What a fantastic start to Term 2 in P2/1!

On Wednesday, we were introduced to someone who has been living in a box in our classroom!  He’s been hiding and the P1 boys and girls have been asking who he is and what he does.  The P2 girls know all about him and were very excited to share what they knew.  His name is Stitch.

We received a letter from him to say that he had been listening carefully to our learning and he knew that we were now ready to help him save his planet!  He comes from a planet very far away and on his planet, words are generated to created power.  However, his planet are running low on new words and life is very difficult with little power.  So he needs our help!  He’s back on his mission to collect new vocabulary.

He has asked P2/1 to send any new vocabulary that they learn, read or write so it can be sent back to his planet to be put into the vocabulator – the machine that changes words into power!

The boys and girls are VERY excited to start sending words and have been listening very carefully to stories to hear if they can spot any words that are new to them.

We are also starting to sort new vocabulary into anchor words, goldilocks words and step on  words.

Anchor words –  words that we hear a lot and we all mostly know the meaning of.

Goldilocks words – words that are not too easy or too tricky.  Words that would be great to use in our writing.

Step on words – words that we don’t hear that often or that are very specific to topics.

The children in P2/1 enjoyed their trip to the windfarm on Monday and learned lots of new information about wind turbines and renewable energy.

We will share more about our learning in our reflection blog on Friday, but in the meantime, we hope you enjoy looking at our photographs from Whitelees…

What a busy week our P2/1’s have had!

We started our week practising hard for our Harvest assembly that was held up at the Church on Tuesday.  All the children from P1, 2 and 3 worked very hard to learn songs, lines and actions and performed ‘The Little Red Hen’ very confidently to their friends and family at the Church.  What a lot of Confident Individuals we have at Stoneyburn PS!  I cannot wait for the Christmas Show – the standard has been set!

On Wednesday, we had to work on our windmills for the Levenseat Competition that is taking place next week.  We have been busy learning about windmills and then had to design and make our own.  We learned that if the sails are folded, then they will (hopefully!) catch the wind better and spin around.  On Thursday afternoon, we went outside to test them out!  Some of them worked quite well and then a group of boys decided to place them on the fence so that they looked like a real wind farm!

Thursday morning was also very exciting and we enjoyed our sponsored Welly Walk around the school field, the weather disco and dressing up in different weather clothes.

We are looking forward to our trip on Monday.  Please remember to bring a packed lunch on Monday morning and wrap up warm!

The boys and girls in P2/1 have been very busy this week sharing their ideas with each other and making decisions.

Our main job this week was to decide on our Class Charter.  The children were asked to think of ways to keep the classroom SAFE, HAPPY and a place of good LEARNING.  They were very able to think of ways to do this and are beginning to understand that everyone has a ‘right’ to come to school to be safe, happy and learning.  A group from the class also presented to the whole school at assembly and showed that they are ‘Confident Individuals’!

We have also started planning for our class topic which will be ‘Scottish Castles’.  The children were asked to draw a picture to share all they knew about castles.  As a class, and alongside P3/2, we will now plan our project, taking into account what the children already know, and what they would like to find out about.  We already have lots of exciting ideas swirling around, so keep your eyes peeled on the blog!

Here are some of the children’s initial drawings to show their existing knowledge and understanding of ‘Castles’…

Emma knew that lots of people lived and worked in a castle.

Gracie knew that a King and Queen live in a castle.

Rebecca has been to a castle before with her family.  She knows that the top parts are called ‘turrets’.

Lewis knew that there is usually water around a castle ‘to keep the bad guys away’.  Flags fly at the top of a castle and there are guards next to the drawbridge.

Seth knew lots about castles.  He knew about guards, knights, kings and queens.  He knew about the turrets at the top of a castle and the dungeon at the bottom!

Kacie E said that she has seen lots of castles and they have a clock at the top of a tower.

Kyle knew that there is water around the castle.

Nikodem has been on a bouncy castle before.  They’re lots of fun!

Leland knew that a castle has lots of bedrooms.

Jaden knew that a castle had ‘things’ on the top.  Rebecca told her they were called turrets.  She also knew that castles have a drawbridge.

Layla drew the inside of a castle.  It’s really big.

Paige drew a castle and a princess.

Kacie M knew that a King and Queen lives in a castle.  The queen’s crown sits at the top and flags fly around the castle.

David knew that a king would live in a castle and that a castle might have a tower.

Robbie drew a picture of ‘baddies’ in the dungeon.  They’ve been stealing the treasure.

The boys and girls have continued to settle in to class very well.  We have done lots of activities this week and we would like to share our thoughts with you:

Seth – Being on the silver chart was my favourite time and doing the yoga bear hunt.

Finlay – I liked helping make rules for the class.

Nikodem – I liked getting my lunch.

Kacie M – I liked talking about feelings with P3/2.

Jaden – I liked going to Breakfast Club.

Robbie – Golden Time was my favourite.  I made a big snake.

David – I liked playing with Robbie at Golden Time with the snake.

Gracie – I liked doing some crafts and being on the iPad.

Paige – I’ve liked doing activities.

Leland – I liked playing football outside.

Emma – I’ve liked taking things to Mrs Bennie.

Lewis – I liked making the snake with Robbie.

Layla – I liked going to gym with Mrs Warden.

Kacie E – I liked playing with Leland in the woods and making dens.

Aleksander – I liked snack and playtime.

A huge welcome and well done to all of our fantastic P1 pupils who joined our school on Tuesday.  They have made a confident start to primary school and are already picking up the routines of school life.  I have to say however, that for most of the boys and girls, lunchtime is the favourite part of the day so far!  Learning appears to make them very hungry! 🙂

Our P2 girls in the class are continuing to be fantastic role models for our younger pupils! Well done girls!

Please note that our PE days will be on a Tuesday with Mrs Warden and on a Friday with Mr Tennant.  The boys and girls require a suitable gym kit consisting of shorts and a T-Shirt, and suitable gym shoes/trainers.  No jewellery should be worn.  I am more than happy for the children to leave their gym kit on their peg in the cloakroom so that it is always in school should they need it.

Keep your eyes peeled on our school Blog for further updates from the P2/1 class.

Mrs Sibbald