Category: Primary 2

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week. This has been a short but a busy week for us.

Important information:

• Reading books: as this was a short week are not sending reading books home.
• Sports Day: As planned and shared earlier in the year, Sports Day for all pupils will take place on Wednesday 15th May 2024. If the weather is wet or poor, then a text will be sent out to cancel the event. Unfortunately, as there is no alternative date in the event of a cancellation, Sports Day will be cancelled for this year.   

10.45am – 12 noon at the Waterboard Field. Parents are asked to stand around the edge of the field as all activities will take place in the middle of the field moving out. Children will move around activities with their class teacher.

• Next week is Health Week: pupils are invited to wear their PE kit all week. We have lots of great activities planned.
• Loose Parts on Monday 13th May.
• Change of clothes: Please ensure that your child has a spare change of clothes at school (including pants and socks); these don’t have to be school uniform. It is really helpful for them all to have them (especially when they get wet). Please label all the items.

This is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

Our focus on Literacy has been poetry. We have been using our senses to describe things to help us to create our poems.

We have been writing about the life cycle of a butterfly. Amazing work this week!

Our tricky words this week are: always, earth and through. We have also worked on the word have.

Ideas for learning at home

• Please continue to read stories to your child every day at home.  
• Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. It is important that children practice reading every day.
• Start preparing your short talk (please refer to the information on last week’s blog).
• Practice your tricky words.

Maths 

We have continued to learn about fractions. This week our focus has been on quarter of a shape.

We have continued to work on numeracy skills such as addition and counting forwards an backwards in 1s, 2s, etc.

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Ask your child to cut or divide an item in halves and in quarters (ensure that they are equal parts)

• Cut photos of a magazine in half and in quarters.
• More information about quarters in here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zh9hxbk

• https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Use the halves area to revise half of a number.

Other areas

PE

We are working on athletics practicing for Sports Day’s events. Please continue to practice skipping with a rope at home.

IDL

We have continued to work on life cycles. We have carefully observed our caterpillars and our beans grow. We have taken our bean plants home so we can plant them in soil and look after them.

EXA

We have learned about Prokofiev.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents,

We hope that you had a great week. It has been another busy one in P2!

Important Information – P2 Listening and Talking Term 3  

In June, the pupils in P2 will be asked to give a short talk on a subject of their choice. We are making you aware of this now so that you can support your child over the next few weeks to prepare for this.  

Pupils can choose to talk about a hobby/interest, how they look after their pet, a favourite wild animal, favourite film etc.  

The focus is on selecting ideas and relevant information, organising these into a logical sequence and using words which will interest the audience. 

Please see guidance below on how best to prepare for this. 

1. Choose a topic. 
2. Think about the ‘W’ questions: Who (who is this about?) What (What do they do?) Why (Why is it interesting?) Where? When? 
3. You may wish to make cards for each heading with a picture and/or key words. Don’t write whole sentences to read out loud. 
4. Once the information is organised, practise delivering the talk to family at home. 

Thank you in advance for your support with this. 

Today Friday 2nd May your child will take home their learning story (look on the purple folder). You will be able to see: evidence of your child’s learning from last term, our term overview (what the children are going to be learning this term) and your child’s targets for the last term. Please return them to school on Wednesday 8th May.

Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

Phonics

This has been the final week of our focus on compound words. We have spent lots of time working on syllables which is a key element of this unit of work. This time has also provided opportunity for consolidation of the vowel digraphs. For example, when spelling rainbow, the pupils are not only learning that this is a compound word but they need to remember the ai and ow digraphs. 

Writing

In writing the focus was recount a story. We we worked on ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ story.

Reading

We have continued with the focus on non-fiction books. We have been learning about the special features of these texts, for example the contents page and the glossary.

Spelling

The whole class were introduced to the words picture, better and letter. Then we split into groups to work on the particular block we are focussing on.

Ideas for learning at home

Please continue to support your child to revise the spelling block that they are working on. They will know which block they are on. Here is a link to the list.

Block 1 – 8 Tricky Words single sheet (southmorningsideprimary.com)

Here is a link to a BBC bitesize page with a video clip, activities and a quiz which will reinforce our work on compound words.

What are compound words? – BBC Bitesize

Maths and Numeracy

Fractions

• We have been finding half of a number.

Numeracy

We have been consolidating a range of numeracy skills, for example

• Number patterns
• Equal groups
• Ordering numbers

Ideas for learning at home

Hit the button is a game we use on the interactive whiteboard in class. Choose ‘Halves’ option then the level most appropriate for your child.

Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds (topmarks.co.uk)

If your child is finding it hard to half a given number, practical activities will help to reinforce this concept. You can do lots of practical activities at home such as halving a group of toys or objects. For example children could use small food items such as raisins on a plate or you could use lego blocks.

It is also helpful to continue to practise counting in different steps. For example, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Once your child is confident in this try counting in 3s or 4s.

Other Curricular Areas

RSHP: Looking after plants and animals

• We have been learning about all the things we need to do to look after plants and pets.
• We are learning about how every living thing needs to be cared for and nurtured so that they grow and flourish.
• We planted broad beans and will watch for signs of them growing.
• We are looking after some caterpillars and will watch as they grow and develop over the coming weeks.
• We also tasted a range of fruit.
• You can be part of this learning by encouraging children to notice all the things you do at home or in the garden to look after plants or animals.

Outdoor Learning

We had a fantastic session of Loose Parts play in the playground on Thursday afternoon. We had a super challenge and all the children worked as a team!

Sustainability

We have been learning more about Sustainability during assembly.

Have a great weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents/ carers

We hope you are well.

We had a great week at school: we have enjoyed performing our assembly and the good weather!

Important information

• Class photo on Tuesday 30th May ( please see information in the school Homelink sway )
• Loose parts on Thursday 2^nd May.

Literacy

This week our focus on reading is non-fiction/fact books. When reading a non-fiction book children should be able to understand information read and make connections with their previous knowledge about the given topic.

We have continued to work on compound words.

Our tricky words for this week are: follow, different and small (Block 7). We have been working on reading and writing different blocks. Please continue to work on these at home.

At writing we have written a story based on a short clip that we have watched

Ideas to do at home:

Please practice your tricky words (read and write).

Ask your child to read the book that we have read at school this week. Ask your child questions about the book.

Compound words hunt: Do a hunt around the house or/and outdoors and create a list with them. You can use two colours to point out which to words make the compound words. Count the syllables. Children loved this video:

Maths

We have continued to work on our number skills counting forwards and backwards, number before and number after a given number, counting in 2s and 5s (3s and 4s for some).

We have started to work on fractions: understanding what a whole and a part means. We have learned what a half is: we have used shapes and halved them. We know that ½ means a half (the number at the top means that I have one part and the bottom part means that the whole has been split in two parts). Our focus has been on halving a shape.

Ideas to do at home.

Ask your child to give half of items ( and write ½ or /and a half):

• Use Lego or Duplo and your child will need to find two pieces that make one.

• Half a slice of bread, fruit, other food or/and playdough

Other areas

PE focus on athletics: race starts ( looking at our dominant leg, foot and hand position).

We practiced our First Level assembly, we finished the posters and decided what were going to say about our given topic. We performed for P3 and P4 children.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents,

We hope that you had a great holiday. It has been lovely welcoming back the pupils this week. Everyone seems recharged and ready for the busy term ahead! Here is a summary of our learning this week.

Literacy

Phonics

We have introduced the pupils to words of two syllables in the form of compound words (for example starfish, cupcake, railway). We are teaching them to blend syllables together to read longer words.

Spelling

The whole class was introduced to the common words your, called and sentence. We then moved into our groups to work on our individual spelling blocks.

Reading

Books will be sent home this week. We have been focusing on decoding unfamiliar words as well as reinforcing the work we have been doing on syllables. Please read this book at home over the weekend and send it back to school on Monday.

Ideas for home:

Write some simple sentences and ask your child if they can identify the compound word within it. For example:

• I like my bedroom.
• I want a skateboard.

Ask your child to count the number of syllables in familiar words. Can they work out how many syllables are in the name of each family member? What about their favourite foods? You can clap or alternatively, hold your hand under your chin to count the number of syllables if finding it tricky.

Please also remember to revise the common words block that your child is working on.

Numeracy

We have been revising key concepts from SEAL numeracy:

• Counting forwards and backwards, stopping and starting at different numbers.
• Counting in 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s.
• Giving examples of the number before / after.
• Numeral recognition.
• Starting at one number and counting the number of ‘jumps’ to another (forwards and backwards).
• Number patterns.

Ideas for home:

Play a game of true/false. Write down 10 sums. Some of them should be correct and some incorrect. Can your child use their addition and subtraction skills to work out which ones are which? The pupils love spotting when the teacher makes a mistake on the board so this can be a fun game to play at home!

If you have chalk at home, you could write a 2/3 digit number on the path (depending on the level your child is working at). Can your child write the number before and the number after? You can make it more tricky by crossing a decade. For example with 80 in the middle, can they write the number before?

Other Areas

We have been reflecting on our learning from last term. We have been working in groups between both P2 classes to produce posters which will share our learning at our upcoming assembly.

In PE we have started a unit of work on athletics. This week we have been learning to use the javelins and also to do the long jump.

We also had a fantastic session of loose parts outside in the sunshine and enjoyed a music session from a Youth Music Initiative visiting teacher.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week. We cannot believe this is the last Reflective Friday blog for this term!

Important information:

• Reading books will be sent home this week but not next ( we will continue to work on reading skills at school) . Please return all reading books that you might have at home, we are missing quite a few of them.
• Change of clothes: Please ensure that your child has a spare change of clothes at school (including pants and socks); these don’t have to be school uniform. It is really helpful for them all to have them (especially when they get wet). Please label all the items.

This is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

• This week we have started learning about soft g. Soft g When g is in front of an i, y, or e, it is soft and says /j/. For example: giant, gym, and gem. Hard g When g is in front of any other letter, it says /g/. For example: go, gave, and gravel

This is a video that we have used in class and will support learning at home.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wS4v_YTJw8

We have practiced our reading skills: this week we have focused on comprehension and fluency.

We have continued to learn common words from block 6: idea, answer and usual. Please continue to practice tricky words at home. All children know in which block they are working on.

In writing we are learning to write descriptions. This week we have described a magical house.

At cursive handwriting. This week we have practice our name using cursive. Please continue to practice this at home.

Continuous Cursive letter choice 3 beginners (teachhandwriting.co.uk)

Ideas for learning at home

• Practice words with g and ask your child to say if it is a soft or a hard g and how they know that.

• Please continue to read stories to your child every day at home.  
• Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. It is important that children practice reading every day. Please ensure you do this daily during the holidays. It doesn’t have to be long but daily practice is highly recommended.

Maths 

We have continued to learn money. This week our focus has been recording amounts accurately in different ways using the correct notation. Please continue to practice recognising coins at home as we have noticed that a few children they are still finding this difficult.

We have also worked on numeracy skills: addition and subtraction. Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s (3s and 4s for some). Please continue to practice these skills at home.

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Practice a couple of calculations every day (please choose accordingly with your child’s ability)
• If you have coins at home give an amount to your child and ask them to write it. You could write an amount and your child could make the amount with the coins.
• This is a website that we have used in class:

https://www.doorwayonline.org.uk/activities/cashing-in/cashing-in.html

Other areas

EXA and PE

In gymnastics we are working on landing, balancing and rolling skills. We have improved our forward rolls.

IDL

We have continued to work on Food Chains.

RME

We have learned about Easter.

We enjoyed watching the P4 show about Nessie and our loose parts session.

We learned about Down Syndrome to celebrate Down Syndrome’s day!

Have a wonderful and restful Easter break!

Mrs de Bonrostro