Year 1 and 2 had a brilliant time at the Sea Life Centre!   

In English we wrote some recounts about our trip and the children's work was very detailed and descriptive! 

In Maths we began our topic on division learning about equal grouping and sharing of numbers.

For the rest of the week the children have been creating their Christmas cards and Christmas decorations for the church's tree at Worcester Cathedral.

The majority of the week has been busily preparing for our Christmas play next Thursday. The children adapted to the stage wonderfully!  

Apologies for no blog last week- I thought I had done it but obviously not! Here is what we've been up to for the last couple of weeks.

In English we planned and wrote our diary entries pretending to be Dougal the Deep Sea Diver. We predicted what we thought might happen to him next and wrote our entries based on that. The children worked hard to ensure they were writing in the past tense therefore using past tense verbs- some needing athe -ed suffix. We also showed off all our other skills we have learnt this year to make our writing exciting. If you were invited to the in school Read-a-thon, you would have seen the children's diver creations and heard us read the story and our own versions together. All children have brought their diver home tonight.

In Maths we have been multiplying 2s, 5s and 10s. The children understand we must be fluent in our multiplication facts- knowing if the calculation is 6 x 5, we can count in 5s six times to find the total. But we must also prove our work through drawing arrays, groups of, writing repeated addition calculations and understanding multiplication is commutative.

In RE the children thought about 12 people they would choose to change the world- just like Jesus did with his 12 disciples. We acted out the story of Jesus asking Matthew, the tax collector, to be his disciple and understood this was part of the good news Jesus brings- the Gospel. Jesus is a friend to the friendless. We thought about what this meant to us.

In Science the children enjoyed our investigation to answer the question "Which habitat is best for woodlice?" Thank you for your woodlice and shoeboxes! We recorded our results and wrote up our investigaton, answering the question just like scientists do.

We have been very busy practisting our Christmas play and are ready to start performing on the stage next week.

Remember it is our trip to the Sea Life Centre on Monday so please bring in your disposable packed lunch in a named bag. 

Have a brilliant weekend!

In English we continued reading our diary entry and noticed a fourth different type of sentence- exclamations. They start with how or what and end with a !. We realised we don't really talk in exclamations but we practised and are trying to say at least one each day e.g. How noisy we are! What a fantastic class we are! How neat this work is! What a busy day we have had today! The children "cracked the code" and spotted all our skils in our diary entry. We also began reading Dougal's Deep Sea Diary- we will be writing our own diary entries as Dougal next week,

In Maths the children have worked so so so so hard on a really tricky concept- subtraction with renaming. This is what we know as "exchanging or borrowing" but the new language of renaming is really important for the children to use and understand. For example, 54-36 we cannot do 4-6 so we rename 54 as 4 tens and 14 ones. We can then do 14-6 which is 8 ones. We must then do 4 tens - 3 tens which is 1 ten. 1 ten and 8 ones is 18 so 54-36= 18. 

In Science we went to Forest School to look for different microhabtiats e.g. under rocks, logs, in tree trunks. We collected bug data and noticed how there were lots of bugs in these smaller microhabitats because they were damp, dark and protected. We found worms, spiders, beetles and lots of woodlice which will come in handy for our investigation next week! Micah's sister Sophie visited again for us to observe how she has changed since last half term. Thank you Sophie!

In our topic afternoons we have new activities based on Science, History and Geography. In Science we have been researching why and how certain animals are adapted to suit and live in certain habitats. In History the children have been using primary sources- telegrams, photographs, letters and posters and secondary sources- textbooks and newspapers to research the Titanic sinking in 1912. We answered questions such as "What was it like for people?" "How long ago?" "What happened?". In Geography we used atlases and geographical books to draw and understand what different natural physical features there are in the world e.g. beaches, rivers, mountains, valleys.

In RE the children reflected on our question "Who is a Muslim and what do they believe?" as we have reached the end of this unit. We compared our own beliefs to Muslims and thought about what our life would be like if we were a Muslim.

We continued to practise the Christmas Play too. On Friday we loved supporting Children in Need and Pudsey by dressing up. Thank youi for the 

Thank you for going on Spelling Shed at home! Year 2 are in the lead (by far!) out of the whole school- something the children are really pleased with. Another thank you for your continued reading at home. Next week the children will be coming home with invitations for parents to attend our in school Read-a-thon on Friday 30th November. 

Have a lovely weekend!

We have had a lovely welcome back from half term this week! The children have settled in beautifully, enjoyed sharing their holiday news and cracked on with our new learning straight away.

In English we have looked at a new text type- a diary entry. We read lots of different examples and identified certain features that must be in a diary e.g.  a greeting, the date, thoughts and feeling. We focussed on the different tenses- past, present and future and by sorting a selection of sentences and writing in the different tenses. We looked closely at words and found that the past tense has words ending in –ed and the present tense as words ending in –ing. These are called suffixes and go onto verbs (action words). The children wrote different verbs in the past and present tense. We learnt different spelling rules for adding suffixes on e.g. bake- you take away the e and add the suffix to become baked or baking.

Each day we are practising writing clear, accurate sentences that include some of the skills we have learnt already e.g. conjunctions, contractions, expanded noun phrases. I present a picture to the children and they have free choice to write whatever they want.  This is good practice to get the children into the habit of including their skills in their work independently, which is needed for the SATs assessment at the end of the year.

In Maths the children have really consolidated their subtraction skills using concrete resources, drawing pictures and writing the calculations in our column method.

In RE we read the “Shahadah” which is a group of words/phrase that is very important to Muslims taken from the Qu’ran about Allah. We thought about what words are important to us e.g. “family, love, respect, compassion, friends, happiness”. The children listened to the 99 names Muslims have for Allah and we thought about different names we could give God e.g. “The All-Knowing, The Mighty King, The Most Powerful”

In Science we observed our plants that we have been growing as we had not seen them for over a week! They had grown so much we had to replant them in larger pots.

In our topic afternoons, we will begin to look at the history of the Titanic. Year 2 loved asking and writing questions that we will spend the coming weeks researching by looking at different primary and secondary resources.

A letter has gone home about Spelling Shed-  a new, online resource to help with spelling and the children were also given their Christmas play parts today. A letter will have come home with costume details too.

Have a lovely weekend and see you on Monday Year 2!

The children have finished writing their set of instructions and they were brilliant!

In Maths we have perfected and proved our subtraction skills with a variety of methods- finishing in the column method. 

In Science Year 2 explored what would happen if something changed in a food chain aswell as confidently use scientific vocabulary such as predator, prey, producer and consumer.

All children completed their activities for our topic afternoons for this term and we assessed our learning so far in our Coding topic too.

On Friday we had a great day at the Beeline Festival listening to Chloe Inkpen. The children behaved beautifully. 

Your child should have come home with a letter about our trip to the Sea Life Centre on Monday 3rd December. Please complete and return the reply slip when we come back to school after the week off.

Have a fantastic half term Year 2. Thank you for such a wonderful start to our school year- you all deserve a big rest! See you on Tuesday 6th November (Monday as an INSET Day).

We hope you enjoyed the Harvest Festival on Thursday and our “Autumn Harvest” song. The children have loved learning the song and performing. I’m sure you will agree how brilliant they were!

In Maths we continued to master column addition adding two 2 digit numbers together. We follow a CPA approach- concrete (using resources), pictorial (drawing pictures) and abstract (mentally) to prove our answers and ensure our work is accurate. We began recapping some methods for subtraction on Friday and this will lead to us using the column method for taking away too.

In English the children have begun planning their own set of instructions after we received a video message from a shark! We have explored how to make “coral juice” and will write our instructions next week that will include commas in a list, verbs in commands and contractions.

In RE we thought about a Muslim’s special item and place after exploring our own last week. We looked in detail at the different parts of a mosque and how Muslims might feel when they are there.

In Science we have been researching different food chains in different habitats. We constructed food chains and began to learn what a producer, consumer, predator and prey meant. Our beans are continuing to grow nicely too!

In Computing the children had to successfully complete a sequence of algorithms on Scratch by exploring what different features and effects you could control.

Remember it is the Beeline Festival for Year 2 next Friday. Please dress according to the weather and in school uniform. A reminder that your child will need to bring a packed lunch in a named bag as we will be eating at the Hive.

Have a good weekend!

Please click on the blue ttitle of this blog in order to see photos attached. 

It was so lovely to talk to parents on Monday and Tuesday about your child’s wonderful start in Year 2. Again, a big apology for my bad timekeeping and late appointments on Monday- I really am sorry but hope everyone feels well informed about their child’s progress so far.

In Maths we have shown amazing perseverance and growth mindsets to master the column method. We arrange our calculation in a column, add the ones, add the tens which we call our working out. Then we add the ones, add the tens to find the answer. We always put our calculation into our number bond diagram e.g. part + part = whole.

To challenge ourselves and really “dive” into our learning we thought about how addition is commutative (can be done either way round) and subtraction is the inverse/opposite of addition. This means we can write a calculation in four different ways. We called this the “fact families” with a Mummy, Daddy, brother and sister. A number bond diagram helps us do this.

e.g. 27 + 32 = 58

       32 + 27 = 58

       58 - 27 = 32

        58 - 32 = 27

In English we started our new text focus is instructions. We read lots and identified the different features a set of instructions has e.g. a title, opening, list of equipment and numbered steps. Year 2 read my set of instructions “How to make Mermaid Slime” and spotted new skills for this sequence of learning. We learnt

-          commas in a list e.g. On Starfishes table there are Emily, Neve, Jake, Charlie, Luke and Belle

-          verbs in commands e.g. Put your coat on your peg. Verbs are doing and action words.

-          contractions e.g. do not – don’t, did no- didn’t. We were introduced to the apostrophe.

We have not done group reading in Guided Reading this week. Instead we have practiced our comprehension skills by answering and continued to read our whole class book- Flotsam.

In Science we observed our beans and recorded any developments. We also began thinking about different food chains that exist in different habitats.

In PE we practiced team skills and fitness when completing a range of spelling games.

In Computing the children showed how they could edit the background and sprite on Scratch Jr. We learnt a new word- parameter which states “how much” and a limit/boundary to an instruction e.g. forward 14.

In RE we had a wonderful session sharing our special items and places. We discussed why they are special to us.

Again, another fantastic week for Year 2! Remember it is our Harvest Festival on Thursday morning in church.

Year 2 (children and adults!) have done really well to get through a variety of illnesses and unwellness over the last couple of weeks. We hope for the future to be a lot more germ free and healthy!

In English the children wrote their own non-chronological reports on their own subjects. It was delightful to read reports such as "How to be a.... fairy, pirate, dinosaur, sister, footballer, unicorn and even a farrier!"

In Maths we continued to add and worked on mentally recalling key facts such as adding ones onto a tens number (50 + 8 = 58, 60  + 2 = 62) and adding tens onto any number (45 + 20 so 45, 55, 65. The answer is 65). We used 100 squares but will continue to work hard to recall these facts in order for the addition work we move onto to be quicker and confident. On Friday I introduced the column method for adding two 2-digit numbers. This method underpins all addition and subtraction work for the foreseeable future therefore we took it slowly! As the children come more confident I will upload photographs of the method and their workings out for you to see at home.

In Science the children went on a hunt for living, dead and never alive objects. We used "MRS NERG" to scientifically prove our identifications.

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope anyone still feeling under the weather a speedy recovery. I am looking forward to Parent's Evening on Monday and Tuesday.

We have had a wonderful week in Year 2. All the adults and I have really noticed the children have risen to the challenge of being in Year 2 and the high expectations we have. 

Maths: We have been reading the time on analogue clocks to o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to. We will be learning to tell the time continuously over the year up to every 5 minutes. This is a really good skill to learn at home to so if you could help, we welcome it! We completed our number work about place value, comparing numbers, partitioning and solving number patterns. This will provide a basis for all our work on addition and subtraction that we began today. We learnt you can add by counting on and counting tens and ones.

English: Year 2 have thoroughly enjoyed a week of writing their non-chronological reports with some unexpected underwater visitors- mermaids!. On Monday we recieved a visit from "Serena Sentences" checking we included questions and commands. "Dominique Description" helped us remember our expanded noun phrases to describe what mermaids look like. "Cassandra Conjunction" made sure we extended our sentences with conjunctions such as but, and, so, because when explaining where mermaids live. As a first piece of extended writing in Year 2 I am so proud of the children! At the end of the week we practised editing (fixing and making our work even better) with our editing eyes and a checklist! Then we recieved a special glittery delivery from Meralda the Mermaid- a sequined case full of special pencils to write our reports up in our best handwriting.

Capital letters, full stops and question marks are tending to drop off children's sentences so we are always encouraging children to check their sentences using our "yellow target pencil". 

In Science we have been observing our seed...nothing so far! We also began to explore the question "What objects are living and what objects are dead?" We (bravely!) looked at a live spider, a dead spider and a toy spider. We classifed each as "Living, Dead or Never Alive" MRS NERG helped us define what living means. 

In RE we heard some of the Islamic stories told by Prophet Muhammad such as "The Tiny Ants" and "The Thirsty Camel". We produced collages to represent one of the stories and thought about how they teach Muslims to behave.

In PE we worked on our fitness and teamwork in a range of spelling games that included hoops, running, spelling aloud and writing! Who knew spelling could be so fun!

In our topic afternoon we continued to explore habitats in Science, experiment with tone and tint and practised our cutting and paper shaping skills.

In SPAG we learnt two new spelling strategies- pyramid write and quick write. Have your child show you these at home! 

CEW (common exception word) bookmarks will have been sent home this week personalised to your child's needs/next steps along with a letter explaining them. If you have any questions regarding these please do not hesitate to ask!

Thank you for all reading at home! It is wonderful checking reading diaries in the morning to see so many of us enjoying a book the evening before. 

Have a brilliant weekend Year 2!

Hello!

In Maths we have been learning:

• greater than, less than and equal to when comparing numbers using these signs < > and =. The directions of the signs are difficult for children to always figure out so we used Baby Shark (doo doo doo doo doo) to help us! “Greater than doo doo doo doo doo”!
• to use a 100 square to help us solve number patterns. We practised finding 10 more, 10 less, 2 more, 2 less etc. and over the year will encourage children to do this mentally
• to partition numbers in different ways. This is a very hard concept to grasp but probably the most important in Year 2 as it links to addition and subtraction.

56 can be partitioned in 50 + 6 but also many different ways if you rename tens as ones e.g. 40 + 16, 30 + 26, 20 + 36.

If you came to the Singapore Maths meeting last year this was demonstrated but if you need further clarification/explanation, please come and ask!

In English we continued our non-chronological report work. The children enjoyed spotting all the features and skills in our “How to be a Knight” example and “cracked the code”. We then received a mysterious message in a glass bottle from Meralda Mermaid of the North Sea! She asked us to write a non-chronological report about mermaids therefore we gathered mermaid facts and began to write sentences including expanded noun phrases and conjunctions. We planned our report and will write it next week.

In SPAG we were introduced to homophones (words that sound the same, but look different and mean different things). Our words were bee/be, sea/see and blue/blew. This is the focus of this week’s SPAG homework.

In Science the children planted beans and made our first entry in our bean diaries. We will be closely observing these beans over our “Living Things and their Habitats” work.

In RE we learnt about the Prophet Muhammad and heard some stories about him including “Muhammad and the Cat”. We thought about what stories like this tell us about the Prophet.

As part of our topic work we will be completing a range of activities through a topic afternoon. These will be Science, Art, DT, Geography and History. This week we began

• Science: looking at different living things in different habitats through a virtual online game and recording our findings.
• Art: investigating different thickness of lines with different paintbrushes and experimenting with tone (adding grey to a colour) and tint (adding white to a colour).
• DT: practising cutting skills and experimenting with how we can shape paper (folding, tearing, curling, rolling).

Over the couple of weeks each child will have opportunity to complete each activity.

Thank you for starting the Read-a-thon this week! It has been lovely to see how many of you have been reading at home. Homework has been sent out accompanied with an explanation letter.

Have a fantastic weekend Year 2! I hope the windy and stormy weather doesn’t ruin any of your plans!