Introducing Mrs. Johnson (Video Post)

Mrs. Johnson who will be Year. 2 Class Teacher from January 2013 has recorded a special message for the class. This presentation/talk is the same presentation that Mrs. Johnson gave as part of the interview process. We hope you all enjoy this and welcome your comments welcoming Mrs. Johnson to the Prince of Wales First School. Mr. Spracklen

Mr. Gibson's first post!

Hello everyone, I am Mr. Gibson and will be teaching year 2 after half term! I have met all the children in year 2 and I am very excited about teaching them. When we come back we will be looking at instructions so if you find any over half term then bring them in and we will look at them.

Have a nice half term!

Mr. Gibson

Shapes

This week in Numeracy Year 2 have been looking for shapes in our environment, learning how to describe their "mathematical properties" using edges, faces and vertices's in our MYSTERY SHAPE game as well as building 3D shapes from 2D nets.

Can you guess Miss Boyce's shape....

I am a 3D shape. I have a square face and 8 vertices's?
What am I?

Can you teach your parents how to play the MYSTERY SHAPE game using shapes found around your home or some that you have made, drawn or cut out?

Here is a link to some printable nets for shapes for you to make.

http://www.edgalaxy.com/numeracy/2012/8/22/great-collection-of-3d-shape-nets-to-print-and-make.html

Here are some of the shapes you can learn...

Have fun playing this half term.

Miss Boyce.

Mr. Spracklen says "Good-bye and Thank-you!"

I would love to write to everyone (every member of staff, every pupil, every parent and every member of the POW community) who has made my time at the Prince of Wales First School so special. I would like to thank everyone personally, however, this is simply not possible.

Each of you reading this has made the last three and a half years of my life simply incredible! I have been honored to call myself a teacher at this school which has developed me so much as a teacher, a leader and ultimately as a person. I thank everyone who has engaged in the work I have led from the use of SWGfL Merlin to helping run (and attend) events like the recent Summer Soiree. I thank everyone who has been unfazed by my slightly unorthodox styles of trashing classrooms, building time tunnels and setting off rockets!

Most of all, I thank you parents for trusting me with your amazing children and Mr. Farrington for allowing me the freedom to teach them creatively. I have loved every minute at the Prince of Wales First School. I hope that as I take on my new role on Portland, I can inspire others to teach in the inclusive, engage and inspiring way that is so engrained at the Prince of Wales First School.

In the last few years I have been fortunate enough to be invited to speak at I.C.T Conferences about our work at the Prince of Wales First School. At these conferences I often finish with a quote from the late Steve Job (founder of Apple Computers). I would like to close this short message with that same quote:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do”

I have loved my time at the Prince of Wales First School and hope that my pupils will all grow up to “love what they do”.

Warmest thanks again.


Mr. Spracklen
Thursday 25th October, 2012

Robot Instructions

This morning we have been writing instructions for Robert the Robot who had been wrongly delivered to our class. We have had to work hard to write clear instructions so that Robert can understand them. Click the video below to see Robert in our classroom.

SCHOOL NURSE TOMORROW

The School Nurse will be running a drop in from 8:45am tomorrow morning (Monday 22nd October). Want to know more about what the School Nurse does please see this useful web link from Dorset HealthCare University NHS Trust: http://www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/services/children-and-families/school-nursing-dorset.htm

What did you think of our class assembly?

Mr. Spracklen is trying out a new website that allows you to record a video response to a question. This website is called Intervue.me and if you would like to leave a message to the class about our class assembly on Friday, you can do this now at: http://intervue.me/i/1860  All video responses shared via Intervue.me will also be shared in class on our I.W.B. Mr. Spracklen

Lego Tuk Tuk's, Peacock's, Mehndi Patterns...INDIA DAY

What a great day yesterday was for Year 2!

Everyone looked fantastic in their costumes especially once they had their Mehndi Pattern decorating their hands too - a BIG Thank You to those parents who helped draw the 32 Mehndi Patterns!


Our hands were also decorated in paint from making the beautiful handprinted Peacocks (the national bird of India), which are being displayed in school before being brought home.

Year 2 also enjoyed Indian music, dancing, food and  games making it a brilliant India Day!

Here is a fantastic Lego Tuk Tuk made in some exciting home learning before India Day.

 

What other Indian home learning can you do?

Class Assembly Information

Our class assembly is on Friday 19th October (THIS FRIDAY) at 9.20am. Some of us will be dressing up for our assembly and if this is your child you would have received a letter home today detailing what we would like your child to wear. However, not everyone will require a costume for our performance and therefore not everyone has received a letter home. We would like your children to arrive at school slightly earlier on Friday if possible to help us prepare for a prompt 9.20am start. We will therefore be opening the classroom door from 8.30 onwards. Your child should have received their assembly words home today (Tuesday), if for any reason you require another copy, please see Mrs. Webb or myself. We hope you can join us for what promises to be a very special assembly! Mr. Spracklen

Apologies

My apologies for not updating our learning blog sooner this week, however, my laptop was removed as part of the police investigations. I am pleased to report that the police have released an updated statement and we are now all clear who is responsible for the crimes against Year. 2. Please read below which was shared with the children this morning:

Police Update: 16/10/12

Crime Scene Investigation: POW School iPad Robbery.

Dear Year 2,

I am writing to update you with the test results of evidence found yesterday in the Year 2 classroom. Our tests show the fingerprints found on the iPad holders belong to a tall male. These fingerprints match the ones on the iPads which were found in Maiden Castle Car Park last night. We have reason to believe that they belong to a member of POW staff who arrived early in the morning and left before 8.45. We therefore have a strong suspicion that the iPad thief is Mr Farrington! Please can you help us to catch him by making WANTED POSTERS that we can display around Dorchester.

 From PC Scott.

NO SPELLINGS THIS WEEK

Due to all the events and 'goings on' in the Year 2 Classroom this week we have no weekly spellings, this will also be the case next week as Friday 25th October is a Staff Training Day. I am sorry that this was not communicated sooner (the break in has kept me busy!). Mr. Spracklen

POWSA Blog - Non ICT Day

I have this little sister Lola, she is small and very funny.  Next Wednesday (the 24^th of October) will be a non-ICT day.  That means all the children, including Lola and all the teachers cannot use computers or other technology in school! There will be no blogging, no typing, no googling, no surfing. There will certainly be no interactive white boarding, no tweeting, no ipadding, no videoing and certainly no tomatoes! Lola is looking forward to catching out her teachers, if they use some ICT, they have to pay a 50p fine!  Hopefully all the children will help Lola and raise funds for the school. Thank you - Charlie (and the POWSA Committee) - PS donations to POWSA for school equipment will be welcomed (as always!!)

POWSA Blog - Book Fair!

Just a quick reminder that the scholastic book fair starts today.  The books are available to browse by both children and parents after school Wed-Mon and at the parents evening tonight. Why not stock up on a few Christmas presents, or introduce your kids to another fantastic author? Once our target has been reached, the school receive 60% of the profit back to spend on books for school.  This has proven a very profitable venture in the past and we hope to replicate the success again this year!

Can you help? INDIA DAY

On Wednesday 17th October we will be having our Year 2 India Day as part of our continued work on the country in Geography, Art and RE. We would love it if some parents could help on this day as we have lots of fun activities happening, many of which require adult support. If you are free on Wednesday and willing to help or perhaps a grandparent is free and willing please see Mr. Spracklen or Mrs. Webb. Thanks in advance, Mr. Spracklen

Reminder - India Day

INDIA DAY - This term we have been learning about India and Hinduism in our Geography and RE topics. We will be reading some traditional Indian stories in Literacy and hopefully making some lovely displays. On Wednesday 17th October we are going to have an ‘India Day’ where the adults and children dress up in traditional Indian clothes. Here are some suggestions as to what the children could wear: Girls • Any patterned fabric that could be draped over them in the fashion of a Sari, with a plain t-shirt and trousers underneath. Boys • Plain trousers and shirt worn loose over the top. Please feel free to come and have a chat with me if you have trouble thinking of an outfit for your child. Hopefully we will have an informative and enjoyable day. Thank you for your continuing support.

Mathletics?

We have had a pocket of success with Mathletics in Y.2! Two pupils have been working really hard at school and home to get a silver award (which is five bronze awards!!!). I am now setting the class a challenge! How many awards can we get by next Friday? If we get fifteen awards, we will put fifteen stones in our party jar! If we get the magic 32 awards we will fill the jar to the very very top and this will mean that the following week (on the final Thursday of the half-term) we will have to have a...

P A R T Y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yummy Sandwich making

In DT the children have been learning all about bread, looking at where flour comes from , watching videos on how bread is made as well as making our own bread rolls. We have been around the world trying different breads and designing our very own healthy sandwich. This afternoon was great fun we made our perfect sandwich and had a picnic in the classroom yummy!! Next week we will be finishing our topic by evaluating our sandwiches.

Very exciting news!

Here is some very exciting news from the team at Mathletics - The world's most powerful online learning resource has arrived on iPad, with the launch today of Mathletics Student - our brand new dedicated iPad app. Even better news is that the app is completely free, all you need is a Mathletics username & password. Mathletics Student has been custom-designed and built by our dedicated team of developers, who even invented some groundbreaking new mobile technology in the process! For the first time, students with an iPad can hold Mathletics in their hands and take it with them anywhere. Curriculum activities are downloaded right into the app* with all points and credits automatically syncing with the student's main desktop account. What's more, all of their results will appear (in real-time!) in your Teacher Centre reports in exactly the same way. PLUS - Mathletics Student also features an exciting update to the famous Live Mathletics game. The hugely popular 60-second mathematical race game returns with a sleek new interface and TEN competition levels - expanded to include word problems, algebra, number patterns and even logarithms! New-look Live Mathletics is also now available in desktop Mathletics too. *Note - not all curriculum activities will be immediately accessible via iPad. The full library of activities covering all ages will be rolled out across the coming months. Mathletics Student coming soon to Android tablets.

Parent Consultation Meetings - SIGN UP NOW

You can now sign up for our parent consultation meetings on the board just inside the main door. Our late Parents Evening this term will be Tuesday 16th October, 2012 and Early Parents Evening – Wednesday 17th October, 2012 at 15:30.

This week in Literacy - W/C: 08/10/12

This week in Literacy we will be thinking about what makes a good sentence. We will explore what is meant by a compound sentence and use our 'V.C.O.P wall' to improve our writing. We will be paying special attention to connectives and how these can be used to create compound and complex sentences. Why not explore connectives with your child at home this week? You could give them simple sentences like: I am eating my dinner. It is tasty. Can they join these two sentences together using a connective?

This week in Numeracy - W/C: 08/10/12

This week in Numeracy we will be thinking all about time and exploring the concept through a range of interactive and hands-on activities. By the end of the week we will be looking to children to tell the time by the hour, half-hour and quarter-past/quarter-to. Why not help your child with their learning this week by encouraging them to tell the time at home. Is now the time (excuse the pun) to buy your child their first watch? YES!

Dorchester Library Chatterbooks Reading Group

I have been told that Dorchester Library currently has some vacancies for its Chatterbooks Reading Group. The group meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at 4.00-5.00, -the next meeting being 8th October. The group is for children aged 7-9 and aims to encourage a love of reading. Each Chatterbooks member receives a range of materials including reading lists, review notes, reading diaries and games. If you are interested then call Nicola Brown on 01305 762406. It would be graet if children from our school got involved in this. How about it? Mr. MacBean

What is the time?

We are currently placing a big emphasis on telling the time in Year 2 - next week, we will be doing lots of exciting work associated with this in Maths including; making clocks and playing time related games. By the end of Year 2 we hope to all know how to tell the time by the hour, half hour and quarter to and quarter past. Any work at home that you can do related to this would be much appreciated.

Our Topic India...

This half term Year 2 have been looking at the similarities and differences between Great Britain and India with Miss Boyce (who visited India this summer).

So far we have looked at:

- What we already know about India

- Homes and Towns

- Transport

- Farming and food products

- Water and its uses

This week one of our activities was to share 3 facts with 3 friends. Here is a link to a recording made of some of our discussions.

http://www.screenchomp.com/t/A2ImUqie

As you can hear we  have been discussing, exploring and learning about India in class for a number of weeks and have built up some great facts to share.  

We have also been really impressed by the FANTASTIC home learning that has happened around our India topic from Internet Research to extravagantly decorated Tuk Tuk's...

Keep it up Year 2!!