• capacity, volume and temperature

 

There are lots of practical ways in which you can support at home, including looking at the capacity of everyday containers. Here is an example:

• statistics - children will make tally charts, draw and interpret pictograms and draw block charts. 

• consolidation of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Don't forget to log onto Mathletics for some arithmetic practice.

 RE

This half term we begin the journey of learning about Buddhism. We will be focussing on the following key aspects:

• The main symbol of Buddhism is the Buddhist wheel.
• The religion began when Siddhartha, who had lived a life of luxury as an Indian Prince, realised there was suffering in the world and wanted to understand why. He dedicated his life to finding the answer and teaching others what he discovered.
• Siddhartha later became Buddha and found enlightenment.
• The four noble truths teach Buddhists why they should follow the middle way.

The following web page from BBC Teach provides a useful introduction 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/religious-studies-ks1-the-buddhist-story-of-siddhartha-and-the-swan-and-the-monkey-king/zfkcwty

Science 

In our topic of Our Changing World, we will observe animals in their habitats and notice how they change through the year. We will use this developing understanding of the different animals living in a habitat to build up simple food chains. We will also plant some seeds in order to be able to make soup from the harvest at the end of the summer term. We will observe how our plants change over the course of the term. 

History and Geography

 In our topic of Historical Holidays, the children will be learning about the differences between seaside holidays 100 years ago, 50 years ago and today, such as entertainment and clothing. This links well to our geography topic, Investigating the Coast, where we learn about the human and physical features of our coastline. We will be drawing on our own experiences of being by the sea, so should you be visiting the beach over the coming weeks, feel free to bring in any coastal artefacts, natural resources, photos or postcards. Thank you!

Art

This term we have the chance to get our hands dirty, with modelling clay! We will be taking inspiration from famous sculptors and learning about different clay techniques. Here are some techniques we might try:

Watch this space for our creations!

 Many thanks for all the ways in which you support your child's learning in Year 2. It is very much appreciated. If you have any questions about what we are learning, please always feel free to ask a member of our team.

Here's to a happy and productive term!

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team.

In maths we were busy measuring the length of objects. We took our lesson outside at the beginning of the week to measure items in the playground. See if your child is able to tell you the height of the climbing equipment! Next week in maths we will be extending our learning about fractions.

We have embarked on some new topics to study. In Geography we enjoyed studying maps of our local area and in Science we played a game of 'odd one out' to start us thinking about materials. Next week we will be getting more involved with these areas of learning.

I am looking forward to seeing you all at parents evening, which will be held in person on Monday and Tuesday next week. Until then, have a lovely weekend.

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team.

This week in Year 2...21/10/22

Here we are at the half way point in the autumn term! I am so proud of all that the children have achieved over the past few weeks. I have been particularly proud of their writing this week. The children went into role as Samuel Pepys and wrote a diary entry about the Great Fire of London. The detailed descriptions that they wrote and the vocabulary that they employed were very impressive. Moreover, the children are now making a concerted effort to use a cursive handwriting script. I am aware that the improvements we are seeing in the handwriting is very much supported by the practice that is often part of our weekly homework, so thank you to all those of you who have watched and guided and corrected your child's pencil control over the past few weeks. Below is  just one example of our writing...

 Next term we are looking forward to starting some new topics, including materials in Science, our local area in Geography and still life in Art. We are also looking forward to performing our poetry recital on Thursday, so if you are able, please do come and see us in action!

I hope you have a restful and enjoyable half term break and we look forward to seeing you when we return.

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team. 

This week in Year 2...14/10/22

This week has been a reminder of what a wonderful community we are blessed with here at St Peters. The 'Celebrate Our Community Day' was so informative and enjoyable; thank you to all the parents who gave up their time to teach the children about their culture. We practised Indian warrior movements, we learnt how to say animal names in Ethiopian, we danced along to Greek music and watched a mesmerising Bollywood dance. To top it all, we then enjoyed a lovely family supper. 

      

 

This week we have been completing assessments in reading, writing and maths. We have also been continuing to learn about the Great Fire of London in history, habitats in science and parables in RE. Next week we will be rounding off our learning in these topics; in maths we will be finding out about symmetry and right angles and in English we will be reading an inspiring book from the 'Little Leaders' series. 

We are so nearly at the half-term break, with the chance for a well-deserved rest. Just a few more days to go!

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team.

This week in Year 2...07/10/22

Matthew 13:23

‘…but he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it…’

 It is rather fitting that this week's bible verse is from one of the parables that Jesus told. Parables have featured heavily in our week, particularly through our class assembly, when we retold the story of the Good Samaritan. Thank you to the children for doing such a great job and thank you to all you parents - it was lovely to see such an amazing turn out. 

 

Another highlight of the week was making a bug hotel in the school playground, as part of our learning about microhabitats in science. Since making it, the children have shown a keen interest in seeing if any residents have moved in!

As part of Black History month, we have been reading Henry's Freedom Box. It is a deeply moving story of one man's mission to escape slavery and find freedom. It is a true story, which makes it all the more poignant. Please do talk to your child about the story. I am sure they will be happy to tell you about the extraordinary man that is Henry 'Box' Brown. 

This next week we have Celebrate the Community Day and as part of this, the children will be enjoying all sorts of interesting workshops, from learning about different languages to Greek dancing and Indian warrior movement. There is also the family supper to look forward to. In amongst all this, we will be assessing the children in their maths, reading and SPAG, to check that their progress is all on track. 

We look forward to another action-packed week ahead,

Until then, have a good weekend,

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team

This week in Year 2...30/09/22 

1 Timothy 6:18

 …that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate…’

Our week in Year 2 has had a rather autumnal feel. In English we have been reading the book 'The Gigantic Turnip' and through this process we have been learning about how to choose adventurous adjectives and separate them with commas. In science we have been thinking about habitats and the organisms we can find in different places, like a pond or a woodland. If you get the chance over the weekend, it would be fun to look under a few logs in the garden or the park to see what is living underneath!

In maths we have continued to secure our understanding of addition and subtraction. Next week we will be learning about 2D shapes and their properties. You might also want to get involved with the Mathletics  inter-house tournament. Please do ask for more details if you are unsure of how to use this fantastic maths website. 

Next week it is our class assembly, so we will be spending some time over the next few days rehearsing for it. We look forward to seeing you there on Thursday morning at 9.00am. 

There are a number of events happening in school at the moment. Please read below for details about two exciting celebrations... 

 East and South East Asian Heritage Month

 East and South East Asian Heritage Month takes place throughout September. This month is dedicated to honouring, recognising and appreciating East and South East Asian history and culture, as well as to comprehend the rich cultural legacy of countries in East and South East Asia. On Thursday, a group of parents from the school put together and delivered a beautiful assembly honouring East and South East Heritage Month. Each child went home with a task to create a piece of origami: a rabbit, moon or lantern.

 Black History Month

 Saturday 1^st October is the beginning of Black History Month; a month that honours the history of black communities and recognises the great achievements made by black leaders, activists and icons, who have shaped life as we know it.

This year, the children will focus on four themes:

• Black British History and Black History (the Windrush generation)
• Significant Black Icons and Events
• Anti-racism – this theme will be discussed through a range of age appropriate stories
• Poetry written by people of Caribbean and African descent

 Within our music lessons, the children will be learning a range of music from black communities, and in art the children will be exploring African and Indigenous People artwork.

 It should be an exciting month of celebration, learning and forward thinking.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team.

 

This week in Year 2...23/09/22

We are all now settling into the new rhythm of life in Year 2. Thank you to all of you for your taking on board new things like Google Classroom for homework and a change in routines like our library day. 

A highlight this week has been the wonderful stories that the children produced in English. They wrote their own versions of the Esio Trot story and it was so encouraging to see them use the language and phrasing from the original version in their own work. It is also heartening to see the way that the children are stepping into using cursive handwriting. The results of your added support with handwriting for homework is definitely showing.

In maths we have been recalling number bonds. The aim has been to show the children that if they know their number bonds to 10 by heart and if they have a good sense of place value, then they can apply this knowledge to working out calculations mentally. 

We had an interesting History lesson, looking at life in the 17th century and in Science we started to learn about food chains. In RE we have begun to unpick the story of the Good Samaritan to get to the heart of what this parable teaches us. 

Next week we will be starting a new story 'The Gigantic Turnip' with a focus on using commas to separate items in a list. Having been focussing on addition in maths, next week we turn our attention to subtraction. Again we will be looking at how we can use our knowledge of number facts and place value. In Art we will be starting the process of creating our own painting in the style of Lowry, so watch this space!

Next Monday is our Harvest Service in church. Please do come along to the church to join us for this time of showing our school values of thankfulness and kindness, as we contribute our items of food to those in need.  

I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable weekend,

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team. 

This week in Year 2...16.09.22

It was  lovely to see so many of you at our Open Classroom this week and for you to have the chance to find out a little bit more about life in Year 2. Later in the school term there will be parents meetings, which will be a more formal opportunity to talk about your child's progress.

This week in our learning we have begun to delve into the wonderful History topic of the Great Fire of London. It is good to hear that many of the children have gone home talking about this lesson. In Science we had an interesting class discussion, whereby we sorted pictures into 'living', 'not living' and 'was once alive'. There were some tricky objects like an apple and a leaf that got us really thinking. In maths we have continued with ordering numbers and also counting in steps of different sizes. In English we have finished reading Esio Trot and we are now ready to start thinking about how we can adapt this story to write our own similar version. 

Next week in maths we are revisiting adding and in particular, using our knowledge of number bonds to assist our mental calculations. In English we will be writing our own stories and building the stamina to write at greater length. In Science we will be looking at the idea of food chains and in History we consider what life was like in London at the time of the Great Fire. In RE we will be continuing with the theme of Parables. This week we looked at the parable of the Lost Sheep and next week it is the turn of the Good Samaritan. 

This weekend is a poignant one with the funeral of the Queen. A momentous occasion in the lives of us all. A time of reflection and thanks for a life well lived.

Have a good weekend,

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team.

 

 

This week in Year 2....09.09.22

 Welcome to Year 2!  It has been such a pleasure to see all the children again and hear their news about what they have been up to over the summer holidays. I think we have all felt very fortunate in making the transition together into the next year group.

This week, we have been getting stuck into lots of fun activities. We have  immersed ourselves in the imaginative world of Roald Dahl and ‘Esio Trot’. We wrote character descriptions and invitations for tea. We also  focused on using capital letters, finger spaces and the correct punctuation. We will continue with this focus next week as we begin to extend our skills with some letter writing.

In maths, we have been practising finding the place value of numbers and counting on and back to 100. We have used practical resources like Dienes and bead strings to represent numbers and partition into tens and ones. Next week we continue with this concept, as we apply our skills to ordering numbers and thinking about the value of each digit in a number.

In Art we have begun looking at the work of Lowry and in RE we have started to think about parables. It has been so encouraging to hear the children share their experiences and knowledge during class discussions in these lessons. Next week we start out learning in History (the Great fire of London) and in Science, (sorting things that are living, not living or have never been alive).

A few notices:

PE lessons will be on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, the children come in their school uniform and after lunch change into their PE kits for the afternoon lesson;  they will go home in their PE kits. On Thursday they can  come to school in their PE kits for the morning's  PE lesson and change afterwards. 

Reading books will be changed every Monday and Friday. Please make sure that you read with your child each night and sign the reading diary.  Thank you.

Our ‘Open Evening’ will be on Thursday 15^th September from 3:45 – 5:30pm.  If you are able, please drop by during this time to receive information about the Year curriculum and expectations. 

 The Death of Elizabeth II

Finally, we need to acknowledge that this first week back has been marked with great sadness in hearing of the  Queen’s passing yesterday evening.  As part of our worship today, Charles came in to celebrate the achievements of a monarch whose rule spanned over 70 years.  We talked about her duty of service to our country and the commonwealth, and watched the video of the Queen having tea with Paddington Bear, showing her sense of humour.  We prayed and thanked God for the Queen’s commitment to our country and prayed for the new King, Charles III.

We discussed in class ‘Who was the Queen to you?’ and considered the impact she had on the lives of the nation.

 Prayer for the Queen: 

 Gracious God,

We give thanks for the life of your servant Queen Elizabeth,

For her faith and her dedication to duty.

Bless our nation as we mourn for death,

And may her example continue to inspire us;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

 

I hope you all have a good weekend,

Miss Edmondson and the Year 2 team