Arithmetic
This term, together with our weekly spelling test, we’ll complete a short, low-pressure arithmetic test every Friday. This well help us to grow as confident, flexible mathematicians.
Children will complete 15 questions on the 4 operations (+ – x ÷) before reviewing as a class. Papers will be sent home weekly.
Help at home by looking through the paper with your child, working through errors and offering similar questions for additional practice. If you have any questions or need additional support, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Welcome Back – Summer 1
We were delighted to welcome the children back to school this week to start our summer term. We hope you’ve had a happy and healthy break.
Here’s a look at what will be going on in our classroom:
English
In English, we’ll write a non-fiction report about a hero from history. We’ll read Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and dive into lots of interesting non-fiction texts.
Maths
In maths, we’ll learn about money, shape, length/height, stats and more!
Phonics – Spelling
We’ll continue our journey to becoming confident spellers…
Science
Science takes us back to plants, this time focusing on bulbs and seeds. We’ll plant some bulbs and observe them over time. We’ll also learn about sustainability and how we, as biologists, can support the wildlife in our environment.
Topic – History
This half term, we’re historians! We’ll learn about some heroes from history and the impact they’ve had on our society.
RE
How and why do some people pray? We’ll explore prayer across a range of world religions, linking to this half term’s Christian value, peace.
Living and Learning
We’ll learn about physical health: hygiene, sleep, diet, physical activity
PE
Throwing. Catching. Games. Exercise. Teamwork. Fun!
Help at home by keeping up the great work. Thanks for your all support so far this year – it’s had a huge impact. Please continue to use NumBots and Times Tables Rockstars, and listen to your child read every day.
Topic – D&T Cooking and Nutrition
Food preparation is part of Design and Technology; children have three opportunities each year to prepare food.
This term, the children made overnight oats using a variety of skills:
- snipping
- weighing (using digital scales)
- measuring liquids
- use measuring spoons
- claw chopping grip
- mixing
- arranging toppings
First, we read the recipe together, discussing some elements that might be changed. We also discussed hygiene and how we can stay safe in the kitchen.
The children enjoyed a great deal of success, building on previous food preparation learning.
Children took their food home to try then returned to school to evaluate the product. We considered the success of the product and how close it was to the recipe. We discussed challenging techniques and any changes we would consider for next time.
Help at home by watching some of these fantastic cooking videos. If you try any of these recipes at home, we’d love to see the results.
Maths – Division by sharing
In maths, we’ve been learning to divide.
This week, we’ve used the idea of sharing to help us to divide. When dividing by sharing equally, you’re calculating how much (or how many) each person (group) gets.
When dividing by sharing, it’s important to ask some key questions:
- How many are there altogether?
- How many groups are there?
We can use these questions to write our division equation.
The children really impressed me with their learning. We practised division by sharing using counters, saying these stem sentences to show our understanding:
Help at home by practising some division by sharing. We love this game.
Topic – Computing
This half term, we’re computer programmers!
Our current topic, computing, focuses on creating and debugging programs and algorithms.
An algorithm is a sequence of instructions or a set of rules to get something done.
The children have really impressed my with their ability, skilfully tackling challenges on Scratch Jr.
As the weeks progress, we’ll each be designing and creating a quiz game, and evaluating its success.
Help at home by exploring our topic vocabulary with your child.
algorithm – a sequence of instructions or a set of rules to get something done
program – an algorithm or algorithms which can be run by a computer
to debug – to find and fix errors in algorithms
computer – a type of machine that can follow instructions and do useful things
command – an instruction that can be used in a program
You could try Scratch Jr. at home!
Living and Learning – Strong emotions
In Living and Learning this half term, we’re learning about emotions and friendships.
We’ve talked about recognising emotions in ourselves and others and the benefits of speaking openly about them.
We discussed 6 key emotions
- Happy
- Excited
- Tender
- Scared
- Angry
- Sad
Empathy
What is empathy? Empathy is being able to know how someone else is feeling, even when you aren’t in the same situation. Sometimes we call empathy being able to “put yourself in someone’s shoes” and see things from their view.
We explored some situations in which children may have different emotions to one another. It’s important to be respectful of those emotions and acknowledge the importance of sharing them. Keeping feelings to yourself can have a negative impact on your mental wellbeing.
Where can I go for help with my emotions?
- talk to a trusted adult at school
- talk to a trusted adult at home
- talk to a friend
- put your worry in the Living and Learning box
Help at home by encouraging your child to express their emotions. Use the feelings wheel (above) to help. Compare the words in each segment of the feelings wheel – for example, does irritated feel different to furious?
Reading – The Lorax
In reading, we’re enjoying The Lorax by Dr Seuss. The Lorax is an engaging story with strong themes, told amusingly by way of rhyme. The children have enjoyed exploring the messages in The Lorax about environmental crisis and activism, building on our geography learning from last half term.
One of our favourite reading activities is ‘hot-seating’ in which children play the parts of characters from a story and answer questions. This is a brilliant platform for practising inference skills.
The children really impressed me; questioning, inference, acting – I saw it all!
We made sure to look the part…
Help at home by encouraging your child to think of some questions they’d like to ask characters in their favourite story. Take it in turns to step into character and have a go at answering the questions…
Maths – Equal Groups
In maths, we’ve begun our multiplication and division learning.
Our focus this week has been equal and unequal groups. Equal groups contain the same number of items; unequal groups do not.
The children have enjoyed making equal groups with multilink cubes.
Help at home by looking for equal groups in the world around us. How many groups are there? How many are there in each group? How many are there altogether?
Science – Habitats
In science, we’re biologists! We’re learning about animals and their habitats.
This week, we’ve learned about polar habitats and desert habitats, using secondary sources to conduct research and create some animal fact files.
Help at home by exploring some animal facts. The National Geographic Kids website is fantastic!
Living and Learning – Internet Safety Workshop
Today, we were lucky to welcome Dave from d:side for an internet safety workshop.
Here are a few things we learnt:
- Lots of different devices can be used to access the internet, even fridges and kettles!
- 2 billion people around the world access the internet every day.
- Everyone can see what you upload to the internet.
- Not all videos on Youtube are suitable for all ages. Use YouTube Kids to stay safe.
- Games use number ratings to help us to know which games are suitable for our age.
Dave was really impressed by the children’s knowledge and made special mention to their focus and engagement. Well done, Year 2!
Help at home by discussing internet safety with your child. Do you have any rules for staying safe on the internet at home?