We have nearly finished this first term and the time has flown by! 

We have continued to look at fairy tales in school, spotting the features and talking about these in class. We have continued to focus on Baba Yaga in class and have enjoyed retelling the story to each other. You might like to retell the story together at home or you could watch this short clip with no words.

In maths we have started to look at using a numberline for addition. We have also looked at how we can use basic number bonds to help us with more tricky addition sums, for example, if we know that 5 + 2 = 7 we can use this to work out 50 + 20 = 70.

Well done to everyone who has been practising counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We have handed out lots of certificates – keep this up!

We have been enjoying our music sessions and singing with Mr Baker, recognising the high and low notes on a xylophone and practising these with our voices too.

In PE this week we have continued to use the apparatus in the hall to practise our climbing, balancing and jumping skills. The children are getting really good at this!

Although it is still only October, we have been thinking about making Christmas cards so they can uploaded onto the website for ordering real greetings cards (a link will be shared with you in the coming weeks) so apologies if any Christmas songs have been sung early!

We’ve enjoyed making these using many art techniques; here’s a sneak peak of the backgrounds we made using water colours for the first layer.

Have a wonderful weekend. We’re back in school on Monday and Tuesday; the children’s half term break starts on Wednesday.

It’s been great to see so many of you over the past couple of evenings for parent consultations.

Thank you for your help with learning some of the times tables too; the children worked hard and were delighted to get a certificate. To clarify, the 2, 5 and 10s are a feature throughout Year 2 so they can continue learning these throughout the year and move on to others when they are ready. We’ll check periodically but the children can let me know when they’re ready and can aim to get their certificates throughout the year.

We have had a lovely time in school. Earlier on in the month we looked outside the classroom to think about different types of ‘micro-habitats’. We thought about the conditions and things that creatures need to survive such as food and shelter and enjoyed looking at the diversity of what we found. Last time we were out there were hundreds of crane-fly!

We have started learning about traditional tales this week and have enjoyed sharing some in class. We have enjoyed talking about what makes a traditional tale and spotting the features in the stories that we have shared together. You might like to share the story of Baba Yaga that we have been looking at in class as there are lots of different versions. You can see the story below.

In maths we have continued to look at the different ways numbers are composed and represent this using different ways such as part part whole and dienes. We have also been looking at number sequences such as the ones below. We have looked at whether numbers are going forwards or backwards and by how much so that we can work out the next numbers in the sequence.

We have also been spotting patterns when counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.

We have really enjoyed creating artwork ready for display in school. We have painted sunset backgrounds using watercolours and then sketched structures from around the world ready to stick on the background. Here are some pictures of what we have been doing.

We have really enjoyed our PE time this term. We’ve been outdoors practising our ball-skills with Mr Senior. This week we were improving our basketball skills and teamwork. On Fridays we have been using the apparatus to practise balancing, climbing and jumping skills.

We have enjoyed using different spelling techniques to help us learn ways to spell new words. ‘Noughts and Crosses’ has been a favourite!

We’re continuing to look at the bulb we ‘planted’ at the start of September. It likes being somewhere dark because it would be dark if it was buried under ground. The roots have grown even more since this photo!

Have a wonderful weekend. We can’t wait to see you on Monday!

Wow, it is October already and we are a month into Year 2! The weather is changing and there are definite signs of Autumn in the air. 

We have continued to look at Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers in our writing. We have been considering how we are all different and how this makes the world a more interesting place. We have also looked at diversity within the animal world. We used pictures from the book to write sentences about what the people are doing. We have focused on using adjectives to add description to make our writing more interesting and informative.

We loved listening to Louis Armstrong’s song ‘What a Wonderful World’ and enjoyed listening to David Attenborough recite some of the lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYXBJmrsxZU

We created our own versions of the poem and practised reading them aloud to the class – we did a wonderful job!

Next week we are looking forward to reading some Traditional Tales and starting to consider what makes them a traditional story.

In maths we have continued to look at the place value of digits and also discussed how to use the greater than and less than symbols to order numbers. You might want to watch this video that we watched in class about how to use the symbols. You might like to play this game: https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/574/Comparing-Numbers-using-Dienes

In art we have continued to look at buildings and structures – this week we focused on the Burj Khalifa and enjoyed spotting the shapes we could use to help us reproduce our own versions. We also looked at Dubai and where this was located on a map. We were amazed at how high it was but couldn’t believe how tiny it looked when we compared it next to Mount Everest!

We have continued to learn some new songs and find the pulse and beat in them. You might want to share this with your adults at home – penguins 

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard on their homework, we were so impressed with the work you have done, keep it up!

We’re at the end of another week! How quickly time flies when you’re having fun! 

This week we have been thinking about more of our sketching skills, looking at the diversity of buildings and landmarks around the world. We started to learn about the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. We began looking at shading techniques to show darker areas with our pencils such as crosshatching.

We’re really enjoying our music lessons with Mr Baker. We learnt about body percussion and listened to some of the classic, ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen. We have also been learning some other songs throughout the week in class. You might like to practise this song at home too or teach it to someone you live with: https://vimeo.com/508398322 

In maths we have been using dienes to show and partition numbers into tens and ones. 

We have been comparing numbers using the equals, more than and less than symbols: 

The dots represent the numbers being more or less to help show which sign is which. 

You might like to play this game: https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/574/Comparing-Numbers-using-Dienes

We have also used a game called hit the button to help practise some of our times tables. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

In literacy we have been continuing to read ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers. We have looked at other books by the author and really enjoyed reading ‘Stuck’ in class. If you’d like to listen to it at home, you can hear Oliver reading it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hipx6HJs4XQ

We’ve learnt different spelling methods in class which the children may like to tell you about at home with their spelling target words (these have been sent home so you can see some of the words the children will be learning next week). 

We’re also sending a yellow home learning book home on Fridays with a challenge in. Please can these be returned by the following Wednesday and feel free to speak with one of us on the gate if you have any questions. 

We hope you have a wonderful weekend. We can’t wait to see you on Monday!

It is Friday already! I can’t believe how quickly the past week has gone, it seems to have flown by! 

Over the past week we have been looking at the book ‘The Story Machine’ by Tom McLaughlin, we have really enjoyed exploring the book and finding out about what a typewriter is. 

The children were excited to receive a special delivery; a large box with a letter from Elliot and the Story Machine itself! The children listened to the letter and wrote back to Elliott once they knew how to operate the typewriter!

If you want to listen and share the story at home, you can listen to the author Tom read it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXVqCCeCPAU (adults, please check the video first as there may be external comments or enabled links to other videos/ adverts etc.).

In maths we have been partitioning and exploring different ways we can make a number using different resources such as dienes (blocks made up of tens and ones) to physically form these numbers and partition them to form equations. For example, we explored how the number 64 has 6 tens and 4 ones but we could also partition this number into 4 tens, 2 tens and 4 ones. 

I am looking forward to next week and starting our new text ‘Here We Are’ and to share all our learning. I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

10th September 2021

Welcome to Year 2! We have been enjoying getting to know the children and they have all settled really well.

We have been exploring number bonds to 10 and 20 and seeing how many different ways we can show this. The children have enjoyed showing us what they know. Some have even challenged themselves with a mini-research project investigating 100.

The children have written poems about bubbles after we watched a video about a child who went off on an adventure. You might like to watch the video at home. The children enjoyed discussing and writing about where they would visit on their magic bubble and what they would see too. You may like to watch the video at home too: https://www.literacyshed.com/bubbles.html

We have enjoyed creating some artwork ready to display in the classroom after reading ‘The Love Monster’ by Rachel Bright.

We enjoyed investigating bulbs which are ready for growing. We looked at a bulb and discussed what it might be, the children had lots of ideas including garlic and onions! We have now planted the bulbs and are excited to watch them grow – they are already starting to change.

The children have had their first PE session with Mr Senior and enjoyed playing inside ball games. They also had their first session with Mr Baker this term where they were clapping rhythmic patterns and using these to create their own music.

https://www.literacyshed.com/bubbles.html

A warm welcome to Year 2!

Skipper 2 have made a wonderful start to the Year.

This page will be getting updated over the next week.

Best wishes, Mr Misun