We have been busy learning about the festival of Diwali and the story of Rama and Sita. This has been fascinating and linked really well with our theme of Heroes and Villains. The children have learnt how and why Hindus (and people of other faiths) around the world celebrate this lovely festival.


This week it is International Week at Garrick Green and our focus is on the United Kingdom.
All children have been put into one of three school teams. See if your child can remember which team they are in.

We have been finding out and writing facts about Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Slieve Donard and Scarfell Pike. Today the children have made traditional breads from different parts of the UK. To link with this, in maths we have learnt about reading scales and measuring. 



Some ideas for home learning activities...

• retell the story of Rama & Sita for someone at home
• make and decorate a diwali lamp
• Watch the video at:   https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/lets-celebrate-diwali?collection=lets-celebrate-celebrations 

• practice saying where you live. Can you say your address? 
• find where England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are on a map
• bring in photos of you in any of those countries for the UK boards in our classrooms
• find out more facts about England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland e.g. naming and locating the capital cities

• learn to say your ten times tables off by heart
• ask an adult to ask you questions such as "What is five times ten?" see if you can answer straightaway
• use your marvellous mathematical measuring skills to help cook at home

Week commencing 2nd October 2017

What a fantastic start to Year 2!

We have been...

• enjoying the new layouts of the classrooms
• learning the routines and expectations of Year 2
• doing lots of team games that require lots of concentration and team work
• working and playing hard

In our topic work we have been investigating logos. We looked at examples such as The British Red Cross, RSPCA, Norfolk Constabulary and Air Ambulance. Then we looked at the logos of Superheroes. We learnt about the features of a successful logo and then used that to design our own.  

In English we have been having daily SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) lessons and reading and writing words with the Phase 3 and 5 letters and sounds. We have been developing our knowledge of how to write a perfect sentence and trying hard to apply this in our own work, 

We hope you have begun your Super Reading Challenge. Remember, the task is to read your school reading book "Teacher Book" for 15 minutes at least five times this week.  You can change your book as often as you like and we do give daily reminders in class for children to do this.

 In maths we have been looking at place value and number formation.  We have been using apparatus to understand how two and three digit numbers are partitioned into hundreds, tens and ones.

Mrs R and Miss Tovell are really please with how the children have settled into Year 2, watch this space for news and information. We will (do our best to) update the blog on Friday afternoons. 

Do come and see one of the Year 2 team if you have any queries or concerns. 

week commencing 19th June 2017

This week is Art Week in school and we are redecorating the main corridors and library with displays based around the author Sue Hendra's work.
Every child in the school contributes to each display and the new boards should be on display by the end of next week - we hope you enjoy seeing the change to the school and talking to your children about which parts our classes created.
Alongside this the children have been thinking about their fundraiser towards the cost of the recent trip to West Runton and many of them will be bringing home a poster they designed (as well as a letter from us) to explain all...
In English we will be learning more about Sue Hendra and writing a non-fiction narrative of our week including facts about her.
The children will finish the week by creating their own story using some of Sue Hendra's work as inspiration.

From next Monday we will be immersing ourselves in concert practices and our topic The Great Outdoors, which we intend to be the main teaching for the rest of the term.

Finally, we wanted to acknowledge how hard the children have worked this last half term and the positive attitudes they have had to everything we've asked them to done - they should be very proud of what they've achieved.

week commencing 8th May 2017

As you may be aware, May is the month where all children in year two undertake statutory assessment tests, known as SATs, in English and Maths.

We have started these this week and will be continuing with them throughout the rest of the month.  The children are working with one of the teachers in small groups and have responded well to the tests so far - they may also have mentioned our mini 'breakfast club' to you, which is just a part of us ensuring that they don't feel anxious about the tests.

Learning in class has continued as normal and this week the children are using all of the skills gained this year to compose and write their own stories .  In maths, we have been practicing our reasoning skills by completing some orienteering style trails.

Upcoming events:
School photos will take place during the morning of Monday 22nd May

This week we have begun an exciting carousel of activities in English and Maths.

In writing we are working on applying key skills such as:

• spelling "Common Exception Words" correctly
• including the 4 different types of sentence in our writing
• punctuating our sentences correctly
• using adjectives in expanded noun phrases e.g. beautiful, blue butterfly
• using conjunctions such as "but, when, because, and"  to join two sentences
• form all letters correctly with flicks ready for joining

In maths we are re-visiting key concepts such as:

• partitioning numbers into 100s, 10s and 1s e.g. 378= 300 + 70 + 8
• solving missing number problems e.g. 🔺 x 5 = 30
• using drawings of "sticks and crosses" to help solve addition and subtraction problems
• identifying and naming 2D and 3D shapes
• using the = sign in different places in a calculation e.g. 35 = 20 + 15,    11 = 21 -10

We have new Guided Reading books and have started to have some wonderful discussions in our groups. 

On Friday, we will begin our new topic "The Great Outdoors"!

w/c 17th April 2017

Welcome back and we hope you enjoyed your Easter break

This week is Science Week and to build on previous years work we are introducing the children to several fields of Science over the next few days - each with an investigation or experiment for them to complete.

Over the course of the week the children will be learning about:
Chemistry (removing dirt)
Botany (regrowing plants)
Nutrition (sugar content)
Geology (rocks)
Microbiology (bacteria)
Vulcanology (volcanoes)
Physics and Engineering (winches)

Why not see how much your child can tell you from their learning this week!!

Week beginning 13th March

This week in English we are looking at acrostic poems.

We looked an example about the castle. All of the letters down the side of the poem spelt out the word castle and all of the sentences were about the castle. We are thinking of ideas for our own acrostic poems to spell out NORWICH CASTLE. As a challenge we are trying to use the 4 different sentences types too.

In Maths we have been looking at symmetry and spotting lines of symmetry in different 2D shapes. We have also begun to look at symmetrical patterns and solve word problems involving symmetry. For our daily maths sessions we are solving words problems to use and apply a range of skills.

On Friday we will be using clay to make sculptures of famous monarchs.

We have been really enjoying our football sessions on Wednesday. It's great to get outside and learn new skills.

Please would you each bring in a small sturdy box e.g. a shoe box. We will be using these for DT before the Easter holidays.