Friday 25th September 2020

 

Word of the Week

 To develop the children’s vocabulary, we are introducing a ‘Word of the Week’.  We will be encouraging the children to refer to our words of the week when they are writing (and speaking!).  The more they hear new vocabulary, the more they are likely to use it.  If you spot anything that’s vast, please share this with your child.

 English   Wonderful World of Mini-beasts

 We have been exploring poetry this week.  We have listened to and performed a variety of poems on the theme of Mini-beasts.  The children have enjoyed discussing what they like and don’t like about each poem and then justifying these opinions.

 “I like the eeny meeny mini-beast poem because I like the alliteration and rhyme.”

 We picked out synonyms (words that are similar) and antonyms (words that are opposite)

 Gliding/floating                       squiggly/wriggly                     hurrying/scurrying

 

Maths

We have been revising number - counting different representations of numbers to 100 and representing numbers using different resources. This is to secure children's understanding of place value and what each digit represents. For example, which number is bigger - 42 or 42? Why? 

We used bead strings, Numicon, Base 10, coins and words to represent the numbers. 

 

 We have been focusing on 2-digit numbers and securing our understanding of what each digit represents. Please ask your child how many tens and ones there are in any numbers you see. 

We have also been practising counting up and down in 1s, from any number. Please can you keep practising this at home, especially when you 'cross the tens', eg 60 to 59, 50 to 49. This will really help your child's addition and subtraction learning if they are secure counting up and down to 100. 

A good game to play to practise understanding of place value is lions and tigers (see below). 

Take turns to roll the dice and decide if you will put the number in the tens or ones column. The winner is the person who has made the largest number.

We have also been learning to write numbers in words. Some children are finding this very tricky! We will keep practising at school, but please practise writing numbers in words to one hundred, thank you. 

Art

 This week we explored different techniques when working with clay.  The children rolled, squeezed, squashed, pinched, carved, and hollowed the clay using their hands. They then used a variety of tools to make holes, draw lines of different thickness and create texture.  

 

The children thoroughly enjoyed trying out the different techniques and sharing their discoveries with their classmates.

 Finally, the children practised joining two pieces of clay using slip.  They cross-hatched each piece of clay and then used some slip to act as glue to join both pieces. We were also very impressed with the way they worked as a team to help tidy away, we hope they will demonstrate this skill at home too! 

 At home, you could use a modelling material to further explore the techniques we used.  Can you find any new methods of shaping or marking the clay that you can share with the class next week?

 Science

We have been looking at British habitats.  The children were very good at sorting the animals and plants into the different habitats.  We had a good discussion about foxes and crabs.  Perhaps you could explore some habitats in your own gardens – what animals and plants can you discover?

Reminders

Please remember coats and wellies need to be in school at all times.

Children are reminded to change their reading books and each class has been provided with a slot so that the children are not at risk of crossing bubbles. Thank you for your patience with this.

 Please ensure your child has a named water bottle with them each day.

 If your child has milk each day, please speak to them about the importance of drinking it – there’s a lot being poured away after only a couple of sips.

 We are missing not being able to speak to parents at the beginning or end of the day.  Thank you for your understanding whilst we navigate new systems that are there to keep us all safe.  Please do contact the office via email if you have a questions or would like to share something with us.

 Have a lovely weekend!

 The Year 2 Team

 

This week we have been gently assessing the children’s knowledge in various subjects.  This has included writing, handwriting, spelling and reading and maths.  You might find the children are very tired after a week of excellent focus and thinking. 

Words/phrases from our reading

We share stories with the children each day and are always on the lookout for words and phrases that impress and inspire us. 

 …swam as fast as a mackerel…

…the house was enormously big…

If your child hears words or phrases they would like to ‘magpie’ in their reading at home, we’d love to hear about them and share them with the class.

Reading

Please note that a table group of children are encouraged to change their reading books a day per week.  Thank you for your patience as this system is imbedded.

We regularly review the coloured band the children are reading and would like to stress how important it is for the children to be able to read at least 80% of a text independently.  Re-reading familiar texts enables children to develop their fluency and expression. Please model these skills with your child.

Can they ‘hear’ the question mark or words that are written in italic?

English 

The children planned and wrote a recount on their first week back at school.  We practised using the days of the week and sequencing words such as then and next.  In EMA the children also wrote a paragraph about a creature hidden in the grass - we loved the reading these pieces of writing. 

Art 

This week we explored tone using shading, cross-hatching and stippling.  The children enjoyed seeing how the different techniques and changes of pressure they put on the pencil affect the marks on the paper.

As our topic is ‘mini beasts’, the children experimented with their skills and shaded in some minibeasts. 

 

Can they find a mini-beast in the garden and use their skills to draw and shade it?  Alternatively, they could draw from a photograph or model of one.

 

Science 

We have started our new science topic on living things and habitats.  This week we focused on what makes something living, dead or having never lived.  

We encouraged the children to think about life processes in explaining their choices.  For example a tree is a living thing because it grows.  A basketball has never lived because it has never been able to breathe or excrete.

Friday 11th September 2020

 Welcome back!

It is so lovely to see all of the children back!  We are so proud of the way they have settled into their new classes.  There are new rules to ensure we keep each other as safe as possible and they are following these very well.

In our classes, we have discussed how we each have different circles and what it means to be in each circle.  This was a great way for the children to understand who they will see around school and how important it is for them to respect the distance between them and the adults.  Here is an example from Owl Class.

Settling In

Each class has its own routines throughout the day.  Can your child explain to you the routines that are being established?

We have discussed each of the Crabtree Rules, why they are important and how we can demonstrate them.  

Please speak to your child about these rules. Can they think of any examples when they shown they are following the rules.

- We follow instructions quickly.

- When one person speaks we listen.

- We speak and act kindly and honestly.

- We look after everything.

- We stay focused.

We have practised these rules and the Crabtree values by playing games and activities. Ask your child which rule or value we were demonstrating in these pictures! 

Friendship

The children have adapted well to the changes in play and lunchtime routines.  It is lovely to see them playing with familiar friends but also exploring new friendships.

Keeping Safe

We have been reminding the about regular and thorough hand washing.  They used the images below to write some instructions.

Art

We certainly have budding artists in Year 2!  Take a look our self portraits.

Thank you for your patience and for social distancing at drop off and pick and sticking to the allocated times.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Year 2 Team