Year 2 - The Penguins: Blog items
Wellie Walk Wednesday!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 4th Oct 2023 @ 9:30pm
This week the children welcomed a new penguin into their class. They have been friendly and kind and have enjoyed helping our new penguin feel part of the family!
We have been busy with our phonics this week. A huge thank you for your support. The penguins are enjoying spotting their new sound each day and they are very proud in class of the new words we read each day. Please continue to read and revisit the phonics wallet each day.
We have been working on taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, heavy and light this week. The children have been human balances, have experimented with different scales and had to work out what size of paper they needed to wrap the gifts at the wrapping station. I have been very impressed with their wrapping up skills, however we have gone through a lot of sticky tape!
Tomorrow is our library visit. We are very excited. As the weather is quite unpredictable at the moment please send your child to school with a coat. If it is very wet the penguins can wear their wellies on the walk.
Baking day!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 28th Sep 2023 @ 9:59pm
This week seems to have flown by!
The penguins have carried on exploring their senses this week. They have been weaving with pine cones, making their own class dough (with no help! Things got a little sticky!) and today they have been kneading and baking their own bread! The smell from school was amazing!
Baking the bread was very exciting and helped us to learn more about Harvest. We hope you enjoyed the Harvest Celebration in church. The penguins enjoyed their afternoon in church, especially the walk there and back with the year five buddies.
Reading - please remember to add a little comment in the white record book each time your child reads their school reading book at home. Please aim for 10/15mins reading each night. The reading pack should come to school each day in the blue book bag.
Phonics - please return your plastic wallet to school on a Thursday when new sounds will always be added each week. Please send this wallet in the blue book back. The children are really enjoying their phonics - please practice these sounds with their reading books each night. They are looking forward to teaching you the new actions!
Homework - this will come home on a Thursday and should be returned on the following Tuesday. Homework is the only thing sent home in the red book bag. Homework is always linked to our class work.
Next week we will be walking to Longton Library. I have sent a form home in your book bag from the library. Please complete it and return it to school (at the latest Tuesday morning) in the blue book bag. The librarians will check that your child is enrolled in the village library. If you are not yet members of the library, your child will be issued a ticket.
The books chosen next week will be for our classroom only. We will have a story session, followed by an art and craft session. We will return to school in time for hometime.
Get ready for Autumn., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Sep 2023 @ 1:17pm
The penguins are really starting to blossom. They are sharing funny stories, playing with new friends and confidently walking around school speaking to staff and children from other classes.
The penguins were excited to take their new reading books home this week. They have enjoyed teaching you our new sounds. I hope you are also learning the actions!
We are looking forward to celebrating Harvest next week in church and walking down School Lane holding hands with our buddies.
We have enjoyed exploring with our senses this week with spicy writing, exploring lemons and limes and reading in our classroom den with torches. The children really enjoyed making sandwiches with their friends this week so we have planned to have a baking day soon.
Class list, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 19th Sep 2023 @ 9:53pm
Class list -
Henry, Oliver, India, Rudy, Molly, Izzy, Phoebe, Robin, Sophia-Rose, Rose F, Edward, Tobias, Spencer, Hugo, Jessica, Isaac J, Rose M, Daisy, Isaac P, Rupert, Louie, Iylah, William, Sophie, Lewis, Isobel, Lois, Evie, Millie.
Wet welly Tuesday!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 19th Sep 2023 @ 9:39pm
What a wet and soggy day! However this didn’t stop the super penguins from having a great day.
I have lots to share and it’s only Tuesday! This week we continue with our topic Marvellous Me.
In maths we have been playing lots of matching games, match and memory, snap and dominoes. The penguins have been brilliant at spotting when Mrs. Thomson makes a mistake with her matching. We have had a class washing line for matching the clean - not stinky socks! We have played matching exercise games and we even had a huge follow my leader in the rain around the playground where the children had to match each action.
We are exploring our senses this week. We have some class herbs that we are looking after. Please ask the children which senses they use to smell the herbs (touch to rub the leaves and smell) Also please ask them which they like the best. Chocolate mint and lemon are strong favourites!
Yesterday the children made a sandwich friend. The children took a patterned piece of a heart. They then had to find who had the matching piece. The children buttered their bread and chose a filling of jam or ham. They made a heart shaped sandwich each and then went outside to sit with their new friend to enjoy an afternoon treat. The children enjoyed using their sense of taste.
This afternoon I visited our shoe shop. I was looked after and fortunately the shop sold slippers in adults sizes. What a treat! The children are enjoying being the shop assistants and the customers. My favourite comment that I heard today was from one busy shop assistant who was measuring feet. He stood up, took a deep breath and said “it’s a long day selling shoes”.
I hope you enjoy these pictures. Most of them have been taken by the children!
Meeting our year five buddies!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 14th Sep 2023 @ 9:24pm
This week the Penguins met their year five buddies. They had lots of fun together. The penguins taught their buddies the penguin dance and our favourite dance - Banana Meatballs! We all enjoyed some outdoor play as well as showing year five around our class room.
Today was thoughtful Thursday which involved story massage. The massage today was baking a birthday cake. Mrs. Morrison and I have enjoyed working and playing with the children. They have lots of stories to share and even beat Mrs. Morrison today in our phonics game! Well done Penguins!
We have sent home a red folder today for homework. Please send this back on Tuesday. The task is to have a treasure hunt around your home to find objects which start with our four sounds. There is also an extra task on the back if your child would like to practise their letter formation. If you have any problems or questions please feel free to ask Mrs.Morrison or I at the start of the day.
I have also sent home a small wallet with our sounds in. Please keep this in your child’s blue book bag so that we can add new sounds to it each week.
Thank you for your help and support.
Team work Tuesday, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 12th Sep 2023 @ 10:07pm
The Penguins have had a busy day today. We started with Squiggle and a wriggle. I am sure your child will show you what we do if you have a spare silky scarf, paper, crayons and some good music. Today we danced to Mama Mia. Lots of the penguins seemed very familiar with this music today. Next week we will be using a song by Queen.
Today I have been working with the children for short periods of time on a one to one basis. The children have been carrying out puzzles and practical tasks which they have enjoyed. This time has helped me get to know the children a little better and we have all realised that we enjoy a good chat!
The children went into the hall at the end of the day today for assembly. Our first whole school assembly! We were very proud of the penguins!
Tomorrow we have an exciting morning as we will be meeting our year five buddies. They will come into our class and spend time reading stories and sharing our 'All about me' books with us. We will plan special afternoons where we will see our buddies and we will walk to church with our buddies when we have celebration assemblies. A special friendship will develop over time - our year five pupils are so excitied!
First week super stars!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 8th Sep 2023 @ 5:18pm
The Penguins have been amazing this week! They have enjoyed working and playing with their friends. They have been chatty, friendly and super kind to each other.
Today we did some number games and the children were given ‘genius gems’ for their awesome work.
This afternoon the children had drama with Mr. Sumner followed by music and singing with Miss. Derby.
I hope you have spotted the special certificate in your child’s book bag. Mrs. Morrison and I have had a lovely week and we will be looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday.
Well done Super Penguins!
Thoughtful Thursday., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 7th Sep 2023 @ 4:08pm
Thoughtful Thursday started with the children going in their team colours on a guided tour of school with Mrs. Morrison. The children explored the school and also visited the orchard and forest school and our outdoor areas. Some groups got to see a guitar lesson in the music room and even a science experiment in the year five classroom. They explored the kitchen, library, visited Nicola and Linda in the office and even had a peep in the art studio.
We all did Dough Disco to warm up our hands and fingers before we all had a go at writing our name. Mrs.Thomson was very proud!
Our shoe shop is almost ready in our outdoor shed so we had a sort out of the dressing up clothes we want to use in this area. As you can see in the pictures the children enjoyed sorting them out and trying them on!
Thoughtful Thursday ended with us doing story massage. Please ask your child to show you! You may get a little relaxing massage to Twinkle Twinkle. A perfect way to end the day!
Mrs.Thomson
Welcome Penguins!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 4th Sep 2023 @ 7:54pm
What a special day we have had today! It was wonderful to welcome the penguins into school on such a lovely sunny morning.
The penguins have had a lovely start to their school journey by exploring their classroom and the outside environment. As it was very warm the children only played out for short bursts and made time for lots of water bottle stops. (If this weather continues please feel free to send a cap into school - I did get the hat box out today to help keep the children cool).
Today we have done some rainbow writing, painted a picture of ourselves and have also split into two groups for key worker time. During this time the children introduced themselves and all had the opportunity to tell the group something special about themselves. It has been lovely learning about the children.
Tomorrow morning starts with a great fun exercise session in the hall called squiggle and wriggle (all children in school uniform please). We will also be sharing our ‘All about me’ books. Thank you for all the books sent in so far.
Wednesday morning is PE. Each week on a Wednesday please send your child into school in their PE kit and black pumps.
Please can you send in your child’s final report from nursery. I would appreciate a copy of this. Please add a note if you would like me to copy it and return the original home to you.
Also if you have a photograph of your child ( this could be on holiday, with family or with a pet for example) please could we have it for our home corner. The children like to see and share a photograph of themselves which I will put in a frame - just like you have in your home.
Thank you, Mrs. Thomson.
