Term 2

Week 1

Week ending 2.11.18

Really lovely to see Willows back, refreshed from half-term!

What have we learned this week?

'I learned the 'oy', 'oi' phoneme/grapheme.'

'I learned even numbers to 20.'

'I learned that even numbers end in 0,2,4,6, or 8.'

'I learned that even numbers can be shared between two.'

'I learned how to hold the ball in touch rugby.'

'I learned how to use an exclamation mark!'

'I learned how to write an exclamation sentence.'

'I learned songs for our Nativity Play.'

'I learned to name 2D shapes.'

'I learned to count the sides and corners (vertices) in 2D shapes.'

'I learned to find lines of symmetry in 2D shapes.'

'I learned about the story of The Nativity.'

'I wrote my Learning Journey for Term 1.'

'I read my non-fiction book to the class.'

Star of the Week: Miles for consistently showing good learning.

Term 2

Week 2

Week ending 9.11.18

A very busy week, culminating in a thought provoking Remembrance Service, in church, on Friday afternoon.  To see the children sitting amongst the silhouettes of soldiers, some who would have been barely 7 years older than Year 6, was very humbling. 

The children made collages for Willow Class's annual Seed Competition, with the theme 'Commemorating the end of The First World War'. Their work is stunning!  It will be displayed in class - please come in to see it! 

On Friday morning, the public and parents were invited into school to see what we were learning about the commemoration of The First World War. We were making Poppy Wreaths, with the names of the 11 soldiers from Elham killed in the war and the names of the 40 local soldiers killed in The Second World War.  Each child painted a paper plate green and then stuck poppies made from four red crepe petals, with a black sugar paper centre.  Some children were able to fit four poppies on their plate, one for each of their soldiers and one for the Unknown Soldier.

It was wonderful to see so many parents and friends in Willows and a big thank you for helping the children with their poppies.  I also saw two parents of little girls (Rebecca and Elizabeth) I taught when I was first teaching Year 3/4, back in 1983/85, and a father of a boy (Robert), I taught on my teaching practice in Year 5/6, in 1982.   It was lovely to hear they were doing so well!

The children took their Seed Collages and Poppy Wreaths to church and spoke about how and why they had made them. 

We are very proud of them.

What else have we learned this week?

'I learned the 'ow, 'ou' phoneme/grapheme.'

'I learned to solve a word problem by counting in twos and fives.'

'I challenged myself to count in different sequences.'

'I learned to count in twos.'

'I learned to write questions.'

'I learned songs for our Nativity Play.'

'I learned about' The Step Short Arch' in Folkestone.'

'I learned about The Poppy Appeal.'

'I learned what happens on Remembrance Sunday.'

'We made cards for Mr. Skinner, Mr Hodgeman and Mrs. Jane Pace to say 'Thank you' for coming to our school.'

'We made Christmas cards to be sent away and to be printed.'

Term 2

Week 3

Week ending 16.11.18

We were very pleased to welcome our Chinese visitors in to Willow Class on Tuesday, where they helped make kites with the children and made their own butterfly kites to take home.  In assembly the children sang a song, which they had taught the school, for our visitors.

Our seed competition pictures and wreaths have been displayed in class and look beautiful!  It was extremely difficult to chose winners as so much work and imagination had been put into the collages.  However Sam, Ollie and Sienna were chosen for First, Second and Third prizes, with Jago and Mae being Highly Commended.  All the children received much deserved prizes for their wonderful efforts!  

What have we learned this week?

'I learned to make a symmetrical butterfly kite'

'I flew my kite.'

'I learned the 'oa', 'ow', 'o-e' phoneme/grapheme.'

'I read to the class my non-fiction book.'

'I learned how to double numbers.'

'I learned that doubling is the same as the 2 x table.'

'I learned my 2 x table.'

'I learned to halve numbers.'

'I learned that halving is the same as dividing between two.'

'I learned about the changes Florence Nightingale did to the hospital in Scutari.'

'I wrote instructions on how to make a butterfly kite.'

'I can hold a rugby ball correctly and put it down for a try.'

Star of the week:  Edie for trying hard with her work and being quick to help others.

Term 2

Week 4

Week ending 23.11.18

What have we learned this week?

'I learned the 'ai', 'a-e', 'ay' 'ey' phoneme/graphemes.'

'I learned the 10 x table.'

'I wrote a diary by Florence Nightingale, saying about the improvements to the hospital in Scutari.'

'I learned to add units, using column addition.'

'I learned to write instructions for flying a kite.'

'I learned my lines for the Nativity Play, Hosanna Rock!'

'I learned that to keep healthy you need to exercise.'

'I could feel my heart pumping, when I exercised.'

'I learned my heart was carrying oxygen in the blood all around my body.'

Star of the Week:  Theo for making a good effort with his learning.

Term 2

Week 5

Week ending 30.11.18

We had a very exciting end to the week - The Christmas Fayre!  Willow Class did the now famous Bean Bag in a Basket game and they were literally queuing out of the door or maybe they were trying to escape!  Either way we had a lot of fun and hopefully raised much needed funds for the school.  A huge thank you to Jago for helping run the game - he was tireless in retrieving the bean bags and magnificent in his adding up and recording - a mini Carol Voorderman!  Thank you also to Elias for standing in and giving his little brother a break!

What have we learned this week?

'I learned the 'ee', 'ea',' ci' , 'ce', 'cy', 'gi', 'ge' and 'gy' phoneme/grapheme. 

' I learned column addition.'

'I learned my 10 x table.'

'I learned what a noun is.'

'I learned what an adjective is.'

'I can describe nouns using adjectives.'

'I learned about The Rule of Three.'

'I learned the vowels.'

'I learned some Makaton for the Nativity Play.'

'I learned 'Away in a Manger' and 'We wish you a Merry Christmas.'

Star of the Week: Eli for always being polite and kind and always trying his best.

Term 2

Week 6

Week ending 7.12.18

What an exciting week we have had!  On Wednesday, we went to the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury to see their wonderful production of Cinderella.  The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were a credit to Elham School and their families.

On Friday afternoon, after much practise, we had our official dress rehearsal of 'Hosanna Rock!' in front of KS 2 and  some of our lovely senior citizens.  This was our best performance ever... and so we are looking forward to two brilliant shows next week!

Thank you very much to Mr. Davison for being our lighting expert, Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Mills (voice coaches), Mr. Trinkwon for helping with the singing and Mrs. Lewis for publicity and Box Office! 

What have we learned this week:

'I learned the 'ge' and 'dge' phoneme/grapheme.'

'I learned to divide by two.'

'Dividing into two groups is the same as halving.'

'I learned to divide by three and five.'

'I learned to make a Story Map for a recount of our visit to see 'Cinderella.'

'I learned to add adjectives to nouns to make them more interesting.'

'I wrote a prayer asking for God's forgiveness.'

'I learned the Makaton for 'Happy Christmas.'

'I learned sign language for some of the songs from 'Hosanna Rock.'

Next week I will be teaching the first SRE lesson in a series of three;  it will be about gender stereotyping.

Term 2

Week 7

Week ending 14.12.18

Another busy week!  On Monday we had our evening performance of 'Hosanna Rock!' and the children were amazing! The narrators were loud and clear, the singing joyful and the actors magnificent.  A special commendation goes to Edie, our Wise Lady, who fell off the stage, but landed beautifully gracefully and bounced back on stage before anyone noticed, with her lovely smile...what a trooper!  We didn't think the performance could get any better, however on Tuesday afternoon the children were determined to make their last performance the best!  Well done Acorns, Hazels and Willows, we are very proud of you!

On Thursday we were very fortunate to have a visit from St. Edmund's Jazz Band: they were brilliant!  Ian, the music director, played the sax and clarinet and the students played the piano, bass guitar and drums, whilst Becky sang. She has an incredible voice and is certainly one to watch for a future career on the stage.  Afterwards we had our annual Autumn School Music Concert, where the children perform what they have been learning in class with Mrs. Hickman.  Willows played their Ocarinas - we were all very impressed!  They then joined the rest of the school, playing The Snowman - it was magical!

What else have we learned this week?

'I learned the 'or', 'aw', 'ore', 'au' phoneme/grapheme.'

'I learned the 'dge' and 'ge' phoneme/grapheme.'

'I learned the 5 x table.'

'I learned to divide a number.'

'I learned to divide with a remainder.'

'I wrote a letter to Father Christmas, using the Rule of Three.'

'I played Tag Rugby.'

Term 2

Week ending 21.12.18

Week 8

We had a lovely 'Christmassy' week, making Christmas cards, a Nativity scene and a calendar.  As the children had achieved 20 marbles in the jar for excellent team effort, we held a party on Tuesday, with party food, quizzes and a film!  At fruit and milk time, MR. File, Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Soutan burst through the door to say there had been a vistor in the car park - Father Christmas!  He had left replies to the letters we had sent him on Monday; the children were jumping up and down and hugging each other with excitement!

On the last day of term, we spent the morning making Christingles and then went to church in the afternoon for our annual Christingle service: it was lovely!  We were especially pleased to have Mr. Anthony Trinkwon, St.Mary's organist, playing for us, as it really added to the atmosphere.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year!