Summer Week 6: Nile Crocodiles

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I'm not sure I can quite believe it's the final half term of the academic year, but here we are! 

Phonics Screening Check - next week
An email went home to the parents of all children taking the phonics screening check next week. Please practise with your child over the weekend. Your child won't know they are being tested - they will sit with me and read the words, which they have done several times before. 

Salcey Forest Trip
I am just finalising a few details and a letter will be with you early next week! 

PE will be on a Wednesday afternoon this half term. Mr Roberts (from Wollaston Secondary School) is coming to teach the children with me. 

This week:

The children learnt that the Enormous Crocodile (if he is indeed still alive) is likely to be a Nile crocodile. They recorded some questions they had about Nile crocodiles and then started research. One video we watched was this one - feel free to rewatch it with your children, Henry is fascinating!

We decided that we would probably need some non-fiction books about Nile crocodiles to take with us on our quest. The children started planning and writing non-fiction chapters which they will publish into books. 

In Maths the children have been working on division. They learnt to divide into groups of, for example, if they have 12 cookies and divide them into groups of 3, they will have 4 groups. The Year 2 children started learning to read and write the formal division symbol, while the Year 1 children focussed on using counters and orally rehearsing the number sentences. 

Year 1 homework is here and will be in their folders. 

Year 2 homework is here and will be in their folders. 

We also resumed the weekly maths fact challenges this week - please have a look at your child's with them, and help them to work on their focus maths facts this week. 

In phonics the children have been doing a lot of practice of reading alien and real words, ready for the phonics check next week.You will find a final QR code in their homework folders for practice. 

In spellings the children have looked at words ending in -tion. If you want to practice reading/writing these words, you can find them here. 

I think that is everything. 

I hope you all have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 5: Forensic Scientists

 Hello Class 2 Parents, 

First: Salcey Forest Trip
Thank you to everyone who has filled out the survey. I am waiting on a few responses, but it does look like the trip can go ahead! Once I have everyone's responses, I will send out details during the first week - the trip will be on Thursday 3rd July.

It's been an interesting and varied week in Class 2!

As most of you will have seen, on Tuesday the whole school discovered and crime scene on the field. Someone had dumped a pile of rubbish. An emergency school meeting was held, and each class was given a different task to carry out. In class 2, the children examined some footprints left at the site. They had their suspicions as to who they belonged to, but realised that they needed to do more investigation to prove their theories. 

They learnt how to take footprints by spraying water on the soles of shoes and pressing the shoe down onto paper. It took practice to get this right. Once they were confident, the children took their forensic footprint kits around the school, taking prints from each adult. They carefully took photographs of each print before it dried out. 

Next, they examined the results and compared them to the original prints. Four suspects were identified. After lunch, the whole school gathered once more to share their findings (Class 1 were looking at a note written in invisible ink, Class 3 were learning about chromatography in order to analyse a note left at the scene, and Class 4 had the task of lifting and identifing fingerprints from the scene). 

The culprit was identified, and Class 2 spent the afternoon creating cartoon characters to educate the culprit about how better to look after the world. 

(see below for photos of forensic scientists at work).

In other news. 

Writing: 
The children have been planning and writing their own version of The Enormous Crocodile to add to their purple progress books - these are books started in Year 1 that demonstrate the progress children make in their writing. The children write in it around five times per academic year and they love seeing their progress.

Maths: 
The children have continued their work on arrays, looking at making arrays for the 2, 5 and 10x table (for Year 1, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and for Year 2 understanding the 'groups of ' symbol (x).

Weekly maths challenge - unfortunately due to a printer malfunction this week's maths challenge could not go ahead, but it will resume after half term!

Spellings: 
As it is the end of half term, we have tested all of the children on their common exception word spelling. Please continue to help your child with theirs: the aim is for Year 1 to have finished lists 1 to 8 of 'Year 1' words by the end of the academic year, and for Year 2 to have finished those, pluse lists 1-8 of 'Year 2' words. 

Our Story: 
After a bit of a break (for the science day, and other things) we revisited our story. The children had to help Professor Rufus Johnson to pack for the trip to Kenya. We discussed the climate in Kenya and what might be suitable, as well as different items that might come in handy. 

Your child has some books in their bag. Please read over the holidays  - they are free choice books, so if they are too hard, just do lots of echo reading so that your child can copy your reading (but ensure that they are pointing to and looking at words while they do this!) and if they are quite easy, help your child to read with fluency and expression, and discuss the books. 

Half term homework suggestions are here. As usual, they are all optional apart from the reading books!

Have a good week!

From

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 4: the theme is sunshine.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope you're reading this with an ice cream in your hand! It's been such a lovely sunny week and the children have been enjoying themselves, using our outdoor area a lot. 

First - a few notes!

Important: a possible trip!
The office sent you all an email regarding a possible trip to Salcey Forest - please fill in the given survey as soon as possible so that I can either make a plan to go ahead, or make an alternative plan! The survey is here, if you haven't already seen it. Thank you!

Spellings cards. 
As usual at the end of each half term, we will be testing your child on their individual common exception word spellings. Please ensure their spelling card is in their homework folder next week, so that I can update it accordingly. Thank you!

Water bottles. 
Once again, can I please ask that water bottles contain water only unless you have spoken to me and your child has a reason for needing squash. We've had a couple of spillages recently that are sticky and messy, and when children see another child's transparent bottle with squash in it they feel it is unfair. 

In Class 2 this week:

Maths.
The children have continued their work on multiplication. Last week they were making equal groups, and this week they have been making arrays. Arrays are a way of representing muliplications and divisions using equal rows and columns. Year 1 children have been focussing on how many rows, and how many in each row and how many columns, and how many in each column.  Year 2 children have been writing multiplication facts to match their arrays. 

Year 1 Maths homework is here and will be in their bags.

Year 2 Maths homework is here and will be in their bags.

In phonics the children continue to practice for their phonics screening check in June. They focussed this week on ir, er and ur as well as or, aw and au. 

If your child is taking the phonics screening check this year (all Year 1 children and any Year 2 children who need to retake it), I have put another slip in their bag with a QR code which takes you to some practice words. 

In spellings the children have been looking at words with the -ful and -less suffixes, and what these suffixes do (turn a noun into an adjective). Look out for these words in books you read together. 

In our story the children have been doing some geography, learning about Kenya in preparation for Professor Rufus Johnson's visit there. They've looked at the climate, flag, location, food, animals (the Big Five) and more. If you'd like to do some more research on Kenya with your child, please do so - I'm happy to receive and share anything they find out!

I hope you have a good weekend and continue to enjoy the sun!

From

Mrs Simpson

Summer Term Week 3: another short one!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

Another short week flew by quickly, but we have managed to get quite a lot done. 

Firstly - reading books:
We have been focussing on whole class reading this week so the children don't have a group reading book. They do instead have enough Badger/Squirrel books to keep them going. Remember - if they can read their book fluently, help your child to add expression to their reading and have lots of discussions about the book. If the book is quite tricky for your child to read, do lost of echo reading (you read, then they read, but making sure they are always looking at the text so they are reading it, not just memorising it). 

Maths:
Both year groups have started a unit of work on muliplication. This involves:

* knowing how to make equal groups

* recognising how many groups there are, how many are in each group, and how many there are altogether.

For Year 2, this is the learning leaning up to the x symbol. The children have learnt that x means 'groups of', so for example  4 x 5 would be understood as 'four groups of five'. 

Year 1 homework is here and will be in their folders.

Year 2 homework is here and will be in their folders. 

The children also completed their maths challenges, so take a look to see how your child got on and what they need to practise this week!

Phonics:
The children revisited the 'oo' graphemes this week - oo, ew, ue and u_e. We have also done a lot of practice of spotting digraphs in real and alien words. I've taught the children how to put sound buttons and sound lines on their words in order to read them. 

Phonics children have this week's QR code in their homework folders - please help your child to practise reading alien and real words by spotting the digraphs we have been learning. 

Spellings:
The children learnt that where a word ends in y, you can add the suffix -ing without changing anything! The main thing to remember is to write the root word first, before adding the suffix. Some of the words they've been learning can be found here. 

Our story:
The Wildlife Explorers Travel Agency had an intersting client. Professor Rufus Johnson, zoology expert from the University of Northampton, came to them with an interesting proposal. He happens to be a crocodile expert, and he happens to love The Enormous Crocodile (from the Roald Dahl book). He'd received a phone call, telling him that there is a rumour going round that the Enormous Crocodile is, in fact, real and that he is, in fact, still alive. Professor Rufus told the team that the crocodile is rumoured to be in Kenya. 

The children are keen to help the Professor, and have started learning a bit about Kenya. 

Below are some photos of the children in role as travel agents and clients.

That's all for now,

Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson