Update - Friday 12th May

We have been so busy since coming back after Easter, so there's lots to report!

In English we started a book called The Secret Sky Garden and used this as inspiration to look at how much litter there is in Hauxton. On our litter walk, the children were surprised to find lots of litter despite the fact that a monthly litter pick has started in the village. We wondered how much there would have been if a litter pick hadn't taken place. The children have planned an informative and persuasive litter leaflet which they will soon bring home to distribute locally.

Our English book has also linked well to our Science unit called 'Young Gardeners' which focuses on plants and how they grow. We currently have an experiment running in the classroom to find out what seeds need to germinate, and a second experiment to find out what happens to plants if they don't have water, light and warmth. The children are doing a great job of monitoring and recording what they observe. We have also sown a variety of vegetable seeds which we will be planting out in our new beds built by Mr Cooke and Gardening Club.

In Geography we are learning about Oceans and Seas. We have learned the names of the world's oceans, located them on a map and ordered them by size. We have also learned about the different layers of oceans and some of the features of each layer. Oceans are important for many reasons and we have discovered some of these too.

Our focus in Art is collage. To link to our Geography work, we are working towards a seascape collage, using the works of JMW Turner as inspiration.

Update - Friday 17th March

This half term is just galloping away - and we have fitted in so much already!

In English we have been enjoying the book 'Pattan's Pumpkin' which is an Indian flood myth. This week we have been imagining that we are news reporters, reporting on a flood. We have watched news footage of real floods, describe the scenes, thought about people's feelings and considered the aftermath.

In Maths we have been working on multiplication and division, including knowing our 2, 5 and 10 x tables for Year 2. Year 1 have counted sets of objects in 2s, 5s and 10s. We have all looked at arrays to help with our visualisation of multiplication and division facts. We are now revisiting mental strategies for solving addition calculations.

Science work is focusing on 'Our Local Environment'. So far we have learned about classifying objects as alive, dead or never lived and we have started to think about habitats and micro-habitats. 

In Book Week we started work on ebook creation, writing books to show our learning about Brazil in our Geography work. The children have continued to work on these independently and we should be able to share them during Open Afternoon on 31st April.

In our History topic we have learned about the ways people have listened to music over the last 60 years and the way that toys have changed in this time too.

Update - February half-term

The second half of this half term has been so busy and I can't believe how quickly it passed!

So much has been going on in Owls - we had our marble party, exciting work in science and geography, super writing in English and of course a pyjama day to raise money for this year's chosen charity (Cancer Research UK).

We also sadly said goodbye to Mr Tickner and Miss Gill who have had a fantastic half term with us.

In Computing Owl class went on a minibeast hunt in our garden. We counted how many of each type of minibeast we found using a tally chart before using our data handling skills to make pictograms to present our findings. (Photos below)

In Science we were thinking about the forces squash, squeeze, bend, and twist. We applied these forces to playdough and recorded how they changed its shape. We then made our own models using the playdough and wrote instructions using scientific language to describe how they were made. (Photos below).

Update - Friday 20th January

Lots of fun learning again in Owl Class this week!

In English we have worked with Miss Gill to write letters to the hunters in the book Wild, trying to convince them not to take the little girl out of the woods and explaining why.

In Science we carried out an investigation to find out which sock was the stretchiest with Mr Tickner. We had to think like scientists to create a fair test and then to measure and record so that we could interpret the results. (Photos below)

In Art we further developed our weaving skills but on a much smaller scale. We used wool, ribbon and paper to weave on different sized and shaped looms to create our textiles. (Photos below)

Update - Friday 13th January

We have had a full and busy first full week back, starting lots of new learning across the curriculum.

In English we have started to find out about the main character and setting in our new book, using lots of adjectives and descriptive phrases.

In Maths we have worked on place value and improving our understanding of tens and ones in 2-digit numbers.

Socks were the subject of our Science work - the children were particularly interested in which was the smelliest, despite all of them being perfectly clean!

In Art we worked on some large scale weaving, which you may have noticed when you collected your child at the end of the day.

See the photos below if you haven't seen our creations yet.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to a new year and a new term of fantastic learning. This half term we will be learning about Brazil in Geography, Materials in Science and Textiles in Art. In PSHE will will be thinking about Emotions and in RE we will learn about Humanism. We also have a lovely new book to work on in English (but the title is a secret for now!)

We are lucky to have two trainee teachers working in Owl Class this half term. Miss Gill and Mr Tickner have already settled in well, teaching some lessons on our first two days back.

More details about the term and reminders about homework etc will follow in a class letter soon.

End of Autumn Term

We had a very busy end to the term before Christmas. As well as enjoying all of the Christmas preparations, including the Nativity, we had great fun when it snowed. We also wrote a Winter poem for our Big Write. I will add some photos of what we got up to soon.

Update - Friday 18th November

This week in English we planned and wrote a story about a playdate between Beegu and the friends we made for her last week (photos of friends to follow soon).

In Maths we finished work on length with some investigations. Year 1 investigated ways to 'make a metre' and Year 2 found ways to measure the length around their whole hand. (photos below)

In Science we met the Materials Monster and fed him lots of words to do with materials. We sorted objects based on the materials they were made from.

Update - Friday 11th November

This week we at last made our Rainbow Pasta! We have done lots of preparation and completed a design sheet so that we knew exactly what we wanted to do. All that was left was to prepare the vegetables and cook the pasta. I was really impressed with the control and care that the children showed whilst using knives, peelers and graters. Once everything was ready, the dishes were assembled and photographed, and finally we got to eat. (Photos below)

We have also been creative in our English work. We have started our new book - Beegu - and found out that Beegu is an alien who is lost after crash-landing her spaceship. She is lonely, so we made friends for her using a variety of materials. We then used our models to write character descriptions.

In Maths we completed assessments, then started work on Length. We spent Friday afternoon comparing objects with a metre stick (Year 1) and measuring objects in centimetres (Year 2).

Update - Friday 14th October

We are currently combining our Science and DT work as we are thinking about 'healthy choices'. Last week we spent some time looking at different foods and considering what healthy and unhealthy might mean. We then tasted some fruit and vegetables and scored them out of 10 for taste. Lots of the class tried at least one food that they hadn't tried before. This week we have practised some food preparation skills - grating, chopping, peeling and juicing some fruits and vegetables. We finished the week by considering our favourite snacks and then making fruit kebabs as a 'healthy swap' for foods such as sweets, chocolate and crisps. 

In English we have been working on posters about endangered animals. We have made notes and turned them into informative sentences, then transferred the information on to poster templates.

In Computing we have been completing some digital art projects, learning how to create art using different graphics tools.

Update - Friday 30th September

This week in Science we have continued work on being fit and healthy. On Thursday we looked carefully at cycle helmets and used our observations to make a list of common features. We then used what we learned in an egg cycle helmet challenge! The children worked in pairs and threes to create a helmet for an egg cyclist - it was very 'egg-citing'. We thought about using a variety of materials to match the common features list. We then tested our 'helmets' by dropping our 'cyclists' from a height and seeing if the eggs got cracked. We thought about what was needed to make it a fair test - dropping from the same height, dropping them in the same way and making sure that the 'helmet' was pointing down towards the ground. There were some 'egg-cellent' results with quite a few cyclists staying in one piece. 

Update - Tuesday 27th September

The book that we are working on in English is called Here We Are - Notes for living on planet Earth. Last week we were thinking about appreciating the outdoors and nature as that is such an important part of our planet. After reading a poem called 'Out and About' we went out in the Owl's garden and found ways to be 'busy' outdoors (photos below).

We used our experiences to write poems in a similar style. Year 1 worked together as a group to write the following:

Cold air,

Warm sun.

Waving purple kite,

Lovely and light.

Making stick people,

Where will they live?

A stick house,

Stones for the floor.

Looking for nature to draw,

Then find some more.

Owl Class are back! - September 2022

Welcome to a brand new school year in Owl Class. Year 2 are settling back in to their familiar surroundings and routines, whilst Year 1 are getting used to a different sort of school day now that they have left Reception.

Mrs Cooke is the teacher for Owl Class and Mrs Caller is our Teaching Assistant. Other adults may also work with our class at different times. PE days are Monday and Wednesday, with Miss Lister from Premier Sport teaching the class on Wednesday afternoons. Outdoor Learning with Mrs Wick also continues on Wednesday afternoons this year.

We have already started our topics in Science (Healthy Me) and Geography (Villages, Towns and Cities). In Science we have enjoyed thinking about ways to be fit and what being fit actually means, trying out some physical activities and considering the ways in which they contribute to our fitness (photos below). In Geography we have found out about the world's population and how it is growing, and the different population sizes in different parts of the world.

There is lots of interesting learning to look forward to this term, so keep checking this page to see what we have been up to. There will also be further information in the Autumn Term class letter which will be out soon.