Year 2 Newsletter
15th November 2013
What have we been learning about?
This week in Numeracy, we have introduced multiplication to the children, looking in particular at arrays as a way to describe a multiplication number sentence. We have also started practising our 2, 5 and 10 times tables. The children can continue practising these at home.
In Literacy, we have started looking at our Power of Reading text 'Peace at last" by Jill Murphy. We started the week by thinking about things that keep us awake at night, just like Mr Bear in the story, then went on to look at re-telling the story orally. We looked at the characters in more detail and had a go at 'hot seating' by putting Mr Bear (one of our class) in the centre of the circle - the children then ask Mr Bear questions and the child has to answer in the role of Mr Bear! Finally, we used this knowledge to help us write speech bubbles based on what Mr Bear might have been saying, paying particular attention to the correct use of speech marks. In Handwriting this week, we have been focussing on joins used in tricky and high frequency words, encouraging children to join the whole word correctly.
Our PSHE was an integral part of our Power of Reading explorations, looking at the feelings of Mr Bear at various parts of the story. We also looked at when the children had felt a similar way as Mr Bear.
In Science, we did a practical investigation to see what happened to different materials when they were changed in some way, by bending, twisting, stretching and squashing.
We linked our Art and Geography and explored the outdoor environment to see the effect of the seasons on our surroundings, then collected natural materials to make our own collages.
Reminders
Please can you collect a selection of natural materials during the weekend if possible and bring them to school on Monday, ready for use as part of an Art project. This could include: shells, pebbles, horse chesnuts, leaves, twigs etc. Please send them school in a labelled plastic bag.
Some children are already using the RM maths on a regular basis but others are still yet to log on. It would be particularly beneficial to the children if they were able to play between 3 and 5 times a week. 15 minutes at a time is plenty to get them practising and thinking about mathematical concepts. If you are having any difficulties with logging on, please ask your child's teacher.
We are finding more items of clothing without names, which are then tricky to relocate to their rightful owner. Please double check that all items are named and that labels have not fallen off since starting school. Thanks :-)
Please ensure that reading folders are brought into school every day. Also, a reminder that our library session is on a Monday and that for PE lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the children should come into school in their PE kit. Thank you!
Welcome!
D2VF welcomed Nevaeh to our class this week. She has fitted right in and is enjoying her new class!