Year 2 weekly newsletter 01.12.23

Another busy week has passed by and we are now on the countdown to Christmas. We have enjoyed getting all our Christmas decorations up in the classroom and enjoying our first advent treat on Friday.

In English this week, you have been looking at William’s diary about the night gardener and Grimloch lane. You were immersed into this by finding William’s diary in the classroom. We read one of his diary entries which was all about him seeing the first topiary outside the orphanage. You created your own topiary sculptures this week and complete hot seating as you role played William’s reactions to the different trees. You have also explored all of your new vocabulary in the diary and used this to write sentences. Towards the end of the week, you found out that diaries can be written in the past and present tense. We linked this to History and thought about what past and present mean and then you investigated the diary to find out where they use past and present. You then built upon this learning by writing your own sentences in past and present tense. We will keep working on this next week.

In phonics you have been continuing to revisit your sounds, build on fluency and comprehension skills.

In maths, you compared number sentences and worked out subtraction and addition word problems. You then learnt how to complete column subtraction with exchanging. You did this practically at first with tens and ones and then you completed some fluency questions. I can’t believe how amazing you did with this tricky work! We will keep practicing this next week.

In forest school this week you learnt how to complete a blind draw of a leaf. You found this difficult at first because you couldn’t see what you were drawing as you had a piece of cardboard over your pencil but this meant that you really had to look carefully at the shape of your leaf and the detail on it. You then completed a drawing where you could see everything and you compared it next to your blind draw. After this, you then practiced your archery skills again trying to hit the target and get your bow to stay on it. You were amazing at helping your team to set up their bow and arrow. At the end of the lesson you Mr Hadfield taught you how to make your own fires and you absolutely loved this! I was so proud of how careful you were and how everyone had a go even if you were a little nervous. We then had a little treat as you got to roast your own marshmallows on the fire you had just made. What a fantastic and eventful lesson you had!

In PHSE this week, you thought about how unique and individual you are. You thought about how everyone has a different name in the class and this is a part of our identity. You completed an activity where you wrote your name and then thought about a word to describe yourself starting with the first letter of each part of your names. It was so lovely to hear you talk about yourselves in such a positive manner.

In computing this week, you built upon your digital photography skills by learning how to take photos in portrait and landscape modes. You learnt that portrait is good for taking pictures of people and tall buildings where you can get the whole thing in the shot. You then learnt that landscape is better for pictures of landscapes and scenery where you can try and fit everything in the shot. You then went around the school building outside to take different pictures using both portrait and landscape. You are becoming fantastic photographers.

In RE, this week you finished your last lesson answering the question of What do angels look like? What do angels do? You explored the Christmas story and thought about how the angels deliver messages from God and that they are messengers. You thought about how all of these messages are joyful. You were then introduced to some different angels such as the ‘Angel of the North’ and the ‘Knife Angel’ which was in Crewe for sometime. You thought about how these angels couldn’t deliver messages in the same way as the angel in the Christmas story but their sculptures have a message behind them. You then thought about what an angel who was stopping people from polluting plastic would look like and we thought about how the angel might be made from plastic bottles or bags. You then put your creative minds together and created your own angel sculptures with special messages. These were fantastic and lovely to read!

What a very busy week we have had with all of this learning and nativity practices.

Have a wonderful weekend playing in the snow! I will sure be out there making snow men as we know how much Miss Haynes loves this time of the year.

See you on Monday,

Miss Haynes