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

PostedNovember 5, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

We are now at the end of our first full half term in Year 2 and ready for a well deserved break from all our hard work over the past 8 weeks. The progress we have made is clear to see already and we have been growing our brains and our confidence every single week.

Parent Consultations

Just a quick reminder about parent consultations tomorrow. These are online via a video link that you will need to connect to before your appointment. Please do not come into school as we will not be able to do face-to-face appointments at this time. Your appointment will last for 10 minutes at which point the connection will end. Please have any important questions ready for the start of the meeting but please be aware that this might take some time away from other areas of discussion regarding the children’s academic progress. I am contactable via Class Dojo for smaller, less immediate questions.

Phonics Screening Check

Just like last year, the Government have stated that all Year 2 children will undertake their phonics screening check during the second half of the Autumn term. These will be carried out by myself in a quiet place in class to assess the children’s knowledge. The children will try to read 40 words. Some are real words and some are made up ‘alien words’ designed to test their ability to identify and use individual sounds in unfamiliar words. The pass mark for the test is 32 and you will be notified of your child’s score at a later date. I intend to undertake these screenings beginning either the week beginning 8th or 15th November. I have already sent a practice phonics screening check and have sent another to practice over half term. There are also phonics resources on the class google drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GWBUR5yMLLFFS9cwhvLuAYYsZvNhpQAE?usp=sharing.

This Week…

In English we have begun to write our stories with a familiar setting about bullies. The children have really worked hard to structure their stories into an opening, build up, problem, resolution and ending and they have been great to read so far!

In Maths, we have spent most of the week looking at fact families and related facts. We are fantastic when the facts have an equal sign at the end but find it a little trickier when that sign is at the beginning.

In Science, we learned about the 7 life processes and described how certain living things showed these processes.

In RE this week we have learned about the story of Daniel and the Lions Den. We learned how Daniel continued to pray to God even when doing this put him in great danger. He knew this was the right thing to do and trusted God to keep him safe from danger by doing this. We discussed how brave Daniel was and how we too can be brave and trust in God to help us. We discussed how if something is wrong, we will stand up and do the right thing even if it seems scary or something we might get into trouble for.

In History, we have done some art work based upon the Great Fire of London and used pastels to make some wonderful fiery silhouette pictures. I will try and put some photos on of these.

Homework

The only homework this week is a practice phonics screening check list and some spelling words. Please practice the spelling words for a test on our first Friday back at school.

Award Winners

Golden Award – Florence - for always getting on well and showing pride in her work.

Writing Award – Natalia – for a super poster about Samuel Pepys.

Maths Award – Luna - for working extra hard on her maths tasks this week.

Have a lovely half term break and I look forward to seeing you all virtually tomorrow!

Take care,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedOctober 21, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

Parent Consultations

It has been lovely to see that everyone has booked in their appointments for our parent consultations on Friday 22nd October so quickly. I am looking forward to meeting with you all.

A few parents have asked how the video meeting is facilitated. As far as I am aware, you should receive a link 24 hours before your appointment which can be used to access the platform for the meeting.

If there are any urgent questions you have, please be ready to ask these as we only have a 10 minute time-slot at which point the link will disconnect. As class teacher, I will be letting you know how your child has settled in, how they are doing academically in reading, writing and maths and any other comments I may need to make specific to your child. Any non-urgent questions or questions we do not have time to address can be sent to me via Class Dojo and I will reply when available during my working hours.

This Week…

In English this week, we have explored ways of mapping stories and have used the story mountain technique to map the story of Sister for Sale. We have also began to make tweaks to this in order to plan our own story based upon Sister for Sale. Our grammar focus has been upon expanded noun phrases.

In Maths, we have completed our work on counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s, as well as completing work on partitioning numbers into different combinations. We will now move on to work on addition and subtraction by looking at related facts we know (a homework task has been set for this).

In Science, we explored the basic needs that animals have (air, food, water and shelter) and have explained how our chosen animal meets these needs. We also explored additional needs that different animals may have, such as space to walk, the need for protection and love/care.

In RE, we have been learning all about baby Moses and have written a diary entry from the point of view of his sister, Miriam, when Moses was put in a basket on the River Nile to escape the cruel Pharoah. These were fantastic to read! We have also explored the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den and talked about how important our faith in God is.

In History, we learned about how we know so much about The Great Fire of London – diaries! We looked at extracts of Samuel Pepys’ diary, learned about his life and created posters to inform others about him.

In PE, we have been continuing our dance sequences in our indoor session and have been considering how different vehicles might move and putting these into sequences by counting 8 beats. In our outdoor session, we have been learning the skills of passing and moving, as well as blocking and defending.

Homework

Our homework this week is a spelling test, which we will undertake on Thursday instead of the usual Friday.

We also have a counting in 3s tasks to ensure the children are confident with this sequence of counting.

There is a number bonds to 20 worksheet too. We have done this at school but I feel the children would benefit from more practice.

There is also a ‘fact family’ sheet. The children must use the 3 numbers in each triangle to make 4 facts: two addition and two subtraction. Remember, we can add in any order but we need to subtract always with the largest number first.

I have also sent home a small, simple, phonics screening practice sheet. We will be undertaking our phonics screening check a few weeks into next half term and it would be great if you could practice reading the words by sounding out with your child. There are some real words and some alien words. The alien words still follow the usual conventions of sounding out so the children can sound them out accurately. I will send another phonics screening practice after half term.

There will be no homework next week (other than spelling practice) as I feel it is important for the children to have a break over half term.

Inappropriate Discussions/Play

We have noticed in school that several children have been talking about inappropriate computer games and television shows. THere seems to have been a lot of children across school discussing a TV show called ‘Squid Games’. Miss Haggerty has drafted a letter to ask you to ensure you are aware of what your child is accessing and whether it is appropriate. It can be read here.

Award Winners

Golden Award – Willow - for her wonderful manners, polite attitude and hard work.

Writing Award – Roma - for ALWAYS presenting her writing beautifully, no matter what she is doing.

Maths Award – Ellenie - for her excellent systemic work in number bonds to 20.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedOctober 15, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

It has been another busy week in Year 2 and we have been delighted with how the children have been developing, both socially and academically. They have come such a long way in such a small period of time.

This week we have been encouraging all the children’s independence and attitude towards ‘giving it a go’. Some of us still find it challenging to keep ourselves focused and to stay on task and we have talked about how important this is for allowing us to reach our potential this year. This is reflected in much of this week’s homework which aims to develop the children’s skills in letter and number formation and in critical maths skills such as counting in different amounts. Please do practice these skills regularly as I cannot overstate their importance.

This week…

In English, Mrs Bowdell’s group have been working hard on their common exception words and phonics skills to enable them to create exciting sentences which can be read by themselves and others. We have also been focusing upon our trickier digraph sounds (such as ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, oo, ar and or) to help us to spell and read more confidently. Mr Whetnall’s group have been learning about Sister for Sale. We have written letters, described characters and written our own dialogue using inverted commas.

In Maths, we have been focusing upon skip counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. The children are quite confident with 5s and 10s but some are still finding counting in 2s and 3s tricky. Please continue to practice this. There are two homework tasks focused upon this too.

In Science, we finished our work on life cycles by looking at the life cycle of a mammal, specifically a sheep. The children wrote wonderful explanations of the life cycles.

In RE, we have finished our work on Abraham by retelling his story as a comic book and have now began our focus on Moses and how he was chosen by God to make a difference for his people.

In History, we have looked more closely at how the Great Fire of London began. We talked about the houses and the weather and discussed how we could improve the city of London to make it safer.

Parents’ Day

Friday 22nd October will be our parent consultation meeting day. There will be a text message sent out soon to allow you to book a time slot between 8.33 and 4pm. These meetings will be virtual in the interest of safety and will last for 10 minutes at which point the connection will cut out. If there are any specific questions you may have, please have them ready for the start of the meeting so they can be quickly discussed. I am also available by Class Dojo before this date if there are any questions you would like clarifying.

Homework

This week homework includes spelling words for both Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell’s groups. Please practice these regularly so your child is confident in spelling each word.

For English, there is a noun worksheet. The children need to look in a book to find an example of a person, place and thing noun and then use these in a sentence.

For Maths, there are 2 skip counting worksheets. We have found some children have really found this area tricky and so the extra practice is very important.

There is also a letter formation strip to use for reference for regular handwriting practice at home. Please use this as often as possible as a consistent style of handwriting enables children to work much more quickly and confidently.

Finally, there is a number formation tracing sheet. Some children are still writing some numbers back to front (particularly 2, 3, 5 and 9). Please practice these and then try to write your numbers without tracing on a separate piece of paper.

Award Winners

Golden Award – Elsie - for beautiful presentation of her work and for always being so positive and perseverant.

Writing Award – Nevaeh - for a wonderfully written letter.

Maths Award – Stephen - for trying so hard with his place value work.

Have a restful weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedOctober 8, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

This week our worship have focused upon our faith and trust in God. We discussed Abraham again and how God had a plan for him but that Abraham had to be a patient and wait many years for God’s plan to happen fully. God has a plan for each of us and we need to keep behaving in the way that God and Jesus ask us to and show our faith in them until their plan for us happens.

It was lovely this week to finally see the return of our school photograph day. The children were so excited to have their pictures taken and they all looked so smart! These little pieces of normality hopefully show that we are on course for better times.

In English this week, we have been focusing upon our phonics skills and building our spelling up by learning alternate sounds to spell words. We have also been focusing upon sentence writing skills and ensuring we have included our capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. We looked at writing sentence to ‘show rather than tell’ our reader by describing someone experiencing a certain emotion. The children worked so hard on these!

In Maths, we finished our work on comparing numbers, have looked at ordering numbers accurately and finished the week by looking at counting in 2s. We have worked so hard and really shown off our super Maths skills.

In RE, we explored God’s promises to Abraham and the faith Abraham showed. We also discussed and wrote about how Abraham may have felt at certain points in his journey. We realised what a difficult journey it must have been for Abraham’s family.

In Science, we looked at insects and learned that we can call them ‘invertebrates’ because they don’t have a backbone. We looked at the life cycle of a butterfly and were amazed at how much they change from an egg to an adult. We also learned that their body completely changes into a liquid inside their chrysalis. Amazing!

In History, we learned about the sequence of events of the Great Fire of London: including how the fire started, how it spread and how many buildings were destroyed.

In PE, we practiced and performed dance sequences to our audience and developed our moving and throwing skills with a ball.

Homework

Spelling words to practice – Mr Whetnall’s group need to write the word in the first column and double the last letter before adding ‘y’ to make the new word. These new words will be the words on the spelling test. E.g. ‘sunny’, rather than ‘sun’.

Reading – Great fire of London comprehension – read the information and answer the questions.

Maths – ordering numbers – order each of the sets of numbers from smallest to largest.

Award Winners

Golden Award – Martha – for being a real role model by listening well, using her manners and helping others.

Writing Award – Laura – for a super ‘showing, not telling’ description.

Maths Award – Conleth – for working hard with comparing and ordering numbers.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedOctober 1, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

We are now at the half way point in our first half term in Year 2 and we have been working so hard! It has been lovely to see the children grow in confidence so much already.

This week we have focused upon faith through the story of Abraham. We talked about how Abraham did as God asked without question and was eventually rewarded after his exhausting journey. We too can have faith in God, follow His lead and trust that His plan for us will come to action.

In English this week we have split up into our Read Write Inc groups. Some of us have continued our sounds and some of us are moving onto longer texts with our literacy and language scheme.

In Maths, we continued our place value work with a focus on comparing numbers using the symbols for greater than, less than and equal to. I have been so impressed with the children’s understanding of this.

In Science, we discussed the life cycle of a bird through chickens. We described the different stages and how all birds start their lives as eggs.

In RE we have looked at the story of Abraham and his faith in God. We discusses the promises God made and the faith Abraham showed.

In History we compared modern London and 1666 London, including buildings, people and transport. changes.

In Computing we discussed different types of computers and labelled the different parts we could identify.

Homework

Homework this week is…

-Spelling - Mr W’s group: soft ‘c’ words, Mrs B’s group: ‘ll’ , ‘zz’ and ‘ck’ sounds words.

Maths - comparing numbers sheets

English - using the conjunctions ‘but’ and ‘so’

Award Winners

Golden Award - Gabriel - for his fabulous attitude towards all his school activities.

Writing Award - Matilda - for her fantastic discussion work in RWI.

Maths Award - Alexander - for a new found joy in his maths work!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedSeptember 24, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

This week, we have been looking at how we are all chosen by God and how he knows each one of us. We discussed our strengths and our talents and how God wants us to share these with others to help make the world a better place.

In English we wrote our summer holiday diary entries. I was impressed by the children’s efforts and some of them were very impressed that they had written the longest pieces they’d ever managed before! I look forward to marking them and seeing the wonderful things they have been doing.

In Maths, we continue our work on number and place value and have been look at a variety of ways of partitioning a two-digit number. We focused on splitting up numbers into the tens part and the ones part using addition sentences. We recognised the position of the = symbol and how this might change our number sentence.

In Science, we explored and classified different animals as a recap of our year 1 work. The children were excellent at identifying the five main groups and describing the defining characteristics of each.

In History, we have learned about the types of houses people lived in in London in 1666. We have begun to make our own models of these in class.

Reminders

Water Bottles

Please remember to bring back water bottles everyday as we do not have any spares for the children in school.

Homework

Homework is sent weekly in children’s book bags on a Friday. This does not need to be returned to school but please try to complete it to reinforce children’s learning in class. If your child is off school we will try to place this work in their bag when they return. We have a weekly spelling test so please practice these words ready for our test on Friday.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Leo - for being a super year 2 role model. He is polite, hard working and kind.

Writing Award - Zachary - for amazing grammar choices in his diary entry.

Maths Award - Olivia - for always working hard and welcoming a challenge.

Have a fab weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedSeptember 17, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone!

Well, we've had our first full week as Year 2s... And what a busy week it has been! We have settled in well into our new routines and really showing what they are capable of.

In English, we've been looking at diary entries through the Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French. We've looked at specific grammatical features, such as capital letters, conjunctions and time phrases (adverbs of time) and applied these to our written work. Next week, we will write a diary entry related to our summer holidays and try to use all these skills.

In Maths, we've been looking at numbers to 100. We've represented them in different ways and have learned how to draw tens and ones using our chunky chips and peas (see the homework sheet).

In Science, we've looked at how animals grow and the changes which happen with this.

In RE, we had talked and written about our gifts from God and how we can use these to help others. We have talked about being thankful to God.

In History, we have began looking at modern London: where it is and what things you could do there if you visited. We showed Gabriel's photo of his visit to Pudding Lane.

Our PE focuses are on dance and throwing and catching skills.

Homework

I have sent out our first lot of homework. There is a Maths sheet and an English sheet to have a go at. There is also a list of words to practice for our spelling test next Thursday/Friday (time dependent). Finally, I have included two documents - a counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s mat to continuously practice; and a Year 1 and 2 common exception words mat to practice reading and writing accurately by the end of Year 2.

You do not need to bring me your completed homework or submit pictures of this on Class Dojo. The homework is set for you to be able to have some insight into the kinds of tasks your child has been doing in school during the week.

Water Bottles and Bags

Please could you ensure that water bottles are brought back to school daily to ensure each child has access to fresh water in a clean bottle.

Could I also ask that you ONLY bring in the red school satchels provided to the children in Reception, rather than the larger backpacks we have see recently as these are too large for us to store and are not part of our uniform policy. Thanks for your understanding.

Earrings

If your child wears earrings, these need to be removed before PE on Tuesday and Friday for health and safety reasons. If the earrings cannot be removed, your child will not be able to take part in their PE lesson.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Beaux - for always trying her best and persevering.

Writing - Emily - for superb and detailed sentences.

Maths - Jackson - for really focusing well on his number work.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and have a lovely rest ready for next week.

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedSeptember 10, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

It has been so lovely to see our new class of Year 2 children. The smiles on the children’s faces on Thursday made me so excited to get back to work and it has been a wonderful first two days.

This week..

It has been a short week and most of our activities have been based around settling back into our routines.

We have written bunting all about us, written about an exciting event in our school holidays and written important class rules.

We have made our own board games to practice our counting and number formation skills and undertaken a problem solving activity to really test ourselves.

We have also looked at the story of The Colour Monster and used this as a way to discuss our feelings and how they can become muddled or change. We discussed how others can help us when we feel this way. Then we made our own colour monsters and wrote descriptions of what it looks like when we feel our feeling.

Important Information

Year 2’s PE days are Tuesday and Friday so please come in kit on these days.

We have sent home reading books, these may be a little simple or your child may have read them before. We will be doing assessments next week to match books that best suit you child. When these assessments are done, you may find your child’s book level appears to have dropped. This is because we increase our focus on comprehension, rather than simply word reading. As the term progresses, you will see your child’s progress increasing. Please don’t worry about this!

Please try to read daily, where possible.

Home Learning

If you test positive for covid-19 and have to isolate, there is weekly work on the home learning google drive. Click the year 2 link on our website and click on ‘home learning’. This page has a google drive link where you will find all our home learning. Simply click on the correct half term folder (we are currently in half term 1) then click on the matching week (next' week is week 2). In this folder is a home learning plan and any folders with work needed to complete tasks. We may struggle to print work so have tried to minimise worksheets, where possible.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday!

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

PostedSeptember 3, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

Can you believe our final week in Year 2 is over? It has been a year in which we have watched 27 little people grow more and more into themselves (physically and academically, but most importantly, emotionally!) and I am so grateful to have been a part of this wonderful journey! This year has been tough again but you have all risen to the continuous challenges we have faced and overcome obstacle after obstacle and you should all be so proud of yourselves.

Mrs Bowdell and I are incredibly sad to see you moving into the juniors but are also so excited for you to move up into Year 3 where we know you will have the most amazing time! We are always just down the stairs for a chat and a catch up if ever you need it.

Continue to make us all proud with your love, kindness and care for others. You are all superstars!

This week…

In English, we continued to write our frog life cycle explanations. Unfortunately we were unable to fully complete these but what I have seen so far has been fantastic!

In Maths, we finished our topic on fractions by exploring non-unit fractions, finding 2/3s and finding 3/4s of amounts. This was really tricky but we were so impressed by how well the children did!

In Science, we completed our bridges. There were plenty of different designs and it was interesting to see the children testing their ideas in practice.

We finally managed to do our class sports day! I am terribly sorry to those of you who sadly missed this but hopefully next year’s sports day will be much more normal! There are some pictures of us in action at the bottom of this blog.

We also had our class party on Thursday. We danced, ate treats and had a fantastic celebration of all our hard work.

Monday was a very exciting day where we had a visit from Gemma and Alice of Little Zoo To You. We got to touch and learn about lots of different mini (and not so mini!) beasts. It was fab! Pictures at the bottom of the blog.

We also had our teddy bear’s picnic on Friday. A lovely end to a challenging year!

Award Winners

Golden Award of the Year - Grace - for demonstrating great resilience and perseverance in all her work this year. But, most importantly, for being such a kind, caring and polite young lady who does all she can to help and support others.

Golden Award - Alexander - for his perseverance and positive response towards challenges.

Golden Award - Teddy - for his lovely, warm and caring attitude towards others. He always shines his light in Year 2.

Maths Award - James - for his resilience and perseverance when challenged in his Maths work.

Maths Award - Harriet - for always wanting to grow her Maths brain more!

Writing Award - Connie - for a lovely explanation text about frogs.

Writing Award - Lilly C - for listening much more carefully and never giving up.

From both of us in Year 2, we hope you all have the most lovely summer holiday and we cannot wait to see you in Year 3 next year!

Stay safe and keep smiling,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Little Zoo Visit Gallery

Sports Day Gallery

PostedJuly 16, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

It is lovely to be back with you all once again and to know that we are all safe and well. Thank you to those of you who managed to complete and submit the home learning tasks. The effort and time you have put into supporting your children’s learning is very much appreciated.

This week we have been picking up where we left off!

In English we have been continued with our Read Write Inc groups and looking at explanation texts. We have planned and begun to write our life cycle of a frog explanation text.

In Maths, we continue with fractions where we have looked at unit and non-unit fractions, doing lots of practical work to help us to identify these and solve problems involving them.

In Science, we have explored useful and useless materials to create everyday objects from. We’ve used the properties of these materials to explain why and suggested alternatives.

In RE, we have discussed the Holy Spirit and how it helps Christians in their everyday life. We thought about ways in which the Holy Spirit helps us and how we can share this with others.

In Geography, we have explored Sydney and some of the things we could do there if we visited. We compared Sydney with Blackpool and were surprised to find there were many more similarities than we first thought!

To celebrate England’s victory in the Euro 2020 semi final, we had an England-based arts and crafts afternoon where we made flags, posters and bunting to decorate ready for the final. Come on England!

Upcoming Events

Monday 12th July - ‘Little Zoo To You’ is coming into school for our end of year treat.

Friday 16th July - Teddy Bear’s Picnic on the school field. Please return letters if you have not yet done so.

Homework

I will not be setting any homework as we move into our last week of school. Instead, please continue to read as regularly as possible

Award Winners

Golden Award - Oscar - for his absolutely impeccable manners. What a polite boy you are, Oscar!

Golden Award - Dominic - for his hard work with his morning Maths.

Writing Award - Lola Mae - for her fantastic use of vocabulary in her writing.

Writing Award - Olivia S - for working so hard to sound out and write tricky words.

Maths Award - Emilia - for always explaining her reasoning so clearly.

Maths Award - Darcy - for her positive attitude and super Maths explanations.

We hope you have a lovely weekend, and remember…

Take care,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedJuly 9, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

This Sunday’s gospel story is one we are very familiar with in Year 2. It is one of the stories of Jesus’ amazing miracles. The story of how he brought Jairus’ young daughter back to life. In this story, Jesus reminds us not to be afraid but, instead, to follow and believe in Him. When we believe in Jesus, He can help us in even the most challenging of times.

This week, Year 2 have been very busy and working hard as we prepare ourselves for the next step of our journey up to Key Stage 2.

In English, we have been learning about explanation texts. We have identified explanation text features, created glossaries of technical language, considered vocabulary we can use to sequence and link sentences and began to plan our own explanation text.

In Maths, we have explored quarters, thirds and unit fractions. Finding fractions of shapes and quantities. We have been very impressed by how well the children have grasped what can be quite a tricky subject. We will continue or fractions unit of work next week.

In Science, we considered why certain materials are suitable or unsuitable for a range of jobs and have began to consider other materials which have properties that make them perhaps more suitable. We have also begun a D&T investigation to explore the properties of a variety of papers by designing and buidling our own paper bridges and testing how much weight they can hold. We will continue this next week.

In RE, we have explored the fruits of the Holy Spirit that we recieve as disciples of Jesus and considered the ways in which we can apply these fruits to help others at school.

In Geography, we have learned about a range of important physical landmarks in Australia and have identified and labelled them on maps, creating our own map key and symbols to represent this.

In PE, we continue our athletics unit of work, which links in well with our practice for our upcoming sports day.

Illness and Covid

May I please ask, if you have not already, could you read my Class Dojo class story regarding school protocols for illness. It is incredibly important that we take the right precautions to limit the spread of Covid 19, including staying at home if demonstrating symptoms (cough, fever, weariness, loss of taste/smell, sneezing, runny noses and sickness/diarrhea) until a negative PCR test result has been confirmed. I hope you all appreciate that this helps to keep all our families safe. I know this can be a huge inconvenience for you all but it is so important and I thank you for your understanding.

Sports Day

Sports Day this year is slightly different. Due to Covid restrictions, we are unable to have a whole school Sports Day and are unable to allow parents to attend. Therefore, to ensure the children still get the opportunity to engage, each class is holding their own Sports Day whose results will contribute to the overall score for each house team.

Year 2’s Sports Day will take place on Monday (28th June) in the afternoon. Mrs Bowdell and Mr Whetnall will be guiding and assisting the children and will take photos which will be uploaded onto next week’s class blog for you all to see.

Again, I know it is disappointing that we are unable to come to school to cheer on our children but let us hope for a more positive situation next year.

Reports

End of Year Reports will be sent home on Friday 9th July. The reports have been adapted to account for missed learning during school closures and will give a picture of exactly where your child is now, rather than where they would be at this time in a normal school year. It is important to consider that the last 18 months have been incredibly disruptive and we are working hard to move the children’s learning along. Unfortunately, this is not always a quick and linear process for all and may take some time, as children all learn and develop at different paces so please do not feel disheartened if your child is not exactly where you would have liked them to be academically at this time.

Homework

Homework for this week is on the homework tab of our Year 2 section. Next week’s homework will be the last I set for this year as I prepare for the end of the school year.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Rosanna - for being a real role model in Year 2 and for always shining her light brightly.

Writing Award - Tommy - for working so hard on his handwriting and spelling.

Maths Award - Lily T - for really challenging herself in her fractions work.

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedJune 25, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon all,

This week’s gospel story is of how Jesus calmly stopped the violent storm. It teaches us to have faith in Jesus and allow Him to calm the storms which may be stirring up in and around us.

This Week…

In English this week we have written our stories about a bully in a school, with a special focus on a suitable ending which links back to the beginning. I have been very impressed by the effort all the children have put into these stories and have really enjoyed reading them.

In Maths, we have continued to look at fractions and quarters. We learned how to find quarters of amounts and even began to explore 2/4 and 3/4 as well!

In Science, we thought about materials we would use for very specific purposes and explained the properties they have which makes them so useful for this!

In Geography, we have been looking at the cardinal directions: North, East, South and West and used these to describe the locations of key Australian cities which we had found and labelled on a map.

In RE, we continued our work on Pentecost and made stained glass flames to symbolise the tongues of fire which appeared above the disciple’s heads during Pentecost.

In PE, we have been practicing for sports day. Year 2 will be having their sports day event on Monday 28th June. Unfortunately we are unable to invite parents to attend this year but we will upload pictures of the events afterwards.

Rainbow Day

Thank you all for your participation in our rainbow day. It was lovely to see such a colourful classroom. Below is a picture of the children.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Connie - For always working so hard in all that she does.

Writing Award - Ronnie - For a huge effort and focus on his writing work and a wonderful story.

Maths Award - Isaac - for being more confident to have a go with Maths, even when he finds it tricky.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedJune 18, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely half term break and are ready for our final half term in Year 2.

This Week

In English, we have planned and written recounts about the things we had done over the half term break. We thought about time phrases, conjunctions and adding enough detail to keep our readers engaged. I have enjoyed reading these and finding out about all the exciting things the children got up to!

In Maths, we have finished our division topic and have now moved onto fractions. Fractions can be a little tricky to understand so we are taking it slow and building up with our small steps. We have learned all about finding halves and fractions which are equivalent to halves, such as 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, 6/12 etc.

In Science, we continued to explore the function and suitability of materials and have been describing useful properties which each material has and why they might be useful.

In RE, we have been learning about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. We begun to make a craft for this but unfortunately it didn’t quite work so Mr Whetnall will be having a think about how we can change this!

In Geography, we have begun our Australia topic by finding the country on a world map, making predictions about temperature and conditions there and have labelled the states and territories of Australia.

Homework

As I was unable to get homework to you before half term, this week’s spelling homework will be the same as before half term (I will send this home tomorrow). Please check the homework section for more tasks.

Dress Like A Rainbow Day

Next Friday (18th June) will be an own clothes day. We are asking the children to dress up in colourful clothes and to please bring in £1 to raise money for school gardening equipment.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Henry - For always putting 100% effort into all he does.

Writing Award - Elsie - For a lovely, detailed ‘familiar setting’ story opening.

Maths Award - Zahra - For really trying hard with challenging work.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedJune 11, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon,

Even though it’s been a short week it has been another busy one!

In English, we have been working on looking at characters in our stories. We have thought about how certain events can be viewed differently from different character’s perspectives and have written letters to an Agony Aunt from a suffering character.

In Maths, we have continued to look at our division facts. We have learned that we can use multiplication facts to solve division problems and have learned this is called finding the inverse. We have also been looking at dividing by 2 and have learned this is the same as finding half.

In Science, we have finished our work on plants and have learned that some plants don’t need soil to grow, so long as they have lots of sunlight and water.

In RE, we have learned about when Jesus told his friends He would soon leave them and would send the Holy Spirit. We discussed how the disiciples feelings changed throughout the story.

In Geography, we identified and described the functions of features found on an island. We also began to discuss whether certain features are human or physical features.

Awards

Golden Award - Hallie - For her wonderful attitude towards her learning and for always taking on a challenge.

Writing Award - Oscar - For super Read Write Inc work.

Maths Award - Alexander - For working hard to concentrate and focus.

A New Member of Staff in Year 2

We will be joined by Miss England next week until the end of term who is training to become a teacher. She will be taking groups and delivering some lessons. We will welcome her warmly!

Thank you and have a great weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedMay 7, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Afternoon all,

Our little classroom is beginning to look a bit like a jungle with all the growing of plants we have been doing over the past few weeks. It has been lovely to see the children’s interest and amazement in these miracles of God and nature and we can’t wait to see what happens next every week.

In English this week we have been revisiting character descriptions through our Sister for Sale book and have also been trying to ‘paint a picture’ of someone demonstrating an emotion, rather than just saying ‘they felt sad’. The children have done so well with this and know that this will improve their story writing.

In Maths, we have moved away from division by sharing and have looked at division by grouping. This helps enhance our understanding of how to solve division word problems effectively. We have also explored the inverse relationship between multiplication and division and have developed or understanding of how knowing our times table facts can make division very easy!

In Science, we completed two investigations in which we looked at the needs of plants to grow. We discovered that plants with water and sun were healthiest and that cress seeds grown in a warm place grew better than those in colder places. We also had a fun afternoon exploring plants we eat and sorted them into the parts of a plant we thought they came from. (see below) This was harder than we first thought!

In RE, we thought about and described the symbolism of the paschal candles which we made last week.

In Geography, we looked at some features and objects you would find on an island. We then used a map of the Isle of Struay to label these accurately.

We had another lovely music lesson this week with Miss Benson and the children really enjoyed this!

Homework

Please check the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Olivia W - for being a real role model in Year 2 who can always be relied upon to do the right thing.

Writing Award - Corben - for his super ideas and enthusiasm in his writing.

Maths Award - Grace - for the amazing progress she has made in all her Maths work.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedApril 30, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Well, what a week of wonderful weather we’ve had!

It has been lovely to watch the children playing together outdoors and enjoying our fabulous school grounds. Let’s hope for many more sunny days to come.

We have been very busy again this week growing our brains and building our confidence.

In English, we are settled into our Read Write Inc groups. Mr Whetnall’s groups have been looking at character descriptions through the story of Sister For Sale. Mrs Bowdell’s group have been looking at the story Playdays.

In Maths, we have been learning about division through sharing. We know how to identify how many groups we need to share between and that these have to be equal. I have loved seeing the children’s confidence growing in this area. We have also discussed how division is the inverse (or opposite) of multiplication.

In Science, we have discovered that beans can grow with water and sun and don’t necessarily need soil! We also learned about plant habitats around the world and how plants are suited to these habitats.

In RE, we heard the story of the Jesus appearing to his disciples on the shores of Tiberias and we also learned about the paschal candle, making our own with its individual symbols.

In Geography. we learned how continental, volcanic and coral island are formed and created diagrams to explain this,

Award Winners

Golden Award - Isaac - for a superb piece of RE writing.

Writing Award - Mia - for working so hard on her handwriting.

Maths Award - Dominic - for fabulous division by sharing.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedApril 23, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon all and welcome back!

It has been lovely to see the weather beginning to improve and the sun starting to shine more and more. However, it is still quite cold at times so could I please ask that all children bring a suitable coat or jacket with them into school in case they need it.

This week’s learning…

In English, we have gotten back into our Read Write Inc Groups. Mr Whetnall’s group are beginning their work on stories with a familiar setting and Mrs Bowdell’s group are beginning their next stage of Read Write Inc stories.

In Maths, we have continued our work on times tables and have looked closely at both the ten and three times tables. The children blew us away with their knowledge of the ten times table but have struggled a little more with the 3s. I have also noticed that lots of us are still find the five times tables challenging. Therefore, I will be setting the 5 times tables again as next week’s times tables test.

In Science, we have continued to observe our plants as they have grown and thought about the important needs they have to grow well.

In Geography, we have used atlases to find places and have identified if they are islands, what oceans surround them, which countries border them and which continent they belong to. The children have really enjoyed this!

In RE, we have looked at the roles of a parish priest and other important people in the church, including Father Jim, Bishop Paul and Pope Francis.

Our music lessons have also started up again this week and the children have really enjoyed them.

In PE, we have continued our work on team games and also developed our fundamental movement skills.

Homework

Go to our homework page to see this week’s homework tasks.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Tommy - for his super concentration and effort this week.

Writing Award - Rosanna - for her beautiful handwriting in her final draft of her instruction writing.

Maths Award - Olivia S - for trying so hard with her multiplication work.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

PostedApril 16, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon everyone and happy Easter to you all!

It has been a fun but busy week in Year 2 and the children have continued to work hard right up to the end. We are still a little giddy and loud but are gradually settling back into our school routines.

In English, we have been following instructions closely. We made crafts based on instruction texts (see below pictures), wrote instructions for how to make a cup of tea and began to write our own instructions for how to make our very own marvellous medicine. Hopefully we will be able to make these!

In Maths, we have continued to focus upon times tables and have been looking at solving problems with the 2, 5 and 10 times tables by drawing arrays or pictures of equal groups.

In Science, we have been doing lots of planting and growing! We have looked at how seeds can be spread from different plants in different ways and have also set up an investigation with a bean to see whether they can grow without soil.

In RE, we have finished our work on the order of the Mass and wrote the key things that happen at each part.

We have also done some Easter arts and crafts activities and have looked at the Easter story.

Homework

Over half term, I don’t give homework as I feel the break is very important for children’s well-being. However, we will send home two reading books so that children can continue to practice this most vital skill.

You could also continue to practice your 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables if you wish!

Age-inappropriate Computer Games

Recently, there seems to have been an increase in conversations about adult-orientated computer games. On a few occasions now, I have heard children discussing ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Grand Theft Auto’. These sorts of games are aimed for teenagers and adults and not young children. The content of them is violent and hugely inappropriate for Year 2s. Please could I ask that you check on which games your child is playing and which videos they are accessing on YouTube as it is hugely detrimental for children to be accessing this type of inappropriate content. Thank you.

Awards

Golden Award - Peter - for working hard and concentrating on his Easter art work.

Writing Award -James - for a lovely opening paragraph to his medicine instructions.

Maths Award - Ronnie - for always working so hard in Maths.

We hope you have a wonderful, restful Easter and come back raring to go for our final term in Year 2.

Take care,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell.

PostedApril 1, 2021

AuthorLiam Whetnall

Good afternoon,

We are at the end of another busy week in Year 2. This week we have been trying something new (check out the pictures at the bottom of this page to see exactly what that was!).

In English, we have been looking at writing instructions, such as recipes. This is linked into our focus on George’s Marvellous Medicine. We have focused on Grandma’s requests for a cup of tea from George and noticed that she wasn’t very specific with these instructions. We followed instructions to make and drink our own cup of tea - there were mixed results on what it tasted like!

In Maths, we continued our work on times tables with a focus on the two times table. We have been becoming fluent in recalling two times table facts and in applying these facts to solve more challenging word problems. We have also been engaging in daily morning arithmetic practice.

In Science, we have observed our plants (they are growing well!), wrote about the life cycle of a flowering plant and have set up another investigation to see exactly what things plants need to grow well. We will observe this over time.

In RE, we have looked at the command at the end of Mass, thought about what we are being asked to do and suggested practical ways we can do this. I was very impressed by the children’s thoughtful responses.

In Geography we have begun our new topic on islands. We learned about what islands are, how they are formed and how they differ from one to the next. We then used atlases to identify and label islands in the UK. We really enjoyed this!

In PE, we continue our ball games and team games skills.

Holy Week

Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week with Palm Sunday. We will explore a part of the Easter story each day next week.

As well as this, each class has been given the task of making two pieces of art based on the stations of the cross. We are busy at work preparing for this!

Reading

We have been carrying out reading assessments this week and have been busy amending children’s book levels as a result of this. Therefore, you may find that the difficulty of your child’s book may have increased or decreased depending on their current reading level.

I strongly request that you try to read at home as regularly as possible. Reading underpins everything we do and after such a stop-start year, reading has never been as important as it is now.

Homework

In regards to queries about homework, you do not need to send me evidence that this has been completed. The tasks are set for extra practice for your child. Likewise, the homework set does not necessarily reflect the work being done in class, most tasks set for homework at the moment are more basic revision tasks. The children are working incredibly hard at school and I think it is important to rebuild that home-school divide to promote their well being.

Lip Balm

We appear to have a large majority of children bringing in lip balms to school at the moment. I appreciate that the children get chapped lips when it is cold and may need this but now that the weather is changing could I ask you to only send your child in with lip balm if they have a problem with their lips. The reason for this is because we are losing learning time with children applying the balm after break and we have also noticed children eating their own lip balm! Also, some children have been seen sharing lip balm which of course is a a huge health and safety concern during Covid 19 times. Thank you for this.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Kurt - for working so hard with his reading and writing.

Writing Award - Emilia - for a wonderfully descriptive piece about George.

Maths Award - Henry - for trying so hard with multiplication.

Have a peaceful weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell.