2018-2019
Blue Peter Success
How wonderful to catch up with Theo and find out about his continuing Blue Peter badge collection. Here are the badges that were awarded for Theo's tennis playing and also for his cake baking to commemorate the Blue Peter tortoise retiring from the show. Thank you for sharing Theo - which one will be next? Toby told me that he is busy working towards his first Blue Peter badge too - can't wait to see it Toby!
Ordering numbers in Class 2
This week in our Maths lessons we are ordering numbers in different ways. Here are some games to help us to practise these skills.
NEW LINK ADDED 9th October 2019 http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/countingCaterpillar/index.html
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/ordering-and-sequencing-numbers
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/counting
Letters and Sounds Phase 6
We are recapping on all of the different spelling choices for 'ea'. Play these games to help you learn new words:
https://www.spellzone.com/word_lists/list-208.htm
https://www.spellzone.com/word_lists/list-4720.htm
Gold Book Glory!
Well done children!
Kindness, lots of great maths work and the longest story that a child has ever written, were just some of the aspects celebrating in our Gold Book today.
Place Value in Year 2
Follow this link to practise your place value knowledge:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/place-value
Cheese!
In our Computing lesson today we used the iPads to take photographs. We zoomed in, zoomed out and reviewed our photographs. There were some clever angles from the children as they thought about their shots. Tomorrow the children will use their photographs in their Science work on materials. Well done children - you listened carefully about how to care for our iPads.
Our helping hands
During our RSE lesson today, we thought about who we would turn to if we needed help or advice. We called these people 'OUR HELPING HANDS'.
Who would you turn to?
Launching Space Week!
Today we launched the commemoration of 50 years since the first lunar landing with a visit from the Star Dome Planetarium and a special space picnic!
Let us know what you thought of it by commenting below:
Thank you to our wonderful PTFA for funding this experience for all of our children today.
Can't wait to see what else we learn in Space Week - enjoy everyone!
To infinity and beyond!
Our Sports Day 2019
What a wonderful day - great sportsmanship, determination, teamwork, fun and sunshine!
So lovely to see so many parents, grandparents
and carers - thank you.
Well done everyone - a Super Sports Day 2019!
Jokes!
Explore these jokes children:
https://www.ducksters.com/jokes/animals.php
http://redtri.com/best-jokes-for-kids/slide/1
https://www.funology.com/outer-space-jokes/
http://www.spaceopedia.com/space-popular-culture/space-jokes/
http://www.jokes4us.com/peoplejokes/astronautjokes.html
D-Day 75th anniversary - We will remember them
We have been learning that today marks 75 years since the D-Day landings, which took place on 6 June 1944 during World War Two.
Have a look at this link to share what we have learnt today;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48456573
We will remember them.
Letters and Sounds phase 6
This week we are looking at how to use the apostrophe:
Can you type a comment using an apostrophe for contraction and possession to earn a prize?
Gardening!
Team Smalley enjoyed an after school session of gardening to look after our school environment. Each staff member chose a child to come and help with lots of jobs including weeding the raised beds, planting new bedding plants, planting potatoes, watering and tidying and repotting Hannah’s garden. All of the children had a drink and a biscuit after they had worked really hard! It was a lovely outdoor session, thank you children for helping!
Who needs Groundforce when you have Team Smalley?!
Sewing skills
Patience, resilience and concentration right there!
The skills needed to thread a needle.....
House of the half term treat!
Coding in Class 2
Mondrian artwork
Our timestable practise
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train
Thermometers and measuring jugs!
We have been learning to read scales on a measuring jug and on a thermometer.
Use these links to practise reading the scales:
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/89/itp-thermometer
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/88/itp-measuring-cylinder
World temperature
We have been using these links to learn about the continent names, the ocean names, the equator and world temperatures:
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-recorded-temperature/
Our World
https://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml
Precious jewels
Egg box competition
It was a tricky decision with lots of brilliant entries from all year groups! Well done and thank you to all who entered.
Here are the winning designs. Well done Ava and Phoebe! Your designs will be used on the egg boxes on the eggs for sale at the school summer fair. 😊🐣
Dear Twycross Zoo....
Following our visit to Twycross Zoo and researching all about the black rhinos, Class 2 were very excited to hear about the arrival of the endangered creature at Twycross Zoo. The children all designed a welcome poster and on Friday we posted them - we hope she likes them.
The black rhino is called Nandi, which means perfect in every way - just gorgeous!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-derbyshire-47572921/twycross-zoo-welcomes-endangered-black-rhino
Happy Mother's Day 2019 from Team 2 x
Meeting Dave!
We were lucky enough to meet Noah’s Barn Owlet on Friday. Thank you Mr H for bringing her in and answering all of the children’s great questions. We can’t wait to meet her again when she’s grown a bit more. Truly fluffy, truly cute, lucky us. Thank you.
Keeping Safe - Road Safety
Thank you to our visiting PCSO officers (Police Community Support Officer) for reinforcing the importance of crossing the road safety.
The officers delivered 3 sessions to EYFS, Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2; they taught the children about how roads are for the cars and the pavement is for the pedestrians and how we must STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and THINK before crossing the road. The children spotted hidden dangers and how to be very careful around parked cars. The children explored the importance of bright or fluorescent clothing when walking and how BEING BRIGHT helps us to BE SEEN. The children looked at the different types of crossing and how we know it is safe to cross.
Thank you children for listening so carefully to this important life skill. Please remember always STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and THINK.
COMPETITION TIME
Before leaving the school, the PCSO officers set a competition for all pupils. The competition is to design a road safety poster to help all children and adults in our community to stay safe near the roads. Three winners will be chosen and then their poster will be turned into a banner, to be displayed outside school. Please get your thinking caps on and start designing. The closing date for this is on Wednesday, 10th April 2019. Please bring any entries to your class teacher, complete with your name and class on the back.
GOOD LUCK!
Happy World Poetry Day 2019
What's your favourite poem?
Endangered animals
In Class 2, we have been learning about endangered animals.
We looked at the top ten most endangered animals and we have started to think about why these are animals are becoming endangered and what we can do to help.
Weighing it all up
Today we had a delivery of six boxes. We had to work out what was in the box and how we could use it. We talked about the terms unbalanced, balanced, heavier, lighter and equal.
Great team work children.
Phase 6 Letters and Sounds - Syllable counting
To help us with our spelling of longer words, we have been counting the syllables in words and then spelling each separate syllable section.
Can you spot the three syllable words below?
EYFS & KS1 Easter hat Parade 2019
Red Nose Day 2019
What a fun day we had supporting Red Nose Day! Thank you for your kind donations a grand total will be announced next week.
Book Fair Voucher Winners
Well done to Nathan in Class 4, Liam in Class 6, Jess in Class 2, Kieran in Class 1 and Harrison in Class R who have all won a £5 book voucher in the book fair raffle today. Thank you to everyone who has visited our Book fair so far, it is the last day today.
Book Week 2019
It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm throughout school towards reading last week. We ended the week with an opportunity for teachers to share some of their favourite reads and a visit from a self-published author! Remember reading doesn't stop with reading week.
"A Book is a dream that you hold in your hand"
Nearly there!
We’re enjoying our coach trip to the zoo this morning! Blessed with sunshine!
Book week begins!
What a great start to Book week! Class R bookworms started their week by choosing a book when they arrived in school on Monday morning then Mr Redmond led a whole school assembly to tell the children about events and special visitors that will be visiting during the week.
Happy Book Week!
Book Week 2019
Year 2 - Twycross Zoo Final Details
Year 2 are keeping safe online
Yesterday in our computing lessons, we watched this video about keeping ourselves safe online:
Today in our computing lesson, we have been testing out knowledge and discussing what we can do to keep ourselves safe online.
We have been using these quizzes to help us think:
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/5_7/
https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids-quiz/
Thank you children for your careful thinking.
Remember the internet is a wonderful resource however we must think and keep ourselves safe.
If something does not feel right - tell an adult you can trust.
From Mrs Reckless
P.S. Here's a link for grown-ups to explore too https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/6-10/resources/
Online Safety regarding MOMO
Adding to 100
http://www.snappymaths.com/addition/addw100/interactive/addw100imin/addw100immm.htm
Year 2 - Twycross Zoo Trip
Half term holiday shape challenge
Remember the patterns that the cuboid bricks made when I went to Hodsock Priory at the weekend?
During the holiday, what 3D shapes can you find whilst you're out and about. What patterns do they make?
Make a comment below with what you found - good luck!
There's a merit for your comment - thank you.
Thank you Florence Nightingale
What a great time we have had this term, putting on our historian hats and learning all about the reasons that Florence Nightingale became famous.
We have used lots of different sources to find the evidence, including photos, medical reports, paintings and artefacts. Today we finished our enquiry by watching this video with Magic Grandad.
We asked ourselves the question - 'Why is it important to pass on the correct history?' and 'What could happen if we did not pass on the correct history?'.
Can you remember what Magic Grandad said?
Have another look at the video to find out:
Thank you for your enthusiasm children - you have learnt lots!
Blessed with talent
Thank you so much - you made me smile as I came through the hall at the end of assembly today. How lucky we are to hear such lovely talent - thank you.
3D shapes
Here is a great video which helps us to think about naming and recognising the 3D shapes:
https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/clips/zq96sbk
Our Class assembly - Tuesday morning
Thank you so much for bringing in the Chinese New Year crafts you had made and explaining how you had made them:
Building with our shapes!
Chinese New Year!
Thank you for bringing in the special Chinese envelopes today. They inspired our class assembly and the children asked lots of questions about the customs and traditions.
We learned that 2019 is the Year of the Pig.
We watched this video to help us to understand more:
We also looked at the zodiac wheel:
KEEPING SAFE - A visit from our Fire Community Officer
Today, we were very lucky to have a visit from Rachel - our Fire Community Officer. She spoke to the children about the jobs that Fire Fighters do, ways that a fire might accidentally start in a home and how a clear fire plan can keep us all safe in the unlikely event of a fire.
Nocturnal animal expert groups
Here we are in our English and Science sessions, researching about nocturnal animals.
Each group is in charge of finding out about one animal.
Super Science in Class 2
As part of our 'I'm Alive!' topic, the children in Class 2 have been investigating; they started by observing their New Year present of a pot of bulbs and predicting what they might grow into, the children then investigated, with Mrs Shelton, what seeds need to germinate. Children observed the cress seeds as they germinated and grew. The children then carefully observed their faces, looking carefully at their facial characteristics.
Did you have egg and cress sandwiches children?
Class 2 enjoying the first snow of 2019!
Happiness is......catching snowflakes in our mouth!
Florence Nightingale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jONlz7vaMnU
Spelling in Year 2
Today we have been revising the different spelling choices for the long /e/ sound.
Use this link to practise your spelling choices.
Good luck!
https://www.spellzone.com/unit07/page8.cfm
Fruit splat
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/fruitShootNumbersWords.htm
The Snowman at The Riverside Centre
Class R, 1 and 2 enjoyed their visit to see 'The Snowman' this afternoon - we had a super adventure!
Thank you to all of our parent and friend helpers today.
Christmas fayre this Friday!
A beautiful Christingle Service
What a beautiful occasion this evening!
Our SING group sang beautifully at Smalley's annual Christingle Service - what a special moment when all the candles were lit and we sang together.
Thank you to all of our families and friends for their support.
Welcome to Smalley Bakery!
A working windmill
In Design and Technology, year 2 children are designing a model with a rotating part.
We are making a windmill that the Little Red Hen would have visited.
Please send in any juice cartons which look like this please to help us with our project.
Special Visitors
Last week we welcomed special visitors into school. Members of our “Smalley Old Boys” and representatives from the Richardson Foundation came to school to enjoy lunch in Class 6. They then met children from Year 5 and 6 and enjoyed a presentation, by the children, of our Remembrance service, which was then aired on the BBC news the very next day.
It is always a privilege to watch the children and adults sing ‘Abide with me’ together in our school hall. Welcoming our wider community into school always gives our children a valuable experience and it is greatly appreciated by all of our visitors too.
Counting in twos, fives and tens
Use this video to help you count in two, fives and tens:
Children in Need
Thank you for supporting Children In Need on Friday and wearing all of those snazzy socks!
Our school raised £212.50 for this important charity.
Thank you so very much for your kind donations, thank you to our School Council and Mrs Bounds for counting all of those pennies and pounds.
Exploring friendship
This week in 'Friendship Week', we have been using the story of 'The Little Red Hen' to explore the theme of friendship.
We have spoken about the dog, the cat and the duck and thought about whether they were good friends. We have discussed about whether there was anything stopping the characters from helping that we perhaps we couldn't see and whether the hen could have done anything to motivate her friends to help.
We also thought about whether the hen was right not to share her bread and asked if it is alright to share with our friends, even when they haven't helped.
We retold the story with our puppets and changed what the character of the duck, dog and cat said and looked at how this changed the story.
Great thinking children - well done!
Money, money, money homework
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/money
2D shape
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=2d%20shapes
We Will Remember
November 9th 2018
Today, our children continued to make us so very proud. Our Remembrance Service, led by Year 6, and supported by Key Stage 2 children was just beautiful. The children were so very respectful as they reflected on the soldiers who have lost their lives fighting for the freedom that we have today.
Smalley's Remembrance Service is always a special event in our school year and this was captured by the BBC news team today, who came to film the pride that we have in our past and the hope we have for our future.
Thank you to everyone for your support and dedication, as our community marks 100 years since the end of The First World War.
We will remember them.
Class 2 remembers
After attending the special Remembrance Service, Class 2 visited the school war memorial and paid their respects with a one minute silence.
Smalley Remembrance Display
What a wonderful display of our school coming together to create a memorial to mark 100 years since the end of World War One.
Super instructions
I was thrilled this morning, as I read through the children's work from this week. I set them the task to write a set of instructions for the witch craft that we had done in the week. The purpose for the writing was to allow other internet users to make the craft if they wanted to. Here is a sample of some of their brilliant work:
House Team of the half term winner is.....
This afternoon, to celebrate their team success, the GOLDEN EAGLES enjoyed an Autumn treat of hot chocolate and biscuits, with a play on the outdoor equipment.
Well done for super team work this half term.
Which witch?
We made these cute witches, using lollipop sticks, card and paper. We followed instructions and then thought about the next steps in the craft.
We also learned about the difference between witch and which.
Well done children.
To earn a merit, can you type a comment which shows that you know the difference between 'which' and 'witch' too?
e.g.
The wicked witch tried to steal Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz.
Mrs Reckless couldn't decide which was her favourite food.
Wow! What a fantastic turn out for our first ever Smalley school Pumpkin Parade. We enjoyed seeing the amazing pumpkin creations and drinking yummy hot chocolate after school. A wonderful event for everyone- thank you to the PTFA for organising! Here is a video for your enjoyment 😊🎃🎃🎃
Pumpkin Carving Year 2 English
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-20150606/halloween-pumpkin-carving-champion-challenged
Bottles of Remembrance
Thank you for all of the empty 2 litre plastic bottles that have been sent into school so far, for our whole school Remembrance Memorial.
We'll be recycling your bottles in two ways:
1 - Creating a whole school memorial marking 100 years after the end of the First World War
2 - Class 1 will be using the parts that we cut off in a project later in the year.
If you have any more bottles to bring in, please do so. If you have any spare, please bring those in too - we want to create a beautifully fitting tribute in our playground.
Thank you
En garde!
Class 2 enjoying their Fencing lesson today:
Thank you Mr Wildig.
Our Autumn Poetry Project October 2018
Our Harvest Festival 2018
Friday saw the last part of our two week Harvest Celebrations at Smalley School. We started with our visit to the chapel, then our Harvest assembly and finally our sharing of the Harvest gifts.
Thank you to everyone for their generosity.
Wishing you all a safe and happy Autumn time.
Please enjoy our Harvest 2018 video:
Gold September's Grand Total!
We're very proud to announce that our
school community raised an amazing
£716
for the Gold September charity.
Thank you again for your kindness.
Seeing double!
This week, in our maths lessons, we have been doubling numbers and trying to gain rapid recall of our facts to double 20. We have also learned how to double numbers that are bigger than twenty, by partitioning, doubling the tens and ones and then recombining. Please use the video and the games to help to practise these skills:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.maths-games.org/ladybird-doubles.html
https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/archeryDoubles/index.html
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/399/Archery-Arithmetic-Multiplication
Which game did you like best? Please make a comment below.
Good luck!
Mrs Rodgers and Thomas
How wonderful to see Mrs Rodgers and the new addition to the Rodgers family today.
Thank you for coming to see your class Mrs Rodgers, haven't they grown!
I SPY READING!
I do love Smalley School; I love it when I'm surprised by children and adults in our school! I love it when there's a buzz in the air.
At lunch time today, I looked through Class 5's classroom door and the room was in total darkness.......I was intrigued....what was happening? As I opened the door to peer inside - this is what I saw......
Mr Redmond reading by lamp light, children listening so carefully to the story. I later found out that these were spooky stories and the dark room was setting the scene. How wonderful... thank you for the excitement Mr Redmond and Class 5 and thank you for inviting me to come and share a story another week....keeeeeep reading.
After the story time, children were invited to read their own books.......here they are enjoying them:
The very first phone - many many years ago.
It's been wonderful to see the children really engaged in our History lessons. We have been learning all about Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone.
Here we are investigating the first ever telephone, which Alexander Graham Bell got a patent for in 1876. We also sorted models of phones into old and new and tried to explain why we thought this.:
What else can you find out about Alexander Graham Bell or the telephone of then and now?
Please write any facts in the comment box below.
National Poetry Day - Year 2 style!
What a fun day!
Exploring poetry in many different ways!
Please have a look at our slide show to see just a few of the poetry adventures we went on.
Here's a link to one of my most favourite poems ever!
We shared it in our Key Stage 1 assembly and then took it home to share with our parents - brilliant!
Thank you children for a fun learning day - hope you enjoyed it as much as me!
Happy National Poetry Day 2018!
Happy National Poetry Day children!
How will you celebrate yours?
Bonds to 100
http://www.snappymaths.com/addition/make100m10/interactive/make100m10s/make100m10s.htm
http://www.snappymaths.com/addition/make100m10/interactive/make100m10totc.htm
http://www.snappymaths.com/addition/make100m10/interactive/make100m10g.htm
Gold September - a huge, heartfelt thank you
We are absolutely overwhelmed with all of the support and generosity for Gold September - a charity so very close to our hearts; thank you so so much from the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you for all of the amazing, generous cake donations, thank you for your time, thank you for your kind words of support, thank you for coming to the coffee morning, thank you for all the superhero costumes, thank you for all of the donations for wearing a superhero costume, thank you for all the money for the children to buy the cakes, thank you for delivering the cakes to all the children in school, thank you for buying cakes after school, thank you for buying Gold September badges all through the month, thank you for your help in setting up, flower arranging, music, buying supplies, making tea and coffee.......the list is endless - thank you so very very much.
Our community came together and has done so much good.
Hit the Button - Year 2 homework
This week we have been learning how having instant recall of bonds to 10 helps us with so many different number facts. For example if we know that 1+9 =10 then 10+90=100 or 1+9=10 so 11+9=20.
Use this game to help your instant recall of bonds to 10, 20 and 100.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Good luck
Keeping healthy!
Thank you Theo for capturing these shots during our aerobic workout in P.E this week:
Inspiring writing
This week, we started a new book called 'Jess and the Bean Root'. We paused at the part where Jess was heading down to the mysterious light at the end of the tunnel and we predicted what we thought could be at the end. We created an illustration of what we thought and then worked in groups to describe what we could see. We then wrote a description, using adjectives, to describe what we saw. Thank you children for a super week of reading and predicting.
Number bonds to 10
https://www.mathplayground.com/number_bonds_10.html
World Religion Day 2018
Thank you to all the children and staff for a beautiful World Religion Day 2018. The atmosphere in our sharing assembly at the end of the day was one of pride, tolerance and intrigue. Thank you all for your enthusiasm, wonder, respect and interest.
World Religion Day 2018 in Class 2
Today, Class 2 thought about what religion means to them and they
thought of the words that come to mind when they thought about religion.
We then learned about the 6 main faiths in our world.
We matched their symbol with their name.
Can you remember them children?
After play, we explored a very famous humanitarian - Saint Teresa;
we learned about her special work and how her messages from God inspired her each and every day.
Thank you children for a really interesting and thoughtful morning.
Celebrating teamwork!
This morning, we counted up our team points that we had earned through the week. We put the counters into groups of 10 to help us to count them easier.
Well done children for earning your house points with your hard work.
Place value
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/place-value/place-value-charts
Computing in Class 2
This afternoon, we used the laptops to play a maths game which helped us to practise reading numbers in words and figures. Here is the link to the game that we played:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/fruitShootNumbersWords.htm
Here are a few more games to try if the above link isn't flash friendly on your tablet:
http://akidsheart.com/math/mathgames/memnowords.htm
http://www.abcya.com/base_ten.htm
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/place-value-basketball
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/place-value/place-value-charts
Please make a comment and let us know what you thought of the game or tell us the score that you got. Good luck.
Here are some photos showing us using the laptops; we learnt to switch them on, log on, type in a web search, choose a link, play an online game, close the internet down and log off! Phew! So many skills - well done children, you followed the instructions well and helped each other - thank you.
Feeling fit and healthy!
Thank you Mr Wildig for our first P.E. in Class 2 this term. We enjoyed the September sunshine whilst keeping fit and healthy.
Welcome to Class 2!
Welcome back to school and to Class 2. I'm looking forward to working with you all this year.
Here's to an exciting year of learning.
From Mrs Reckless x
