Our class blog is now on Class Dojo, our home learning platform, where we have interactive communication between our school and parents and carers.

We have had another wonderful week in Year 2. The children are working so hard and seem to be enjoying themselves too.

In Maths we are working on place value. The children are showing numbers in a variety of ways, using equipment such as Base 10, Unifix and place value counters. We have been looking at one more, one less and 10 more and 10 less than a number. The children have been attempting to answer reasoning questions independently and proving their answers. We are also revisiting the number bonds to 10 which they should know off by heart. Any practise at home would be great.

In English we have been focusing on the story of, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. We have been looking at the characters of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf. We looked at adjectives to describe the wolf and created expanded noun phrases. We wrote about Little Red Riding Hood using adjectives, expanded noun phrases and the coordinating conjunctions, ‘and’ and, ‘but’. The children really impressed me. We are still trying to ’nail a sentence’ and remember everything that this includes every time we write.

Our focus in science is materials, we have been looking at the properties of materials and the suitability of the properties for the job. We have looked at the language involved and traffic lighted our understanding. I had not realised how many homophones were involved in the language, when we were talking about the property “rough” the children talked about someone playing rough.

In RE we are looking at, ‘Who is a Muslim’. We link this to, ‘Who is a Christian’ and the children think of their own points of view in respect to a new religion, for example, we learnt about the words that a Muslim baby has whispered in their ear at birth, and the children then wrote down the words they would whisper in a new born baby’s ear. These were so lovely.

In Geography we are re-capping the countries, seas and capital cities of the United Kingdom as some of this knowledge seemed to have been forgotten over the long summer holiday. We have started introducing the continents which is our year 2 work.

They can Children are encouraged to change their home reader as they finish them. They can also use Bug Club with the accounts they were given last year. If you would like the log in details again, please let me know and I will get hold of them. Any of these options, as well as any other reading, can be written down in their reading diaries, which we are checking regularly.

If you have any queries, please feel free to catch me at the end of the day or send a message via Class Dojo.

I am so proud of the children and their enthusiasm for learning, Year 2 is going to be the best year! Keep up the hard work.

Mrs Welsh

Hello and a very warm welcome to Year 2. I am absolutely thrilled with how well the children have settled in already. They all seem so grown up and are coming into school happy and ready to learn, we can’t ask for anything more. This blog will be updated each week with our experiences and learning in Year 2. Updates and reminders will also continue through ClassDojo.

We have had a wonderful 5 days and have been busy getting used to lots of new routines and members of staff. The children have been amazing and adapted really well. The children have been introduced to entering school via the main door, new classroom, pegs, tables and where to put water bottles etc. So many new routines to remember! The most exciting thing being they have their own drawer with their own equipment in at their desk! They were introduced to Mrs Tye and Mrs Nasta, our fantastic teaching assistants, and myself. Mrs Barnett teaches in Year 2 on a Wednesday and she couldn’t believe how grown up the class seemed.

This week we have been very busy getting to know the children, assessing the children with their phonics, carrying out a reading test and reading assessments. All children brought home their reading diaries and a library book. On Monday I am hoping to complete the reading assessment and sort out guided reading groups.

We started the week with speaking and listening about our holidays. It was lovely as all the children were confident enough to tell the whole class what they had been up to over the summer. They wrote their news independently then drew the pictures of something they had done during the holidays.

We have spent the week working on the book, ‘Only one you.’ We discussed there is only one of each of the children and how special they are. In the book there are words of wisdom and we discussed these as well as words of wisdom for learning in Year 2. The children worked hard and they all designed a fish pebble; their designs were excellent. They then used sharpies to create their favourite design onto a pebble. The finished pebbles were absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t believe how carefully the children recreated their design. They also recreated it on a large scale and we have displayed these in the classroom.

The children wrote sentences starting with I can, I am and I like. On Friday they put these together to write their ‘only one me’ information about themselves. We looked at how we can expand our sentences to make our writing more exciting. They did a great job.

The children did the most amazing water coloured art work on Thursday afternoon. They drew fish with oil pastels then used water colours using their own pallets, which are kept in their drawers. to paint the fish. They then used a colour wash on the outside, they added salt which absorbed the water and created a sea like effect. They were fantastic, and I am going to put them on display on Monday (as they were still damp Friday after school)!

The children were amazing at Forest school. We won’t always go down for the whole afternoon to Forest School in Year 2 as we have so many curriculum pressures, however, wherever possible we will have a longer session and do some of our learning in forest school.

If you have any questions, queries, or worries, however big or small, please pop in and see me.

Sorry for the lengthy blog. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend Year 1. See you on Monday!

Sara Welsh

It almost felt like summer for a few days this week, it was so nice to see summer dresses and shorts. Let’s hope that we have a bit of sunshine over the Easter break. It was lovely to have Mrs Medlicott back with us for 3 days this week and to meet Miss Lacey, who will be doing her final teaching practice with us after Easter.

In English we finished looking at the book, “The Way Back Home”, by Oliver Jeffers. We predicted the end of the story and thought about different endings to the story. We talked about what we thought might happen next. We also re wrote the story in our own words. In art the children designed and painted their own planets. We then completed two pieces of writing about our planets. One saying what our planet was like, thinking about temperature, seasons, geographical features, who would live there etc. The other piece was to describe what the planet looked like with clues about it to go on our display.

In Maths we have continued looking at measure, this week we have worked on word problems. As always it is often the words, rather than the maths which make them tricky. The problems moved to combining multiplication with length in the word problems. Such as 8 tables are joined to form one long table. Each table is 2metres long, what is the length of the long table formed?

In science the children re-visited the experiment they set up around biodegradable materials, to see what had happened to their items. They also made posters to stop pollution in the oceans inspired by Neal Layton’s book ‘A Planet Full of Plastic’.

In RE we looked at the Easter story and discussed aspects; including the trinity, symbols of Easter and how they link to the Easter story, hope and the idea of new life.

The children also practiced their Spring Chicken song and made their Easter cards. I hope you liked both. Have a wonderful Easter. I am looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks, ready for the summer term.

Mrs Welsh

We have had a busy week. The children have worked hard. We have continued working on our new topic of space whilst slowly assessing the children’s current knowledge and understanding especially in reading and writing. We obviously need to know where the children are, however, as I like to say, “You don’t fatten a pig by weighing it,” therefore, we need to get on with our learning, rather than continually assessing where they are.

On Monday the children looked at the book, ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. They thought about what an alien coming to visit them would like and enjoy doing. The children drew their own alien and wrote about the things their alien might love, they later designed underpants for their alien.

In Maths we have been looking at measure. This week we have looked at ordering length using the vocabulary, short, shorter, and shortest, tall, taller and tallest and long, longer, longest. We have compared length in metres, centimetres and compared the length of lines both straight and curved – using string to help measure the curvy lines.

In English we started looking at the book, “The Way Back Home” by Oliver Jeffers. We have completed a range of writing around the book, including; using time connectives to write instructions for how the boy gets ready to fly, solving the problem of how the boy will get off the moon, writing speech bubbles and dialogue between the boy and the Martian and writing a list of equipment the boy may need to rescue the Martian.

We have explored one of the NASA, “human computers”, Katherine Johnson. She was a mathematician who performed calculations that allowed NASA to put astronauts safely into orbit then onto the Moon. The children were really interested in the work Katherine did. As an adult the film, ‘Hidden Figures’ telling the story of the work Katherine and her fellow ‘human computers’ did is well worth watching!

We continued to look at Georgia O’Keefe’s artwork, we particularly focused on flowers. We attempted to create pieces of work in the style of Georgia O’Keefe, looking really closely at the flower and recreating it on a larger scale on paper. The children could choose if they used paints, watercolours, oil, or chalk pastels. We also watched Austin’s butterfly, a video about critique and feedback that teaches children to improve their work through peer-feedback which is kind, help and specific. Some children then chose to ask their friends for feedback and as Austin does in the video had a go at doing an improved second draft.

Next week, Mrs Medlicott and Miss Lacey will be in school Monday to Wednesday. Miss Lacey will be joining us for her final placement after Easter while Mrs Medlicott is at St Peters.

We have assessed all children’s reading and had a re-jig of reading groups. I have set new books on bug club, please keep reading.

Mrs Welsh

Hello everyone,

It is so lovely to have the children back in class. I am so proud of how well they have returned to school and settled into school life and routines.

Last week we celebrated British Science Week with a range of events, the theme this year was, ‘Innovating for the Future’. On Monday 8th we had a magic show from Dr. Matt Pritchard (https://www.sciencemagicshows.co.uk) who blew our minds with a range of physic-based illusions. On Tuesday 9th we had a virtual chat with Michelle James from Severn Waste recycling, who helped us understand the journey our waste goes on and the importance of recycling. This was supported through Miss Albutt’s lesson based on the book, ‘A Planet Full of Plastic’. The children helped to set up an experiment to see how quickly materials biodegrade. Mrs Medlicott was given a top-secret mission for the children to make a Robo-bug, the challenge was to design and make a bug that would have certain abilities and adaptations. The children did an amazing job and the next day received a letter from the top-secret agency congratulating them. Alongside this we also engaged in a number of well-being activities and set up a display based around zones of regulations, more information at the bottom for this blog.

This week we have returned to a more familiar timetable, we are back to dough disco, handwriting and dictated sentences by 9.00am! The pace of the school day has come as a shock to all of us I think! The children have started work on length in Maths. In English we have finished working on Polar Bears. The children looked at the work of Neal Layton the author and illustrator of, ‘A Planet Full of Plastic’. He had written a letter to the world and after reading his letter the children had a go at writing their own letters to the world. These were so lovely. They showed lots of appreciation, gratitude and thanks for all the wonderful things we have in the world while also an understanding of the things that they don’t like in the world. They wrote sentences like, “Please don’t let deforestation happen” “Stop plastic being put into our oceans” and “Please let Covid go away.”

We have also said goodbye to Miss Albutt this week who has finished her placement with us. She really enjoyed getting to know the class in person over the last two weeks. Mrs Medlicott is back for three days next week and then unfortunately will be leaving to do her final placement at St Peters school (where she was meant to go this term). She will stay in touch and, covid allowing, will be back to visit when her placement finishes.

Also, we are not currently setting homework, but please continue to use Spelling Shed, Times Tables Rockstars and Bug Club. All these are there to support your children’s learning in class.

If there are any questions, please contact me on classdojo. If it is urgent please do contact the school office.

Mrs Welsh

Zones of regulation

These zones are a way of supporting children to self-regulate and develop their understanding of their own and others’ emotions. One way that we do this is through using the Zones of Regulation. The children explore these zones and learn to be able to identify which zone they are in.

Blue Zone - We feel down or moving slow when in the Blue Zone. Examples: sad, sick, tired

Green Zone (Safe to Learn) - We feel comfortable and in control in the Green Zone. Examples: happy, calm, thankful, focused. When we are in the Green Zone we may find it easier to listen and learn.

Yellow Zone - We feel stronger emotions and more energy in the Yellow Zone. We may feel excited, worried, agitated or frustrated. Our feelings are stronger but not overpowering.

Red Zone - We feel really big, powerful emotions in the Red Zone. Examples: angry, elated, out of control. We experience ‘big’ feelings in the Red Zone and tools can help us manage our Red Zone and keep everyone feeling safe.

*It is natural to experience all of the zones*

We are going to continue working on these zones and think about how we can alter which zone we are in, in order to get ourselves back into the green zone where we can learn most easily. The children in school have been really receptive and have used it as a way of talking about emotions.

Well, it was a very busy, very festive week. It has taken me until now to recover! I didn’t wake up until 11.15 on Saturday, thank goodness I have teenagers not toddlers! I must start by saying a huge thank you for all your generous gifts, cards and kind words. The children in school were amazing this week, often the excitement can bubble over and we have tears, but not this year. Well done Year 2!

Party day was wonderful, Year 2 were dressed to impress and enjoyed playing party games including, musical statues, musical chairs, (with a Mrs Clarkson twist), pass the parcel and best dancer. In the afternoon we had our party food, with thanks to FOTs and enjoyed watching Polar Express.

On Wednesday we went on a winter walk, we followed clues and had a magical visit to see Father Christmas. The children all had the opportunity to ask Father Christmas a question, they were such thoughtful questions ranging from what are the names of the reindeer? Why does Rudolph have a red nose? How many elves are there? How old is Rudolf? How is Father Christmas going to be safe from Coronavirus? (This one did bring a tear to my eyes, 6 and 7 year olds should not be having to worry about this virus). The children enjoyed seeing Miss Hill’s donkeys and ponies and having a drink of squash and a biscuit before walking back to school.

In maths we worked on adding three numbers together. We looked at different strategies, including counting on, finding doubles or near doubles adding those and then adding to the total and finally adding any numbers that we know make a number bond and adding on to this. For example 8+9+2= Some children would add 8+2=10 and then add 9, other would do double 8 is 16 add 3, or double 9 is 18 add on 1.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t do our usual Christmas performance in the church. We worked hard to bring our own 12 days of Christmas to you. I was running around on Wednesday saying it will be a Christmas miracle if this is ready before we break up, but we did it!

Thank you for your support over this term, it has been an unusual one in school, where we have been on constant alert, phrases like, catch it, bin it, kill it and now wash your hands trip off the tongue. I hope it has been as normal a term as possible for the children, they have made amazing progress and make us feel so proud.

Wishing you a really ‘Happy Christmas’ Please stay safe this holiday and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Mrs Welsh

We have had such a lovely week. The children have been amazing. We have undertaken the phonics screening check and have now sent the data off to County, the children were brilliant. For our advent event we have made a super origami Father Christmas, very cute reindeer, made a present for our parents or siblings, had Christmas dinner, made a door hanger and watched the panto, “Oh no we didn’t, oh yes we did!”

We have continued working on subtraction. The children have been really impressing me with their understanding. Next week I hope we can tackle ‘subtraction with renaming’, I will pop a video on Class Dojo’s again next week to show how it is done.

In English we set the green screen up to record our reports, however, for one reason and another we still have not managed to record them. The children have been writing their own Great Fire of London books. They are working extremely hard, and we are impressed with their effort and concentration. They turned their chairs to the other side of their desks, so they could see the working wall, this turned out to be the highlight of the day! “It’s awesome,” one child said.

Over the week we have also been trying to record bits of our Christmas Event. I am hoping it will all come together next week and I can post it on Class Dojo’s! The children are enjoying the experience.

Next week –

Tuesday – Party Day Children can wear their own clothes, remember sensible shoes, and warm coats. Please can the children bring an empty book bag to school? We will hand out cards, gifts and all the lovely things the children have been busy making.

Wednesday – we are going on an exciting winter walk, we are the first class to leave school. Please can children come to school dressed warmly for forest school – with clean wellies as they will have to wear them into the classroom. They will need to bring their school coat and school shoes to get changed into when we return from our trip. No PE as hall is being used for parties.

Thursday – No Forest school.

Friday – Last day of term – remember to wear your Christmas jumper with your uniform.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Mrs Welsh

It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas! We have had a very exciting week. Last year, for our class advent calendar, we opened and read a Christmas book every day. This year we thought that we need Christmas to be extra special as it has been such a strange year. On the first of December we read a story about a little robin who gave his vests away to all the animals to keep them warm. Father Christmas finds him asleep and shivering on Christmas Eve and makes him a special red vest which he will always wear and will make him and other people feel warm when they see him. We painted a robin and every child made a vest for the robin. Day one of our advent calendar was to decorate our classroom, we had an art morning, painting Father Christmas, making vests for our advent robin and some other secret activities! Day two was making cards and writing letters to send to the Old Peoples Home. Day three was a visit by Miss Hill and Tony the pony and Tickety-boo, the children all had a stroke or hug. Day four was the Christmas Fayre, which was lovely. The children had so much fun decorating biscuits, making their own bag of reindeer food, playing Christmas games, taking part in a colouring competition and a chocolate raffle. The children could hardly carry all the goodies they had made or won.

We have finished our chapter on column addition with renaming. We have now started subtraction. We thought of the language involved and when discussing calculations, we try to alter our language such as subtraction, take-away, minus, fewer, less and difference between. We have carried on using our number bonds, double and near doubles to help work out calculations. Generally, the children seem to find subtraction easier than addition so I am hoping we can get this chapter finished before the Christmas holidays.

In English we continued working on the planning for our news reports, working on a heading, introducing themselves, the opening sentences, including the 5 w’s who, what, when, why and where. We will be writing our own news report next week and recording them using green screen technology!

In RE we have looked at incarnation, meaning, “in the flesh.” We discussed the Gospels in more details and listened to some carols and tried to decide if they were representing the Gospel of Matthew or Luke. We revisited the trinity, talking about God the Father, Jesus God’s Son, I asked what the last part was and one child suggested Samuel Peyps!

We will be doing the phonics screening check in a couple of weeks, so if your child came home with a phonics pack please continue to practice, practice, practice.

If you want your child to have milk in the spring term please send the form back by Monday. Check with your child that they really do want milk, as often we have to encourage children to drink it.

Many adults have commented on how Year 2 have matured and their sensible behaviour. Yesterday Mrs Cutler was in the corridor outside our classroom and said she could not believe how every single child was so focused on their work. This is especially pleasing as it is such an exciting time of year when sometimes behaviour can slip.

Remember warm clothes for forest school. Also, as we have to have our room ventilated some children have mentioned they are cold, if this is the case, please put-on extra layers. I am asking Father Christmas for thermals! Other children are sitting in class just in polo shirts. Next terms seating plan may well be based on warm blooded children being nearest the doors and windows!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Welsh

We have had a super week with a fantastic cinema afternoon on Friday to end it all off. I loved watching the children laughing, singing and dancing along to Nativity!

In maths we have continued with rapid recall of number facts with a total of 18. They are getting really speedy and I think it is amazing how they work the calculations out so quickly. In our addition calculation we had 8+6= and the children all got the answer correct. When asked how they worked it out, the answers ranged from; “I know double 8 is 16 and we have 8+6, the 6 is 2 less than 8 so that is 14,” “I know 8 and 2 is 10, so I took 2 off the 6 and that left 4, 10 and 4 is 14.” The more the children practice these calculations the faster they become.

We continued with the column method of addition with renaming. I have uploaded a video of how we do addition with renaming onto ClassDojo’s so you can see it in action. The children have sheets to do at home if they want to practice or you want to see how they are getting on. It is important they add the ones first and go through the process of saying their answer, say 15, then saying 15 ones is one ten and 5 ones, they can then place the ten into the tens column.

In English and history we have continued finding out about the Great Fire of London. The children sequenced the events as they occurred in 1666 and found out new information. They wrote a news report on the Great Fire of London, which was written as a, ‘cold task’ without much input beforehand. We then spent the next lessons looking at exemplar texts, comparative texts before we move on to magpieing good ideas next week and writing our own news report which we will record using green screen technology!

As we had the whole class in school, I thought we should take the opportunity to make our Christmas cards. There were a few different techniques involved in the task. The children had a lovely time singing Christmas songs and getting creative.

We will be doing the phonics screening check in a couple of weeks, so if your child came home with a phonics pack please practice, practice, practice.

Next week is the start of December, we know that life isn’t normal at the moment, so we are working hard to make it a special Christmas in school, with lots of work and lots of fun too.

Have a super weekend.

Mrs Welsh