Author: mrslisawilliams

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P.2 Update 8.11.24

We have had another busy, enjoyable and productive week in P.2.

We have been learning how to ‘Keep Myself Safe‘. Firework safety was a focus this week. We have used the sight and sounds of fireworks as stimulus for our writing, art, music and dance. Lots of creativity on display!

On Wednesday, we watched an entertaining performance of a Road Safety Magic Show in the hall. It proved very popular and a great way to learn about such an important topic.

In Maths/Digital Technology, P.2 explored how to create a tiling pattern using shapes in tessellation. We used our iPad to scan a QR code to lead us to the correct activity. We were very excited to do this. Some brilliant tiling on show. Use the QR code/link below to create a tessellation at home.

https://apps.mathlearningcenter.org/pattern-shapes/

Numeracy – our focus this week has been addition sentences eg. ‘Sam and Mo have 10 toy cars between them. Sam has 4 toy cars. How many toy cars does Mo have?’ Try some examples like this at home and use numbers suited to your child’s level of understanding.

Literacy – we revised our previous phonics learning in our groups this week:

Purple & blue: ea, or, ar, oy, or, igh, ow, oo, ou, sh, ch, th, oi 

Orange : ee, ay, qu, ng, sh, ch, th 

Yellow:  s, a, t, p, I, n, m, d, p, o 

We continue to work on sentence writing. We used words to describe fireworks in the night sky. P.2 had some excellent ideas such as crackle, whoosh, flicker, boom, whizz and blast! It is great to see the progress in this area of the curriculum.

French – Our focus this week has been ‘J’aime les fruits’. Have some fun learning the words with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJMEaN2Gih4

RE – we talked about the importance of remembrance and prayed for those who have died within our families. We are learning to say the sign of the cross in lots of our home languages. We can now say French, Italian and Portuguese thanks to our helpers in class. Polish is next on our list.

Assembly – A big ‘well done’ to our certificate winners today. Our Friday gathering to sing, celebrate birthdays and share achievements is always a highlight of the week.

Nativity – yes, it is that time of year when we have started to learn the songs for the school’s Nativity play which takes place on Wednesday 11th December. Information will be provided about times and tickets.

Library Visit for Book Week Scotland: P.2 will visit Portobello Library on Thursday 21st November. Thank you to our parents who have volunteered to accompany us on this trip. We will be in touch next week to confirm details.

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Hallowe’en Fun Day

On Thursday 31st October, we had a great time in school with a ‘big play’ session across the whole of P.1 to P.3. Children were able to select their own activities from a range of curriculum experiences. We were SO impressed by how well all the classes participated and it was wonderful to see the interaction between year groups. We are already looking forward to our next session in December!

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P2 Learning in October

Literacy:

P2 has been working hard on their phonics this October, with a special focus on tricky words “are,” “they,” “she,” “be,” “to,” and “we.” We also enjoyed writing about autumn and sharing what everyone did over the holiday, bringing their learning to life with personal experiences!

Numeracy and Maths: 

In numeracy, we’ve focused on writing number sentences using the part-part-whole model and exploring addition fact families. In broader math, we’ve been learning to identify and name various 3D shapes, expanding our understanding of geometry.

Topic:

P2 kicked off October with an engaging autumn topic, creating beautiful autumn wreaths and themed drawings. We’ve been exploring the changes that come with autumn and enjoying a variety of tasks and play inspired by the season. In addition, we’re celebrating Black History Month, learning about authors such as Floella Benjamin and Malorie Blackman, discussing the characters in their stories.

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P.2/1 and P.2 Update 27.9.24

We know that children often answer the question, ‘what did you do at school today?’ with ‘nothing!’ We thought it would be helpful for you to have a brief overview so you can talk to your child about their learning in school.

This week, we have been learning:

Numeracy and Maths: ordering objects and numbers correctly, using the lesser than < and greater than > symbols, carrying out a survey of the colours of vehicles passing our school, using tally marks, counting totals and interpreting the data we gathered.

Literacy focus: descriptive words in reading and writing. Ongoing phonics work and daily reading/stories in class.

Health and Wellbeing: We created our own ‘Positive Playground Charter’ as part of our whole school focus on teamwork. Lots of great ideas contributed by the children and wonderful drawings produced. Assembly took place outdoors in the sunshine today and we hope the residents of Duddingston Road enjoyed hearing us sing ‘Welcome Everybody’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ in multiple languages at the top of our voices!

PE: Dance using the changing weather and colours of Autumn as stimulus.

Modern Languages: We have been learning numbers to 20 in French, Italian and Polish with help from our bilingual learners.

Art: we created stunning ‘Pal Portraits’ by observing and sketching one of our friends. We also drew, cut out and coloured a variety of Autumn leaves for our classroom window.

RE: We learned about the story of creation and how people are part of God’s creation. We enjoyed a song about the wonders of the world God created.

P.2 experienced a live lesson on climate change this week from ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ as part of our learning for sustainability.

The children have the opportunity to select and direct their own learning experiences in our ‘Treezone’. We have wooden blocks for building, a role-play area, jigsaw table, STEM resources, art and crafts, a library, sand/water, writing table, numeracy games, a natural table and a ‘small world’ area. It is amazing to observe the children engaged in play which develops their thinking, motor control, imaginative, scientific, creative, mathematical, problem-solving and social skills. We are so lucky to have this space and provision.

Home Learning Folders: your child should have brought a new folder home this week with a jotter and lots of learning activity ideas connected to literacy and numeracy. Please use the resources provided to support your child at home. We will share any additional home learning tasks here on the P.2 learning page of the school website.

Reading folders: please ensure your child has their reading folder in their bag to bring to school each day. We will continually assess progress.

Autumn home learning task: Please collect natural objects to bring into school next week for our Autumn table. We plan to look more closely at these using magnifying glasses. We will then make detailed drawings/paintings/models of these using different art materials. This learning links to our RE focus on God’s creation.

Parent Consultations: We look forward to meeting with you next week to discuss your child’s learning.

Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your support.

The P.2 Team

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Happy Friday from P.2

Every Friday, we have an assembly in the hall along with P.1. We sing, award certificates, celebrate birthdays in lots of languages, share achievements, personal experiences and special occasions. Today, we learned about Thanksgiving and heard about the Wondrous Woods! We love coming together at the end of the week and always have fun learning from each other.