This week year 2 have been learning how to divide by sharing. We used a range of resources to help us to understand how to share a given amount equally, and are now beginning to apply this to worded problems.  
As part of our D.T. learning this week, we made a delicious loaf of bread. We had to carefully combine the ingredients to make sure that our loaves were as scrumptious as possible. We’re sure Thomas Farriner (the baker who lived down Pudding Lane during 1666) would have been very impressed with us! Following this, in English, we created our own instructions to explain how to create the bread. Make sure that you ask a year 2 child what an imperative verb is this week because we had to use lots of these when writing our instructions! ​

Nurture Groups  
Both NSN and NMW Nuture groups have been shining into 2020.  Last week we went foraging outside for sticks which we then tied together to make star decorations. We talked about our new year’s resolutions and how we are going to work together as a team during the outdoor learning sessions. This term the children are growing garlic and onions and observing the growth. Through this we are teaching the children about patience and developing their understanding of the science behind growing food and where it comes from.  

Reception 
Reception have been enjoying exploring our outdoor garden areas and learnt about Sycamore and Silver Birch trees last term. They have been using natures resources to create art work, making pictures using leaves, and shapes using sticks. This term we are exploring our environment looking for the similarities and differences which signify the changing of seasons. We had a real adventure this week when we arrived at our allotment garden only to be caught in a big down pour of rain!  While being caught in the rain is not usually great news, with outdoor learning we are working to build resilience in our children and encourage them to not be scared to get out in all weathers.  
During the outdoor learning session children are experiencing the joy of discovery, solving problems, being creative and developing their self-confidence socially and emotionally. ​​

This week in 4CP, we have been working incredibly hard across all our subjects. In English, we have been working on creating Spring-based poetry; we have created some poems with fantastic thematic ideas. We created one as a class and then the pupils have created their own four verse poem independently.  
Here is our class one: 
Daffodils - 4CP 
  
Above me, the fluffy clouds of white 
Next to me, daffodils sway left and right 
I stand surrounded by a crowd of star-tipped stems, 
Who eagerly await for spring again!  
Across the fields and up the hills, 
Fluttering heads struggling to stay still. 
  
Colours vibrant like a rainbow, 
They move around but stand where they grow. 
Shining brightly like the blazing sun 
Hanging round with their friends and having fun. 
Yellows, creams and even white 
Their dance is such a mesmerising sight. 
  
They welcome creatures from all around, 
From those who fly, to those who live in the ground 
As the cold season approaches, they prepare to rest 
They attempt to take on winter's test. 
It's time the yellow angels sleep. 
They've been awake spring and summer; they've earned their keep. 
 
In Maths this week, we have been exploring multiplication by using various methods – One group have been using physical resources to help them, another has been using formal short method and Mr Palser’s group have been working on long multiplication. ​

This half term children will be focusing on and setting their own goals within their SEAL lessons. Children continue to be encouraged by staff through focused learning time and assemblies to enable them to meet these goals. We have recorded children’s personal goal in their foundation books, ready for them to reflect on throughout the term.  ​

We are blasting into our new term with a new theme - Space! The teachers have secretly captured a footage of something very strange over the Christmas break. A spaceship landed on the Reception playground! Later in the week, we found some peculiar looking footprints that we think could belong to an alien. We based our writing in literacy, on this. We focussed on using adjectives to describe the spaceship, other space crafts and the footprints. Some of us even wrote simple sentences!  

Our topic for SEAL this half term is ‘going for goals’, so in our topic session we explored our aspirations. We shared with our peers what we would like to do when we grow up, and what we would need to do to achieve our future career. We had many children with high aspirations with some wanting to be doctors and teachers, and others wanting to become pilots and train drivers. ​


In Maths, we have been working on 3D shapes, learning different shape names and terminology to describe the properties. We have enjoyed completing shape hunts, finding 3D shapes to match real objects, and making different 3D shapes. We have been working very hard on our first week back!

In December we focussed on narrative writing and the children produced some incredible writing. We adapted a Christmas story based on the three little pigs and showed  off all of the skills we’ve learnt so far this year. We then word processed our edited  stories using Microsoft Word  to find tune any errors.

This half term we have looked at the United Kingdom. Some of the best work we have produced is on maps and famous landmarks. We looked into how maps are read, what symbols we might expect to find and the difference between physical and human features.
  

It is an ongoing goal to increase the healthiness of our children's packed lunches and it has been lovely to see that lots of children have at least 1 item of fruit or salad in their lunch boxes/bags. We have noticed that more children, who are having school dinners, are selecting fruit for dessert, too - well done!  ​

With regards to keeping fit, the children enjoying completing their daily mile - Here are what some of the children have said about the daily mile: 
Harrison: “I enjoy the daily mile because I like running. I think it is good that all the children get exercise everyday”. 
Enzo: “I like the daily mile because it will get you fit and ready if you are doing a tournament. Also, it is a great warm up to get your blood pumping”. 
Chloe: “I love to run and keep healthy. I think PE will be my hobby because it’s so fun”. 
We love that you enjoy doing the daily mile, keep it up!  ​

Bringing things back into the present, in our recent Computing lessons we have developed and enhanced our understanding of block coding.  Throughout this half term, we have considered algorithms and code from various perspectives.  In last week’s lesson we experimented with debugging, the technical term for fixing broken or incomplete code.  You can try it out by clicking here:   https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/475483/