Drawing, Databases and Timelines

Hello, I am Mr Ellershaw the nearly qualified student teacher in Y2. Whilst on my final teaching practice I will be writing the Y2 blog.
We have had another busy week in Y2. We had a very cultured Monday afternoon with the children drawing their own interpretations of ‘The Snail’ by Henri Matisse. We had some fantastic drawings and we will continue this theme next week when we paint them on to larger paper.
On Wednesday the class began to create a database. The database will record teeth loss amongst the class and will be updated weekly. The children were very excited at the topic and really got their teeth into the project– no pun intended!
On Thursday the class dramatised a French story with Amandine, our French assistant. Whilst Amandine read a story, Y2 acted out the animals she was describing. Some children helped the class by holding up pictures of the animals.
As you probably have seen in the classroom we are looking at the timeline between 2001 and 2009. Many of the children have brought in photos of themselves or their family taken during these years. Last week the children were asked to choose one year and write about something special that happened in it. We had lots of interesting stories from world news events to weddings and births and even broken bones! As you can see from the photograph we had lots of fun making our time line.

Weeding, Painting and P.E.

No blog last week as Mrs Shore forgot to take the camera home – so here’s two weeks’ worth! We have had lots of exciting things happen. First of all our nearly qualified student teacher – Mr Ellershaw – started his block teaching practice this week. He will be doing lots of things in the classroom and the first thing is that from next week he will be taking over our blog! Parents – do pop in and say hello.
As you can see from the photographs we have had some fun activities over the last fortnight. This term is Y2’s turn to do ‘Citizenship’. Over the last two Wednesday s we have been busy weeding the playgrounds under the guidance of Heather, our caretaker.
Last Friday an art teacher came in to work with the children on painting numbers up to ten in Chinese they had lots of fun and showed tremendous talent. Don’t forget by the way that it’s the Southville Arts’ trail this weekend and some of Y2’s work will be shown –Mrs Christmas has sent letters to the relevant children.
Continuing our international theme in Y2 the children did some P.E. alongside Amandine, our French assistant, who called out words in French for them to respond to – take a look at the pictures!

Pirates and Saving the Planet!

Y2 started the week looking at Wellington and Antoine's holiday diaries - some of the children had written diaries too so Mrs Roberts is going to have a lot of reading to do this week!
On Tuesday we had a visit from Eco expert Helen Peake who rather amusingly calls herself the 'Rubbish Teacher'. After doing a whole school assembly Helen spent an hour with Y2. These pictures show our drama about the journey a metal can goes on from the moment it is used to when it is recycled into a new can.
Our other photo shows the Y2 pirates. We dressed as pirates because the kitchen were having a pirate themed dinner. Lots of Y2 had a dinner - including me - and very tasty it was too!

Happy Easter

Apologies for lack of a blog last week - so here's two weeks' worth!

Over the last fortnight the children have been as busy as ever. Before she flew out (with Wellington and Antoine to work in a French school for a fortnight Ms Gower was so pleased with Y2's French that she came looking for me so I could come and watch for a while. With Amandine the children made and read'human sentences'. They even mixed up the words andthen put them in the right order - bravo! The pictures show some children saying (and showing pictures about) 'J'aime le chat orange, je n'aime pas le crocodile blanc' - get the children to tell you what that means mums and dads!

We have also been busy making our Spring display for the main hall. Here are some children working on and showing their spring flower pictures - we were so pleased with how eye-catching the green and yellow pastel looks on the black background. On Thursday we had a choosing P.E. session as it was the last of the term. Look at Halley who proved herself to be Y2's Hula Hoop Queen!

On Friday we were very amazed to come back from play and find bits of the Easter Bunny's fluffy tail around the classroom! The children had already made boxes and nests full of natural things in the playground - this picture shows the children making the nests in the playground.

Have a lovely Easter everybody and we will see you all on Monday April 20th.

Our Week

As I wasn’t here last Friday the fantastic pictures of Y2 enjoying Red Nose Day weren’t on last week’s blog – so here they are now! I certainly missed a treat everyone looks amazing!
This week we’ve started looking at long stories in Literacy and will be working towards writing one of our own by the end of the term. We have continued with measures in Maths and had lots of fun with water when looking at capacity earlier in the week as well as length and weight towards the end of last week. It would be really helpful at home for children to spot weights of both solid and liquid items in the family store cupboard.
This afternoon our French Assistant, Amandine, worked with Y2 to make Mother’s Day cards for all you hardworking mums – in French! We hope you like them.
Have a lovely weekend enjoy being pampered mums!

Happy Cats, Angry Cats and Measuring!

This week Y2 have been practising all the new P.E. shapes they have been learning with Ms Gower. They have recreated their movements on the equipment. Have a look at Tommygeorge being a fantastic Happy Cat on the bench!
This week in maths we have started looking at measurement - so far we have covered length and made a start on weight. I have asked the children to look in the cupboards at home and see how much various packs of food weigh - I hope too much of a mess hasn't been made mums and dads! Next week it's capacity so we'll be asking children to compare and measure liquids.
Have a lovely Red Nose Day tomorrow, I am looking forward to seeing the photographs on Monday!

Y2 Get Active

We have been doing lots of exercise in Y2 this week. First thing on Monday we had our football training session from Tommy Hutchison of Bristol City. Y2 were put through their paces in the bright sunshine and Tommy renamed Cieran 'Rooney'! These photos here show the fun Y2 are having. We were in the Evening Post, too, on Friday. In case you didn't see it I will put the piece from the paper on the classroom door when I'm back in on Tuesday.
We also had our KS1 Virtual Festival for this term on Thursday where everyone rushed around piling up 'treasure'. Results for the school and the cluster of local schools taking part will follow soon.
Finally we had a good old dance on Thursday night at our KS1 disco - the girls in this picture invited Wellington and Antoine to join the fun; the bears had to spend the whole of next day in their filing cabinet drawer recovering!

This week we also had World Book Day. Y2 helped me out with assembly by allowing me to display all the special books they had brought in at the front of the hall to share with the rest of the school. Many thanks, parents, for encouraging the children to bring in these books. I was very surprised and delighted to see some books there that I recognised from childhood - long may Y2's love of books last!