Storytelling with The Paper Bag Princess 👸

12th June 2026Grace Gibson

This week, Class 2 have been stepping into the world of castles, dragons and very brave princesses! 🐉 🏰 👑           

In Literacy, we have been reading ‘The Paper Bag Princess’. The children really enjoyed meeting Princess Elizabeth, who does not wait around to be rescued… instead, she sets off to rescue Prince Ronald herself!

We created a story map together to help us remember the main parts of the story, then practised retelling it using actions, expression and lots of brilliant storytelling language. The children had great fun acting it out too, and it was lovely to see them continuing this in their play, retelling the story to each other and bringing it to life in our castle role play area.

Later in the week, the children used their story knowledge to write sentences about what happened. They worked hard to say their sentences out loud, use their phonics and write their ideas carefully.

We have been so impressed with their storytelling, acting and writing this week. What a lovely start to our castles theme! 

ICT in Schools Visit Reception 💻✨

22nd May 2026Grace Gibson

Yesterday, Reception had a fantastic visit from the ICT in Schools team! 💻

The children were introduced to the animation app ChatterPix Kids, where they learned how to take sensible photographs using the iPads, including keeping the iPad still and making sure their toy or character was in the centre of the picture. They then animated their photos by drawing a mouth onto the picture, recording their voices and making their characters talk! 🎤🧸

The children worked brilliantly in pairs, creating talking teddies, toys and even characters from books. They loved hearing their creations come to life and were fantastic at helping each other navigate the app, record their voices and solve little problems together. They also enjoyed adding filters and stickers to their animations!

The team then introduced Reception to the app Puppet Pals, where they were able to choose cartoon characters and backgrounds before creating their own short stories and conversations. They were able to move the characters whilst recording their voices at the same time, which led to lots of imaginative storylines! 🎭

Throughout the afternoon, the children developed their creativity, storytelling and teamwork skills, as well as growing in confidence when using technology. We were so impressed with how quickly they picked up the apps and how enthusiastic they were to share their ideas and creations with others!

Exploring Weight in Maths ⚖️

15th May 2026Grace Gibson

This week in maths, Class 2 have been exploring weight! ✨ We have been learning and using lots of mathematical vocabulary including:

⚖️ Heavier

⚖️ Lighter

⚖️ Balance

⚖️ Same

⚖️ Equal

⚖️ More

⚖️ Less

Class 2 enjoyed using the scales to compare different objects and investigate which items were heavier or lighter, as well as trying to find equal weights to keep the scales balanced.

We also explored weighing cubes and a variety of classroom objects, making predictions before testing our ideas using the scales. The children showed fantastic thinking skills and mathematical discussion throughout the week and had lots of fun along the way! 🦉💜

🏴‍☠️ The Great Pirate Mystery! 🦜

7th May 2026Grace Gibson

Earlier last week, Class 2 arrived back in the classroom to discover a terrible crime scene!

Our pirate role play area had been completely trashed, the tuff tray had been tipped over, and there were sandy footprints and colourful feathers scattered across the classroom. Worst of all… our beloved class teddy, Bunny, had disappeared! 🐰💔

The children quickly became detectives, carefully searching for clues and discussing who might have been responsible. Together, we created a spider diagram to share our ideas and predictions. We had lots of fantastic suggestions, including the Grinch, a giant and, after spotting the clues left behind, a pirate with a colourful parrot!

The next day, we received a letter from the mystery visitor warning us that we needed to catch him before his ship set sail! The children then worked incredibly hard creating fantastic wanted posters to help track down the pirate. They carefully thought about what the pirate might look like and wrote sentences to describe him. 🏴‍☠️🦜

And thanks to their fantastic effort… it worked!

We received a very special video message from the pirate himself! 😱 He admitted to stealing our treasure and left us a series of clues to follow. After working together to read and solve the clues, we finally discovered Bunny hidden in the mud kitchen outside! 🎉

The children absolutely loved taking part in our pirate mystery and showed fantastic teamwork, imagination and problem-solving skills throughout the week. ⚓️🏴‍☠️✨

🦋 Our Amazing Caterpillar to Butterfly Adventure! 🐛✨

29th April 2026Grace Gibson

We have had such an exciting time watching our tiny caterpillars grow and change over the last term! At the beginning, they were so small, just tiny wriggly caterpillars 🐛. But every day, they grew bigger and bigger! We loved checking on them, noticing all the changes, and learning about each stage of the lifecycle.

After a few weeks, something very special happened…they made their chrysalises! 🤍 We knew this meant they were getting ready for a big transformation.

Over the Easter holidays, I took them home to keep them safe and to document the next part of their journey. Then, one very exciting day in the second week… the first butterfly emerged! 🦋🎉 Not long after, all four butterflies had come out of their chrysalises.

At first, they stayed quite still. Their wings were wet and needed time to dry. Once their wings were strong, they began to flutter and explore. We helped them get ready for the big wide world by giving them some juicy orange slices to drink from 🍊. After a few days, they were strong and ready…

It was time to let them go!

We released them into the garden, where they enjoyed exploring the flowers and began their new life in the wild 🌼🦋

Class 2 have loved learning about the different stages of the life cycle of a butterfly and watching it happen in real life. What an incredible journey! 💛

Road Safety🚗

5th February 2026Chloe Smith

This week Class 2 had an important visit from a Road Safety Officer from South Tyneside Council. 🛣️ We learned about zebra crossings, different types of traffic lights, crossing patrol officers and how to stay safe when crossing the road.

We learned that we should always:
STOP 🛑 ✋
LOOK 👀
LISTEN 👂
THINK 💭
…before we decide to cross a road, and to always hold a grown up’s hand when we cross.

What’s in the box?

6th January 2026A Aldcroft

Today we came back to our classroom to find a very mysterious box in our classroom 😮

We decided it must be something alive because it doesn’t like loud noises and doesn’t want to be touched!

But what could it be?

We have had some incredible ideas such as crocodile, spider, unicorn, baby, cat, dragon, polar bear and so many more!!

We then created our own posters to warn others of what we think is in the box!

Christmas Story Night 🎄

11th December 2025A Aldcroft

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Christmas Story Night! We had a gorgeous night returning to school in our pyjamas, sipping hot chocolate, and enjoying a lovely Christmas story together. The evening was filled with fun activities that got everyone into the festive spirit! 🎄