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Year 1 / 2: Woodpecker Class

Welcome to our Year 1 / 2,

Woodpecker Class page 

Class Teacher: Miss V Bowman

Support Staff: Miss K Fairbrother, Mrs K Tyrrell, Mrs L Clarke, Miss A Wesson, Mrs L Unwin, Miss K Mistry, Mrs T Haghighat

PE Days: Tuesday and Friday 

In Woodpecker Class we love to learn. Every week we enjoy learning new skills in a wide variety of subjects across the curriculum and enjoy implementing these skills in fun and engaging activities.

Please click on the link below for all the information on what we are learning about this half-term. 

This week (10th February 2025 - 14th February 2025) 

Year 1

This week in Year 1 we have had a very exciting art workshop where we have been experimenting with ink. We all had a great time using dry brushes, wet brushes, printing techniques and salt to create different effects in our booklets. 

In Maths we have started to look at numbers up to 50. We are learning to count in tens and are working really hard to remember which number comes after 29, 39 and 49! 

We have finished our non-chronological reports all about penguins. We know so much information that we couldn't fit it all into our reports! 

In R.E. we have been learning about Shabbat, which is the Jewish day of rest. We learnt all about the special blessings and prayers which are said before the delicious meal that everyone eats on a Friday night. We also found out that no one is allowed to use their phones, computers or watch the TV! We all thought this would be very hard!

Year 2

This week Year 2 have been learning how to use arrays to multiply and divide.  They are beginning to see the link between multiplication and division facts.  We have been multiplying by 2 and dividing by 2 and understand that this is also called doubling and halving.

In English, we are planning and writing a set of instructions of How to make a bag from our work in DT- making a bag from felt.  We are practising using time adverbials such as first, then, next...to organise the instructions and deciding on the best imperative (bossy) verbs such as stitch, glue, pick, attach.

For Internet Safety day, we learnt about things that were 'Too good to be true' to increase our understanding of scams and things that might be trying to 'trick' us online.  We read a story about Samira who was promised an item for her game for a discounted price if she just sent 50 coins.  We talked about what we should do in the scenarios and seeking out a trusted adult.  We also talked about what personal information is and why we shouldn't share it online.

In RE, we learnt about the 5 pillars of Islam and why they important to Muslims.  We learn about 2 stories (The prophet and the Ants and the Crying Camel) that are told about the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and used a storyboard to re-tell them and discussed how they help Muslims in their lives today.

In DT, the children have been finishing sewing their bags.  They have evaluated them to decide what went well and how they could be improved.

 

(3rd February 2025 - 7th February 2025) 

Year 1

This week in Year 1 we have started to look at the features of non-chronological reports. We have labelled them in groups, and then had a go by ourselves. We have collected information from watching video reports and reading books, and we are going to use this when writing our own next week.

We have finished our unit on addition and subtraction to 20 in Maths, and had a great try at our end of unit quiz. Now we are starting to learn about numbers to 50. We will be practising counting in 10s a lot!

In Geography we have been learning about food chains and how all of the creatures in the Antarctic depend on each other to survive. We learnt what a predator is and why.

In RE we have been looking inside a Jewish household. We found out that they have to have two kitchens, one for preparing meat, and the other for milk. They also have two sets of cutlery and two sets of plates! 

Year 2

In Maths, we have been further exploring multiplication by making arrays and writing their corresponding multiplication facts.  We have now begun making links with division and explored grouping and sharing.

In English, we have written letters in character as Sunny the meerkat who visited the school,  We wrote in the past tense and the first person about what he did and what he saw while he was here.  

In Science, we have been following on our work on dependency by making food chains.  We learnt how the food chain begins with a producer (a plant) which is eaten by another animal (consumer) who are eaten by other predatory animals.  We used the vocabulary predator, prey, herbivore, carnivore and omnivore.

In Geography, we compared school life in Kampong Ayer with our own.  We learnt that the children in Kampong Ayer had many of the same things as us in their school and spend their mornings on English, maths and other subjects but afternoons at religious school.

In PSHE we talked about what a 'community' means.  We discussed what we have in our community and what we liked doing in our community.

(27th January 2025 - 31st January 2025) 

Year 1

This week in Year 1 we have learning to subtract numbers up to 20 using tens frames, number lines and counters. We have been practising our number bonds to ten so that we can use them to help us. We have also looked at doubles of numbers.

In English we have started our new unit looking g at how to write a report. We will be writing a report about penguins, but first we have to learn all of the names for the parts of the report. See if you can find a non-fiction book and ask the children if they can find the heading, sub-headings, captions, paragraph and introduction. It's quite tricky!! 

In Geography we have been comparing the arctic to the Antarctic. We have evaluated our puppets in DT and hopefully you've enjoyed seeing our hard work at home!

In Science we had to rescue gems that were frozen in ice! We had a great time observing the ice as it melted.

Year 2

This week year 2 have been learning a new story called Meerkat Mail about a meerkat who leaves home to find a new place to live and sends his family postcards from the places that he visits.  We have re-told the story and made story maps of the story.  We have also looked at past tense verbs used so that we know how to use the correct tense when writing our own postcards.

In maths, we have used repeated addition to introduce multiplication.  We have focused on how many equal groups and how many is in the group.  We then have begun writing corresponding multiplication sentences e.g 2+2+2+2 = 8 is the same as 4 x 2 = 8 (4 groups of 2)

In Geography, we looked at transport in Kampong Ayer and compared it with the types of transport we have in the UK.  Kampong Ayer is a water village, so they don't have roads.  Their main form of transport are boats and water taxis which take them across the river to the capital city where they have everything they need.

In Science, we looked at dependency in a habitat and how living things rely on other living things to survive.  We labelled diagrams of different habitats to explain which living things depends on what.

(20th January 2025 - 24th January 2025) 

Year 1

Year 1 have completed their Big Writes following their story maps based on the Lost and Found story. They have really enjoyed writing a longer story and finished off the unit by watching the film of Lost and Found together.

In Maths, the children have been adding numbers to 20 using their knowledge of number bonds, and learning how to count on.

In Geography they have been comparing the Antarctic to the Sahara Desert and found out that there are lots of things that are the same, but also lots of differences.  Why not ask your child to explain them to you?

They have really enjoyed Music this week, making rhythmic patterns as a group.

Year 2

This week Year 2 have been writing their “lost and found” stories based on The Storm Whale.  They have edited their stories and have begun publishing them, focusing carefully on their handwriting and presentation.

In Maths, we have completed our work on money by finding ways to make £1, finding change from £1 and solving problems involving money.

In Science, we were exploring our school woodland habitat and focusing on microhabitats to see what kind of animals lived there.  We rolled logs, looked under rocks and in the grass and bushes.  Due to the wet weather, we found LOTS of slugs but also found centipedes, woodlice, beetles, hibernating ladybirds, a caterpillar and snails.

In Geography, we focused on comparing weather and climates from here in the UK to Brunei.  We used the terms 'temperate' climate (mild and damp) to describe the UK, 'tropical' (wet and warm) to describe Brunei and we also talked about 'polar' climates (cold and dry).  We located different climates on a world map.

In DT, we have designed a small bag that could be for a child in Kampong Ayer.  The children chose images that represented the water village and we will be sewing together our bags in the next few weeks!

(13th January 2025 - 17th January 2025) 

Year 1

This week in English Year 1 have been continuing to learn the story of Lost and Found, and we are now starting to change the characters to make the story our own.

In Maths we have been working really hard using number lines to help us understand where numbers to 20 are placed in relation to each other.

In Science we have been trying to predict what the best material would be to fix Mrs Taylor’s broken umbrella. Next week we are going to test them out.

In Geography we have learnt about how penguins can survive in the coldest continent on Earth. We have watched some great videos and think that penguins are actually very funny!

Year 2

This week Year 2 have written setting descriptions for their own stories about an animal being lost and then helped to return home.  They have been focusing on adjectives and interesting verbs and even adverbs to describe.  They have begun thinking about planning the structure of their stories.

In Maths, they have been finding ways to make the same amount of money e.g. 70p, comparing amounts of money using < less than > more than and = equal to and they have been calculating problems with money such as how much money has been spent and the difference between amounts of money.  Please continue to practise this at home.

In Science, they have been exploring the school environment looking for things that are living, dead and never been alive.  They enjoyed looking under logs and finding some of the living creatures we have such as centipedes, slugs, beetles and worms.  If you have some wellies that can be brought in from home, they can stay on the children's pegs and means they can explore the environment without getting their school shoes muddy.

In Geography, they have been comparing houses in Kampong Ayer to their own houses.  

In PSHE, the children have been thinking about what makes up their identity.  They have talked about things that they like and things that make them unique.  They have thought about who is in their family and where they were born.  We read Amazing Grace and talked about what we know about her identity from the story.

(6th January 2025 - 10th January 2025) 

Year 1

In Year 1 this week we have started learning the story of Lost and Found by Olivier Jeffers. We are using this fantastic book as a starter for our topic this half term. Our topic is all about the Antarctic and what it is like there.

In Geography we have been looking at the landscape of the Antarctic and what the weather is like. We found out that it is the coldest continent and driest! It doesn’t rain much!

In Maths we are continuing to learn all about teens numbers and how they are made up of tens and ones.

In D.T we have started to plan our puppets which we will be starting to make next week. We will be learning to sew using needles and thread. We are already very excited to bring them home to show everyone!

This weekend you could take a trip to the library in town to see if you can find any other books by Oliver Jeffers! (pictured right).

Year 2

This week Year 2 have begun learning about money in Maths.  They have learnt how much each coin or note is worth and have added amounts of pence, pounds and pounds and pence.  Please continue to practise this at home if you can.  They have been writing amounts as £3 and 42p not using decimals.

In English, they have begun learning the story The Storm Whale using Talk for Writing actions.  They made large 3D story maps in groups.  They have written sentences about the main character, Noi, and have written about how the characters felt during different parts of the story.

In Science, they have learnt about life processes which shows whether something is living, dead or never alive.  They learnt to use the acronym MRS GREN to help remember the 7 processes that tell us if something is living and then decided which category things fit in to.

In Geography, they have learnt about our location the world.  We explored Google Earth (Something you can do at home!) and found their location in Thorpe Acre then thought about their wider location of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, UK, Europe.  They compared that with the place we will be learning about Kampong Ayer, a water village in Brunei, Asia.