19th November 2018

           

This week we were really lucky and got to meet Ben Langley from Norwich Theatre Royal. He gave each class a pantomime workshop and it was fantastic! The children got to enjoy listening to the story of Aladdin and we couldn't stop laughing!  

We love how much most of the children are reading at home. Please could we ask that they are reading their school books first and then enjoying other books. They are free to change their school books as often as they like. This is especially important if they are reading daily or if they are not enjoying a particular book. We ask that children read at least 5 times a week but ideally we would like them to be reading every day. Thank you for your support with this.

In English this week the children have continued to plan their pirate stories and have had a go at writing the whole thing- beginning, middle and end! We will be reading it back to edit and make any changes. They have worked really hard and we are really impressed with their efforts. Are they able to retell their stories at home?

In maths this week we have continued to look at subtraction. In Mrs Ellis's class we have looked at...

- 2 digit subtract 1 digit numbers (e.g. 15 - 4 =)

- 2 digit subtract a 10s number (e.g. 15 - 10 =)

- 2 digit subtract a 2 digit number (e.g. 15 - 12 =)

We have looked at these firstly using concrete resources (tens and ones) and then used pictorial representations (drawing the tens and ones). Some children have also been able to solve these mentally as well!

In Mr Whitehead's group children have been...

- 2 digit subtract a 10s number (e.g. 15 - 10 =)

- 2 digit subtract a 2 digit number (e.g. 15 - 12 =)

- Solving worded questions for subtraction

Next week we will start to look at money- recognising different coins and notes, making different amounts and solving simple problems for money. As part of your home learning it would be great if you could give the children some real coins to look at and play with. If you have a big pot of change at home there is a simple game you can play...

1. Roll a dice

2. Count out that many 1p coins

3. Repeat

4. Can you exchange the 1p coins for any larger coins? (for example exchange two 1p coins for one 2p coin, or 5 1p coins for one 5p coin)

5. Each player gets 3 turns and then count your total to see who has the most and who has the least!

The winner could be the player with the least amount of coins or the player with the largest value of coins.

We are really excited about the trip to the Playhouse on Friday 30th November to see The Snail and the Whale- please remember to send your child with a school packed lunch if you haven't ordered a school packed lunch.

Friday 30th is also our Christmas fair. We hope you can come along and join in the fun!

This week your child should have brought home a letter about Developing Experts. This is an online science curriculum which we are using in year 2 to teach science. Each child as their own log in so they can access the lessons at home once they have been taught in school. At the end of each lesson there is a quiz they can complete.


https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares 

12th November 2018

Autumn has definitely arrived! This week for the big talk we are encouraging you to go outside and talk about the changes you can see. 

On Monday we had a fantastic time at Lodge Lane Infant school working alongside their year 2 children. We got to try shooting in a basket ball hoop, our dribbling skills, team building games and we were lucky enough to try some basic jiu jitsu skills as well! 

Jui jitsu demonstrators 

Dribbling skills!

Team building games using
maths skills

Dribbling the basketball!

In English this week we have started a plan to write a pirate story. The children have all drawn and labelled their own character, decided on a suitable setting and started to think of interesting ways to begin their story. As part of your home learning you could read lots of different books and look at the beginnings. How does it start? Does it make you want to read more? Can you think of different ways the book could have started? 

We have also reminded ourselves what verbs are (doing or action words). We watched this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPrWo5pEvyk

 ...and wrote down as many verbs as we could.  We were really impressed with how many different verbs the children came up with. We then thought about verbs associated with pirates and learnt about adding the suffix -ing to them. For example look -> looking, search -> searching, find -> finding. We will use these next week when we think about writing the middle and end of our pirate stories!


In maths we have started to look at subtraction. We know that there are lots of words we can use including...

subtract

minus

take away

less

leave

difference

In Mrs Ellis's group we started the week by looking at 1 more and 1 less using a 100 square. You could try this at home using the paint the squares 100 square link below...

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares 

We have then moved on to looking at taking away using concrete objects and then beginning to draw these pictorially. We have mainly focused on 1 digit subtract 1 digit numbers ( 9 - 3 = ) and 2 digit subtract 1 digit numbers ( 15 - 3 = ). 

In Mr Whitehead's group they have been looking at subtraction using 2 digit subtract 2 digit numbers and choosing their favourite method to solve these number sentences. Which method does your child prefer? 

For both groups we encourage you to count forwards and backwards 10s starting from 0 (0, 10, 20..) but also from any number (e.g. 3, 13, 23, 33...) as this really helps them to solve problems.

This Friday was Children in Need and children all looked great. Thank you for your support. All donations will all go to Children in Need.

Today the children also had their flu vaccination if you handed in and signed the permission form. 

Next Wednesday (21st) the library van will be in school so please remember to send in any books which need to be returned and also library cards!

5th November 2018

Thank you so much to all of those parents and carers who were able to make it to the maths event. We appreciate all of the feedback you gave and hope you found it useful. We will be sending home some information to support you with maths at home. 

This week in English we have been learning about expanded noun phrases. There is a great short video you can watch which explains what these are. 

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/z3nfw6f

We have used these expanded noun phrases to write firework poems and we have also included some onomatopoeia words- these are words like BANG, Whizz, pop!

In maths this week the children have been working in different classes but all have continued to look at addition. 

With Mrs Ellis the children have been...

• doing simple addition mentally by counting on
• adding three 1 digit numbers (for example 3 + 4 + 7 = ) using concrete resources, pictorially and by counting on in their heads
• learning how to bridge ten in single digit addition. Below is an example...

First we use concrete resources to show the ones

Then we use our knowledge of number bonds
 to make 10 by exchanging some of the ones 

Then we perform the switch-eroo where we switch
10 ones for a ten stick!
This makes the number sentence easier to solve.

With Mr Whiteheads children have been...

• thinking about their favourite way to solve addition - including using tens and ones, drawing tens and ones, partitioning and using a blank number line.
• solving word problems for addition- for example- I spend 26p at the sweet shop and 13p at the toy shop. How much have I spent altogether?

As part of your home learning we would like the children to solve simple problems by counting on in their heads. We have talked about putting the bigger number in their head and putting the smaller number on their fingers. For example- 15 + 7 = 
We put 15 in our head, 7 on our fingers and then count on. 
You could also do quick fire- can they show you 4 on their fingers? Can they should you this using a different combination of fingers? 

Next Monday 12th November we will be going to Lodge Lane Infant school to take part in a Basket Ball event. Please remember to send in a school packed lunch if you haven't ordered a school packed lunch. Children need to come to school wearing outdoor sports clothes and practical shoes. Please send them with their book bags as we are only going in the afternoon. 

Next Friday the children will be getting their flu vaccinations and it is also children in need! 

29th October 2018 International Week

This week is International Week and we are learning about Poland. We will be...

• looking at famous landmarks in Poland and thinking about if they are human or physical features (human features exist because people have created them e.g. buildings, bridges and road - and physical features exist naturally e.g. lakes, rivers and mountains).

• cooking Polish gingerbread 

• learning about Polish folk art and creating our own 

• listening to music from the famous composer Chopin and learning about his life

• reading traditional Polish folk stories and comparing them to ones we already know

• comparing the weather in Warsaw (the capital city of Poland) to here in Norwich

As part of your home learning we encourage the children to share as much as they can about Poland. Which facts can they remember? What did they enjoy the most? They could share these verbally or write them down in their home learning books. They could also write a list of facts they have learnt about Poland.

You may remember us mentioning team captains. If your child would like to a be a team captain then we would like them to write a letter and hand it in by Wednesday 31st October. We will then get the children from each team to vote for their team captain. 

Parents teacher meetings continue this week. Please remember these are 10 minute appointments so if you have any concerns please come and speak to us prior to your appointment. 

Thursday 1st November JW

Tuesday 6th November RE

Wednesday 7th November JW

Monday 5th November is non-uniform day and we also have our first year 2 maths event 9am in the school hall. 

                                                           

Please remember that if you have visited any where in the UK this half term please send us some photos to add to our UK wall to rellis37ru@nsix.org.uk   Thank you to those who have done so already!

Letters are coming home this week to share an exciting basketball event we are running with Lodge Lane. Please send your reply slips in ASAP. Many thanks.

15th October 2018

Wow- what a great first half term we have had in year 2. Thank you for all of your support so far. 

This week we in English we have been listening to and creating our own acrostic poems. An acrostic poem is a type of poetry where the first, last or other letters in a line spell out a particular word or phrase. Our poems have had a pirate theme!

 

In maths this week we have been learning how to count in 3s. As part of your home learning we would like your children to continue this at home. We have been singing it to the tune of row, row, row your boat. 

3, 6, 9, 12

15 and 18

21, 24

27 and 30 

The children could even paint the numbers on a 1-100 number square by clicking the link below.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares

We also encourage to children to regularly count in 2s, 5s and 10s up to 100 and if they would like an extra challenge you could ask them to count in 10s from any number. For example 3, 13, 23, 33...etc.

We have also been learning number names (e.g. 1 one, 15 fifteen etc) and there are some great games online to help children learn to read them...

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/fruitShootNumbersWords.htm

http://www.maths-games.org/number-word-memory-to-20.html

Parent teacher interviews begin this week on Tuesday 16th October (RE). The rest will continue after half term (see below). Please remember these are 10 minute appointments so if you have any concerns please come and speak to us prior to your appointment. 

Monday 29th October RE

Thursday 1st November JW

Tuesday 6th November RE

Wednesday 7th November JW

Monday 5th November is non-uniform day and we also have our first year 2 maths event 9am in the school hall. We will send a reminder nearer the time.

We finish this Wednesday (17th) and return back to school on Monday 29th October. This will be our first International week of the year and we will be learning about a European country. If you visit any where in the UK this half term please send us some photos to add to our UK wall to rellis37ru@nsix.org.uk 

Please  encourage your child to read every day, have a lovely half term break and remember...

8th October 2018

This week we had a fantastic time at Norwich Theatre Royal watching the Music for Youth Primary Proms. It was really inspiring for the children to watch other children performing. We were really proud of how well the children behaved and this was commented on by other schools and the coach driver! 

We were lucky enough to listen to a Cantabene choir, Norfolk County Strings, West Lynn Strummers & Drummers and Norfolk County Symphonic Wind Band.

In maths this week we have continued to look at addition. We recapped how to add two number on a number line (finding the greatest number first) and also by partitioning. 

Number line addition

Number line addition

 Addition using partitioning-

23 + 32 = 55
20 + 30 = 50 
 3  +  2 = 5
50 +  5 = 55

In English this week we received a letter from Kitty Black who we met on our trip to the Tide and Time museum. Her message arrived in a bottle and we have been writing informal letters to reply.

Please remember to send your Christmas cards back by this Friday 12th October so they can be sent off. 

Parent teacher interviews begin next week on Tuesday 16th October (RE & JW). The rest will continue after half term (see below). Please remember these are 10 minute appointments so if you have any concerns please come and speak to us prior to your appointment. 

Monday 29th October RE

Thursday 1st November JW

Tuesday 6th November RE

Wednesday 7th November JW

The last day of half term is Wednesday 17th October and we are back in school on Monday 29th October. 

Monday 5th November is non-uniform day and we also have our first year 2 maths event 9am in the school hall. We will send a reminder nearer the time. 

1st October 2018

Thank you to all those parents who have been able to attend one of our curriculum meetings this week and for all of your positive comments. We welcome any feedback and remember if you have any questions, concerns or worries please speak to us now and don't wait until parent - teacher interviews. (The sign up sheets for these are available now if you haven't already signed up!) If you weren't able to make it to a meeting we have put a very brief overview at the bottom of this blog.

This week in maths we have been recapping on number bonds to 10, learning about number bonds to 20 and thinking about addition using our knowledge of place value! Number bonds are also often referred to as 'number pairs'. They are simply the pairs of numbers that make up a given number. For example- 16 + 4 = 20, 4 + 16 = 20, 15 + 5 = 20

As part of your home learning you could play board games such as snakes and ladders- can your child add the number they are on to the number rolled on the dice without moving the counter? There is also a great game your child can play...

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

In English we have been looking at similarities in Pirate stories. One thing we noticed is that Pirates often receive letters in a bottle. We have been looking at different letters, thinking about the features of letters and talking about why we send and receive letters. We have looked at formal letters (to people we don't usually know) and informal letters (to people we know).  As part of your home learning you could share different letters you get the in post (even if it is a bill!), what do they notice? You could also teach you child your home address as we will be writing these at the top of our letters. 

Please remember to send your children in their fantastic pirate costumes tomorrow if they wish as they will continue their pirate training.

We are lucky enough to be going to the Theatre Royal next Tuesday to enjoy watching some other school play a range of different instruments. Thank you for helping us to get the slips signed and sorted so quickly! The trip is happening in school hours so they need to be in school at normal time and will be back normal pick up. Please remember to send a packed lunch if you haven't ordered one and a water bottle. Thank you!

Year 2 Curriculum Meeting Overview

 Expectations, responsibilities and opportunities 

Now the children are in year 2 we are providing opportunities for them to be more responsible such as choosing to wear coloured bibs at break and lunch time and to apply to be team captains. We are also providing lots of great opportunities for them including trips and sporting events. 

Blog / App

Please download the school APP. We share as much information with you as we can on the school blog and it's a great way to find out about what your child(ren) have been up to and things which are coming up. We also provide ideas for home learning on the blog and it is usually updated on a Thursday.

Timetable

Here is an example of what our weekly timetable looks like but this often changes due to trips and other activities. We also have science weeks, International weeks, art week and sports week.(ERIC means everyone reading in class and is a carousel of reading activities). 

SATs

SATs will take place in May. Please don't book any holidays for May!! We will not let you know which days these take place and appreciate your support with this.   

Personalised learning

Please remember that learning for each child looks different and what it right for one child may not be for another. We are working hard to provide your children with appropriate challenges to meet their own needs. Please support us in making sure your children appreciate this and they need to focus on only themselves and listen to what they are told. 

 Home learning and Big Talk

Big talk is sent home weekly and is a talking activity. If children want to record things then they can but we ideally want you to be talking and building their range of vocabulary. Ideas for home learning are posted on the blog weekly and if children want to record anything then this can be done in their home learning book which has been sent home. We will not mark this but we will share any work with the class and give team points and stickers. 

Reading

The expectation in Year 2 is that children read 5 times a week for about 5 – 10 mins- building up to longer. As their reading becomes more confident and fluent we focus on comprehension and understanding. Please remember that we prefer quality rather than quantity – when should we read? DO what works for you! Please record reads in their yellow reading diary and if you want get them to write it in. Please remember that there’s always an opportunity for reading!

Junior school

You need to start thinking about which Junior school you would like your child to attend. Our best advice is to go and have a look around.