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?