Swimming
Just a quick reminder that my year 2s are *not* swimming tomorrow (20th May). My year 3s are swimming, but it will be their last visit to the pool this year.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Newsletter- week ending 15th May
Dear parents/carers,
This week in English we have been writing our letters to our favourite authors. The children have either written their letters up in their very best handwriting, or used the laptops to word process their work. The letters are really wonderful and I am pleased how the children have used a formal tone and arranged their work in paragraphs.
In maths we’ve had a look at halving and quartering 2d and 3d shapes, as well as finding halves, quarters and three quarters of numbers. Part of this has involved looking at word problems, as well as practical problems involving perspex 3d shapes and sand.
In science this week we have created animals for either rainforest or desert habitats using the “Creature Creator” part of the computer game “Spore”. The children not only designed the animals but had to explain how the animal was adapted to its environment. For example, the desert animal had spread out claws to take its weight on soft sand, and the rainforest creatures were camouflaged to make it more difficult for predators to find them.
Next week is our final assessment week of the year. Both year 2 and year 3 will be involved in reading, writing and maths assessments. Please do not worry about these tests, they’re used to help me check that my ongoing assessment of your child’s progress is accurate. I tell the children that they can worry about assessment week when I look worried- and I’m not at all worried! As it is assessment week, my lovely reading mums are entitled to a well deserved week off.
On the 3rd of June I will be going to Winchester for the regional finals of the National Teaching Awards. As I have three extra tickets I have decided to take Mrs Watts and two children from my class. I wish that I could take the entire class, as they all deserve recognition for their hard work. In order to choose which two children to take I asked the children to write a letter, explaining why I should take them. The standard of letters was very high, and I really found the decision incredibly difficult. I have decided that Rhys and Matthew wrote the most persuasive letters, so they will be coming with me on the day.
Mrs B
Three things to ask your child this week:
1 How can we fill half of a pyramid or a sphere with sand?
2 How are desert or rainforest animals and plants adapted to their habitats?
3 Why is the story of Joseph and his brothers about forgiveness?
Newsletter- week ending 8th May
Dear parents/carers,
In English this week we have been looking at letter writing, particularly the differences between formal and informal letters. We’ve been careful to make sure that informal doesn’t end up as rude! We have also looked at which author we want to write to next week, and done a little bit of research on them. This included thinking of some really good questions to ask. Next week we will be writing our letters, posting them off and hoping that we receive replies!
My year two children have been doing some independent writing this week for their end of keystage 1 assessment. The rest of the assessments will take place in the week before half term. Please make sure that your child is in school that week, as it will really throw a spanner in the works if they miss anything.
In maths this week we have been looking at one and two step word problems. This is something that the children tend to have a bit of a brain freeze over, so I wanted to make sure that we did plenty of extra work in this area. The children are now feeling much more confident that they can solve word problems effectively. Next week we’re going to be looking at quarters and fractions.
In science this week we have been looking at Australian habitats, and imagining what sorts of creatures might live in certain unexplored habitats. We’ve started using the creature creator section of the videogame “Spore” to create our animals. We’ve also looked briefly at camouflage in insects, by attempting to hide a butterfly on some wrapping paper. Next week we will be continuing to create our animals and plants that are adapted for certain kinds of habitat.
Mrs B
Three things to ask your child this week:
1 How might an animal that lives in the desert be different to an animal that lives in the rainforest?
2 What’s the difference between an informal and a formal letter?
3 What steps do we need to take to solve a word problem?
University of Oxford Botanic Gardens
We had a wonderful trip to the Botanic Gardens last week, here are some of my favourite photographs from the day.
General | Comment (0)Newsletter- week ending 1st May
Dear parents/carers,
This week in English we have been looking at two books by Neil Gaiman, “The Wolves in the Walls” and “The Day I swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish”. The children have compared the two books, finding similar things which give us an insight into Neil Gaiman’s style as an author. Next, we talked about our reading preferences and wrote a short book review of one of Neil Gaiman’s books. Next week we will be looking at the features of letters, including formal and informal writing. We will then be writing a letter to a real author, asking questions. We tried this last year and many children received replies!
In maths this week we have looked at problem solving through estimation and trial and improvement. We’ve also briefly touched on solving one and two step word problems. I’d like to spend more time next week looking at word problems, as this seems to be an area which many children are finding difficult. We’re going to look at ways of establishing which operation we need to use, and then how to actually solve the problem.
The trip to the Botanic Gardens this week was a great success. Thank you very much to the lovely mums who gave up their time to come with us, it was much appreciated. The children were incredibly well behaved and we learnt a great deal about plants and habitats. We also did brilliantly with the Waste Free Lunch Challenge, making less than 5g of waste. I shall put some photos of some of the plants that we looked at up on the blog soon.
My year 3 children will be swimming next week, but my year 2 children won’t as we need to spend some time doing some extra writing. The year 2s will be swimming as usual the week after (the 13th).
Congratulations to Harry and Rhian who won my paper cube competition. Elliot and Martha were highly commended, as their cubes were very close in size too.
This week I’ve sent out instructions for the next homework project, due in just before half term. The children should now have an idea of the sort of habitat that they would like to make. Please make sure that your child talks to me if they have any questions or need any resources, I do have some sand and gravel, and might be able to help with other things too.
Enjoy the bank holiday weekend!
Mrs B
Three things to ask your child this week:
1 What was your favourite thing about our trip to the Botanic Gardens?
2 What did you like best about the Neil Gaiman books that you read this week?
3 How do we make good estimates?
