We have had another hard – working week in Year 2!
The children have been busy Scientists this week, planning an investigation by writing up their aim, method and prediction prior to planting seeds to test the conditions that affect germination.
Some children are testing to see if seeds need light to germinate, some are testing the need for water and some are testing the need for heat. We discussed how to make it a fair test i.e. keeping everything the same except for the condition being tested i.e. water/no water.
Here are some pictures:
We will continue to observe are seeds and record the results daily in a class table.
The children have been practising their number facts in maths, recording all the facts they know from their knowledge of basic number bonds to 10 i.e. If I know that 3+7=10 then I know… 7+3=10, 10-7=3, 10-3=7, 13+7=20, 17+3=20, 20-17=3, 20-3=17, 30+70=100, 70+30=100, 100-70=30 and 100-30=70.
They have also solved simple problems using all four calculations (multiplication/division/addition and subtraction).
In Literacy, aside from the Science experiment write up, the children have written a biography about someone they know well under appropriate sub-headings.
How can I help at home?
Please make hearing your child read aloud the priority for help at home. The children have made lots of progress with their comprehension skills but they must continue to read small chunks to an adult on a regular basis (at least every other day) in order to read quickly and confidently without hesitation. This will prepare them well for Year 3. They should be bringing their book to school EVERYDAY in order to have it changed regularly and progress through their colour books.
Additionally, please ensure children are practising using given spelling words in context. They should also be practising appropriately using common homophones e.g. their/they’re and there and to/two and too etc.
Fingers crossed for a less rainy week next week!
Have a great weekend. 🙂
Miss Clifton
WOW! What a busy week we have had in Year 2!
The children had a great start back showing lots of enthusiasm for their learning.
In Maths, children have been consolidating and applying skills learnt in the previous terms. They have revised fractions of shape, partitioning in different ways and problem solving using multiplication and division.
In Literacy, they have focused on using a range of conjunctions to extend their sentences as well as using question marks appropriately. The children have written a diary entry, a friendship recipe and even a series of letters.
Below, the children are changing adjectives to nouns using the suffixes; – and -ment e.g. happy – happiness and enjoy – enjoyment.
In Science, the children have learnt that the product of some plants are called fruits and they contain seeds. They then investigated how many seeds were in a variety of fruits on their table. They were surprised to find out that some had one while others had hundreds.
How parents can help at home:
Please continue to read with your child as much as possible at home as this really helps children to improve their fluency.
Practise times tables recall (out of sequence and by rote).
Practise spelling Common Exception Words such as could, should, would and whole.
Practise the weekly spelling list.
Thank you for your continued support. 🙂
Have an enjoyable weekend.
Miss Clifton
Another school week has come to an end! Where does the time go?
The children have been writing their own interpretation of a class story we have planned based on ‘The Disgusting Sandwich’. The children are showing off their beautiful handwriting skills which is lovely to see. They must ensure that every letter starts and finishes on the line.
In maths, the children have consolidated their understanding of multiplication and division to solve calculations and word problems. Furthermore, they have used pretend money to show different ways of making the same amount as well as working systematically to find as many possibilities as possible.
Here is a mathematical game the children played for the first time this afternoon:
Nearest to 100 wins.
You can take the digit on face value
You can multiply the digit by 10
Do this 4 times and add the numbers to calculate the total.
Here are some pictures from athletics:
Please note that your child has some maths home learning to complete in their book bag. They have until next Fri to hand it in.
Please continue to encourage your child to read at home.
Miss Clifton 🙂
We had a great 1st week back!
The children have been busy practising the pictorial column method for addition and subtraction and then applying their skills to solve problems. It is great to see how much progress they have made, especially when exchanging! 🙂
In literacy, the children wrote an independent setting description and a poem about a beach setting. We are focusing on using adjectives appropriately to create an effective description for the reader. Alongside this, the children read some extracts from Roald Dahl books and highlighted good examples of description.
We have read the story, The Disgusting Sandwich and are going to be using the story pattern to write our own class version.
Here is our class text map to help us learn and rehearse the story orally.
Please read with your child a little every day as it is only by doing this that they will become more fluent readers. Children in Year 2 should be reading roughly 90 words per minute. There will be 2 dojos awarded to every child who reads (and has a comment written in their reading record by an adult) each day.
Thank you for your continued support.
Miss Clifton 🙂
The Easter Holidays are upon us already!
The children looked fabulous in their Easter Bonnets! Thank you for all of the hard work that went into creating such imaginative bonnets.
This week, the children used balance scales to compare the mass of different items on their tables. They have read standard scales counting in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s and had to work out unlabelled measurements on the scale. Estimating points in between on different scales will help them to practise finding out what the scale is increasing by each time. E.g. number lines like below:
0, ___, 2, ____, 4, ____, 6, _____, 8, _____, 10
0 _____________________________ 10 (Can you estimate where 8 would be positioned on the number line?)
20 _____________________________40 (can you estimate where 15 would be positioned on the number line?)
In addition, they felt 1 kg and compared it to a much lighter weight (100g). Also, the children learnt the mathematical terms; capacity and volume. They estimated and measured the capacity of different containers. They then read the volume of different measuring jugs.
In Literacy, the children have practised using an appropriate conjunction to join two parts of a sentence together. They MUST practise this skill when writing sentences of their own. Please refer to the conjunction and Common Exception Word sheets I gave out at parent’s Evening. During the Summer term, all children will be expected to use a range of conjunctions within each piece of writing.
The children also wrote a set of instructions for How to Make Ice Cream In a Bag. They are now confident at using time conjunctions and numbered steps as well as writing an appropriate heading and introduction.
Please ensure that your child reads their school book to an adult over the 2 weeks off. Asking questions based on what they have read will support the work they do at school on finding clues from the text to give relevance to their responses. All reading books should need to be changed on the first Tuesday back! Furthermore, why not take a trip to the library and ask your child to select a non-fiction text? Ask them to identify the different features e.g. captions, headings, sub-headings, fact boxes, images, bold words, glossary etc.
Please look in your child’s book bag for any further challenges handed out on the last day of term.
Spellings: Please ask your child to practise spelling any Common Exception Words he/she is unsure of as they will be tested on this on the first week back.
Thank you to all parents/carers whom came to speak with me about their child’s progress this term.
The children have worked hard this term and next term they will start to consolidate the skills taught.
I wish you all a very Happy Easter. 🙂
Miss Clifton