Autumn Week 5: Ernest Shackleton

 

Hello Class 2 Parents and happy Thursday to you.

Having relocated the penguins to Antarctica, we have taken a break from our story this week and have been looking at someone else's story... that of Ernest Shackleton. We have been having a history week. Our core concepts for history are 'lifestyle' and 'legacy' so we have been learning about Ernest Shackleton's 'Endurance' expedition, which began in 1914, went very wrong and ended in 1916. 

To begin with the children heard the story of Ernest Shackleton's life. Then they raised questions about it. Next, we compared modern day expedition equipment with equipment from 1914. We imagined that we were about to set off on Shackleton's expedition; the children were given a 'catalogue' of equipment and 20 shillings to spend. It was interesting to see who prioritised a leather football over a woollen balaclava!

Tomorrow we are going to be looking at the rations the travellers had - the children will be planning a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu using their rations. 

Next week, we will continue to learn about the expedition and Shackleton's legacy (I am explaining 'legacy' to the children as 'what he is remembered for'). 

In other news: the children did a fantastic job of telling the story of "The Enormous Turnip' in the church on Monday!

In further news:

Spelling/Phonics.

The phonics group have revisited the digraphs  ur, or, ow, oi this week. Their spellings are here and will also be in their home learning books. 

The spelling group have looked at the graphemes  ge and dge. 
Both of these graphemes make the 'j' sound at the end of words. In general, dge comes after a single, short vowel sound (eg fridge, bridge, badge, edge) and ge appears after any other sound.  Their spellings are here and will also be in home learning books. 

Maths.

Both year groups have been looking further at 'more than' 'less than' and 'equal to'. They have also been looking at number lines.  Year 1 have been finding missing numbers on a number line, identifying whether the pattern goes forwards or backwards. Year 2 have been estimating numbers on a number line. This can be quite tricky! Some tips:

• A number exactly between two multiples of 10 will end in 5
• A number somewhere between two multiples of 10 will always start with the first multiple of 10 (e.g. between 60 and 70, the number will start with 6 tens)

Some ideas:

Play counting caterpillar. You can choose the number range depending upon your child. They then need to order the given numbers from smallest to largest. To support with the smaller numbers, have your child represent each number using counters. To support with 2- or 3- digit numbers, look at how many 10s/100s first to compare the numbers, then look at the next digit. 

Year 1 will also have a version of this sheet in their home learning books, to write on rather than cut and stick. 

Year 2 will have this sheet, but if you want an extra challenge try this one as well. (if you don't have a printer, it can be replicated in any way you like using the idea of 'estimating numbers' on a blank number line). 

All the time, when your child gives an answer, ask them 'how do you know?' This will help to build up your child's reasoning skills and mathematical thinking, beyond just 'I just know'!

I think that's all for now. I have a growing collection of jumpers and cardigans with no name in - I will put them outside some point soon, or please come in to look at the end of the day if your child is missing an item!

Have a good weekend,

From Mrs Simpson