The children have been very enthusiastic about their Summer topic, which kicks off with Pirates (Did they ever find their treasure?). A topic overview has been uploaded for your information. So far they have learnt to speak some pirate, created their own pirate name and designed their own Jolly Roger. This week the children will be learning about the real life pirate Blackbeard (real name Edward Tech). By the end of the week they will produce their own factual piece of writing about him. In maths they will continue to learn to tell the time on an analogue clock and the tackling addition and subtraction weekly test will up start again. On Tuesday afternoon the children will attend the Y2 Multi-skills festival which you should have received information about via parentmail. Please see Mrs Jensen if you require more information on this. This is a very short half term and by the end of it Y2 will have completed their National Sats tests. Therefore the homework menu (see homework page) is a reflection of this and a creative homework menu will be sent home in the second half of the term.
Worksheets have now been added to the homework page to help you learn to read the time (see last weeks explanation of what children need to know below). This website is good www.ictgame.com/mobilePage/hickoryDickory/
Teachers are able to see which children are practising their tables using Rock star maths! Logins are in the front of your child's journal. Please also practise reading for fluency and understanding. Check your child understands all the words they are reading and can give you alternative words that might mean something similar. There are plenty of practise reading questions online these days to help. Most importantly have a great Easter break! We have already planned an exciting topic and trip for the Summer Term!
The children were very well behaved when a Buddhist nun came to visit on Monday 25th March. Please look at the photos on our photo page and ask your child to tell you all about it! From Friday 29th March there is a sumdog competition which lasts a whole week. Please encourage your child to score points for our class - and keep playing rockstar maths! Over the Easter break it would be useful to encourage your child to read the time on a analogue clock (not digital). It is a requirement that children can read an analogue clock (O'clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to) to read the end of Key Stage one expected standard. For greater depth the children will have to be able to read an analogue clock to 5 minutes (ten past two, twenty five to three). Worksheets to support the teaching of time will be put on the homework page before the start of the holidays. This will be the first unit of maths work that we will be covering when we return after the break.
This week the children will write diary extracts in the role of Tuffy, the Killer Cat explaining what really happened to next door's rabbit! In maths they will continue to work on fractions and solve problems using this knowledge. On Monday afternoon we have our Buddhist visitor coming to answer our questions and lead us in a meditation session. We hope to see many of you on Thursday for our class assembly where we will look forward to sharing some more of the work we have done this term.
This week we will continue to work on fractions, recognising and making 1/2, 1/4, 1/3, 3/4 and learn that 2/4 is equivalent to 1/2. If you have any opportunities at home to practise finding a quarter or a third of an amount then please do. In English we will be starting a new unit of work on Diary of a Killer cat to get some writing in first person. We will be carrying out written assessments in maths, spelling and grammar and reading to help us assess the progress the children have made in these subjects this term. The children have started doing guided reading as a whole class (previously done in groups) and have been surprised at the amount of vocabulary they are able to read but not understand. An example form last week 'The king was content' - only one child in the class could tell us what the word content meant. 'He lay there on the ground, bone thin and exhausted' - which words tell us that the wolf hadn't eaten for some time? - Only a very small number of children could recognise the words 'bone thin' as being the correct answer. Please make sure you discuss the words in the book your child is reading and there are many resources available online to help (just google Y2 sats reading questions or reading for inference).
Last week the children managed a perfect dojo score and voted as their treat to visit the park! This coming week is science week so lots of experiments and scientific writing with a 'Silly Science' workshop on the Friday (which is also Red Nose Day). In maths the children have started to work on understanding fractions and will be finding one half and one quarter of an object and number. They will be starting to learn lines for their class assembly coming up on 28th March. They will continue to play ball games with Mr Sanderson in PE and look at climate change in topic.
On Friday 1st March your child should have brought home with them (in their journals) their log in details for Rock star maths. It may take a while to get this all up and running and levels to be set but we are hoping your child will be able to start their Rock star journey! In English next week the children will continue to work on their descriptive writing - creating a quality piece of writing on 'The Wolf'. They will then start to look at using precise vocabulary for describing 'The Wood' to create an atmosphere. Please continue to practise spelling the high frequency words from the word lists as many children are still not spelling these correctly. In maths we will finish our unit on multiplication and division and apply our knowledge in problem solving tasks. In RE we will continue to learn about Buddhist worship. Last week some children produced some fabulous art work on Buddhist shrines. In topic the children will start to look at climate change and melting iceburgs. We will also start thinking about our class assembly and what to include!
We hope the children have had a relaxing and enjoyable half term break. This week we will continue learning about multiplication in maths and on Friday we will be doing a whole school launch of times tables Rock star. Please refer to the e-mail sent last week regarding rock star dress up on this day! In English we will be starting a unit of work on Fairy tales and specifically focus on writing character descriptions and settings. In RE we will be learning about Buddhist worship, chanting and meditation. In topic we will be finishing some work on food chains and start learning about global warming and melting ice.
On Monday 11th you are invited to come in after school to look at the art work created during arts week.
This week the children will be writing letters to the hunters in the role of the old lady to beg them not to kill her Polar bear (stimulus The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale). In maths they will continue to work on multiplication and division, understanding that these are inverses and solve problems using this knowledge. In science the children will look at food chains in the Arctic. In RE the children will continue to learn about Buddhism. In PE the children will continue to play ball games with Mr Sanderson. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are open evenings. We look forward to seeing you and hope that you enjoy looking at your child's work.
The children worked really hard last week on their traditional Inuit tales and it will be a treat for you to read these on parents evening. The children will edit and make any improvements to these stories then begin the next unit of writing (letters). In maths the children have started a unit of work on multiplication and division. It is important that they 'see' the relationship between multiplication and repeated addition, and also understand multiplication/division as inverses. Plenty of practise with sorting a quantity of objects into groups will really help with this (25 sweets shared between 5 children. How many do they each get? What calculation could you write to represent this? What mathematical symbols do you need to use?). Multiplication and division practise can be found on the homework page (hit the button website). It will be arts week in school and our class artist is Pablo Picasso. The children will learn about the artist and do related activities during the afternoons. On Thursday there will be a collapse day and the children have chosen which art activities they wish to participate in. Don't forget you are invited to come and view our artwork on Friday afternoon. Also remember to book your parents evening time if you haven't done so yet.
In English the children have been reading the traditional Inuit tale of the Polar Bear Son. They have made a storyboard of the original version and practised retelling it using good/ appropriate story language. They have gone on to change some of the characters and this week they will be writing their own versions of the tale. In maths they have been looking at properties of 2D and 3D shapes, learning names and comparing. It would be a good idea at home to find objects to represent common shapes (a game dice is a cube shape, a pringles tube is a cyclinder, an orange is a sphere etc). In RE the children are continuing to learn about Buddhist beliefs and are going to draw some conch shells (one of the eight symbols) using shading techniques. On Thursday they will get to work with out artist visitor on a school project.
We are coming to the end of our maths unit of work on money, but a lot of children still need to practise giving change and finding total values so please continue to work on this at home. A stumbling block for many has been recording money. For example many have been writing 103p as £1.3, failing to put a zero in the tens column. It has been very pleasing to see the children improving their weekly tackling addition scores. We will continue to do this test every Friday and soon we will also start tackling tables. In English the children will be writing up in neat their non-chronological reports on their chosen Arctic animal. Although spellings and handwriting has much improved since last term most children are still writing at a very slow pace. Therefore our new class target is to increase our writing pace!! I am aware that most children use i-pads at home now but please provide your child with opportunities to write whenever you can as it will help them to achieve the national standards expected of them by the end of Year 2. In RE the class have been painting and drawing Buddha symbols. A buddhist from our local centre has agreed to come into school in March when the children have more knowledge of this religion to speak to the class and answer their questions. A visiting author will be in school on Tuesday.
The children are continuing to work on money in maths and this week they will be adding shopping to find the total value and learn how to give change (from 10p, £1 or £5 depending on child's ability). It would be really beneficial if you could play 'shops' at home with real or pretend money, or take your child to a real shop so they can experience having to pay for some shopping for themselves. If you haven't already printed out the worksheets uploaded last week on the homework page then please do so or play the top marks toy shop game on a computer device. In English the children will be writing their own non-chronological report on an Arctic animal of their choice, which they have researched and collected facts about. In RE the children will continue to learn about Buddhism. This week they will learn about Buddhist symbols and create some symbolic artwork.
Welcome back! We hope that you have had a restful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all the lovely Christmas wishes, cards and gifts that were sent into school before the holiday.
Out new topic being launched is 'What survives in the North Pole?' A topic overview will be sent home by next Friday and a new pick and mix homework menu. Please can you send homework books into school so as the new menus can be stuck in? Our first maths unit of work will be money but we will also be launching the tackling addition and subtraction scheme. This is attached in the homework section for your information. Children will be tested on Fridays. Our first unit of English will be non-chronological reports and children will be learning about the features of this genre. We will be spending the first couple of days looking at world maps/ globes and identifying where the North Pole is and learning about human and physical features of this region.
Sumdog competition runs until Thursday evening 8pm.
This is a busy week for us. On Monday we will be visiting the Friendship club to sing our production songs. On Tuesday we have a full dress rehearsal which KS2 and our nursery children will watch. On Wednesday it is our Christmas dinner day. On Thursday and Friday afternoons it will be production time. We will try to keep our reading, writing and maths lessons focused and on track despite the additional festivities. Please keep hearing your child read, practise spelling the word lists in their homework books, counting in different steps and recalling pairs of numbers that make 10 (and then multiples of these numbers that make 100). Friday is Christmas jumper day, which is optional.
This week we continue to work on adding and subtracting numbers to solve problems. There are many children who are still struggling with basic number bonds (If I need a total of 10 and have 6 already, how many more do I need?). Please practise this as often as you can at home using whatever objects you can find, such as lego bricks. I have uploaded a task we have done in class 'Checking calculations using inverses' (homework page) which you might like to practise again at home (this is not something you need to bring in to show the teacher). In English the children will continue to write instructions and are now much better at using 'good' imperative verbs, adverbs and time conjunctions! This week we will continue to do RE and some Christmas art with Mrs Wood. Costumes for the production need to be in school by Friday 7th December in order that we can check we have what we need before our dress rehearsal for the rest of the school on the following Tuesday! All parents/ grandparents are welcome to come to 'Messy Christingle' on Wednesday from 11 to 11.30am. See school bulletin for more details.
There is a Eucharist service on Tuesday which parents are welcome to come along to, starting at 10.30am.
In English we will be deciding what makes a set of instructions easy to follow. We will be reading, following and writing a range of instructions. In maths we will continue to add and subtract numbers using our place value knowledge. We will be working out calculations where there is a missing number and knowledge of inverse operations are needed. In the afternoons we will be starting to rehearse with Y1 in the hall and learning when to come on and off the stage! We will continue our games in PE with Mr Sanderson on Wednesday afternoon. We will be creative in RE with Mrs Wood when looking at (and making) some Christian symbols focusing on this season. The children will continue to receive clues on what their next topic is going to be!
The children will continue working on addition and subtraction this week (and coming weeks). Quite a lot of children are still struggling to count in steps of 2, 3, 5 and 10. I have therefore uploaded a worksheet in the homework file if you would like to practise this at home. Children cannot have a secure understanding of multiplication and division if they cannot count in these steps first. In English the children will start a new unit of work on instructions. If the opportunity arises it would be useful to model how to follow instructions at home (in real life!), for example in the form of a recipe, putting together furniture, learning how to play a game, assembling lego etc.
Most children have already learnt their lines for the Christmas production and this week they will start to learn their cues and words to the songs. Some children have said that they already have sorted their costumes. It is not too early to send these in. Please make sure they are in a named bag.
Friday 23rd November 9-10.15am you are welcome to come to school with your child. Please see school bulletin for more details or speak to Mrs Jensen or Mrs Wood at the end of the school day.
Some photos of Nurse Gregson's visit can now be seen on the photo page. The children are coming to the end of their topic on real life superheroes and after all their learning about Florence Nightingale, Edith Cavell and Mary Seacole they can now write factually about how the role of nurses and hospitals have changed over the last 100 years. In maths children will be solving problems using their knowledge of addition and subtraction.
Children have been given their scripts and will start rehearsing for our Christmas production of 'Ralph the reindeer'. Please see Mrs Jensen or Mrs Wood if you are unable to provide the costume your child will need (letters went home Tues 6th Nov). It is friendship week so please read school bulletin for information regarding activities that will be happening throughout the week, also arrangements for Children in Need on Friday 16th.
This week in English the children will be writing a diary entry as Mary Seacole and learning about writing in 'first person'. In maths they will be comparing numbers using sign <, > and =. More interactive activities that the children have used have been added to the homework page and are differentiated so please encourage your child to go online and keep practising their maths! You will need flash player for the interactive games. On Wednesday Mrs Jensen's twin sister is coming into school as she has recently won an NHS award for being a 'hospital hero'. She will bring her award and come in uniform and give the children an insight into how nursing has changed since the Victorian era. Nurse Gregson will also wear her graduation buckle which depicts 'the lamp lady' to illustrate how the work of Florence Nightingale is still respected and remembered by nurses today. The children will ask questions which they will write prior to the visit. And........ The Christmas production preparation will begin! As soon as your child brings their script home please help them learn their lines so we can spend time in school on the acting!!!
In English the children will be watching BBC schools 'life of Mary Seacole'. They will learn about her life and the outcome of this unit of work will be that they are able to write a diary extract in the role of Mary using the correct features, such as past tense. In maths the children will revisit place value, counting and writing numbers. They will be deepening their understanding by carrying out reasoning style tasks. In RE the children will begin to learn about symbols in Christianity. In science they will continue to look at growth and how they have grown. Last term in dance the children listened to superhero theme tunes and created their own movements to accompany each tune. This week the children will use music maker to create their own superhero theme tunes ( https://gridclub.com/activities/music-maker ).
Monday 15th October - trip to Peterborough Museum. Please make sure your child comes to school in uniform and with their own packed lunch and drink.
Parents evening on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
Thursday - school disco
This week the children will write their own biographies for Florence Nightingale using the notes they made last week. They will continue to be encouraged to join some of their writing and think about good punctuation. In phonics they will be collecting words which contain the spelling patterns (graphemes) they have learnt so far. In maths the children will continue to practise adding and subtracting numbers using their own informal methods. They will learn about fact families and how to find inverse operations (for example 3+7=10, 7+3=10, 10-3=7, 10-7=3). In RE the children have begun to explore the beliefs of Christians and listened to the story of creation. In dance the children have listened to superhero theme tunes (wonder woman, batman) and created their own actions to fit the music. On Thursday Mrs Wood will finish some superhero art.
The children will be making their own notes on the biography of Florence Nightingale. They will be reading a selection of biographies and identifying common features. In maths the children will continue to add and subtract two-digit numbers and multiples of 10. They will reason why some calculations are true and some false. In RE they will talk about why Christians celebrate Harvest Festival. They will continue to improve their handwriting and practise joining up some letters.
This week the children will write their own superhero stories in which they star as the hero! They will learn more handwriting joins and be encouraged to use the joins they have been taught in their writing. In maths the children will start reasoning using what they know about addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers and one-digit numbers. Mrs Wood will continue to explore shape on Thursday. In science children will continue to learn about animals including humans. With Mrs Jensen they will test their sense of smell by carrying out an investigation to see it they can still identify food by its taste if they remove their sense of sight and smell. With Mrs Wood they will be learning about babies. In PE the children will make superhero narratives through movement to the original Batman theme tune with Mrs Jensen and with Mr Sanderson they will made their own games using a football. The children will bring home a rap to learn and some poems in preparation for the Harvest festival next Tuesday. They will also bring home (on Friday) the next 200 high frequency words which they will need to learn to spell in Year 2.
This week in maths the children will be ordering and comparing numbers. They will develop their understanding of how many tens and ones make up a two-digit number. In English the children will be making their own storyboards of a Supertato adventure. They will be consolidating the formation of letters and starting to learn some handwriting joins. The children will start their science unit of work and be thinking about healthy lifestyle choices they can make for themselves. In PE they will be developing their ball skills with Mr Sanderson and start working on Superhero dances with Mrs Jensen.
Our first full week in school this term we are having a whole school well-being week. You will receive more details via e-mail and attached is the Y2 timetable for that week. Y2 will also be kick starting their first topic, which is called 'Superhero, reveal yourself!' On Monday the children can come to school dressed as a superhero (known or imagined) as their first English lesson will revolve around the book 'Rules for Superheroes'