In Class 2 we have been immersed in the story of King Counting and the gnomes of Numberland for our Place Value Maths Main Lesson.  Counting magic beans in the kingdom’s storehouse involves numbers going up into the thousands.  When Class 2 were faced with thousands of beans to count it took creative thinking, problem solving and trial and error to find a way to co-ordinate 19 ‘workers’ and 2652 beans!  (Thanks for lending us so many lovely colouful beans from the garden Neal!)

In the end we found a way to get organized by counting the beans in groups of 10.  Colour coding has also helped us when we need to read and write large numbers.

The Kingdom of Numberland is full of surprises with Bertie Bean, Gemma Gem and Woodsy the firewood gnome keeping us busy with numbers.

In morning circle we have been testing our memory with rhymes and verses.  Here is one of our favourite verses –

This is the Key of the Kingdom

This is the key of the kingdom.  In that kingdom there is a city.

In that city there is a town.  In that town there is a street.

In that street there is a lane.  In that lane there is a yard.

In that yard there is a house.  In that house there is a room.

In that room there is a bed.  On that bed there is a basket.

In that basket there are some flowers.

Flowers in a basket, basket on the bed, bed in the room.

Room in the house, house in the yard, yard in the lane.

Lane in the street, street in the town, town in the city,

City in the kingdom.  Of that kingdom is the key.

Improving our memory helps us when it comes to memorizing the times tables.  We are now getting confident at singing in 3x, 4x, 6x as well as revising our 2x, 5x and 10x.  We use rhymes and beanbag exercises as we recite the number patterns.

And now after a busy week of swimming lessons we are ready for a new Main Lesson – Stories of the Saints.  We will hear magical stories of dragons and all kinds of beasts as men and women from different lands make choices to help others, not just themselves.

We will also be busy with colour and pattern as we make our lanterns for the Makaru Mid-Winter Festival coming soon!