Year 2

Friday 26th April

Earlier in the week we were lucky to have the author Catherine Cawthorne to come and talk to the class about her book 'Big Bad Wolf investigates fairy tales.' The children were very engaged and it was a great presentation with science experiments and fun stories. 

We have been focusing on GPS this week in english and I have noticed that many of the children are still not secure with their knowledge of what a noun, verb, adjective or adverb is. Please can you help support this at home by looking for them in their reading books. Today we learnt about the past/present progressive tenses such as I was running, She is sitting.

In maths we have started learning about fractions. This is a tricky concept so we are taking it slowly. The main points for this week have been to identify that a fraction is an equal part of a whole. A half is 2 equal parts, a third is 3 equal parts and a quarter is 4 equal parts. 

Our Science topic is now well under way and we have been learning about microhabitats. Perhaps at home you could go into the garden or park and see if you can identify any microhabitats such as a leaf pile, under a plant pot in a hedgerow. What animals might be living there? We learnt about invertebrates and their groupings; worms, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, arachnids and myriapods.

Homework: Maths is the SATs booklets or the alternate worksheet, both can be kept at home and are optional.

Spellings: To support our learning about contracted word forms:

I will, I'll, It is, it's, you will, you'll, she will, she'll, could not, couldn't, you are, you're, have not, haven't.

English: Make your own dragon. Not comprehension this week. 

Well done to Ollie and Tobin for being our Stars of the Week!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 19th April

What a busy first week back! It was lovely to see all the children and hear all about their Easter breaks. In phonics we were looking at the suffix 'es' and changing the y to and i, unless the word ends in ay, oy, ey in which case just add an s

e.g. cry = cries, fly = flies, donkey = donkeys.

In maths we have looked at directional vocabulary as the homework showed. I included a knowledge organiser to support the homework and this shows the language used in the lesson. Please do continue to practise the 2, 5 and 10 times tables with your child, in or out of order as I will be doing more mini 'tests' on these in the coming weeks. It is also important that they are aware of the related division facts e.g. 2 x 5 = 10, 10 divided by 2 = 5

On Wednesday the children had their day of many teachers which went well.

Yesterday we had the most wonderful day at Hastings to end our Coastlines topic (I will attach a picture of our completed topic board). We were so lucky with the beautiful weather and the children got so much out of the trip. They were brilliantly behaved and engaged and the various guides all commented on this. I have put pictures on the website which show what we did: RNLI, picnic on the beach, play in the park and finally a tour or the shipwreck museum. I'm sure they all slept well, I did! Thank you to the parent helpers who came on the trip. We have spent much of today writing recounts of the day and I have been so impressed by their writing and enjoyed hearing about their favourite parts.

We now move onto our Science topic of animal and plant survival and habitats. If you have any books at home to support these topics please do bring in (named.)

Homework: No spellings, please do the next comprehension and complete the maths. Reading books to be returned on Monday. 

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 28th March

What a busy end of term! The children's hats all looked magnificent and I was so proud of their singing in the Easter Service. A shame the weather didn't behave for the parade but I think everyone was able to see the wonderful creations.

This week the children finished their DT project which was to design and make a greetings card using a type of push/pull mechanism. I think you will be very impressed with the engineering involved (linkages) in the Easter cards! Mrs Chapman taught this unit to the class and did a wonderful job. We will miss her as she continues her training in Year 3.

In maths we have continued our shape work and spent a fun lesson making our own repeated patterns. We change the pattern using either different shapes, orientation or size. See the photos. 

There is no spelling or comprehension homework only the maths from last Tuesday. 

It was lovely to see you all over the past 2 weeks at parents evening. I hope you found them useful. A few of you said you had not seen the school reports that were sent out via email a few weeks ago. Do please find them and have a read as it gives a useful insight into where you child is now.

We will start next term with our trip to Hastings before starting our new topics, Animal and Plant Survival and Habitats. Below is a summary of these topics:

In the Animal Survival project, your child will revisit prior learning about habitats. They will learn about invertebrates and their characteristics. They will learn about microhabitats and go outside to identify and observe living things in various microhabitats. They will identify and research what an observed animal needs to survive and will construct simple food chains, learning the terms ‘producer’ and ‘consumer.' They will explore how humans can harm and help animals’ habitats and visit the school grounds to look at ways habitats are already being supported and potential improvements. Children will learn about the offspring of different animal groups, matching parents to their offspring. They will order the stages in animals’ life cycles and investigate the life cycle of an insect, observing it over time. They will revisit learning about the four seasons and explore how animals’ behaviour changes across the seasons and how this links to their life cycles. Children will plan and make habitat improvements within the school grounds, evaluating the success of their habitat improvements by collecting firsthand data.

In the Plant Survival project, your child will learn the names of the different parts of a plant and how they grow. They observe how the seasonal changes affect how plants grow. They will learn how new plants can grow from seeds and bulbs and what they need to germinate. They will use their observational skills to find out where plants like to grow and investigate what plants need to grow and stay healthy. Your child will then use their research skills to find out about some unusual plants.

In the Habitats project, your child will learn what a habitat provides for the plants and animals that live there and that habitats contain both living and non-living things. They will identify living things using the seven life processes and sort the non-living things into those that have lived and those that have never lived. They will use spotting sheets to identify plants and animals from a woodland habitat by carefully observing their physical characteristics. They will research how a woodland habitat provides the things necessary for the survival of the animals that live there. Your child will learn about food chains and construct their own food chains for the woodland habitat. They will investigate the different ways prey animals avoid being eaten and conduct an investigation into animal camouflage. They will also look at the different methods plants use to avoid being eaten and group them according to how they defend themselves. Your child will then use the skills they have learned in the project to investigate the living things, food chains and adaptations in a mystery habitat.

Have a super Easter.

Mrs Cheshire

An Eggcellent Afternoon..!

The children came to school very excited and eager to share their egg puns! They decorated their hard-boiled eggs in the morning and we got to admire their fantastic Easter gardens as did the rest of the school. Well done year 2 for an excellent term of RE and for really digging deeper with the topic of Salvation and why Easter matters to Christians. Well done for being such super sports during the egg rolling. Thank you parents for coming to watch and support.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter! Mrs Frederick

Friday 22nd March

Another busy week with lots of learning!

This week the children have continued to learn about the seaside town of Whitby, looking at is as a tourist destination and how it has changed over the decade. 

In English we have been looking at the present tense and enjoying the Katie Morag stories which fit nicely into our Coastline topic. The class have written super postcards to Granny Mainland about the new pier. These had to be written in the present tense, which is quite challenging but the children did really well. They will be on display in the classroom soon.

In maths we started a new topic on shape. We have learnt some very fancy vocabulary which the children are enjoying using: parallel, quadrilateral, vertex (corner) and polygon. We have been using these to describe 2D shapes and learning that a 2D shape can not be picked up and takes up no space, it only has 2 dimensions (width and length.) Some children were unsure of the names of some shapes so please check your child can identify the main shapes and their properties: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, semi-circle, pentagon and hexagon. Today we moved onto symmetry. We identified lines of symmetry in shapes by folding. We also saw that there is symmetry all around us in nature. Look out for this at home (leaves, butterflies, faces etc.)

Homework: Comprehension and maths but no spellings. Please ensure your child knows the words to the Easter song....and goodluck with the bonnet and gardens making!

Well done Coco on being our star of the week.

Have a super weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 15th March

This week the children have continued their learning about money in maths, including 2 step word problems, adding up amounts and then calculating change using a range of methods. They have all worked very hard on this topic, it is a tricky one, so any opportunities to count money or work out simple change at home will benefit them. I told them to add up their money in their money boxes!

In English we started the week reading Sea related poems which the children performed to the class in pairs. Then we read the lovely book 'The sea saw' by Tom Percival, thinking about the themes and other books that relate to it. Children wrote Missing posters for the lost toy and I was very impressed with the beautiful descriptive language and sentence structure. 

In Geography we learnt about the dramatic rescue of the S.S. Rohilla on Saltwick Nab in North Yorkshire. Ask your children what this meant for the RNLI.

This afternoon we really enjoyed our visiting author (pics above), Janice Akhtar who came in to speak to the children about writing books and stories and read us a few of her own. The children listened very attentively. Some children may now decide they would like one of her books, if so please contact Janice directly. Her email is  azjanakhtar@aol.com

Homework: Comprehension in for Thursday

Maths: In by Tuesday

Spellings: colours plus adding suffixes to words with the rule that w/qu sounds affect how a, ar, or are said:

yellow, blue, washes, wants, working, watering, squashes, squatting, swaps, matches

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 8th March

We end the week on a lovely spring day, we even sang Morning Has Broken in Act of Worship! 

We have had a super week, with lots of great learning. The children have all completed their super leaflets about the RNLI, something they are all so proud of. I will send home copies of them so they can show them off to you. We continued to learn about the RNLI and the wonderful work they do, it's excellent timing that it is the RNLI's 200 year anniversary! 

In Maths Mrs Chapman has been continuing with money and started the tricky concept of calculating change. We used bar modelling to show this as well as subtraction, finding the difference and crossing out coins to visually show the change. I've attached a little game that might be fun to play.

English: We started the week learning to hear and spell rhyming words and continued with our phonics/spelling.

World Book Day was a real highlight. The children looked fabulous and we had a great day. Mrs Chapman read us her favourite story, The Mousel Cat and talked about metaphors and similes. It is a beautiful, mystical story which fitted beautifully into our Coastline topic.

WBD afternoon was a real treat. I had moved all the desks to the side and put up tee-pees, a tent, cushions, blankets, bean bags and fairy light (thank you to those who brought items in.) We got out lots of books including the books the children had brought in to read with friends. We then spent the whole afternoon reading, talking about our books, relaxing (napping if they wanted to) and they could also do book related word searches, design and colour book marks and book covers. I think the children got a lot out of the afternoon and the adults in the class really enjoyed reading small groups stories and discussing books. I will attach some photos of the day.

Homework: Maths, explore the numbots/TTRS online site.

Spellings: This week we learnt how ‘w’ and ‘qu' change the sounds that ‘a’, ‘ar’ and ‘or’ make in some words

 watch, reward, word, quarter, squash, towards, swap, world, who, whole

Comprehension: on to Set B. please return by Thursday.

Well done Heidi and Emilia for winning the book jar competition, they were all fantastic and very imaginative.

Star of the week is Barnaby, congratulations.

Have a super weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 1st March

We are very pleased that Mrs Chapman is working in our classroom this term as part of her teacher training. She is teaching some lessons and spending time in class with us which is great! The children (and I) are very lucky!

This week we have focused on non-fiction texts in English, looking at features such as contents, glossary, index, headings/sub-headings, facts, photographs and diagrams. We looked at a range of non-fiction books to do with our topic on coastlines. 

In Geography we have been learning more about physical and human features at a coastal town, Whitby. The children had to chance to explore a selection of maps and keys. We also learnt about the RNLI in preparation for our trip to Hastings. Linking to our non-fiction work we then wrote our very own leaflet all about the RNLI. I was so impressed with their writing with lots of fascinating facts. Perhaps you could ask your children to tell you something about the charity. We have also talked about beach safety. We also did an experiment about coastal erosion, using sand, water, duplo and pebbles to demonstrate the effectiveness of sea defences. We watched some video clips of poor people whose homes are falling into the sea due to coastal erosion.

In maths we have continued with our work on money, especially looking at using different coins to make the same amount. Any practice at home with coins and notes is hugely helpful as practical experience is key.

We had lots of fun on Thursday all dressed in our pyjamas. I read lots of bedtime story books throughout the day which the children enjoyed, including my favourite, Peace at Last. 

Homework: Maths in for Tuesday and English comprehension for Thursday please. Spelling 'test' will be on Friday. 

Our spelling teaching this week was about why some words end dge or ge? Why can /j/ be spelled j or g in different words?

The spelling words for this week reflect this learning:

fudge, fridge, dodge, badge, large, charge, change, pounds, pence, money

Congratulations Evie on being Star of the week!

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 23rd February

We've had a great first week back and have started our new Geography topic 'Coastlines.' So far we have looked at compass points, what is a coastline, named seas around the UK and used google maps to look at the different coastlines around the world. Today the children painted beautiful wave paintings which are all so individual and creative. 

In maths we have started our unit on money. We have counted coins and notes, added amounts and made shops. I attach a great online game to help with this. Any additional help at home counting money would be useful to support our work in school. Children need to know that there are often many ways to make one amount and how to group coins to count easily e.g. count the 10s, then the 5s. Can your child count in steps of 20 and 50? Practise this as this will help when counting 20p and 50ps. Questiont to ask you child could be; How many 1ps in £1? How many 20ps in £2? Show me 3 ways to make 27p or using only 3 coins can you make 45p.

In English we continue to look at spelling rules for adding suffixes - when a root word ends in a consonant then e, drop the e before adding ed, ing, er, est and y.  e.g. scare = scared, scaring, scary.

We have also read The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, looking at the characters, setting and main story points. It's a lovely story that goes well with our topic and also includes a compound word (lighthouse) which we were learning about at the beginning of the week. Perhaps the children can find some more compound words in their reading books (a compound word is where two or more root words are merged into a new, different single word e.g. butterfly, jellyfish.)

Spellings: please continue to work through the common exception words I sent home last term, focus on the highlighted words. Just focus on a few each week. If your children are already confident in these perhaps you could get them to write a few sentences including a common exception word.

Maths homework in next Tuesday

Comprehension, please do next test, in on Thursday

Reading books please return on Monday having written that it has been read.

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 9th February

It was great to see so many of you this afternoon at the open classroom. I hope you were as proud of your children as I am! They have worked so hard since they started Year 2 and you can see that in their full books and the displays around the classroom.

Next term our topic is Coastlines which is a great Geography topic. 

In the Coastline project, your child will use maps to learn about the location of the world’s seas and oceans and keys to learn about map symbols. They will also find out about the directions on a compass. They will learn about the human and physical features of a coastline, including the effects of erosion and how to stay safe when visiting the coast. They will have the opportunity to learn about the work of the RNLI, what happened to the SS Rohilla and about the coastal town of Whitby, including how Captain Cook is linked to the town. They will research the tourism industry and consider what features make a place a successful tourist destination.

We will also be doing a DT project called Push and Pull. This project teaches children about three types of mechanism: sliders, levers and linkages. They make models of each mechanism before designing and making a greetings card with a moving part.

There is no comprehension, reading, maths or set spelling homework this half term, however I have sent home the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Word spelling list that I tested the children on this week. It was purely an exercise for me to see the areas I need to focus on but I thought it would be useful for you to see how your child got on. I have highlighted the words they got wrong. Please do not worry if there are many highlighted words, these are words that children should be able to read and use correctly in their writing by the end of Year 2 so there is plenty of time. I suggest that you choose a few to focus on each week, maybe write and stick on the fridge. A few of the children only did Year 1 words and the important thing is to focus on these only.

The Stars of the Week were Nina and Esme.

Have a super half term and see you next term.

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 2nd February

We had a great afternoon today as local artist Larraine Shamwana came in to help us create our own still life pictures. We have been learning about still life artists and what a still life is and Cezanne is one of our Movers and Shakers. First the children arranged the objects (fruit and a vase/jug) and then practised drawing with a pencil - they weren't allowed to take off their pencil until they had finished which was a real challenge! Then they had a go at colour mixing with pastels and looking at the light and shape of the objects infront of them. Then on black sugar paper each child used pastels to create their own works. The children have all produced amazing compositions and we look forward to showing them to you next Friday at our open classroom.

In Maths we did our reasoning and arithmetic tests. The children have done very well and many of them used the methods they have been taught so far. There are some gaps which I will re-visit over the coming months but I was very proud of them all. Today we looked at the relationship between multiplication and division and 'fact families.' e.g. 5 x 2 = 10, 2 x 5 = 10, 10 divided by 2 = 5, 10 divided by 5 = 10. This is a great thing to know as it can really help check your answers.

In English we have been continuing with our spelling lessons. This week looking at the kn, gn and wr sounds. We have also written instructions for how to brush our teeth, using bossy verbs and time connectives: Next, brush your teeth.

In History we learnt about activism and activists Mahatma Gandhi, Emmeline Pankhurt, Rosa Parks, William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King and Malala Yousafzai. The children did presentations in groups about one of the above, talking about what they believed and how they went about showing this and what hardships they faced as a result. We also read a great little book called 'A little book about activism' by Courtney Ahn.

Homework: Maths in green books back Tuesday

Comprehension Set A Test 4 back Thursday

Spellings: More year 2 Common Exception Words:  could, should, would, who, whole, people, hour, our, sure, parents

Today's Stars of the Week were: Emilia and Joshy. Well done.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 26th January

This week in English we have been looking at subordinating conjunctions (fancy words!) A subordinating conjunction is a word which joins a subordinating clause with another clause. For example, I drink when I am thirsty. In this sentence, 'when' is the subordinaing conjunction. We also looked at if, that and because. We played a fun group game having to unjumble sentences and find the correct conjunction. Perhaps you can look out for them in reading books. We also read the fun story 'The three wolves and the big bad pig.' As the title suggests, in this fairy tale it is the wolves who are good and the pig who is determined to knock down the houses. The children wrote excellent character descriptions of either the wolves or the pig and I was delighted to see many children using the conjunctions we had learnt earlier in the week.

In maths we have started division. This is a tricky concept to grasp at first so we have spent lots of time using objects to share into equal groups. I say the symbol means - shared between. The phrase I like to use is 'hoops for groups.' If you have 12 divided by 4,  I would draw 4 hoops (circles) and share the 12 into those hoops by drawing 12 marks (maybe ask your child to show you). The number in the hoops is the answer = 3. Today we also talked about how many times can 4 fit into the number 12. We started to think about the inverse operation (multiplication) and will do more on this next week. We will also be doing some maths assessments next week, nothing to worry about, just a chance to me to see how the children are all getting on.

In History we learnt about Neil Armstrong and watched some fascinating videos of the moon landing and in art we have continued learning how to mix colours and create different hues. Next Friday afternoon we are welcoming in local artist Larraine Shamwana who will help us create a Still Life painting. 

Homework:

Reading - books in on Monday

Maths - back in on Tuesday.

Comprehension - Set A test 3 for Thursday

Spellings: Continuing with the Common Exception Words: they, love, come, once, ask, door, floor, find, kind, behind, 

Well done to Johnnie and Daniil for being stars of the week. 

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 19th January 

What a lovely, chilly week! Thank you for sending the children in with coats, gloves, hats etc. It has been assessment week for English and so the children have completed a GPS paper, 2 reading papers and a spelling test. The reading in particular will have proved a challenge to many of the children and that is OK! I have assured them that the purpose of these tests is for me to learn what I need to teach them. The comprehension homework is a good way to build up their stamina in terms of reading comprehension papers as well as hearing them reading their school book over the weekend and asking them some of the comprehension questions at the back.

We have looked at the spelling rule: change the y to and i and add ed/es for past tense, for words such as spy - spied, carry - carries, tidy - tidied and looked at exceptions (when word ends with digraph ay, oy, ey) played, stayed, annoyed, preyed.

Comprehension Homework: Set A test 2. 

Spellings: Year 1 Common Exception Word focus this week. The children should know these from last year which is why I have set 12! Please put them into context in a sentence when they are revising them.

says, were, our, your, here, there, where, friend, put, push, pull, house

In Maths we have been continuing with multiplication of 2, 5 and 10. The children have really come along with this and were able to use this knowledge to solve word problems. Next week we will be moving onto division and looking at the connection between multiplication and dividing. 

Homework in on Tuesday please.

In History we have been learning about the explorer Christopher Columbus. We have learnt some fascinating facts about his voyages and debated whether his is a positive of perhaps slightly less positive legacy! Do ask your children their views on his 'discovery' of the Americas and the results of this.

As part of our Art unit about mixing colours today the children had a lovely time with clay and paints. They moulded a block and pushed holes in and painted it with a sponge using primary colours. They then printed, overlapping to see which secondary colours they could produce. The results are lovely and will go up on a display in the classroom. PLEASE CHECK YOUR CHILD'S BAG AS MANY OF THEM WANTED TO TAKE THEIR CLAY HOME! WE WRAPPED IT IN CLING FILM BUT IT IS A BIT MESSY!!! SORRY. 

Pictures above.

I will send out a letter but just for your diaries, I will be holding an open classroom from 2.45-3.30 on Friday 9th February. This will be a chance to see the art we have done as well as looking at the children's books and classroom.  

Congratulations to Haydn and Ines on being our Stars of the Week!

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 12th January

This week we have started back on our Bridge to Spelling programme, which is the Little Wandle Year 2 spelling scheme. We have learnt some spelling rules for how to add suffixes s/es, ing. 

•  just add suffix s unless word ends in s, x, z, sh, ch in which case add -es.

e.g. duck - ducks, wish - wishes.

• Double the final consonant to protect the short vowel sound when you add -ing

e.g. skip - skipping, cut - cutting,

• You do not double the letter if the word has a long vowel sound or the short vowel sound is followed by 2 consonants 

e.g. rain - raining, print - printing

• And finally, x is never doubled when adding ing. 

e.g. mix - mixing

Spellings for this week to support the learning: foxes, humming, wishes, fizzes, jumping, brushes, fixing, dropping

In English we have been looking at the traditional tale The Princess and the Pea We read different versions of the story including one set on the continent of Africa and one written from the perspective of the pea! We did some hot seating of the princess, asking what it had felt like sleeping on all those duvets. The children then wrote a diary entry from the princess about her experiences.

We have also been learning about apostrophe's for possession and where to place them, e.g. The dog's bowl. The teacher's chair. Look out for these in the children's reading books!

I hope the comprehension homework is helpful and not too difficult for the children. Do let me know if it is a real challenge and as I said in the email please support where needed. Please return by Thursday.

Maths: We have continued with multiplication tables 2, 5 and 10. Counting in groups of. Please ensure your child can count in steps of 2, 5 and 10. These needs to be secure.

Maths homework in on Tuesday (slight administrative error, some children should have had an additional maths sheet but this was not stuck in, I will put it in next week but it is optional as there will be other work.)

I attach a photo of our new DT display which shows all the lovely work the children did with their Bag Tags last term.

Congratulations to Edie and Leo for being Stars of the Week!

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 5th January 2024

Welcome back! It's not always that fun coming back after a holiday but seeing the class was a real joy and hearing their excited chatter about what they did and saw and what they received over Christmas was lovely... I ruined that for them by making them write about when they did and received!! 

A short but productive 'week' so this will be a brief update:

English: Wrote a recount about our holiday with the main focus of including a list with commas. e.g I was given a blue robot, fluffy teddy, scooter and shiny pencil case. I am encouraging most of the class to try and use the lead in for writing in preparation for fluent joining (cursive).

In Maths we have continued with our multiplication work and looked at groups of 2, repeated addition, counting in 2s and the 2 times table. We used multilink to build up the table from 1x2, 2x2, 2x3 etc. The language we use would be "2 groups of 3."

We have started our new history topic, 'Movers and Shakers'. Below I will copy and paste the blurb from the curriculum which explains what it is about. The children already seem engaged; if you have any books at home about significant people in history please do bring them in for us to share. We looked at the 'Dawson's model' which helps historians decide if a person is historically significant based on the impact they had when they were alive and the impact they have on modern society, not always good impacts! Today we learnt a little about Winston Churchill as a local person of historical interest.

In the Movers and Shakers project, your child will learn five statements from Dawson's model that will help them identify people who are historically significant and use the words year, decade and century to describe dates and times. They will study the life and impact of a significant person in the locality and of 10 significant individuals from around the world. They will complete in-depth studies of significant explorers Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, and significant activists Emmeline Pankhurst and Rosa Parks and think carefully about the impact of their actions. The children will also carry out an independent study of a significant person from the past and learn about people who are significant today. They will also learn how significant people are commemorated and design a memorial for a person they have studied.

No reading books or homework this week....although if you can practise counting up in 2s with your child to 24 that would be great.

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 15th December

WOW WOW WOW!!!

I could not be more proud of the children at the Nativity. I am sure you agree that every single child was a total super star. We have worked very hard this term and I think it really showed and most importantly the children enjoyed doing it. Each child delivered their lines perfectly and sang their hearts out. I hope that it is a memory that they will remember for a long time....although I think perhaps the cardboard camels stole the show!!!

Thank you for all of your support with learning lines and song lyrics as well as with costumes. I believe there are photos on instagram and I will also put some onto the website. 

DT: We have finished our bag tags (thank goodness I hear you say!) and this could not have been achieved without the parent support, you know who you are, thank you! The children are really pleased with their finished tags and will be able to bring them home next term. I want to display them in school first for all to see. Today in Act of Worship we paraded them to the whole school, following on from Year 6 who did a fashion show for us demonstrating the sewing they have been doing in DT. It was great to see the progression of skills.

In maths we did some more on arrays, I will attach a link to a good game which shows clearly the 'commutative law' of multiplication (that it can be done both ways with the same total, 3 x 4 , 4 x 3.) There is no maths homework this week and wont be next week either.

We haven't had reading groups this week but the children have all read their books once in school and I have sent them home. Please do return them on Monday, signed to show that it has been read. 

There was lots of jollity today with the Christmas jumpers and Christmas dinner. 

Congratulations to Joseph for being the Star of the Week!

Have a wonderful festive weekend.

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 8th December

We have had a really fun and busy week in school! We are in the final rehearsal stages of Nativity rehearsals and you are in for a treat! The children are amazing and have been working really hard. Please do continue to go over your child's lines as today several forgot when to come in and what their lines were. Also please do ask them to speak really loudly and slowly. Thank you to those of you who have brought in costumes today, please bring anything else by Monday as we will do a full audit of what we have. If you are unable to source something please let me know as I have some spare things here. Please bring in a named plastic bag.

Also please can you practise the words to the songs which I put on last week's newsletter. We were abit shaky today! 

In DT we have made great progress with our luggage tags. We started the week learning about how to do a running stitch, then we added embellishments including buttons, sequins, printing and applique to a piece of fabric, all working towards our final design. We had some brave parent helpers who have been a great support. We have some very talented sewers in the class. (photos attached)

Due to all the rehearsals and DT this week there has been less of a maths/phonics focus but instead we have been doing short bursts of mental maths and times tables. 

THERE ARE NO READING BOOKS OR SPELLINGS COMING HOME TODAY AS WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO READING GROUPS THIS WEEK DUE TO REHEARSING, D.T AND GENERAL CHRISTMAS BUSYNESS! 

Perhaps if your child has a favourite Christmas story they would like to bring in and share with the class they can bring that in next week and we can read it together.

As we are no longer doing Star of the Week in Act of Worship I will announce on here who has been awarded Star of the Week.

Congratulations to Shiloh! 

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming you to the KS1 Nativity on Thursday. 

Kind regards

Mrs Cheshire

RE

This term in RE, Year 2 have been learning all about Incarnation. We have read the Christmas Story from the Bible lots of times in preparation for the Nativity. The children have been learning how the story of the birth of Jesus links with Incarnation. They should all be able to tell you now that Incarnation means 'to take on human form' and that God became a human in the Christmas story when he sent the baby Jesus. Complicated stuff!! 

The children have worked so hard all term in RE so we ended the topic by designing and making baubles that represent the Nativity. The heart represent God's love in sending Jesus to Earth and the stars represent the star that shone over the stable when Jesus was born so the shepherds and wise men could find him there.  Well done Year 2 fantastic work all term. Best of luck in your Nativity - you're all going to be amazing!! Mrs Frederick 

BECAUSE IT’S CHRISTMAS

Sing your praises, leave your cares behind

Because it’s Christmas, Christmas time.

Everybody, lift your voices high

Because it’s Christmas, Christmas time.

1 Angels told us of the Christmas story,

Leading us to the stable.

Heaven’s voices singing “Praise and Glory!”

Helping us to find the Saviour.

In the sky a special star was shining,

Leading us to the stable.

Heaven’s blessing on a town so tiny,

Helping us to find the Saviour.

Ancient prophets had already spoken,

Leading us to the stable.

Heaven’s message to a world so broken,

Helping us to find the Saviour.

Hear the message through the generations,

Leading us to the stable.

Heaven’s hope for every tribe and nation,

Helping us to find the Saviour.

IT'S A LONG WAY TO BETHLEHEM

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

It’s a dry and dusty road.

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

Do we really have to go?

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

It’s a lot for little feet.

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

We’ll be walking for a week!

CHORUS

Better get up, get off, get a move on,

Better be on our way.

Hurry it up, come on, get your shoes on,

We must be gone today!

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

We’ll be bored to bits, I know.

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

And we’d rather stay at home!

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

It’s a hundred miles at least.

It’s a long way to Bethlehem,

And you’re calling it a treat!

Friday 2nd December

Nativity rehearsals are in full swing and I am very impressed by the number of children who came in last week knowing their lines so well! Please continue to go over these until the performance so the children know them inside out, as well as their cues. Please also get them to project, speak slowly and use expression. Maybe stand at one end of the room and get them to say the words, we all know from previous experience how frustrating it is when children's voices can't be heard over the inevitable background noises in church.

We have costumes for all the children but might require some simple, plain clothes to go underneath. We will email about this next week but it wont be anything hard to find.

I have attached the words to 2 of the songs. Please can you help your child with the words. There are lots to learn so some extra learning at home would be a great help.

In English the children have been learning about apostophes of omission e.g. did not = didn't. Look out for them in your reading books. We have also been listening to more traditional tales from around the world. In Maths we started learning that multiplication is repeated addition and the X symbol means "groups of" (or lots of). e.g. 4 x 3 = 12, 4 groups of 3 is 12, 3+3+3+3 = 12.

We have finished our Explore the World topic and have moved onto our DT topic, Cut, Stitch, Join. We began by looking at different household products and how they are made, stitches, which fabrics used, fastenings used, are they fit for purpose and also learnt about the designer Cath Kidston. If you have any of her designs at home perhaps you could point them out to your child. We began by making our prototype (paper) luggage tag and next week will be beginning to create our own ones out of felt.  

There were lots of coughing children, sore throats and runny noses this week. Wrap up warm and rest - we need all of our Nativity cast well and raring to go!

Hope to see many of you at the Christmas fair.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 24th November

eeek, 1 month until Christmas eve! This week we are definitely beginning to feel more festive as the Nativity parts were allocated, songs being learnt and even costumes tried on. Excitement and anticipation are high. As you will have seen, your child's words came home this week. Please can your child learn their words as soon as possible as this will make rehearsals much more straight forward. If they could also learn their cue that would help as well, (Narrators do not need to learn by heart but should be very familiar with what they say and when.) When listening to your child at home the main thing is to practise projecting their voices. As we know, our dear Parish church is a beautiful place for the Nativity but so often children's lines are lost in the building so big voices are a must.

It was lovely to see of speak to you at the parent consultations. I hope that you found the time useful. 

In English we have been looking at spelling patterns for word endings. There are so many but the children have grasped them well, We looked at:

Use ck at end of a word after a short vowel sound (chick, duck)

If the vowel has a friend with it it doesn't need the ck but only k (tusk, milk, cloak)

Use tch at the end of a word after a short vowel sound (catch, fetch, switch)

Use ch when there is a digraph before the ch sound (beach, march, torch)....clear as mud!!!

We have also started looking at Traditional Tales from around the world, starting with one from Nigeria called 'the strongest man in the world.' In Topic we did a traffic survey as part of our fieldwork. We stood on the pavement and took at tally of the vehicles which passed. This also linked nicely to our class text 'The Hodgeheg' as we are also thinking of ways for hedgehogs to cross roads safely.

Today we were very lucky as a lady called Sandra came to talk to us about her time living in Somalia with the Foreign Office. We have been learning about similarities and differences between the UK and Somalia and she gave us some wonderful insights into the country including the amazing beaches (Somalia has the longest coast line in mainland Africa) and how dangerous life can be there. She talked about giraffes, the climate and what they eat - as an ex Italian colony, pasta and ice-cream are very popular!! We have looked at the Somalian flag, learnt some words (setahay = how are you, waa nabad = not bad) and found the country on the globe (on the Horn of Africa.)

Next week we will be starting to look into our DT project to design and make a luggage tag. If you have any luggage tags we could borrow please send in, all will be returned! Thank you to those who already have. I have had a couple of volunteers to come and help with the sewing element at the end of the following week, if you can spare an hour or 2 Thursday 7th or Friday 8th December you would be very welcome. Sewing is sadly not my strongest point!

Maths has been more subtraction! We will be moving on next week to multiplication.

Maths homework in on Tuesday, please and reading books on Monday.

NO SPELLINGS THIS WEEK - PLEASE LEARN NATIVITY LINES

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 17th November 

I feel I've not seen much of the class this week as I was not with them on Tuesday or Wednesday but we have still managed to fit lots of fun learning in and the class had a great day with Miss Smart on Tuesday. They used satsumas to learn about the North and South Poles and drew the equator. We have continued with our Explore the World Topic looking at keys on maps and the climate around the world. If you go somewhere with a map (e.g. Bedgebury arboretum) can your child identify the key features and use the key.

In Maths we have continued with our subtraction work. I am taking time over this as I do not want to move on until the concepts are secure (mainly place value). We began to 'rename/re-group' 10s into 1s when subtracting (you might have learnt about 'borrowing' when taught this at school) and used 'chips and peas' and the column method to find the answers. I have put some photos to show how we did this in a practical way. With Mrs Frederick the children are now measuring. If you do any cooking at home perhaps you could highlight to the children the weights on packages and weighing scales. 

In English we have been learning about Expanded Noun Phrases. For example; a noun might be 'dog' a noun phrase could be 'the dog' and an ENP could be; the big, hairy dog - we stuck post its around the classroom labeling with ENP (see photos). This learning also focused on adjectives and commas to separate the words used. In phonics we learnt the rule about when to use the double letter at the end of a word "The double letters ff, ll, ss, zz protect the short vowel sounds in one syllabul words." e.g. puff, cliff, hiss, boss, miss, buzz, fill.

Thank you for your support with the reading books, we had a full set in this Monday! yay.

It was good to see many of you for parents evening on Wednesday and I look forward to seeing the rest of you next week.

Spellings: which, quick, stretch, beach, cloak, magic, match, kitchen 

Maths homework to be in on Tuesday.

Next week we will be starting our Nativity practising so be prepared for some very catchy songs!

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 10th November

We have had a great first week back. We started by thinking about the fireworks many of us had seen over half term and the children wrote beautiful acrostic poems and drew pictures using pastels. These will be displayed in the classroom.

In Maths we have continued with subtraction, looking at column methods, partitioning and counting on and back (See video explaining our method). Today we used our knowledge of number bonds to take away, e.g. 30 - 4 = 26. The children worked out (using dienes and multilink cubes) that 10-4 = 6, and used this knowledge to find the answer. As this method requires a solid knowledge of number bonds to 10 and their related subtraction facts please work on this at home. e.g. 1 + 9 = 10, 9 + 1 = 10, 10 - 9 = 1, 10 - 1 = 9 (I call these fact families.)

In Topic we have started Let's Explore the World. We have looked at a world atlas and map of the UK, identifying key landmarks and using a compass to find North, South, East and West. If you have a compass which your child could bring in that would be great so we can do some compass work, (please name it if you can.) 

Reading books: 

A reminder to please remember to read the book sent home on Friday over the weekend and bring back on Monday, SIGNED! This is very important as we move on to a new text each week but I need to know the text has been read. There were several books missing on Monday and many came in unsigned. If you have been unable to read please record that and we will aim to read with your child in school. If your child does not bring their book home (sometimes they remain in desks) just let me know and I'll send it home on Monday for the night. Many thanks for your support with this. Their reading is really coming on so well we must keep the momentum going....the books become more interesting as the levels go up!

Today we have talked about Remembrance Day and what we commemorate, watching the moving animated short film called Poppes on BBC. 

Homework: Spellings, we are looking at double letters in words next week.

powder, huff, hotter, shimmer, supper, singer, freeze, fizz

Geography books from year 1 have come home. Please keep them. We have started new books in school.

Thank you for the maths homework books that have already come in, please return by Tuesday. 

The children had the flu vaccine today and seemed very relaxed about it all! Let's hope it prevents nasty illnesses.

I'll see some of you on Wednesday for parent consultations.

I'm off to the disco.....have a lovely weekend

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 20th October

We have reached the end of a term that seems to have flown by but it was also a long one! The children have been absolute stars and I'm really enjoying teaching them. We have covered so much this term and will build upon this next term - although one big focus will be the Nativity! 

This week, we have been looking at subtraction and measuring length. There are still gaps in the children's knowledge with regards to quick recall on number facts including number bonds to 10 and 20. The joy of knowing these is that it really helps when exchanging/renaming for subtraction. If you know that 10 - 7 = 3, you can also know that 100 - 70 = 30 or 70 + 30 = 100. If children have a very secure knowledge of the number bonds (up to and including 10 e.g. 2 + 3 = 5, 4 + 4 = 8), then they can do quick mental arithmetic, so please practise over the holidays. There are lots of fun online games to support this. I'm a fan of the website 'Topmarks' which has a large range of educational games.

In English, we have linked our learning to Queen Victoria. We worked in groups to make fact posters and did a presentation on our findings to the class. We have planned and written a recount about our trip to Hever Castle, using time sentence openers - First, Then, Next, After, Finally. We also learnt about the very interesting Sarah Forbes Bonetta as part of Black History Month. I'd recommend a Google search about her fascinating life and her links to Queen Victoria. 

We finished our class text, The Velveteen Rabbit - quite the tear jerker! 

We were lucky that our artist on the staff, AKA Mrs Clare, came into class this week to do a Tudor Portrait workshop with the class. The finished results are very impressive and lifelike. They used pastels and collage for effect.

Reading: We have sent home a reading book for the holidays. Please return on the Monday after the holidays and PLEASE WRITE IN THE BOOK THAT IT HAS BEEN READ. This is important for our records. Continue reading a range of texts with your child as we are trying to foster a love of reading and listening to stories. Audio books are excellent for this.

We had a wonderful trip to Hever yesterday. The children were a real credit to the school and I had comments from the guides about how well behaved, engaged and knowledgeable they were. I have put lots of photos from the trip for you to see with headings to explain what was happening, we fitted a lot into one day and the weather was kind! Thank you to the parents helpers. I hope that the children came back full of interesting things they had seen and learnt. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful place on our doorstep.

Next term our topics are: 

Geography: Let's Explore the World

In the Let's Explore the World project, your child will learn to use an atlas to find out about the world's continents. They will revisit the four cardinal compass points, and use a key to read a map. Your child will locate the equator, the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the North and South Poles. They will learn that hot places are closer to the equator and cold areas are further away. Your child will know the term 'temperate' and identify areas of the world with a temperate climate. They will learn about the characteristics of the four countries in the United Kingdom and compare England to Somalia in Africa to find similarities and differences. They will take part in fieldwork activities, collecting data about the number of vehicles that pass school and the use of local human features.

Science: Uses of materials

In the Uses of Materials project, your children will learn the names and uses of everyday materials. They will find that materials can be shaped in different ways to make them more useful. They will test how different materials can be shaped and whether they will return to their original shape. They will learn that the properties of materials mean they can be used in different ways and that objects are made from materials that have suitable properties for their purpose. They will find that objects can be made from one material or more than one material and that the same object can be made from different materials with similar properties. Your child will label objects with their materials and think about their properties and uses. They will learn about paper and test the properties of different paper types. They will also find out about recycling and sustainability.

DT: Cut, stitch and join

This project teaches children about fabric home products and the significant British brand, Cath Kidston. They learn about sewing patterns and using a running stitch and embellishments.

If you think you have expertise in these areas, please do get in touch!

Have a wonderful, restful half term.

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 13th October

This week we have been racing through history with our latest monarchs. We have learnt about Queen Elizabeth 1st; what an interesting lady she was. The children found out about her achievements and also some fun facts and were particularly intrigued by her use of lead powder on her face - causing ugly marks as she aged. We were granted a visit from her Royal Highness on Thursday and the children asked her several questions including; why did you never marry, what is your favourite food, where you as good at sport as your dad (Henry 8th), were you cross with your father for beheading your mother and how often do you wash! (see photos)

Today we will start learning about Queen Victoria and next week will complete our topic with Queen Elizabeth 2nd.

We also have our long anticipated trip to Hever castle. This trip is being paid for our of the enrichment fund. As the letter said, please bring the children into school as usual, in uniform and with a red cap/coat/snack/water bottle and small backpack. Lunch will be provided. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us. Thank you to those volunteering. We will meet you there! Children will be back at school in time for pick up.

Maths:

We have continued with addition using column method and dienes. The class have really taken to this formal written method and I have been so impressed by those who have brought in work they did on this from home. Lots of stickers and house points have been handed out! We have today started on subtraction and from the beginning have talked about the (inverse) relationship between subtraction and addition e.g. 4 + 6 = 10. 10 - 6 = 4 (fact families). We used a 100 square to count back and find the answer.

English: We have been looking at how to write a statement sentence (a sentence that tells you something) and question sentences. We wrote questions to ask Queen Elizabeth 1st remembering to punctuate them correctly. We have come to the end of our 5 week phonics review. The children have coped well with all the different grapheme representations and I can see in their writing an improvement with their spelling choices. As we have completed the review there are no new spelling words but I have selected some of the most useful tricky words from this term which you can practise with them this week.

Spellings: people, they, most, their, two, beautiful, sure, once, because, pretty, friend.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 6th October

This term is racing by and we are squeezing lots into every day! This week in English we have continued with our phonics, reviewing common and unusual graphemes.  We practise writing a sentence with each session which allows us to reinforce punctuation rules and handwriting. We also wrote a recount about forest school, writing in the past tense and using time words such as first, next, then, finally.

In Maths we have been learning about column addition with renaming. Setting out our work in columns, adding the ones and then the tens. The hard part is remembering to add on the tens which was renamed from the ones column. I have attached a good little video which we watched together in class, it explains well how we have been doing it in school. Lots of children have grasped this but there are many still struggling so we will continue with this next week. The key is not to forget the place value! If the number is in the tens column it is a 10s number e.g. 3 = 30.

In topic we learnt about the Feudal system (see photos) which the children enjoyed. We recreated it in the classroom with one lucky king, some barons/rich land owners, knights and then lowly peasants looking very miserable! We had a 'Mrs Cheshire's Domesday book' which recorded how many siblings, pets, houses etc the children in class had and then learnt about the real Domesday book. Then we moved onto the very interesting Henry 8th! We wrote facts about him and have been horrified by his treatment of his wives. Year 5, who are studying the Tudors, came in today to read us their fact files on Henry and we showed them the fact posters we had made. I think they were impressed with all of our Henry Knowledge (see photos). Do ask your children what they have learnt. 

The children continue their Magnificent Monarch knowledge in Forest school which they enjoy.

Reading is going well. Thank you for your comments and for returning all the books in their pouches. Please return reading books with comments on Monday. I am continually assessing the children's reading level so do move the groups and books when required.

Spellings for this week:

cities, sorry, reply, please, water, bread, basic, action, friend, Mr, Mrs

Have a lovely warm weekend!

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 29th September

It was lovely to see so many of you at the Harvest Festival. I'm sure you agree that the class sang beautifully and I for one have not been able to get 'Cauliflowers Fluffy' out of my head!! Apologies for that!

English: We have been looking at non-fiction and fiction texts this week with the aim of writing a fact file about William the Conqueror. We looked at the differences between the types of book: non-fiction might have a contents, index, glossary, photographs, diagrams, captions, labels and headings can be read out of order and it gives us information/facts. Fiction texts are not real but are created by the imagination of the author and have a problem and solution, characters a setting, illustrations and must be read in order. Perhaps at home you can have a look at some different types of texts and see if you can find these features. Does your child have a preference?

We had a really fun Roald Dahl day yesterday. We had just finished reading Fantastic Mr Fox as our class text and so the drama work shop was perfect as the class had the chance to physically act out the characters and parts of the story. We talked about different adjectives we could use to describe the characters of Mr Fox and Farmer Bean and wrote character descriptions and made Wanted Posters.

Maths: We have moved on to addition this week. We used number lines to work out simple addition questions and learnt that addition can be done in any order, and when using a number line you 'jump off' the starting number to the next. I usually say to start with the larger number and count on. We also saw that if 4 + 3 = 7, 40+ 30 = 70. Today I introduced the concept of column addition (with no renaming) e.g. 14 + 23 and how to set it out in columns. This proved quite a challenge for some of the class and will be revisited next week. The key is knowing the value of the tens and ones. It is just one of several methods I will be teaching them to do this year and then they can choose their preferred method. I've added a youtube clip which clearly shows how we did column addition today using 10s and 1s and careful laying out of the numbers.

I have noticed that the children's knowledge of number bonds up to 20 is not secure. Please spend time securing their understanding of this e.g. 3 + 5 = 8, 3 + 6 = 9, 3 + 7 = 10. Shut the Box is a great game for this. 

Topic: We have been learning about William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings and Bayeux Tapestry which the class have enjoyed. 

Spellings: badge, listen, castle, instead, colour, young, charge, mother, 

Tricky words: once, because, pretty 

(the rhyme I use for because is - Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants)

Reading: Well done (almost) everybody for bringing back in the reading book and yellow reading record in the pouch on MONDAY. Thank you for your helpful comments. Books will come home again this afternoon, please read the text, comment and return on MONDAY. The pages at the back have helpful tips for conversations and the bookmark I sent home for everyone also helps parents to extend the reading experience.

The sharing book can be returned any time in the week but must be returned by Friday.

Have a lovely weekend, 

Mrs Cheshire

Friday 21st September

Thank you to those who joined the curriculum meeting either on Zoom or in person. I hope you could hear me (those on Zoom) and still found it useful. I have now sent home the information packs that I had talked about. I hope these are helpful. As always if you have any questions grab me at the end of the day or email in.

We have been working really hard in our maths on place value and tens and ones, in particular renaming and exchanging the ones when we get to 10 and putting in the 10s column. Perhaps you could get your child to show you how they have done this. We have also been counting in steps of 2, 5, 10 and jumping on a number line in steps of 3. We looked for patterns on a 100 square.

In English we have continued with our phonics revision and practising our handwriting. I would love to see children beginning to use a 'whoosh' in their writing, especially for the letters in the 'long ladder letter family' (l, i, j, t, u, y). We have read the story 'Paddington at the Palace' and today wrote diary entries about what Paddington did, using the past tense and some good describing words such as 'big, red bus.' It is a lovely story and can be found on youtube if you do not have the book. It links well with our topic on monarchs and royal palaces. Areas for the children to remember are capital letters after full stops and putting the sentence in their heads before they write it. It is also good to get into the habit of re-reading what you have written.

Reading books will come home today. Each child has a named coloured plastic folder. Inside is their book for the weekend and their yellow reading record. In the reading record we will write the title of the book and the numbered copy you have so we can keep track of who has what. It is essential that yellow books come in on Fridays so that we can do this. PLEASE RETURN THE BOOKS IN THEIR FOLDER ON MONDAY as we will need them for another reading group that week. In the yellow books please record that the book has been read and how your child got on with it. As I said in the curriculum meeting this book will have been read at least once during that week and is carefully matched to your child's level. Those on Phase 5 should not be having to decode (segment out loud) too made words at this stage and should 'blend in their heads.' They should be able to read it with a good level of fluency. 

Spellings for this week:

before, chance, station, usual, explosion, talk, pitch, delicious, thought, sure

There are some hard words this week, please don't worry if your child is struggling to spell them, we are revising the sounds during the week. The main thing is for them to first read them. Do they know what they mean, can they put them in a sentence?Then have a go at spelling them - use the Grow the Code sheet I sent home. I will be giving them a lot of support. Just chose the highlighted ones if that helps.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Harvest Festival on Wednesday morning. We have a cracking song for you! 

It is also Roald Dahl day next Thursday. We have some fun activities planned around our class text, Fantastic Mr Fox.

Finally, please keep an eye on the weather and send children in with coats when needed and definitely jumpers.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 15th September

Maths:

Another great week with the class! What a fab bunch of kids.

This week we have been working very hard on our understanding of numbers to 100. We used the terms 'greater' and 'less than' and the symbols associated with them. The way I described the symbols <> was that they are like a crocodile's mouth and the crocodile eats the larger number (the larger number is put by the larger side of the symbol) eg. 45 < 68 (45 is less than 68) 78>39 (78 is greater than 39.) We also talked about the equals symbol which means that the numbers are the same 56 = 56. We used place value to fully understand this - looking at the 10s and 1s. 

Today we were counting in 2s and 10s up to 100, looking at the patterns they make on a 100 square and filling in missing numbers on a number line. Please do practise counting up and back in 10s to 100 and counting up and back in 2s to 20. 

In English we have been revising the phase 5 phonics learnt in Year 1. The children have been using their 'Grow the Code' chart which shows all the graphemes! There are a lot. I have started to allocate books for the children based on their end of Year 1 assessments and having read with them myself. They are a super bunch of readers! I am very impressed. I will start sending books home next week and will explain more about this in the curriculum meeting.

Spellings:

Little Wandle have just brought out a spelling scheme to continue the phonics teaching programme of year 1 and I am using this to inform my spelling planning. I will put the spellings on this page on a Friday and the following week we will go through them together, practising reading and writing them. I will then 'test' them (in an informal way) on Fridays. If you could also have a go at home to support this that would be great. The spellings will all reflect the phonics teaching that week. I did spellings with them this week but will not send the words home. When looking at the spellings ask your child to identify the digraphs/trigraphs/quadgraphs ( e.g. eigh) in the words.  I will also include some tricky words (common exception words.)

This week's spelling words and phonics teaching are focused on the sounds: oo, air, ur and ow.

useful, share, world, mouth, circle, true, about, where, their, through, two, beautiful

Please do not worry if your child finds these hard, we will revisit them and practise them throughout the week. I do not want anyone getting worried about a 'spelling test.' I do not take scores! If you just want to choose 5 to focus on that is fine too. As always, if there are any issues please come and chat to me.

I look forward to seeing you either in school or on Zoom at the curriculum meeting on Tuesday at 3pm. Apologies in advance if I struggle with the technology! It's been a while since I had to do a zoom meeting! fingers crossed.

Have a super weekend

Mrs Cheshire 

Friday 8th September

Welcome to Year 2! We have had a fantastic first week back and I have really enjoyed teaching this lovely class, who I thankfully already know pretty well. They have coped very well considering the crazy temperature in class this week. When it has become too hot we have had some lovely story time in the shade of the trees outside.

Our class text is Fantastic Mr Fox and the children are really enjoying the exciting story - and putting up with my silly voices for the characters! I also read a poem daily which the class have been enjoying.

We have hit the group running and have already stared our maths work, focusing on numbers to 100 and place value. In Year 2 we only go up to 100 but have a very secure understanding of these numbers. This week we looked at partitioning 2 digit numbers, working out the value of each digit e.g. 57= 50 + 7, the digit 5 stands for 50 (5 tens) and the 7 is 7 ones (7). Mrs Frederick will focus her maths lessons on shape, space and measure. This week was length.

In English we read 'The Cook and the King' by Julia Donaldson and wrote about what we would do if we were king or queen for the day. I was very impressed with their writing skills and stamina. I told the class that I discourage the use of rubbers, instead make one small line through the mistake and keep going. Phonics/spelling teaching will start next week. This term we will review all of Phase 5 sounds and tricky words (now called Common Exception Words.)

Our Topic is Magnificent Monarchs and the class made a time line of all monarchs starting with Alfred the Great, it is a long line! We will start to focus on the 6 key monarchs next week. If you have anything at home that links to this topic e.g. a dressing up crown/tiara, capes, play jewels, books on monarchs/castles etc (nothing precious) please do name and bring in and we can place on our topic display. If we have too much I will send home once the child has done a show and tell of their item.

Today the children have all come home with their new yellow reading record book (if you can face it, please cover in plastic as this book gets a lot of wear and tear) and a picture book from our class library. This is a sharing book and is not for the child to read to you but to be shared together. Please return it next Friday and record in the book that it has been shared. Starting soon we will be sending home reading books and our group reading sessions will start up, just as they did in Year 1.

If you have any worries or concerns please email the office or grab me at pick up.

Have a super weekend. 

Mrs Cheshire