Pufferfish May Update!

It has been a fantastic start to the term with lots of exciting learning taking place. The children have continued to be ambitious, curious and have shown incredible amounts of resilience.

This week we have had our Careers Week; it has been so lovely to see how confident and eager the children have been in sharing their future ambitions of what career they would like to have. They have been sharing what career they want to have; they have applied for that job and have even taken part in the interview process.

I am very excited to see the future popstars, astronauts, teachers, dancers, florists, vets, rappers, scientists and hairdressers achieve their goal in the future.

We were also incredibly lucky to have many visitors come to the school and share what their career is and what steps they took to achieve their desired goal. The children loved hearing all the exciting things a hairdresser, zookeeper, swim teacher, flight attendant and construction worker got up to on a daily basis.

Some quotes from the children from this week,

“I really loved our English lesson, talking about what I want to be when I am older. As I want to be a florist."

“I loved talking about what careers we want to be. I want to be a popstar."

“I loved when we saw the zookeeper, so you can know how to look after animals."

“My favourite career to learn about was being a hairdresser because I wanted to see how you can become a hairdresser”.

I look forward to a lovely rest of the term.

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd

Happy Easter from Pufferfish!

Another busy term has come to an end and the children have worked extremely hard. They have shown lots of curiosity, ambition and resilience in all areas of their learning.

In Science, we have continued our learning of 'all living things' and what things they need to be able to survive. They have shown curiosity in deepening their understanding of life cycles through learning about the life cycle of a frog.

The children have been extremely ambitious and resilient in PE this term. They have challenged themselves with their balancing, hand-eye co-ordination, teamwork and positioning.

Next term our PE day will be on a Thursday. Please ensure your child comes to school in the correct PE kit (black shorts/bottoms, red/white polo top and black trainers).

As a lovely end to our term, the children had the opportunity to take part in our Easter Eggs-travaganza. The children were very excited and had a lovely time. Additionally, they participated in an Easter egg hunt on the school field and playground.

Have a restful and enjoyable half term.

Best wishes,

Miss Dodd

Pufferfish March Update!

We have had a fantastic few weeks already this term. The children loved having you in to show off all their learning during our book sharing afternoon. Thank you to those parents who were able to attend.

In Maths, we have been learning about money. The children have loved being able to use coins and notes to make an amount. They have particularly enjoyed using the money practically within our lessons, which has helped support their understanding of the value of different coins and notes.

In English, we have been creating our own versions of the traditional tale Little Red Riding Hood. The children have been planning their own versions of the story. They have delved into how they can make the story their own with lots of different twists and incredible descriptions.

In PE this term we have been learning to play tennis. The children have learnt a range of throws, passes and positions to help them when playing the sport. They have all worked very hard in PE so far this term and have given everything their very best.

Yesterday we got to celebrate World Book Day. The children loved dressing up as their favourite story characters. They enjoyed sharing who these characters were and why they loved them so much. They have shown an incredible love and passion for reading over the past few days, which has been lovely to see. They were especially inspired today when we had a visit from an author called Tola Okogwu. They shared imaginative ideas during an assembly with her and were very excited writing their own stories.

Thank you for all your continued support,

Best Wishes,

Miss Dodd

Pufferfish February Update!

Wow I cannot believe this term has come to an end. Although it has been short the children have been learning and participating in lots of different activities.

In History we have been learning about three very famous Queens and the impact they have had within history. The children have loved this topic and have all been extremely eager to share facts they already know and learn new information.

In PE this term we have been doing gymnastics. The children have fully embraced this topic and have been incredibly ambitious and resilient pushing themselves to do things they aren’t completely confident to do. They have shown incredible teamwork this term in PE cheering each other and giving each other support, which has been lovely to see.

We had a busy end to our term with Story-telling week. It was lovely to see the children in school in their PJ’s showing their favourite book. We fully immersed ourselves into story telling using story sacks, visiting the library and reading our books to children in Year 5. The children particularly enjoyed it when we had parent readers come in a read a book of their choice to them, thank you to those parents who were able to come in and read.

Just a gentle reminder that your child’s reading book needs to be brought to school with them every day, particularly on a Thursday as this is our book changing day.

Thank you all for your continued support,

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd

Pufferfish January Update!

It has been a fantastic start to the New Year! The children have started this term showing an incredible amount of ambition, curiosity and resilience in all areas of their learning.

In Science this term, the children have started their new topic, looking at the use of everyday materials. They have been showing lots of curiosity about different types of materials and the properties they have. They will be delving in deeper to develop their understanding throughout the term into why those properties are important to their everyday use.

In Maths, we are coming to the end of our addition and subtraction topic. The children have been learning many methods to support their understanding of addition and subtraction. They have been able to use counters, number lines and dienes to support their understanding of how to add and subtract 2 digits numbers with or without exchanging. They have worked very hard on this topic in class, I am very proud of them all!

We have a very exciting topic for Art this term, developing our understanding of what a self-portrait is. The children have been learning about famous artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Khalo and Henry Matisse and how they have chosen to represent themselves in different ways through sketches, sculptures, pictures and paintings. We continue to develop this knowledge as the term continues as the children have an opportunity to create their own self-portraits.

In English, the children have been thoroughly enjoying our new book ‘Coming Home’ by Michael Morpurgo. They have been extremely ambitious with their writing so far and have produced some lovely pieces of work. As the term continues we will explore the text in more detail, looking at the character of the Robin to inspire and influence our creativity when writing predictions and poems.

Thank you for all your continued support,

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd

Pufferfish December Update!

This term has been a super busy term! We have had lots of rehearsals for our nativity this term, The Midwife Crisis. The children have been amazing and have tried their very best – I know they are incredibly excited to show you all their hard work. I know that I am exceptionally proud of them.

The children have been learning about safety in PSHE this term. Exploring the different ways to stay safe indoors and outdoors and what to do when potential dangers may come our way. The children have learnt that if they were to ever catch on fire that they would need to stop, drop and roll. The children worked with a partner in the hall to practice each step and were very eager to practise this very important skill.

In Science they have been exploring lots of different concepts and using our investigative skills to ask questions about different animals and their habitats and why they are suited to this. They have looked very closely at what things are living, non-living and have never lived before. We worked very well in partners to further investigate this and use our learning to justify their answers.

In DT this term, the children have been learning about fire engines, the different parts of a fire engine and how they work. The children have designed their own fire engines and will be making them over the next few weeks. We were very lucky to have a fire fighter come into the school to talk about his job, how he rescues people from fires and how the children can keep safe in an event of being around a fire. The children then got to go see a fire engine and learn about the different parts and what tools they use to rescue people. The children thoroughly enjoyed this and used this experience to inform their designs.

Thank you for your continued support so far this year. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd

Pufferfish November Update!

It has been lovely seeing the children come back well rested after the holidays and eager to continue their learning.

In English we have started reading the book George’s Marvellous Medicine. We have been looking at how we can develop our vocabulary through using similes and expanded noun phrases for a character description. The children have particularly enjoyed learning about adverbs and using them to describe how George makes Grandma’s medicine.

In Maths we have been continuing our learning of addition and subtraction. The children have shown some secure knowledge in their number bonds to 10 and 20. Below is a link to some songs you can sing with them at to help support their knowledge on this:

I Know My Number Bonds 10 | Number Bonds to 10 | Addition Song for Kids | Jack Hartmann - YouTube

Hey 20 You've got a lot of friends (The Friends of 20) Album version - YouTube

The children enjoyed their Art topic last term Colour Chaos. They have learnt about primary and secondary colours and how famous artists incorporate these colours within their style of art. They enjoyed creating drip paintings by Jackson Pollock and created their own interpretation of Piet Mondrian abstract art.

Some gentle reminders:

• Every Thursday both of your child’s reading books will be changed. When reading with your child please remember to write in their reading record to ensure they can build up to receiving a raffle ticket.
• We are very lucky to have the opportunity where your child can be read with every day by a year 6 child, therefore please can you remember to bring in their books every day.
• Every Thursday we have PE, please can you make sure your child is dressed in their PE kit on this day (black shorts/bottoms, red/white polo top and black trainers).
• Every Friday your child will be set homework, this will alternate each week between purple mash and in their homework book.
• Spellings will be set every Friday.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd 

Pufferfish October Update!

What a lovely first term it has been in Year 2. The children have worked extremely hard and have been trying their very best at everything they do.

Thank you to all the parents who came along to the Autumn workshop. The children had a lovely time and were very eager to share their experiences with me the next day and show me what they had made.

In English the children have been exploring a type of poem called a Kenning. They came up with their own ideas for a tiger and thoroughly enjoyed acting these out. They came up with ideas such as paw licker, grass hider, fast pouncer and perfect hunter.

We had our Colour Run this term which was very successful thank you to you all for your support, the Colour Run was enjoyed by all. The children were very caring during the Colour Run and ensured that everyone was included!

Well done Pufferfish class you should be very proud of yourselves during this event, it was lovely to see all their beaming smiles.

Have a safe and lovely half term holiday.

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd 

September Update!

Pufferfish class have settled in very quickly into year 2. They have been eager to give everything their best efforts and have shown great determination and resilience with each activity that they have done.

I am very proud of them so far this year and I know they will continue to strive for their very best throughout the rest of the year.

So far this year the children have fully embraced their learning in Maths. They have enjoyed using a range of equipment (base 10, counters, numicon etc.) to support their learning of place value. They have been able to show a good understanding of the value of tens and ones through partitioning a range of numbers up to 100.

During Science, they have been exploring the different types of habitats and micro-habitats around the school. They have been very curious about this through showing an interest in why an animal is suited to its particular habitat.

The children have been learning about where they live, this includes the different continents of the world and countries which make the United Kingdom. They have thoroughly enjoyed listening to and singing the 7 continents of the world song.

Some reminders for the year ahead:

• Every Thursday both of your child’s reading books will be changed. When reading with your child please remember to sign their reading record to ensure they can build up to receiving a raffle ticket.
• Every Thursday we have PE, please can you make sure your child is dressed in their PE kit on this day (black shorts/bottoms, red/white polo top and black trainers).
• Every Friday your child will be set homework, this will alternate each week between Purple Mash and in their homework book.
• Spellings will be set every Friday.

Thank you for your continued support, any questions then please do not hesitate to ask.

Best Wishes

Miss Dodd

If you were unable to attend the 'Meet the Teacher' session, here are the slides shown for your information.