Beech
2023 - 2024
Spring Term 2
This half term, we have enjoyed some great enrichment experiences, including a trip to Tincleton with Wessex Wild to supplement our learning about habitats. Beech have also enjoyed our flight around the world for World Book Day, which took us to celebrate literature from different continents. Similarly, they loved the opportunity to understand Easter from different perspectives during ‘Journey day’ which included learning about “happy and sad notes” in music and producing music that echoed the changes in mood of the Easter story.
In English, alongside sharing literature together, the children have worked extremely hard towards preparing for future assessments. They have learnt to take lots of care reading questions and to use the text closely when answering them. Year 2 have developed speed and confidence with their comprehension skills. Meanwhile, Year 1 have shown that their phonics knowledge is coming together brilliantly; they are slowly finding reading more and more rewarding.
This half term in maths, we have covered practical topics: measurement and time. The children have shown a particularly strong grasp on these topics. Year 2 pupils impressed us with their determination to be able to tell the time to five minutes! They are enjoying being able to tell the time at different points in the school day.
Everyday materials proved a fun science topic this half term. The children loved the opportunity to design flawed objects made of impractical materials. This lead to some amusing creations including paper beds, glass footballs and fabric toilets. The children were great at explaining why the properties of the materials were inappropriate. Beech have also been able to conduct experiments to assess the flexibility of different materials. They enjoyed considering the environmental implications of different materials; leading us to focus on plastic and why it’s not so good for the planet.
In RE, we have looked at Easter within Christianity. Our studies led us to look at Christian practices during Easter; we also explored the different symbolism during Easter and how ‘commercial Easter’ ties in with these. The children identified positive and negative emotions within the Easter story and then looked to the words of Jesus, which led us to investigate the meaning of the Easter story and the message of forgiveness.
This half term, our topic was travel. This led us to become confident in basic geography; we identified parts of the UK and what they are known for. The children learnt the seven continents with an engaging song, followed by the oceans.
Our computing studies have seen us learn about data. This learning has given us a head start with our statistics unit in maths! The children produced tally diagrams, pictograms and more to record data.
In DT, the children have designed their own healthy pizzas. They conducted market research, a thorough design process and have written detailed instructions considering hygiene and safety to produce their pizzas. They are eagerly anticipating the making, testing and evaluating stage as soon as they return to school!
In PE, the children have developed their confidence in gymnastics, which they look forward to each week. They have continued to develop their understanding of the world in PHSE and as always have shown fantastic enthusiasm for music!
Well done Beech for a brilliant half term.
Beech Class Spring Term 2 2024
Spring Term 1
Beech Class Spring term 1 2024
Autumn Term 2
This has been a wonderful half-term for Beech class. Alongside our learning, we have enjoyed a visit from the planetarium about the oceans, which inspired an adventure story. We have also loved our ‘Explorers’ topic; the children enjoyed being challenged with ‘Astronaut training day’ to give them some insight into the resilience and motivation that might be required by a real explorer. They have enjoyed using different sources to learn about explorers in history and why they had such an impact.
In literacy this half term, Beech have studied letter writing. Using, The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg as a starting point, we explored the purpose of letter writing and the important features that must be included in a letter. The children’s main task was to write a letter from the perspective of a fairytale villain apologising for their actions. The children enjoyed being creative and getting into character with this! In SPAG we have focussed on learning about the different word classes; nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs as well as learning about 4 types of sentences and punctuating them accurately.
The children have all looked forward to phonics each day; Year 1 are coping brilliantly with all the new sounds appearing in their words. Our lessons include lots of word building, word and sentence reading as well as dictated sentence writing. In reading lessons, we have worked with a range of texts including The Jolly Postman, The Tale of Jack Frost as well as non-fiction texts about Neil Armstrong and other explorers. The Year 2 children have become more independent with scanning a text for answers and they confidently explain their personal interpretations.
We have covered lots in maths this half term. Our topics have spanned from addition and subtraction to shape then money. The Year 1 and 2 children have covered these at different levels with great success. Year 2 have begun to learn how to use column addition, including addition crossing 10. They have really enjoyed this method!
In science, the children have been learning about habitats, including microhabitats. The children have shown fantastic recall of their science learning so far this term and they have enjoyed using the nature trail to investigate microhabitats and their qualities.
In RE, the children have studied incarnation. We have learnt that God came to earth as Jesus and lived among people as a human himself. This unit has provoked us to consider what Christmas means to Christians and non-Christians. The children gave such thoughtful answers when considering what a poor person could give Jesus, suggesting that prayers, love, respect, friendship and compassion might mean more than material gifts. We went on to consider the impact of different charities at Christmas time and what we can do to help. The children always impress with their eloquent and emotive responses; not just in RE!
In DT, the children have enjoyed completing their toy houses. They have used their own designs to print wallpaper and used recycled materials to create furniture themselves.
In art, the children have used different printing techniques, including hand printing to make a whole class backdrop for a display. The children love being creative!
In PE this half term, the children have been working on creating their own choreography and joining it together to make a group dance. We used the concept of explorers as a starting point for all of our movements. The children responded very well to this and created some great sequences.
In SCARF, the children have covered valuing difference. In computing, we have studied digital writing which has allowed us to practise our typing skills!
We have also spent time working on our Nativity performance, which came together brilliantly. The children are great performers.
Beech Class Autumn term 2 2023
Autumn Term 1
We have had a very busy half-term in Beech class; the children have made an impressive start to their learning.
In maths, we have covered place value and begun addition and subtraction. The children have been able to identify how many tens and ones are in a two-digit number. We have revisited number bonds to 10 in Year 1 as well as bonds to 20 and 100 in Year 2. The Year 2s have also begun to use column addition to add two-digit numbers. The children have been working on their times tables; Year 1 have focused on counting in multiples while Year 2 have been recalling 2, 5 and 10 times tables as well as learning their 3s.
In writing, we have used the 'Talk for Writing' approach to write versions of Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. The children have been focusing on writing accurately punctuated sentences. In phonics, we have covered different spellings of the following sounds: ‘ai’, ‘ee’ ‘oe’ and ‘er’. In reading, we have practised decoding skills. As well as this, the children have studied the meaning in different books including ‘Paper Dolls’ by Julia Donaldson.
In history, the children have studied toys. We have compared toys played with by children of the 60s to the toys we play with now. The children found that many of their favourite toys, such as Lego and hot wheels existed in the 60s. We discovered that the main difference in the toys we play with is that smart toys did not exist, this led us to research the creation of the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee. We also discussed the implications of having access to such smart toys and games online, including keeping safe online.
In science, the children have learnt about 6 life processes that make something alive. They showed their understanding by acting out the processes to demonstrate how they applied to plants and animals. The children have enjoyed investigating whether something is alive, dead or never been alive and they have begun to explore different types of habitat.
In RE, we have studied creation. We have focused on the Christian understanding of creation and the implications for Christians about the existence of a ‘creator’. The children have thoughtfully considered the significance of rest in the creation story and they have questioned how beliefs could impact someone’s sense of duty to the world. They could all agree that we should treat the Earth with respect and encourage others to do the same.
In SCARF, we have looked at friendships including reading others' emotions to help us become better friends.
In music, we have focused on finding the beat and understanding rhythm with a range of songs.
In gymnastics, the children have created routines using rolls, jumps and balances. They focused on creating smooth transitions between their movement. We worked up to choreographing a sequence which the children performed in pairs.
In art and DT, the children have been inspired by 60's design to create printed ‘wallpaper’ for a toy house. They will continue working to complete their toy house next half term.
In computing, the children have been learning about grouping data. An example we came across was the way that a register counts and groups children into ‘present’ and ‘absent’. We then had a go at pretending we were the computer and creating our own register and calculating the groups!
I hope the children have a fantastic break after all their hard work.
Beech Class Autumn 1 2023
