Autumn Week 11: Relocating a polar bear.

Hello Class 2 Parents,

We have been so busy in Class 2 it's hard to know where to start. 

There is the ongoing problem of the polar bear; we really need to get it back to the Arctic Circle. You will have seen that the children made some fishy treats to keep the bear fed and busy on the way to the Arctic. They evaluated their treats against some important criteria, such as: texture, smell and colour. We have also been writing a set of clear instructions titled: How to Relocate a Polar Bear. The children have been learning about how instructions are set out, how to write a list of equipment, and how to write clear instructions using 'bossy' language. 

We are practising the Nativity every afternoon now. The children are at the stage of learning when they need to get up and down and when they need to say their lines. Christmas is seeping in to Class 2!

Phonics and Spellings:

The phonics group have looked at -ew and -oe, both graphemes which are usually found at the end of words. Their spelling list is here. As usual, focus on the first five unless your child is confident and keen!

The spellings group have been looking at the -y ending for the 'igh' sound. This is a very common way to spell the 'igh' sound at the end of a word. Their spellings are here - some easier ones, but they will help the children to learn the rule.

Maths:

All children have been counting in 10s and reciting the 10x table. Hit the button can be used to practise this!

Year 1 children have been looking at the sequence of counting in 10s and have been practising writing them. They can practise this by playing Whack-A-Mole - you will need to set it to 'steps of ten' in the top left hand corner.  

Year 2 children have been looking at 10 more and 10 less, with the pattern that the 10s column changes but the 1s do not. This sheet will be in their books, but you can print off/create a version of this one for an extra challenge!

Have a good weekend!

From Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 10: Anti-bullying and Children in Need

 

Hello Class 2 Parents,

We started the week by wearing odd socks and talking about bullying - but really, what we were talking about was kindness and how to be kind. The children made a fantastic anti-bullying/kindness graffiti wall to go up in our classroom.

The main event this week has been starting read-throughs of our nativity. Your child will come home with their words to learn this weekend - please help them to learn to say them loudly, slowly and with expression. Narrators don't have to learn their words by heart but do need also to read them loudly, slowly and with expression!

Our Lost and Found story continued with designing some bear treats to keep our polar bear happy during the journey to the Arctic. The children looked at some dog treats, guinea pig treats and bird fat balls to get some ideas, then designed their own polar bear treat. They used ipads to research how to make home made dog treats (because googling how to make treats for bears didn't get us far!) and came up with a list of ingredients. Next week we will attempt to make them!

In other learning:

The phonics group have learnt two new graphemes this week: wh and ph, as in wheel and photo. Their spellings are here. 

The spellings group have learnt yet more 'l' endings:  -al and -il. These are rare - if children are taking a guess,  -le and -el are much more common! We tried to create two memory sentences to help with the spellings, though they are a little long and quite odd!

A pupil with one nostril used a fossil instead of a pencil. 

A metal animal lived in the capital and liked to pedal on a petal-covered bicycle. 

Their spellings are here. 

Year 1 maths:
The children have been continuing to learn different methods of addition, and to solve addition word problems. Their homework is to find the missing part of a part whole diagram - the best way is to find the number of counters to match the whole, move the correct number of counters into the part that is known, and then whatever is left is the missing part. 

Year 2 maths:
The children have moved onto subtraction this week. They have been subtracting across 10 by jumping back to the previous multiple of 10 first: so for 43 - 7, they jump back 3 to 40, then 4 more to 36. Their homework is here. 

Lots of confidence with numbers to 100 helps with Year 2 maths, so use a 100-grid like this one to support your child with addition and subtraction within 100. 

Have a lovely weekend!

From Mrs Simpson

Autumn Week 9: A Polar Bear

It's been a fairly eventful week in Class 2. Having had a break from their Lost and Found duties, in order to learn about Ernest Shackleton, the children came across a problem. A crowd of people had gathered outside on the road and were making a commotion. To the children's surprise, they soon saw the reason why - a large polar bear was on the pavement! 

It had a note around its neck, but no indication of where it had come from. The team set to work, luring it into a strong container with some fish before researching the species.  

They decided that the polar bear belonged in a very cold habitat and identified many of its adaptations (as your children about polar bear noses and the clever trick they can do). They learnt that the Arctic provides a suitable habitat for polar bears, not only because of its cold temperatures, but also due to food it provides. This led to some learning about Arctic food chains. 

Next week we will look into relocating the bear, heading to the opposite end of the globe to our Antarctic adventure!

In other news:

Phonics group: the phonics group have continued to learn new sounds. This week - oy, ir, ue, aw  (as in boy, bird, clue, jaw). Their spellings are here. 

One main rule I teach about phonics is that the oy grapheme usually (though not always) goes at the end of a word.

Spellings group: Having learnt the -le ending last week, this week it is the -el ending! Their spellings are here. 

The -el ending is usually used after  m, n, r, s, r or w. 

Maths:

All of the children have been learning to recite doubles and halves to 20 this week.  Use Hit the Button to practise these. 

Year 1 children have been doing lots of addition. The trickiest part has been missing number problems - for example 7 + ____ = 9. Their homework to practise this is here and will be in their books as usual. If you want to give your child an extra challenge, print this sheet or write a few similar problems for them. 

Year 2 children have been using their bonds to 10 in lots of ways - to add to the next multiple of 10 (e.g 34 + ___ = 40) and to add across a multiple of 10 by adding to it first. 

Their homework is here and will be in their books. 


Tomorrow (Friday) we will be looking at Remembrance Day and this term's new value of peace. 

I hope you all have a good week end!

From Mrs Simpson.

P.S. I delivered a few unnamed items of clothing to lost property in the office, so if you are missing something please check there. 

 

 

 

Hello Class 2 Parents!

Welcome back! Last week flew by. The children have come in enthusiastically - refreshed and ready for another half term. 

On Tuesday they took part in a quiz about Ernest Shackleton and, you'll be pleased to know, they have learnt a lot about him and his expedition! Then they learnt that in March of this year Shackleton's ship was found! Having sunk in 1915, it has spent 107 years at the bottom of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. The children were fascinated by this and asked 'Is this true?' so we talked about how history is to do with real events that really happened, and that yes this ship is real and was Shackleton's real ship! More can be seen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60673759

The children will be writing recounts and news reports next week about the ship, who it belonged to and the expedition it was part of. Today we had a look at a news report and began talking about what one was - if any of you have printed newspapers at the weekends, perhaps you could talk to your children about them and what they are for. 

Tomorrow (Friday) we will be learning the story of Guy Fawkes in preparation for Saturday 5th November. 

The children have also completed a piece of art work in the style of Nerys Levy this week. She paints landscapes and has done a number of 'cold places' paintings which we looked at. You can see some of her Arctic and Antarctic landscapes here: https://carrboro.com/nerys/antarctica.shtml

In other learning:

In Phonics the children have started to look at phase 5, which is made up of different ways to read and spell the sounds already taught. This week we looked at:

ay, ou, ie, ea as in  clay, shout, tie and dream. 

The children's spellings are here. As usual, focus on the first five and if your child is confident, look at the next five!

In Spellings the children have been learning the -le ending. They also looked at how some letters are doubled, after a short vowel, before an -le ending. Their spellings are here. 

In Maths:

Year 1 have been looking at fact families - addition number sentences made up of the three numbers in a family (such as 8/5/3). They learnt that the whole number has to go on one side of the = sign, while the two parts go on the other side. So for the above numbers:   3+5 = 8     5+3=8    8=5+3    8=3+5

Their homework is here and will also be in their books as usual.

Year 2 have been looking, firstly, at adding the 1s to make an addition easier, eg:

3+3 is 6
33+3 is 36
73+ 3 is 76

They have also been looking at quickly adding three one-digit numbers by looking for number facts and short cuts, eg:

4 + 2 + 4 is easier if we add it up 4+4+2 because we know what double 4 is
3 + 3 + 7 is easier if we add it up as 7+3+3 because we know that 7+3=10

Their homework is here and will also be in their books. 

A couple of other things:

• The children have been using an app on the ipads called Seesaw and a couple of you mentioned that your children have enjoyed it. There is a free version - https://app.seesaw.me/#/login - create an account and then you can add your child so that they can use their account. The children have been learning how to add pictures, take photographs and other skills and have been enjoying it very much. 
  
• A reminder to please read with your children as often as possible and record in their reading book when they need a new book. Even a couple of pages a day will make a difference - even if your child is quite a confident reader, reading with them will increase their fluency and comprehension, and their enjoyment of reading. 
• If your child has done something at home they are proud of, that relates to our learning in school, please do send it in so we can celebrate it in school! However, we don't have time to show lots of things, so please do just send in school-related work, for example one child brought in their half term homework list of what they would pack for Antarctica, and another brought in a 3D landscape of Antarctica they had made. 

I think that's everything. It's been lovely to see your children's smiling faces this week!

From Mrs Simpson