What a wonderfully wild February we have had up at Maidenhill! We certainly haven't let a little wind or rain dampen our spirits and life is full of lots of learning, excitement and fun in P2 Alpha. 

Out in the MUGA we have been continuing to develop our general fitness and have started a new block playing team games which we will continue over the next few weeks. Hockey sticks at the ready! We had such fun taking the parachute outdoors on a particularly blustery day... Although being very careful to remind the children to hold on tightly to the parachute it was Mr Milligan who accidentally let it go, sending the parachute flying right into me! What a giggle we all had! I must say, it was an encouraging moment to have so many children rushing to my aid and the lovely Shaheer did a fantastic job of taking charge of the parachute from this point onward. *No teachers were harmed in the playing of our parachute games. 

Back inside the classroom there has been a real buzz in the air as we have been continuing to develop our knowledge and skills across a breadth of different areas. We have been learning about different genres of writing for information including reports, diagrams and instructions. The children created some absolutely fantastic diagrams of the human skeleton, remembering that all diagrams should have a title and be clearly labelled.  The children have also been exploring the different types of words that make up sentences - identifying nouns, verbs and adjectives - while continuing to practise their spelling rules. We have been using what we have learned to write some wonderful descriptions of our own and to improve examples of writing to make them more interesting. Well done Primary 2! The children loved reading Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger recently in class which has undoubtedly sparked a real interest in all things Dahl. Following a class vote, we have now moved on to reading Matilda and are so excited to hear how the story unfolds. It is just so wonderful to see the children captivated by a story and to hear many children share how keen they are to read more of Dahl's stories at home. 

The children continue to soak up Maths concepts with real enthusiasm and it has been a joy to see the children's learning transfer into their play, enabling them to use what they know in real-life contexts. We have continued to strengthen our understanding of numbers to 100 - counting on and back and using practical materials and mental maths strategies to solve problems. In addition, the children have been exploring concepts of fractions, money and time. From our lessons about o'clock and half past and analogue and digital clocks, the children have been filling out appointment cards in the doctor's surgery as part of our wider context for learning, The Human Body. In the Atrium shop, we have been learning to identify coins and count out and give the correct change when paying for items. The children have been identifying and drawing fractions all around our classroom - finding halves and quarters in the blocks, sharing materials and making sure that 'everyone's slice is fair' with ease. I could not be more proud. 

Keep up the wonderful work, Primary 2 Alpha! You are all super stars. 

Thank you to the parents who have kindly volunteered to come in to speak to the children about their careers as part of our Human Body context for learning. I am so grateful for your time and know how special these moments are for the children too. Thank you very much! 

A big thanks also for supporting the children with their home learning projects and for the books and stories the children have brought in to share from home too. There is lots of time left for projects to be uploaded so I will wait to post feedback on Google Classroom but we have so enjoyed sharing the videos and photographs in class. Thank you!