A hard working Year 2 classroom!

We have been really impressed by the way the children are involved in their own learning; plenty of children doing extra pieces of home learning that they have been enjoying also a feeling in the classroom of all children trying their best. I hear we've even been singing and sharing our harvest song at home!
Today in literacy the children were completing sequencing the story of Little Red Riding Hood and practising the skills of using speech marks correctly which has been the focus this week.
In maths, practice of inverse machines, writing numbers as words, adding and subtracting numbers have been skills we've been honing this week.
Most children did manage a library change today unless they were reading with an adult. If your child is 'ploughing' through books and once a week change is not enough then please do come in in the morning to change books. We have also clarified today what colour your child should be on, any questions then please ask a member of the team.
Spellings have gone out today, sound focus this week is 'er' sound, which can be spelt; er, ir, or ear. We are also going to focus on a day of the week per weekly spellings, this week the day is 'Monday'. The children will be tested next Friday, if they use and fill in the 'Look, cover and write sheet' then they will also be rewarded in class for their home learning which is key at the beginning of getting 'homework'.
Please do feel free to come in and ask about any part of the learning process in Year 2!

POWSA AGM Thursday 23rd October 7.45pm

We know AGMs are not terribly exciting but POWSA does fantastic work raising funds for the school and developing our sense of community. We need new ideas and new faces and new enthusiasm to join our friendly committee of committed parents. We welcome especially parents of new Reception children. Our AGM is on Thursday 23rd October in the staffroom at 7.45pm. Please come along, meet new friends, help the school!

India Day - 21st October 2014

We have plans brewing for a wonderful day packed with fun activities for the children and parents in year 2.  If you are available to help on this day, please come and see a member of the team!

Maths Learning - Week Beginning 22nd September 2014

We have dusted off our addition and subtraction skills this week and begun to recall number bonds for one, two and some three digit numbers.  Being able to break numbers down is useful when adding and subtracting larger quantities so is a skill that the children need to master.  We have also been thinking about what else we know if we know a certain fact and have begun to look at the inverse operation and how we can use it to check our answers.  For example:
If I know that 5+3=8, I also know that 8-3=5. 
Why not encourage your child to have a go at Mathletics "Play Live" at home to practice their addition and subtraction facts?

Literacy Learning - Week Beginning 22nd September

This week's literacy lessons have been based around Traditional Tales.  We have enjoyed creating still scenes from the story of Little Red Riding Hood and we have also been retelling the story in our own words.  Next week we will be making up our own alternative versions of Little Red Riding Hood by swapping characters and other elements within the story, so who knows what wonderful tales we'll have to tell you!  At home you could think about all of the other Traditional Tales and Fairy Tales that you like.

Drama, super hero poetry...

The class enjoyed a fun afternoon of drama yesterday as we rein-acted the story of Rama and Sita around the school grounds. Harry B was Rama, Hannah was Sita and Harry D was Lakshman, the rest of the class acted out parts of the baddies and discovered the king of Monkeys Hanuman (Mrs Brooker and Eddie!) and the evil ten headed monster the king of demons, Ravana (Mrs Webb!). The class had great fun recalling the story, a story where good wins over evil. We are studying this story as we start to look at the festival Divali through our Hinduism topic.

Today the class have been asked to put all their learning about poetry and rhyming words into place by writing their own Super Hero poem, 'If I were a super hero I would....' Some great choices of language, attempts at rhyming words and good attempts at spellings words and sounds. The spelling test also produced good results, please feel free on a Friday morning to ask us to look at your child's book to see how they are doing!

Ukulele with Mrs Thorpe

Every Wednesday lunch time I (Mrs Thorpe) will be teaching a beginners Ukulele club from 12.30-1pm. If you went to the beginners Ukulele club last year with Lucy feel free to come along. If you would like to start Ukulele then please come and see me before hand. We have a few Ukuleles in school if you do not have one. If you want to practice at home and have a tuner then the strong notes should be G, C, E, A starting from the top string. 

Looking forward to seeing you all next week! 

Year 2 Scientists

We began our Science work on Electricity this afternoon in year 2.  The children were learning about how we use electricity to help us; the dangers of electricity; the difference between battery powered and mains powered electrical products and how to build simple circuits.  If anyone has a child's electricity kit at home, now would be a great time to get it out and have a play!  Please remind children about the dangers of mains electricity at home.

Parent's Information Session

Thank you to all of you who came along this morning to find out more about Year 2's Autumn Term's learning.  A newsletter will follow shortly giving similar information and dates for trips, assemblies, our India Day and other themed weeks.

Maths Learning - Week Beginning 15th September

This week we have continued looking at the size of numbers.  The children have really impressed me with their ability to read big numbers!  There has even been mention of googles, googleplexes and Graham's number!  WOW!  I think even the children have been surprised at their own learning.  When reading numbers at home please concentrate on 3, 4 or 5 digit numbers...  see what your child can do.  Next week we are going to move into + and - and find out a bit more about Mathletics.

Literacy Learning - Week Beginning 15th September

We have continued with our Poetry theme this week.  The children have been making improvements and completing work they started last week as well as putting together ideas for a poem they will be writing about Superheroes on Friday.  The children were extremely creative in imagining what superpowers they would like to have if they were a superhero.  This is a poem that we have been sharing in class:

If I was a superhero
If I was a superhero
I'd definitely fly
Arms outstretched racing birds in the sky.

If I was a superhero
I'd have special powers
Like extra strong legs, for jumping across towers.

If I was a superhero
I'd save all the oceans
With my secret and magical cleaning-up potions.

If I was a superhero
I'd save all the trees
And the mountains and rivers; the birds and the bees.

If I was a superhero
I'd help all the poor
Give them food, and make them hungry no more.

If I was a superhero
I'm sure you'll agree
The world would be better because of me!

by Sally Gray

Why not see if you can come up with an extra verse at home?  We'd love to know about your special powers!

end of the first week!

Well done to all the children, they have certainly stepped up to the mark this week. Promptness in mornings, super home learning coming in as well as the 'Look,cover,write' spelling sheets, good attitude to their own learning and taking responsibility for finding out what they can do to make their work even better.... super start!

In music we have been working on listening and singing songs and discussing duration, also learning a lovely harvest song ready for the festival in early October.
In RE we watched a film, an introduction to Hinduism which taught the children (through the story of Rama and Sita ) about the festival Divali (New beginnings).
The first spelling test went well, please check with your child or with us and reward them for good efforts, this will all help in making their first experience of homework positive!
The children will be continuing looking at poetry this week, so lots of experience is appreciated.
Lastly, on Wednesday 17th September is the Year 2 parent information session in the school hall at 9am. This session will offer more information on what your child will be learning about this term.

A super start for superheroes

We have a bit of a superhero theme threading through our learning this term!  Our superhero wall is displayed in the classroom, the children are moved up the wall when they are demonstrating good learning behaviour and setting a good example to the rest of the class.  When the children reach the top of the wall they are given a certificate and start the journey again!  It is great to see so many children returning this year with a super attitude to their learning having climbed some way towards the top already!  Let's climb the skyscraper!

India Topic

We will beginning the year with a brief return to India building on the children's knowledge and understanding from last year's India week.  We will be having an India day later in the term where the children will be invited to dress up in Indian costume if they wish.  More details to follow...

Learning Resources to use at home

As part of our learning across the curriculum there are at the moment three computer based learning resources that are accessible to children at home.  The children are beginning to use these at school and I'm sure will be keen to use them at home too.  The passwords and usernames for each will be written in your child's home learning diary for your information.  The learning resources currently available are:
Mathletics - www.mathletics.com
Reading Eggs - readingeggs.co.uk
Purple Mash - www.purplemash.com
Please remind your child to be SMART when using the computers and always supervise them when using the internet.

Parent's Information Session

An information session for Parent's of year 2 children will be held in the school hall at 9am on Wednesday 17th September, please come along for more information about this terms learning in year 2.

Literacy Learning - Week Beginning 8th September

This week in Literacy we have been enjoying poetry and sharing what we think makes a good poem.  We have enjoyed some of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, Nonsense poems, Riddles, Poems with word play and poems about our favourite things.  The children will be learning the skills needed to write their own Superhero poems at the end of next week.  Why not share your favourite poem with your children?

Maths Learning - Week beginning 8th September

This week in Maths the children have been learning about the size of number, using the greater or less than signs to show which number is greater.  We have taught this to the children with the sign being represented by a crocodile - who likes to eat large numbers!  Your child will be bringing their crocodile home this week, so why not have a go.

First day back news!

The children were super excited this morning, lovely to see such eager and inquisitive faces ready for their year in Year Two!
Some very good writing occurred first thing all about an event from their holidays. Plenty of chat beforehand from all finding out what everyone had been up to! A really good effort from everyone. The children are working on securing capital letters and full stops in their writing without prompting.
Energetic children in music too, singing and signing as well as listening for long and short sounds and reading notation!

The children did have time to go to the library today and so should have a non fiction and two fiction books in their book bags. From Monday Group Reading books will also be coming home.

Spellings - now your child is in Year Two they will be receiving weekly spellings to learn. They will be handed out on a Friday on a 'Look, cover, write' worksheet to complete at home ready for a spelling test the next Friday. Please encourage  practice in different ways, making it fun will help!

The Reading and Home Learning diary has been simplified to make it easier to work with. Please do write in this when your child has read to you at home or to ask any questions regarding their reading as this will be picked up in the Group Reading slot. You will see that the spellings are copied in here as well by your child.

Finally, it was lovely seeing Reading Challenge medals around necks today. Also great to have photos in from our class's summer challenge too. We do plan to make display of these so please send in or email the office to pass onto us if you do not have a printer of any photos you still have at home.

Many thanks,

Mrs Mewett and the Year 2 team

Reading Challenge!

We are all so looking forward to seeing your children on Thursday, we are ready for a stimulating, packed year of learning, we hope they are ready too?!

If you have any photos of your child tackling any aspects of the summer Reading Challenge could we please ask you to send them in on the first day as we will be discussing these on Thursday and Friday?

Many thanks!

Miss Johnson and Mrs Mewett