Week 1 of Blended Learning

Good afternoon all,

It was lovely to see you all on Monday (although this now feels like it was a lifetime ago) and I am so thankful we got this brief period together.

Again, I would like to begin by expressing how upet I, and all of our staff are, that school was forced to close. We strived to remain open throughout all of this and had taken the utmost care in regards to hygiene and safety. It is such a shame that we were left with no other option but to partially close to many children.

I hope you are all coping well at home and I hope this lockdown doesn’t go on anywhere near as long as it needs to. I have really enjoyed looking at all the hard work you have been doing at home and thank you to those of you who have sent me your work.

Home Learning

Home learning is uploaded weekly onto the Google Drive Link. This can also be permenantly accessed from our website by clicking on ‘Year 2’ and then ‘Home Learning’. All home learning work is uploaded and updated here.

The majority of my communication will be through Class Dojo - as I know all of you have an account and access to this.

Work Expectations

As per Government guidelines, we are setting an average of 3 hours of home learning per day. This takes the form of a Phonics/Spelling task, an English task, a Maths task and another subject task in the afternoon. I also recommend 20-30 minutes daily reading either with books from home or by accessing the Oxford Owl book page (link on home learning plan).

I need to see your child’s work when they have completed it and this can be uploaded via the ‘Portfolio’ page on the Class Dojo app/website. Please use the ‘portfolio’, rather than the message function as the Portfolio work can be chronicled and accessed for assessment purposes, easily and effectively.

Please do try to send me daily photos of work so I can see how your child is doing and if they need any guidance or extra help. I appreciate this can be very difficult with all the other work and home commitments you all have and so I ask that you can at least send me examples of your child’s work every week. At the moment, we are all essentially working 2 jobs (as I know many of you are too!), having to be in school for the large numbers of critical worker and vulnerable children and also setting and responding to work from those at home so it would be very helpful if you could send me work just so I can know that everything is okay and that you have accessed it. I can also give your child Dojo Points for their hard work! If you need any guidance, please don’t hesitate to message me on Class Dojo.

Please bear with schools during this time. The lockdown was sprung upon us at the absolute last minute and we are currently playing catch up in regards to home learning. We are all working incredibly hard to provide work for the children. We strive to provide the best learning we can for all our class (children in school and at home are doing exactly the same things) but we are adapting and evolving work all the time and will continue to do so throughout this (hopefully short) lockdown. At present, we are sticking to our current format and where possible I will upload teaching videos of myself for your child to access. I feel this is more appropriate than live lessons for home learning as children and families access content at different times of the day/week. Therefore, recorded videos and worksheets that can be done at any time allow you all more flexibility in how you access the work.

Home Learning Timetable

Attached here is a suggested timetable for home learning. This is just suggested and I know will not suit everyone. Please do what you feel is best for your child and situation and lengthen/shorten/adapt as necessary. We want home learning to be as manageable as possible.

Responding to Work

I will always look at and respond to all the work I receive. I politely request that work is submitted Monday - Thursday before 5pm as I will be unable to check after this point and on Friday before 1.30pm. Likewise, I will be unable to respond to messages after these times on these days.

I apologise if it takes me a while to respond to messages. We have many more critical worker children in class than initially expected and so I am having to respond to Class Dojo submissions in class break times and in the late evenings. This can be quite challenging to stay on top off so please don’t think I have forgotten you.

Extra Activities

All children have a login to Education City (see Class Dojo stories) so they can access educational games and worksheets.

Twinkl has work and guidance for parents for free at present.

Oddizzi are doing more Geography home learning weekly packs. These were very popular last year and I will add them weekly on the website.

BBC Bitesize also has lots of great home learning activities.

Oak National Academy is incredibly useful for periods where you just want to set your child off and have them learn independently as has plenty of excellent units of work

‘PE With Joe’ is also making its return. Please search for this on youtube to access it.

Cosmic Kids Yoga is fantastic for some relaxing, mindful PE lessons. I highly recommend this.

Maths games is an excellent website with plenty of Maths games online.

Phonics Play is an excellent site with plenty of interactive phonics games (if you struggle to deliver phonics sessions, you could use this, or in addition to other phonics). They have a free period during lockdown… Username: jan21 Password: home

Do arts and crafts, cooking, gardening, cycling etc. These are all valid educational and important activities. Mental and physical wellbeing is just as important, if not more so, than educational learning.

I am also in the process of preparing two small printed workbooks with additional English, Maths and fun activities. Once I have gotten round to printing all of these, I will let you all know so they can be collected from school.

Difficult Times

More difficult days face us ahead but we have gotten through them once and we will endure again. I miss all the children deeply and I am so grateful to all of you at home working so hard to keep your child learning. You are amazing!

I also want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all those front line workers who are putting themselves at risk daily in hospitals, supermarkets, care homes and other emergency services to help all of us. Let’s make things safer for them by staying at home.

Lots of love to you all,

Mr Whetnall

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the staircase' Martin Luther King

What an end to the week it has been with our wonderful Christmas Jumper Day! The children looked fantastic and were so excited to show off their wonderful festive attire. Thank you all who donated money for Brian House, it is very much appreciated.

This week has been another busy one in Year 2 and the children have once again worked their socks off.

In English, we have continued with our Read Write Inc Groups and have further developed our phonics, reading and writing knowledge.

In Maths, we have had a big focus upon adding and subtracting tens. The children are great at this and we are building the foundations for developing written methods to solve more difficult addition and subtraction problems.

In RE, we finished our advent wreaths and thought about their symbolism. We also discussed the actions Christians take to prepare for the birth of Jesus during Advent.

In Science, we have researched and planned a non-chronological report for a world habitat. We will be writing this report next week.

In Geography, we learned all about plastic pollution and the devastating effects this has on our oceans and the living things in them. We designed posters to convince people to look after our oceans.

We have also been busy practising our Christmas poem and song which I hope to upload to the website next week as we recorded it to. I just need to edit it all together first.

Homework

There is no spelling homework being sent home today as we are yet to take this week’s spelling test so please feel free to practise those words over the weekend. The new spelling homework will be sent home on Monday.

Other homework has been sent home in the children’s bags. There are two maths sheets and a reading comprehension.

Reading Books

Unfortunately, we were unable to change reading books today. We will change these on Monday. In the meantime please use the Oxford Owl website and choose ebooks to read. (Click ‘My Class Login’ – username: olayear2 password: olayear2  and click on ‘My Bookshelf’ to browse available books). You can fill in the children’s reading record with books from here.

Award Winners

Golden award - Mia - for always being positive, hard working and a superstar.

Writing - Teddy - for his fabulous attention to detail in his writing.

Maths - Connie - for her super addition and subtraction work and for always supporting others.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' John 14:27

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Hello to you all.

We are finally in our festive season and looking forward to the days ahead. This week’s theme in class has been around hope for the first week of Advent and next week we will be looking at the ways we can be peaceful and attentive in class and around school. Sometimes, especially during this festive period, peace can slip by us but let us not forget the angels message of peace and goodwill to all men and try to find our own sanctuary, as well as allowing others to discover theirs.

In English this week we have been very busy completing our phonics screening checks. The children have done so, so well and we have all been impressed by their resilience and hard work in their reading and phonics work. I know many of you are awaiting the screening check results but I believe Miss Haggerty would like to add a website post explaining some background before your receive them. As soon as I am able to give them to you, I will do so. However, all I will say is if the score is not what you were expecting, please do not be disheartened, the children have had a severely disrupted 6 months and things take time to settle back in. We are not using the screening check results as a measure of your child’s progress/attainment and these will not reflect positively or negatively on your child and their journey through school. We have our own on-going assessment in school to support each child’s individual needs and will continue to implement these to best support each learner. Each child has done their very best and this is all I can ask of them! Well done, Year 2.

Maths - Our Maths this week has focused on using hundred squares to solve problems. We have solved number bonds to 100 with them and have looked and adding and subtracting ones, focusing upon the fact that the tens will change but the ones remain the same. The children understand that a jump upwards subtracts 10 and a jump downwards adds on 10 and are using this to develop their confidence in adding and taking away.

Science - We continued our habitat work by looking at a woodland. We learned about various animals and plants and how they are suited to the woodland habitat.

RE - We have looked at Advent and the symbolism behind the Advent wreaths. The children have begun to make their own wreaths which we will finish next week.

Award Winners

Golden award - Olivia S - for having a ‘can do’ attitude toward her learning.

Writing award - Zahra - For a lovely explanation of a woodland habitat.

Maths award - Lilly C - For trying so hard with her addition and subtraction of tens work.

Online Safety Reminder

I have had conversations with several children in class who regularly discuss the game ‘Fortnite’ amongst others. We have discussed as a class how this game is intended for much older teenager and adults and have content of a violent and inappropriate nature for 6 and 7 year olds and therefore, legally, they should not play these games. There is also the online aspect to these games which means children could be speaking to people they do not know who use language which is not appropriate to them. We have talked about the importance of only speaking online to people you know in real life and telling an adult if something happens which you don’t like.

Many thanks for your understanding on this topic.

Lines Sent Home

The children have been sent home with lines from a poem to learn over the next week, ready to perform hopefully next Friday. There are more details of this on the Year 2 homework section of the website.

Christmas Jumper Day

Just a reminder that Christmas jumper day is next Friday, the 11th December. We are asking for a small donation for Brian House.

Thank you and have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.' - Pope Benedict XVI

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Good afternoon everyone,

It will be quite a short but sweet post this week I’m afraid as many of you will be aware I’ve had a few days off for my wisdom tooth. From what I can see, the children have been working hard, as usual, and have produced some lovely work! Mrs Gibbons has had nothing but praise for the class and has really enjoyed her time in Year 2.

In English, we have been in our Read Write Inc groups and have been practising our phonics skills, ready to undertake our phonics screening check next week. Please don’t worry about this, we have only been in school for such a small period of time and as long as the children try their best, I cannot ask for anymore! (we have had a practice too so the children know what to expect.)

In Maths, we have looked at number bonds to 100, both in multiples of ten and in ones. We learned that we can use a hundred square to help us with bonds in ones and our number bonds to solve bonds in multiples of 10, e.g. if we know 3+7=10 then we know 30+70=100.We will continue to practise our bonds to 100 in ones next week.

In Science, we have continued to explore habitats and have focused upon urban habitats and the living things we find there.

In RE, we have continued our work on symbols of the Holy Trinity and we finished painting our models. We then began to write about why we chose each symbol. We will finish this off this week.

In Geography, we looked at the oceans of the world and labelled them using an atlas. Mrs Gibbons was very impressed with the childrens’ atlas work!

Upcoming Events

Friday 11th December will be our Christmas Jumper Day. Please come into school wearing a festive jumper on this day, alongside normal uniform - for us it will be PE tracksuit bottoms and a white tshirt.

Friday 18th December - The PTA are organising treats and crafts for the children to complete in class, alongside a mini class Christmas party.

Monday 30th November onwards - I will be taking the children to complete their phonics screening check in class. This will hopefully be completed within the week but may extend into next week. Please don’t worry, the children have practised hard and know what it will be like.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Oscar - for having the confidence to seek help when he needs support.

Writing Award - Olivia W - for writing beautifully about the Holy Trinity.

Maths Award - Hallie - using number bonds accurately to calculate more difficult sentences,

Finally, we are fast approaching the first week of Advent (can you believe it?) which falls this Sunday, 29th November. Please have a chat with your child about why Advent is so important and how we can prepare for the coming of Jesus. You could perhaps write a little prayer - the first week of Advent is focused upon hope.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons.

Here are some pictures of the childrens’ Holy Trinity Models.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

This week in Year 2...

All of us in Year 2 have been working very hard this week and growing our brains in all kinds of ways. We have been completing a variety of activities and have been having fun as we do this.

In English we have finished writing our Great Fire of London diaries. I have honestly been blown away by the quality and effort many of the children have put into these. They’ve been a pleasure to read! Our grammar and punctuation focus has been upon using commas for lists.

In Maths, we have focused on using inverse facts to check calculations. This has been a little tricky for us to master but we have learned that unless all 3 numbers are the same in the inverse calculation then the initial calculation must have been wrong. We have also done some work on comparing number sentences. We learned that we can either identify similarities and use this to compare or we can simply calculate the answers to both parts and then compare the totals.

In Science, we have explored seaside habitats and the plants and animals that live here. We have written about three living things in these environments and explained how they are suited to these habitats.

In Geography, we have learned about the seven continents and labelled them. Get your child to sing you the continent song!

In RE we have explored symbols of the Holy Trinity. The children have designed their own Trinity symbol which includes parts for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. On Thursday we made them into models using clay and next week we will paint them!

Award Winners

Here are our award winners for this week…

Golden Award - Elsie - for her positive attitude towards her learning and for being a superstar.

Writing Award - Grace - for a super Great Fire of London diary.

Maths Award - Rosanna - for her hard work in comparing number sentences.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'When you go home, tell them of us and say "for your tomorrow, we gave our today".'

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This week in school we have been thinking carefully about those who have fought and those who have give their lives to help us to enjoy the freedom we have today. We have talked about why we are thankful for the sacrifice those brave souls made and have learned all about the wars and conflicts we remember on Remembrance Day. In class we have also made a poppy wreath to display in our worship area.

It has been yet another busy week in Year 2.

In English we have been working hard to write our diary entries from the Great Fire. We have used similes, expanded noun phrases and fabulous vocabulary to really make our diaries engaging to our audience. We have even begun to edit the work we have done. We are super writers!

In Maths we have spent a long time looking at inverse and related facts and have worked on addition and subtraction by counting carefully on and back on number lines. Next we will look at how we can use inverse facts to check addition and subtraction sentences.

In Science, we have begun our work on habitats and have been exploring a variety of world habitats and exploring the different living things we might find in these places.

In RE we have been responding to our friend’s wonder questions and I have been so impressed by the way the children have expressed themselves.

In Geography we have been looking at our planet and have been identifying physical and human features we might find on Earth. We have labelled physical features of Earth from a satellite photos.

Phonics Screening

If you would to practise reading more with your children in preparation for the phonics check this half term, please use the sound mat sent with the phonics booklet last half term. Please practise reading every sound so children are familiar with them all and choose some of the green words to practise.

The phonics screening check also gives children ‘alien’ words to read (words they won’t recognise by sight so will accurately check their ability to apply phonics skills). I have attached 4 different alien word practise documents here. First. Second. Third. Fourth. Use these to sound out words to read them.

Awards

Here are this week’s award winners…

Golden Award - Zahra - for a fabulous attitude and super hard work.

Writing Award - Henry - for trying so hard in his writing and working independently.

Maths Award - Tommy - for his positive and desire to be challenged in his Maths work.

Operation Christmas Child

Many thanks for the incoming shoe box gifts you have been sending, these are very much appreciated!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'Do all these things; but most important, love each other. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity.' Colossians 3:14

Good afternoon and welcome back to our second half term as Year 2s!

Well, it seems that we are back into another spell of restrictions in our second lockdown. I just thank the Lord that we are still able to attend school. We all see just how much children are enjoying being back around their friends and continuing their learning and it is so lovely to be able to provide that little bit of normality at another worrying and uncertain time.

That being said, may I please direct your attention to our general page on our website which Miss Haggerty has updated with guidance on when and how to isolate in a range of circumstances involving contact with the coronavirus. It is of the utmost importance that all parents and guardians read and are familiar with this advice and take the appropriate action if necessary in order to keep our bubble - and our school - open to all. Thank you!

This first week back has been very busy and we have been working hard as always.

In English, we have been looking at extracts from Samuel Pepys’ diary and acting them out in groups. We have been exploring adjectives and similes and using these to write our own wonderful setting descriptions about London during the fire. Our grammar focus has been upon expanded noun phrases.

In Maths, we have spent a few days looking at number bonds and also discovering related facts linked to these bonds. We learned that addition can be done in any order, but subtraction can’t as we always need to subtract a part from our whole. We have been looking at what happens when we move the = symbol around in our number sentences and this has been quite tricky to grasp but we have done very well!

In Science, we have finished off our work on things that are alive, were alive and have never been alive and have been explaining how we know which things go in each category.

In RE, we have begun our work on mysteries and have started to ask questions which are difficult to answer. We have even had a go at giving our own ideas on this and have realised there are no right or wrong answers!

In HRE, we have been looking at our feelings and have discussed feeling left out and how this might make us feel. I was blown away by the clarity and vocabulary of the children when discussing their experiences in such a mature and thoughtful manner.

Quiz

Before half term, Year 2 took part in a KS1 quiz and guess what? We won! Our prize is a movie afternoon with popcorn and I will let you know when this has been confirmed.

Phonics Screening

You may or may not be aware that in Year 1 the children are required to take a phonics screening check to assess their confidence and fluency in using and applying phonics. However, this was not possible due to school closures and therefore, our Year 2 children will be taking their phonics screening check this half term. I have not confirmed an exact date as of yet but it will probably be at the earliest towards the end of November or into December. Please do continue to practice recognising every sound on the sound mats sent home and keep practicing the green words, encouraging your child to sound out even if they are confident. One of this week’s homework tasks is a phonics screening practice.

Homework

Homework tasks for this week have been sent home and are also live on our Year 2 Homework page.

Christmas Shoe Boxes

At school, we are collecting gifts for Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. In Year 2 we are collecting small picture, puzzle and activity books. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Award Winners

This week’s award winners are…

Golden award - Lilly C - for her fabulous attitude and work ethic towards her learning. What a great start to the half term!

Writing award - Connie - for a super setting description about London, which used lots of great similes.

Maths award - Teddy - for his excellent work on finding fact families.

Well done everyone!

Have a restful weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Half Term

Good afternoon,

It’s the end of a very busy half term in Year 2. The children have settled into Year 2 fantastically and have worked so incredibly hard. We’re proud of every single one of them.

Obviously this week has been quite unusual and our in-person numbers have dwindled but those who have been in class have been very busy. Likewise, it has been lovely to see all the hard work of those doing home learning. Thank you to those of you who have sent me work!

Reports

In lieu of our usual parent consultations, we have instead decided to send out a small report to keep you updated on how your children have settled into their new class. These will be emailed to you at 10am on Friday (23rd) morning. They are a quick summary on your child’s learning so far but I was just like to say that it is still very early in the year and we have missed out on quite a bit of school so please don’t panic if the progress does not quite meet your expectations. There is still a while to go! If there are any major concerns you have regarding a report, I can be contacted tomorrow (Friday 23rd) between 10am and 2pm by Dojo/email or you can request a phone conversation if necessary.

Homework

At half term, I never set homework as I feel it is important for the children to enjoy their break and get some much needed rest.

However, due to our in class numbers, we have not taken the spelling test for last week’s homework so we will do this the Friday we return to school. Therefore, you could practice these words again at home during the break.

Quiz

Today, those of us in class took the PTA quiz. We did really well and had a great time. Many thanks to Miss Heim-Sarac and the PTA for organising it.

If you were unable to attend school, I have attached the quiz here so that you can have a go at home! Can you get full marks?

Half term

Over the half term break I will not be checking my email or Class Dojo messages so any messages/work sent after 2pm tomorrow will not be seen until we return to school. Thanks for your understanding.

Have a lovely half term and we look forward to seeing you in November,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'A new command I give to you, love one another as I have loved you.' John 13:34

Good afternoon everyone!

We’re nearly at the end of our first half term in Year 2 and… so far, so good! Let’s keep everything crossed that it continues this way!

This week…

In English, we have been continuing to develop our phonic knowledge, editing and writing sentence and looking at alien words!

In Maths, we’ve had a focus on skip counting (2s and 5s so far). Please can you continue to practise counting particularly in 5s and 3s which some children find quite tricky!

In Science, we have looked at how humans change as they grow and related this to our work on the life cycle of a mammal.

In RE, we have written wonderful diary entries on behalf of Moses’ sister, Miriam, retelling the story of his coming to the Pharoah’s palace.

In History, we have taken a look at the reasons we know so much about the Great Fire of London - Samuel Pepys! We learned about his life and why he is significant (ask your child about this) and produced posters explaining our new knowledge.

In D&T, we have created 3D pictures of some iconic buildings from the Great Fire - Ludgate, Old St Paul’s Catherdral and the Royal Exchange.

Phonics Support Booklet

I have sent all of you a phonics support booklet home to look through (some are in plastic packs, some on their own.) This contains all the green words for every single phonics sounds - you can use these to practise reading and writing words with particular sounds - and the red words learned throughout the scheme. There are also sound mats for all the sounds we learn from sets 1, 2 and 3 to practise at home. I hope they are helpful!

Home Learning

If you are needing to isolate, please remember to use this link for the Home Learning Google Drive. If you want to support your child over the half term holidays, you could also use activities in here from previous weeks to revisit tricky topics.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Corben - for lovely manners

Writing Award - Dominic - for another super piece of writing

Maths Award - Peter - for working really hard in his skip counting.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'For Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen.' Matthew 22:14

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The above scripture, taken from The Parable of the Wedding Banquet and this Sunday’s gospel fits in very aptly with our learning this half term. We are all facing challenges that may lead us to choose not to try our best or to give up but we are invited by God to live by Jesus’ example and by persevering, helping others and trying hard we can be chosen; just like Abraham and Moses who we have been learning about.

It has been another busy week in Year 2 this week.

In English, we have settled in well to our new Read Write Inc groups and are focusing and trying really hard to develop our skills. We have practised our reading skills and have developed our writing skills. Our grammar focus has been upon question sentences.

In Maths, we have spent a few days looking at comparing and ordering numbers. We learned that when we order numbers, we first need to compare them and we do this by looking first at the tens and then at the ones. We will continue this next week before moving on to look at counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

In Science, we learned about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and wrote about the life cycle of a sheep for our focus on mammals.

In RE, we have learned all about Moses and how he was chosen by God to help his people. We have explored our feelings when we hear the story and have considered the good and bad parts.

In History, we learned more about the Great Fire. Specifically, why it spread so quickly and why it burned for so long. Ask your child to explain all the reasons for this. You’ll be amazed!

Parent Consultations

Due to current restrictions and guidelines, parent meetings will not be able to take place in their current form this half term. We will instead be providing a simple one page ‘report’ which will tell you all about how your child is settling in, how much progress they have made so far and their level of effort. It will also have some targets for the children to achieve which can also be worked on at home. These will most likely be sent out on the morning of Friday 23rd October. I will be available on this day for any concerns you may have via email on year2@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk or via ClassDojo. Please do remember that the children are still catching up on all the missed schooling and so may not quite be where they would normally be at this point.

Awards

Golden Award - James - for being polite, kind and hardworking.

Writing - Dominic - for working hard in his Read Write Inc written work.

Maths - Oscar - for his independence and confidence in this week’s maths work.

I hope you all have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

A new month...

Hi all,

I hope you have all had a good week. We’ve been busy as normal in Year 2 and have been growing our brains every day and learning lots of new things.

In English, we have started our Read Write Inc Phonics Groups. Some children are in Mr Whetnall’s group and some are in Mrs Bowdell’s group to ensure we can give them the focus that they need. We will be doing Read Write Inc for our whole class’ literacy lessons for at least this term as we begin to revisit sounds and books with a focus on building our confidence in spelling and writing independently.

In Maths, we have been looking at numbers on place value grids and have also spent a few days learning about comparing numbers. The children have been really good at this but some are getting a little mixed up with the > (greater than) and < (less than) symbols so I have sent some homework home so they can continue to practise this. Next week we will also be looking at counting in 2s, 5s and 10s so if possible, could you please practise this with your child so they are confident - this can be done by grouping objects or finding things which are normally in these groups.

In Science, we have looked at the basic needs of animals and have written our own animal care fact sheets to explain how certain animals get their air, water, food and shelter. I have really enjoyed reading them!

In RE, we have concluded our work on Abraham by creating our own comic strip to retell the story.

In History, we learned about the events of the Great Fire of London and what happened on each of the 4 days it burned. Next week, we will look more closely at the reasons it burned for so long and spread so quickly.

In Art/DT we made our own 1666 London house using black and white paper. We looked carefully at the shape and height of these buildings and created some wonderful versions!

Homework

Please click on the ‘Year 2’ tab on our website and click on ‘Homework’ to see the tasks which have been set. There are electronic copies here too which can be downloaded.

Reading Books

You may have noticed that your child’s reading book seems ‘easier’ than previously. This is because in Year 2 we introduce a reading support and assessment tool called Accelerated Reader. On the computer at school, the children complete a reading assessment quiz which gives them a ZPD number (don’t worry, this just gives them a range of books they should choose from). When the children finish a book, they complete a quiz on it which checks their comprehension skills, rather than simply their word reading. This is an important skill for children to develop and it is much easier to build comprehension skills from shorter, ‘easier’ books. Do not despair, your child hasn’t fallen back and their books will soon increase in complexity as they continue to complete quizzes on the books they take home. Therefore, it is so important to ask them questions about what they read, rather than merely focusing upon how they read. This will support them in understanding their books and developing their comprehension skills.

PE

After half term, Year 2’s Wednesday PE session will change to Friday. This won’t be until the first week back after half term but I wanted to give you notice. I will remind of this before half term.

Coronavirus and Home Learning

Just to remind you that if you or anyone in your household develops symptoms of Coronavirus then please inform the school office or Miss Haggerty as soon as possible. Arrange a test as soon as possible.

Please also let me know as soon as you can so that I can upload the week’s learning activities to our Google Drive for you to complete at home.

Award Winners

Golden Award - Emilia - for super writing and a fabulous animal fact sheet.

Writing Award - Olivia S - for her fabulous work in Read Write Inc.

Maths Award - Corben - for contributing so well with our comparing numbers work.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'You are chosen, holy and dearly loved.' Colossians 3:12

Good afternoon all!

The children have had yet another busy and hardworking week and are rising to the challenges that we present to them. It is wonderful to see them remember the old things that slipped their mind, as well as making those new connections to further advance their learning.

In English, we have finished writing our diary entries about a memorable trip or experience and I have really enjoyed reading about the fond memories the children have. There have been some absolutely cracking pieces of work and this has made it so hard to choose my writing award winner this week. Towards the end of the week we have looked at some coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, so) and have made sensible and very silly sentences using these. I have been very proud of the children’s work in improving their sentences.

In Maths, we are slowly moving through our place value. This is an area that we always spend an extended period of time on because it is so crucial to every other mathematical concept we will learn. we have focused upon using tens and ones and partitioning numbers up into different combinations of tens and ones (35= 30 + 5, 20 + 15, 10 + 25, 0 + 35). This has been quite tricky for some of us to get our head around and I think some of us still need to cement our knowledge of creating numbers with tens and ones and separating them up, therefore there will be more tens and ones homework to reinforce this!

In Science, we have looked at more animals. We discussed birds and what characteristics define them. We then drew and labelled our own bird. What great artists we have! We then looked at the life cycle of a bird - a chicken! - and described how it changes as it grows

In RE, we have been learning about Abraham and how God chose him to lead His people. We learned about what God asked Abraham to do and the promises God made to him.

In History, we have been comparing modern London with London of the Great Fire. We learned how much the world has changed and how difficult life was for people in 1666!

In Art, we made Great Fire of London skyline pictures and used chalk to create fiery skies. This was very fun! I do have some pictures of this but my iPad is letting me down so I will upload them as soon as i can.

Jumpers and cardigans

Could I ask that you all check your child’s name is written on their jumper or cardigan as we have found a lot getting muddled up!

Homework

This week the spelling homework is focused upon ay ee igh and ow words. Please practise as regularly as possible for our test next Friday. In Maths, there are two place value worksheets. Could I also ask you to practise counting objects to 100 by grouping them into tens and encouraging the children to count the tens and then count on the ones. As well, could you also practise number formation. We have found lots of children reversing their numbers, particularly 3, 5, 6 and 7. In English, there is a coordinating conjunctions worksheet to complete and a simple reading comprehension to practise those SATS skills.

Award Winners

Our award winners this week are:

Golden award - Darcy - for working hard and supporting others.

Writing award - Hallie - for a super diary entry.

Maths award - Lola Mae - for her super place value work.

Home Learning

If your child is having to stay at home due to Covid 19 symptoms, please let me know as soon as possible via Class Dojo or year2@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk so that I can upload work to the google drive for them to complete. Thanks!

We hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Settling In Nicely!

Good afternoon all,

Year 2 are really finding their stride in class and have had another busy week of learning. I have been very impressed by the children’s enthusiasm and hard work and I know they are very proud of themselves!

In English, we have finished planning our diary entries and have begun to write them carefully, thinking about capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

In Maths, we have really slowed down with our focus on place value and partitioning into tens and ones and have aimed to really understand this concept before we continue to move on.

In Science, we have looked at the life cycle of a butterfly and discussed how animals change as they grow. We have noticed that different types of animals have very different life cycles.

In History, we have looked at modern London and have discussed the sights and experiences anyone visiting London today might have.

In RE, we have been writing thank you prayers to God for all the gifts he has given us. I have been very impressed by how thoughtful the children’s prayers have been!

Isolation and Home Learning

In order to support those having to isolate for lengthier periods due to Covid symptoms, I have set up a Google Drive where I will upload some of the work we are doing in school in order to allow the children to keep up to date with learning in class.

I will only update this Google Drive folder when I have been made aware that children are having to isolate for the 10/14 day period and so it will not be updated every week. If you are isolating you can use the link to access the work to complete at home (each folder is named for the subject and the day it would normally be done at school). I have uploaded a general outline of our phonics weekly plan and there are two powerpoints to practise words. However, I will not be uploading the daily English work as this changes with the children’s needs. Instead, I will direct you to the Oak National Academy where you will be able to access units of work for English so your child can continue to reinforce their literacy skills at home.

Here is the link to the Google Drive work folder.

Please note, it will be difficult to print off and deliver daily work if your child is needing to isolate. However, all activities can be done on screen by writing the answers down on paper, without the need for printing.

Homework

Homework will be sent out this week as usual. There are spellings to practise, maths sheets, comprehension practice sheets, amongst other activities.

Please do not return these to school as this helps to minimise the risk of Covid spread.

Class Dojo

I believe that your child’s avatar can be edited and changed using Class Dojo. I am unsure how this is done as I do not have access to a parent/child account to explore. However, if you are able to, please feel free to change your child’s ‘monster’ picture to something they find more personal to themselves.

Pick Up and Drop Off

Finally, may I please remind all parents of the necessity to wear a face covering when dropping off and picking up your child from school. Working together, we can help limit the risks to children, parents and staff and make our school an even safer place to be!

Award Winners

Well done to all our award winners this week.

Golden Award - Ronnie - For his hard work, lovely manners and impeccable behaviour.

Writing Award - Alexander - For a lovely, thoughtful ‘thank you’ prayer.

Maths Award - Mia - For demonstrating super ability in partitioning numbers in different ways.

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you all on Monday,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Our first full week

Hello everyone!

Here we are the end of our first full week in Year 2. We’ve had lots of fun and worked very hard and we are starting to get into the swing of our new time table. The children have been fantastic and it has been lovely to see them all so happy and settled in class.

Announcement

May I just request that if your child displays any symptoms of being unwell that you keep them away from school and try to arrange to be tested. It seems to be cold season again but obviously Covid-19 symptoms can be confused with cold symptoms so please express extra caution at this difficult time. We are trying our best to keep everyone as safe as possible but any germs brought into the classroom can quickly spread so please be extra vigilant. Thank you.

May I also remind that Year 2 start their day at 9am currently so can we ask that they are not sent in to school before this as it creates problems for us to keep everyone safe and stagger starting times.

The Week Gone By…

It’s been a busy old week!

In English we are preparing to write diary entries and have learned all about the past tense, conjunctions, adjectives and time phrases. The children have been rehearsing and writing their sentences carefully.

In Maths we have been looking at place value and learning how numbers are made up of tens and ones. We have been making these numbers with equipment and learning to draw representations of these using chunky chips and peas (ask your child!)

In Science we have been learning about animals and how they grow. We will continue this next week by looking at the life cycle of a butterfly.

In RE we have been learning that we are all chosen by God to do special things. We have written about what we have been chosen to do and talked about our gifts from God and how we can use them to honour him.

In History we have used atlases to locate Blackpool and London on a map and talked about whast is similar and different about these places in modern times.

Homework

Homework this week is a spelling sheet of tricky red words that we just need to rememeber how to spell. We will carry out a spelling test on these words next Friday so please practise at home as much as possible.

There is also a maths worksheet where the children need to write the numbers represented by tens and ones.

Finally, there is an English activity where children must choose an adjective to describe a noun.

***Please do not return homework to school as this could potentially increase the risk of infection.***

Award Winners

This week’s award winners are…

Golden award - Harriet - for her enthusiasm, hard work and generally being a superstar!

Writing award - Lily - for super description sentences.

Maths Award - Olivia W - for fabulous place value work.

Thank you for your continued support and have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Welcome Back! We Missed You...

Hello everyone!

Well, I think we can all agree that its been a funny old year so far! But it fills me with such great delight to finally welcome our new Year 2 class back into school.

We’ve had a fantastic week and have settled back into the school routines so quickly that you’d think we’d never been away. Obviously, some things are very different than before and these changes will take a little more time to embed into their (and our!) routines but we are taking it all in our stride.

Thank you for your understanding and flexibility in helping us to reopen as safely as possible and I can clearly see just how much work you have all put in at home. Thank you again!

This week’s post is a little update on what we have been doing during our first week back.

In English, we have been creating ‘all about me’ bunting to display in our classroom and the children have worked so hard to form their sentences and have been challenging themselves to use conjunctions to make longer, more detailed sentences. These look fantastic!

In Maths, we have been focusing upon counting and number recognition. We made our own board games and wrote numbers as high as we could to help people navigate around our games. We also did some data collection and interviewed our classmates about their favourite things. We will be using this data to create our own pictograms next week.

We have had a big focus on talking, sharing our thoughts and thinking about our strengths and talents. We have thought carefully about adjectives we would use to describe ourselves and have been thinking of ways we can show kindness to others.

Finally, we have been doing some lovely craft work and have painted our very own pebble bumble bees. We will be using these to make a list of the characteristics we need to have to ‘bee’ successful and fulfilled learners. The children's ideas were amazing!

Just a few bits of additional information…

Reading

I have not sent books home this weekend but these should hopefully be ready to take home on Monday. Until we complete our accelerated reader assessments on the computer, we will allow children to pick the books they are interested in. Due to the social distancing and safeguarding conditions surrounding Covid-19, books returned to school must undergo a 72 hour isolation period before they can be returned for selection. Therefore, you may find that new books aren’t sent home as regularly as before the pandemic. Please use the Oxford Owl website (oxfordowl.co.uk - username: olayear2 password: olayear2) to select books during periods in which we may not be able to send one home. These can still be written in the children’s reading record as you would with books sent home. Also, please feel free to read any books you may have at home!

Reading is so important so please do try to read as often as possible. A strong reader has strong language, writing, understanding and knowledge! It underpins everything! As restrictions ease, we will review our isolation period for returned books.

PE

PE for Year 2 will take place on a Monday and a Wednesday starting from the week beginning 14th September. On these days, please send your child into school in their full PE kit.

PE will be done in groups of 15 in order to minimise risk as much as possible.

Homework

Homework will usually be sent every Friday (where possible). This will be either in the form of worksheets taken home or tasks set on the weekly website post. This week’s homework is to practise forming letters and numbers correctly. Lots of children have forgotten how to form sounds (particularly those sounds with two or more letters) and are writing letters and numbers back to front.

Here is a collection of the sounds to practise reading and writing. (Sets 2 and 3 are meant to be printed back to back so you will find that the 1st page is mirrored on the second page (e.g. the ‘aw’ card on the right of page 1 matches the ‘aw’ sound on the left of page 2)

Set 1 powerpoint Set 2 Cards Set 3 Cards

I’ve also attached the common exception words children must know by sight from Year 1 and year 2. Please could you practise reading and writing these words regularly.

Y1 and Y2 Common Exception Words

Finally, if there are any important queries you need to talk to me about during this isolated period, I can be contacted via the Class Dojo app. I will check the app most weekdays up to 5pm.

I hope everyone enjoyed their first week in year 2 and I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall and Mrs Bowdell

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Home Learning Week 13 *And Year 1 Transition Activities*

Good morning Year 2,

I hope you’ve had another good week. We’re getting closer and closer to the Summer holidays now which hopefully means we’re getting closer and closer to getting back to normal and hopefully returning to school!

Thank you again for all your hard work and for working especially hard on your writing. I’m sure Miss Heim-Sarac will be delighted with how hard you are working on this!

That reminds me. As well as having your weekly Home Learning Project work which is attached here from me for you to complete, there is also a special, additional task for you to complete this week. You are very close to going into Year 3 and so on the Year 3 page of our school website, Miss Heim-Sarac will have set you an activity to complete for her in your weekly blog to help get you ready for your move into Year 3 and Key Stage 2! This activity(ies) (and only this activity(ies)) will need to be completed and a picture/copy of work, etc will need to be sent to Miss Heim-Sarac via email at year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk . Please do check the Year 3 blog to see what Miss Heim-Sarac would like you to do and show her exactly how amazing you are!

I will also be doing the same for our Year 1 children further down on this blog.

Our Home Learning Project for this week is one of those we missed previously and is all about Under the Sea. I hope you enjoy doing it as much as I have enjoyed planning it. Here is the work to download and complete.

Week 13 Home Learning Project - Under the Sea

Resources Part 1 (Reading, Science, Spelling, Writing)

Resources Part 2 (Geography, Maths, RE)

Here is this week’s Learners of the Week Gallery:

Have a lovely week Year 2 and I hope you enjoy completing your Year 3 work for Miss Heim-Sarac,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Debowska.

Good Morning Year 1!

It seems a very long time ago since I was last able to see many of you but I can tell you that I am really excited about welcoming you all into Year 2 in September.

I have written you all a little letter so you can read through it and learn a bit more about me. Click on your name from the links below to find your letter.

Emilia          Teddy          Henry          Darcy          Elsie            Oscar

Lilly C          Rose            Dominic        Kurt            Mia              Peter

Ronnie          Sienna         Hallie           Harriet        Tommy         Lola May

Corben         Isaac           Olivia S        Rosanna        Lily T           Alexander

Connie          James          Olivia W      Grace          Zahra

 

If you would like to hear me reading the letter please click here.

To help us to settle in and get to know each other better, I have got two tasks for you to do over the next week (it can be sent to me any day between today and Friday so don’t panic or feel like you need to rush!)

The first task I would like you to do is to tell me all about yourself. This can be done in any way you would like. You could do it by writing me a letter, filling in the All About Me Sheet, making a poster or even filming a video of yourself if you would like!

The second task I would like you to do is to send me a self-portrait. A portrait is a drawing or painting you create of yourself. Take your time and make it look as much like you as you possibly can! When you have finished, I would like you to write some adjectives (describing words) around your picture which describe what you are like as a person. This will really help me to get to know you!

When you have finished these tasks, they can be sent to me by email at year2@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk . I can’t wait to see all your amazing work, Year 1 (or should I say nearly-Year 2?).

 

See you soon Year 1,

 

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Debowska.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Home Learning Week 12

Good morning, Year 2, and happy new week to you all! I hope you’ve all had another good week at home and we are so lucky to have so much wonderful weather to lift our spirits.

If you haven’t already seen it, please check out the blog post previous to this one on our Year 2 page as it contains own class Covid 19 Togetherness video. Just a warning, it’s surprisingly emotional so make sure you have a handkerchief ready! :) I will also send you a direct link to my google drive so you can download and keep the video. I’ll do this through Class Dojo in the next week or so.

Once again, thank you for your tremendous hard work in your home learning. You have really gone above and beyond (both children and parents) and I cannot put into words just how much I appreciate it. It has brought sunshine into my days seeing all your excellent work and I have never been prouder to see how much you can all do on your own. You’re all certainly ready for Year 3 and the Juniors. Exciting times!

In regards to home learning, it is much the same this week. Please keep reading, use books at home, comics, newspapers, magazines and the Oxford Owl website. The more you read, the bigger your brain gets, it’s a scientific fact! :) Also, keep practising writing. I cannot overstate how important this is. You can do the tasks I set, but if you don’t particularly like my ideas, write a story of your own! Any writing is better than no writing. It has been lovely to receive so much more written work this past week from you all and I have loved reading your ideas. Keep it up!

This week’s Home Learning Project is all about Music. Just to clarify, as different year groups have gaps in different themes it may be that your younger/older sibling is completing a different topic for their Learning Project but if this becomes a problem, choose one and do the same activities (obviously not the Reading, Writing, Spelling and Maths but the others are fine!).

Next week, as part of our virtual transition days, I will be directing you to Miss Heim-Sarac’s Year 3 blog as she will have a task for you to complete over the course of the week beginning the 6th July. I will still be setting and receiving your weekly work but Miss Heim-Sarac will be waiting for the one piece she sets you. More details of this will be in next week’s blog but this is just your 7 day warning to check Year 3 as well as Year 2’s blog on that week!

Finally, Miss Dixon is organising a virtual sports day for us all to take part in. You will receive points based upon the activities you successfully complete which will be contributed towards your house team. The more you do, the more points you’ll get! Check the PE/Sports page of our blog at https://ourladyassumption.squarespace.com/pesports-news?p for more information about this.

Here is this week’s Home Learning work.

Home Learning Activities Week 12 - Music

Resources Week 12 (I managed to fit them all into one zip file - woohoo!)

Finally, here is our Learners of the Week gallery, now containing 70% more writing!

Have a great week, Year 2. We miss you,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Debowska.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall