the update as I was unable to publish last week's blog. 

Our mantle story has been incredibly busy. We spent the beginning of week 3 researching castle defences so we could better understand how to attack and take back Queen Raven's castle. We learnt about equipment used to attack castles in the Middle Ages. It ranged from siege towers and ladders to fire arrows, battering rams and catapults to mining underneath castles to access them from the inside or undermine their outer walls. The servants of Queen Raven agreed on a battle plan which used a battering ram at the front gates for a distraction, then mining tunnels into various rooms of the castle to attack. They wrote excellent instructions on how to attack a wooden Motte and Bailey castle. 

Queen Raven appeared on Wednesday and order her servants to ready themselves for an attack. Her servants fought boldly and bravely but unfortunately the knights inside the castle were ready for attack. The situation was looking bleak when suddenly a flaming fire arrow through the air! The servants were confused as we'd agreed in our battle plans not to use fire arrows as we wanted to reclaim Queen Raven's castle, not burn it down. Sadly the wooden walls and thatched rooves were no match for the fire arrow and the fire spread quickly. Wisely, Queen Raven commanded her servants to retreat once again to the forest. 

Although she was sad, Queen Raven commanded her servants build her a new, better castle. She'd heard of these Norman castles being built from stone. They were larger, safer and far more impressive! 

Before beginning that task, we wrote diary entries about our attempt to reclaim Queen Raven's castle and used oil pastels to draw the burning castle. That way, the story of the attack will be saved for others to learn about in the future. 

At the beginning of week 4, the servants first created a map of Queen Raven's kingdom. They spent time discussing the physical and human features of the kingdom and how it compares with modern day Britain. They then chose a prime location to build on.

Next, the servants researched Norman castles and discovered how many built in defences they had, such as arrow slits, battlements and crenellations, a portcullis and drawbridge, extremely tall and thick walls and, of course, a moat. The servants used their research knowledge to design Queen Raven's new castle. Their pictures and  blueprints (drawn onto squared paper with precise measurements labelled on) were incredible and hugely detailed! They wrote about their designs, explaining which features they had included and why for Queen Raven. We are now awaiting a verdict from Queen Raven about whether we should begin building...

SPAG

Week 3: A recap of using adjectives in a list with commas, followed by forming nouns using the -er suffix. E.g. build = builder, farm = famer, teach = teacher. 

Week 4: Using similes to describe (e.g. brave like a knight, as busy as a bee) and alliteration (e.g. Daphne dog danced and dug dreamily all day long). 

Year 2 SPAG homework is on DoodleSpell while Year 3 SPAG homework is on DoodleEnglish. 

Maths 

We have continued telling the time for the last few weeks. The children have progressed from telling the time to 5 minutes to calculating end or start times for events and duration of events. These are tricky skills but the children are showing great endurance. Please continue to do plenty of time telling with your child at home using an analogue clock face. This is a life skill that we want them to feel really confident with! 

There is maths homework on time telling on DoodleMaths. 

Next week there will be Move-Up Day on Wednesday for everyone. They will spend the day with their new teachers in their new classes.

Have a wonderful weekend Squirrels.

From Miss Cartwright 

Summer Term 2 Update 2

Hello one and all, I hope you've had a great week. We certainly have in Squirrels class!

Much of our week has been spent in the Middle Ages. The year 1103 to be exact. On Monday we spent time researching the different roles of servants and how their working days might have been within a castle. We drew ourselves in Medieval clothing doing our jobs (marshals who tend the wagons and horses, maids, carpenters, messengers, gardeners, watchmen, candle makers and cooks) then stepped into our different roles within Queen Raven's castle. 

The servants had a shock when Queen Raven herself came to inspect their work and made sure everything was done to the absolute highest standard! Afterwards, they completed some brilliant diary writing about their day. 

On Wednesday, we were back in our story on the day of the siege. We used chalk drama squares on the playground to help us focus on our acting (mainly facial expressions and body language) before and during the attack. The servants were very loyal and faithful to Queen Raven and did their best to defend her in the castle, help her escape through the South Tunnel and then follow behind to join her in the safety of a nearby woodland. 

On Thursday the servants met Queen Raven under the old oak tree at midnight. She told them to prepare to siege the castle themselves, as she wants her castle back and will take it by any means! The team stepped out of the story and back into 2021 to do some castle research. The afternoon was spent using books and iPads to discover everything there is to know about castles and how best to attack them. The general conclusion was "this is going to be a difficult challenge, but if we let Queen Raven down, she might execute us...", so we'll be working hard on Monday to form a solid plan! 

SPAG

We had great fun on Monday learning about compound words. Compound words have two root words joined together to make a completely new word with a different meaning. E.g. butter + fly = butterfly. Rain + bow = rainbow. Star + fish = starfish. We had great fun thinking of as many as we could and applying them in sentences. 

On Tuesday we recapped homophones. Homophones are words which have the same sound but two (or more) different spellings with different meanings. The tricky bit is knowing which word to use when. E.g. sea and see; to, too and two; hair and hare; knew and new; blue and blew. 

Try spotting compound words and homophones when reading together and discuss the spellings together. You could also use pieces of paper or post it notes and make a 'Pairs' game to play together. 

Maths 

This week we have moved on to telling the time. This is a very tricky skill to learn, so please practise it as much as possible at home. If you are able to, please give your child an analogue watch to wear and encourage them to use it as much as possible. Talk about key times in the day together, such as when you wake up, leave for school, eat dinner and go to bed. 

Year 2 have been focussing mainly on o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to times. More confident children have also been tackling telling the time to 5 minutes (5 past, 10 past, 20 past, 25 past, 25 to, 20 to, 10 to and 5 to). 

Year 3 have done the same as Year 2 above, plus challenging themselves to read times to the nearest minute. They have also been learning about AM and PM and accurately writing digital times. 

SPAG homework has been set on DoodleEnglish and maths time work has been set on DoodleMaths. 

Have a great weekend Squirrels. Please remember to read every day and practise your spellings and maths facts little and often throughout the week and weekend! 

From Miss Cartwright 

Summer Term 2 Update 1

Hello and welcome to the recap of a wonderfully sunny first week back. 

I hope you all had great half terms! I spent mine mostly outside, with plenty of books and sunshine dog walks. 

We've been busy getting to grips with an exciting new mantle story this week. At first we weren't sure who the character was or what time era the story was set in, so the children set about investigating some artefacts that belonged to the mystery person. After plenty of great discussion comparing materials, writing tools and household objects now and then, we decided these artefacts came from history. Bruce suggested that we may be learning about the Roman times, as there was a crown, sword and shield among the artefacts, while Henry H wondered if we were learning about the Vikings.  Almost all of us agreed that royalty might be involved, and therefore probably a castle. The children wrote some thoughtful question sentences and were well and truly hooked in! 

The next day our story progressed some more. The children were able to watch the mysterious person as they were writing in their diary, which was dated 1st June 1103. Archiejack recognised this date as being in the Middle Ages (Medieval times). This person had been forced to flee their castle due to a siege. They were attacked from the outside and the inside by mutinous knights who betrayed their king or queen. The mystery person is angry and wants to take their castle back. The children were cautious when they said that they wanted to help. They agreed the mystery person may attack us and would need to trust us. 

They then watched the person leave a note for their faithful servants to return to them. The message was signed Queen Raven and the children were surprised to find out she was a queen! We agreed that it would be a good idea to set about learning more about the Middle Ages first, before stepping into the story. The children were open to the idea of becoming Queen Raven's faithful servants to make sure that, once we're in the story, she trusts us and does not try to attack us (she does seem like a very fierce warrior queen!). 

SPAG

This week we have focussed on word classes and using the suffixes -ful and -less to turn words into adjectives. 

Word classes: The children have been looking at sentences and identifying the nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives in them. A noun is the name of a person, place or thing. A verb is a doing word. An adverb adds more information onto the verb and tells you how or when it is being done. An adjective is a describing word. The children did a brilliant job in Super Sentences of writing their own sentences containing on of every different word class. 

Suffixes: The suffix -ful means something/someone is full of something. The suffix -less means the opposite. Something/someone doesn't have any of it. E.g. pain becomes painful or painless. These words then become adjectives as they can be used to describe something. E.g. The injection was painful/painless. The children were careful/careless. The rainbow was colourful/colourless. 

Discuss the terminology of word classes at home and have a go at writing some silly sentences containing them all. You could try thinking of as many suffix words for -ful and -less as possible and write them into sentences. Try spotting them when reading too. SPAG homework has been set on Doodle.

Maths

We've continued to work on money this week (and the week before half term). Plenty of discussion and money games at home will help your child to feel confident and develop fluency with money. You could: 

• Count how much money is in someone's piggy bank / purse / wallet / change pot. Discuss pounds and pence and how much money there is in total. 
• Charge the children money for snacks. Only if they can 'pay' you by drawing the correct amount of coins/notes can they earn the snack! The same goes for earning money by completing jobs around the house. 
• Predict how much pocket money they might have by the end of the month by counting each week's amount. 
• Help with the weekly shop by looking at prices online and working out a total cost for (e.g.) all the fruit and veg. 
• Set up a play shop and calculate change.  

Please make sure you are practising spellings and maths facts at home regularly. This term's maths facts focus for Year 2 is multiplication and division facts for the 5x table and for Year 3 is multiplication and division facts for the 8x table. DoodleTables is excellent for practising times tables and division facts. All maths facts information can be found on the school website under the maths section. 

Have a wonderful, sunny weekend Squirrels. 

Remember to drink plenty of water, wear plenty of sun cream and eat plenty of ice creams!

 Love Miss Cartwright