Non-fiction texts
Continuing on from our work last week, the children have been comparing fiction and non-fiction texts. We looked at similarities and differences and discussed the different features. The children then worked in pairs to locate all the different text features of an information book such as contents page, index, glossary, headings, sub-headings, photographs, labels, captions, front cover, title.
I was so pleased with the children's efforts and our group reading sessions this week showed how much they had learnt as we continued to find out new facts and information in a range of different information books. Well done Jaguars! Next week we will have a go at creating our own information books with a contents page and a glossary! I hope you enjoy your homework task next week!
I was so pleased with the children's efforts and our group reading sessions this week showed how much they had learnt as we continued to find out new facts and information in a range of different information books. Well done Jaguars! Next week we will have a go at creating our own information books with a contents page and a glossary! I hope you enjoy your homework task next week!
Adult animals and their offspring
The children have had great fun learning about how humans and animals produce offspring this week. It was perfect timing as Mrs Robinson gave birth to her third daughter on Wednesday so Elizabeth was a very proud Jaguar on Thursday as she shared this exciting news with the class! As you can imagine, this led us into a great discussion about mothers and their young! We discussed the human life cycle and then looked at a range of different adult and baby animals and their names. The children worked hard to match the adult animal pictures to its offspring and labelled them correctly.
We played some fun interactive games online. See how much your child can remember by having a go at the animal quiz below:
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html
We played some fun interactive games online. See how much your child can remember by having a go at the animal quiz below:
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html
Henri Rousseau
During our Art lesson this week, the children learnt about a famous French artist: Henri Rousseau. We looked very carefully at a selection of his paintings to try and spot all those hidden creatures and posed questions of what we wanted to find out about him. We were all very shocked after watching the short video, that he never actually left France and painted all his jungle pictures using his imagination! In our new sketch books, we had a go at sketching our own jungle pictures thinking about shape, perspective, detail and building layers. We sketched lightly and carefully then viewed our friends work in a walking gallery. We were all very impressed with each other's efforts! Next week we will use water colours to paint our pictures and learn how to use the fine paint brushes to colour every last detail and mix the colours to create a range of shades.
Instruction writing!
Animals Needs!
This week in Jaguar Class we have been busy learning about instructions! We begun the week by singing some well known songs such as 'Hokey Pokey' and 'If you're happy and you know it' which got us up and moving. We talked about when we need to follow and use instructions and the importance of this.
We had great fun giving instructions to our friends by describing some very strange looking creatures and putting our listening and drawing skills to the test! We all loved this activity!
On Thursday, we had a lovely surprise and received a letter from Mrs Low. She was asking us to write some instructions for her Ayi to look after her new puppy. We thought carefully about what animals need, linking to our Science work, and we ordered our instructions, using time connectives and bossy verbs ! WOW! We also met our first VCOP character, Vicky Vocab who helps to add description to our writing in the form of adjectives. Some of us added extra detail in our instructions such as leaving the puppy clean water and a comfortable, soft bed. Thanks Vicky! :)
We had great fun giving instructions to our friends by describing some very strange looking creatures and putting our listening and drawing skills to the test! We all loved this activity!
On Thursday, we had a lovely surprise and received a letter from Mrs Low. She was asking us to write some instructions for her Ayi to look after her new puppy. We thought carefully about what animals need, linking to our Science work, and we ordered our instructions, using time connectives and bossy verbs ! WOW! We also met our first VCOP character, Vicky Vocab who helps to add description to our writing in the form of adjectives. Some of us added extra detail in our instructions such as leaving the puppy clean water and a comfortable, soft bed. Thanks Vicky! :)
JAGUAR CLASS
2014-2015
Hello! We are the new Jaguars! We have had a fabulous 3 weeks in our new class and have been working so hard already! We hope you enjoy exploring our weebly page and finding out all about what we have been learning!
Into the Wild!
We have been learning all about the Year 2 animals which live in the wild! So far, we have learnt about our own animal, the Jaguar, the Elephant, the Rhino and the Giraffe!
We have shared what we know about the animals already, asked questions about what we want to find out, then found out more information from books, websites and our friends!
We have shared what we know about the animals already, asked questions about what we want to find out, then found out more information from books, websites and our friends!
Story time with Mrs Zhao in Mandarin!
JAGUAR CLASS
2013 - 2014
Jaguar Class have been busy reading and writing some very silly poems!
The children have been having great fun reading a variety of nonsense poems by a range of authors! We have looked at alliteration and begun reading George's Marvelous Medicine. We came up with a variety of disgusting items to put in Grandma's medicine and even alliterated our sentences! Lilly had a lucky, lazy, lime lizard in hers and Zion had a scarey, silly shark swimming! Wow!
This week, we have begun to look at onomatopoeia and had a go at re-writing the Ning Nang Nong poem with a final performance, by inventing our own language for a new fantasy place! Check out the video below!
I am very impressed with the children's efforts at writing and performing their favourite poems to the class. They read clearly, confidently and did a great job at changing their voices to keep us entertained!
Jaguar Class write their own chapter in the style of Roald Dahl!
This week the children have been borrowing ideas and story language to plan and write their own chapter for Roald Dahl's story. They had to design a new 'mean' character and some of the children even created a new room! We imagined what we could hear, see, smell and feel as we entered the room. We looked at creating an anti-climax, discussing feelings, followed by a WOW event, to make our chapter interesting. We recorded our ideas in a flow diagram and used connectives to link each section. Before we wrote our chapters, we practised telling our story verbally, making sure we were using a clear, expressive voice. I think Roald Dahl would be extremely proud of the children's efforts! :) Well done Jaguar Class!
Year 2 Impact Afternoon with the crazy scientists!
It's time to design a new Wonka bar!
KS1 Choir:
World Green Day and Year 2 performance practice!
Who will win the chocolate factory and take it over?
Willy Wonka has vanished! Who will take over the chocolate factory and run it as well as Willy Wonka does? Well, we decided to have a debate! We got into 4 groups and discussed thoughts about which Golden ticket winner would be the best leader. One person from each group was nominated to come to the front of the class and try to persuade the rest of the children why he or she would make the best leader. We voted for each child and these were the results:
Veruca Salt: 0 votes (especially after her temper tantrum at the end when no one had voted for her!)
Augustus Gloop: 3 votes (we thought he would eat all the chocolate but he told us he is now trying carrots and vegetables and his pockets were full of them!)
Violet Beauregarde: 6 votes (she told us she would get rid of her gum and make everything violet coloured which we liked!)
Mike Teevee: 0 votes (he refused to get rid of his toy guns which scared us)
A surprise visit from Charlie Bucket who won the vote! We were rather hesitant to begin with as we didn't think he would be a strong leader but he managed to persuade us in the end!
Veruca Salt: 0 votes (especially after her temper tantrum at the end when no one had voted for her!)
Augustus Gloop: 3 votes (we thought he would eat all the chocolate but he told us he is now trying carrots and vegetables and his pockets were full of them!)
Violet Beauregarde: 6 votes (she told us she would get rid of her gum and make everything violet coloured which we liked!)
Mike Teevee: 0 votes (he refused to get rid of his toy guns which scared us)
A surprise visit from Charlie Bucket who won the vote! We were rather hesitant to begin with as we didn't think he would be a strong leader but he managed to persuade us in the end!
We had a surprise visit from Miss Lucy Wright this week! She helped us with our Art work and read us a story all about chocolate!
Oompa loompa do-ba-dee-do!
The incredible oompa loompa's came to visit us in Jaguar Class this week! We had so much fun getting into role and asking them all about how they feel working for Mr. Willy Wonka and what their favourite part of the factory is. We learnt their famous song with actions and then transformed our UN photographs into actual oompa loompa's using orange and green paint, cotton wool for the wigs and white and brown paper and ribbon for their clothes!
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY!
What a great first week we have had back in Jaguar Class! The children have been full of beans as we are begun reading our 4th Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the chocolate factory! We begun by focusing on the setting and the children drew some fantastic versions of the chocolate factory itself and described it using their senses. We then moved on to meeting the 4 golden ticket winners! The children magpied all the amazing descriptive language and then added in their own words. In groups they decided which character they wanted to be and then drew a life size version! They had to work well as a team, choosing aspects of their small individual designs to create the large illustration. Each group then chose a different media to add colour. I was particularly impressed when the children wrote their character descriptions as we looked at synonyms to help develop our bank of vocabulary! We chose words such as affluent, vulgar, ill-mannered, spoilt, violent, demanding! Wow! Well done Jaguar Class! Our new display board is going to look incredible! I hope you are all as excited as I am to find out what Charlie does next in Chapter 12 as he has just discovered he has won a GOLDEN TICKET! :)
We have loved acting out parts of the story too as Miss Wright reads to us every day!
(video clips to follow!)
Petrus
Literacy - Fact files!
This week the children have been looking at a range of different fact files and recognising and using key features to write our own. We have talked about how these sources of information include a lot of factual information through the use of notes, headings, bullet points, photographs, illustrations and captions.
After re-organising a fact file about Neil Armstrong to make it easy to read and answer questions from, they then had a go at using their research homework about Captain Cook, to make notes and write interesting, factual sentences, under appropriate sub-headings. What a super effort, Jaguar Class!
After re-organising a fact file about Neil Armstrong to make it easy to read and answer questions from, they then had a go at using their research homework about Captain Cook, to make notes and write interesting, factual sentences, under appropriate sub-headings. What a super effort, Jaguar Class!
Science - rocket experimenting!
Linking to our work on Neil Armstrong, the children have been busy experimenting how to launch a paper cone rocket into the air! They have loved every minute of it and worked so well together as a team. They listened, reasoned and compared ideas. We discussed the importance of making predictions and then testing out our ideas. We made sure we were carrying out a fair test and kept certain factors the same. We then looked at the force of gravity and our solar system and used ideas taken from our Guided Reading sessions, to build on our knowledge. We all came to the conclusion that Sir Isaac Newton was a very clever man!!!
Book Sharing
Thank you to all the parents who joined us on Wednesday afternoon to look through their child's books! We hope you enjoyed yourselves! I could see the children felt very proud of their achievements and so they should be!
Oliver Jeffers continues!
This week the children have been busy exploring the rest of Oliver Jeffers stories and have thoroughly enjoyed recognising key features and similarities in his books. We particularly love his style of illustrations and how the penguin seems to pop up in most of his stories! As the children did such a fantastic job with their Book Week stories last week, we decided to create a pocket book written in the style of Oliver Jeffers. First they illustrated their ideas, thinking about the beginning and the end pictures. Then they added some interesting vocabulary and used their words in sentences to link the story together! The children did such a great job editing and improving their writing. We found it particularly tricky having to write less and choose our words carefully! Also to avoid using speech marks (both of which are Oliver Jeffer's style of writing), however the finish products were fantastic and we practised reading our stories to our friends using expression and hand gestures to bring our stories alive!
Book Week in Jaguar Class!
A big THANK YOU to all the parents who gave up their time to come and read to us! We also particularly enjoyed the drama work on Monday with Liz Wilson!
We loved reading to the little Nursery Peacocks last week and we were very brave when the big Year 5 children came to share their stories with us on Thursday! They were even kind enough to leave us a book of ALL their stories for us to read and enjoy in our book corner! :)
The costume parade on Friday morning was a great success and we couldn't have wished for better weather! The children looked fantastic in their book character costumes!
Can you guess which book characters we were dressed up as?
Throughout the week, the children have been getting into character to plan and write their own story based on the book character they dressed up as. The stories are not quite finished but they should be ready by Wednesday for our book sharing afternoon! They have worked so hard on them and just wait until you see their amazing front covers! ;)
Exploring the Maritime Museum!
We had a great day out at the Maritime Museum this week! Take a look at the photos to see what we got up to! The children were so well behaved and I was very proud of them. Thank you to all the parent helpers who assisted us on the trip. :)
LITERACY - Stories by the same author
Oliver Jeffers
This week in literacy we have been finding out all about Oliver Jeffers life. We begun by working as a team to sort and match question and answer cards which was a little tricky at times! We then had a few special visitors from the little boy and the penguin from the story of Lost and Found. This was very exciting as we had so many questions we wanted to ask them as the characters do not speak at all in the story. At the end of the week we watched the film and compared the similarities and differences to the story book.
In our grammer lessons, we have been learning how to use speech marks using our Kung Fu moves! We created speech bubbles for the characters from the story and then took the sentence out of the bubble and inserted speech marks. We read the poem 'Don't use said' and chose some interesting words such as enquired, moaned, whispered...
In our grammer lessons, we have been learning how to use speech marks using our Kung Fu moves! We created speech bubbles for the characters from the story and then took the sentence out of the bubble and inserted speech marks. We read the poem 'Don't use said' and chose some interesting words such as enquired, moaned, whispered...
LITERACY - Traditional Tales
The Snow Queen
The Tin Soldier
This week we have read two more Hans Christien Andersen stories: The Snow Queen and The Tin Soldier. Our word wall is getting bigger and bigger as the children have managed to magpie even more fantastic adjectives and we have now started to replace the simple words from last term with more complex words! Wow!
The children had a go at planning their own story adventures leading on from the beginning of The Tin Soldier. They thought about what would happen to him after he fell out of the window and their imaginations ran wild as they came up with so many great ideas and story language! The children then wrote their stories and did a fantastic job! :)
During our skills lessons, the children have been busy sorting out and looking at the difference between an adjective, verb and a noun. I was so impressed at how hard they worked in their reading groups to sort the words, add their own,and even put them into interesting sentences! They helped one another and worked without any adult support to complete this activity confidently. Wow! We then continued looking at different types of words in our guided reading sessions.
Here are some and interactive games you can play to help consolidate their knowledge and which may also help with the homework this week!
http://grammaropolis.com/games.php
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/grammar_tutorial.htm
The children had a go at planning their own story adventures leading on from the beginning of The Tin Soldier. They thought about what would happen to him after he fell out of the window and their imaginations ran wild as they came up with so many great ideas and story language! The children then wrote their stories and did a fantastic job! :)
During our skills lessons, the children have been busy sorting out and looking at the difference between an adjective, verb and a noun. I was so impressed at how hard they worked in their reading groups to sort the words, add their own,and even put them into interesting sentences! They helped one another and worked without any adult support to complete this activity confidently. Wow! We then continued looking at different types of words in our guided reading sessions.
Here are some and interactive games you can play to help consolidate their knowledge and which may also help with the homework this week!
http://grammaropolis.com/games.php
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/grammar_tutorial.htm
LITERACY - Traditional Tales
The Little Match Girl
What a lot of emotions we have been feeling this week during our literacy lessons as we have been reading the first of Hans Christien Andersen's famous traditional stories, The Little Match Girl. The children have been getting into character of the little girl and her father, using language from the text to hep us think about body language, gestures and feelings. 'Vicky Vocab' has been tremendously busy as we have managed to 'magpie' SO many amazing adjectives and vocabulary to add to our VCOP wall! WOW! Great work Jaguar Class! Next week we will be looking at another great story, The Snow Queen!
Travelling around the world with Amelia!
Jaguar Class have been having a ball learning all about the fantastic life of Amelia Earhart! This week we have been comparing her to the other 2 explorers we have looked at so far, Captain Cook and Zheng He and used a venn diagram to display our ideas. We then looked at her journeys and focused on her final flight around the world. We decided to bring Amelia's aeroplane into the classroom and travel to the different countries and continents Amelia visited. We talked about what she would have taken with her, what we could see as we travelled to each country, and the difficulties she may have encountered! Next week we will be looking more at mapping skills and using grid references to plot her first 2 flights and we will also become news reporters! WOW! Keep up the great enthusiasm Jaguar Class! Amelia has definitely been our favourite explorer so far!
Chinese New Year leaflet making!
I have been so pleased with the children's efforts this week in literacy. We begun the week by looking at key features of different leaflets such as titles, headings, bullet points and the use of photo's and illustrations. They then thought carefully about how they wanted their own leaflets to look and designed an eye-catching, clear, bright title. After this, they chose 4 headings from their note taking last week and practised putting key words back into interesting sentences. Once they had checked, edited and improved their work, they wrote up their writing in neat onto their leaflet template of a chinese fan. I was so impressed with their motivation and focus when completing this task and I could see just how proud they were with their finished products! I think the biggest motivating factor of this activity was the fact that they knew I would be sending their leaflets to my old class at DUCKS in London, to teach them all we know about Chinese New Year! Well done Jaguar Class!
Come and take a look on Monday at their final products already on display in the classroom!
Come and take a look on Monday at their final products already on display in the classroom!
Chinese New Year preparations!
On Thursday the children were able to practise their note taking skills once again as they travelled through the Year Two classes finding out lots of great facts about Chinese New Year, in preparation for their next literacy unit: Non-Chronological reports. I was amazed at how much information they returned with! Great work Jaguars!
Captain Cook!
This week we have been focusing on one explorer in particular, Captain Cook! We put on our historian hats and looked at a range of different sources all linked to the great explorer and posed some super questions in small groups to enable us to find out more about him. The children then created a 'diamond 9' by looking at the key events in his lifetime and ordering them from the most to the least important.
Our minibeast creations are currently in full swing! Watch this space for our new 'minibeast corner' display coming soon! From 3D models to amazing poetry as well as some fantastic research homework on a variety of different creepy crawlies!
Welcome back to Term 2 Jaguar Class!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and wishing you all a very happy new year! I am very much looking forward to a great second term in Jaguar Class!
Last term we were very sad to have to say goodbye to Giovana who has gone back to Brazil and will be dearly missed. However, this term we are very lucky to have been joined by two new students, Camilla and Noora! What a great first week the girls have had and I can't believe how well they have settled into Jaguar Class and routines already! I have been particularly impressed with how well their buddies have looked after them! Well done girls! What a positive start to a new year!
Last term we were very sad to have to say goodbye to Giovana who has gone back to Brazil and will be dearly missed. However, this term we are very lucky to have been joined by two new students, Camilla and Noora! What a great first week the girls have had and I can't believe how well they have settled into Jaguar Class and routines already! I have been particularly impressed with how well their buddies have looked after them! Well done girls! What a positive start to a new year!
Literacy - Poetry - 'Really Looking'
Minibeasts!
We have begun our first week back by putting our detective hats on and exploring our new topic of Minibeasts! The children have have been busy researching facts in information books and watching video clips all about different minibeasts. We have begun looking at a range of poems and had great fun drawing what we could hear being described in the different poems, listening carefully to the adjectives and interesting language being used! Next week the children will begin to write their very own poems!
Our Art lessons this week have also been linked to our topic of Minibeasts as the children created their own designs of a minibeast of their choice. On Thursday afternoon they begun to paper mache a balloon which is going to be the minibeast's body. I was so impressed at how clean they kept themselves, how well they focused and how methodical they were! The second layer will begin on Monday before starting to think about adding body parts and ending with the painting process. What a lot of fun we have been having already!
6 famous explorers visit DUCKS!
On Tuesday the children had a great surprise as 6 famous explorers from the past came to pay them a visit! Ernest Shackleton, Amelia Earhart, Captain Cook, Isabella Bird, Captain Cook, Neil Armstrong and Zheng He had replaced the teachers and entertained the children all afternoon as they were taught many interesting facts about their lives. The children then thought of lots more questions they wanted to find out about these great explorers! What a great start to our new history topic! We can't wait to find out more about them!
We have been remembering...
This week the children have been continuing their work on poetry and talking about who we will be remembering on Monday 11th November and the importance of this special day. We read some famous war poems and brainstormed key words and ideas linked to our senses to describe how the soldiers would have felt, what they would have seen and what they would have heard during the war. The children thought of some great words such as: sad, frightened, worried, anxious, afraid, strong, tough, positive, loud, explosion, planes zooming, crash, bang, sirens...
Next week we will use all these brilliant ideas to begin to write our own war poems.
Next week we will use all these brilliant ideas to begin to write our own war poems.
10 little footprints in the snow!
I have been so pleased how hard the children have been working to remember our dance for the christmas play! They are all listening and following instructions so well. Further rehearsals will continue next week when we will be visiting the big school to practise on the proper stage!
Our first field trip!
On Wednesday morning we visited the Shangri'La hotel to put our sketching skills into action! The children used view finders to sketch the buildings from the 36th floor of the grand hotel. First they looked at the modern buildings on the Pudong side and then they drew the buildings on the Bund side across the river. They did a great job looking through their view finders and thinking carefully about size, shape and perspective. Thank you to all the parent helpers who assisted us on the trip!
*UN week fun!*
The United Arab Emirates comes to Jaguar Class!
Speaking arabic, counting to 10, writing our names in arabic, transport, clothing, animals, buildings, beaches, desert, currency, food tasting.... yes we somehow managed to fit this all in amongst learning about all the other counties from our parent visitors! What a week it has been! Let's take a look at which other countries came to Jaguar Class this week.....
Speaking arabic, counting to 10, writing our names in arabic, transport, clothing, animals, buildings, beaches, desert, currency, food tasting.... yes we somehow managed to fit this all in amongst learning about all the other counties from our parent visitors! What a week it has been! Let's take a look at which other countries came to Jaguar Class this week.....
KOREA
Thank you to Paul's mother and father who kick started the week by coming in to talk to us about Korea on Tuesday morning! We learnt how to write the korean characters and speak some korean. Then we made the famous korean 'sushi style' roll, gim-bop and took it home to share with our families!
Thank you to Paul's mother and father who kick started the week by coming in to talk to us about Korea on Tuesday morning! We learnt how to write the korean characters and speak some korean. Then we made the famous korean 'sushi style' roll, gim-bop and took it home to share with our families!
AMERICA
On Wednesday morning we had a visit from Terri's mother, Kathy, who came to talk to us about America and the famous american national holiday that is Thanksgiving. The children had great fun making Red Indian hats and then tasted some delicious home-made cranberry bread and grape juice! Thank you also to Freddie's mother and Angelina's mother who assisted with the activities.
On Wednesday morning we had a visit from Terri's mother, Kathy, who came to talk to us about America and the famous american national holiday that is Thanksgiving. The children had great fun making Red Indian hats and then tasted some delicious home-made cranberry bread and grape juice! Thank you also to Freddie's mother and Angelina's mother who assisted with the activities.
UAE Art
Wednesday was a busy day! In the afternoon we had a visit from Petrus's mother, Liz, who is a professional artist. She came and taught us some new art skills. We created arabian sunset paintings by mixing colours and adding the silhouettes of a camel and a palm tree by tracing and using natural light. The paintings look amazing displayed in the classroom!
Wednesday was a busy day! In the afternoon we had a visit from Petrus's mother, Liz, who is a professional artist. She came and taught us some new art skills. We created arabian sunset paintings by mixing colours and adding the silhouettes of a camel and a palm tree by tracing and using natural light. The paintings look amazing displayed in the classroom!
HONG KONG
On Thursday afternoon we had a visit from Ronald's mother and father who came to talk to us about Hong Kong. We saw lots of amazing photographs and even learnt some cantonese! We made Hong Kong flags and tried some yummy egg puff which is a famous Hong Kong snack. Thank you to Ronald and Ryan for all your help too!
On Thursday afternoon we had a visit from Ronald's mother and father who came to talk to us about Hong Kong. We saw lots of amazing photographs and even learnt some cantonese! We made Hong Kong flags and tried some yummy egg puff which is a famous Hong Kong snack. Thank you to Ronald and Ryan for all your help too!
Look at our brilliant costumes for the parade!
CHINA
On Friday morning we had a visit from Jon's mother who came to teach us some Chinese calligraphy. We all had a go at trying to write the Chinese characters using paint brushes and black ink. I was very impressed at the children's calligraphy skills! Great job Jaguars!
On Friday morning we had a visit from Jon's mother who came to teach us some Chinese calligraphy. We all had a go at trying to write the Chinese characters using paint brushes and black ink. I was very impressed at the children's calligraphy skills! Great job Jaguars!
ENGLAND
The week was ended with a final visit from Freddie mother's, Sophie, Terri's mother, Kathy and William's mother, Lucy who brought England to the classroom! What a fun packed afternoon we all had as Sophie talked to us about all the famous British children's authors and in particular Roald Dahl. The classroom transformed into Charlie's real life chocolate factory! We made lots of delicious treats and stored them carefully in treat boxes. The day and week came to an end with popcorn and a real life cinema in the classroom!
The week was ended with a final visit from Freddie mother's, Sophie, Terri's mother, Kathy and William's mother, Lucy who brought England to the classroom! What a fun packed afternoon we all had as Sophie talked to us about all the famous British children's authors and in particular Roald Dahl. The classroom transformed into Charlie's real life chocolate factory! We made lots of delicious treats and stored them carefully in treat boxes. The day and week came to an end with popcorn and a real life cinema in the classroom!
THANK YOU to all the parent helpers for making UN week such an enjoyable and memorable one for us all!
Certificate winners this week!
We had 3 certificate winners this week in Jaguar Class! Terri and Zion recieived the certificates for 'We always try our best' and Stephanie received a certificate for 'We learn so we can help others' as she helped a little boy on the bus on the way home and Mrs Woodward was very proud of her for this (as was I!) Well done Stephanie, Zion and Terri! Keep up the great work!
Preparations for UN week.....
The children have been busy getting the classroom ready for UN week! They have made paper chains using the colours of the UAE flag as well as using a range of different materials to create bunting and collage a map of the country. We felt very relaxed as we listened to arabic music! We are all so excited about learning more about this marvellous country next week!
Sports Day!
Jaguar Class took part in sports day on Monday and enjoyed every minute of it! Thank you to Mr Tim for organising the event so well!
Traditional Stories....
This week we have been reading and exploring different traditional stories in class such as The Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Goldilocks and the three bears. We have compared the different story features which makes them all traditional stories. The children created their very own story settings and described them using some amazing adjectives! As we have been looking at maps in our topic lessons this week, the children did a great job of mapping out and describing Goldilocks journey through the three bears house. They added speech bubbles and story notes to their illustrations. The week was ended with an exciting visitor to Jaguar Class! The children put on their police officer hats as a very distressed Mother Bear came to us with a problem she needed help with! The children asked questions using all the question words to gather as much information about Goldilocks' whereabouts as possible. The police officers then did a fabulous job of creating WANTED poster of Goldilocks using more brilliant adjectives. Great work Jaguar Class!
Mapping skills
This week the children have been developing their mapping skills by creating their own maps of the classroom as though they are Spiderman stuck to the roof! This was a challenging task as the children had to think carefully about perspective, but they did a great job! Mrs Zhao then took the children to the first floor of the school to label a floor plan with the correct classrooms. Each group had 3 rooms they had to work out the names for then we came back together to share our information and complete the whole map. Great job Jaguar Class! Next week we will be looking more at world maps in preparation for UN week...!
Mandarin story time with Mrs Zhao :)
Good bye Mariacarla!
It was a sad day on Friday as we said farewell to Mariracarla who is moving from one fantastic city to another, New York! We wished her lots of luck but she seemed very excited. She will be dearly missed in Jaguar Class and we hope she keeps in touch with us. We made her a special card and all wrote her a message. Please come back and visit us soon Mariacarla! Good bye and good luck!
Science - caring for our environment
For the last part of our science topic this term, we looked at the different animals in China which are found in each of the different habitats and the children added them to their maps. We then learnt about how we need to care for the environment and learnt the importance of the 3 R's - Reuse, Recycle and Reduce! We used a brilliant website to support our learning and created some eye catching posters to put up around the school!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/eco/flash/flash.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/eco/flash/flash.shtml
Non-Fiction Texts
The children have completed their non-fiction books and they look fantastic! They have been working on them all week and were all able to include a contents page, headings, illustrations, glossaries and blurbs! to hook the reader in. They are on display in our book corner so come and take a look and you just might learn something new about the amazing Year Two jungle animals!
In Jaguar Class the children have been busy exploring different non-fiction texts and identifying features which make it different to a fiction text. With their talking buddies they looked through a selection of books from the library to locate a contents page, front cover, title, heading, subheading, labels, captions, index, images and glossary. We looked at the layout of each book and noticed similarities and differences between texts.
Each group also looked at a different non-fiction text during guided reading this week. The children enjoyed sharing their knowledge of what they had learnt from the week. They used the contents page to locate a section of their choice, which they wanted to find out more about. I was very impressed with their skills!
Each group also looked at a different non-fiction text during guided reading this week. The children enjoyed sharing their knowledge of what they had learnt from the week. They used the contents page to locate a section of their choice, which they wanted to find out more about. I was very impressed with their skills!
On Tuesday afternoon the children rotated through each classroom in Year Two to learn about each different class animal with each teacher. They were very grown up and had to use their note taking skills to record key words about each animals appearance, habitat and diet!
We used a great website which included videos, images and facts on each class animal:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/jaguars/
We used a great website which included videos, images and facts on each class animal:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/jaguars/
The children then chose one of the animals and designed a front cover for their own non-fiction book. We thought about the importance of hooking the reader in by making our front covers bright and colourful with a bold title and eye catching images! We also remembered to state who the author and illustrator would be. Take a look at the children's work (images taken by our in house photographer during a class walking gallery!)
Science - Living things in their local environment
During our topic lessons, we have been crossing science with geography and locating the country we live in by using a different type of non-fiction book, an atlas. We have learnt about the different habitats in China (forest, rivers, desert, swamps, mountains..) and plotted them on a map, creating a key to help us. We have begun to look at the different animals which live in China and we will match them to their habitats next week.
Animals! Animals! Animals great and small!
In science this week the children have had great fun matching adults animals to their young. Here is a super website for you to continue exploring at home. Try and have a go at this challenging crossword....
www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html
We have also been learning about what animals need to survive. The children have created some amazing, bright and colourful 'pet profile' posters based on these 4 needs and even added a very important 5th need....love, care and sensitivity! Take a look at this amazing video of the children performing their very own version of the song, which really helped us to remember all 4 needs! What a bunch of fantastic performers they are!
In science this week the children have had great fun matching adults animals to their young. Here is a super website for you to continue exploring at home. Try and have a go at this challenging crossword....
www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html
We have also been learning about what animals need to survive. The children have created some amazing, bright and colourful 'pet profile' posters based on these 4 needs and even added a very important 5th need....love, care and sensitivity! Take a look at this amazing video of the children performing their very own version of the song, which really helped us to remember all 4 needs! What a bunch of fantastic performers they are!
Literacy
This week the children have been introduced to our second VCOP character, Captain Connective! He has taught us how to join sentences together using a variety of different words such as then, but, so, because. I was so pleased at how well the children worked with their new 'talking buddies' when they had to plan their own story based on the story of Five minutes peace by Jill Murphy. They shared ideas, listened to each other, and worked collaboratively to draw pictures and write story notes. Well done Jaguar Class!
This week the children have been introduced to our second VCOP character, Captain Connective! He has taught us how to join sentences together using a variety of different words such as then, but, so, because. I was so pleased at how well the children worked with their new 'talking buddies' when they had to plan their own story based on the story of Five minutes peace by Jill Murphy. They shared ideas, listened to each other, and worked collaboratively to draw pictures and write story notes. Well done Jaguar Class!
A visit to Peacock Class!
Last Friday the children had a very special treat and were looked after by Mr Kevin for the afternoon. As Jaguar Class are 'buddies' with Peacock Class this year, he thought it would be a great idea to invite the children down and allow them to explore the amazing learning resources and different activities he had to offer! Unfortunately the little Peacocks had gone home by this point but we hope to visit them again soon and we look forward to getting to know them all. Here are some of the photos so you can see what the children got up to!
Last Friday the children had a very special treat and were looked after by Mr Kevin for the afternoon. As Jaguar Class are 'buddies' with Peacock Class this year, he thought it would be a great idea to invite the children down and allow them to explore the amazing learning resources and different activities he had to offer! Unfortunately the little Peacocks had gone home by this point but we hope to visit them again soon and we look forward to getting to know them all. Here are some of the photos so you can see what the children got up to!
Welcome to our class page! Here you will be able to see photographs, videos, the children's work and read about what we have been busy doing in class each week!
The children have all settled in to Jaguar Class so well and I am so proud of how hard they have all been working and playing together.
The children have all settled in to Jaguar Class so well and I am so proud of how hard they have all been working and playing together.
Jaguar Class self-portraits. Can you spot who is who?
Literacy News - Stories with familiar settings
This week we have been reading 'A Quiet Night In' by Jill Murphy. The children have written character profiles using some amazing adjectives (with the help from Vicky Vocab!) to describe the family of elephants. They then retold the story in their own words thinking carefully about the beginning, middle and end, using pictures to help them. Their work was beautifully illustrated when they created their very own story boards! Well done Jaguar Class! Next week we will look at another of Jill Murphy's favourites, Five minutes peace, following the lives of the Large family of elephants to see what they are getting up to next!
Story time in Jaguar Class....
A healthy balanced diet ....
Food, glorious food! Do you know the 5 different food groups? Jaguar Class do! What a busy week they have had by sorting different foods and creating some delicious meals showing a healthy, balanced diet. We have explored lots of exciting and interactive websites to help us understand how each different type of food helps our bodies.
Here are a few of the children's favourites for you to continue exploring at home....have fun! www.hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/vtc/healthy_eating/eng/Introduction/default.htm
www.school.asda.com/kids.aspx
Joyce Liu designed a bright and colorful plate of food (picture above) and worked very hard to label each item. What beautiful, neat work Joyce!
Here are a few of the children's favourites for you to continue exploring at home....have fun! www.hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/vtc/healthy_eating/eng/Introduction/default.htm
www.school.asda.com/kids.aspx
Joyce Liu designed a bright and colorful plate of food (picture above) and worked very hard to label each item. What beautiful, neat work Joyce!
Where the wild things are!
We have begun preparing our art project by painting one of the 'wild things' carefully and with detail. The children worked very well in a group and listened to each others ideas and suggestions.
We shall continue with this project next week....
We have begun preparing our art project by painting one of the 'wild things' carefully and with detail. The children worked very well in a group and listened to each others ideas and suggestions.
We shall continue with this project next week....