This week we read the story of The Leaf Man and created our own leaf characters. While we were outside collecting leaves we looked at the different types of trees around the school and their leaves. We then gave our characters names, drew black pen pictures and created our own stories focusing on the WHO, WHAT and WHERE. 

In P2/1 we’re also learning Signalong with Mrs Ryalls – this week learning greetings such as hello and good morning as well as the signs for mum and dad.

In phonics this week we learned p and n and are starting to blend the sounds to make short words. We’re also continuing to meet the Oxford Reading Tree characters, this week finding out more about Biff.

In numeracy we’ve been focusing on language one and two more, and using practical materials such as pasta to show this. We’ve also been making our own number lines outside and jumping up and down them to the number before and after.

We have several jumpers and cardigans in the cloakroom without names. If you’re missing one please let us know.

In P2/1 we have been amazed by the results of our mouldy bread experiment. This afternoon we compared the bread we handled with  our pre-washed hands to the bread we handled with our freshly washed hands.

In all groups there is significantly more mould on the bread we handled with our dirty hands. We talked about why this had happened and the children learned that ‘germs are lots of little tiny beasties’ (Brooke) and that ‘bacteria can grow and spread’ (Rowan), as well as how important handwashing is!

We had a visitor again today! He sneaked in this morning through the P1 classroom door,  went for a walk and a little play through the two classrooms, then hopped out a few minutes later through the P2/1 door!

The children were so calm and quiet, Robin Red (named by Clara in P1) hopped along quite happily. We may have a new pupil!

Another week has flown! It’s hard to believe we’ve only been back three weeks – the children have settled really well into the school routine.

This week we’ve continued with our phonics, learning t and i and starting to blend the sounds covered so far to make short words.  We’ve also started looking at the Oxford Reading Tree characters, starting with Kipper, who we found out is actually called Christopher!

We’re doing a lot of work with plasticine to develop our fine motor skills, linking it to emotions and our feelings. This week we’ve made surprised and angry faces and have spoken about times we felt like this.

In numeracy we’re continuing to focus on numbers to 10, ensuring we have the correct formation and using the language before, after and one more. This morning we had great fun outside on a number hunt.

We’re continuing our stickman topic, looking at the landscape in the stickman and using lots of different materials to create our own landscape scene. We also looked at the view from outside the classroom and talked about how the colours and detail fade the further away they are. We then painted our background, gradually going from dark to light, and drew and cut out trees – one that is here, one that is near and one that is far – and added leaves and branches with oil pastels. The next job is to add stick frames.

In other news, in our bread experiment we are excited to see mould growing on the bread we touched with our dirty hands! We’ll continue to watch and share more next week. We’ve also had a robin visiting the table outside the classroom, and on Wednesday he decided to come into the classroom for a play while the children were at lunch!

Following on from Mrs Wilson’s Skipper assembly encouraging us to ‘look on the bright side’, we’ve been sharing our experiences of being at home the last few months and talking about different ways of seeing things. In circle time we talked about some of the things that we’re grateful for.

It’s been another busy week in Primary 2/1. We are continuing our Stickman topic – we finished our stick children for our display, made a story map of all the places the Stickman visited and wrote postcards from his adventures. We then developed our sequencing skills to give our friends instructions to get the stickman safely home to the family tree, avoiding all the obstacles!

As well as The Stickman we’ve been reading lots of stories, including It’s Not a Stick. We then worked together to be imaginative with our sticks, which are not sticks but a boat, a fire, noughts and crosses, a snowflake, a house for a mouse, a ladder, a gate, Peebles and many more!

We’ve also made a start on our phonics this week, looking at ‘s’ and ‘a’. In numeracy we’re counting out objects, working on recognising numbers and practising the correct number formation. We’ve also spent lots of time developing our fine motor skills with the plasticine and playdough.

Every day we’re having lots of chats about germs and the importance of handwashing. We’ve discussed how germs are spread and how they get into our bodies. We created our own germ monsters and have also carried out an experiment to see which bread goes mouldy first – the one we touched with clean hands and the one we touched with dirty hands. Watch this space!

We have had such a fun and busy week in P2/1. The new P1s have settled in really well. They have been enjoying their lunches in the dining hall and playing outside in the playground with their friends.

We have been doing lots of learning, inside and outside the classroom. For our Stick Man topic, as well as reading lots of stories, we’ve been collecting sticks and leaves, making model stick men and acting out the story. We’ve also been drawing Stick Man pictures with black pens.

We have also started our number work, counting out lots of items and practising forming numbers.

We’ve also had lots of chats about how we’re feeling, and making plasticine pictures of our faces to show how we’re feeling.

The P1s and P2s have been working so well together – it’s been a great first week!