Week 1 update:

Wow! What a great first week back we have had!

Monday, the children were lucky enough to have that bonus day off from school whilst the staff of Barley Close took part in training with our Hub School group. It was a great day for us to share good practice and to also consider what can be done to continue to support the children of Barley Close!

In Maths, we revisited Place Value as it is important to revise the skills linked to this area in order to apply this knowledge and understanding across a wide area of mathematical learning. We represented numbers up to 100 by using or drawing the dienes (drawing them will help us in particular with addition and subtraction too), compared numbers up to 100 and also put a random set of 2 digit numbers in the correct order by using their place value. We also completed a calculation lesson linked to adding a tens number to a 2 digit number.

In English, we introduced our new story text, The Invisible. Click on this link to share the story with your child - Storytime: The Invisible with Tom Percival - YouTube

It's a lovely story with a powerful message. We looked at the story in more depth by recalling the order of the story along with the main characters feelings throughout different parts of it and then focussed our learning on using contractions.

PE was great fun - especially on Friday with the gym coach! We must also note that the children really enjoyed their music lesson which included thinking about pitch, tone and rhythm. We will be working on our performance songs over the coming weeks too.

We can't wait to share more learning with you next week - especially with our class trip and Parent's Evenings too!

Week 2 update:

What a brilliant busy week Lion Class have had. On Tuesday they enjoyed their trip to Slimbridge Wetland Centre learning all about wildlife. On Friday I gave children their Guardian of the Wild pin badge, certificate and envelope. The envelope contains a free family ticket to return to Slimbridge and on the front of the envelope is a passport to log into the Guardians of the Wild website to complete wildlife themed activities and earn more badges. Let us know if you complete any! We'd love to hear about it.

On Tuesday and Thursday were our parents evening meetings. It was a chance to look through children's books and celebrate their successes so far in Year 2 and set targets for the rest of the year. Thank you for coming. If you couldn't come, we'll arrange another meeting in the next week or two. 

On Thursday morning children completed their agility challenge helped by the Year 5 children organising it. They had to run as fast as they could and throw beanbags and balance on one foot. Highest scorers will receive certificates in the next few weeks. 

Friday morning children continued their gymnastics lessons with the sports coaches learning how to do different rolls. 

In English we rewrote the story of the book The Invisible all about Isabel making a difference to her community and in Maths we looked at place value of 2 digit numbers and using a 100square to add and subtract 10. 

We've been busy! 

Week 3 Update:

Hello!

Just a quick round up of last week! As usual, it was a busy one!

In maths, we begin our new unit of learning linked to money. This included recognising the value of the different coins, putting them in order and counting and adding each value to find a total for example. This did prove tricky for some (understandably) so any practice at home would be hugely appreciated. Tricky isn't is!? Especially as we all mostly deal with card on mobile phone payments nowadays!

In English, we began week 1 of our unit linked to instructions. We have had a huge focus on imperative (bossy verbs) and the children have enjoyed using these in their writing. They also enjoyed bossing me around during my teaching- haha!

In RE we covered what it means to care and discussed this using the story video "The Good Samaritan". We discussed what caring for others might look like whether it was in a religious or non-religious context.

Friday was Children in Need Day - a fun, exciting day for all and then we had our Christmas Fayre that evening! What a fun night that was! It was sooooo lovely to see so many of you there! I know my two children LOVED having story time with Santa, watching the magic show (my son was lucky enough to be picked!) and also eating hotdogs too! 

We've had a great first day to this week and all of the adults of Year 2 are looking forward to the rest of this week ahead!

Week 4 update:

What a fantastic week! Today we made our healthy balanced packed lunch this morning with the help of class We made ham or cheese wraps, cut cucumber and carrot slices to nibble on and made homemade shortbread biscuits. We enjoyed eating our lunches this afternoon.

We have learned all about what kinds of foods help us to grow and develop. We learned about the 5 food groups: carbohydrates give us energy, protein helps us grow strong muscles, fruit and vegetables provide us with nutrients and vitamins, dairy helps our teeth and bones and fats, oils and spreads.

In children's bags should be:
1. Reading Record and reading books
2. Spelling book with test in the back and new spellings stuck in the front
3. Photo proof from our individual photos - please order by the 30th.

Slimbridge WWT emailed to remind us to use your FREE family visit ticket in the envelope I sent home a little while ago. Also get children doing nature activities to earn badges online. The website is called Generation Wild. Children's log in details are stuck in the cover of their Reading Record.

SAVE THE DATE: Christmas Play 2pm and 6pm on Wednesday 13th December. Please come and watch your child as we're working hard practising the songs. Children's parts and lines will be coming home in the next week or so. We'll let you know what outfit to provide for your child. We will help as much as possible making things at school.

In Maths we've been learning all about money and coins. Please keep practising using money with your child as it really helps! 

In English we wrote instructions on how to create a healthy packed lunch. Then we made one as part of design technology! 
 

Week 5 Round up!

Wow! What an intense but great week we had!

This week was the first time we took part in and completed tests in Year 2. These tests will take place in Term 2, 4 and 6 and it a great way to continue to inform us of your child's progress and allow us to continue to plan to meet the needs of our lovely children.

We completed the following papers individually with some support with reading:
Maths Paper 1 - Arithmetic
Maths Paper 2 - Reasoning
SPaG - Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
Reading Paper 1 - 2 texts with questions included in the same booklet.
Reading Paper 2 - 1 longer text and a separate booklet for answering questions.

The children took on these challenges with great courage and stamina and we were very proud of them! As always, reading 5x a week at home, taking part in TTRS and practising spellings will continue to support your child on top of what is done in school. Thank you so much!

We have also been working hard on our Christmas performance! We completed some read throughs in class and then KS1 went into the hall to start practising on the stage! The staff all commented on how proud they were so far.

In RE, we looked at the creation story, Science was linked to the uses of plastic and PE was a continuation of our gym learning - lots of great skills happening there!

We would REALLY appreciate any and all support towards practising lines loudly and clearly so that they do not need to stand and be prompted - that way you will also hear your little delight on stage with ease!

We hope you are all having an amazing weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday. Let's hope it warms up a little!

P.S. did anyone make it to the Park Road switch on of their Christmas lights? We did and it was great fun! Sadly, we seemed to have missed the Christmas float though...

Week 6 update:

An exciting week of lots of Nativity play practice on the stage in the hall. We've been working on our singing and speaking up when saying our lines. 

In English we read The Jolly Christmas Postman and thought about the features of letters. Also the reasons why we might write letters like writing to Father Christmas! 

In Maths we learned about our left and right, clockwise and anticlockwise to describe position and direction. We looked at a treasure map and had to give directions for a pirate ship to find its treasure. 

In PHSE we made friendship tokens and talked about how to make a new friend. In design technology we discussed the healthy balanced packed lunch we made recently and evaluated what went well and what we could do differently to improve next time. 

Good luck for the performances next Wednesday 13th 2pm and 6pm! Lion Class will be fabulous!