Pumpkin Class Blog

Date:

20 November

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Oracy Skills

Our lovely Year 2 pupil gave a wonderful 'show and tell' session for his peers. He demonstrated how to use a special dome magnifying glass to read a book and how it would help him with his reading in lessons. He also explained how to clean it and how it should be stored carefully. The children all listened very carefully.

"I've been given this magnifier to help me with my eyesight. I want everyone to see how it works."
"When a book has smaller letters, I move the magnifier across the words and it makes them look so much bigger. This will be very good for me because I will be able to read everything now!"
"It is made of glass and it is very special. I have a little cloth to clean it and it has to be put into the box carefully."
"You might get chance to use it with me when I am doing partner reading."

Date:

19 November

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Year 2 History and Remembrance

At the going down of the sun and in the morning…
We will remember them.

The children have been learning about the First World War from a wide range of sources.
They have been fascinated to learn about the life of Walter Tull and to read a special poetry book called “Where the Poppies Now Grow.”

“We watched the Cenotaph on the TV and we joined in with the two minutes’ silence. I think it is very important to remember the brave soldiers from the wars.”
“Walter Tull gave his life for our country. He was an amazing man who became the first black officer in the British Army. I have been thinking about him a lot because he was so brave.”
“It has taken a very long time before people have found out about Walter Tull. I think it is very good that he has a statue that people can visit in Northampton. I wonder if people laid poppies there?”

“The story about the poppies is a very special book because it tells the story of two friends. They played together as children, fought in the First World War and then they looked after each other when they became old.”

Date:

15 November

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

A Good Friend

As part of our learning in ‘Anti-bullying Week’, Year 1s have been looking at FRIENDLY behaviours and actions. We used drama to act out scenarios and looked at pictures of actions too. In pairs the children discussed each scenario and decided if the children in the picture were acting in a FRIENDLY or unfriendly way. We sorted the images well and all the children thought of many ways to be friendly to each other.

Child 1: We can help each other if we get stuck.
Child 2: I help my friend if he is hurt.
Child 3: It is kind to share
Child 4: Playing together is friendly
Child 5: Doing a high 5 is friendly

Date:

15 November

Posted by:

Mrs Brady and Mrs Smith

Children in Need Day

The children in Key Stage One had great fun dressing up in spotty clothes, favourite clothes and superhero costumes. They watched a special assembly all about the charity, they drew pictures of Pudsey and enjoyed some great Pudsey maths challenges. 

Year 1s have also been making ‘dancing Pudsey’

Date:

15 November

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Anti-Bullying Week 2024: Choose Respect

The Year 2 children discussed different kinds of bullying:
“Bullying is when someone hurts another person, like hitting them or saying horrible things.”
“Bullying can hurt people’s feelings.”
“Bullying is when bad things keep happening to someone. People should not be unkind.”
“If anyone was hurting me, I would tell a trusted adult like my teacher or my mum and they could help me.”

The Year 2 children explored how respect can help to stop bullying and help everyone to feel good on the inside. They thought about ways that we can show respect and kindness to others. They acted out scenarios and drew pictures.

Date:

11 November

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Year 2 Home Learning

We can't believe it! Some more amazing egg box dragons have flown into our school.
Well done everyone- they are fantastic and all very different.

Date:

4 November

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Designing, Making and Evaluating  Healthy Fruit Smoothies

The Year 2 children had some great ideas for making healthy and very fruity fruit smoothies.

They carefully selected their fresh ingredients and learnt how to prepare their smoothies using a range of techniques. Under the expert guidance of Mrs. Lawson, they whizzed up some amazing drinks.

L- I really enjoyed making my smoothie.
J- I was amazed at the lovely pink colour I got.
I- Some people's drinks were a bit sour. They needed to add sweeter fruit like I did.
E- My smoothie had a lovely smell. I think next time I would whizz it up more, so there aren't any lumpy bits at the bottom.
A- I used milk in mine, next time I would like to try adding orange juice.
O- I can't wait  to make fruit smoothies at home!

Date:

4 November

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Designing, Making and Evaluating  Healthy Fruit Smoothies

The Year 2 children had some great ideas for making healthy and very fruity fruit smoothies.

They carefully selected their fresh ingredients and learnt how to prepare their smoothies using a range of techniques. Under the expert guidance of Mrs. Lawson, they whizzed up some amazing drinks.

L- I really enjoyed making my smoothie.
J- I was amazed at the lovely pink colour I got.
I- Some people's drinks were a bit sour. They needed to add sweeter fruit like I did.
E- My smoothie had a lovely smell. I think next time I would whizz it up more, so there aren't any lumpy bits at the bottom.
A- I used milk in mine, next time I would like to try adding orange juice.
O- I can't wait  to make fruit smoothies at home!

Date:

3 November

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Addition Facts

This week we have been working out addition facts with beanbags. Outside we generated different combinations of beanbags landing in and out of the hoop. We drew pictures of these and wrote number sentences to match. When we returned to the class room we recalled the addition facts. What fun we had!

Child 1: I love maths outside because it’s always easy to understand.
Child 2: I got all 5 beanbags in the hoop so 5+0=5!
Child 3: We drew four different pictures.
Child 5: I learnt how to write a number sentence.

Date:

3 November

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Celebrations!

Year 1s loved our celebrations on Friday 1st November as we became ‘Laceby Stanford Primary Academy’. We made cards telling others what we loved to do most in school, with the new badge on the front. Two of these went into our school Time-Capsule.

We celebrated under our balloon arch and enjoyed cakes made by cookery club. Guess What!!! They turned our tongues BLUE!

Date:

29 October

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Black History Month

For Black History Month the Year 2 children learnt all about an inspirational woman called Mae Jemison. They researched lots of information from books, fact files and video clips. 

'I found out that Mae Jemison was the first black African American woman to become an astronaut.'

'It was amazing that she achieved her dream of being an astronaut and flying into space.'

'I was shocked when I realised that people with black skin didn't get the same chances as people with white skin.'

'Mae didn't give up. She worked really hard to become a scientist and then an astronaut.'

Date:

16th October

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

🍁 Autumn Craft Event 🍁

Pupils had a wonderful Autumn craft event making and crafting lots of autumn themed activities! From Leaf faces to 3D trees… lots of crafting fun! The cherry pie and drink was yummy too!!

Date:

15 October

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Beware of the Dragons!

Look at the dragons that have arrived in Year 2! Well done everyone for your amazing egg box craft work. 

Date:

11 October

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

World Mental Health Day

The Year 2 and the Year 5 children joined together for a drink and chat to mark World Mental Health Day. They enjoyed spending time with their siblings and meeting old and new friends on Well-being Wednesday.

“It was lovely to talk to the younger children.”
“We chilled out with some relaxing colouring in.”
“I made a new friend in Year 5.”
“I liked going into Mr. Middleton’s classroom and seeing the older children.”
“Everyone was so friendly.”
“I had a chat with Mrs. Brady about music.”
“When you have a chat with someone, it can make you feel better.”
“I hope we can do this again. It was fun and interesting.”
“I looked forward to this all day.”

Date:

11 October

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Laceby Field Work Walk

Year 1s have been doing some field work around Laceby.

We have been learning about the different types of houses and looking at the age of houses.

After looking at a map of Laceby, we went on a walk to spot as many different styles of home as we could.
We found: detached, semi-detached, terraced, bungalows, cottages and even a house in the style of a Tudor house.

Pupil A: “I spotted the black stripes made out of wood”

Pupil B: “We know it’s a modern house because it has bricks as well and Tudors didn’t use bricks.” We also found Daisy Cottage, which children were fascinated to learn, used to be our school! Look out for our local artwork later this Term.

Date:

11 October

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Year 1 Reading Breakfast

This week Year 1 have hosted a special breakfast for their grown-ups to attend.

We provided fresh bread, fruit and juices for all and enjoyed sharing books.

It was great to see so many visitors joining us, thank you to those who came.

Pupils shared their views afterwards:
Pupil 1: It was great because my little sisters came too and we all shared stories.
Pupil 2: My Grandma enjoyed the bread.
Pupil 3: I showed my Mum the phonics things in our room.
Pupil 4: My brother always loves coming in to school to see me.

Date:

7 October

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Observational Drawing: A Toy Story

The Year 2 children drew favourite soft toys from observation. They added texture by applying their mark-making skills.

“I could recognise and describe the shapes I could see in my teddy and start drawing.”
“I looked carefully at the frog, so that I could add more details.”
“I can use mark-making, like cross-hatching and scribbling to add texture like the fur on the teddy.”

Date:

2 October

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

More or Less?

This week Year 1s have been solving problems of 1 more and 1 less than a given number.
We have used different materials, number lines, ten frames and today we used Lego.
It has been so much fun and we all know 1 more and 1 less than numbers to 20.

Date:

1 October

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Computing Creativity

Year 2 have been recognising how technology can be controlled. So they have been designing their own robots with screens, buttons and lights. Some robots even had remote and voice controls!

Date:

27 September

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

More Fantastic Home Learning!

Look at all the Egg Box Dragons who flew into the Year 2 classrooms this week.
Aren’t they amazing? Well done dragon creators.

Date:

20 September

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Harvest Time

The Year 2 children enjoyed a wonderful Harvest festival. Together they talked about why we celebrate the Harvest.

“We are so lucky to have enough food to eat. So when it’s the Harvest festival, we are saying thank you.”
“Christian people celebrate the Harvest and go to church. They pray and say thank you to God for all the food.”
“I think it’s about sharing.”
“Our food is going to go to Harbour Place and it will be used to make dinners for homeless people.”
“At school near the office, some of the food will be there to help anyone who needs some food.”
“We sang a song about driving tractors and that helped us remember to thank all the farmers for growing all our food.”

Date:

20 September

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Jeans for Genes Day 2024: Fundraising for the Genetic Condition Community

The KS1 children had fun wearing their jeans to school in support of the Jeans for Genes charity.

“We wanted to raise some money to help people who are poorly.”
“Some people get ill because it runs in their family. It is in their genes.”
“The money could help doctors and scientists find out how to make better medicines.”
“I think the money could be used to get poorly people nurses.”
“I liked wearing my jeans. Did you know that jeans and genes are homophones?!”

Date:

16 September

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

A Brilliant Reading Breakfast!

The Year 2 children enjoyed sharing books and delicious food with their family, friends and community members. It was great to see everyone enjoying reading together!

“I loved it because I got to read with my mum and there was yummy food like oranges, grapes and bananas. I read Paddington at Buckingham Palace and it was my favourite book.”

“It was wonderful. My mum came and I read my favourite book called Milly’s First Day of Magic School.”

“I could read my book to my mummy. It was amazing and so interesting.”

“My Dad enjoyed reading to me too.”

“I loved reading to my parents. It was fun with delicious food.”

Parent and Carers Feedback

“I really enjoy coming into school and reading with my son. It makes me feel proud of how far he has come.”

“A lovely reading breakfast, we thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“Some good reading and nice snacks.”

“Such a lovely morning at Y2 reading breakfast; thank you for organising it.”

Date:

13 September

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Reading Response

Our first book study in Year 1 is ‘Lubna and Pebble’. This story is about friendship and feelings. Lubna – a girl in the story – makes a friend out of a pebble she finds in her new home. To understand how she felt, we all made a ‘pebble friend’. We washed our pebbles and drew smiley faces on them – just as Lubna did.

We loved giving our friends a name and talking to them, pretending to be the girl in the story.

Now we are taking them home and plan to find a warm place for them to sleep, just as Lubna did in Winter.

Pupil 1: I loved pretending to get off the ship and go on the beach to find a pebble.
Pupil 2: I washed my pebble clean and now it’s got a golden smile.
Pupil 3: I think Lubna must have been lonely without a real friend.
Pupil 4: Lubna took care of her pebble friend. We take care of our real friends.

Date:

13 September

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

Beware of the Dragons!

The Year 2 children are enjoying reading a story called The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon by Richard Adams. For their home learning they are beginning to make their own amazing egg box dragons. Look at the wonderful dragons that arrived this week!

Date:

8 September

Posted by:

Mrs Brady

We Are Artists: Exploring Mark Making Techniques

For their Hook Day, the Year 2 children enjoyed dressing up as artists and getting really creative! They learnt different ways to make marks, using a range of materials. They created patterned surfaces to explore texture and add detail to their drawings.

H- I liked drawing with charcoal. It is burnt wood from a willow tree and you can make light grey marks and thick black marks.
T- I’d never used graphite before. I drew thin lines and thick lines with it.
L- We learnt how to do make lots of different marks, like cross hatching, stippling and squiggling.
E- We felt the textures of different objects like feather and shells.
S- I liked using paint and making marks with feathers, sticks, straws and Lego bricks. We made all our marks look like different textures.
M- I liked listening to the story called ‘Paddington the Artist.’ Paddington was a good painter.
E- It was fun to dress up and look at famous paintings in the art gallery online.

Date:

6 September

Posted by:

Mrs Smith

Hook Day

Year 1 enjoyed a special ‘Elmer Day’ on Friday as a start to learning about friendship and individuality.
We read Elmer the book by David McKee and learnt that we are all special as individuals. We also learnt that friends are so important.
Our activities included: making Friendship Flowers, making friendship bracelets, painting Elmer for a display, designing our own elephant celebration outfits and creating a long paperchain in Elmer’s bright colours. We had a fantastic day.

Pupil 1: It has been the best day!
Pupil 2: I brought an Elmer book to school and we shared the story.
Pupil 3: I loved threading beads to make my bracelet.
Pupil 4: We get to take our bracelet home!

Look at our photos to see the fun we had.