'Nothing ever goes away once it is posted online.'

Good afternoon everyone,

This week Year 2 have learned about staying safe online as part of Tuesday’s Safer Internet Day. We focused upon our personal information: what it is, why it is personal and who we should and shouldn’t share it with. We discussed the fun and exciting things we can do online and had a discussion about the permanency of our ‘virtual footprint’ and how anything we do online is very difficult to get rid of. We designed posters to explain to people what they should and should not share online to keep ourselves and others safe. We also discussed the importance of kindness online, just as much as face-to-face.

This Week

In English, we have been exploring setting descriptions as part of our quest story unit. We have developed our vocabulary and have used similes (comparisons using ‘like’ or ‘as’) and descriptive expanded noun phrases. We wrote our own setting description of a rainforest using the new skills we learned.

In Maths, we have worked hard learning about our money. We spent several days learning the ‘pence’ coins and learning how to count these amounts by ordering from largest to smallest. We have also spent some time learning ‘pounds’ coins and notes and have used the same methods to learn to count the totals of these amounts.

In Science, we learned about seaside habitats. We discussed how a seaside is made up of several smaller habitats and discussed how each part has different creatures adapted to living there.

In RE, we have learnt about Jesus’ Good News and how this relates to the Gospel stories. We wrote about how we can be Good News people by following Jesus’ example.

In History, we learned about Edith Cavell, our final significant nurse. We wrote about her life and achievements.

In PE, we continued our work on gymnastics by supporting our partner to hold balances and by using tennis rackets to hit a ball to a partner.

Homework

As it is half term, the children’s homework is to enjoy their break. Therefore I will not be setting any homework.

However, I will be sending home our next set of spelling words to practise over the break and during our first week back.

PE

Due to timetabling conflicts, Year 2’s Tuesday PE session is changing to Thursday. Please come into school in PE clothing on THURSDAY AND FRIDAY from the beginning of next half term for the foreseeable future.

House Points Award

We have finally got round to counting up our class house points. Our winners were Layton and as a reward, on the first Thursday after half term (24th February), the children in Layton will be able to come to school in their own (practical) clothes.

Please note this is only for Year 2 children and not for other year groups.

Award Winners

Golden Award -Alexander - For a great attitude towards his work, especially Maths!

Writing Award -Ellenie - For a super setting description.

Maths Award -Matilda - For great reasoning about money.

Congratulations also to our Young Seasider Artists from Year 2 - Olivia, Roma and Willow.

Congratulations to Willow on winning our KS1 prize!

Have a lovely half term break and stay safe,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Gibbons, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

This Week In Year 2

Good afternoon everyone,

We have had another busy week in Year 2. Mrs Gibbons has spent half of the week with us and has been very impressed with how much our brains are growing. She is very proud of all of the children’s hard work - as am I!


This Week

In English we have been looking at different sentence types. We have learned about and created statement, question and command sentences. We then focused carefully upon command sentences and how we can use these to make instruction texts to help others. We then planned and wrote an instruction text on how to prepare for a plane or boat journey. We have also done lots of comprehension work and have looked at how we can describe characters.

In Maths, we have done a lot of work on addition and subtraction and have been very impressed by how well the children have taken to using the methods we have learned. We explored finding the difference and how this is another way of subtracting but we can also count on to help us. We have looked at word problems involving addition and subtraction and have looked at the vocabulary used which helps us understand what to do. Finally, we have explored adding three 1-digit numbers by looking for patterns to help us.

In Science, we wrote descriptions of our microhabitats walk on the school grounds last week. We wrote about what we saw and thought about why it might like living there. We discussed the conditions in microhabits and how they might differ from the other habitats around them.

In RE we thought about being thankful to God and wrote prayers thanking God for all he does. We also began to look at the story of the feeding of the 5000.

In History, we learned more about Florence Nightingale and wrote about her life. We explored why she is significant and how she changed hospitals.

We also had a visit from the Life Education team who delivered some PSHE lessons to us on our bodies and feelings and keeping healthy both physically and mentally.


Homework

Maths - addition and subtraction word problems - Read the question, decide whether you need to add or take away, write the number sentnece and solve by drawing tens and ones.

Writing - Make a cup of tea with an adult. Use the worksheet to write instructions with a bossy word to explain each step clearly and carefully.

Spelling :

Mr Whetnall’s group - the ‘igh’ sound spelt with a ‘y’

Mrs Bowdell’s group - ‘ll’, ‘zz’ and ‘ck’ words.

There are also some letter formation practise sheets for some children.


Award Winners

Golden Award - Jacob - for his hard work, kindness towards others and for being such a helpful person.

Writing Award - Aibhin - for wonderful ‘instruction’ writing.

Maths Award - Laura - for excellent reasoning and problem solving.


Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Gibbons, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'Aim for the best, then reach higher.'

Good afternoon everyone,

It has been another busy but fun week in Year 2 as we continue to grow our brains and develop our skills. We have been working very hard on all our learning.

This Week…

In English, we have been continuing our learning on quest stories and have begun to look at another Oliver Jeffers story ‘The Way Back Home’. We have been making predictions, comparing and contrasting stories and have written letters from characters in the story.

In Maths, we have been exploring subtraction. We have taken really well to subtraction without an exchange but have been really challenged by subtraction with an exchange. There will be a homework sheet to allow the children to do more practise with this with a lesson video.

In Science, we have explored world habitats. We have learned about some animals and plants that live in various habitats and organised these carefully into grids.

In History, we have been learning about pre-Victorian hospitals and have been comparing these with modern hospitals. We began to learn about the important role Florence Nightingale had in beginning these changes.

In RE, we have discussed questions we had about the story of Jairus’ Daughter. We have also considered answers to these questions by working with a partner. We have also created a comic story to retell the story of Jairus’ Daughter.

In PHSE we have been learning about boys and girls. We have discussed how we are the same and how we are different and have celebrated what makes us unique.

In PE we had a great treat on Tuesday. We had a visit from an archery coach who taught us how to use a bow and arrow. We really enjoyed this! Look towards the bottom of this post for pictures.

Homework

Spelling:

Mr Whetnall’s group - words spelt with a silent ‘g’ or ‘k’ before ‘n’. We learnt that these used to be pronounced and have used this to help us remember how to spell them, e.g. ker-new, ker-night.

Mrs Bowdell’s group -

***Spelling tests will now be every fortnight due to changes to our timetable in class. ***

Maths:

Subtraction with an exchange worksheet. This is a video of me teaching how this is done if needed.

English:

Apostrophes for possession worksheet.

Could I also please ask if you could continue to practise SPELLING the common exception words for Year 1 and Year 2 (these were sent home earlier this year) as lots of us are still making mistakes with them. Could you please also practise handwriting to ensure your child forms their letters correctly.

Awards

Golden Award - Jackson - for a fabulous attitude towards his learning and a super piece of independent RE writing.

Writing Award - Conleth - for working so hard on his handwriting.

Maths Award - Zachary - for welcoming challenges in his subtraction work.

Photos from our archery session

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Happy New Year

Good afternoon everyone,

Happy new year and welcome back to school as we begin our spring term. It has been lovely to see the children return and excited for their learning. We are still being met by the considerable challenges that covid continues to bring to us but continue to do our utmost to maintain learning and consistency for the children in school.

This Week…

In English, we have continued our Read Write Inc work. Most of the children have begun their new narrative writing topic with a focus on quest stories. We have looked the story Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and have begun to sequence the story, summarise it and identify features associated with quest stories within the book. The children have made predictions and have been considering parts of the story with no explanation which we will be writing our own versions of next week.

In Maths, we have continued our work on addition and subtraction. The children are now confident with adding any two 2-digit numbers together using their tens and ones drawing method. We have also developed our knowledge of using these method to subtract. There is a homework sheet based upon this.

In RE, we have explored the story of Jairus Daughter being brought back to life by Jesus and have considered the feelings of both Jairus and Jesus at key points in the story.

In History, we have begun our work on significant nurses by discussing and exploring what is meant by significant and which significant people we have in our own lives.

In PE, we have begun our gymnastics topic with a focus upon jumping in different ways. Our outdoor PE has focused on striking and fielding skills and we have practised throwing a small ball accurately.

Homework

This week’s homework is…

  • A spelling sheet (half of these words we have already practised but we still need a bit more practise to spell them accurately)

  • A subtraction maths worksheet

  • A new year reading comprehension

School Uniform

We have noticed an increasing number of Year 2 children who have been wearing incorrect uniform to school. Please may I ask that children do not attend school with nail varnish, jewellery (such as necklaces, bracelets or dangly earrings) or boots. School uniform policy recommends flat soled (no heel), sensible shoes and boots are not appropriate for the classroom or running around outside.

Thank you for your understanding.

Award Winners'

Golden Award - Ellenie - For a super growth mindeset. She always aims to grow her brain and challenge herself.

Writing Award - Olivia - A super piece of RE work about Jairus’ Daughter.

Maths Award - Nevaeh - For great focus on her addition and subtraction.

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you on Monday!

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Year 2 Nativity Performance

Here is Year 2’s Nativity performance. I hope you enjoy it! Have a very merry Christmas.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

‘Hope is being able to see that there is light, despite all of the darkness.’ – Desmond Tutu

Good afternoon everyone,

This coming Sunday marks the first week of our season of advent. In school and in church we will be lighting our first purple candle: the ‘hope’ candle. We look at all that we have suffered and lived through in these past two very challenging years and we look forward with hope to the good things we still have waiting for us. We are all hopeful that better days are coming and we pray together for health, love and prosperity for all our friends and family.


This Week

In English, we have been learning all about explanation texts. We have explored the features of these texts and have considered how we might include them in our own writing. We have also learned about glossaries and why they are so important for non-fiction texts. We’ve grown our brains by learning some new vocabulary and written our own definitions of key phrases.

In Maths, we have focused upon addition and subtraction. We have learned how to use number squares to solve problems, including finding bonds of numbers which make 100. We have also began to think about what happens when we add or subtract a single or multiples of ten to solve calculation and have developed both our written and mental methods for this.

In RE, we have been very creative. We have used our Holy Trinity designs to create clay models and have been busy painting them to make them as eyecatching as possible. I hope to add some photos of us doing this to the bottom of our blog.

In Geography, we have learned more deeply about the continents of our planet. We have used books and iPads to research a specific continent and write interesting facts about them.

In Science, we have learned all about the needs of human beings. We learned that humans need more than their 4 basic needs to be healthy, happy and to thrive and have explained the things that are important to us and why this is the case.

 

Nativity

Practice is well underway for our Nativity performance. Unfortunately, we will only be able to record our performance and send a link for parents to be able to access it but we hope you are as excited to see it as we are to perform it.

On the ‘homework’ tab of our year 2 section of the website, I have put a backing track for ‘Away in a Manger’. I would greatly appreciate if you could practise this with the words sent home on Thursday.

Thank you to those of you who have already learned your lines – it is incredibly helpful! Please could I ask that you all continue to practice the lines with your child as there are still several who aren’t able to recall any of their words. Many thanks.

 

Homework

Practicing our lines is our main homework at the moment. However, I have sent some more common exception words to practice. Please do practice these spellings as they are so incredibly important to the children in developing their writing skills. I have also sent home a worksheet to practice adding tens to a two-digit number by drawing tens (chunky chips) and ones (peas). This is some of what we have been doing this week.

 

Award Winners

Golden Award – Roma - For being a fantastic role model who always tries her best, shows great manners and helps others.

Writing Award – Hallie-Jayne - for working so very hard on her handwriting.

Maths Award – Jacob - for super addition work, particularly on adding tens.

 

Gallery

Here are some pictures of us working hard to create and paint our Holy Trinity clay models.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins.

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

An Eventful Week

Good afternoon everyone,

This Week in Year 2…

In English, we have undertaken our phonics screening checks. I have been so impressed with the children’s positivity and effort and they have all worked very hard. When I am able to release the results of these checks to you, I will do so.

We have also focused this week upon information texts and will begin to look at explanation texts through the life cycles of animals.

In Maths, we have done some missing number problems and learned tricks to help us. If the missing number is at the beginning, do the inverse and you’re winning. If the missing number is in the middle, do a subtraction to solve the riddle. We have also looked at number bonds again. We used our bonds to 10 to help us to solve bonds to 100 in multiples of 10 and have also begun to focus on using hundred squares to help us to calculate bonds to 100 in ones.

In Science, we learned all about the life cycle of a human being. We wrote about how people change as they grow and the key aspects of each stage of development.

In RE, we have been asking wondering questions and discussing these with our partners, thinking about how there isn’t always an easy answer to these questions. We have also begun to look at the symbols of the Holy Trinity and designed our own models.

In Geography, we have explored continents of the world, labelling these on a map.

 

Christmas Nativity

Due to an overwhelmingly positive response from the class, we have decided to do a Christmas Nativity.

The children have chosen their own roles and are all happy with their part and I have prepared some words for them to learn by heart at home. Please, please, please practice these are regularly as possible as we only have a very short time frame to prepare for our performance.

Unfortunately, due to ongoing covid issues, we are unable to perform live for parents. Therefore, we will record a performance of the Nativity and put this on our website before the Christmas holidays.

 

Homework

As there are Nativity words to practice, I will not be setting much homework over this half term. I have sent home some spelling words to practice as normal. There is also a maths worksheet based on number bonds to 100. Use the attached 100 square and start at the first number. Count on in ones to the next ten. Then count in tens to 100. E.g. 32 + ___ = 100 would be like this: Count on 8 to 40. Count in 10s from 40 to 100. 60. Combine the two counts 60 + 8 = 68. Therefore 32 + 68 = 100.

 

Award Winners

Golden Award – Hallie-Jane - for really concentrating well and giving one hundred percent.

Writing Award – Charlotte - for her fabulous handwriting in her setting description.

Maths Award – Aibhin - for fabulous work on her bonds to 100.

 

Please do practice your child’s nativity lines, this will be incredibly helpful to others.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'Religion without mystery must be a religion without God' - Jeremy Taylor

Welcome back Year 2. We hope you had a restful and fulfilling half term break and we look forward to a very busy and exciting half term as we begin our approach to Christmas.

Year 2 have been working this week on our readiness to learn. We have all been excited to tell our friends all about our exciting half term but have struggled at times to keep our classroom noises levels down to allow us all to carefully focus on our learning. We are focusing upon using our whisper voices and table voices and making sure we are not talking when another child or adult is doing so. We will practice this and hopefully be able to think more carefully about when we should or should not be chatting.

This week…

In English, we have all been working on setting descriptions. We have explored similes (like/as), expanded noun phrases, adjectives and adverbs to allow us to create detailed descriptions of what it would be like during the Great Fire of London. The children have thought carefully about their vocabulary and how to describe using all of their senses to paint a picture for their reader.

In Maths, we have explored the inverse relationship between add and subtract (e.g. 3+4=7 is the inverse of 7-4=3 or 7-3=4) and have been using this inverse relationship to check whether calculations are right or wrong. We have also used greater than >, less than < and equal to = to compare two number sentences. We were very good at this!

In Science, we explored the 7 life processes and sorted things by whether they were alive, dead or never alive, using these processes to explain how we knew.

In RE, we have thought about mysteries. These are questions that are difficult to answer and those which there may not actually be an answer to. We thought about what we wondered about our faith and religion and wrote our own questions which we discussed as a class. We also discussed other wondering questions and had ‘paper debates’ to give our own thoughts and ideas about these questions.

In Geography, we looked at our planet and how it contains both physical and human features. We identifed these on satellite and aerial images and used atlases to find specfic features.

In PE, Mrs Ormerod took us for an amazing Great Fire of London themed dance lesson. We also continued our work on ball skills.

Phonics Screening Check

This half term we are required to take all Year 2 children for their phonics screening check. This will be carried out by myself and the children will not be aware of this as a ‘test’ but rather just a piece of work we are doing. We do not have a specific date for the screenings yet as it depends on our in-class staff levels but you can expect us to start doing these within the next fortnight. The results of the screening will accompany your child’s report in July but will be given to you if requested.

Homework

This week’s spelling homework is practicing the first 10 Year 2 common exception words. Please practice these often ready for a test on Friday.

For Maths, I have sent a inverse calculations check worksheet. Use the numbers to create an inverse calculation and use the number line to check the answer. If all three numbers are the same in both calculations it is correct, if 1 is wrong the original is incorrect.

For English, there is a fronted conjunction worksheet. The children need to complete the sentence then afterwards need to write a new sentence with the conjunction at the beginning.

For reading, I have sent home another phonics screening check practice sheet.

Award Winners

Award winners will be updated on Monday.

Golden Award -

Writing Award -

Maths Award -

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you where you go.' - Joshua 1:8-9

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

 

Parent Consultations

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

Phonics Screening Check

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

This Week…

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

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

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

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

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

Homework

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

 

Award Winners

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

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

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

 

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

Take care,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

This week in Year 2

Good afternoon everyone,

Parent Consultations

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

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

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

 

This Week…

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Homework

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inappropriate Discussions/Play

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

 

Award Winners

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

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

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

 

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

8th October 2021

Good afternoon everyone,

 

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

 

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

 

This week…

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

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

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

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

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

 

Parents’ Day

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

 

Homework

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

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

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

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

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

 

Award Winners

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

Writing Award – Nevaeh - for a wonderfully written letter.

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

 

Have a restful weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Homework

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

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

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

 

Award Winners

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

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

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

 

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'He went out - even though he did not know where he was going.' - Hebrews 11:8

Good afternoon everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homework

Homework this week is…

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

Maths - comparing numbers sheets

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

Award Winners

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

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

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

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

'I have called you by name; you are mine' - Isaiah 43:1

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

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

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

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

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

Reminders

Water Bottles

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

Homework

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

Award Winners

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

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

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

Have a fab weekend,

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Our first full week in Year 2

Good afternoon everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homework

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

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

Water Bottles and Bags

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

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

Earrings

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

Award Winners

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

Writing - Emily - for superb and detailed sentences.

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

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

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall

Welcome Back!

Good afternoon everyone,

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

This week..

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

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

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

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

Important Information

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

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

Please try to read daily, where possible.

Home Learning

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

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

Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Miss Collins

Posted
AuthorLiam Whetnall