Welcome back Year 2. We hope you had a restful and fulfilling half term break and we look forward to a very busy and exciting half term as we begin our approach to Christmas.
Year 2 have been working this week on our readiness to learn. We have all been excited to tell our friends all about our exciting half term but have struggled at times to keep our classroom noises levels down to allow us all to carefully focus on our learning. We are focusing upon using our whisper voices and table voices and making sure we are not talking when another child or adult is doing so. We will practice this and hopefully be able to think more carefully about when we should or should not be chatting.
This week…
In English, we have all been working on setting descriptions. We have explored similes (like/as), expanded noun phrases, adjectives and adverbs to allow us to create detailed descriptions of what it would be like during the Great Fire of London. The children have thought carefully about their vocabulary and how to describe using all of their senses to paint a picture for their reader.
In Maths, we have explored the inverse relationship between add and subtract (e.g. 3+4=7 is the inverse of 7-4=3 or 7-3=4) and have been using this inverse relationship to check whether calculations are right or wrong. We have also used greater than >, less than < and equal to = to compare two number sentences. We were very good at this!
In Science, we explored the 7 life processes and sorted things by whether they were alive, dead or never alive, using these processes to explain how we knew.
In RE, we have thought about mysteries. These are questions that are difficult to answer and those which there may not actually be an answer to. We thought about what we wondered about our faith and religion and wrote our own questions which we discussed as a class. We also discussed other wondering questions and had ‘paper debates’ to give our own thoughts and ideas about these questions.
In Geography, we looked at our planet and how it contains both physical and human features. We identifed these on satellite and aerial images and used atlases to find specfic features.
In PE, Mrs Ormerod took us for an amazing Great Fire of London themed dance lesson. We also continued our work on ball skills.
Phonics Screening Check
This half term we are required to take all Year 2 children for their phonics screening check. This will be carried out by myself and the children will not be aware of this as a ‘test’ but rather just a piece of work we are doing. We do not have a specific date for the screenings yet as it depends on our in-class staff levels but you can expect us to start doing these within the next fortnight. The results of the screening will accompany your child’s report in July but will be given to you if requested.
Homework
This week’s spelling homework is practicing the first 10 Year 2 common exception words. Please practice these often ready for a test on Friday.
For Maths, I have sent a inverse calculations check worksheet. Use the numbers to create an inverse calculation and use the number line to check the answer. If all three numbers are the same in both calculations it is correct, if 1 is wrong the original is incorrect.
For English, there is a fronted conjunction worksheet. The children need to complete the sentence then afterwards need to write a new sentence with the conjunction at the beginning.
For reading, I have sent home another phonics screening check practice sheet.
Award Winners
Award winners will be updated on Monday.
Golden Award -
Writing Award -
Maths Award -
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins
