We've been busy again this week in Hawthorn class, with a focus on Peru inspired by Mrs Shiels' exciting visit there during the summer holidays. On Monday, she led two special assemblies and shared lots of information about the country along with photographs from her trip. In the afternoon, Hawthorn class were joined by Holly Year 1s and made some beautiful rainforest creatures and flowers for a display using collage techniques.  Then on Tuesday, Hawthorn children created some lovely artwork depicting llamas and the colourful textiles characteristic of Peru. This involved using pencils for line-work, crayons and paint, for a technique called watercolour and wax resist. We were very impressed with the results! On Thursday we turned our ears to Peruvian music and listened to the pan pipes (the syrinx) and then had a go at making our own from straws and lollipop sticks. We thought about how changing the lengths of the straws changes the pitch of the sound they make.  

Meanwhile, in other areas of the curriculum - we've continued our grammatical focus in English, identifying past and present tense verbs, and noun phrases. In maths, both year groups have worked on number bonds within/to 10 and we've sent home some number cards so that the children can practice, aiming for rapid recall. Year 2s have also started work on fact families.

Finally, we have been continuing with our work on ball skills in PE, have a look at the photos to see us practising and enjoying the sunshine!

Have a great half term everybody and thank you for all your support.