Welcome to Willow Class!

We are a mixed Year 1/Year 2 class. Our class teacher is Mrs Carson.

Our swimming day is Thursday and our PE day is Wednesday.

Willow Class Updates

w/s 22/04/25

It was wonderful to see Willow Class rested and raring to go after the Easter break.  We immediately started on our new book 'Claude in the City' and have been busy writing character and setting descriptions.  The class are really growing as writers and it is a pleasure to read their writing.

We are starting a new Science topic all about plants which builds on our learning from the Autumn term.  This week, we potted sweet peas and have a number of variables for growing these to answer our key question - What do plants need to grow?

It's fair to say that the greatest excitement of the week has definitely been swimming.  They were all counting down the lessons until they could take the plunge.  It was great to see how confident they already are in the water and we cannot wait for the next swimming session.

w/s 31/03/25

Another half term complete and the children in Willow Class are going from strength to strength.  In this final week of term, we published our moth books by creating front covers on the computer and writing a 'blurb' summary on the back to explain the contents to our readers.  They all did a fabulous job checking the spellings of the tricky scientific vocabulary.

We also completed our basketball unit with a mini tournament.  The children have gained some excellent skills at blocking, pivoting and passing the ball.  Great effort all round.

Have a fabulous Easter Willow Class and we look forward to seeing you after the break. 

w/s 24/03/25

Willow Class have been learning all about moths to create an information booklet with three sections: How to spot a moth, How to make a moth feeder and What is a moth's life cycle?  They have not only been able to absorb the facts but then write amazing sentences using adjectives and conjunctions.  We then made moth feeders and wrote instructions to match.  What a brilliant bunch!  We will be finishing these off next week and creating front covers on the computers.

In maths, we have continued with our exploration into fractions.  Luckily the class enjoy the fractions BBC Supermover as much as Mrs Carson does!  We have divided shapes and quantities into halves and quarters and enjoyed some active maths outside while doing so.  Our science has also been about keeping healthy, and we have been tracking the speeds we can run around the track.  Will we get faster or slower as the week progresses?

w/s 17/03/25

This week in Willow Class, we have started learning about fractions.  We have had lots of fun using different resources to explore equal and unequal groups.  Next week, we will progress into finding halves and quarters of shapes and quantities.  

As part of our DT on structures, we investigated hinges.  We started with using construction equipment to make doors and windows, and while we had some marvellous door frames, we realised it was very difficult to create structures with moving parts.  We then tried out some different ways of making hinges and decided on our favourite before we plan out a final wall design next week.

w/s 10/03/25

Willow Class have done a lot of measuring and data gathering this week.  In science, we borrowed some children from some of the other classes and compared our heights.  Our predictions were confirmed when we found that the representative from Oak Class was considerably taller than even the tallest member of Willow Class.  However, we discovered that our growth may spike or slow at different times.  

Our computing also involved gathering data and we began by creating a 'human pictogram.  All the children chose their favourite fruit from the selection and sat in tidy rows so our data was easiest to interpret.  Strawberries were so popular we couldn't all fit on the carpet, and won by 3 votes!  Apples were not so popular with just the one vote.  We then entered different data into software to create and interpret our own pictograms.

w/s 03/03/25

Willow Class have had another hugely enjoyable week with a real mix of activities.

The children were glad to receive a letter from the Lonely Beast thanking them for their efforts in locating other beasts for him.  The story ended with a big party where beasts from around the world celebrated together.  Our new story is Traction Man by Mini Grey and we have created all sorts of adventures for him using small world characters.  The children told each other their narratives for our brave hero.

We also had a whale of a time on World Book Day and thoroughly enjoyed our time retelling the story of the Gingerbread Man through dance.  Their acting and movement skills were truly terrific.  The children truly impressed our guest, Adam Hillier from Amicus Law who read them stories and talked about his career as a solicitor.  On Friday, we celebrated Science week with a visit from Fiona Guest and some amazing experiments involving visible ink.  How lucky are we!

w/s 24/02/25

 What a welcome back with a class excited to continue their learning!  We have been busy experimenting with conjunctions, exclamation marks and questions marks and we planned and wrote our letters in the role of the Lonely Beast.  He is desperate for some friends so we are hoping that the other beasts from around the world will read our letters and get in touch.

In maths, Year 2 have been polishing off multiplication and division, with the 5 and 10x tables.  Don't forget about Numbots and TT Rockstars now that we have learnt some of our tables in class.  Year 1 have been learning numbers up to 50 including some tricky estimation.  They are fab at explaining their reasoning and have blown our socks off with how they can apply their knowledge to larger numbers. 

We have also enjoyed our new DT topic about structures, listening to Reggae music and capital cities in geography.  Well done Willow Class, you are amazing!  

w/s 10/02/25

Willow Class has completed another fantastic half term.  It's hard to believe we are already half way through the year!  

This week, we have continued our maths learning with Year 1 counting numbers up to 50 and Year 2 learning the multiplication and division facts within the 2x table.  We have had lots of practical activities to support our learning with Year 1 making groups of 10 and Year 2 making arrays.

We also polished off our Science unit about habitats with food chains, and our History unit all about Isambard Kingdom Brunel by learning about his race to design a ship that could cross the Atlantic.  

Check out our class poem all about Jellyfish below and have a fantastic half term break.

w/s 03/02/25

Willow Class had the best time on our trip to Haynes Motor Museum.  The coach trip and the things we can spot from up high is always terribly exciting and we all cheered when we saw the museum.  The volunteered helped us to identify how cars have changed over the years and then create a timeline of cars.  We then learnt how to make a basic car starting with a chassis and wheels, then adding a roof, bumpers and even some spoilers. There was a competitive element to see which table could best work together to mass produce 10 cars.

Next, we had a bit of time with our guides to explore the different rooms in the museum and we sat in a number of different cars including a tiny electric vehicle, a formula 1 Ferrari, an auto-rickshaw and the very first Carl Benz motor car.  Did you know, you can squeeze 8 children from Willow Class into an American Cadillac?

After lunch, we had a bit more free time to explore and another fun journey in the coach.  Thank you to our volunteers for helping us have a brilliant and interesting day which complemented our history learning.

w/s 27/01/25

Not even a storm can stop Willow Class.  Thank you to everyone who completed the home learning tasks, I saw some wonderful work being brought in.  

We were so relieved to be able to experience our Chinese New Year celebrations on Wednesday.  The class had so much fun and experienced some different aspects of Chinese culture.  A special thanks goes out to Harvey in year 6 and his Mum for providing some marvellous lantern decorations and the money envelopes.  The class looked wonderful and the children were so excited and appreciative.

We started the day by completing our stories of The Great Race.  The children are becoming hugely proficient writers and are really keen to experiment with adjectives, conjunctions and adverbs.  Our maths was also based around The Great Race.  The Emperor had seen 12 legs by the river and we needed to work out which animals they belonged to.  We used playdough and straws to make the potential animals and recorded our results in our books.  We found many combinations!  The day ended with making concertina dragons and learning different dance moves to construct our own sequences.  We had an absolutely fabulous day!

w/c 20/01/25

Time flies when you're having fun and we have been so busy, the week seems to have sped by.  In English, we have been learning how to use contractions.  The Emperor in our story is of course too formal to use these, but the animals who raced across the river are more casual.  Despite being a tricky concept, many of the children were able to use contractions independently.  They wrote persuasive letters from the Cat who was upset about coming last and wanted a second chance at claiming a year.

In PE, we have been experimenting with dancing.  The children have creatively incorporated all of the rolls they learnt during our gymnastic sessions.  They are greatly looking forward to the Dragon Dance as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations next Wednesday.  

w/c 13/01/24

We have had some extraordinary and brave storytelling from the children in Willow Class this week.  They thought about how they could innovate the story 'The Runaway Wok' by changing the items the wok collected from the people it visited.  The children then practised telling the story with their partner, before telling the whole class their different versions.  We looked at some videos of storytellers and considered how they use tone of voice and gestures to tell stories in engaging ways, and the children used some of these techniques themselves.

In art, we looked at primary colours and mixed them to make secondary colours.  The children experimented by adding simple colour patterns and building layers with colour swatches.  All the children really enjoyed the exercise, carefully considered the best techniques to use and produced some amazing examples of their artwork.

w/c 07/01/2025

What a great week back after the festive break!  The children have returned ready to go and have jumped straight into a variety of new topics.  We have started thinking about story writing and learnt about the origins of Chinese New Year through oral and written versions of the traditional tale.  The challenge this week was to order the story and write sentences to go with each part.  A tricky task considering there are 13 animals involved all crossing the river at different times, but the stories produced were wonderful as always.

In maths we have started learning about money by recognising pounds and pence, and counting amounts.  Any opportunities for practising this at home would be greatly appreciated.

w/c 16/12/24

Well done for a fabulous term Willow Class!  We have had so much fun with our learning and the progress from all children has been amazing.

In our final week of the term, we have enjoyed reading The Jolly Christmas Postman and acting out some of the main traditional tales within.  Their adaptation of The Three Little Pigs was particularly good.  We also wrote humorous fact files about the 'Big Bad Wolf' and how we can spot them through their cunning disguises.

In geography, we have completed an enquiry by deciding what interesting features are already present in Somerset and what improvements we can make.  We have obviously had suggestions of fun fairs, water parks and hotels.  Watch this space Somerset County Council!  The children also completed their Christmas card designs which included at least one moving mechanisms, evaluating what they thought went well and improvements for next time.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.

w/c 09/12/24

Three cheers for Willow Class for a fabulous Christmas performance!  The class outdid themselves by remembering all their lines, knew exactly when to say them and spoke them clearly.  They all sang their hearts out and performed all the actions with enthusiasm.  They impressed the whole school with their dress rehearsal and by the final performance, they barely needed me there! A huge achievement for our Year 1 and 2 children and I know how proud everyone is of them.

w/c 02/12/24

The children have worked hard and performed really well on their assessment quizzes this week which have ranged from maths, reading, phonics and spelling.  They all should be really proud of all the learning they have completed this term.

We have decided on our designs for our Christmas cards.  We have practised making a variety of moving pictures over the weeks, and the final design specification had to include a moving mechanism with a choice between a wheel, slider or lever.  We will start the production process next week.

In our R.E this week, we enjoyed learning about the Jewish tradition of Shabbat.  The children made salt dough and created plaits to resemble the challah bread served at mealtimes.  The practice also continues for our play and we look forward to seeing you all next week.  It's going to be amazing!

w/c 25/11/24

It was one small leap for man, one giant leap for Willow Class as we learnt about the ground breaking Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The children have re-enacted key events from the mission, watched original footage and read recounts by people who watched the launch on the TV.  One of whom, Chris Hadfield, went on to become an astronaut.  The class were amazed to learn that Mrs Carson's own Father was in America at the time, saw the rocket launch and has developed a life long love of astronomy!  We then went on to write detailed chronological reports including all the events of the mission.  The children should be so proud of their presentation, sentence structure and attention to detail.

w/c 18/11/2024

Another amazing week in Willow Class as we have really started thinking deeply about our Christmas play, Ralph the Reindeer.  The parts have been allocated, costume letters are going home and there is a general buzz of excitement around the occasion.

We have also done so much learning this week, it's hard to summarise! In English, the children have listened carefully and learnt so many facts about the astronaut, Mae Jemison.  They then used these facts to write a chronological report full of interesting information.  In maths, we have continued to learn about shape.  Year 1 have been using lollypop sticks and Y2 a maths website to make and then draw 2-D shapes. We used the spring board to try different jumps in PE, and learnt all about Synagogues in RE, using different materials to build these.  Wow!

W/C 11/11/24

Willow Class have worked incredibly hard this week on many things across the curriculum.  We have researched meteor showers and then written leaflets encouraging people to go and watch them.  The children have really pushed themselves to include a number of features within their leaflets including question marks, adjectives and conjunctions. 

In maths, Year 1 have started thinking about numbers to 20. They proved their mastery of number by showing all the different ways that 10 can be made using the resources in the classroom.  Year 2 have been working super hard using resources to add and subtract numbers.  We also started learning about shape with a 2-D shape hunt and printing with 3-D shapes.

In the afternoons, we have explored different maps in geography and were amazed by the size of an ordnance survey map.  We started considering the difference between human and physical features and finding these on the map.

W/C 04/11/24

We've had a great return after our half term break.  The class have really enjoyed our new book 'Look Up' about Rocket and her love of space.  We have practised using question marks to ask our own questions about meteor showers.  The children then used chrome books and the internet to answer the questions they posed.  They will use all their new found knowledge next week to write a flyer.

Our addition and subtraction in maths has been tricky but the class have zealous in their efforts.  They have used resources in the classroom to support them, with the Year 2s becoming experts with dienes and Year 1s selecting which resource they prefer.

We had a visitor in our science this week, in the form of Eric the Bear, who needed help with their Autumn attire.  The children made seasonal mobiles and presented them to Eric who then selected much more reasonable clothes for the colder weather.  The children have also made some delightful fireworks pictures during their choosing time.

W/C 21/10/24

Willow Class have heard another one of Edward Lear's nonsense poems, this time it was a rather sad one about the Dong with the Luminous Nose.  We read the description of the Dong and drew our own interpretations of them.  We used our expertise with adjectives to write descriptions but also used prepositions to add an extra depth to our writing.

In maths, we have been doing plenty of adding and subtracting.  Year 1 have used counters and ten frames to add and subtract numbers within 10. Year 2 have used dienes to master exchanging and then added and subtracted tens.  The classroom is also abuzz with excitement about Halloween, so we have taken advantage of our afternoons to make some wonderful spooky crafts.  We even have a countdown chart!

W/C 14/10/24

This week, we have enjoyed reading Nonsense Poems by Edward Lear.  We considered and generated many theories about what could have happened to the Pobble’s Toes. Then we used all the adjectives we have been practising to describe the mysterious and wacky creatures that lived upon the Quangle Wangle’s hat.

We are now whizzes at logging into the chrome books, using the track pad and keyboard.  We designed pumpkins on a painting programme and then wrote a short sentence or phrase about them.  The children are already great at trouble shooting and experimenting with the different features available.

W/C 07/10/24

The class have blown me away with their sentence writing this week, as we have discovered Floella Benjamin's childhood journey from Trinidad to England.  They are independently using adjectives to make their writing interesting and descriptive. This is an amazing feat considering how early we still are into the year. We have also started thinking more deeply about what tense we write in and the spelling rules we need to follow.  Those irregular verbs have liked to catch us out though!

In PE, we have been testing out our footwork with a football to accurately pass a ball to the wall and then back to our partners.  We also completed our leaf art by cutting out the leaf shapes we painted last week, and placing them onto the colourful backgrounds we created.  They are going to look fab on our classroom wall!

W/C 30/09/24

Willow Class have moved onto addition and subtraction in their maths lessons this week.  Year 1 have been using part whole models to build addition sentences and Year 2 have been consolidating their learning on number facts within 10 and 20.  They have enjoyed discovering the different resources that can assist with their learning.

We have also come to the end of our farm story unit by writing our own versions of Farmer Duck.  For our first narrative this year, the children have worked really hard to include accurate punctuation, adjectives and conjunctions.  Well done everyone!

W/C 23/09/24

In English this week, our focus has been on finding and using adjectives.  The children have done an amazing job selecting the best adjectives to write a setting description, and have even been using commas to create expanded noun phrases. 

Year 1 have been getting to grips with number lines and completed some tricky challenges in preparation for addition and subtraction next week.  Year 2 have been comparing and ordering numbers, and explaining their reasoning.  Highlights in other subjects include science, where we looked at the differences between wild and garden flowers, deciding how to sort the different plants that grow in these places.  We also had a fun music session where the children had a dance to some South African music.

W/C 16/09/24

Another fabulous week in Willow Class!  The children have demonstrated how creative they are during our art lesson this week.  Last week, we thought about where materials could be collected, taking inspiration from artists who collect from forests or beaches. We took advantage of the good weather and created some fantastic art pieces using natural items we could collect from the field. 

In other learning, we have listened to several stories with a Farm theme and some very lazy characters.  The class sequenced and retold The Little Red Hen, creating a new ending to the story.  Their writing and reading is going from strength to strength already with careful punctuation and conjunctions.

W/C 09/09/24

The children have all done incredibly well in their first full week back.  We continued our English topic using Dear Teacher to create our own adventures and outlandish reasons about why we would be late for school. This was a great first long write with the Year 1s carefully using capital letters and full stops and the Year 2s experimenting with adjectives.

Our Science topic is all about plants.  We went on a plant hunt and we set up an investigation to see what helps plants to grow.  We look forward to monitoring their progress in the coming weeks.  In computing, we thought about the different types of computers and what we can use them for.  The class came up with some really great ideas which we recorded in a collaborative mindmap.

W/C 04/09/24

What an amazing first week back.  The children have enjoyed exploring their new classroom and settled into new routines amazingly quickly.  It is a big jump to go from Reception to Year 1 and their efforts must be applauded.  

There have been plenty of getting to know you sessions as we talked carefully about KEPS golden rules with the class helping to create a new classroom display which will remind us of how we can always be kind and respectful.  We have been reading Dear Teacher during English lessons and starting to carefully construct sentences about how we felt returning to school.  Punctuation and sentence structure will be a key focus in these first weeks. Our first Maths unit is place value and we have been doing lots of counting and practical work representing numbers in different ways.  In other learning, we enjoyed learning some games that we will play in PE lessons and revisiting online safety rules in computing.

W/C 15/07/24

What a busy week with Willow Class amazing us all with their continued resilience and enthusiasm!  At the beginning of the week we polished off our maths work on statistics with Year 2 interpreting pictograms with different keys, and Year 3 investigating venn and carroll diagrams.  In English, we have also been experimenting with more interesting conjunctions within our written work.  Science this week involved Year 3 learning about the dangers of the sun and inventing a product which would protect our eyes from UV light.  Year 2 tested the strength of different fabrics by trying to create holes using sandpaper – the denim was particularly hard work!   

We can’t forget about Olympic Day where we had great fun making Olympic torches from willow, participated in a dance workshop which showcased the different Olympic events, explored Olympic values to create a medal for a classmate, and enjoyed a PE lesson with the key skill of teamwork.  We also finished our Roman Chariots and were surprised to learn that Chariot Racing was once an Olympic sport.

W/C 08/07/24

Willow Class have had great fun learning another Roman myth - The Oak Tree and the Linden Tree.  They drew story maps and then chose to rewrite the story as a narrative or as a letter from one of the characters.  They did an amazing job which showed off everything they had learnt from the year, and the accurate use of inverted commas in particular.  It is wonderful to see how well all the children have progressed with their writing this year.

In maths, we have continued with statistics and the Year 2s are becoming extremely proficient with pictograms, while the Year 3s are accurately drawing and interpreting bar charts and two-way tables.  We had several experiments going on in Science where the Year 3s tested for the most reflective materials and Year 2 identified the strongest paper.

W/C 01/07/24

This week, Willow Class finished their unit on Oliver and the Seawigs by writing a detailed letter from one of the characters.  They used their purple pens to polish their writing and they are getting really good at adding in any features they have not used from their toolkits.  Our next writing topic is all about the Romans which will develop all of our learning from our history topic last half term.

In maths, we have started statistics and have enjoyed gathering data, creating tally charts, block diagrams and bar charts.  Year 3 had a great time in their first science lesson defining what light and dark are, while Year 2 performed experiments with balls of different materials to decide which was the bounciest.

W/C 24/06/24

Willow Class had an absolutely fabulous time enriching their history learning on their trip to Avalon Archaeology this week.  They started with a tour of the site which has replicas of an Iron Age Hut, a dining room from a Roman Villa, Anglo Saxon Hall and Viking Longboat.  We then split up into three groups and participated in different activities all with a theme of continuity and change.  The children explored art through the ages and created their own mosaic designs in the Roman Villa.  Besides the Viking Longboat, they played a trading game, made their own coin and wrote their names or messages in runic writing.  The final activity was learning about the uses of fire and how people created this before modern conveniences.  A brilliant day with a brilliant class!

WC 17/06/24

Willow Class hugely enjoyed the multi-skills event at Hambridge this week.  The children participated in lots of different activities including javelin throwing, goal scoring, skipping and obstacle races.  The children demonstrated all the attributes of a KEPS learner by listening well, following instructions and thanking the staff and children at Hambridge for organising the event.

In class, we have finished off both our time unit in maths and our science topics.  Year 3s tested the permeability of different soils and Year 2s learnt all about food chains to create mobiles.  They have also enjoyed getting to know the different characters in Oliver and the Seawigs as they adventure to the Rambling Isles.