Beech

2023 - 2024

Summer Term 2

What a busy half term this has been! The children have embraced their learning inside and outside of the classroom with great enthusiasm and it has been a pleasure to help them in their learning journey.

We are proud of our Year 1 children for their achievements with phonics and the Year 2 children for their resilience shown during the end of KS1 assessments – well done!

We had a fantastic day on Brownsea Island – what an exciting trip, having to travel by coach and boat! We were incredibly lucky with the weather and the fantastic organisation by the National Trust meant our timetable all went to plan and the children were able to take part in three different activities on the island. We could have spent longer there, and we hope the children will want to return and share this beautiful area with you. As we sailed across, we were very excited to see the dads of two of our families on different boats. Having taught in the centre of Halifax and Oldham, this made me think how lucky we are here to bring these opportunities and experiences to our children here.

The children love their PE lessons with Mr Kelly, and we were impressed with their attitude on Sports Day. There is a lot of sporting talent amongst the children and there was some super teamwork. The Year 2 children who went to the tennis competition really shone, and won their event, and all the children demonstrated an improvement in their skills during the tennis sessions they had at school.

In R.E. we have enjoyed learning about the Islamic Faith, looking in particular at what Muslims believe about Allah. I have loved the cheers of ‘Yes, it’s RE!’ on a Friday morning – there is so much curiosity amongst the children and we have loved this topic. Some of the artwork produced on the theme of ‘Where is God’ will be entered into a national competition called ‘Spirited Arts’ – fingers crossed!

Our Geography work has allowed us to study the Jurassic Coast in more detail, learning more about rocks, fossils, and the physical and human changes to the coastline around the U.K.

In maths, we have given the children opportunities to consolidate basic number work as well as looking at different types of charts and tables in statistics. We have been so impressed with the attitude towards learning times tables and it appears many children have really looked forward to the weekly tests! As with all learning, everyone learns at different rates and in different ways. Learning times tables is so important in maths and singing times tables songs, writing them out, repeating aloud, using games online etc are just some of the methods you can use with the children at home.

We have enjoyed some ‘Show and Tell’ and ‘Talk and Tell’ slots and it has been wonderful to listen to the children share their experiences with us.

In Art we have been investigating birds, using feathers for inspiration, and exploring how a simple piece of paper can change from 2D to 3D in an instant! The children loved exploring these ideas as well as making junk models of Paris landmarks on French Day and making pasta dinosaur skeletons.

In Science we have been thinking about life cycles of animals including humans, and we finished our topic with a quiz which was remarkably successful! As part of this we enjoyed our running challenge on the playground and talking about what keeps our bodies healthy. We have learnt about healthy habits we need to keep including exercise, sleep, cleaning our teeth, and healthy eating.

Thank you to you all for supporting the children, we know that they will go on to be successful in years 2 and 3– we hope you have a wonderful, relaxing summer!

Beech Class Summer Term 2 2024

Summer Term 1

We are very proud of the children in Beech Class! They have adapted well to new routines for the Summer Term and have been very busy with lots of learning and lots of fun!

We have been enjoying our trips to the library, and quiet times during the day to read our books independently and with friends. We have had a focus on handwriting and grammar and punctuation in English lessons, ensuring our sentences are as accurate as possible and we become more careful proof-readers. We have continued our phonics progress, and the children have worked very hard at this with Year 1 demonstrating their progress towards the Phonics Screening Check which will take place shortly after half term. We have used our topic work to inspire our writing, and will look forward to visiting one of the islands we have been learning about – will it be Brownsea Island or Jamaica?

We love our morning ‘wake and shake’ sessions, which are often based on the times tables we are learning. It’s really important to keep our brains active and we enjoy lots of whiteboard activities for maths too, which encourage quick-thinking and are really fun! Our focus in maths lessons has been fractions, and the children have been finding fractions of shapes and amounts. We will be using this knowledge during some of our ‘Outdoor Classroom’ activities too.

In R.E. we started our new ‘key question’ of ‘What do celebration foods and activities teach us about important stories for Jewish people?’ with doughnuts and the children seem to have been really inspired by the story of Hanukkah. We have also learnt about how Shabbat is celebrated and which foods may be eaten at other festivals too. The children have worked very hard and have impressed me with the links they have been able to make to previous learning, showing how well they have retained this knowledge.

In P.S.H.E. our theme has been ‘Being my best’ and we have enjoyed lessons about keeping ourselves healthy and happy. We loved meeting Harold the Giraffe again during the SCARF workshop with Jane from Coram Life Education. This has linked in well with our Science lessons too where we have been learning about animals (including humans) and we have investigated life cycles, growth, survival, health and exercise. The children have really enjoyed the exercise in the playground as part of this.

The children in Beech Class really enjoy their music lessons, always working with such enthusiasm. They love singing and making their own music! The children have also enjoyed some Art this half term, with more to follow next term. They have been considering the links between mindfulness and Art which have allowed for quiet moments across the week.

It has been wonderful having regular French lessons this half term, where we have kept the lessons interactive with lots of learning through songs and actions.

We are looking forward to showcasing our maypole dance and are very grateful to the wonderful Mrs Seaton-Sykes, who has guided us with this.

Everyone has worked brilliantly as a team this half term and we hope you all have a restful week and will look forward to seeing the children’s smiling faces again after the break!

Mrs Goodwin and Mrs Hollard

Beech Class Summer Term 1 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

his half term has been filled with some fantastic progress and exciting learning experiences for Beech class! From immersive workshops to engaging projects, we have been very busy:

One of the highlights of this term was our visit to Salisbury Cathedral. Through spirituality workshops, the children delved deep into the meaning of spirituality, enriching their understanding with some wonderful creative activities.

We enjoyed a workshop by Wessex Water, where the children learned about the efficient use of water through fun experiments. It was a fantastic opportunity to blend learning with hands-on exploration.

Our topic this term centred around transport. From the evolution of transportation to the iconic Flying Scotsman, the children immersed themselves in research and exploration. Through Michael Morpurgo's 'Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever', they used the 'Talk for Writing' approach to learn a section of narrative and then honed their writing skills through diary entries. This led us to focus on writing in consistent tense and in the first person.

Year 1 have shown brilliant phonics progress through persevering to learn new sounds and spellings each day.

In Mathematics, we delved into multiplication and division, utilising manipulatives to solidify these concepts. The children's growing proficiency in recalling multiplication facts has been excellent. We have also continued to practise our addition and subtraction.

Beech class delved into the significance of the Torah in Judaism, fostering empathy and understanding for different cultures and beliefs.

In Science, the children engaged in various scientific inquiries, from comparative testing to observation and research. Through hands-on experiments we investigated whether woodlice prefer damp or dry conditions. We also set up an environment in a large bottle for worms to live, a 'wormery' to observe the impact that worms have on our soils.

The children embraced programming on Scratch Junior with enthusiasm, showcasing their aptitude for technology.

Our art lessons provided a platform for exploring watercolour techniques and understanding perspective, culminating in beautiful landscape paintings that reflected each child's unique style.

In dance, the children produced choreography inspired by water, the children showcased their energy and creativity. In SCARF sessions, they focused on safety and wellbeing.

We eagerly anticipate the adventures that await us next half-term!

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.

St George's CE