This week in Year 2…
Posted
Good afternoon everyone, welcome back and Happy New Year!
We hope you all had a peaceful Christmas and spent quality time with your loved ones. It may seem like Christmas is now over but this week we celebrate the Feast of Epiphany, where the Wise Men had faith in God by following the guiding star to visit the new-born baby Jesus. We think about their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and consider what gifts we can give to Jesus ourself. During our time in Mass on Friday we focused upon the offertory and how this a time when we can offer Jesus our own ‘invisible gifts’. Can we be kind, caring, respectful, helpful and patient?
English - This week we have been planning and beginning to write our non-chronological reports on shipwreck coral reefs. We have thought about sentence openers, headings and subheadings and technical language to make our texts informative and interesting.
Maths - We have finished our work on adding two-digit numbers together and have progressed on to exploring subtracting a two-digit number from a two-digit number. We have focused upon using tens and ones and drawings to help us to do this.
Science - We have looked at what makes something alive. We revisited the seven life processes and realised that living things will do all of these. We learned to differentiate between things that are currently alive, were once alive and things that have never been alive using the life processes to guide us.
RE - We have thought about Epiphany and the Wise Men’’s visit. We have talked about the gifts we can offer Jesus in our actions and treatment of others. We also explored the story of Jairus’ Daughter as part of our topic on Jesus’ miracles. We discussed and wrote about the happy and sad parts of this story.
History - We revisited significance. We considered what this means and what the difference is between someone who is significant to us personally and someone who is significant to the wider world. We wrote about significant people and explained what they did which makes them so memorable and important.
PE - In indoor PE we have begun our gymnastics unit. We explored different jumps including tuck jumps, star jumps, twist jumps and pencil jumps. Our outdoor session was focused on throwing and catching.
Computing - We explored keyboards and typing. We learned about the home keys and home row and how this helps us to type much more quickly and eventually without looking. We practised typing our own names and realised we can use the shift key to create capital letters.
Art - We have been looking at ripping paper to create positive and negative stencils for drawing.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please practice learning the 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables as later this half term we will be having times table tests on these.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - 10 -ly words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - 6 -ly words.
Reading
Example SATS reading paper to complete at home.
Maths
Subtracting two-digit number worksheet
Computing
Please visit the typing club website from a device with a keyboard (f you have one) to be able to practice touch typing.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award -
Writing Award -
Maths Award -
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
This Sunday marks the third week of Advent. We light the pink candle this Sunday to represent joy. The joy candle is also known as the Shepherd’s Candle and it reminds of us the angels who appeared to the unexpecting shepherds to deliver them the good news of Jesus’ birth. These shepherds were not anything special in their town and the fact that God chose to tell them about the birth of His son reminds us that we are all important and special to God. This week we think about the joy we feel when Jesus was born and how it changed all of our lives. We, too, will aim to be joyful and joymakers - dedicating this week’s advent promise to how we can bring joy to others.
English - This week we continued our work on non-chronological reports. We have been looking at a non-fiction text all about dangerous creatures that you might find living in shallow water habitats, especially shipwrecks. We learned that non-chronological reports are written in the present tense as though it is happening now. We also learned about the difference between fact and opinion. We sorted examples of each carefully and then wrote our own facts and opinions about these dangerous creatures. Finally, we wrote sections of a non-chronological report about one of the dangerous creatures we have been studying.
Maths - We have been focusing on subtraction of a single digit number. We learned that sometimes when we have to subtract that we need to cross a tens barrier. We learned 2 methods to help us to solve this - partitioning to jump back to the previous ten and then jumping back the rest of the way; and exchanging a ten for ten ones using base ten and drawings.
Science - This week we explored healthy eating. We designed our own healthy and balanced meal plate, including protein, carbohydrates, dairy, fruit and vegetables and also a small treat! We learned why each part of this plate is important for our bodies.
RE - This week we listened to the story of the visit of the shepherds, ready for work on this next week. We also created our own advent candle pictures and used these to write our own advent promises.
Geography - We explored climate zones. We learned that climate zones follow a pattern from the equator outwards both up to the north pole and down to the south pole. We learned that places near the equator are warmer and places near the north and south pole are colder. We then used maps to identify places within these climate zones.
PE - Our PE sessions this week have been used to practise for our Nativity performance.
Nativity - We are now able to perform our nativity with only minimal adult direction!
Computing - We learned about decomposition. This is when we see what a program does and think about what instructions were given to complete these actions. We decomposed a Scratch game and then thought about instructions we might use to create other actions in the game.
Art - We used geometric and organic shapes to create collages.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. We will also be sending home times tables to practise shortly.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the various /ir/ sound words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /ir/, /ur/ and /er/ sound words.
Reading
Christmas trees comprehension worksheet.
Maths
Subtracting ones (crossing tens) worksheet
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - George - for being a conscientious and respectful learner.
Writing Award - Archer - for working so hard on his handwriting.
Writing Award - Alicia - for a great non-chronological report about deadly sea creatures.
Maths Award - Cameron - for working hard on his subtraction independently.
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
Year 1 and Year 2’s Christmas Nativity performance will take place on Wednesday 14th December at both 9.30am and 2.00pm. You should have now received your 4 tickets (2 per show) if your child was in school this week.
On Tuesday 20th December we will be having a Christmas own clothes day in school. Donations can be paid through ParentPay.
After our Nativity performances, the PTA will providing refreshments (non-alcoholic [sorry!] mulled wine and mince pies) in the dining hall for a small fee. The PTA will also be selling raffle tickets at each performance - there will be some fantastic prizes on offer and all funds raised will go towards PTA funds.
Finally, here is a letter about our Advent liturgies which will be taking place every Tuesday at 8.20 in the school hall until Christmas.
At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters.
Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.
With Christmas nearly here and perhaps with presents including new technology or related games being received, we thought we’d share some helpful advice in setting up appropriate parental controls. Parental controls can help to protect your child from seeing something that they shouldn’t – although it is important to emphasise that no system is effective all of the time so it is important to engage with your child and talk to them about their online life regularly.
We hope you find this Newsletter informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.
Finally…
Dear families of Our Lady's
You may be aware from recent news reports that there is a rise in Strep A. Whilst Strep A can be very mild in children and adults or even be present without symptoms there are strains of the infection that can be serious so we are all asked to be aware. If you or your child has symptoms sore throat/ swollen tonsils then if this becomes more severe then it is advised to seek advise.
Please find below the guidance shared by the school nurse team.
BLACKPOOL TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Cases of Strep A are on the rise, as a result, we are sending this awareness letter.
Strep A is a bacterial infection of the throat and is common in school aged children and teens.
If not treated with appropriate medication the infection can have serious complications.
Symptoms of Strep A are severe sore throat, fever, headache, swollen tonsils, swollen glands in the neck and stomach ache.
Strep A is highly contagious, if you are showing any signs, please keep them off school and contact your GP. We would like to stop any spread of this as quickly as possible.
Please refer to
UKHSA update on scarlet fever and invasive Group A strep - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
This Sunday marks the second week of Advent. We light the candle this Sunday to represent Preparation & Peace. We believe that both are fitting for this Sunday as we draw closer to the time we celebrate Christ’s birth. The wise men in the bible knew the scripture and took the necessary efforts to prepare and set out on their journey to worship the newborn King. The angels informed Mary and Joseph well ahead of time so they could prepare for what lied ahead of them. Today we must take the time to prepare our hearts our minds not to lose sight of Christ.
We had a visit from Fr Frank to join us for worship on Tuesday. He brought us a lovely candle as an Advent gift and spoke to us about the importance of light. He explained that our lights were ignited by Jesus’ candle at our baptism and that it is our job to smile, be kind and be loving in order to fuel our light to shine brighter.
When we light our second candle we will be thinking about peace and preparation. Our preparation helps us get our minds and souls ready for Jesus’ birth and our peace helps us to be positive beacons of light for others. We will also be thinking about how we can be peaceful people and use this gift of peace to help our friends and family to find their peace.
English - This week we finished our Historical narratives. I have been very impressed by the detail that the children have put into this. We have now begun to learn about non-chronological reports using our key text Into The Deep, along with a selection of other non-chronological reports. We have identified features that are important for this type of non-fiction text, have written questions we would like to find the answers to and have used Into The Deep to try and answer these.
Maths - We have been rounding to the nearest 10 with numbers to 100 (and some of us managed this with numbers to 1000!). We have been using our rounding skills to help us to add one digit numbers where we have to cross a ten barrier. We have been learning that we can partition the number we are adding to make 10 and then add the rest. As well as this, we have been adding using base ten drawing.
Science - This week we explored the importance of exercise to keep humans healthy. We discussed the different types of exercises we can do, how they affect our bodies in different ways and what could happen if we don’t exercise. We created poster to explain the importance of exercise to others.
RE - This week we have been looking at the story of The Annunciation. Early in the week we listened to and retold the story as a diary entry from Mary’s perspective. We then explored the significance of the story and what this tells us about Jesus. We also wrote our first Advent promise.
Geography - We explored a key issue of our Planet Earth focus - plastic polllution. We learned what this is, how it is caused, what effect it can have on different living thing and some of the things we can do to stop it from happening. We created posters to persuade others to use plastics more sensibly.
PE - Our PE sessions this week have been used to practise for our Nativity performance.
Nativity - We got into the hall and began our rehearsals. The children are doing great so far!
Computing - We learned about abstraction in programming. This is when we strip away anything that isn’t important and focus only on the important parts to create and debug algorithms. We then used abstraction to make plan perspective maps of our classroom.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
We have sent home the words your child will be saying in our Nativity. We ask that the children practise these at home until they can recite them without reading their sheet. Please continue to leave them in their school bags so we can take opportunities to practise at school.
We have also sent home song lyrics for our Nativity songs. You can access the tracks to play at home by going to the homework page of the Year 2 site.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the various /ow/ sound words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /ow/ and /oa/ sound words.
Reading
Beaches comprehension worksheet.
Maths
Adding ones (crossing tens) worksheet
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Matilda - for being a great role model and a beacon of calmness at all times in Year 2.
Writing Award - Priya - for her great ideas and vocabulary in her historical narrative.
Maths Award - Frazer - for great partner work to solve tricky problems.
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
Year 1 and Year 2’s Christmas Nativity performance will take place on Wednesday 14th December at both 9.30am and 2.00pm. Due to space limitations in the hall, each parent will get 2 tickets for each performance. We hope you enjoy the performance.
After our Nativity performances, the PTA will providing refreshments (non-alcoholic [sorry!] mulled wine and mince pies) in the dining hall for a small fee. The PTA will also be selling raffle tickets at each performance - there will be some fantastic prizes on offer and all funds raised will go towards PTA funds.
Finally, here is a letter about our Advent liturgies which will be taking place every Tuesday at 8.20 in the school hall until Christmas.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
This Sunday marks the commencement of this year’s Advent preparations. Advent is an important time in our faith. Not only is it the beginning of our liturgical year but it also a time of preparation, reflection and change as we prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for the arrival of Jesus - the gift that God gave us to show His amazing love for us. During this time, we will be encouraging the children to think about how they can prepare for the coming of Jesus and allow them to think about how important Advent is and that it is about so much more than just waiting for Christmas.
When we light our first candle we will be thinking about hope. The hope we have for Jesus’ return, the hope we have for the coming year and the hope we have for ourselves and our family’s happiness and health. We will also be thinking about how we can be hopeful people and use this gift of hope to help our friends and family who might not be feeling quite as hopeful.
English - This week we planned and wrote our Great Fire of London historical narratives, based on Vlad and the Great Fire of London by Kate Cunningham. We have been trying to include our key features of conjunctions, expanded noun phrases, adverbs, exciting past tense verbs and thoughts and feelings. We will be finishing these off on Monday and will then edit and improve our work where we can.
Maths - We have been exploring addition and subtraction with ten. We added and subtracted a single ten using base ten and hundred squares and attempted questions worded differently to aid our fluency and variation. We then developed our skills in adding and subtracting tens by drawing tens and ones. We also discussed patterns we noticed and began to develop our mental methods for adding and subtracting these amounts. We then began to explore adding ones to a two-digit number where we cross a ten and use tens frames and number lines to support this.
Science - This week we explored the importance of hygiene for humans to be healthy. We discussed germs and their role in making us poorly and we considered how we could improve our own hygiene. We suggested ways to keep hygienic and how these have a positive effects on our health and appearance. We set up an investigation to explore the importance of washing our hands, using soap, water, hand sanitiser and bread.
RE - On Monday we described our Holy Trinity models, explaining their three symbols and how and why these were chosen to represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. On Friday, we learned all about Advent. We learned why we observe it, what we are preparing ourselves for and discussed and wrote about different things that Christians do to prepare themselves for Jesus during Advent.
Geography - We identified and labelled the five oceans of the world on a map. We then learned some information about each ocean and wrote sentences to describe key features of each.
PE - In dance, we practised moving like ocean waves. We explored music at different tempos and related this to calm, choppy or stormy waves. We thought about how we could use our bodies to display this. In our outdoor PE we developed our skills in dribbling and moving with a ball whilst bouncing it.
Art - We explored geometric and organic shapes and began to create our own versions of these using lines.
Nativity - We continued to practise our nativity songs and read our lines out.
Computing - We learned more about algorithms and how we need to be clear with the instructions we use. We followed an algorithm to create a model and then considered how these instructions might need to be improved to make them clearer and easier to follow (debugging).
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
We have sent home the words your child will be saying in our Nativity. We ask that the children practise these at home until they can recite them without reading their sheet. Please continue to leave them in their school bags so we can take opportunities to practise at school.
We have also sent home song lyrics for our Nativity songs. You can access the tracks to play at home by going to the homework page of the Year 2 site.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the various /ee/ sound words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /igh/ and /i_e/ sound words.
English
Adverbs worksheet - Rewrite the sentences, using an appropriate adverb to describe the verb (doing word).
Reading
Advent comprehension worksheet.
Maths
Adding and subtracting 10s worksheet
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Willow - for always trying her best, wanting to do better and caring for everyone.
Writing Award - Penny - for working so hard on her hand writing.
Maths Award - James - for using mental methods to add and subtract tens.
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
Just a reminder of the KS1 Christmas movie night on Friday 2nd December from 4.30pm until 5.30pm. The children can wear Christmas pyjamas or clothing. If your child would like to attend, please pay the requested £2 via parentpay.
Year 1 and Year 2’s Christmas Nativity performance will take place on Wednesday 14th December at both 9.30am and 2.00pm. Due to space limitations in the hall, each parent will get 2 tickets for each performance. We hope you enjoy the performance.
After our Nativity performances (date to be confirmed), the PTA will providing refreshments (non-alcoholic [sorry!] mulled wine and mince pies) in the dining hall for a small fee. The PTA will also be selling raffle tickets at each performance - there will be some fantastic prizes on offer and all funds raised will go towards PTA funds.
Finally, here is a letter about our Advent liturgies which will be taking place every Tuesday at 8.20 in the school hall until Christmas.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
This week’s gospel was quite an unusual one. Jesus explained to his disciples that all things will come to an end eventually. People will die, plants with wither and even buildings will crumble. However, he reassured his disciples that just needed to ‘stand firm and they will win life’. Jesus was reminding them that even though bad things happen and scary things occur that we cannot predict or control, if we follow Him and live by His light then there will be a place for us in heaven to have eternal life with Him. We have thought about this and how it important it is to try and follow Jesus. We will all try our best to be kind, polite, selfless and thoughtful.
English - This week we wrote our Great Fire of London setting descriptions. We thought carefully about our content and experimented with sentence openings, expanded noun phrases and similes. We also used our purple pens to edit and improve our work before writing our final drafts. We then began our work on our Great Fire of London stories based upon ‘Vlad and the Great Fire’ by exploring conjunctions and the use of -ed suffix for the past tense. Next week we will be planning and writing these stories.
Maths - We have been making links between known facts and larger facts this week. We learnt that our number bonds to 10 can help us to solve larger facts when adding tens to 100. E.g, if we know that 4 + 3 = 7 then we know that 40 + 30 = 70. We then used our knowledge of number facts and practical equipment to solve missing number problems with number bonds to 100. Finally, we practised adding and subtracting ones using base ten and drawings to aid us.
Science - This week we learned about the difference between wants and needs. We also learned to separate a human’s basic needs (air, water, food, shelter) from their additional needs (love, kindness, entertainment, exercise, hygiene, friends, family, treats, money, education, time alone, etc). We wrote about the difference between these different needs and considered which extra needs we thought were most important.
RE - On Monday we used clay to build our Holy Trinity models that we designed last week. Then on Friday, we painted these carefully and thought about the meaning and symbolism of each.
Geography - We consolidated our research on continents to create mini lift-the-flap fact cards to use on our display in the corridor.
PE - In dance, we continued to practise our seaside dance routines and performed them to half of the class with our partners. In our outdoor sessions we practised dribbling a ball whilst bouncing it.
Art - We explored paint and developed our painting skills.
Nativity - We began to practise our nativity songs and read our lines out.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
We have sent home the words your child will be saying in our Nativity. We ask that the children practise these at home until they can recite them without reading their sheet. Please continue to leave them in their school bags so we can take opportunities to practise at school.
We have also sent home song lyrics for our Nativity songs. You can access the tracks to play at home by going to the homework page of the Year 2 site.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the -ed suffix words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /ay/ and /a_e/ words.
English
Conjunctions worksheet - choose a conjunction to complete the sentences.
Commas for a list worksheet - Use the shopping lists to create sentences using commas to make a list. Don’t forget to use ‘and’ instead of a comma before the last item.
For example: I went to the shop and I bought potatoes, bread, meat, peas and ice cream.
Maths
Adding and subtracting 1s worksheet
or…
Missing number problems worksheet. Remember If the missing number is after the sign (+ or -) , use subtraction and you’ll be fine and If before the symbol the number is gone, use the inverse and you’ve won.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Annie - for being a kind, polite and thoughtful learner.
Writing Award - Albie - for a wonderful setting description and working hard on his handwriting.
Maths Award - Austin - for his hard work in using drawings to solve addition and subtraction problems.
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
We would like to invite the children in Reception and KS1 back in to school on Friday 2nd December for a Christmas movie night! The children can wear Christmas pyjamas or clothing and for a cost of £2, they will be able to enjoy some festive treats as they watch the film. We are going to come back to school at 4.30pm until 5.30pm. If your child would like to attend, please pay the requested £2 via parentpay.
After our Nativity performances (date to be confirmed), the PTA will providing refreshments (non-alcoholic [sorry!] mulled wine and mince pies) in the dining hall for a small fee. The PTA will also be selling raffle tickets at each performance - there will be some fantastic prizes on offer and all funds raised will go towards PTA funds.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
This week we have been remembering those who sacrificed so much for us. Those we may not know, may never have met nor have any connection to. Yet they still gave up their freedom and, often, their lives so that we may know peace. We discussed how their example is something we can all remember and that we too can help others, even if we do not gain anything from doing so. We prayed together to show our thanks for these men and women.
English - We have been focusing on summarising our learning on the Great Fire of London through our writing. We are building up to a setting description of the experience of being in the fire itself. We have created semantic maps of words with suffixes (-ly, -ful, -less, -ment, -ness) , collected and shared descriptive vocabulary, written descriptive sentences using some of the features we have learned about and have planned our description ready to write next week.
Maths - We have been applying our knowledge of greater than, less than and equal to to calculate and compare number sentences using these symbols. We learned that sometimes it helps to work out each calculation but that we can also look for patterns, similarities and differences to compare more quickly and efficiently. We then focused upon solving missing number problems and had lots of practise trying this out. We learned that if the missing number is at the beginning, use the inverse and you’re winning. We also learned that if the missing number is in the middle, do a subtraction to solve the riddle. We explored how this works if we move the equals symbol to a different location, which was quite tricky but we made some great steps.
Science - This week we began our focus upon human beings and health. We learned that even though humans are mammals, we have additional steps in our life cycles due to living longer. We sequenced the human life cycle and explained how we change as we progress through each stage.
RE - Earlier this week we built upon last week’s work by discussing the things we wonder about. We developed our English skills through writing and correctly punctuating question sentences and then worked together we our partners to answer these questions. Finally, we evaluated our partner’s response and recorded our own ideas about this. For our second RE lesson, we learned about the mystery of the Holy Trinity and how God is three separate, yet single persons. We explored some symbols of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and designed our own statue using symbols from each. We will use clay to make these next week.
Geography - We built on our Year 1 work and recapped the seven continents by singing a continents song and labelling each on a map. We then split up into groups and each group researched one of these continents; including the rivers, lakes, mountains, deserts, forests, landmarks and animals that we might find here. Next week, we will represent our research into ‘lift-up facts’ to display outside our classroom.
PE - In dance, we began to work with a partner to produce a six-part dance routine centred around activities you can do at the seaside. We combined ideas and began practising our skills. In outdoor PE, we focused upon our kicking skills.
Computing - Due to a technical error, we had some time to explore Scratch and began to think about how algorithm instructions can be used to control the sprite on screen. We created an algorithm together to make our sprite move right across the screen.
PSHE - We were thinking about Remembrance Day and created our own acrostic poems about this.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the /ee/ sound spelt -y at the end of words with a vowel then consonant. We need to double the consonant before adding -y.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /l/, /ll/, /ck/ and /zz/ sounds at the end of words.
Reading
Remembrance Day reading comprehension.
English
Rearranging sentences to create more exciting starts using conjunctions. E.g:’ I went to bed because I was tired.’ can be written as ‘Because I was tired, I went to bed.’ Using these sentences in our writing can really improve it.
Maths
Missing number problems worksheet. Remember If the missing number is after the sign (+ or -) , use subtraction and you’ll be fine and If before the symbol the number is gone, use the inverse and you’ve won.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Jacob - for his growing maturity, focus and concentration for learning.
Writing Award - James - for a super Remembrance Day acrostic poem.
Maths Award - Priya - for believing in herself and showing the results of this in her work.
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
Welcome back for our second half term in Year 2. This week’s liturgy in Mass focused upon the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who wasn’t very well liked in his community because he used to steal money from people. Jesus came to visit but Zacchaeus was too small to see so climbed a tree to get a better view. Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree and asked to go to his house for food. The other people were furious. Why was a terrible man like Zacchaeus able to spend time with Jesus? Zacchaeus was so overwhelmed at having been chosen by Jesus that he immediately decided to change his ways. He paid back the people he had stolen from four times what he owed them to say sorry and make amends. Jesus’ love of Zacchaeus, no matter what he had done wrong, was enough to make him a better person. This story teaches us that Jesus and God always forgive us, no matter what we have done wrong, so long as we are sorry and try to change our ways. The above quote is very fitting as it shows that God plans for us to love Jesus even before we are born.
English - We have focused upon editing and upleveling our written work. This has been quite tricky for some of us and we have been working to develop our focus and concentration in order to improve our writing. We will continue to develop this important skill throughout Year 2. We have also been ‘publishing’ our work - creating a neat book copy of our familiar setting story, ready for display.
Maths - We have continued to build on our addition and subtraction work with a continued focus upon related facts. We have found it quite tricky to remember that when we subtract we take an amount away from the whole. This means that the whole number always comes just before the subtraction symbol, no matter which way round the equals symbol is. We have also begun to use our related facts and inverse facts knowledge to check whether calculations are correct or incorrect and have used number lines to aid our counting.
RE - We have been doing lots of wondering in RE this week. We have been thinking about difficult questions, which we can call mysteries, that don’t necessarily have an answer. These can be about our world, about our beliefs or about God. Even though we cannot answer these questions, we can still think about them and share our own opinions. We have looked at a selection of mystery questions and shared our ideas about their answers.
Geography - We have begun our work looking at Planet Earth. We recalled the difference between human and physical geographical features and identified some key physical features visible from satellite photographs of Earth. Wealso learned about the Earth’s rotation and how this effects our days and seasons.
PE - We began our new dance unit, At the Seaside. We considered activities we could do on a visit to the seaside and began to create a simple dance sequence acting these out.
Computing - We began to look at algorithms and debugging. We practised logging into computers and opening the scratch program. Next week we will explore the features and controls of a symbol game.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
Other Tasks
Spelling - Common Exception Words Set 4 - Please practise spelling these for a test on Friday.
I am also sending home a workbook with all of the Year 2 common exception words and activities to practise with these. Please work through this with only one or two pages per week. It will help reinforce our learning in class.
English - Editing activity - Rewrite the incorrect sentences accurately.
Maths - Related facts worksheet.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Finlay - for being a polite, respectful and helpful member of our class.
Writing Award - Macie - for using her purple pen to edit and improve her punctuation.
Maths Award - Eddie - For great reasoning about fact families.
Discipleship Award - Layla - for doing great tidying up.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
Can you believe it is the end of our first half term in Year 2 already? The children have worked so hard throughout this past 7 weeks and it is lovely to see all they have achieved already!
English - We have written our own ‘sister and bully’ stories based upon Sister for Sale. We planned what we wanted to include, collected vocabulary and begin writing these, one section per day. I have been so impressed by the detail that has gone into them!
Maths - We have begun our unit on addition and subtraction with a huge focus on known and related facts. We explored number bonds and reasoned how we can use bonds to 10 to calculate addition and subtraction problems to 20 and beyond using our knowledge of this. We have also been looking at fact families and how once we know one number sentence, we actually know 4! We have explored how we solve problems where the = symbol is before the calculation and learned about the location of numbers: For addition, the two parts always sit on either side of the + symbols; for subtraction, the whole number always comes before the - symbol.
RE - We have been doing lots of writing in RE this week. We wrote diaries as Moses’ sister retelling the events that led to him being found by the Pharoah’s Daughter. We then began to learn about Daniel and the Lions’ Den and retold this story carefully in our RE books.
History - We have learned about how the Great Fire changed London We explored the problems that led to the fire and how King Charles II, Sir Christopher Wren and many others tried to solve these problems when they rebuilt London.
PE - We finished our dance unit by creating a performance where we moved along a pre-planned ‘map’ on different ‘roads’ as different vehicles and showing a variety of emotions. These were great to watch!
I never set homework at the end of a half term as the children need a good break to rest and recouperate. However, please feel free to continue the regular tasks (tricky words and counting) if you would like as this is so helpful.
Other Tasks
I have sent home a spelling sheet for the children to practise for a test on the Friday we return to school. If you were not here, you can access it here.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Archer - for his hard work, kindness and sensibility.
Writing Award - Frazer - for his confidence, perserverance and focus.
Maths Award - Noah - for great reasoning and always welcoming a challenge.
Parent’s Day
On Friday 21st October our school is closed to the children for our INSET day. This has been assigned as our parent meetings day. Parents are invited to come into school for their face to face appointment. Appointments will run from 8.30am to 10.00 am, 10.20am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Each appointment will be exactly 10 minutes and will just give us the opportunity to talk about how your child has settled in and any targets they may have. You should have received a message asking you to book an appointment. Please do so as soon as possible to give the best opportunity for appointments that suit you.
Please bear in mind that the 10 minute appointment time will need to be strictly adhered to to ensure backlogs do not build up and I will be using a timer to ensure that I remain on track. Please be assured that this is just to ensure that I keep to the timings to ensure no lateness. Thank you.
WE RETURN TO SCHOOL ON TUESDAY 1ST NOVEMBER.
Have a lovely break,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
In this week’s school liturgy we learned about the story of the ten lepers who came to Jesus seeking help from a terrible illness. Jesus was able to heal them and in their excitement nine of the lepers rushed off. However, one leper remained and dropped to his knees, thanking Jesus for the amazing gift. This story reminds us of the importance of saying thank you to God and Jesus for all the good things that happen to us. We also need to ensure that we thank our family, our friends and the other people we spend time with.
English - We have continued our work on the story Sister for Sale as part of our stories with a familiar setting unit. We have retold a key scene from another character’s point of view, written a letter to an agony aunt seeking help with our problems in character and have begun to explore how we can incorporate dialogue into our writing using speech marks effectively. Our grammar focus has been upon expanded noun phrases.
Maths - We have finished our work by counting in 3s to solve problems. We have been so impressed by the children’s confidence in this. We have also explored scales on number lines and how we can read different scales, identify numbers and estimate numbers locations. Finally, we recapped our knowledge of number bonds to 20.
Science - We have learned about the four basic needs of animals: air, water, food and shelter. We have considered how different animals meet these needs and why they are so important. We have also considered the additional needs that animals have such as protection, sleep, space and love.
RE - We have been learning about the story of Baby Moses. We identified the parts in the story which are happy and sad and retold the story in our books.
History - We have learned about Samuel Pepys and why he was so significant. We explored his birth date, family, job, interests and education. We used this information to produce posters explaining Samuel Pepys’ life.
PE - We had our welcome assembly for our new reception children so were unable to use the hall this week. In our outdoor PE session we continued to practise passing and blocking balls.
Art - We used collage and paint to explore the story of Wilberforce the Frog.
Regular Tasks
Please continue with the regular tasks sent home previously (counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s; reading and writing Year 1 and 2 common exception words)
Other Tasks
Spelling - Mr Whetnall’s group - soft ‘c’ (sounds like /s/). Watch this video for more information.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - ‘ss’ and ‘ff’ sounds. There is also a handwriting practise sheet for these words.
Maths - Fact family worksheet. Write the four related facts for each family. E.g. 3, 4, 7 is 3+4=7, 4+3=7, 7-3=4, 7-4=3.
English - Expanded noun phrases worksheet - Add an adjective in each space to create expanded noun phrases.
Writing - Common exception word handwriting practise worksheets.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly!
Golden Award - Penny - for being the personification of living ‘life in all its fullness’ - she is kind, caring and very hardworking.
Writing Award - Layla - for working so hard on developing her cursive handwriting.
Maths Award - Willow - for excellent work estimating numbers on a number line.
Class Disciple Award -
On Thursday 20th October we will be having an own clothes day to raise money for the PTA. We ask for a £1 donation. This will be set up through parentpay.
Parent’s Day
On Friday 21st October our school is closed to the children for our INSET day. This has been assigned as our parent meetings day. Parents are invited to come into school for their face to face appointment. Appointments will run from 8.30am to 10.00 am, 10.20am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Each appointment will be exactly 10 minutes and will just give us the opportunity to talk about how your child has settled in and any targets they may have. You should have received a message asking you to book an appointment. Please do so as soon as possible to give the best opportunity for appointments that suit you.
Please bear in mind that the 10 minute appointment time will need to be strictly adhered to to ensure backlogs do not build up and I will be using a timer to ensure that I remain on track. Please be assured that this is just to ensure that I keep to the timings to ensure no lateness. Thank you.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
In this week’s school liturgy we have been learning about faith through the parable of the mustard seed. A mustard seed is incredibly small but Jesus told us that with that tiny amount of faith in God we can do amazing things to improve our lives and the lives of others. We learnt that mustard seeds can eventually grow into large trees and that this teaches us that all good things start from small beginnings.
English - We have been focusing on characters. We have read Sister for Sale by Adrian Bradbury and have been exploring the three main characters in the story. We have learned about expanded noun phrases and how these can be used to improve our descriptive writing. We have also been reading detectives, using clues from the text to make decisions about characters’ personalities, explaining our reasons why we think this. Finally. we have begun to write our own character description of Tom from the story, using our new skills.
Maths - We have been focusing upon counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s and using these skills to solve problems that involve counting equal groups. We have identified patterns in these counts and used this to explain what numbers are not included and have begun to link this to the concept of multiplication.
Science - We have learned about the life cycle of a mammal with a focus upon a sheep. We learned that sheep are born live, drink milk to grow and become independent fairly quickly. We then wrote a life cycle explanation.
RE - We have been learning about Abraham and Sarah and have planned and written diaries from the point of view of Abraham on his important journey.
History - We have focused on the factors which caused the Great Fire of London to spread so quickly and have learned why it took so long to slow down. We have discussed what we would change if we were to design a house/street which wouldn’t burn so quickly, thinking about materials and their properties.
PE - In our indoor PE we created ‘road maps’ as plans for performing our dance routines and practised these in the hall.. In outdoor PE, we continued to develop our passing and moving skills and our skills in blocking passes.
Art - In art we used chalks and pastels to create fiery London skylines.
Regular Tasks
Please continue with the regular tasks sent home previously (counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s; reading and writing Year 1 and 2 common exception words)
Other Tasks
Spelling - Practise the ay, a-e, igh and i-e sounds as many of us still find these tricky in our spelling.
Maths - Number bonds worksheet.
English - Noun phrases worksheet - A noun phrase is made up of a noun (naming word) and a determiner (such as: a, the, our, her, my, some, that, etc) to make a phrase. E.g. a cat, some coins, my brother.
Writing - Write the correct split digraph words from the pictures.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly!
Golden Award - Amara - for always working hard and for a huge improvement in her work.
Writing Award - Cameron - for his super work in Read Write Inc.
Maths Award - Erin - for welcoming a challenge in his work.
Class Disciple Award -
Over the next two weeks we are collecting tinned foods for our harvest focus. There will be a letter sent home shortly (as soon as our printer is working again!). Please bring into school whatever you can. Thank you for your support.
PTA Event
On Thursday 20th October we will be having an own clothes day to raise money for the PTA. We ask for a £1 donation. This will be set up through parentpay.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
In this week’s school liturgy we have been learning about the story of the poor man, Lazarus, who was treated terribly by a rich man whilst on Earth. Once the men died, this changed drastically with Lazarus getting treated well in heaven and the rich man being treated very differently.
We can learn from this story the importance of kindness and charity. In class we discussed how just because someone has lots of things, it does not necessarily mean that they are happy or a good person. We linked this to our RE lessons about being God’s chosen people and how we need to share the gifts God has given us with others.
English - We have begun our Read Write Inc units. Most of the class have been looking at stories with a familiar setting and have been reading the story of Cottonwool Colin by Jeanne Willis and Sister for Sale by Adrian Bradbury. We have been learning new vocabulary, such as sheltered, protected, vast, enormous, terrified and alarmed and have been using these words in sentences. We have also begun to learn about the conjunction ‘when’ and how it can be used in the middle of a sentence but also at the beginning.
Maths - We have developed our skills in comparing numbers using > greater than, < less than and = equal to. We have explored both numbers and number sentences to apply this skill. We have also been ordering numbers in different ways from largest to smallest and visa-versa. We have also begun to do work on counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. Please continue to practise this at home!
Science - We have learned about the life cycle of a butterfly. We thought about the different stages and how much these creatures change as they grow. We then began to compare a butterfly’s life cycle with that of a bird.
RE - We have been learning about Abraham and Sarah and the faith they showed in God. We discussed and wrote about their trust and the promises that God made them and how Abraham must have felt when he decided to take such a difficult journey.
History - We have been looking at excerpts from Samuel Pepys diary and using this information to help us make sense of the events of the Great Fire of London. We learned how and where the fire started and what happened on each day. We continued to discuss how useful Pepys’ diary is as a primary source of information about the fire.
Computing - We have been on a technology safari this week. We have looked around school to identify different types of computers and thought about the parts they have which let us know they are computers. We have also practised turning laptops on, logging in selected programs, then shutting down.
PE - In our indoor PE we continued to travel as different vehicles and at different speeds. We put movements and speeds together to make short sequences and practised these to perform to music. In outdoor PE, we developed our passing and moving skills and began to develop our skills in blocking passes.
Art - In art we created Tudor-style houses after our work on the Great Fire of London.
Regular Tasks
Please continue with the regular tasks sent home last week.
Other Tasks
Spelling - Practise the second set of year 2 common exception words for a test next Friday. Underline the tricky part in each word to help you remember how it is spelled. Practise these regularly, rather than just once!
Maths - Counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s worksheet.
English - Conjunctions worksheet - Choose the best conjunction (and, or, but, so) to complete the sentences.
Reading - Great Fire of London comprehension worksheet.
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly!
Golden Award - Jessie - for her kindness, positivity and hard work. She is a wonderful role model!
Writing Award - Elsie - for always trying to develop and uplevel her written work.
Maths Award - Matilda - for working so hard on comparing numbers.
Class Disciple Award - Archer - for sharing a book with his friend.
For those of you who missed it or want to be able to reference the information, here is a copy of the presentation from today’s Meet the Teacher. Thank you for the wonderful turn out!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
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Good afternoon everyone,
It has been another busy week in class and the children have been working hard to adapt to the routines of Year 2. We have been learning the importance of teamwork and comraderie and how we all feel better when we support each other. We are hoping to have lots of entries for our acts of kindness for next week!
English - This week we have explored diaries more deeply. We have explored diaries from various book characters, including Little Red Riding Hood, have identified key features and vocabulary that we like. We have planned our own diary from the viewpoint of dog and have begun to write this fully.
Maths - We have become place value experts who can partition 2-digit numbers in lots of different ways. We have begun to use our knowledge of tens and ones to compare the size of numbers, using greater than (>), less than (<) and equal to (=) symbols.
Science - We have learned about the life cycle of a bird through chickens. We wrote about the different stages of chicken’s life cycle and identified how these cycles repeat.
RE - In RE we have been thanking God for his gifts to us on Earth. We have thought about the words of our lunch time prayer and have written our own prayers thanking God for his gifts.
History - We have finished comparing the London of 1666 with modern London. We noticed that 1666 London was very different than the modern city.
Computing - We have learned about computer inputs and how these can be buttons, touch screens, voice commands or visual pictures. We designed our own robot and gave it a function. We then described our inputs for it and what output these would lead to.
PE - In our indoor PE we explored moving at different speeds to match the beat of a song. We explored moving like a variety of vehicles to music. In our outdoor PE we practised passing and moving in groups to develop our team game skills.
Regular Tasks I have sent home a letter (which you can find here) about tasks I would like you to practise regularly at home. These include phonics and writing tasks, counting tasks and handwriting tasks. Your child should have received the resources for these today. Let me know if you don’t have them.
Other Tasks
Spelling - Practise the first set of year 2 common exception words for a test next Friday. Underline the tricky part in each word to help you remember how it is spelled.
Maths - Read the number and draw the tens and ones to match this. Some are trickier!
English - Adjectives worksheet - Think of some adjectives to describe the nouns and use them in a sentence. Try to use a thesaurus (there are plenty online) to improve and uplevel these adjectives before writing them.
Support Booklets
I have also sent home three booklets to give you guidance on how best to support your child with their learning at home.
These can be found here:
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly!
Golden Award - Luna - for an enthusiastic ‘can do’ attitude to all her learning.
Writing Award - Alistair - for a great dog diary entry.
Maths Award - Artie - for working so hard to develop his place value knowledge.
Class Disciple Award - Noah - for helping his friends.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone,
Over the past two weeks in school we have been taking a closer look at our school’s mission: to care, learn and respect. We have heard these words several times but wanted to think more closely about what they mean to us and our learning in school.
We decided on the meaning these words had to us…
Care - we help people and treat them nicely, we help others when they are struggling with their learning, we show kindness and we share with each other.
Learn - we work together, support others in their learning, share our knowledge, try our best and understand that being wrong helps us to learn more.
Respect - We play with everyone, hug people, help them, give to charity, listen to others and shine our light.
We will continue to think about how we can apply these important characteristics in our school life.
This Week In Year 2…
English - We have been learning all about diaries through ‘Diary of a Killer Cat’ and ‘Diary of a Wombat’. We discussed features of a diary, expanded notes into complete sentences, used conjunctions to improve our sentences, sequenced events using time phrases and used thesauruses to develop our adjectives vocabulary.
Maths - We have focused upon place value and partitioning numbers. We learned more about what each digit represents in a two-digit number; used base ten, ten frames, bead strings and drew our chunky chips and peas to create representations of two-digit numbers; we did lots of work with part whole models to find missing parts and have also begun to explore how we can partition two-digit numbers in different ways (54 can be 50 + 4 but can also be 40 + 14, 30 + 24, 20 + 34, 10 + 44, etc)
Science - We revisited how we classify animals into their 5 main groups (mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians and birds) and discussed the main features that make each animal fit into their specific group.
History - We began to compare modern London with the London of 1666. We discussed how the houses, people, clothes, streets and transport have changed and began to understand that certain technologies (such as electricity and cameras) did not exist in 1666. We learned about sources and how these give us information about the past.
RE- We continued to explore how we are chosen by God. We learned that God wants us to use the talents and gifts he gives us to shine our light and help others. We learned that we are all like bricks in a wall and we are stronger when we all use our gifts and talents together. We also thought about God’s gifts to the world and wrote about how they can be used to help each other.
Computing - We explored the parts which make up computers and labelled them on diagrams. We learned that even though laptops, desktop computers and tablets look different they contain many of the same parts.
Art - We used our mark-making skills to create eye-catching feelings posters.
PE - In dance we explored the different ways of moving and began to sequence them together to make a short dance routine. In our outdoor session we developed our skills in throwing and catching and began to consider how we might move into space after passing the ball to a team mate.
Please could we ask that you try and read as regularly as possible with your child at home. We have had much fewer readers this week than we expected and we cannot emphasise enough the importance of regular reading practise. We advise you to read every night but if this is not possible, we ask that you try to read at least 3-4 times per week.
Reading underpins everything we do in school. More reading makes you a stronger reader and the stronger you are as a reader, the better equipped you will be to learn in all other areas.
Please, please continue to read!
Most importantly, please read!
Reading - Dogs comprehension - read through and answer the questions.
Writing - Use the blank fact file template to create a fact file about an animal of your choice.
Maths - Partition the two-digit numbers into their tens and ones (e.g. 45 = 40 + 5)
Spelling - The ‘or’ spelt ‘a’ after ‘l’ and ‘ll’ spelling. Click here to watch a video to support this. We will be having a spelling test on these words in two week’s time.
You do not need to send completed homework into school, however I am happy to look at any writing work if you would like to show me it. Please keep your spelling practise sheet at home as these words needs to be gone over regularly to remember them for the test.
Here are this week’s award winners…
Golden Award - Alicia - for always being ready to learn, persevering and welcoming a challenge.
Writing Award - Ava - for a wonderfully written sequencing of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Maths Award - Nicholas - for his much-improved concentration and great partitioning work.
Class Disciple Award -
On Monday 19th September school will be closed for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
Please don’t forget to return your photo letters as soon as possible.
If you have any questions please catch me at the gate at the end of the day or send me an email!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Posted
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Year 2!
It has been delightful to get to know our wonderful new class of children and learn all about them. Everyone has settled in so quickly and we seem happy in our new space!
This Week…
This week we have had a big focus on settling in, getting to know our new classroom and learning our class rules.
English - We have done lots of small writing tasks! We have written adjectives to describe ourselves, created bunting filled with facts about us, explored and described our emotions using ‘The Colour Monster' by Anna Llenas and have focused upon the most important parts of a sentence: capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. We have also done lots of letter formation practise and showed off our amazing hand writing.
Maths - We have begun our work on place value. We have used lots of different equipment (such as base ten, ten frames and beadstrings) to represent numbers and identify their tens and ones. We have done lots of counting forwards and backwards in tens and have begun sorting objects into groups of ten to help us to count them.
Science - We began our topic on animal growth. We explored and paired up a number of adult animals with their babies and discussed how some look very similar but some change a lot! We also wrote sentences to describe how a specific animal changes as it grows.
RE - We learned about how we are chosen by God. We discussed the character traits and talents that God has given to us and how these make us feel.
History - We began our Great Fire of London topic by looking where London is on a map and comparing it to Blackpool’s location. We then learned about some of the things you can do if you visited modern London and wrote about these.
Art - This half term we are looking at mark making. This week we used different marks to create our own emotion faces.
PE - Our indoor PE sessions are focused around dance this half term. We learned to move at different ‘levels’ and explored how we could use these to represent the movement of different animals. Our outdoor PE sessions are based around throwing and catching games and we have been practising underarm throwing and careful catching for close passes.
Computing - We did our first lesson of the year about e-safety. We learned what personal information is, where and where not we should share it and how it can be very difficult to remove something once it has been posted online.
We also had our first whole school mass at church on Thursday. The children focused very hard and it was lovely to have everybody back together.
PE Days
Please ignore the text sent earlier this week about PE days as there has been a change since then. Our PE days will now be Tuesday and Friday. Please come to school in PE kit on these days.
Homework
Homework will be sent home every Friday. There is no expectation that it is returned to school as I send this to allow parents to see and engage in some of the learning from school during that week. However, I do ask that you please try to do as much as possible as this really helps children’s development.
This week’s homework tasks…
English - Write a description of a person you know, a famous person or your favourite book, TV or film character. Use adjectives (describing words) to describe them and draw a picture of that person.
Maths - Draw the correct tens and ones to represent the numbers. We draw tens like chunky chips and ones like peas (not squares!).
Spelling - Please practise the 10 tricky Year 1 common exception words for a test in a week’s time.
Ongoing tasks…
I have sent home a 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s number line. Please practise counting in these amounts forwards and backwards as regularly as possible.
There is also a Year 1 and Year 2 common exception words word mat. These are the words that children need to be able to both read and write accurately by the end of Year 2. Please practise reading and spelling these words as regularly as possible.
Toileting
We have noticed that there are some children who are going to the toilet very regularly during our lesson times. We ask the children to try and go during break times but understand that this is not always possible and they may need to go during lesson. However, could we please ask that you talk to your children and explain to them the importance of only going to the toilet when they really need it. Thank you.
Award Winners
Golden Award - Sienna - For her delightful behaviour and conscientious hard work.
Writing Award - Reggie - For lovely handwriting and an excellent ‘about me’ bunting.
Maths Award - George - For working so hard and for his excellent reasoning.
Class Discipleship Award (this is an award chosen by our class for someone who has performed an act of kindness towards someone else) - Matilda - For being such a kind and supportive friend.
Welcome Letter
Alongside homework, this week we sent home a welcome letter with some information about Year 2 and how you can contact us when you need to. If for any reason you have not received this, you can find a copy of it here.
We look forward to getting to know yourselves and your children and are excited for a fun year ahead!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
Rest In Peace, Queen Elizabeth
After hearing yesterday’s news we would like to express our deep sadness at the passing of our Queen, Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth was an inspiring example of grace, respect and leadership to us all over her incredible 70 year reign and our thoughts are with her family at this time. Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth.
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Good afternoon everyone,
I cannot believe we have reached the end of this academic year. It seems to have gone so quickly. My heart is filled with the love for this wonderful class of children and I feel sorrow, yet such pride, to see them ready for the step up to Year 3. This class has been one of the most resilient, adaptable and inspirational groups of children we have had in school. They have faced such adversity due to lockdowns and the pandemic (as well as the added stress of phonics screenings and SATS) throughout their time at school, yet they continue to smile, work hard and show enthusiasm towards their learning. I would like to thank them all for giving me such a memorable year! I know you will all continue to shine your lights next year and I cannot wait to hear all about your summer holidays when I see you in KS2 in September!!
This Week…
English - We wrote a letter to our new teacher, Mrs Parker, to tell her all about us. We thought hard about our sentence structure and wanted to really impress Mrs Parker!
Science - We had a fun challenge to see who could make the strongest bridge using arts and crafts materials. This was very exciting and it was great to see the discussions children were having about their designs.
We watched Year 6’s wonderful end of year play. Well done to Mrs Ormerod, Mrs Owen and Year 6 on a fantastic performance!
We also went over to church to partake in our first whole school Mass in 2 years. We said goodbye to the Year 6 children, as well as Miss Haggerty, Mrs Wilson and Miss Benson who will also sadly be leaving us too. We wish them well in whatever adventures come next and will miss them all greatly!
Award Winner
Our Golden Award of the Year winner was Aibhin. Aibhin is such a caring, supportive and selfless member of our class who goes out of her way to help anyone in need. She has a warm, friendly smile; sets a wonderful example of how a true disciple of Jesus should act; and works as hard as she can on any and every task she is given. Well done, Aibhin!
We also introduced our legacy awards for Miss Haggerty and Mrs Wilson.
The Wilson Award for Resilience went to Amy in Year 4 who has overcome much hardship throughout the past few years and still continues to smile. We look forward to welcoming her back in September and can’t wait to see her.
The Haggerty Award for Discipleship went to Harriet in Year 3. However, Willow from Year 2 won our class disciple award.
One More Thank You
Myself, Mrs Bowdell, Miss Collins and Mrs Gibbons would like to say one last thank you to all of you! Your support and understanding throughout the year has been fantastic and the progress all of your children have made shows the team we have built together in Year 2. Thank you for all your kind words, gifts, cards and messages and we hope you all have an amazing summer break!
Take care,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell, Miss Collins and Mrs Gibbons
Finally, here are some pictures from Tuesday’s water fight!
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This week we learned about what Jesus says it takes to get into heaven. We must love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. But we must also love our neighbour as we love ourself. We discussed what Jesus meant by a neighbour and the ways in which we can show love to our neighbours. We set ourselves a challenge to do kind and thoughtful deeds for those around us.
This Week…
English - We have been planning and writing recounts all about our RNLI trip last week. We thought carefully about our time phrases, conjunctions and how we maintain our reader’s interest with our vocabulary choices. We looked back at the recount we did in September to see just how far we had come in our writing journey.
Maths - We have been looking at vertices of 3D shapes and learning ways in which we can spot patterns to help us to count these quickly. We decorated and assembled various 3D shape nets and used these to write wanted posters all about that shape’s properties.
RE - We learned about Peter and John who used the power of the Holy Spirit to heal a man who could not walk. We discussed the ways in which this story influences our actions and how we too can help others.
Science - We evaluated materials and their use for different functions. We wrote about why they would be suitable or unsuitable and suggested other materials we may use instead, thinking about their particular properties. We also explored a range of materials to see if we could bend, twist, stretch or squash them.
Geography - We learned about the city of Sydney and some of the things a visitor may do there. We then wrote our own short travel brochures to explain the human features of the city.
Computing - We practised our word processing skills to create a fact file about ourselves. We learned about the backspace, caps lock and enter keys and why these are so critical to word processing.
Art - We engaged in some mindfulness drawing and colouring with Mrs Gibbons.
Homework
There is a mental maths worksheet to complete at home this week.
I have also sent home a worksheet about fronted conjunctions. For each part you need to write 2 sentences. The first part you need to choose a subordinating conjunction and complete the sentence. Then for the ‘b’ part you need to rewrite the sentence with the conjunction at the beginning.
E.g. You must put your coat on because it is cold.
Because it is cold, you must put your coat on.
Finally, I have sent home the list of Year 3 and 4 common exception words. These can be practised reading and spelling over the summer holidays to give your child a headstart for next year.
Hot Weather
With the weather forecast predicting very hot conditions next Monday and Tuesday please can I ask that your children:
Have suncream applied at home before school.
Bring suncream with them to reapply at school (although they will have to do this themselves)
Bring a sun hat to protect them from the harmful rays.
Wear cool clothing, such as shorts.
Make sure they bring their water bottle. This is of the utmost importance as our classroom is very warm at this time of year.
Children’s School Work Coming Home
Please remember to bring a suitably large carrier bag (bag for life) to school for us to put your children’s school books and work in. We ask that this is done by Monday as we intend to send work home on Tuesday to ensure anyone not in on the last day receives their books.
Awards
Golden Award - Gabriel - for showing strength and resilience in overcoming his worries at school.
Writing Award - Natalia - for a carefully written recount of our school trip.
Maths Award - Ellenie - for a great 3D shape wanted poster.
Have a lovely weekend and we will see you for our very last (HOW!?) week in Year 2 on Monday,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell, Mrs Gibbons and Miss Collins
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Good afternoon everyone,
It has been another very busy week in Year 2! We went on our school trip to the RNLI lifeboat station and the beach and it is safe to say that we had an absolute ball! The children were so well behaved, polite and listened so well and it was an absolute pleasure to take them. We are all so proud of them!
This Week…
In English we have been practising our story telling using our story maps of Chatterbox Ben. We have also been focusing on making inferences about feelings and situations using clues in the text. The children discussed and began to plan their own story set in a school.
In Maths, we have been looking at 3D shapes. We identified edges and faces and learned ways to help us remember this information.
In RE, we learned about Peter and his responsibilities in leading the early Christian church. We learned about why he was chosen and how he showed his bravery and courage.
In Science, we have been product designer. We were given a description of a product and had to choose the best materials for that job, explaining the exact properties which would make it suitable.
In Geography, we looked at some physical features we might find in Australia and created our own maps to show their locations, complete with keys.
In PE, we continued our learning on athletics, focusing upon running, hurdling and relay races.
Homework
There is no spelling or times table homework this week as we only have one and half weeks of school left.
English - write a letter to a friend to tell them about your favourite book. What is it about? Why do you like it? Who else would like? What is your favourite part? Who is your favourite character?
Maths - describe the properties of the 3D shapes.
Award Winners
Golden Award - All of year 2 - for their wonderful behaviour on their visit to the RNLI.
Writing Award - Matilda - for working hard on her presentation in her written work.
Maths Award - Roma - for her super reasoning about 3D shapes.
Our Trip
We had a wonderful time on our trip and all of the adults were blown away by the behaviour of the children. They were respectful, kind and polite. Several members of the public told us just how amazed they were with the behaviour of such young children!
Thank you all for your donations towards the RNLI. We raised over £40, which is amazing! Thank you so much for your kindness.
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Good afternoon everyone,
This week marks the feast of St Peter and St Paul, two incredibly important people in Jesus’ life. Both men made bad choices in their lives but were given the chance by Jesus to start again and devote themselves to helping others. We talked about how Jesus always gives us a fresh start if we say sorry and try to change our ways. Being sorry and showing forgiveness are two very important things for us to do.
This Week…
In English, we continued our unit of work on stories with a familiar setting and read the story of Chatterbox Ben. We compared this to the Night Shimmy and thought about how each character would get on if they swapped stories. We made story maps of Chatterbox Ben and used these to tell the story to our friends. We also revisited question sentences in our GPS work.
In Maths, we continued our work on shapes. We learned how to identify the sides on 2D shapes and began drawing them. We learned about symmetry and identified lines of symmetry on a variety of shapes. We learned how to draw the other sides of a shape from the mirror line.
In Science, we learned about a property of some materials: absorbency. We carried out an investigation to see whether paper, tissue, kitchen roll or cloth was best for absorbing water effectively.
In RE, we learned about early Christian communities and the important role that disciples had in spreading Jesus’ message after he had ascended to heaven. We learned about St Peter and St Paul’s important roles in the early church and made crafts about this.
In Geography, we focused upon cardinal directions (compass points). We used maps to label Australian cities and then used compass directions to describe their position in relation to each other.
Sports Day
Thank you all for your attendance and support on Sports Day this week. We were incredibly disappointed with the weather but are glad you got to return to school to see your children compete in some events.
We remind you not to post pictures of any other children than your own on any social media platforms.
RNLI Trip
Next Thursday 7th July we will attend our RNLI and beach trip. There will be no change to drop off or pick up times for this.
Please be aware of the following points
Wear school PE kit on the trip day. You can wear shorts and comfortable shoes but make sure they are suitable for walking.
Please bring a small backpack to carry possessions in. Make sure it is clearly labelled with your child’s name.
Please bring a water bottle and small hand towel in the backpack. Your school bottle is fine.
If you have a bucket and spade please bring this too for our time on the beach.
The RNLI is a charitable organisation so any cash donations, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.
Children will be given a packed lunch from school to bring with them. If your child usually has school dinners but would like to bring a packed lunch of their own on this day, please let us know.
Homework
Homework this week is to practise the four times tables for a test in a fortnight’s. There is a sheet to help with this.
There is also a maths sheet to practise addition. This can be completed mentally or by drawing tens and ones.
Award Winners
Golden Award - Nevaeh - for her fantastic, expressive work in our practical English lessons.
Writing Award - Emily - for consistently putting her all into her written work.
Maths Award - Willow - for super knowledge of 2D shapes and excellent sorting skills.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
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Good afternoon everyone,
This week we have been preparing ourselves for our class Mass in church. We have been taking the opportunity to learn all about John the Baptist and how important he was. We learned that he helped prepare people for the coming of Jesus and for heaven by baptising them in the River Jordan. We also learned that he even baptised Jesus himself, even though he feared he was not important enough to do so!
This helped us to focus on the fact that anyone can make a difference. Even the humblest of people can be chosen to do something great. If we follow Jesus’ teaching, He will guide and support us.
This Week…
In English, we began our new narrative topic all about stories with a familiar setting. We read the Night Shimmy by Gwen Strauss and used our detective skills to make inferences about what was happening in the story. We learned how authors often leave clues for us in the words and pictures which help us to believe something means more than we might first think! We then created our own invisible friends and wrote character descriptions about them.
In Maths, we focused upon shapes. We further explored some of the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes and learned how to quickly identify them. We learned about triangles, polygons and quadrilaterals and make links between various shapes. We practiced our shape work, using sticks to create 2D shapes and used rulers to draw our own technical shape pictures.
In Science, we explored the properties of a variety of materials. We discussed the vocabulary we use to describe the materials and thought about when these properties might be useful and when they might not be so useful. We also finished our plants investigation and learned that beans can (mostly!) grow without soil as long as they get water and sunlight.
In RE, we learned all about John the Baptist. We created fact files of his life and explaining why he is so important to us. We also learned about the early Christian church after Jesus’ ascension and how Christian communities formed in secret to pray and spread the teachings of Jesus.
In Geography, we used maps to label key cities in Australia. We then worked upon our cardinal points to describe the position of these cities in relation to each other.
Sports Day
Key Stage 1 Sports Day is set to take place on Tuesday 28th June at 1.30pm on the Key Stage 1 playground (Thornhill Close side). Parents are invited to attend but we politely request that you do not come over to your children as this can be both a distraction and an upset to themselves and others. We also request that any photographs are only of your child, where possible, and that no photographs of other children are uploaded onto social media. Thank you.
Homework
This week’s reading homework is a comprehension activity to learn more about the life of John the Baptist.
Maths homework - a varied mental maths sheet for children to try and work out using their mental methods.
Spelling - practise your list of words, ready for a spelling test in a fortnight’s time.
Award Winners
Golden Award -Luna - for working so hard on her concentration and school work this week.
Writing Award - Elsie - for a super character description.
Maths Award - Jacob - for working so hard on his shape work.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
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