On the 12th December we went to the New Theatre in Oxford to perform at the Oxfordshire Dance Festival. Our theme was Aladdin and the song we danced to was 'Friend Like Me'. There were 34 schools taking part including us. We got to watch some other schools perform and most of us had our make up done too! It was really fun and we had a great time.

Report written by Ella, Ellie and Isla ​

We had a great time at the school Christmas Craft Fair, making some beautiful Christmas crafts, taking part in Christmas themed activities and even getting a visit from Santa! Thank you to the Friends of Appleton School who worked so hard in putting the event together for us.

As part of our RE work this term, we have been exploring the events in the Christmas Story. We thought carefully about the gifts that we would want to give baby Jesus if he would have been born in Appleton. Take a look at some of our ideas:

In Science this term we have been focusing on exploring materials and their properties. We focused on identifying objects and the materials from which they were made. We then sorted materials into groups according to their properties e.g. hard/ soft, rough/smooth, rigid/flexible. We also investigated the question: Which material is best for repairing a hole in a bucket? We worked in groups to test different materials and identified which  materials were waterproof and could be used to repair the hole. 

This term we have focused on Moving Vehicles in our Design and Technology work. We began by exploring different types of vehicles and used construction kits such as Mobilo to create our own moving vehicle. Then we designed our own moving vehicle before making it using cardboard boxes, wooden dowel, straws and wheels. We then evaluated our final product, identifying two stars (two things that we really liked about our final product) and a wish (one change that we would make if we were to create the vehicle again). Take a look at some of our finished vehicles:

Wow! We can hardly believe that we have completed one term already! The children have worked so hard this term and we are so proud of the progress they have made. They have made us feel so welcome and we have thoroughly enjoyed teaching them this term.
This week has been a magical mixture of Christmas activities, but the children have also risen to the challenge and written their story based on 'My Christmas Star'. As I started to mark their work, I could not believe the word choices they had made and the structure of their sentences. They were amazing.
We have also been doing some Christmas maths - using our knowledge of subtraction to work out which colours to use to create a Christmas picture. 
The children have enjoyed a scrumptious Christmas lunch and a well-planned and very creative Christmas Craft morning, with a very special guest!

Over the Christmas period, please continue to hear your child read. Those children who needed to change their books did so this week. We have also sent home some Christmas homework for you to do at your leisure.

We have lots in store for the new year - multiplication in maths and a brand new topic, 'Superheroes'!

We would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mrs James and Mrs Lappin

This week we have been continuing our English unit 'My Christmas Star'. The children have really enjoyed their sentence stacking and building up the story about Jasmine and her journey to her dance competition. They have been desperate to see the whole advert, so we watched this on Thursday and the children loved it.

Check it out on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PstSiTCk74. 

They have also been enjoying the accompanying song - 'Symphony' by Clean bandit. I think we know nearly all the words now!

In Maths the children have been learning how to subtract using the column method and exchanging numbers. They have been drawing diennes to help them to work out the answers.

As it is a shorter week there have been no spellings set, but we would ask that you continue to practise reading and spelling the Year 2 Common Exception words at home. These were given during parent consultations.

There will be some small pieces of homework for the festive period which will be given to your child next week.

In English this week we have finished writing our fairy tales with a twist! I have been so impressed with how hard the children have worked on these pieces; the children have not only worked hard on the content, but also shown a lot of care in the presentation of their work!
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In maths we have now finished our work on multiplication and division. We have covered the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. We have looked at patterns in the times tables, and different strategies to help us learn them, as well as using more practical methods for working out the answers.

On Thursday we finally made our Bell Beaker clay pots. We started off by molding the clay into the pot shapes, trying not to make it too wide or thin. Then we looked at the designs we had previously made and used the clay tools to draw them onto our pots! We’re leaving the pots to dry out properly and then the children can take them home next week. 

We have finished this term's spellings and I haven't set any over the Christmas period. We'll start again in January.

Wow, we are flying through this term and have come to the end of another busy week in Foundation. Firstly, we all really enjoyed performing our Nativity for you on Wednesday morning, I think you will all agree the children performed brilliantly and sang their hearts out. I was very impressed with how much they remembered and how well they performed to such a large audience. Please have a look on Tapestry to see some of the pictures from the day.
We have been learning lots of phonics sounds this term and have now learned 24 new sounds. Please make sure you are practising the sheets with your children so that they have a go at home to reinforce our learning in class.
Our maths this week has focused on measuring and we have been learning about the terms longer/shorter and wider/thinner. We used play dough to compare lengths and the children picked up the new terminology quickly.
PE saw us practise how to navigate space safely, follow simple instructions and begin to learn how to throw and catch. The children were very good and listened very well, particularly for a Friday afternoon. I have sent PE kits home today but please feel free to take them home for Christmas and have them back in school at the start of term.
Literacy this week has focused on writing Christmas messages to our families and making Christmas cards. These have been given out today so please keep an eye out for them.
Finally, three things to ask your child this week: -
- Can they think of any words that start with a ‘y’?
- Do them remember what longer/shorter mean?
- Can they tell you the 2 songs we shared?
Hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Ballard :)