Summer Week 9: a publishing house and a school vision day.

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

This week in Class 2...

The children have started to publish their information books on Nile crocodiles. They've spent the last couple of weeks planning the text using features of a non-fiction text, and now they are putting words and pictures together to make a book. They are thoroughly enjoying the process. 

In maths, our work on fractions continues. The Year 1 children have now been taught how to find a half or a quarter of a shape or quantity, while the Year 2 children have done all of that, plus finding one third of a shape or quantity. 

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

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

On Tuesday the whole school took part in a morning on our school vision ('flourish like a flower of the field' throough growth, community, spirituality and the environment). Class 2 was given 'growth' to discuss so we did a little bit of work on what that meant, and on the meaning of 'potential'. We had a great discussion about what the children want to be when they are older - everything from a firefighter, to a hairdresser, to an artist, a gardener and a zoologist! We worked on our section of the whole-school display by making colourful flowers and leaves. 

For the past few weeks the children have been learning some basic tennis skills in P.E. They are thoroughly enjoying this so if you have a ball and a racquet at home, ask if you can see what your child has learnt!

In our story, the children are in the middle of solving a problem. Somewhere in the Maasai Mara, some children are playing on the edge of a watering hole. What they don't know is that there is a large, hungry crocodile lurking nearby... 

I'll keep you posted. 

I think that's all for now. Have a good weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 8: A Maasai boma and a lot of D.T.

 Hello!

First, two notes:

The summer reading challenge: information about this was emailed home to all parents. I would encourage every child to take part as it will keep their reading going over the summer and promote reading for pleasure, which is so important. You can sign up for the online challenge or visit library.  https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Year 1 parents will have received an email invite to a Forest School meeting on 2nd July. I hope to see you there to tell you about my plans for next year!

In other news:

This week has seen many a trip to the shade of a large tree to listen to a story or complete some work. The sun is lovely and it really feels like summer is well underway. We've had a productive week in Class 2 and our Mantle of the Expert story is moving along well. 

The children headed out into the Maasai Mara to begin their search for the crocodile. They chose armoured jeeps as their transportation due to the potentially dangerous animals they knew they might find. It was at a river crossing that they saw a large, crocodilian footprint. As they were inspecting it, a woman approached them. She was from the Maasai tribe and had seen the footprint - she was worried because the fence around her nearby boma (village) needed some repair. The children of course offered to help, and so they created a representation of the boma, building an enkaji (hut made from sticks, mud, cow dung, straw and grass) using joining techniques,  and learning how to weave a fence around it. 

When that task was complete, we decided we needed to be more purposeful about the search for the Enormous Crocodile, so the children learnt how to make a map using symbols, a key and grid references. They identified six possible locations for the Enormous Crocodile using the grid references. 

In maths the children have started to learn about fractions. Year 1 have looked at half of a shape or a quantity, while Year 2 have looked at half and a quarter of a shape or quantity. They have learnt that 'a half is one of two equal parts' and 'a quarter is one of four equal parts'. 

Homework is very practical this week. 
* Year 1 - lots of practice of finding half or a shape or an amount, using paper shapes, playdough shapes, pieces of pasta, peas left on their plate etc. 
* Year 2 - as above, but for a half and a quarter. Please also practice finding two quarters, or three quarters. 

There is no obligation to show me this homework at all, but if you'd like to send in photos via the school office please do!

Phonics and spellings have been a bit quiet this week, as has reading, because we have been carrying out reading assessments with the children (still ongoing due to the need to do these in small groups in Year 1 and Year 2). Instead, your child will come home with some badger/squirrel books and some one-off phonics books if applicable. 

Enjoy the sun this weekend!

Mrs Simpson

Summer Week 7: to the Maasai Mara!

 Hello Class 2 Parents,

I hope you have all had a good week. We've had a very good week in Class 2 - there has been a lot going on. 

Hats!
Please make sure your child's hat is named and is in school on hot sunny days. This is particularly important on a Wednesday when we have outdoor PE for an hour in the afternoon. Thank you!

In our story the children finally arrived at Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi. They were greeted by a friendly woman at the information desk. She asked them what their plans were and, when she heard they were looking for a crocodile, she pointed them in the direction of the Maasai Mara Nature Reserve. 

The children learnt about the (physical) geographical features of the Maasai Mara and made a map together. 

Tomorrow (Friday) they will travel to the reserve and see what they can find. 

In phonics the children have completed their Phonics Screening Check. Thank you for all of your help with practising this. You will be informed of how your child got on as part of their end-of-year reports. 

In spellings the children have been looking at words ending in 'sion' or 'sure'. If you want to practise them, the focus words are here. 

In maths they have continued their work on division - this time, dividing equally (so for example, 12 sweets divided equally between 4 children equals 3 each) Year 1 have mainly focussed on using concrete objects to divide equally, while Year 2 have been using arrays and writing the formal number sentences with the divide symbol. 

Everyone's maths homework this week  is to show division by sharing out in any practical way you like, and send me a photograph via the school email (or print a photograph for your child's homework folder). 

Year 1 children could:

* divide some counters equally between teddies

* divide some sweets equally between themselves and their siblings 

* divide some dried pasta equally between bowls

Practise saying the sentence  _____ divided equally between _____ equals ____ each    (eg 12 divided equally between 4 equals 3 each). 

Year 2 children could use any objects they like and divide them equally by making an array - so for example, if you have 21 objects, you could divide them equally bewtween 3 rows so that you end up with 7 in each row. Then try writing the formal number sentence using the division symbol. 

I think that's everything for now. 

Have a good week end!

Mrs Simpson

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