English:

Our new text is "Lila and the Secret Rain" and we have started learning about the country it is set in, Kenya. We have spent the week honing our describing skills using "noun phrases". We have had excellent discussions about how life in rural Kenya is different yet to similar to ours. Next week we will read the book in full and find out why the rain is secret.

Maths:

Year 1 have been securing their knowledge of number bonds to 10 then moving on to comparing number bonds up to 10. Quite tricky when you need to complete addition number sentences THEN decide which answer is the greater number THEN remember to use the correct sigh: <> =. Good work Year 1.

Year 2 have been securing using a number line to help with subtraction and we finished the week, using our knowledge of number bonds to 10 to help us with larger numbers. Lots of keen and focussed children.

Art:

Friday will be art day this half term and I'm looking forward to teaching the children about different artists and how they use colour in their paintings.

Today we learnt about Piet Mondrian a Dutch artist. He used primary colours in his work. We used primary colours to recreate his work using collage. We thought yellow showed happy feelings, blue showed sad or relaxed feelings and red showed fiery, angry feelings. The children created works expressing the range of feelings they may have on any one day. Great work with one child full of " fiery enthusiasm" today!

RE:

Our unit this half term is titled " What makes some places sacred?" We will be finding out how churches, synagogues and mosques are different yet similar. We will be considering the questions:

a) Which places are special and why?

b) Why do people pray?

c) If God is everywhere, why go to a place of worship?

Lots to discuss and consider. 

This week we thought about special places that make us feel safe and why they make us feel safe (a much harder question to answer). Next week we will discuss where there are special and safe places within our communities.