Learning Space News

Year 1/2

Inquiry 

Students have been reaching for the stars with their exciting Space Passion Project! After voting for their preferred inquiry topic, Space was the clear winner!

The budding astronauts have been busy exploring the wonders of our Solar System, discovering fascinating facts about the Sun, Moon and planets. They have been learning about their different sizes, colours, surfaces and unique features.

Students have particularly enjoyed getting creative and hands-on, using a variety of materials and techniques to make their very own planets. They have also been researching interesting facts to create informative fact flags.

All this wonderful learning is leading towards their final project – creating their very own Solar System shoebox dioramas. 

Maths:

Students are participating in Fact Fluency sessions to help improve their fluency with addition and subtraction facts, while also extending students who are ready into multiplication and division facts.

Students will practise using Fact Fluency booklets, working in pairs to practise a set of facts. One student will answer as many questions as possible within two minutes, while their partner provides support if they make a mistake or get stuck.

Each student will also receive an individual fluency goal that they will practise several times each week. They can practise their fluency goal using either Numbots or Times Tables Rock Stars. If possible, it would be great to support your child at home by checking in with them about their learning goal and allowing them some time to practise their goal on Numbots or Times Tables Rock Stars.

Developing mathematical fluency is an important part of becoming efficient, confident and flexible mathematicians. When students can quickly recall basic number facts, they are able to use their working memory to focus on solving more complex problems, explaining their mathematical thinking and applying their skills to new situations. Regular practice helps students build accuracy, confidence and automaticity with their number facts.

Throughout the term, we will also be reviewing place value, addition and subtraction, as well as revising measurement and statistics as part of our integrated learning.

SEL

Students have been developing their understanding of social and emotional learning with a particular focus on building resilience, recognising emotions and learning how to seek and offer help to others. Using the Dojo character as a familiar learning tool, students explored what resilience looks like, and the importance of having a ‘growth mindset’, giving things a go, persevering when something feels difficult and recognising that making mistakes is an important part of learning. They worked in pairs to blindfold each other, and draw their teacher without being able to see. Students were then able to be creative, and turn their mistakes into artistic artwork!

Students have also been learning about how they can support their friends when they experience problems or challenges at school. Through a range of scenario activities, they  have explored different ways to show kindness, demonstrate empathy and offer support to their peers. One activity students particularly enjoyed was the 'Liferaft Game'. In this interactive activity, they danced or used swimming movements around the hoops on the ground, which represented liferafts surrounded by the sea. When the music stopped, students worked together to safely fit everyone inside the available hoops to avoid ‘the sharks’. This provided a fun and meaningful opportunity to practice communication, cooperation and problem solving. 

At the conclusion of each lesson, students participated in reflection discussions, sharing how they had demonstrated resilience, communicated with others and practised giving and asking for help. 

English

Students have been diving into the wonderful world of Julia Donaldson! Through exploring much loved stories such as The Gruffalo, The Snail and the Whale, Room on the Broom, Zog, Stick man and The Smartest Giant in Town, they have been developing their reading comprehension, writing and creativity. 

In Reading, students have explored many different comprehension strategies, such as making predictions about what is going to happen next, using visualisation to create a picture in our minds, answering both literal and inferential questions about the story we have been reading and many more. 

In Writing, students have explored rhyming words, identified the author’s purpose and used our imaginations to create our own wonderful characters and stories. They have particularly enjoyed bringing these stories to life through creative writing, colourful artwork and hands-on activities. It has been fantastic to see their enthusiasm and imagination shine throughout this exciting author study!

Story Time 

At the end of each day, students enjoy 15 minutes of Story Time, where they come together with their roll group to share a story simply for the joy of reading. This is a special time to slow down, relax and enjoy a book together. During this time, teachers model reading strategies through think-alouds, sharing their thoughts, predictions, connections and wonderings as they read. Afterwards, we enjoy discussing the story as a group, sharing our ideas, opinions and different perspectives.

These moments help foster a love of reading, build comprehension skills and encourage a sense of connection through shared stories. It is a wonderful opportunity to finish the day together, celebrating the joy of books and the magic of reading!