Goodness, this half term is rushing by!

This week, we've continued our work in English based on 'Fatou Fetch the Water'. The children have been focusing on joining two short sentences with a range of conjunctions - and, or, but, because and so on. They've also had a go at writing sentences about Jo who is sent on a mission to get some pencils but returns with all sorts of healthy snacks instead - given to him by some of the staff. Next week, the children will be writing their own short stories set in a different, but familiar, context.

In maths, Year 1s have begun learning about addition and subtraction within 20, while Year 2s have started their work on multiplication and division. On the subject of maths, we hope you'll be able to join us at one of our 'Mastering Number for Parents' sessions when you'll have the opportunity to find out about how we teach maths in school and enjoy playing some games with your child. The Year 1 workshop is on Tuesday 30^th January and Year 2 on Wednesday 7th February. Both sessions will start promptly at 2:15pm in Hawthorn classroom. We look forward to seeing you there.

In computing, the children enjoyed programming their BeeBots to travel in different directions and used their skills to visit the oceans on our extra large floor map. In topic, they explored how to use a globe and atlas to identify different locations, and also played a fun game on our new IPads in which they were able to consolidate their learning about continents, oceans and compass directions.

It's been E-Safety Week in school and we've had lots of discussions about how the children can keep themselves safe and what to do if something goes wrong or they don't feel comfortable. We watched some videos about what to do if they were watching a video and saw something they didn't like and also if they were playing on line games and were not comfortable with any pop ups or chat that they saw.  They sang the "Funny Tummy" song and also knew that they should Stop, Close and Tell an adult.  

Finally, it was Hawthorn class's turn for Forest School and we had a lovely time down in the meadow where we looked at the plants in winter (to link with our science) and also to start to look for signs of spring.  We also looked at the remains of the old beech tree which has been cut down in the churchyard as it was becoming dangerous.  We were all excited to see what was going to become of all the wood and also what would replace the tree!