Year Two weekly newsletter 20.09.24

I hope you are all having a super weekend Year Two after a busy school week. You have worked so hard and completed so much learning.

In English, you worked incredibly hard on our 'river story' this week. You started by analysing the text, searching for key SPaG features like similes and expanded noun phrases, and highlighted these every time you spotted them in the example text. You then built up your writer's knowledge by creating a bank of SPaG features to use when writing your own river story. After that, you wrote a beautifully descriptive setting piece based on the sea. Finally, you planned and wrote the first paragraph of your very own river story. Well done, Year 2!

In phonics you reviewed your sounds and read your new books whilst focusing on building fluency and accuracy. In steps to read you started your first story about 'the paper boat' and you answered comprehension questions.

In maths, you continued your fantastic work on numbers to 100. You focused on using number lines and practiced counting in tens on them. Building on this, you worked hard counting in both tens and ones, and then moved on to estimating where numbers could go on a number line. You are doing an incredible job in maths--keep it up, Year 2!

What are landmarks? In your first lesson of Geography this term you learnt what a landmark is. You found out that landmarks can be local or national. You watched a fantastic video of London that showed many of the national landmarks that are recognised by people worldwide. You then recapped the difference of human and physical features of geography. On your boards you wrote down the landmarks that you recognised in London when you saw them and you then made a list of physical and human features of London landmarks. We then went local with our landmark research and you thought about what landmarks do we have in Wybunbury. Using digit maps you mapped out your route that we took through Wybunbury last year in Year One to see some of our landmarks. You then created a page in your book about Wybunbury landmarks and where to find them. Brilliant geography and map skill!

In RE, you deepened your understanding of the Bible by learning that it contains 66 books. You reflected on your favourite Bible stories that you have read or listened to, and then explored which books they came from. Together, we thought about the Bible as a library filled with many different stories. To bring this idea to life, we worked together to create our own Bible library on our RE display. You had lovely thoughtful contributions in our lesson!

In science this week, you continued your exploration of materials, focusing on their properties. You used a Venn diagram to sort various objects based on the materials they were made from and the properties they exhibited. Working practically with different objects, you quickly grasped how to categorise materials and even noticed that some materials didn't fit into any of the defined groups, placing them outside the diagram. Well done on understanding this concept and applying it so well in your practical work!

In history this week, you explored the intriguing question, "Are cars today the same as cars in the past?" You examined various cars from both the past and present, making lists of the differences and similarities you noticed. You also learned about the local history of Rolls Royce and Bentley, discovering how these iconic cars were or are made in Crewe. By comparing Karl Benz's first car to a modern Tesla, you reflected on how much has changed, particularly due to advancements in technology. The lesson wrapped up with an interesting video showing how cars have been modified over time, including the introduction of important features like seatbelts. Who would have thought that early cars didn't have seatbelts!

In your PE session with me this week, you completed your learning on rugby. You learnt the correct way to hold a rugby ball and practiced how to throw it accurately. You then put these skills to the test with some fun challenges, where you had to throw the ball to a partner and even work together to pass it over and under. It was a race to see which team could pass it to me first! Your rugby skills were amazing, Y2! Keep up the fantastic work!

This week's music lesson saw us enjoy a piece of music called Boléro which was written by a French composer called Maurice Ravel in 1928. He wrote this piece for a ballet. We moved our bodies to the beat and danced with others to show how we felt we should dance. Two ice skaters called Jayne Torvil and Christopher Dean danced to Ravel's Boléro in the 1984 Winter Olympics and won a gold medal for Great Britain. We watched the original video of their performance. We were spellbound! We thought their skating was graceful, full of skill and balancing skills too. We are not a fan of the end of their performance. We recreated our choice of ending. Some of us felt a pose would work better or a quick way of stopping. Great team work this week.

In PE with Miss Whittingham, you focused on galloping skills. In small teams, you played various competitive games that helped push your galloping skills even further. You also worked on your teamwork and turn-taking, enjoying the challenge of making the competitions more complex. You showed great effort and collaboration!

What a fantastic week you have all had. Homework was sent out on Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend superstars,

Miss Haynes