Friday, 6th December 2024

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Well done for another busy week, Year 2!

In Maths, we consolidated our 2nd  strategy for addition, ‘Think 10’, before moving on to adding 3 numbers and adding to the next ten. In English, we have worked towards a list poem using expanded noun phrases for a chosen colour as part of our ‘The day the crayons quit’ unit. In RE, we carried on our learning of the Annunciation with a lesson on the Visitation according to Luke, as well as, further extending our understanding of the religious signs and symbols of Advent and Christmas.

We spent time on rehearsing for our Nativity production as well as being the audience for Reception’s  Nativity Dress rehearsal.

But the highlight of our week must have been our class trip to St Albans Cathedral on Thursday.

During our first workshop, we went on a trail around the Cathedral to gain a better understanding of symbols of Advent and Christmas, such as the cross, an Advent calendar, Advent wreaths, Christmas trees and greeting cards, as well as the Nativity scene.

Later on in our workshop, the children had an opportunity to look at the Liturgical colours of various garments worn by the Bishops as well dressing up into one of the Nativity roles and act out the story of Jesus’ birth.

After some lovely lunch, we participated in a Christmas clay workshop, putting our learning into action by designing some learnt symbols and  sticking them on clay tiles.

Thank you to Mrs Badini, Mrs Orsi-Harper, Mrs Treiber and Mrs Moccia for accompanying us on this trip!

Please remember, we have a filmed dress rehearsal for our Nativity on Tuesday, 10th December and another final performance on Wednesday, 11th December. Thank you for those of you who brought in your costumes; if you haven’t, please make sure it is in School on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Spellings: Words where ‘c’ makes an /s/ sound before ‘e’, ‘i’ and ‘y’  and pre-learning for next week: Words where ‘kn’ and ‘gn’ make a /n/ sound at the beginning of words

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Maths: Please complete the assigned activities based on addition strategies

https://sign-in.mathletics.com/

https://ttrockstars.com/

Reading: Please continue to read at home and sign reading records

Friday, 29th November 2024

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The children in Year 2 had a busy week with a focus on rehearsals for our Nativity production later in December.

In English, the class completed their third big write, a letter of complaint as a classroom item- such as a sharpener, a rubber or the carpet- giving reasons for their upset, using conjunctions and apostrophes for contractions. They also published these pieces in neat.

In Maths we moved on and later consolidated our second addition strategy- Think 10. In applying this strategy, the children rewrite complex number sentences as simpler ones by forming a number bond to 10. E.g.: 8+7 can be re-written as 10+5.

In RE, we looked at Luke’s Gospel of the Annunciation and Visitation and used image prompts to identify the characters, setting and plot. The class also made Advent promises, reflecting on their Advent journey of mission whilst also produced stained glass pictures to add to our display.

The class also enjoyed 2 art activities related to our Geography topic: Antarctica. First, they used a video tutorial to sketch and colour in Emperor penguins, whilst later in the week, they also used clay to create 3D models of these remarkable animals.

 

Please, remember to bring in hamper items (check class colour in the newsletter) and please check that you have given consent for our class trip, next Thursday, 5th December 2024. Please also remember to order a school packed lunch if needed in time.

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Spelling- Please consolidate this week’s words: Words where ‘g’ makes a /j/ sound

Please see next week’s words in the second assignment: Words where ‘c’ makes an /s/ sound before ‘e’, ‘i’

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading- Please carry on reading with your child and sign reading record

Nativity- please practice your lines for the production and go through the lyrics for the songs too.

Song lyrics

Friday, 22nd November 2024

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The children in Year 2 this week wrote informal letters as Duncan to one of the Crayons from our class book, The day the Crayons quit, applying conjunctions and persuasive words/phrases. They also edited for punctuation including apostrophes for omission and contraction.

In Maths, we used BBC’s Number block song-Ten again- to recall number bonds to 10, 20 and 100 before moving on to addition and subtraction strategies.

In RE, the children made Advent wreaths in class and later explained their choices and their symbolism of Advent. The endless circle- Jesus’ life, the evergreen leaves – Jesus’ endless love for us, the candles-each for a Sunday leading up to Christmas.

The children also wrote Advent prayers that will create our classroom display later next week.

The class also spent time in the afternoons  rehearsing for their Nativity play. We are getting very confident with our songs and the children’s lines are coming along nicely.

Well done to Donnie and Amelia who presented their wonderful ‘Show and tell’ learning this week. Donnie made his very own picture book with lovely illustrations to accompany the story of the 5 little pumpkins:

Whilst Amelia created a 3D Arctic scene, with the Northern light, snow dunes and Emperor penguins enjoying a swim, as well as, preparing exciting and often surprising facts about penguins and their habitat.

I am always happy to see how learning in the classroom inspires you to do more! Great job Donnie and Amelia!

I hope you have a nice weekend,

Wrap up warm!

Ms Varga

 

Home Learning

Spelling: Please log onto Spelling Shed to consolidate this week’s rule: Words where ‘ge’ makes a /j/ sound and to have a look at next week’s rule: Words where ‘g’ makes a /j/ sound. (The children will  have their spelling test on these next week Friday.)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading: Please carry on reading with your child and sign reading record.

Lines: Please practice your lines and try and learn them by next week.

 

 

Friday, 15th November 2024

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This week has been anti-bullying week and the children in Year 2 have learnt about the importance of ‘Choosing Respect’.  The class completed many activities, such as role playing behaviour types using scenario cards and making a pledge demonstrating their understanding of respect. They also sorted scenarios into behaviour types and gained understanding of ‘joking, teasing and bullying’. They discussed strategies to cope with each and mapped out their support network; people they can trust and turn to for help.

In English, the class carried on in their ‘The day the crayons quit’ unit and looked at apostrophes for omission and contraction in particular, using the text. They used matching cards to find each other in class before applying the contracted forms in sentences.

In Maths, we used practical resources such as ten frames, not only to consolidate our number bonds to 20 but to draw up fact families as well. If we know that 7+13=20 then we also know that: 13+7=20, 20-7=13 and 20-13=7 without actually calculating any of these number sentences.

In Science, we grouped food items into food groups such as: grains, proteins, dairy, fats, fruit and vegetable and designed a healthy lunch box for our Science duck, Diddy.

In RE we looked at Advent as a time of waiting and reflected on children’s own experiences of waiting for something special such as the arrival of a baby  sibling or a trip to Lego Land. We also identified signs and symbols associated with Advent such as a Jesse Tree, an Advent Calendar, an evergreen wreath or the Advent candles.

In PE, we used balls to play simple invasion games practicing the roles of an attacker and a defender.

Well done to Luca, who showed us his wonderful learning from home, all based on the next sequence of our class book, titled ‘The day the Crayons came home’. Luca recalled the story with great detail and showed us the amazing fortress and crayon characters he made with his family. It has been lovely to see how the book inspired him and how he applied his learning in such a creative task!

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Spelling– Children took home their login details for Spelling Shed on Thursday. This resource will enable them to practice and consolidate the spelling rules learnt each week, as well as introduce the next rule that they will learn about further in class the following week. Children will participate in weekly spelling tests based on the week’s rule. This week, the class learnt to spell words where ‘-dge’ makes a /j/ sound. They will have a test on these and next week’s words (Words where ‘ge’ makes a /j/ sound)  on Friday, 22nd November 2024.

Please log onto this new resource and complete the assigned activities (spelling games).

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading– Please continue to read with your child and sign reading record.

TTRock Stars– A huge well done to all children who accessed their accounts and practiced this week. Our class leader is Mia at the moment. Congratulations! Please continue to practice your 2s, 5s and 10s.

https://ttrockstars.com/

Mathletics– Please log onto your account and complete the To do list.

https://login.mathletics.com/

Nativity– I am pleased to announce that Miss Pemberton and myself chose our Nativity production for this year and rehearsals began in earnest this week. Parts will be given out next week and we shall send information out about costumes and props in due course. Please read through the lyrics for the songs if possible, with a specific focus for the first 3 which we learnt in school.

Song lyrics

 

 

 

Friday, 8th November 2024

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Welcome to the second half of the autumn term!

It was lovely to see the children return well rested and ready to learn.

In English, the class first edited and then published their second big writing based on our class book, Ravi’s Roar. The stories read really well clearly showing that the children have put a lot of effort into writing their narratives. We have also started reading our next picture book to inspire our stories called, The Day the Crayons Quit. The class have really enjoyed reading the letters and answering inference type questions based on it.

In Maths, we have moved onto Addition and Subtraction. We consolidated our number bonds to 10 (from year 1) through playing interesting Maths games using the ten frames and playing cards.

In RE, we have looked at the second Catholic Social Teaching principle, the Preferential Option for the Poor. The children have reflected on people’s basic needs and found ways to support them in the form of a ‘reverse advent calendar’ where they came up with some great ideas such as donating to food banks, supporting a soup kitchen, donating socks and toothbrushes for the homeless, etc.

In History, the class role played some of the activities Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin completed on the surface of the Moon before participating in a reasoned debate about should there be a next Moon mission or not. The children came up with some brilliant arguments to support their views and communicated well to convince each other!

In Science, the children have looked at the human body and its needs, such as exercise. They partook in a practical enquiry to investigate what type of activity elevates their heartrates the most and looked at the basic parts of the heart and lungs to understood their roles within the body.

In Art, the children moved onto mono printing as their next medium and spent some time copying using nature themed video clips.  In PE we moved onto invasion games.

Thank you to those of you who have sent in some photos to go onto our Remembrance display in class.

There is still time to send in special photos on Monday, ready for the school’s Remembrance Pilgrimage.

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Reading- please read with your child and sign your child’s reading record

Multiplication-https://ttrockstars.com/

Your child will bring home a TT Rockstars parent letter in their school bag today. Please support them in logging onto this new platform which in the future will allow them to practice their times table facts (initially 2s, 5s and 10s) in a fun but effective way. We shall announce top scorers weekly!

Maths- https://login.mathletics.com/

Please log onto Mathletics and complete the assigned activities.

 

 

 

Friday, 25th October 2024

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This week in Year 2, we have had a wonderful time finding out about Colombia during One World Week. First, we located the country using maps and globes, before looking at its rich history and culture. We learnt some simple phrases in Spanish and made orchid bracelets depicting Colombia’s national flower. We later made paper toucans and used clay to re-create the megalithic statues found in San Agustin. We also learnt about the life and work of the only Colombian saint, St Laura Montoya and researched how Fair Trade and Cafod are supporting the coffee farmers of Colombia. We learnt about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest too and listened to great ideas from Cafod to stop the damage caused and ways to help recover God’s Creation. We listened to Colombian folk music during activities such as making festival masks or creating our own ‘mola’ patterns. We made Colombian muffins and sampled Plantain crisps as well.

Another highlight of the week was Mrs Wilson’s absolutely brilliant animal workshop, where the children had the opportunity to learn about insects, invertebrates and reptiles as well as handle them. They thoroughly enjoyed this experience and were very open and careful when it came to holding the animals. We thank Mrs Wilson for supporting our Science learning in such an amazing way!

Thank you for all of you who came to see me for this week’s Parent consultations; it has been great to celebrate the children’s achievements with you. They worked hard this half term and settled well into Year 2’s new routines.

I wish you all a lovely half term,

Ms Varga

 

Friday, 18th October 2024

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The children in Year 2 had yet another busy week.

In English, we practiced writing in the first person by creating diary entries for Ravi- the main character of our class book. Later in the week, the class planned for their first big writing, where the children came up with their own characters and a behaviour that will turn them into an animal (just like in Ravi’s roar where he turns into a tiger).

In Maths, the class moved onto comparing and ordering and solved challenging missing number problems.

In History, the children looked at the details of what the astronauts did in their 2 hours on the moon in 1969 and as a preparation for a later role play, they made astronaut helmet masks.

In Science, the class finished their learning on the survival of the last vertebrate group-humans (mammals)

 

by looking at their basic needs from birth to adulthood. In RE, the class learnt about the Catholic Missionaries’ work in Cameroon looking after the Creation and used CAFOD resources to learn about stewardship.

In PE, we moved on to our next fundamental skill: dribbling and passing and used footballs to practice these.

Well done for Anna Maria who brought in her hand made space model as a show and tell and shared interesting facts about planets.

Next week is One World Week where year 2 will be learning about Colombia and about how CAFOD supports the communities. CAFOD’s programme in Colombia focuses on peacebuilding, protection of human rights, sustainable livelihoods,  protection of the Amazon and care for our Common Home- all linked with Catholic Social Teaching principles that we are going to learn about this year.

If you have any books or memorabilia from this region, please send them in for show and tell!

Parent Consultation Evening is on Tuesday and Thursday, please make sure to book an appointment.

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning Due back on Wednesday, 23rd  October 2024
Phonics/Spelling Please practice this week’s sound patterns

phonics 5
Reading Please read with your child and sign reading record.
Maths https://login.mathletics.com/

Complete the assigned activities.

 

 

Friday, 11th October 2024

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The children in Year 2 this week, spent some time outdoors to explore the school grounds and find items that we can use in our Andy Goldsworthy inspired land art project. The rain luckily did not stop our enthusiasm and we collected many wonderful items that we later arranged into art pieces.

 

We also used wax resistant ink technique to paint some of our impressions.

 

In Maths, we used number lines to count in tens and ones before moving on to missing number problems and estimation. Later in the week, we started comparison of sets of objects using specific language such as fewer, less, greater, larger or equal.

In English, we wrote descriptions of Ravi (from our class book, Ravi’s Roar) using nouns and adjectives before moving on to identifying and later applying adverbs.

In RE, we reflected on the Trinity and the nature of God and created Trinity pyramids

, whilst in History we looked at the sequence of the Moon landing, learning about the Saturn V rocket, the Colombia module, the Eagle and watched videos of the landing itself in the ocean.

In PE, we learnt the skill of dodging and in Computing the class learnt about the use of IT in school.

Just a note to say that the link for the Parent Consultation booking is active now and hopefully I will see you all on the week commencing 21st October 2024.

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning Due back on Wednesday, 16th October 2024
Phonics/Spelling Please see this week’s spelling words

phonics 4
Reading Please read with your child and sign reading record
Maths https://login.mathletics.com/

Please complete the assigned activities.

 

 

 

Friday, 4th October 2024

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The children in Year 2 this week, used their story maps to retell the main events of our class book, called ‘Aliens love underpants’. After some editing, they copied their final pieces up in neat that went on display in class. I am very proud of the class, as they all put great effort into their writing, as well as, their presentation.

In Maths, we further consolidated flexible re-grouping of numbers. Moving away from a ‘classical’ regrouping of tens and ones (43= 40+3), we looked at more interesting ways of decomposing numbers using place value (43=30+13; 43=20+23).

In Science, the class looked at amphibians, creatures that can live both on land and in water. The children investigated some animals and looked at specific body parts such as webbed feet as well as diet and habitat to gain better understanding of this vertebrate group.

In RE we completed learning focusing on the first Catholic Social Teaching principle, ‘care for Creation’.

Using Greta Thunberg as an inspiration, we looked at our role as Catholics in protecting our environment, using the Scripture (Genesis) to understand how we were called by God to look after our World.

The children enjoyed listening to this wonderful book, detailing Greta’s efforts,  finding inspiration for their own Laudato Si journey.

In Art, we used continuous line drawing technique to sketch some of the Autumnal treasures around us, as a preparation for our land art piece.

In PE, we focused on gallop and applied it in competitive games along with previously learnt skills such as skipping, jumping, throwing and catching.

I hope you have a nice weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning Due back on Wednesday, 9th  October 2024
Phonics/Spelling Please see this week’s spelling words

phonics 3
Reading Please read with your child and sign reading record
Maths https://login.mathletics.com/

Complete assigned activities on Mathletics

Friday, 27th September 2024

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The children in Year 2 this week, carried on their Place Value learning by extending their range of models for representation and used part whole models to flexibly regroup numbers within 100. They also spent time learning how to write numbers in words as well as numerals whilst consolidating their understanding of the value of each digit within a 2 digit number.

In English, the children created noun phrases by adding adjectives to selected nouns to describe their own aliens, inspired by our class book, Aliens Love Underpants. They later sequenced the events of this story using picture prompts before creating their own story maps for retelling.

In RE, the children looked at Biblical metaphors and using items from Creation, they tried to explain how these help us understand God.First they looked at flowers to explain how God, just like a flower, makes us feel happy and gives us beauty and joy.  They also lifted hard rocks to show how God is strong and how He can form a solid foundation for our Catholic life. Later in the week, the children came up with their own metaphors for God and compared him to animals to explain their understanding of His qualities.

In Science, the class reflected on the needs of the third vertebrate group, Fish whilst in History they used primary and secondary sources to prove Historical events around the Moon Landing. They reasoned in groups to reflect on how some sources are less trustworthy than others before finding clues left around the classroom to prove statements about men’s first mission to the Moon.

In PE, we moved onto skipping as yet another fundamental skill and played team games, whilst in Computing the children looked at the big question: What is IT? and after gaining some basic understanding about devices and networks, they learnt about its use to support public places such as schools, libraries and hospitals.

In Ten Ten we listened to the Gospel story when Jesus called all the children to him; reflecting on our special gifts and gaining understanding on what it means to be called.

Thank you for all of you who dropped in collections of leaves, conkers, pine cones and other treasures. We are still in need of them so if you have the means to collect more, please keep sending them into class.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning Due back on Wednesday, 2nd October 2024
Phonics/Spelling Please practice these words, all revising learnt phonics rules:

shout, cloud, firm, girl, boy, annoy, argue, statue, flies, fried

Please see the attached sheet modeling the letter formation:

phonics 2
English Please practice retelling our class story , Aliens Love Underpants, using our story map. This will support the children’s writing on Monday.

Aliens love underpants but there are no underpants in Space. They go into their  fast rockets and fly to Earth so they can land in your back garden. Aliens steal underpants from the washing line and play with them. They love pants in orange, red and green. Mum comes out to get the pants back from the washing line so the aliens jump into their rockets and go back to Space. Check your pants to see if any aliens are hiding!
Maths Please log into your Mathletics account and complete the assigned activities all consolidating Place value within 100.

https://login.mathletics.com/