Year 2 and 3 Class Blog - Weekly Learning Update

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a busy and exciting week in Year 2 and 3, and the children have been working incredibly hard across all areas of the curriculum. Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning:

English
In English, we have been focusing on using ambitious vocabulary to make our writing more vivid and powerful. The children have been challenged to expand their sentences with descriptive phrases and to group their ideas into clear paragraphs. It has been wonderful to see them becoming more confident writers who enjoy experimenting with language.

Maths
Our maths lessons have continued to focus on place value. The children have been practising how to partition numbers, compare them using greater than and less than symbols, and explain their reasoning when solving problems. This strong foundation will support their confidence as we move into more complex calculations.

History
In History, our topic on Ancient Egypt has led us to explore the importance of the River Nile. The children have discovered how it provided water, fertile land, and a means of transport, making it essential for farming, trade, and daily life. They have particularly enjoyed discussing how different their own lives would be without such a resource.

RE
Our Religious Education lessons have focused on what makes people feel a sense of belonging. We have been learning about Christians and Muslims, and how their communities, traditions, and practices help them feel connected to their faith. The children have shown great curiosity and respect as they ask thoughtful questions.

PE
In PE, we have been developing our netball skills. The class has been practising passing, moving into space, and teamwork. It has been fantastic to see how their confidence and cooperation have grown during these sessions.

And much more!
From creative sewing activities to problem-solving in science, the children have had many opportunities to explore, question, and develop new skills this week.

Finally, thank you so much for your continued support with reading at home. It truly makes such a difference to the children's progress and helps them to become more fluent, confident, and enthusiastic readers.

Here is an example of some excellent maths work from Belle who has been rounding to the nearest 10,000. 


We've had a wonderfully busy week in class, diving into a range of exciting learning activities! In science, we've been exploring how light is reflected and designing our own experiments to investigate this fascinating topic. In English, we've been crafting stories that include a moral and using personification to bring our characters and settings to life. Meanwhile, in maths, we've been sharpening our number skills by rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100, and 1,000. The class has shown fantastic focus and enthusiasm, working hard across all these areas-well done, everyone!

The spellings for this week are words with the suffixes ing/er/est: lightening, lighter, lightest, hunted, hunter,  prouder, proudest, yawned, yawning, sprinted

Here are the KIRFs questions for this week to work on:

Monday 15th September 

We have settled really well into our new class and everyone has been working hard! It has been fantastic to see such a positive start to the year.

In History, we are learning all about World War II. We have also been linking this to our Dance lessons, where we are creating our own motifs inspired by this topic.

In Maths, we have been focusing on place value, including reading and writing numbers up to one million and working with Roman numerals.

In English, we have begun planning our own poems inspired by The Emotional Menagerie. We are experimenting with different writing techniques such as similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, and using powerful noun phrases to bring our ideas to life.

A big thank you to those who have been practising regularly on Times Tables Rock Stars and reading at least three times a week, remembering to record this in your reading record books - keep it up!

We've also been creative outdoors in the woodlands, where we designed and made our own creatures from clay. These imaginative creations link beautifully with our poetry work and show just how creative Year 5 and 6 can be.

Well done Year 5 and 6 - what a brilliant start to the year!

L

Duckpool Class have been enjoying an active and exciting week of learning in our new classroom. We enjoyed learning about 'Place Value' in maths and have been excited to demonstrate how we can show numbers in different ways using the fantastic new Maths Resource Boxes.

In English, we have been learning how to use fronted adverbials and relative pronouns, ready to be creative with grammar next week when we write our own stories! It was also special for the children to receive lessons in how to play a violin, read music and play in unison.

In Geography this term, we are learning all about rivers and we have been discussing how lucky we are to be so close to a significant river and all the knowledge we have about the River Tamar, using our oracy strategies. We have set up an experiment to demonstrate the water cycle and our class novel is Journey to the River Sea. Watch this space to see what else we learn next week!

Welcome back

We have been absolutely thrilled with how the children have come back. They are settled and ready to learn.

We have welcomed our 8 new early years children to Trenode and they have already become part of the family. They have been busy learning the new school routines and have loved playing with all the different resources.

Looe Shedders surprised the children with a brand new play house for outside on the school decking. They have spent the last 2 years refurbishing it and the transformation was incredible. It was a hit with the children who immediately began their imaginary play. 

Forest school Friday has got up and running already with Kelly and we've definitely needed the waterproofs!

Calendars dates:

• Wednesday 1st October- Kilminorth class' teddy bears picnic at 2pm
• Wednesday 8th October- Harvest festival at St Wenna's church

A busy start to this year's art lessons

Over the past few weeks, we have enjoyed the first few lessons of our 'Inspired by Flora and Fauna' unit. 

Our Year 1's started by enjoying the work of Henri Rousseau, Jan van Kessel and the late local writer and illustrator, David McKee. We responded with our own drawings (ink on watercolour) and then added colour using pastels. 

Our new reception children loved joining in too, with a few stray wild animals and Lilo (no Stitch).

What a creative start to the school year!

Welcome to Year 3!!

Summer seems so long ago now and the children have settled well into our Year 3 class!  This term, we have many exciting things to learn and do!  The topic being one of my favourite subjects - Ancient Egyptians!

In maths we are beginning with a Place Value unit.  The children will be learning numbers upto 1000 and understanding 100's, 10's and 1's.  There are always assignments set on mathletics relating to the unit so please take a look!  The logins have been stuck into the front of your child's reading record.  Do note though that the Mathletics and Reading Eggs logins are the same now as they have merged companies :)

In English, the children are learning the "Egyptian Cinderella" story.  So far, they have learned the story and will be writing a character description at the end of the week.

In Science, the topic is "Animals Including Humans" and will be learning about diet and nutrition.  They will be looking at food labels and deciding deciding whether the foods are a healthy choice or best as a treat!  If you are out shopping, the children could watch out for those green labels!!

In History, we have begun learning about the Egyptians and how they lived.  They all understand how long ago Ancient Egypt existed and completed a fun timeline to show their knowledge!  Next, we will be learning about "mummification" which they are already excited about!!

Just a note to remember your child's reading record every day please!  They will be completing guided reading activities and whole class reading lessons so having them in school every day really helps to keep a good record and gives an opportunity for the children to continue with the karate band initiative.

I have attached the curriculum map for you to see the whole term.  Any questions, as always do let me know!

Mrs Brewer, Mrs Miller and Mr Liddement

Landaviddy have had an enjoyable week, settling into our  new routines as Year 3. In Science, we learnt about the 7 processes that all living things do, by learning the acronym MRS GREN. As Geographers, we consolidated our location knowledge of the 7 continents and 5 oceans, creating some fantastic world maps. Mrs Lister launched an excellent RE lesson with us on Showbie, which got us thinking about the Creation story. Our highlight of the week was exploring programming in Computing, by exploring a coding game. We had lots of fun recognising how to debug a sequence and constructing algorithms. 

In Maths, we have been working through our first unit on Place Value; counting on a number to 100 and exploring hundreds. We have enjoyed lessons this week and building upon our prior knowledge. 

In English, we have explored the actions and feelings of the main character, Sunny, from our focus text 'Meerkat Mail'. We practised the story using an oracy approach and designed our own story maps. We finished off the week writing the start of a character description, which we will finish next week. 

Congratulations to Theo and Hector for being chosen as Landaviddy's people of the week. 

Attached below is this the Knowledge Web for Autumn 1. This includes the learning your child will cover this half term. 

Homework
Please find attached the Homework grid for this half term, along with the KIRFS for Autumn 1 for you to practise at home. In addition to this, please continue to read daily and practise your Y3 Statutory Word Spellings (attached below). I have also uploaded some spelling challenge cards which may help you when practising these. Children can also access TT Rockstars to practise their times table facts. Anything you can do at home can make a big difference to your learning! 

Reading Books
Everyone was sent home with their new reading record and colour banded book. We ask that children read their book twice at home before getting it changed, however longer reads can be changed after being read once. Please ensure you are reading as often as you can at home. We ask that this book is brought into school daily, so the children can access them during the school day. They also have a library book which is chosen as a reading for pleasure book. Opportunities to change library books will be weekly. 

Hello Everyone,

Despite the weather, we have managed to enjoy plenty of outside, as well as inside learning this week.

Year 1 and 2 enjoyed their first outside PE session this year, where they were able to take part in some team games, as well as balancing with bats and balls. Reception took part in their very first PE lesson, looking fantastic in their new PE kits. They followed instructions brilliantly and were able to balance and move in different ways. 

In art, reception have produced some lovely self portraits and have also made some collages of their names, using a range of materials. Year 1 and 2 have continued with their study of the artist Clementine Hunter. They asked and answered questions about some of her paintings, and made some sketches of parts of her artwork. The results were excellent. Well done children.

Phonics lessons have been a big hit for reception this week, as after the first lesson, I received a cheer and round of applause, because they enjoyed it so much! After learning some initial letter sounds and practicing blending them to read, they have all been given their first reading book, so that they can practice reading some of the sounds that they have learned. Year 2 have been enjoying their phonics lessons with Mrs Wilkie in Landaviddy this week, and this will continue for at least the rest of the half term.

In science this week, Year 1 and 2 have started to learn about animals and their habitats. We began by learning about why some animals have their habitats on land or in water. We sorted pictures of animals in different ways, and Year 2 were able to use a venn diagram in order to sort animals.

In order to help the reception children to settle into a morning routine, we are encouraging them to come onto the main playground, after they have arrived through the main gate. However, we fully understand that some reception children may prefer to go through the wooden Penhallow gate, where they can be in their own classroom,  instead of going onto the playground.  At this early stage of their first year, please decide what you think is best for your child, and we will fully support you.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

From The Penhallow Team

Chaipel have had a busy first full week of the year! We have been investigating our Solar System - as our enquiry is 'WHAT MAKES EARTH THE PERFECT PLANET TO LIVE ON?' -  and have come up with some funny rhymes to remember the order of the planets by. 

HOUSE CAPTAINS:
Polperro's new captains and vice captains have been elected.
OAK: Thomas (C) 
ASH: Nuala (C) Lily (VC)
CHESTNUT: Joey (C) Isaac (VC)
WILLOW: Aria (C) Henry (VC)
Congratulations to you all - I am sure that you will do your team proud!

MATHS:
It's all about Place Value at the moment and we have been investigating numbers up to 10,000,000! Next week, we will be ordering, comparing and rounding numbers up to 8-digits.

ENGLISH
Our focus is on descriptive writing and Chaipel have been learning how to grow sentences using vivid sensory detail (touch, sight, movement, light/dark and cold/warm) and figurative language (personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia and hyperbole). We will be creating our own undiscovered planet and then writing a atmospheric setting description over the next couple of weeks.

WIDER CURRICULUM:
We have been lucky to have Kim come in from Barnado's this week to talk about healthy relationships as part of our PSHE this term. 
In RE, we have been revisiting the Creation story and will move onto comparing religion with science (learning about the BIG BANG) and debating whether science and religion compliment or conflict with each other.

IMPORTANT INFO:
I have attached the Knowledge Web, KIRFS and Homework grid for this half term. As always, keep on reading daily and practising those timestables that you are a bit rusty on.

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday!

Miss Randle and Mrs Clary 

TALLAND'S BLOG 12.9.25

WELCOME TO TALLAND EVERYBODY! What a lovely first full week we have had. It's been brilliant getting to know all of the children - they are a fantastic group! 

We've kick started off with our enquiry question for this term: The fall of the rainforest: Who cares? Here's a little break down of what our week has consisted of:

Maths:
Both year groups have delved into place value and are getting a good understanding of which digit represents the ones, tens, hundreds... all the way to 1,000,000 (for year 5). We also look at shape on a Friday and today we were exploring clockwise and anticlockwise turns. Why not quiz your child on how many 90 degree turns you can make in a full turn. 

English:
We have begun with a dilemma story involving a great Kapok tree in the rainforest. A man has been ordered to chop it down but the animals and creatures residing in this great tree try using persuasive devices to try and make the man change his mind. Which was your child's favourite animal in the story?

Geography:
Here, we looked at which different animals live in the rainforest, which animals are in danger of extinction and we looked at the different layers of the rainforest and which layer these animals lived.

RE:
We looked at the creation story. Talland had to retell the story of what God created on each day through a story map.

Art:
Today, we had lots of fun exploring different techniques to make a 2-D shape appear 3-D. Talland used chalks to help with this effect! Everyone then signed their name (like a true artist), followed up by transforming our classroom into an art gallery. We walked around the class looking and studying everyone's art work and spoke about which ones we liked and for which reasons.  

PE:
With Mrs. Hillman, Talland had a relaxing time stretching and bending during yoga and with me, we played football where we practiced our dribbling skills.
PE is on Tuesday and Wednesday so could PE kits be available for these days please.

A busy and fulfilling week!

CONGRATULATIONS last week to Kayla and Amelia for beginning their journey at Polperro School and in Talland class in such a positive way. They are a real atribute to our class! For this week, well done to Nevaeh and Heidi for being noticed as Talland's children of the week. They have begun their school year as real role models. They should be extremely proud of themselves. Keep up the great work!

That's all from us this week. We hope you have and amazing weekend!

Signing off from Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

This week in R/1 has been full of exciting learning opportunities and fun activities!

In Literacy, we have been exploring traditional tales, focusing on classic stories such as The Three Little Pigs and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children have enjoyed listening to and retelling these stories, using key story language and sequencing events in the correct order. Year 1 have been working hard on their writing skills, learning how to create simple captions and labels to match pictures from the stories. Reception children have been developing their early writing and storytelling skills through drawing, mark-making, and acting out parts of the tales.

In Maths, Year 1 have been learning about place value, with a particular focus on understanding tens and ones in numbers between 10 and 15. They've used practical resources like base ten blocks and number lines to help them build a solid understanding of how numbers are made up. Meanwhile, Reception children have been busy exploring patterns, using colours, shapes, and objects to create repeating sequences. They've also been working on their early addition skills, especially focusing on ways to add to 3 using counting and hands-on materials.

In PSHE, we had meaningful discussions about the people in our lives who help us feel safe, supported, and cared for. The children shared thoughtful ideas and enjoyed talking about their families, friends, and trusted adults. We also took part in some fun team-building games to help develop our friendships and cooperation skills.

During PE, we've started a new focus on ball skills and group games. The children have been practising rolling, throwing, and catching, as well as learning how to work together in small teams. Reception children joined in with some exciting hoop games, which helped them with their coordination and turn-taking. Reception children have PE on Mondays and Tuesdays. Year 1 pupils have PE on Thursdays. 

Reception have continued to make the most of their time in continuous provision, where they have been creating, building, and making with lots of enthusiasm. From constructing imaginative buildings to experimenting with different materials at the creative table, it's been wonderful to see their ideas come to life through play.

To top it all off, we had a fantastic music lesson with Mrs Butlin this morning! The children loved exploring different instruments, rhythms, and songs, and it was a joyful way to end a busy and productive week.

Well done to all of R/1 for a brilliant week of learning!

What an awesome week and 2 days we have had after our long, hot summer break! Out first full week back had been jam-packed with oodles of learning and fun outside.

In Maths, we have started our fist unit of work on Place Values. This week, we have been using our part-whole models and place value mats to split numbers into tens and ones. We have also been working really hard on our number formation, focusing on forming number 3 the right way round. In Class 2, we do this by making sure our pencil is on the LEFT hand side of the square and then using a following rhyme to remember how to write the number: "Around the tree, around the tree, that's the way to make a three!"

In Literacy, we are learning how to write a report. This week, we have practiced writing 2A sentences and using conjunctions to add more details. We have also begun collecting facts about a new animal for our own reports.

In History, we have begun a new unit that will help us answer the question, "How was school different in the past?" This week, we had some very heated debates about how schools might have changed. We are so lucky that at Harrowbarrow we have such a rich collection of photos and artefacts that document our school over the years. We spent an afternoon looking at these photos and artefacts. We finished our session by talking about what similarities and differences we could see in the the way children learned at Harrowbarrow in the past compared to our school today.  

In Music, this term we are exploring pulse and rhythmic patterns. This week, we had a very lively session of composing call-and-echo movement sequences for our friends to follow.

Art this term is all about exploring and drawing. This week, we investigated the concept of artists as explorers and collectors - exploring the world and ideas and collecting artifacts from nature and all around them to inspire their art.

We watched a video about Andy Goldsworthy, a British Sculptor who has become know for making art from things he finds in the landscape. In the video, he shared how he takes ice and rocks from the landscape and lets it make a "drawing" as it thaws in his studio. Inspired by this, we went outside to look for colours in nature and experimented with creating colours with our found natural things.

We have successfully moved rooms over the summer and everyone seems very settled after their first full week at Nursery.

The current children who have come back after the break are all looking taller, and have been telling us all about their holiday visits over the summer.

The new children have settled very quickly, with only a few tears when they first say good bye to their grownup, but once they see the toys and activities, they soon are off exploring.