Class 2 Blog

Wow this half-term has really flown past. Before we know it, class 2 will be in their last half-term of year 2 and will be starting to get ready to ”go through the arch’ as we call it, into year 3. Before that though there will be an action packed few weeks with our SATs, sports week, design technology week, our school trip to Wassand Hall and hopefully a further trip linked to our geography work on bridges. What this space for details of that one!

Here is a brief run down of dates that are confirmed:

Wednesday 5th June: KS1 trip to Wassand Hall for a day of art doodling, treasure hunting, wood walking and gathering inspiration for our new poetry writing unit. Please let us know if you can volunteer to help out for the day or can offer a spare seat in your car to another pupil.

W/c Monday 10th June: Year 2 SATs week. Tests in maths, reading, spelling and grammar.

W/c Monday 24th June: Sports week with our annual Sports Day afternoon events to be held on Thursday 27th June weather permitting.

This week we have been continuing with our sculpture work in art. The children have practised all the techniques they need to make their clay tile and have completed their designs. They are now working on constructing their tile and applying their bridge, train or railway design to it. We have had so much fun with it this week and the children have been really motivated to produce their best work. Do ask your child what the ‘4s’ stands for as it is a critical technique in their work!

Also this week, we were treated to an outstanding performance from the KS2 children who attend drama club with Miss Lisa. They really worked their socks off to perform their version of a twist on The Greatest Showman with amazing acting, singing and dancing. They really are a talented bunch of pupils and so brave to stand up and perform in front of the whole school.

Homework:

This week there will be another grammar exercise for homework which will be set on Seesaw. It will focus on the use of commas in a list as this was one of the questions that quite a few children struggled with in our recent practice tests. Thank-you to all parents who helped with submitting last week’s homework on word classification. This extra practice at home really does support learning enormously. Please also listen to your child read as much as possible over the holiday to help with fluency, reading stamina for longer texts, comprehension and expression. Well done to everyone who got 3 reads or more this week as our class percentage is up to 85% which made us the second highest class. We’d like to be first though!

We all hope you have a lovely half-term break and fingers crossed for some lovely weather so we can get outside and enjoy the fresh air. We will see you back on Tuesday 4th June as Monday 3rd June is a training day and school is closed to pupils.

Class 2 have excitedly begun their art unit this week. The focus this term is on sculpture. The children are investigating different techniques for sculpting before designing and creating their own 3D tile which will feature a bridge. The children are drawing their inspiration from old railway posters and also from their history work on Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his engineering work designing bridges. We are looking forward to creating an impressive display just like the puppet display from our Design Technology work.

We completed our science work on plants this week. The children have enjoyed learning about the differences between seeds and bulbs, germination and the life cycle of a bean plant. They have finished their last entries in their bean diaries and measured their bean plants for the last time before taking them home. We definitely have some green fingers in the class!

This week is the last week of practising telling the time in maths. Next week we will have our end of unit test before completing some revision work on the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Some of the pupils enjoyed playing a time board game and using the Chromebooks to consolidate their learning.

Homework:

Please keep reading as much as possible. We really do need everyone to be reading at home at least three times a week. Reading has so many benefits for independently accessing other areas of the curriculum and for firing the imagination for writing. Please also see Seesaw for this week’s homework activity on word classification which will help consolidate learning for the grammar part of the year 2 SATs tests which will be happening in June.

Spelling:

This week we will be consolidating learning on all of the spelling patterns undertaken this half term. Please have a look back through previous blog posts at the different spelling patterns we have covered and also the year 1 and year 2 common exception word lists. Have you updated your common exception word fish recently with the words you can now read and spell?

Reading

This week we had a slight improvement in our reading score: 83% of us read this week. Please keep this up class 2. We know that the more reading we do then better we get in lots of different subjects.

Music

For the past few weeks, on a Friday afternoon, we have been lucky enough to have been taught by Mr Elliott from the Music Service. This week we got to listen to him playing his electric guitar as well as practising singing and clapping in time to the music.

Another busy week in class 2 with hints of sunshine and summer putting in an appearance! As it does start to get warmer, please make sure you have applied sun cream to your child before they come to school and send sun cream with a name label on if your child will need to reapply it at lunchtime. Please can you ensure a water bottle is also sent in, we have had a few children without water bottles and our limited supply of paper cups is now almost gone. Thank-you for your support with this. Finally please also ensure your child has a sunhat or cap but also still send a coat in case of rain!

Our work on telling the time is going well. Please have a go at the time games set for last week’s homework if you haven’t done so already. This week’s homework will be time questions from past KS1 SATs papers and will be on Seesaw for you to respond to.

Next week we will be doing some practice SATs questions for reading, spelling and grammar in order to help prepare the children for the actual tests which will now be in the second week back after the half-term break. Parents you can help with this by asking your child questions about their reading. You could also encourage them to do some writing – perhaps a recount of their weekend, a short story or a diary entry and ask them to proof read it themselves and correct any errors with punctuation. We would love to see you upload some of your writing to Seesaw.

Homework:

Please aim to read and get at least three adults signatures over the week. Recap the time games and complete the time questions on Seesaw.

Our reading percentage dropped again this week to 70%. We know we can definitely beat this. Come on Class 2, we can do it!

Spelling:

This week we will be focusing again on some of the year 2 common exception (tricky) words. Can you use all of the words in one silly sentence? (with correct punctuation too of course?)

This Thursday, Class 2 absolutely loved watching Charlotte, a local artist, painting a fantastic mural just outside of our classroom. Look at what see achieved!

This week class 2 have completed their work on coding in computing. Their understanding of programming and debugging is outstanding! The 2code program is available on Purple Mash for everyone who would like to do some more coding in their free time. We have also completed our work on measure in maths this week and next week will see us start to work on time. Telling the time is a great life-skill – please see homework suggestions below to support with this skill.

In English everyone has been working so hard on innovating parts of the story ‘The Secret of Black Rock’ in order to add their own original detail. We have been focusing on sentence starters and using interesting adjectives to make our writing exciting. The children can’t wait to write their fully innovated versions of the story to share with everyone.

In science we were very excited to see that some of our broad bean plants have geminated. We will be observing and measuring them weekly and writing about our observations in our bean diaries. I wonder who will have the tallest broad bean plant and how tall it will be in centimetres?

As the weather was fine on Wednesday, we were able to get outside to run the Key Stage One Bug and Bird Club. Many pupils in class 2 have signed up for this and enjoyed using the nets, magnifying glasses and containers to investigate the many minibeasts who have made their habitats in our school grounds.

Homework:

By the end of year 2 children working at age related expectations in maths need to be able to tell the time on an analogue clock on the hour, half past the hour and quarter past and quarter to the hour. Some children will exceed this objective and will be able to tell the time to the nearest five minutes. Please practise telling the time with your child at home firstly recapping the ‘o’clock’ and half past skills that they will have learned in year 1. There will be some time related activities that you can access on Purple Mash and here are some links to another fun game to try called Clocking In https://firstlook.educationcity.com/content/Activity/index/25812 and also Matching Pairs time https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=matchingpairstimev3 . If you don’t have an analogue clock or watch at home, you can access one here and practise telling the time in lots of ways https://www.topmarks.co.uk/time/teaching-clock.

Reading:

This week we once again didn’t quite hit our 100% target. Unfortunately only 80% of us read three times or more at home. Reading regularly not only helps us to improve our reading speed and fluency but it also helps us with our writing in all areas of the curriculum. Please do your best to read three times or more next week!

Attendance!

Well done Class 2! This week you smashed it!

As I am sure that you are aware, we have had a mighty busy week, this week. However, the children have all been amazing and wowed us with their fantastic attitudes and behaviour! Well done Class 2!

In maths this week, we have continued to develop our understanding of volume and capacity. We have been measuring in litres and millilitres and using our problem solving skills to answer capacity questions involving the four operations.

We have thoroughly enjoyed reading a new text in our Literacy lessons, ‘The Secret of Black Rock’, by Joe Todd-Stanton. We will be using this text to help us write descriptive sentences, before adapting the text to make the story our own.

Science
The children have been learning about the life cycle of the broad been seed that they planted. They have looked at the different stages of growth from seed germination to a seedling to a mature plant. They have created bean wheels to show this information and sequenced a set of life cycle pictures. The children are looking forward to writing in their bean diaries next week so fingers crossed that the seeds they planted last week have started to grow so they can record some exciting information!

Spelling

Our spelling focus for this week is adding ‘es’ to nouns and verbs ending in ‘y’. Why not make your own game of matching pairs by cutting 20 small squares of paper, writing each word out twice and then turning the paper over and mixing them up?

Reading

Our reading score this week was 82%. Well done to all of those that read 3 times or more this week.

Attendance

As a class, our attendance this week was 93%, unfortunately we have had quite a few poorly tummies. Hopefully, we will all be fit and well and back in school next week! We can’t wait to see you all!

This week has seen class 2 working hard on finishing off their English unit on non-chronological reports. They have been designing their own original mini-beast and writing about its appearance, diet (very gory in some cases!), habitat and how it moves. The children have had great fun applying their knowledge of non-chronological report writing devices such as an introductory sentence and sub-headings to this piece of work.

In maths we have continued with our work on measure and this week our focus has been on measuring mass. The children have been able to look at balance scales and add up mass in grams and also say which items on the balance scale are heavier or lighter and how they know. They continue to be challenged with our new format Quick Start sheets which now include a ‘Solve it!’ section to allow them to become more familiar with problem solving.

In science, we planned a fair test to investigate what conditions plants need to grow healthily. We planted four broad bean seeds and one will have sunlight and water, one will have no sunlight or water, one will have sunlight but no water and one will have water but no sunlight. The children were also keen to plant and look after their own broad bean seed plant. We will observe them over the next few weeks and complete a bean diary before sending the bean plants home. Sadly we had to do our planting in the classroom this week rather than the wildlife garden as the weather was so horrible but we hope to visit the wildlife garden again soon.

Homework:

Please complete one of the two plant labelling activities on your Purple Mash account. You will find them in the 2do section. Please also try to read at least three times at home during the week so that we can improve our class reading percentage and really ensure we are improving reading fluency and stamina. You could also go on your TT Rockstars account to practise your 2x, 5x and 10 tables.

Spelling:

This week our focus will be on words ending in /y/. Whilst you are on Purple Mash to complete your science homework, you could also the spelling quiz for this spelling pattern.

Reading

Class 2’s reading percentage this week was 80%. This is a small increase from last week but not quite where we were before the Easter break. Please make sure that you are all reading at home at least 3 times per week. Finding a book that you love will really help. Here are a few of my favourites!

Handwriting and presentation

We have had a really big push this week on handwriting and presentation. Nancy blew everyone’s socks off with her joined writing in her history book.

These are the joins we have been practising, if you would like to practise them again at home!

Welcome back to the start of the Summer term, this year is certainly passing quickly. Today you should be receiving our class newsletter which will give you an overview of what we will be learning this term. We have some fun activities planned!

This week we have been working on measure in maths. The children have been carrying out some practical measuring activities in the classroom using centimetres and metres. They have also been comparing measurements and recapping using the inequality signs < and > to show bigger than and smaller than.

In English we have started our non-fiction unit on non-chronological reports. The children have been learning about how to use an introductory sentence and technical language and they have done lots of research on different mini-beasts!

The children have also started their plants unit in science and have been learning about the difference between seeds and bulbs. They are very much looking forward to next week when they will be planting their broad bean seeds and starting to observe them growing.

Homework:

Please log onto the class 2 Seesaw account where you will find a maths activity relating to our work on measure this week. There are also some optional challenge activities that will really make you think! You could also log in to your TT Rockstars account to practise your times tables.

Spelling:

This week we will be working on the /r/ sound spelt ‘wr’ at the beginning of words. Here is the list of key words that we will be focusing on. There is also a spelling activity that you might want to have a go at. If you do, please upload a photo of your work to Seesaw so we can see your amazing ideas. As usual there is a spelling quiz on the class Purple mash 2do section if you would like to complete that.

Attendance

100% WOW! Brilliant job everyone!

Reading

This week our amazing reading score dropped a little. 74% of us read three times or more! Could we all try our best to make sure we read three times next week!

Puppets

We finished our sewing unit and our puppets look amazing! Take a look at the brilliant job we all did!

Happy Easter to you all!

What an amazing week we have had. Talk about busy!
In literacy this week, we have been writing our own news reports based on the traditional tale, The Gingerbread Man. Class 2 loved turning into reporters, thinking about how to retell the events in an interesting and exciting way. Lots of us even added questions and exclamatory sentences. How amazing we are!

In maths, we have been learning all about statistics. We have been finding out how to read and draw tally charts, graphs and pictograms. We are now all confident counting in 5s when tallying and are able to count in 2s, 5s and 10s, when using symbols to represent pictures.

The disco

Many of the children, thoroughly loved the disco on Monday night. It was lovely to see them spending time with their friends, chatting and indulging on the snacks. We were also really pleased to see their dance skills come into action as they all took to the dance floor. Check out some of our moves!

D&T

This week was D&T week.

We were challenged to make a hand puppet suitable for a Punch and Judy puppet show. We began by investigating lots of existing designs before designing and making our own. Many thanks to the parent helpers who popped along to give us a hand on Thursday. We couldn’t have done it without you!

We are really proud of our puppets, even though we are not quite finished. What do you think?

Reading

This week we have done well with our reading as 95% of us read 3 times or more. Over the break, try to find a book you love and have a good read. We will look forward to hearing your book recommendations when you get back!

Easter

There is no homework, as such, over Easter. However, if you are feeling creative why not check out some of these creative crafts. We would absolutely love you to share your makes/draws on Seesaw with us!

25+ Easter Crafts for Kids – The Best Ideas for Kids

So many things going on this week! We started the week with the Brandesburton Bake Off. There were so many fantastic entries with some really amazing ideas. A very well done if you took part in this. It has certainly provided much needed funds for non-fiction books in the school library.

Also this week saw the start of British Science Week. A big well done to Fred who won the whole school poster competition on the theme of Time. His entry will now be sent off to the National British Science Week competition. We have all been participating in some key events to celebrate science. On Tuesday we carried out an investigation to see how many towers of ten multi-link the children could make in two minutes. The highest amount was two towers as the multilink cubes were very tricky to click together! We will be comparing our results with other classes. Continuing the theme of time, we also investigated some questions such as ‘What if there was no night?’ and ‘What if there were no clocks?’ The children came up with some really creative ideas for this. Finally we spent sometime looking at and reading a selection of non-fiction STEM books that form part of the Ryal Society Young Peoples book prize finalists. Every year schools are invited to act as a judging panel and receive free books to keep in return for evaluating and giving opinions on them. We are lucky enough to have been chosen as a judging panel school for the last three years.

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Homework:

This week please use the website Topmarks to improve pace and accuracy with arithmetic. The link will take you to the Hit the Button game where you can practise a wide range of maths skills . https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Spelling:

This will be out final week on learning and practising rules for suffixes. This week we are focusing on adding -ed, -ing, -er, -est and -y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant after a single vowel.

Reading

This week, we had a little dip in our reading score. Only 75% of us read 3 times or more. For the final week, can we have one really big push and aim for 100%? Remember, it is fine to reads books of your own choosing from home and the children can write in their records as long as they write what happened in the story/book they read!

D&T week

Next week is design and technology week. We will be designing and making our own Punch and Judy style hand puppets. If any parents/grandparents are available to help with some sewing on Thursday and Friday afternoon, could you please let us know! We would really appreciate the extra hands!

We have had a great week finishing off our versions of The Three Little Pigs stories, the children really engaged with the task and it has also been lovely to see some more children being motivated this week to write their own stories at home. Well done to Cerys, Esme and Rowan. Next week we will be moving onto newspaper reports and we have some exciting events to report!

In maths we are coming to the end of our unit on fractions and our work on finding 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 of numbers and shapes. We will keep revisiting these as part of our daily maths Quick Starts.

There has been some very neat handwriting posted on Seesaw this week which was last week’s homework task. If you haven’t uploaded your handwriting yet, please do so by Monday.

Working at the expected standard:

After the parent SATs meeting I said I would post the end of year national age related expectations for pupils in reading, writing and maths. Please bear in mind that children are all unique and have different strengths and they all work at different paces, we want to support the children in making the best progress possible and to make them feel very proud of their learning this year.

World Book Day:

What a blast World Book Day was this year. We had some of the most fabulous ‘book in a box’ entries from Class 2. I have no ideas how the judges possibly decided, every entry was incredible! If you haven’t seen them, please check out the ones in this week’s newsletter.

Here is Fred’s winning entry!

In addition, the whole school worked together to write a Brandesburton Primary School story, ‘Larry’s adventure’. This story is about a little lobster who goes on an amazing journey. Again, you can find the full story in the newsletter, this week.

Homework:

There will be a few SATs style maths fraction questions posted on Seesaw. Please either annotate the Seesaw template or write the answers in your homework book and upload a photo. The questions are shown below for information. Some children can their knowledge of fact families relating to the 2 times table and division to work these out, some like to draw two circles to find a half (dividing by 2) or four circles (dividing by 4) and share out the number by drawing dots or using counters.

Spelling:

Following on from last week’s spelling work on suffixes, we are continuing to practise these and learn what happens when we add the endings -ing, -ed, -er, -est and –y to words ending in –e with a consonant before it.

Attendance

We need to give Class 2 a massive shout out this week. Today marked their third week in a row of 100% attendance! What a huge achievement! Can we possibly make it to 4 weeks?

Reading

We are keeping up the reading too! Once again 85% of us read three times or more this week! Class 2, you are making us proud! Well done!!