Welcome to Acorns Class

Years 2 & 3

Class teacher: Mrs Asif & Mrs Milchem

Teaching assistants: Mrs Wrigglesworth, Mrs Gostling & Mrs Archer

Term 5 

Imagine if you were suddenly in charge of the county. What would you do? Would you cancel alarm clocks? Make play parks just for grown-ups and bouncy castles for pensioners? Put swimming pools on trains? These are just some of the ideas Joe comes up with when he finds himself Prime Minister at just 12 years old in our hilarious book for this term, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. We will be writing newspaper articles about the new Prime Minister, writing our own play scripts and creating a manifesto to persuade people to vote for us to be in charge! In Maths we will be focusing on ‘Time’ with lots of practical activities and will also be looking at Problem Solving and the most efficient methods to use. ‘Light and Shadows’ is our Science focus this term, we are looking forward to finding out how shadows change throughout the day and making our own shadow puppet stories. In History we will be answering the question ‘How hard was it to settle in Britain’? We will find out how the Anglos Saxon’s lived, make our own ‘wattle and daub’ and make podcasts about the archaeological discoveries at Sutton Hoo. ‘When Jesus left what was the impact of Pentecost?’ is our RE question for this term, while in P.S.H.E. we are looking at relationships. Art is all about sculpture and in Computing we will be exploring databases, while finding out all about the International Space Station, it will be a blast! On your marks, get set, go!...for Athletics and O.A.A. in P.E.. The hills are alive with the sound of music as we look at the theme of ‘Mountains’ in Music and compose our own music. Finally, in French we will be finding out all about delicious French food (and maybe having a taste!) and holding a class French market! 

Housekeeping:

Please ensure your child's belongings are all named. They will require a water bottle and a healthy morning snack. We recommend keeping a pair of wellies in school for wet weather as well as a named raincoat. 
 

PE:

PE days are Wednesday and Friday. Children should come into school wearing their complete PE kit including their house coloured t-shirt, shorts or jogging bottoms and suitable trainers. In cold weather, the children should wear their usual school cardigan, jumper or fleece. Earrings need to be removed or the children must be able to remove them themselves. Long hair needs to be tied back.

Home learning:

From Term 3, your child will have a home learning book. In addition to spelling practise, reading and times-tables practise, we will be supplying a grid with suggested activities for your child to complete at home in their own time. The teachers will invite the children to bring in their home learning books at the end of the term for a special show & tell to celebrate their lovely work.

Reading:

Children will take home books according to their little wandle phonics reading phase. 
Children no longer on the little wandle program will complete a Star Reader task at the beginning of each new half-term on Accelerated Reader (AR). This will determine a suitable reading range for the children (e.g. 1.7-2.7). AR will also set the children with a target to reach for that half-term. Once the children have completed a book, they are encourage to complete a short quiz on AR to check their comprehension of the text read. We are striving for at least 85% accuracy. Each successful quiz will contribute points towards their reading target. 

Reading records will be checked daily. These should be used to record daily reading at home. We recommend listening to your child read and asking simple questions to check their comprehension. We wish to promote a love of reading and encourage the children to read books within their recommended reading level however please note that they are not limited and are welcome to read any book of their choosing if it engages them. 

TTRS and Numbots:

Children will be able to access Times-Table Rockstars (TTRS) and Numbots online via computer/laptop/tablet (iPad)/smart-phone. The login can be found in the reading record. 

Spellings

For children on the little wandle phonics program, sounds will be practised and applied daily.

Children that have moved on from little wandle will be set weekly spellings. Children will be set an 'assignment' on SpellingShed each week which can be accessed online via computer/laptop/tablet (iPad)/smart-phone. The login for SpellingShed and the list of focus words can be found in the reading record. We encourage daily practise of spelling words at home and appreciate your support in this. Spellings will be practised daily in school.

Term 4 

Help! In term 4 we are escaping from one the most famous volcanic eruptions of all time, in ‘Escape from Pompeii’, a beautiful picture book which tells the story of two children who were in Pompeii on that fateful day. We’ll be thinking about how the children would have felt and using this to write a diary entry, as well as using some amazing adjectives to describe what happened. In Maths we are looking at Shape and Fractions while in Geography we continue the theme of ‘Volcanoes’, looking at where, why and how volcanoes and earthquakes happen. It will be earth shattering fun! In Science we will become paleontologists, finding out how fossils are formed in our topic ‘Rocks and Soil’. Of course, at this time of year our thoughts turn to Easter and our RE question is ‘Why does Easter matter to Christians?’. In D.T. we will be getting our sewing needles out and making some pouches, perfect for storing all your important treasures. What is school like for children in France? We’ll be finding out in French this term! In computing we’ll have out of this world fun, creating our own space themed stop motion animations. La, la, la, we’ll be tuning up our voices this term and developing our singing technique in Music, which will come in handy for our Acorn class performance ‘The Three Threes’ later in this term. In P.E. we’ll be dribbling, passing and building our fitness with Football and Fitness Circuits. Talking of fitness, in P.S.H.E. we will be learning all about how to keep healthy. We’re looking forward to a jam-packed term! 

Term 3 

Get ready for the best book ever - Oliver and the Seawigs! I am so excited to share this thrilling tale by Philip Reeve - we are going to get some fantastic writing done. In Maths, 'let's get statistical... statistical' and measure length and height! In Science, we are going to be looking at every-day materials and their properties. RE is all about how we can look after our world and others. French is going to be so much fun as we look at playground games! In Music, we are going to be looking at the Chinese New Year - the year of the snake! Warm up your dancing shoes and get stretching ready for dance and gymnastics in PE. Computing is going to be a blast as we continue to work on our mouse and typing skills using word processor. In Art, we are going to build upon our knowledge of the stone age with some prehistoric paintings of our own! And finally, to build upon our excellent Geographical knowledge of settlements, we are going to ask that age-old question, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" The answers might surprise you! Get into formation soldiers, wield your swords and shields, prepare to march into the fascinating world of the Romans and why they chose our little island to settle.

Term 2

Well, hello there, Hoo-Mins! We have had an action-packed term full of fun and learning! We kicked off with the hilarious Harry the Poisonous Centipede, where we dove into the world of this cheeky creature and its adventures. In Maths, we worked with money and mastered multiplication and became math whizzes in no time! Science was super exciting as we built on what we learned last term and explored the amazing workings of the human body—learning about the skeleton, key bones, and how muscles helped us move. In Geography, we studied settlements and got our heads around how and why people lived where they did. Plus, we had an awesome trip to Milstead Church where Reverend Alan taught us all about baptism as we explored the theme of incarnation in RE. And the best part? In DT, we created our very own pneumatic toys—getting hands-on and having fun building! It was a term to remember!

Term 1

This term has been amazing! We have loved our English text, Stone Age Boy, and made lots of exciting connections in our History topic on the Stone, Bronze and Iron age. In Maths, we've been tackling tricky problems using formal methods for addition and subtraction, the children have done a great job! In Science, we've been looking at animals including humans, looking at life cycles, survival needs and how to stay fit and healthy. In RE, the focus has been on the creation story - we've loved learning all about it! There's so much more wonderful work to celebrate this term and we can't wait for Term 2!