Weekly news

Welcome back after half term!
We started this week with an exciting visit from a children’s book author called Paeony Lewis, she spoke to the children about how she became an author and where her ideas for stories came from. In English this week the children have read some more of their new Land Ahoy topic book- ‘How to Find Gold.’ The children wrote a story using their treasure maps which they made a few weeks ago about the journey they took to find their gold. They then created their own sea monster using junk modelling which they then wrote a fact file about.
In Maths this week we have been learning about number bonds from 10 to 20. The children were learning associative facts, for example; if they know that 7+3= 10 then they should know that 17+3=20 or 1+9=10 then 11+9=20.
For Geography we explored the capital cities of the UK and labelling a map of the UK to show this. In science we have been looking at what plants need to grow. The children planted their own cress seeds which have been left to grow in different places around the school and the children made predictions about which place they think is best and why.
The children have been practicing their pirate dance, which they will perform at the summer fair next Friday!
In a few weeks’ time the children will be making their own lighthouse model. We would appreciate if you could bring in some kitchen/toilet rolls and newspaper.
Have a lovely weekend,
The Year 2 team.

Weekly News

Sports Day on Monday was a hugely exciting, busy and tiring day but very much enjoyed by all. Thank you for supporting us by coming to watch your children and cheering them on.

During the mornings this week the children have completed their reading special booklets (SATs). They have all worked really hard. You will be pleased to know that our SATs are now finished.

In Maths this week we have been partitioning numbers into different combinations of tens and ones. For example; 62 = 60 + 2, or 50 + 12, or 40 + 22, or 30 + 32 etc. The children used the tens and ones sticks to help them. We also applied this skill by drawing bar models to show the partition. Some children solved incorrect partition challenges for example 62 = 6 + 2 …”This is incorrect because the 6 digit is worth 6 tens so it should be 60 + 2.

A big well done to the children who took part in the dance showcase. We are really proud of their confident performance and we hope you all enjoyed coming to watch them.

Whilst the children were at the dance showcase, the rest of Year 2 completed some pirate art. We created a sea background using paint and added texture using sponges, forks and brushes. We then made a pirate boat using sugar paper and oil pastels to stick on top. This artwork, along with the treasure maps made a few weeks ago will be on display in the lower school hall.

After half term we will need lots of junk modelling. Please can you save this up and bring into school the first Monday back. Many thanks.

Enjoy the half term!

Year 2 team J

Weekly News

We have had an exciting week in Year 2. We started off the week with a fantastic launch to our new topic ‘Land Ahoy’. We had a wonderful workshop with Miss Helen from Music and Movement all about pirates and did some dance and drama. We did lots of different pirate activities throughout the day including making telescopes, porthole art, making pirate hats and walking the plank!

In English this week we have started looking at our new ‘Power of Reading’ text. We are keeping the title to ourselves for now. The children have done some excellent work on inferring from a picture and writing instructions to find gold.

In Maths we have been learning about position and direction and guiding our friends round different routes using the language forwards, backwards, left, right, clockwise and anticlockwise, ¼ and ½ turn.

In our topic work we have made some amazing detailed maps to show a journey to find gold. In Science we have investigated different materials to see which float and sink and choose the best one to make a boat. We have really enjoyed using our investigative skills. We have also learnt about the story of Jonah and the big fish and made a story map of it in RE.

A few quick reminders….

Home learning is coming home today.

Please can we remind parents that children need to have their reading records in school at all times so that we can record details about your child’s reading.

Don’t forget it’s Sports Day on Monday. The children are really excited and have been working hard practising their races.

We are really looking forward to Dance Showcase next week at the open. A reminder for the children taking part, please could we have any costumes in school as soon as possible and also £1 for the bow ties.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 2 team.

Nurse visit

Today, we had a visit from Charlotte (Sam Thouless' Mum) who spoke to us about what it was like to be a nurse. We learnt lots of facts about bones, eyes, our pulse, and we even had a go at using some of the equipment!
Thank you very much to Charlotte.

Pirate WOW day

We started the week with the launch of our new topic - LAND AHOY!

It was a really exciting and busy day. We had a visit from Music and Movement who took us on a pirate journey. Then, back in the class we completed many pirate-themed activities including;

- Port hole art

- Walking the plank

- Making telescopes

- Pirate hat origami 

Weekly News

During this short week, the children have been doing their Maths special booklets (SATs). We have been pleased with their positive attitude and focus. We will doing our reading booklets in a few weeks’ time.

In the afternoons we have been singing ‘Sea Shanties’, learning Spanish and doing some computing activities using the programme Scratch Junior on the iPads.

At the end of the week, the children wrote their own Claude stories based on the plans they made last week. They have written some brilliant adventures with an exciting problem and resolution. All stories ended with Claude saving the day!

We will no longer be sending home weekly spellings. The spellings we have been sending home are the Year 1 and Year 2 common exception words. As we have now worked our way through all of these, you will now see the completed list stuck in your child’s spelling book. Please continue to test your child on these words as these are the crucial words they need to be able to spell by the end of Year 2. We will continue to test your child on these words every few weeks.

Home learning will be coming home Friday 17^th May. We are quite a few books short so please ensure they are returned to school so that we can stick in their new sheets.

If your child is involved in the Dance Showcase you should have received an email this week about costumes. Please can these come in ASAP.

Many thanks,

Year 2 team

Weekly News

We have had a fun and varied week this week in Year 2.

In English, we finished our story about Claude in the City, and discovered how he saved the day curing lots of sick people with a cup of tea and a biscuit.  We then created storyboards to retell the story in our own ways.  At the end of the week we planned our own version of the story.

In maths, we have been looking at creating graphs to represent different kinds of data.  We started creating pictograms showing how our class got to school, moving on to making bar charts about our favourite sports.  Then reinforcing our knowledge about these.

For science, we explored the school looking at different plants and trees, trying to recognise them by their leaves and flowers.  We discovered that we have a huge variety of wildlife just in the school, getting excited about the variety of colours that will be out when summer finally arrives.

For our history lesson, we looked at how technology has changed in the home from the 1950s up to now.  We looked at how small the televisions were in comparison, and that they used to have to get up to change the between the two or three channels!  We also looked at technology in the kitchen and discovered they did not have microwaves!

Weekly News

Welcome back to the Summer term!

We started the week by planning our leaflets for the Sainsbury Centre. The children looked at real-life leaflets to decide what features they should include. The planned space for headings, a map, pictures, prices, opening times, etc. Later in the week, we wrote persuasive paragraphs about what you can do at the Sainsbury Centre, the shop and the café. On Friday, we used our planning to make the leaflets. These have been photocopied and sent to the Sainsbury Centre for them to, hopefully, use.

In maths this week, we learnt about how to read scales. We looked at real-life scales on car speedometers, measuring jugs, rulers, weighing scales, etc. The children looked closely to see what steps the scales were counting in (1s, 2s, 5s, 10s) and had to work out the missing number. Later in the term, we will be applying this skill by reading thermometers.

During the afternoons, we have been designing, making and evaluating sock puppets. The children have had lots of fun and we are very impressed with how much their real puppet looks like their design!

Sock Puppets

 Our Power of Reading story has a character called 'Claude' whose best friend is a sock called 'Sir Bobbly Sock'. 

This week we have been busy  making our own  sock friends (puppets). 

First, we designed our puppets and thought about the materials we would need.

Next, we cut out all the shapes and collected all the things we needed (buttons, pom-poms, wool, felt, etc.)

 Then, we worked with a grown-up to glue the pieces in the right place.

After that, we tried out our sock puppets.

Finally, we evaluated our creations by thinking about what went well and what we would do differently next time.

They really are rather amazing!! 

Sainsbury Centre Trip

We have had a lovely day at the Sainsbury Centre!

To begin, the children were 'Gallery Detectives' and had to find out as much information out about the building, what it was and what it had inside. 

Next, they completed sketching activities. This included doing a continuous line drawing, sketching small, sketching like scientists and sketching from memory. 

After lunch, we went outside and explored the outdoor sculptures.

We also had a fun time playing outside in the sunshine.

Weekly News

This week, in English, we have written our newspaper reports about the ‘great sculpture robbery’ that took place in the art gallery of our book ‘Claude in the City’. The children wrote a headline, drew a picture with a caption and included lots of real facts and quotes from local people. We have used the opportunity to discuss the features of non-fiction texts.

In the afternoons, we have been busy completing Easter and spring craft activities. The children really enjoyed making their bouncing chicks and chocolate Easter nests in baskets.

On Thursday, we had a wonderful time on our school trip. The children found out lots of information about the Sainsbury Centre and completed some sketching activities. After Easter, we will be continuing our work on non-fiction by making leaflets/guidebooks for the Sainsbury Centre using the information we collected.

We have had our final practise of our ‘special booklets’ (SATs) ready for May and we are pleased with the progress that the children have made. Over the Easter holidays, please continue to hear you child read little and often, and, if you have time, complete a few maths problems with them (all 4 operations). However, and most importantly, we really hope you all have a relaxing Easter filled with exciting activates.

From,

Year 2 Team

Weekly News

This week has been a super busy week!

Firstly, we would like to thank you for your support with our Maths Café and our Assembly. We hope you enjoyed learning about how your child solves maths problems and learnt a little bit about our Power of Reading story from our assembly.

In English this week, we found out that a robber stole a sculpture from an art gallery in our book ‘Claude in City’. We made wanted posters using suffixes, for example harmless, colourful, quickly, shiniest, cleverest and sneakiest. Later in the week we held a press conference with children in role as the Robber, Security Guard, Museum Manager, Mayor and Police Chief. The children wrote questions to ask at the conference. We have begun looking at the features at newspapers ready to write a newspaper report about the incident next week.

In Maths, we have been practising our multiplication skills and learning about the inverse relationship between multiplication and division. We used the same 4 numbers to write four numbers sentences, for example 5 x 2 = 10, 2 x 5 = 10, 10 ÷ 5 = 2 and 10 ÷ 2 = 5.

In Science, we learnt about fingerprints and how the police use these to identify criminals. We scribbled with a pencil, pressed our finger on top, then put our finger onto the sticky side of a piece of sellotape, and once this was stuck onto white paper, you could see the fingerprint clearly. We used magnifying glasses to observe and find similarities and differences.

We will be having a spelling test next week. We will be picking 10 words from the last 4 weeks of spelling sheets. Please practise with your children ready for Thursday 4th. 

Maths cafe

Today we had our Year 2 Maths Cafe.

We began by letting the children be the experts. They taught their parents how to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They used different methods including; chips and peas, arrays and groups.

After this, we made multiplication flowers. The children chose a times table that they felt they needed more practise with. These can now be used at home.

Thank you to our wonderful parents for their support. :)

Weekly news – 22.3.19

This week at school we have had a go at writing our own free verse poem based on the work that we did Friday around the city and the things that we could see, hear smell and touch.  We have learnt about writing and sending an email through Claude and Sir Bobblysocks adventure in the city.  We went into role as Claude and wrote an email to Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes.  After carefully editing these we then practised typing these up on the computer.

In maths this week we have been practising our subtraction using ‘chips and peas’ and then went on to read word problems to decide which of the operations we should use, addition, subtraction, division or multiplication.

For our topic sessions this week we went outside and created a sound map by drawing ourselves in the middle, closing our eyes and listening carefully to the sounds around us.  We then drew these onto a map with a key.  In Geography this week we drew a map of the city that Claude explores and thought carefully about the shops that he went to.  We drew these on with a key.  For history this week we have learnt about shops in the past and present.

Street Detectives

We launched our new topic 'Street Detectives' with a walk around Mulbarton. We spotted lots of the main features including; the church, the common, Co-Op, bust stops, Boots and the dentist (which used to be the school!).

Weekly News

We had a lovely start to the week with the launch of our new topic ‘Street Detectives’ by going on a walk around the village. The children had a map and drew symbols to make a key showing the main features of Mulbarton including the Church, Co-Op, The Common, etc.

In English, we have started our new Power of Reading book (the title of which will be kept a secret for now). We began by looking at the first picture in the book, which was a city scene. We then read the first 9 pages which introduced us to the characters Claude, Sir Bobblysock, and Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes. The children completed a character profile with all the information that they already knew about Claude along with questions regarding things they would like to find out. Later in the week, we wrote predictions of the adventure that Claude and Sir Bobblysock might have.

At the end of the week, we began writing poetry about a city. We will be continuing this next week.

In Art, we made collages to show our predicted adventures. These included; space, beach, under the sea, Paris, and city scenes.

In Spanish, we learnt the names of animals. The children acted as different animals and we guessed what they were using our new Spanish words.

In Maths this week, we have been learning about the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction. We used this understanding to solve missing number problems, for example ? + 20 = 70 we solved by doing 70-20 = 50. This is an area that some children find quite challenging and would benefit from practising missing number problems at home.

Weekly News

This week in school, we have finished our ‘Power of Reading book project by writing our own chapters in our best handwriting.  The storybooks look amazing; please have a look in your child’s classroom.

We have been practising SATS papers this week and the children have responded really well to their ‘Special Work’ and ‘Secret spaces’.  They have all worked hard and have enjoyed the quiet, focussed atmosphere in the classroom. 

We have finished off our ‘Towers, Tunnels and Turrets ’topic with an ‘Innovate Day’.  The children read the story of the three little pigs as inspiration.  Then they were challenged to design and build a safe fortress for the three little pigs based on their knowledge of castles.  Once complete they labelled their design and made a list of the resources they would need.  They then went on to collaboratively build their design using the available resources.  The children worked in groups all day long and have designed some amazing fortresses. 

We had lots of fun on world book day exploring the children’s characters and books.  We all moved into our circle time groups to hear different stories in the afternoon. 

Please let us know if you are able to help on Monday for our walk around the village; we will be setting off from school around 9.30am and back in time for lunch. We have only has 2 offers of help across the year group and we would ideally like at least 6.

Have a great weekend – Year 2 team

World Book Day

We had the most magical day celebrating World Book Day. Throughout the day I captured some photos of children really engaged and enjoying our activities - it was lovely to see!

We made book marks using origami techniques. The children were incredibly creative and turned them into all sorts of interesting, colourful creatures.

We had a whole host of different book characters including; Harry Potter, Matildia, a dalmation, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Stick Man, Ben 10, the BFG, and more!!

Weekly News

We have had a lovely week in Year 2 and have been very busy.

In English this week we have been story mapping our Power of Reading story ‘The Princess and the White Bear King’. We divided the story into chapters and began to plan our own chapters to write. We have used our story maps to write our own chapter with adjectives and adverbial phrases to say when and where things happened. We have edited and improved our work ready to write up in best next week to make our own collaborative versions of the book.

In Maths this week we have been focussing on money. We have learnt about the values of different coins and worked on making different amounts using the coins. We have also focussed on adding amounts of money and finding totals.

In Science this week we have been out on a ‘I wonder…’ walk and thought about questions that we could investigate later in the year about plants and nature. The teachers will use these questions later in the year to plan some exciting science investigations.

We have continued our work on Judaism this week and learnt about the festival of Shabbat. We learnt about why Jewish people celebrate Shabbat and how they do this. We also had our own Shabbat meal with bread and grape juice (blackcurrant squash).

Next week we will be taking part in an exciting innovate challenge to finish off our ‘Towers, Tunnels and Turrets’ topic. We would appreciate any donations of junk for junk modelling that you may have (boxes, cardboard tubes, bottles). These need to be brought in by Wednesday 6th. Thank you.

In the week beginning 11^th March we will be launching our new topic ‘Street Detectives’ with a walk around Mulbarton to explore our local community.  We would appreciate any volunteers that are able to assist us with a walk on Monday morning, we will be leaving school at 9.30am and aiming to return before lunch.  Please let your child’s teacher know if you are available to help.

Shabbat

This week we have been continuing our work on the Judaism faith by learning about their weekly celebration - Shabbat.

We learnt that on the 7th day of the week Jewish families have a day of rest, called Shabbat, where they relax and spend time together. They have a special meal which must include bread and wine (or grape juice). The reason they do this is because they believe that God made the world in 6 days and on the 7th day he had a rest.

We sat in a circle and role played a Shabbat meal with candles, blessings, bread and juice.

Campfire Time!

A wonderful experience sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows :)

The Great Escape Drama

These are some pictures showing a drama activity where the children acted out The Great Escape from World War 2 in 1944.

They used bowls and spoons to dig their tunnels and made tunnels from chairs to crawl through.

They learnt many facts and went on to write a recount about The Great Escape in their books.

Fractions

 This week we have been busy learning all about fractions of shape and number. On Tuesday we played a game using non-unit fractions. The bottom number was how many pieces the shape was cut into and the top number was how many were coloured in.

Weekly News

This week in school, we have been exploring the end of our story and began by attempting to predict the end of the story.  We did some role-play about the wedding and re-enacted the final scene with the troll Queen being turned into stone.  We went on to write questions for the troll queen and then interviewed her to ask her about her thoughts and feelings on the fairness of the ending.  We then wrote a letter of complaint on her behalf, complaining about how unfair it was that she did not get a happy ending.

In maths, we have continued our work on fractions and learnt about 1/3 of shapes, numbers and objects.  We have then learnt about identifying the different fractions, comparing them and then looking at the relationship between ½ and 2/4.

In topic this week, we have made paper bridges and explored the properties of the paper and how we could make it stronger.  This was fun and the children were expert bridge builders.  During our history topic this week, we have learnt about the great escape and re-enacted this using bowls and spoons to dig tunnels and try to escape the guards.  We went on to write a recount of the events during the great escape in 1944.  The children were fascinated and amused by the names of the three tunnels ‘Tom, Dick and Harry!’

Please spend some time over half term having a look at Bug Club and Education city.

FYI – our next learning café will be on Tuesday 26^th March.

Have a great half term holiday – The year 2 team.

Precious Items

We had a lovely day in Year 2 on Wednesday.

Our Power of Reading book contained a quote 'not for sale for gold or for money'.

We discussed precious items that we would not want to sell or give away. The children brought in their items and shared them with the rest of the class during a show and tell session. 

 Later in the day they wrote about their special items. They included what it was, where it came from, why it was special and any interesting facts.

The children then proof-read and edited their work before writing up neatly in pen.

Some of their work is ow on display in the lower school hall.

Weekly News

This week at school, we have been doing some more drama around our story and re-enacted the princesses climb up the mountain.  We went on to write a diary about how the princess felt during her climb thinking carefully about our adjectives and CFFS.  The children enjoyed bringing in their ‘precious items’ and talking about them to the class group.  They went on to write a description of their item, edit their work and then write it up in their neatest handwriting using a pen!

In maths this week, we have been re-capping 3D shape knowledge and their properties.  We had lots of fun using marshmallows and cocktail sticks to build a 3D shape.  The children have now begun to learn about fractions and we have started with ½ and ¼.  We have looked at half of numbers, shapes, length and quantities.

During our topic work, we have learnt about tunnelling animals, finding information and recording this in a chart.  We also used charcoal and white paint to draw a winter scene thinking about form, line, shape and space.  The children did a fabulous job and were very creative.

Have a great weekend

Year 2 team.

Dance Showcase

A very very big WELL DONE to all these fantastic children for their brilliant performance on Wednesday.
They danced to a song from the film Moana at the Open in Norwich alongside 13 other schools.

It was a brilliant night!