Category: P2 Magical Nurses Mrs McFarlane and Mrs Nicholson

Important information

On Thursday 15^th you are invited to attend our Christmas Carol singing at 9.00 or 2.30 at the P2D door. Children are invited to wear something festive on their heads if they wish.

P2 Christmas party is on Monday 12^th. Children can either come dressed for the party or bring party clothes in a bag and get changed after lunchtime. A letter will be sent from the school office today with further information on providing party food boxes. Please look out for this letter!

Loose parts on Friday 16^th. Please come dressed for the outdoors!

A purple folder has gone missing from school. Please could you check that your child did not bring it home by mistake.

Please return your child’s learning story to school if you haven’t done so already. Please make sure you have signed the learning comments’ sheet.

As we have received a few comments about children finding easy the reading book we would like to clarify that this should be the case as the book they take home on Thursday has been read and worked on during the week at school. By the time the book goes home, your child should be confident with it.  Please be aware that we are constantly checking to provide appropriate challenge of learning for each child.

Here is summary of our learning this week.

Literacy

In phonics we have continued to learn about magic e. The magic ‘e’ rule, sometimes known as silent ‘e’, is where the ‘e’ at the end of a word is silent but changes the way that the word is spoken. This happens when ‘e’ is the second letter in a split digraph with another vowel sound, such as in the word ‘cape’. The ‘a’ says its name (ay) rather than its sound (ah).   

This week we have focussed on the ‘long u’ sound with ‘magic e’ (e.g. cute, use, tube, rude). 

In handwriting we have practiced cursive e and s.

At writing we have used the books ‘This is not my…’ as a stimulus and we have written our own book ‘This is not my Santa’.

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Your child should continue to work on the word wall related to the stage they are reading. They should become confident in reading these words.  Remember that they should recognise these words by sight.  
• Everyone should now have a magic wand at home! Write out the words: cub, tub,  etc, . Then ask your child to read them as they are, before tapping them with the magic wand and adding an e to the end of the word. Can they identify that the sound that the ‘u’ makes changes from its sound to its name?  
• Handwriting. Here is a useful website which has animations to show how to correctly form each letter. Please note that the f and z that we use are in the ‘alternative / non scheme letters’ section.  
  
   
  
  Continuous Cursive letter choice 1 beginners (teachhandwriting.co.uk) 
  
   
• Continue to practise reading and spelling the tricky words.  Ask your child to read the tricky words and use a timer, do it several times and compare the times your child should get faster at reading them. Do the same for writing, if your child makes a mistake ask your child to check it and correct it himself/herself. Try several times.

Numeracy

In our number work we have continued to learn about equal groups.  

Some of us have continued to work on sharing equally. When we do this, we give one to each group until we run out. There should be an equal amount in each group. 

Some of us have also been working on identifying rows and columns in arrays. The rows go across the way (like rows of seats at the cinema) and the columns go up and down (like they do on buildings). We can then find the total of the array. For example, 3 rows x 4 columns = 12.  We have learned to calculate the number of dots on visible arrays.

Here are some online games which would reinforce the learning in class. 

https://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L106/index.html#

Year 1 Sharing Equally Game

https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/busyday/dogs/

We are still working on directions using programmable robots; bee bots

At home

• Playing games which include sharing out cards, items etc. Ask your child to share the cards/items equally between the number of players (can be 2 or more) and initially explain that ‘sharing equally’ means everyone will have the same amount/number of items at the end. Then when playing the same game again or a different one, ask your child how s/he will know the items have been shared equally.

Possible games: card games, Snap, Dominoes.

• Using everyday objects and sharing items between 2 or more people, e.g. sweets, biscuits, segments of an orange. Ask your child to share these items equally between the number of people who are going to have them, e.g. sharing 10 sweets between 2 people:

How many sweets do you have?

Can you share them equally between your sister and you? What does ‘share equally’ mean? How are you going to share them?

If your child does not know, then prompt by saying, “I wonder what will happen if you shared them out one at a time?”

Your child might have his/her own idea, so let them have a go (even if it is not right). If they share the items and they are not equal amounts, ask your child if s/he have shared the items equally. If your child says, “No,” then ask them why they are not shared equally and how s/he are going to solve the problem. Talking through a problem and coming to a solution is a great way to learn, so let your child make mistakes.

Your child might immediately say 5 and 5. Ask him/her how they know and s/he might say “5 and 5 altogether makes 10” or “Double 5 makes 10.”

Once the items have been shared equally, count/say how many items each person has or ask your child how s/he know the sweets have been shared equally. Promote the language, “We both have the same amount.”

Then use language, such as, “10 shared between 2 is 5, each person has 5.”

Share items up to 10 initially and then up to 20.

Share between more than 2 people, but make sure the amount can be shared equally between the number of people.

• Sharing board: place different numbers of items (up to 10/20) in the first box for the children to share equally between the 2 boxes below.

Items can be things found around the house, e.g. pasta shapes, buttons, raisins etc.

Questions to ask are written on the board.

Encourage your child to use the appropriate language in their explanations.

Other areas

PE

We have worked on fitness and racing skills. We also have worked on stretching through yoga.

EXA

We have started to practice our Christmas Carols for next Thursday. We are very grateful that Mrs Turner is helping us for this event.

RME

We have learned about the Christmas story and Hannukah.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McFarlane

Important Information

Learning Stories have been sent home today in your child’s purple folder. Inside you will find examples of work that your child has completed this term as well as Literacy and Numeracy comments. There is space at the bottom of the report for you to sign and, if you wish, to leave a comment. Please send the Learning Stories back to school next week.

Here is a summary of our learning this week. 

Literacy  

In phonics we have continued to learn about magic e. The magic ‘e’ rule, sometimes known as silent ‘e’, is where the ‘e’ at the end of a word is silent but changes the way that the word is spoken. This happens when ‘e’ is the second letter in a split digraph with another vowel sound, such as in the word ‘cape’. The ‘a’ says its name (ay) rather than its sound (ah).   

This week we have focussed on the ‘long o’ sound with ‘magic e’ (e.g. hole, hose, rope).  

In our writing lesson we used a Percy Park Keeper story as the stimulus for an imaginative story. We are structuring our writing with a beginning, middle and end.   

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Your child should continue to work on the word wall related to the stage they are reading. They should become confident in reading these words.  Remember that they should recognise these words by sight.  
• Everyone should now have a magic wand at home! Write out the non-words hom, rop, glob, bon. Then ask your child to read them as they are, before tapping them with the magic wand and adding an e to the end of the word. Can they identify that the sound that the ‘o’ makes changes from its sound to its name?  
• Handwriting. Here is a useful website which has animations to show how to correctly form each letter. Please note that the f and z that we use are in the ‘alternative / non scheme letters’ section.  
  
   
  
  Continuous Cursive letter choice 1 beginners (teachhandwriting.co.uk) 
  
   
• Continue to practise reading and spelling the tricky words.  An idea is to play Kim’s Game. Write some of the words on separate pieces of paper. Ask your child to read the words. Turn the pieces of paper over and ask your child to remember what was written on each one.  Try it with different words.  
  
   
  
  Maths 
  
  In our number work we have been learning about equal groups.  
  
  Some of us have been learning to share equally. When we do this, we give one to each group until we run out. There should be an equal amount in each group. 
  
  Some of us have also been learning to identify rows and columns in arrays. The rows go across the way (like rows of seats at the cinema) and the columns go up and down (like they do on buildings). We can then find the total of the array. For example, 3 rows x 4 columns = 12.  
  
  Here are some online games which would reinforce the learning in class. 
  
  Curious George . Fair Shares | PBS KIDS 
  
  The array (scootle.edu.au) 

We have also been introduced to directional language such as left, right, clockwise and anti clockwise.  

At home you could play a fun game to reinforce this. Put some toys out around then room then ask your child to choose one without telling you. Ask them to give you directions to get to it. Will they be able to give you accurate directions?! 

E.g. “Take 3 steps right then two steps forward.” Or “Make a half turn anti clockwise then take 4 steps forward.” 

Other Curricular Areas 

• We made stars for a Christmas window display.  
• We enjoyed loose parts on Wednesday. 
• We enjoyed hearing from the helping professionals about their jobs on Monday and Thursday. 
• Our PE lessons focussed on teamwork skills. 

Have a lovely weekend, 

Mrs McFarlane 

Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

In phonics we have continued to learn about magic e. The magic ‘e’ rule, sometimes known as silent ‘e’, is where the ‘e’ at the end of a word is silent but changes the way that the word is spoken. This happens when ‘e’ is the second letter in a split digraph with another vowel sound, such as in the word ‘kite. The ‘i’ says its name rather than its sound (/ˈiː/).  

This week we have focussed on the ‘long i’ sound with ‘magic e’ (e.g. kite, hike, time, slide, shine). We know that in these words the letter ‘i’ says its name rather than its sound.

Another Alphablocks video clip which demonstrates this.  

In Spelling we are working on Block 4. Please continue to revise how to read and write the previous blocks. The children have been working on this in class so they should know in which block are they working at school.

In handwriting we have worked on the formation of letters g and d in cursive.

At home:

• Try to find examples of magic e words in print around the house or on signs when you are out and about.   
• Write out the words kit, Tim, pin. Ask your child to read the base word. Then draw a magic e on to the end of the word and ask your child to read the word again. Can they explain what has changed and why?  
• Continue to practise Tricky Words Blocks 1-4 and ORT key words. An idea for working on tricky words could be to ask your child to do a dictation to you of the tricky words, she/he will read the words and you will write them and then swap roles (you could use flour or sand so your child can use the finger for writing rather than a pen or a pencil).
• Handwriting. Here is a useful website which has animations to show how to correctly form each letter. Please note that the f and z that we use are in the ‘alternative / non scheme letters’ section.   

https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/continuous-cursive-beginners-choice-1.html

Maths

In Maths we have continued to learn about Probability.  This week we had an interesting chat about the World Cup using the vocabulary: impossible, unlikely, likely and certain.  We have some interesting predictions!

At home you could discuss these scenarios and ask your child which word they would choose to describe how likely it is that it will happen. 

• I will go to the zoo tomorrow.
• I will go to the zoo during the holidays.
• I will go for a swim at the sea today.
• I will go for a swim at the sea on my holidays.
• etc.

In our number work we have been working on our addition skills. Thinking about which strategy we find useful when you are adding. There are 3 strategies below: 

• Use concrete materials (such as beads or pasta) to make the sum and count the objects. 
• Start on the big number (put it in your head) then count on. 
• Use a number line or 100 square to start on the correct number then count on the correct number of times.  
• Think about ten frames and try to visualise the numbers.
•  

We use this website at school that will give you some choice depending on your child’s ability.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train

Other areas

PE

We have been working on jumping skills and team games.

RSHP

We have discussed the topic ‘People who are special to me’ and ‘When I have a question or a worry’. We talked about different people who look after us and who to speak to if we have a question or a worry. We loved the book ‘The huge bag of worries’

EXA

We have made a class Christmas tree to decorate the gym hall. We are so proud of our fantastic artwork!

Important Information

P2 have a session of loose parts on Wednesday 30th November (weather permitting). Please come with suitable clothes and footwear. It is not too late to send in a bag with a change of clothes to keep at school. Last time we had lots of soggy socks which were changed! Please remember to replace these if your child brought their spare ones home.

P2 are looking forward to visits from some helping professionals next week. We will be hearing from an anaesthetist and two scientists who are involved in developing medicines and treatment to make people feel better. In preparation for this, we are asking the children to think about some questions that they could ask. For example, you might ask ‘What is your favourite part of your job?’. Please bring questions in at the start of the week.  

We are also hoping to make our own Christmas tree for the classroom. This is the kind of thing we are aiming to make! If you have any boxes at home which we could use, please send them in on Monday. 

Thank you in advance!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents/Carers,   

We have had a very busy week in P2! Here is a summary of our learning.   

Literacy  

In phonics we have been learning about magic e. The magic ‘e’ rule, sometimes known as silent ‘e’, is where the ‘e’ at the end of a word is silent but changes the way that the word is spoken. This happens when ‘e’ is the second letter in a split digraph with another vowel sound, such as in the word ‘cape’. The ‘a’ says its name (ay) rather than its sound (ah).   

Here is a short Alphablocks video clip which demonstrates this.   

Alphablocks : Magic – Series 1 – YouTube   

This week we have focussed on the ‘long a’ sound with ‘magic e’ (e.g. cape, ate, made, game, gate). We know that in these words the letter ‘a’ says its name rather than its sound (ay rather than ah).   

In our writing lesson we read Peace At Last then created our own versions of the story with Baby Bear trying to find somewhere to sleep. We are structuring our writing with a beginning, middle and end.   

We have continued to work on the letter c and a in cursive script.   

It has been Scottish Book Week so we have enjoyed participating in fun whole school activities such as ‘Stop, Drop and Read’ and visiting the library in the upper landing.  

At home:   

• Try to find examples of magic e words in print around the house or on signs when you are out and about.    
• Write out the words can, at, hat, tap, mad, cap. Ask your child to read the base word. Then draw a magic e on to the end of the word and ask your child to read the word again. Can they explain what has changed and why?   
• Continue to practise Tricky Words Blocks 1-4 and ORT key words. An idea for a game is to hide some word cards around a room (your child must not look). They then have to find the word cards and bring them back to you saying the words as they find them.    
• Handwriting. Here is a useful website which has animations to show how to correctly form each letter. Please note that the f and z that we use are in the ‘alternative / non scheme letters’ section.   
  
  Continuous Cursive letter choice 1 beginners (teachhandwriting.co.uk)  
  
    

Maths  

In maths we have been learning to talk about everyday events that involve chance using the vocabulary: impossible, unlikely, likely and certain.  

At home you could discuss these scenarios and ask your child which word they would choose to describe how likely it is that it will happen.  

• It will rain tomorrow.  
• I will eat Weetabix tomorrow.  
• Scotland will win the next World Cup football tournament.  
• I will sleep in my own bed tonight.  
• I will get my hair cut this week.   
• I will go home in a blue car.  

In our number work we have been working on our addition skills. Here is a game to play at home. Choose from one of seven levels. There is an option to slow it down or to use a timer, you can choose what is best for you. 

Think about which strategy you find useful when you are adding. There are 3 strategies below:  

• Use concrete materials (such as beads or pasta) to make the sum and count the objects.  
• Start on the big number (put it in your head) then count on.  
• Use a number line or 100 square to start on the correct number then count on the correct number of times.  
  
  Addition Fruit Splat Game – 7 levels – Math Game (sheppardsoftware.com)  

We are also continuing to work on rapid recall of number bonds to 10. We have noticed that when we are making links to larger addition sums, they are finding this tricky. For example the link between 7+3=10 and 17+3=20.  

Here is a fun song to use at home to help with this. 

I Know My Number Bonds 10 | Number Bonds to 10 | Addition Song for Kids | Jack Hartmann – YouTube  

Other Curricular Areas    

• We had a visit from the Road Safety magic show. We worked hard to remember the motto ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Think’.     
• We enjoyed a session of loose parts before the rain set in on Tuesday! 
• It has been anti-bullying week so we listened to the story of Enemy Pie and discussed the issues raised.   
• We enjoyed fun activities today as part of Children in Need.  
• Our PE lessons focussed on a range of team work games.  

Here are a selection of photos from this week.  

Have a lovely weekend,  

Mrs McFarlane   

Here is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

In literacy this week we have been learning the digraph sounds aw (crawl, paw) and au (Autumn, dinosaur). We have used the following image to help us to remember the sound.

We have continued to work on the tricky words block 4 and we have revised previous blocks. Please continue to work on these at home. We have noticed that most children are finding the word said a bit tricky.

In writing we are developing our skills to be able to write a story. Our focus is (as last week) beginning, middle and end. We have told the story of Owl babies.

Our handwriting focus was c and a in cursive.

At home:

• Please continue to work on the tricky words. Your child should be able to read and write them. You could ask your child to write the words and sort them by number of letters on them.

• Continue to work on the word walls from the ORT reading books that we sent home a few weeks ago.
• Bedtime stories are a great way of spending time with your child and at the same time modelling reading and increasing your child’s vocabulary. If your home language is a different language, this is a good moment for your child to increase their home language rather than reading in English.
• Find words with aw/au spelling in food labels at home.
• Ask your child to read the reading book to you. Choose random pages or read the book from back to front. Ask questions about the book to ensure your child is developing comprehension skills.

Numeracy and Maths

In Maths we have continued to work on line of symmetry.

At Numeracy we have worked on counting backwards from 30 and addition skills to 20 using different strategies (number line, ten frames and counting on).

At home

• Work on counting backwards from 30 starting and stopping at different points.

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/dinoSorts/index.html

• Symmetry games:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/symmetry/symmetry-matching

• Please continue to work on number formation as we can see that some children continue to write number backwards or writing 12 instead of 21 ( 61/16,41/14, etc)

Other areas

PE

In PE we have focused on under and over arm throws, jumping and coordination skills.

We also have worked on games to work on following instructions and sprints.

IDL

We have learned about a new habitat, the Rainforest. We have discussed how the panther chameleon adapts to the Rainforest.

Art

We have been very busy creating our Christmas cards. These will be in your child’s purple folder today.

Here are some photos of firework art we created in the tuff tray and some symmetrical pictures made outside.

Other

• As mentioned above, your child will be taking home the Christmas card for you to order if you wish.
• Next Tuesday we will have loose parts in the afternoon (weather permitting).
• On Thursday afternoon we do a Mix up Thursday. This means that all the P2s learn together in both classes and in the communal area. All children are really enjoying this experience and it gives us teachers the opportunity to be involved in their play and plan next steps in their learning.
• Please ensure your child brings a jacket every day to school.    
• Thank you for your support in emptying the purple folders each day.     
• A reminder to name all items of clothing and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires a jumper belonging to someone else.    
• We would appreciate donations of any unwanted empty or partially used notebooks or diaries (used pages can be removed). Also, any enticing writing implements (i.e., glittery pencils/gel pens/ pencils with feathers etc – anything other than standard school issue type pencils/pens). The children enjoy choosing resources from the table to use in their independent learning.    
• We are looking for small pieces of ‘junk’ for modelling e.g., toothpaste boxes, tea bag boxes, snack bar boxes. The more interesting shapes the better!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McFarlane

    

It was lovely to see so many of you at our drop in session this morning. I hope that you enjoyed spending time with the class.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

There is an update to PE days for P2. From Monday 7^th November, the days will be as follows:

P2D Monday and Tuesday

P2M Wednesday and Friday

Here is a summary of our learning this week.

Literacy

In literacy we have been learning the digraph sounds ou (found, loud, count) and ow (cow, owl, howl). We have used the following image to help us to remember the sound.

We particularly enjoyed making owls to link to both our IDL topic and the ow sound in phonics.

In writing we wrote about the story of Jonah and the whale. Our focus was on the beginning, middle and end structure of a story.

Ideas for learning at home:

• Your child should continue to work on the word wall related to the stage they are reading. They should become confident in reading these words.  Remember that they should recognise these words by sight. 
• An idea to practise spelling words with ou and ow is to play hangman.
• Handwriting. Here is a useful website which has animations to show how to correctly form each letter. Please note that the f and z that we use are in the ‘alternative / non scheme letters’ section.

Continuous Cursive letter choice 1 beginners (teachhandwriting.co.uk)

• Continue to practise reading and spelling the tricky words.  An idea is to play snap. Use 2 sets of cards with the words. Lay out a large piece of paper and a pen in the middle of the table. When the words match, rather than saying the word to win the cards, you have to grab the pen and write the word to win the cards.  

Maths

We have been counting in 2s and 10s as well as developing our addition skills.

Here are two games to reinforce these skills.

Duck Shoot – tablet friendly (ictgames.com)

Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds (topmarks.co.uk) (Select number bonds and then the range most appropriate.)

We have also been learning about symmetry. You may find this game useful to use at home.

Symmetry Sorting Game – Sort symmetrical and non-symmetrical images (topmarks.co.uk)

You could also practise making symmetrical models with lego or other building bricks. Or even making symmetrical pictures of funny faces or patterns using small objects from around the house.

Other Curricular Areas

• We have been learning about whales and owls and how both are specially adapted to living in their habitat.
• In RME we learned about the story of Jonah and the whale.
• Our PE lessons focussed on a range of skills: underarm throw, speed and agility and dribbling a football. We also incorporated number work into our stations!

Here are a selection of photos from this week.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

We practised counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s to find out how many seeds were in each pumpkin. The results were surprising!

Outdoor Learning

We worked with P2D to complete an Autumn scavenger hunt.

Our PE lesson focussed on balancing, hand-eye coordination and fitness.

Dear Parents, 

We hope you all had a lovely break. 

This week has been a short one for the children however we have been very busy. 

Our learning this week: 

Literacy 

We have focused on sentence structure and what to look for when writing a sentence. 

Our writing theme was ‘My magic spell’ 

 At home   

• We haven’t sent reading books home this week. Please return any books your child has at home.   
• Your child should continue to work on the word wall related to the stage they are reading. They should become confident in reading these words.  Remember that they should recognise these words by sight. 
• Handwriting, children could continue to practise writing their first and surname in cursive script.   
• Continue to practise reading and spelling the tricky words.  An idea is to play faster finger: have all the tricky words written or on cards you say a word and the first person to find it wins the card (or a point). Then hide the card and ask your child to write it (double points for this). 

Maths 

We have been learning to count in twos. We read the book ‘How many seeds in a pumpkin’ and estimated how many seeds they were inside the four pumpkins we had at school. We carved them and counted the seeds in twos! 

At home: 

• Continue to practice on number formation. 
• We have used this 100 square website to help us to count in twos and to see the number patterns when counting in twos: 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares

• Continue to work on addition skills: 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train

Other areas 

As part of the school focus on Black History Month we have been learning about Rosa Parks: her life, why it was important what she did, etc. We discussed about on fair/unfair rules and about being all equal no matter our skin colour.  

Here is a video of the book we read at school. 

We made a fantastic display at school! 

PE we have worked on listening, team work, balance and eye-hand coordination skills. 

As part of our outdoor learning we did an Autumn scavenger hunt. 

Other information    
  
   

• Loose parts on Wednesday 2^nd November. 
• Next Friday Drop-in of the session. The school will be open for half an hour from 8.55am until 9.25am and parents are invited to visit their child’s classroom during this time. This an opportunity to see your child’s learning at school.. 

• Please ensure your child brings a jacket every day to school.    
• Thank you for your support in emptying the purple folders each day.     
• A reminder to name all items of clothing and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires a jumper belonging to someone else.    
• We would appreciate donations of any unwanted empty or partially used notebooks or diaries (used pages can be removed). Also, any enticing writing implements (i.e., glittery pencils/gel pens/ pencils with feathers etc – anything other than standard school issue type pencils/pens). The children enjoy choosing resources from the table to use in their independent learning.    
• We are looking for small pieces of ‘junk’ for modelling e.g., toothpaste boxes, tea bag boxes, snack bar boxes. The more interesting shapes the better!    
   

Another very busy week.  We are feeling ready for our week’s holiday!

Literacy

This week we learned the digraph sounds oi (boil, foil, coin) and oy (boy, toy, enjoy).  We used the following image to help us to remember the sound. 

We have focussed on what makes a sentence and have done some work on identifying sentences, ensuring that they each make sense on their own. 

In writing, we finished our unit on instruction writing with a piece focussing on our morning routine at school.  We are now confidently using bossy verbs, using words of order and sequencing instructions correctly.  We have been developing our skills in self assessing our work against these success criteria. 

We have been continuing to work on developing our spelling of tricky words and recognition of key words from our reading books. 

Things to try at home:

• Practise reading your new reading book with the illustrations covered up
• Continue to practise word wall words – we should know these by sight
• With an adult practise finding words in your reading books in isolation e.g. ‘find the word pulled’, ‘find the word stream’.
• Following on from parents evening your child will now have a copy of tricky words to practise – use post-its or small pieces of paper and make a pairs game to play – making the cards will further cement the spelling of these words.

Numeracy

This week in numeracy we have continued to practise our numerical skills by:

• Counting forwards and backwards starting and stopping at different points
• Recognising numerals
• Handwriting numbers correctly
• Using a counting on strategy for addition

Our main focus has been revisiting doubles facts using fingers unseen (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5) and extending this to (6+6, 7+7, 8+8, 9+9, 10+10). 

We also introduced the concept of near doubles (doubles plus 1.)

Things to try at home:

DOUBLES! DOUBLES! (*new* 1-10 version) – YouTube

Addition: Doubles + 1 / Growing Brain – YouTube

Loop cards (dominos) games – select ‘doubles to 15’ or ‘doubles to 20’ Loop Cards – 5-11 year olds – Topmarks

Hit the button game – select doubles to 10 – Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds (topmarks.co.uk)

Other Areas of the Curriculum

As part of our Polly Jean Pyjama Queen topic we have been learning about adaptions animals have developed to live in their habitats.  The two animals we learned about were: camels and how they have adapted to life in the desert and polar bears and how they have adapted to life in the Arctic. 

We enjoyed taking part in experiments to find out how polar bears have adapted to cold climates. 

We used lard to create a polar bear glove and tested this in ice with one hand gloved and one hand bare.  We found that the hand with the polar bear glove could not feel the cold ice at all!  The lard provided a thick layer of fat similar to that of the polar bear. 

We also used cotton wool to insulate our hand against ice, just like a polar bear’s thick fur.  It helped to keep our hands warm!

In PE, we have continued to develop our balance and coordination using a range of resources and activities.

We enjoyed working with the other P2 class to find and unscramble tricky words in the playground.

We learned about Black history month and some important black historical figures.

Other information  

• Please ensure your child brings a jacket every day to school.  
• Thank you for your support in emptying the purple folders each day.   
• A reminder to name all items of clothing and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires a jumper belonging to someone else.  
• We would appreciate donations of any unwanted empty or partially used notebooks or diaries (used pages can be removed). Also, any enticing writing implements (i.e., glittery pencils/gel pens/ pencils with feathers etc – anything other than standard school issue type pencils/pens). The children enjoy choosing resources from the table to use in their independent learning.  
• We are looking for small pieces of ‘junk’ for modelling e.g., toothpaste boxes, tea bag boxes, snack bar boxes. The more interesting shapes the better!

Dear Parents/ Carers,  

This week in P2 we have been learning: 

Literacy  

In literacy we have learned two new vowel diagraphs oa (as in goat, moat, boat) and ow (as in blow, snow and row). They both make the same sound.  We talked about the fact that oa is usually found in the middle of words and ow at the end.

In writing we have continued to learn how to write instructions.  

In handwriting we have been working on how to form the letter s in cursive script. 

At home 

• Yesterday your child took home her/his reading book. We have been reading the book at school during the week therefore your child should be able to read the book without support (they might need support with some words). This is a showcase of their learning at school. 
• Your child should also have a word wall related to the stage they are reading. They should become confident in reading these words. 
• Handwriting, children could continue to practise writing their first and surname in cursive script. 
• Continue to practise reading and spelling the tricky words. 
• Here is a fun game to practise at home. Select ow and oa to reinforce this week’s phonics focus. 
  
  Forest Phonics – mobile friendly (ictgames.com) 
  
   
  Maths  
  
  In Maths we have continued our unit of work on information handling. We have learned to make simple bar graphs. 
  
  We have continued to work on our numeracy skills through our SEAL programme.
  
  The main focus has been on number structures (using a ten frame) and learning about all of the different ways that the same number can be represented.  
  
  At home 
  
  This is a fun game to reinforce the work we have done on information handling. 
  
  Fishing Pictograph Game | 2nd Grade Math Games | Toy Theate
  
  We have used this game to explore ten frames. 
  
  https://www.nctm.org/Classroom-Resources/Illuminations/Interactives/Ten-Frame/ 
  
  Here is an interesting link which demonstrates how the numbers 9 and 10 can be represented. 
  
  Representing 9 and 10 – Maths – Learning with BBC Bitesize – BBC Bitesize 
  
  You could extend this at home by exploring different numbers and how they can be represented.  
  
  Other areas  
  
  In PE we have worked on working as a team (outdoors) and ball skills (indoors): hand and feet skills.  
  
  IDL We have continued to work on our topic Polly Jean Pyjama Queen and our focus has been learning about habitats.  
  
  
  Other information  
  

• Please ensure your child brings a jacket every day to school.  
• Thank you for your support in emptying the purple folders each day.   
• A reminder to name all items of clothing and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires a jumper belonging to someone else.  

• We would appreciate donations of any unwanted empty or partially used notebooks or diaries (used pages can be removed). Also, any enticing writing implements (i.e., glittery pencils/gel pens/ pencils with feathers etc – anything other than standard school issue type pencils/pens). The children enjoy choosing resources from the table to use in their independent learning.  
• We are looking for small pieces of ‘junk’ for modelling e.g., toothpaste boxes, tea bag boxes, snack bar boxes. The more interesting shapes the better!  
  
   
  
  Have a wonderful weekend!