Lice Attack!

There has been a reported case of head lice in your child’s class. Please be extra vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly. If left untreated the head lice re-infect other children who have already been treated. Please check and treat your child if necessary in an effort to stop the cycle. If your child has long hair I ask that you tie it back, especially on P.E. days. Thank you for your support.

Year 2 School Trip

On Tuesday we went to Dorchester Museum. Year 2 loved it! We saw a huge Pliosaur head and some fossilized crocodile back bones. We learnt how fossils are formed and we made our own ammonites. We were fossil detectives and learnt lots about fossils. It was a really exciting trip and we had a fabulous time. A big thankyou to Oliver's Nanny and Grandad for coming with us.

Reminder - Sports Day

Just a quick reminder to say that our Year 2 Sports Day will be on Tuesday 10th July at 9.30am. We hope you will be able to join us for this morning.

"I Can Use Speech Marks!"

Yesterday in literacy we were thinking about how we use speech marks when we are writing. Can you remember where the '66' and the '99' go? If you want to practise using speech marks some more, check out EducationCity.com as there are some good speech mark games on there.

Reminder - Answer Garden

REMINDER - What would you like to learn next about in Year. 2? Respond now using our new online 'Answer Garden' at: http://answergarden.ch/view/29308 . The more popular an answer is the larger it will be displayed with the most popular answers being looked at in class over the coming weeks. Mr. Spracklen

Advanced Notice - Kimmeridge

Year 2 will be going to Kimmeridge Bay on Wednesday 20th June. Letter to follow.

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

On Friday 1st June 12.30 pm we shall be celebrating HRH Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee with a street party at school. We ask that the children join in by bringing in party food (sign up sheet just inside the door of the Y.2 classroom) and dressing up in red, white and blue (or any combination of these!) The children will be given a commemorative mug to keep as a souvenir of the day. Parents are welcome to come along to help or join in the fun!

HELP NEEDED - Tuesday

On Tuesday we will be visiting the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester as part of our work this term on the ‘Jurassic Coast’.  To support our visit we really need PARENT HELPERS to help us, especially with our walk along the busy roads of Dorchester. If you are willing to help, please see Mrs. Webb  or myself in the coming days.

Roald Dahl website

This week we've been leanring all about Roald Dahl - leading to some fantastic posters we made as groups. If you want to know even more about Roald Dahl, why not check out his official website? It's full of facts and activities. If you have your adult's permission, you can take sign up and take a test to see if you are are a Roald Dahl expert  (to find the test, click on 'Treats' at the top of the homepage). Hopefully after this week we are all experts! If you take the test, we'd love to know what score you get, so tell Mr. Spracklen, Mrs. Webb or Mr. Hopkins.

Advanced Notice - Studland

Year 2 will be going to Studland Beach on Wednesday 18th July. Letter to follow.

Reminder - Museum Trip

We have arranged for the children in Year 2 to visit the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester on Tuesday 29th May. This is part of our topic for the term on the ‘Jurassic Coast’. We will be having a special session from the staff at the museum to explore the new Jurassic Coast Gallery which is complete with animated dinosaurs, rocks and fossils. We will be walking there and back, leaving at 9.15am and returning after lunch. If your child normally has a hot lunch on a Tuesday this will need to be cancelled and a packed lunch provided in a backpack to take with us. All children will be required to wear school uniform. The cost of the trip to include entrance fees and activities will be £4.50 per child. We would like to ask parents for a voluntary contribution towards the cost of the trip. If you are not able to contribute the full amount please consider giving what you can. No child will be excluded if a contribution is not received. Please complete and return the consent slip below giving permission for your child to participate in the visit. The school welcomes any feedback from parents on educational visits; please feel free to email the office on office@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk. 

Don't forget swimming this morning!

In September your child will be swimming each week, to give them a little taster we have the opportunity to swim on Thursday 24th May as a one off session. This involves use of the small pool at The Thomas Hardye Leisure Centre. The children will be swimming with two qualified swimming teachers with lifeguards on duty. Please drop your child at the back of the Leisure Centre to the Pavilion changing rooms where staff will be on hand to register the children from 8.45am onwards. After their lesson children will walk back across the Thomas Hardye field. Your child will need a one piece costume and towel, a swimming hat is also essential and armbands if needed (please name all items). Please do not send your child with any jewellery on swimming days – earrings will get knocked out and lost. Any questions please see Mrs. Webb or myself.

Inspiring our younger siblings!

Our inspirational work in Y.2 has gone to a new level! For the first time I have been given a piece of work on a Y.2 theme from a younger sibling! I am sure you will all agree that the picture attached to this Blog is a fantastic example of some creative home learning. Can you all spot Mr. Willy Wonka and his chocolate river?

POWSA biggest Raffle ever!

POWSA biggest Raffle ever - prizes are as follows (and more to follow!!!)  Make sure you buy some raffle tickets, ready for the Summer Fair this Saturday 11am - 2pm: A set of Golf Clubs, Sunday lunch for 2 adults and up to 3 children at Moonfleet Manor Hotel, Poundbury Cycles - complimentary bike service, Bonjour! Cafe - £10 voucher, Dorset Wine - £5 Voucher, Cafe on the Green - Cream Tea voucher, Olives et al - voucher, 2 x Miniature Clocks, A Treasure Trail, Brand New Shoulder Bag from Peacocks, 4x complimentary tickets Weymouth Sealife Park, 1x complimentary family ticket Abbotsbury Swannery, 2x complimentary family ticket Lulworth Castle and Park, 1x complimentary family ticket Pecorama, Jordan & Jordan collapsible camping colander, On the Table £10 gift voucher

Dodgesons - Pair of tough Gardening gloves, Wise Owl Toys - Colour your own Puzzles, Pure - Back, Neck & Shoulder massage, Tesco - Liquor Chocolates, Step toes - bag, Seven Springs Studio – Family Portrait Voucher and makeover Photography Voucher.

This Week In Literacy

This week in Literacy we are going to be finding out all about Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We will be looking at his childhood, time at school and what he did when he left school. If anybody has any facts about Roald Dahl they would like to bring in, we can add it to our research.

Wonka Enrichment Day

Wow! We had great fun yesterday for our Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Enrichment Day. Everyone looked great dressed as a character from the book (thank you to everyone for making such an effort!) and the day was full of exciting activities. In the morning, we created Golden Tickets, made yummy Wonka hats and did some maths in the Wonka Sweet Shop. In the afternoon, we watched the film and enjoyed eating our hats! What was your favourite part of the day? Tell us in the comments.

Life Education Van

Year 2 enjoyed their time in the Life Education Van on Wednesday afternoon with Harold the giraffe and Moira. We spent some time talking about the parts of the body and then discussed our feelings - what we can do if we are sad, angry or lonely. I wonder if anyone can remember the good ideas and advice we shared in the van?

Facebook

It has come to my attention that some pupils in school have Facebook accounts. May I take this opportunity to remind you that the terms and conditions of using Facebook state that the user must be 13 years or over (Article 4.5). If your child does have an account then they have already broken the terms of the site and have lied about their age. As a school we will be contacting Facebook to get your child's account removed. Although we now have a school Facebook account for parental communication, we want to make it very clear that this is an adult site that is not suitable for children. Mr. Farrington

Year 2 Charity Calendar

The pupils in Year 2 have decided to launch their own charity calendar and have used the digital microscope in Science to create their monthly pictures. What do you think of our selection of pictures?

What will you sow in our answer garden?

What would you like to learn next about in Year. 2? Respond now using our new online 'Answer Garden' at: http://answergarden.ch/view/29308 . The more popular an answer is the larger it will be displayed with the most popular answers being looked at in class over the coming weeks. Mr. Spracklen

This week in Numeracy - W/C: 14/05/12

This week in Numeracy we will be thinking in particular about measures... answering questions such as: Which of the following completes this sentence - Mary is 169 _________ tall. (Metres, Centimetres, Millimetres, Kilometres)? Can you create similar examples at home?

Wonka Enrichment Day

Next Thursday (17 May) we are having an Enrichment Day based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Don't forget that we are all dressing up for the day as a character from the book. Mrs. Webb, Mr. Spracklen and Mr. Hopkins have already begun to plan their costumes... we hope that you have too!

CONGRATULATIONS MR. SPRACKLEN

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Spracklen who has been shortlisted for the first ever South West Digital Educator Award! Mr. Spracklen will travel to Plymouth in July to compete against ten other regional leaders of digital education for the prestigious title. Mr. Spracklen’s work for the award focus’ on our inclusive ethos and explores how I.C.T helps to support our motto of a school, ‘Where we are all inspired to learn’.

Dorchester Carnival

This years carnival has no theme, so we have chosen a theme for the Prince of Wales School as the Olympics!  A great chance to dress up as an Olympic athlete!  The carnival is on Saturday the 16th June.  If you would like to be involved, to help or further information, please contact Mrs Bernard or Mrs Scott.

This week in Numeracy - W/C: 07/05/12

This week in Numeracy we will be exploring a range of different questions using 'Mr. Spracklen's Challenge Papers'  - this is in order to allow the children to become familiar with the format of statutory assessment tests later this term. This week we are working through the paper in a collaborative way to break down the language and explore the maths involved. If you want to try an example at home, can I encourage you to look at: http://www.emaths.co.uk/KS1SATS/2003A.pdf. If you have any questions about this please see Mrs. Webb or myself.

Behaviour

Over the past two days (visits) we have had a number of people comment on the exemplar behaviour shown by Year 2 pupils at Lyme Regis and Charmouth. This has included members of the team at the Fossil Festival, the warden on our visit to Charmouth who couldn’t sing the children’s praises enough and member of the public. A number of parent helpers also commented to us about how well behaved the children had been. We would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the children for this but also strongly state that this does not surprise us in any way. Year 2 are a pleasure to teach and take on educational visits and their excellent behaviour throughout the year has meant that we can all enjoy the creative, inspiring curriculum we deliver here at the Prince of Wales First School to the full. We are very proud of our pupils. Mr. Spracklen and Mrs. Webb (Year 2 Team).

Our Trip to Charmouth - THANK-YOU

We had another fantastic trip today when we visited Charmouth beach and Heritage Centre. The children were led by one of the centre wardens who stayed with us throughout the day and taught us all about the different types of fossils that can be found at Charmouth. During our fossil hunt on the beach the children found plenty of belemnites, the odd ammonite (with one fantastic example found), a fine example of a crinoid was also found (the first I had seen on one of our school visits). An example of an ancient sea-urchin (rare in the Charmouth area) and some fossil worm tunnels were also found. All in all it was our most successful fossil hunt ever as a school, the children should all be very pleased with themselves! At this point, I would like to say a special thank-you to all the parents who helped us today on our trip. Without your help today our trip would not have been possible so... THANK-YOU SO MUCH!

If you would like to build on our visit to Charmouth today, why not visit yourself? Your child should now be an expert at finding fossils and will be able to brief you in the fossils hunting code.

To check your child’s understanding following today’s visit why not ask them some of the below questions:

What three periods of time can we find fossils from along the Jurassic Coast?
How did an ammonite move in the water?
What is the name of the fossil collector who found the first ever ichthyosaur?
Why should we not go near the cliffs when fossil hunting?
What is the name of the land dinosaur found at Charmouth beach?

Charmouth Today!

We are all very excited about our trip to Charmouth today... after all we never know what we might find! See below article from Dorset Echo (Friday 28th May, 2010) - 'A schoolboy has made an astonishing fossil find that has sparked interest from the National History Museum. Cameron Wills, aged 10, from Long Bredy, discovered a fossil which goes back millions of years while he was on a school trip with Dorchester Middle School. Year 5 teacher Caron White took her class on their annual day out to the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre where they went fossil hunting at the beach. Ten-year-old Cameron discovered a fossil in a piece of rock which turned out to be a Triassic fossil which dates back to 200-250 million years ago. Teacher Mrs White said: “After Cameron found the fossil in a rock pool, he asked someone from the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre to have a look at it. “We were told that it was very interesting and that he should come back to Charmouth the following weekend because there was a fossil festival taking place where he could talk to experts from the National History Museum. “The following weekend he went back with his parents and the experts said they thought it is a part of a fish called the rabbitfish. “They identified it as being the bony part of the mouth of this fish which it would have used to grind up its food. “The experts from the museum said it was so interesting because it’s a very rare fossil to find.” It has since been sent to the National History Museum so that experts can investigate it further before it becomes part of the museum. Mrs White added: “All the children have been thrilled about it and Cameron has been beside himself with excitement. “It has been really interesting because I go fossil hunting every year with my Year 5 class but we’ve never found anything like this before.” Fossil finder Cameron said that fossils are an interest of his. He said: “I have been collecting fossils for the past three years but I have never found a bone fossil before. “I was searching around and I found a grey-coloured stone which had a black fossil inside it which is why it stood out.” He added: “I was really excited to find it and I really like the idea of it being sent to the National History Museum because I’m interested to find out exactly what it is. “It could be a rabbitfish but it could be something completely new. “If it is something new it could be named after me, so that’s exciting.”

Fossil Festival Trip - THANK-YOU

 

We had the most amazing trip on Friday at the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival. The children spent the day being taught by world renowned experts in the field of Fossils and Dinosaurs including scientists from the Natural History Museum, paleontologists from Portsmouth University, members of the British Antarctic Survey team as well as many more. We would like to say a special THANK-YOU to all the parents who joined us for the trip, without your help the trip would not have been possible. As promised, I include a picture of Mrs. Fernandes who 'volunteered' to help the British Antarctic Survey team demonstrate their range of clothing.

WELL DONE - Miss. Bates

Congratulations to Miss. Bates who successfully completed the Dorchester and District Lions Club 10K 'Fun Run' on Sunday 6th May, 2012. Miss. Bates was raising funds for SEN equipment for pupils here at the Prince of Wales First School. If you would still like to add to the growing sponsorship money being raised, please see Miss. Bates in the office. WELL DONE AGAIN MISS. BATES - WE ARE ALL VERY PROUD OF YOU AT THE SCHOOL!

REMINDER - Tesco Vouchers

Our school needs your help to collect Tesco schools vouchers! Vouchers collected in previous years have exceeded 20,000 and have helped us to obtain some exciting resources. This year we are looking to set a school record and collect more vouchers than ever before! Please try to collect as many vouchers as you can and do not be afraid to ask your friends, neighbours, work colleagues for their vouchers as well. Many people who do not have children simply discard these vouchers and we could make valuable use of them. Collecting boxes are by the school office. Please bring in your vouchers on or before 01/06/12.

Mr. Butcher's Off Today!

FROM MR. BUTCHER'S BLOG - Today we set off. Meeting up at Heathrow later for the flight to Dheli in India, then onto Khatmandu Nepal arriving Friday. Saturday we fly to Pakhara and start the trek after a long drive. READ MORE NOW - Simply follow the link on the school homepage or follow @powsiteman on Twitter.

This week in Literacy - W/C: 30/04/12

This week in Literacy we have continued to use Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a stimulus for our work as we write a story. In particular, we have worked really hard across the week to develop a strong story structure with a powerful character description, a sense of setting and a clear plan of how our story will develop. Today (Thursday) we will be writing up our story with an emphasis on writing in paragraph. Can you help support your child with their learning this week? Explore what paragraph are with you children. Can they spot examples in books? When should we start a new paragraph? How can we make links between paragraphs?

This week in Numeracy - W/C: 30/04/12

We have had a fantastic week so far in Year 2 and have been making excellent progress with our work on learning our times tables. As a class we are all confident at using our x1, x2, x5 and x10 multiplication facts (please check this with your children at home). We are now starting to think more about our x3, x6 and x7. We have been doing this through exploring arrays (for explanation see: http://www.haelmedia.com/OnlineActivities_txh/mc_txh3_002.html), exploring repeated addition (e.g. 6 X 7 = 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 +7), learning them on rote and making posters to help us remember these facts. By exploring times tables in these different ways we hope to allow every child the best opportunity in learning them effectively. Please support this work at home and do not be afraid to ask us any questions about the above.

P.S - I forgot to add that we have also been using songs to support our learning. For an example of a song that the children particularly enjoy, please see 'Times Table Toons' on Mathletics! My personal favourite has to be: 'Pyramid Rock' (x6).