A Thank You From Year 2!

A huge thank you to all of those that attended our Maths party yesterday. It was truly a fabulous morning: independent learning, brains hard at work, sun shining! It was great to see such a big turn out from families and watching the Year 2 children so actively engaged in a variety of fun maths activities. They loved explaining and showing off the way in which they work. 

"I did four jobs inside with my Mum!" Alexandru 

"I taught my Mum and Dad how to play guess that number?" Hollie 

 

"We did the dominoes with my Mum!" Ruben 

 

Another thank you for your amazing feedback regarding the morning; it is really appreciated. We hope you have have a wonderful half term! 

 

 

 

Isabelle and Kyla were the lucky winners of the raffle prize!

Year 2 Maths Party - THIS FRIDAY

A reminder that Year 2 are hosting their Maths party this coming Friday.

 The children are extremely excited to welcome you into their classes to see them complete their Rockstars and join in a range of Maths activities. There will also be a raffle prize on the day for each class...

 

See you all Friday!

Cherry Class Share Religious Dress

In Cherry class the children have been bringing their different types of religious attire to school to share with each other. This is in relation to our RE lessons and the different Languages of the term. 

The children have loved studying different cultures; they are often found researching interesting facts during their independent time! So far, we have learned about Arabic, Turkey, Russian, Christianity and Hinduism. 

If you have anything at home that is related to a specific religion or culture we would love to see it! 

 

We wear these at special parities and weddings, they're called Lengha - Amandeep 

I wear my cross all of the time - Polina 

My mum wears her hijab a lot but I just put mine on sometimes - Sajida 

Year 2 enjoy the sun!

Year 2 have been enjoying the sunshine this week by making use of the outdoor area. The outdoor area is set up to develop the children's 4Rs. They must show reciprocity through working together in many of the areas, resourcefulness by carefully selecting the resources they need to use, resilience to keep going and adapt their work and finally reflectiveness when thinking what they could do differently next time. 

Alongside developing the children's 4Rs, the outdoor area is also set up to support areas of the curriculum. There is a 'times table twister game', a potion lab where recipes require children to measure capacity with precision and the sand pit caters for many castles with moats, towers, drawbridges and portcullis' to be built. 

This week the children have been taking ownership of the water area by filling it up themselves and adding potions, paints and bubbles to suit their ideas. In the sand pit, many children have been aspiring to build the 'perfect' castle, ensuring that all the defensive features were included. There has been bug hunts going on, where children have been creating a habit for the creepy crawlies they have found. Children have been testing their mental maths and agility with the 'times table twister game' - each spot on the twister dial is a times table question and the children must match their bodies to the answers on the mat. 

Outdoor Learning is an important part of every child's education at Broadford. Alongside developing their 4Rs and curriculum knowledge, it also develops the children's social skills. The staff have thoroughly enjoyed watching the children during their constructive play this week! 

Year 2 Star Writers

Well done to George and Levi, who are our tremendous Star writers this week. The boys have made their teachers very proud by making leaps of progress this year, not only in their writing but in their personal targets too!

Keep it up boys; we can't wait to see what the next 7 weeks of Year 2 will bring...

 

 

Freddie's Fancy Footwear

Freddie's Fancy Footwear

On Crazy Shoe Day, the children came trotting into class with an extra spring in their step. This was because their shoes had been transformed from sensible black shoe, into sparkling, colourful footwear! The children did such a great job showcasing their creative talents, that I wanted to get involved.


To do this, I pulled on the talents of Freddie Little from Mulberry Class. I left a plain pair of white shoes in his capable hands and asked him to make them more interesting. When I returned, I was welcomed by the brightest pair of shoes...

             

Freddie was very proud of his work, and rightly so! And I love the new addition to my wardrobe!

Freddie Little: 'I wanted to make Miss Chappel a colourful pair of shoes that would make her happy when she looked at them'.

Thank you Freddie! You are very talented!

Castles in Cedar

Linking to our topic 'Dungeons and Dragons', Cedar class have been learning all about castles. First we learnt how to defend a castle and then we learnt how to attack a castle. Florence and Hayden are lucky enough to have visited castles before! They brought in pictures to show the rest of the class. Cedar enjoyed trying to spot all the different features they have learnt about on the real castles. They could see the battlements, towers and arrow slits. Florence even had a picture of her running in the place where the moat used to be! 

"I was showing my parents the battlements, and I told them what they were used for." Hayden.

"There used to be water in there, that was the moat." Florence. 

Thank you for sharing you castle photos with us! 

KS1 Maths Challenge

Below is the Maths Challenge - it's time to get hunting for shapes in your home! Well done to this week's winners: Indie Sale and Ellie Wise. 

Year One visit Hilldene Library

Year One Visit Hilldene Library

Today we returned to Hilldene Library to change our library books. The children were very excited to revisit the library, as the library has such a fantastic range of books. We discussed the books that we had been reading over the last few weeks and then the children spent some time looking at the children's section, before finally selecting their new book. They then scanned the book through the machine themselves- which they really enjoyed.

        

We arrived back at school just before the end of the day, which allowed the children to sit in the sunshine and enjoy their new books!

           

Here are five good reasons to take your children to the library today:

• Regular library visits inevitably lead to more reading. Research shows that reading actually aids in brain development, especially in your child’s first five years of life. When kids are read to, their brain cells are literally turned on, and existing links among brain cells are strengthened and new cell links are formed.
  Reading is also one of the best activities to provide the foundational language and literacy skills your child needs to succeed. And let’s not forget how reading aloud connects us — reader and listener — in a very intimate way. When we read to aloud to kids, we send them this message: You are important. This time is for you.
• 
  


• When you visit the library, you can expose your children to more books and magazines than you can afford to buy.
  At the library, you can haul out as much as you can carry, turn your books back in as soon as they’re read, and take home a whole new pile.
  


• Your local children’s librarian can recommend books that you may not know of or think to suggest, broadening their tastes and expanding their minds and vocabularies.
  


• Library time is active, not passive.
  Today’s youngest library patrons engage — with books and magazines, with librarians, and with other children. Most libraries offer regular children’s programs that make stories come to life.

• Owning a library card teaches kids responsibility.
  As card-carrying library patrons, young children learn about treating with care things that belong to others. When a child checks out books in his own name, they feels trustworthy, responsible and like a member of his community. A child’s first library card is an early rite of passage.

KS1 Maths Challenge

Below is the Maths Challenge. Well done to this week's winners: John Olatunji and Maisy Cohen.

Year One visit the Discover Centre- a forgotten blog :(

Year One's Trip to the Discover Centre

On Tuesday 28th March, Year One set off for the Discover Centre in Stratford. Pine Class got the train to Harold Wood station, while Mulberry Class got the bus to Gidea Park and we met on the train.

                                                      

When we arrive at the Discover Centre, we were presented with the amazing world of Dr Seuss! The children had great fun exploring the environment, climbing the truffula trees, the deep dark caves and dressing up in the amazing costumes.

                                    

 

We then all came together, where the staff from the Discover Centre read the children, Lorax, by Dr Suess. The children worked together to guess the definition of nonsense and joined in with parts of the story. 

                                                

                     

 

                            


And thanks to the beautiful weather, we ended the day in the park...



































'I loved dressing up as Cat in the Hat!' Jersey- Mulberry Class
'The story was a bit sad, but I really liked it!' Charlie - Pine Class
'The train was really good. I love getting the train to our school trips.' Callie- Mulberry Class


As always, thank you to our amazing helper. Without you, we would not be able to offer our children the lovely experience we do !

Pound Party Progress!

Pound Party Project

Year One's 'Pound Party Project' is well under way and the children have completed their initial designs and have now got together in their groups and are designing the cake they will make.

Our children have shown themselves to be very creative and ambitious, with many of the groups designing cakes with 3 tiers!

            

Take a look on the classroom windows when you come to pick up the children to see their efforts!

Sophie- 'I can't wait to make this cake! It's going to be huge!'

Lily- 'I want to go to Tesco and buy all the ingredients.'

Aimee-Leigh- 'I wonder if we will have enough money to buy all the ingredients?'

We are hoping to invite adults in to join their child for a tea party when we cook the cakes. Date will follow.

Thinking 'inside' the box!

Thinking 'inside' the box!

Role-play can take many different forms and serve as many purposes. As well as feeding the imagination and encouraging empathy, it is a powerful way of developing social skills.

Last week, after the fruit was delivered, there were a pile of boxes left at the office, waiting to be taken out to the recycling bins. As we walked past them on the way back from PE, Tyler asked if he could take one down to the classroom. This quickly caught on and we ended up bringing all 7 empty boxes down to the classroom- where they took on a life of their own!

Suddenly, the children were robots; snails; in boats caught at sea. They became cosy beds and secret hideaways and created not only hours of role play but days of fun. The children built on ideas, developed their language and worked together to create something bigger and better than just an empty fruit box!

                                  

But imaginative play is more than children having fun- it plays a crucial part in their intellectual and social development. The ability to make one thing stand for another, to picture things that are not there, are critical features in the growth of both thought and language.

These children really are learning through play!

Year One's Multicultural Workshop

Dance, Dance Dance...

Dance is a distinct art form that offers unique learning opportunities combining the artistic with the physical and is located in the PE curriculum. Dance offers unique opportunities for the whole class to work collaboratively and that's just what Year 1 did on Thursday, during our multicultural workshop.

Mulberry Class took part in a Russian dance workshop and Pine Class took part in a Romanian dance workshop.

              

Grace- 'It was really hard to keep in time, but I did it!'

Freddie L- 'I loved it! It was so much fun!'

Roberto- ' We learned claps and a dance! I was really good at it!'

                              

The children had a fantastic time and learnt lots of new skills!

Year One- Dates for your diaries!

Dear Parents/Carers,

Below are some new dates for your diaries.


Wednesday 10th May 2017- Pine are going to Hilldene Library in the afternoon.

Thursday 11th May 2017- Mulberry are going to Hilldene Library in the afternoon.

Friday 19th May 2017- Year One welcome the parents into the classroom for a reading morning from 8:30-9.00. This is a chance for you to come and read with your child in their school environment.

Wednesday 17th May 2017- Year One have an animal workshop in school.

Wednesday 14th June 2017- Year One's Joint Sharing Assembly.

Thursday 15th June 2017- Year One's Maths Party. We are inviting parents into the classroom to observe a maths input, followed by an opportunity to work with your child.

Many thanks,

The Year One Team

Jump Evolution

Last week, Pine class had a trip to Jump Evolution as a reward for their outstanding attendance last term! The children had lots of fun and showed their skills in resilience by trying jumps they had never tried before. The children were eager to go higher and faster- often beating the adults! What a wonderful afternoon. 

We would love to win again, so make sure you turn up at school every day and on time.

Did you know being late to school means that your child is missing learning time and most probably their early morning activity (starting at 8:30am)? The early morning activity gets the children ready to learn for the rest of the day. If your child is 5 minutes late every day for a year this will add up to over 3 days of lost learning. If your child is 15 minutes late every day for a year they would effectively be missing 2 weeks of their education. 

"I used the swing to jump far" Akunna

"We loved the balance" Zara

"I am excited to have all these trampolines" Tiggy

"It has been so much fun to be jumping with all my friends" Grace

Forest School Fun!

What do we learn at forest school?

By participating in engaging, motivating and achievable tasks and activities in a woodland environment each child has an opportunity to develop intrinsic motivation, emotional and social skills. Children have the opportunity to learn about the natural environment, how to handle risks and most importantly to use their own initiative to solve problems and co-operate with others. Children use full sized tools, play, learn boundaries of behaviour; both physical and social, establish and grow in confidence, self-esteem and become self-motivated.

The children were thrilled to begin forest school last Thursday. They learned about spotting dangers in the woods, how to build a shelter and how to be safe around a camp fire. They cannot wait to visit again next week!

"I made my own shelter and then checked to see if it was waterproof" Charlie

"We spotted the dangers and showed them to others using the red triangles" Gabriela

"In our free time we made fairy gardens and headbands with the flowers" Brooke

KS1 Maths Challenge

Below is the Maths Challenge. Well done to this week's winners who accurately guessed the number of tennis balls that would fit into a top hat: Riley Hann and Lily O'Leary.

Year 2 Star Writers

This week, Harriet and Sabeer are our Star Writers! They have both been working extremely hard in Literacy and Language this term. Sabeer has been writing a play script, whilst Harriet has been writing a story with a familiar setting (School).

They have both punctuated their work well, used their best handwriting and used power words to make their writing more exciting for the reader.

I love the word triumphantly, it's going to be one of my stage directions! - Sabeer 

I'm enjoying writing my story, my favourite part is when Molly comes over - Harriet 

International Dancing In Year 2!

Yesterday the children took part in a dance workshop to celebrate dancing all around the world. The children of Cedar class learned an Aboriginal Dance and the children of Cherry class learnt an Irish Dance. 

The children showed reciprocity as they worked together to ensure they performed the moves at the same time. The children had to listen to the music very carefully to ensure they were in time with the beat. By the end of the session the children had a better understand of Dance around the world and had improved their rhythm and timing. 

"Aboriginal dancing is very tribal so we have included lots of stomping movements" Kiera T. 

"There are lots of kicking moves with Irish dancing, it's very fun!" Bobby.

John Is a Showbie Star!

John has blown Miss Estall's socks off this week with his brilliant use of Showbie!

 

When completing his grammar job, John was identifying and matching contractions. He followed the instructions perfectly and even chose the three chilli which had some sabotage contractions. These words had the apostrophe incorrectly placed but this wasn't a problem for John, he quickly spotted them and could explain why they were incorrect. This was all evidenced on Showbie to a very high standard which is why he is a Showbie Star!

 

 

 

Year 2 Star Writers

Vinnie and Maisy are our Star Writers!

 

This week, they have worked hard to use persuasive language when writing a letter. Their intention was to convince Mrs Brown that Broadford is an amazing School. They both gave three main persuasive points and spoke about why all children should come to Broadford.

We are now going to post the letters and await a reply from Mrs Brown; I am pretty certain they have managed to convince her due to their fabulous writing!