Category: Primary 2

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week.

It was lovely to see you at the Drop-in session on Tuesday.

Important information:

• On Thursday we will build castles made of junk. Please could you bring cardboard boxes, empty kitchen rolls ( no toilet paper ones, please), etc. on that day? Please do not bring it before Thursday as we don’t have space to storage it.
• Loose parts on Tuesday 6^th February.
• Please ensure that all your children’s items are labelled (including hats and gloves).
• 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.
• Next week we will not send reading books home.

This is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

This week we continued to learn about magic e. This week was magic e with an i. Eg: time, kite, pipe, etc.

We have practiced our reading skills: prediction and fluency are our focus.

We have continued to learn common words from block 5: write, great and move. 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 written wonderful descriptions about Monet. We are really impressed with the work produced!

At cursive handwriting. This week we have practice m and n. See the link below of the formation we are practicing at school.

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

We did our ‘Twa Leggit mice’ recitation and two children have been selected to perform at the school assembly. Well done to all the children who took part and learned the poem; it was a very hard decision!

Ideas for learning at home

• Please ask your child to read the school reading book at home.
• Use your magic e wand for these words: kit, bit, fin , etc. Ask your child to write them and then add the magic e band at the end of the word and see which words they have now.
• Ask your child to write and read these words: kite, bite, time, white, bike, line, slide, five, etc. You can write the words and ask your child to look for the initial blends and circle them.  
• Please continue to read stories to your child at home.
• Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. It is important that children practice reading every day.

Maths 

We have started to learn about properties of 3D objects: faces, edges and vertices; stack and roll.

Ideas for learning at home: 

• When talking to your child ensure you use vocabulary using 3D Objects: we have learned cube, cuboid, sphere, cylinder and prism.
• 3D object hunt around the house and outdoors.
• This video will help to reinforce the learning:

Other areas

EXA and PE

We have continued to learn Scottish Dance. We are learning to combine actions to create movement sequences independently and with others in response to music. We can now dance the Flying Scotsman’s Dance.

In gymnastics we are learning landing and balancing skills.

FRENCH

We are learning about colours.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are learning about Edinburgh Castle We are learning to use evidence to recreate the story of place of local historical interest. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents/Carers, 

We hope you have had a lovely week. It has been a busy one in P2! 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION 

Please ensure learning stories are returned ASAP. 

Your child will be taking home a poem to practice at home ‘Twa Leggit mice’. Information about the Robert Burns competition went out in the homelink yesterday. As mention there only children who want to take part will do so but we would like all children to learn this poem. We have used this video at school to help us to learn it:

Here is a summary of our learning. 

Literacy 

Spelling: As a class we introduced the tricky words story, does and done. We then each worked on the particular spelling block we are focussing on. 

Phonics: We have started to learn about “magic e”. Magic e makes the vowels say their letter name rather than their sound. For example in the word cake the a makes an ay sound rather than ah. Magic e remains silent. 

Here is a fun video which demonstrates this. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qzlrx/alphablocks-series-1-18-magic

Writing: We wrote descriptions of a family member, trying to include as much detail as possible. 

Handwriting: We have been learning to form the letters v and w. 

Here is the website we use in school to show the correct formation. 

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

Ideas for home learning: 

Ask your child to explain how magic e works. Do they understand? The focus this week was on words with the a vowel. 

You could write the following words on a piece of paper then ask your child to wave their magic e wand (sent home today!) then add an e at the end of the word. When you add magic e to the end of the word, can they read the new word that has been created? For example cap would turn into cape. 

cap 

mad 

hat 

tap 

gap 

at 

can 

mat 

car 

van 

Please continue to work on reading and spelling the tricky words block your child is focussing on. Here is an idea for a game to play at home. 

I’m thinking of a word 

Write the words out on pieces of paper / card. Spread the cards out. Pick a word but do not tell your child which word you are thinking of. Say ‘I’m thinking of a word, the word has … letters’. The child is to guess what the word might be from the words spread out. If they guess correctly, they can keep the word card. If they cannot guess, give them another clue. ‘I’m thinking of a word that starts with the sound …’ or ‘ends with …’ or ‘rhymes with …’. Keep giving clues until they guess the word. This game will encourage your child to think carefully about the tricky words and ways to memorise them.  

Please also go over their reading book at the weekend before returning it on Monday. 

Maths and Numeracy 

We have been working on naming 2D shapes and linking this with patterns. 

Here is a fun game to play at home to reinforce this learning. 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns

In our number work we have continued to work on doubles and addition and subtraction strategies. For those who are confident with doubles and the doubles plus one strategy, we have linked this to addition and subtraction strategies and used larger numbers. 

Here is a fun video on doubles and halves. 

BBC iPlayer – Numberblocks – Series 2: Double Trouble 

For those pupils who are confidently adding and subtracting, we encourage the discussion of different strategies. You could challenge your child with some sums and ask them to explain how they reached their answer. For example, for 21 + 13 do they count in 1s? Or can they use a more effective strategy, such as first to add 10 to get to 31 then add 3 to get to 34.  

Other Areas: 

We have continued to learn about Monet as part of our artist study this term. 

As part of our health and well-being programme we have started the next unit of work which is called ‘Respect Yourself’. We have been thinking about valuing ourselves, accepting compliments and about the skills and qualities which make us each unique. 

We have learned about Robert Burns

We have continued to work on our fitness as well as Scottish dancing. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents / Carers,

We hope you had a great week.

Important information:

• Your child took will bring home today their learning story. Please have a look at the termly overview and your child’s targets for this term. Please return them to school by Friday 26^th January at the latest.
• Loose parts on Monday 22^nd.
• Please ensure that all your children’s items are labelled (including hats and gloves).
• 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 learned the initial blends: sc, sk, sn, sp, st, sw, tw.

We have practiced our reading skills: our focus at the moment is fluency.

We have started to learn common words from block 5: school, because and before.

In writing we are learning to write descriptions. We have started by writing a description on ourselves.

At cursive handwriting. This week we have practice r and s. See the link below of the formation we are practicing at school.

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

Ideas for learning at home

• Please ask your child to read the school reading book at home.

Look at these ideas to work on fluency at home:

1. Show them your own fluent reading. The more often your child hears fluent reading, the more likely they are to pick it up.
2. Teach your child how to track words.
3. Focus on sight words.
4. Recruit a friendly audience and ask your child to read the story for them.
5. Ask your child to write and read these words: scoop, scar, scan, scab, skip, skin, skid, skim, snail, snap, snug, snip, smug, smash, spin, spat, spot, spit, speck, stop, step, star, stuck, stick, stock, swim, swam, swag, swig, twin, twig, twit. You can write the words and ask your child to look for the initial blends and circle them.  
6. Please continue to read stories to your child at home.
7. Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. It is important that children practice reading every day.

Maths 

We have started to learn about properties of 2D shapes and reviewed our knowledge of 2D shapes.

We have been working on doubles and doubles plus one.

Ideas for learning at home: 

• When talking to your child ensure you use vocabulary using 2D shape: we have learned circle, triangle, square, rectangle, trapezium, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon and decagon. The children were confident on the first three but found challenging the others.
• Shape hunt around the house and outdoors.
• Make a shape book: every page could have a shape and your child can write how many sides, how many corners (we have introduced the word vertex ( how many vertices?) and draw objects with that shape.
• In this online game you could click on the doubles area.

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

Other areas

EXA and PE

We have started to learn Scottish Dance. We are learning to combine actions to create movement sequences independently and with others in response to music.

ART

We are learning about Monet. We have learned about his life and started to look at his technique.

FRENCH

We are learning to count to 20.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are learning about Greyfriars Bobby. We are learning to use evidence to recreate the story of an individual of local historical interest. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs de Bonrostro

Blog 12.01.24

Dear Parents/Carers,

Happy New Year! It was lovely to welcome back the pupils this week. Everyone seems refreshed and ready for the busy term ahead.

Important Information

· Change of PE days: Our PE days will be now on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Here is a summary of our learning

Literacy

Our phonics focus has been on the initial blends bl,cl,fl,gl,pl,sl. Examples of words with these blends are: block, clap, flag, glitter, plant, slip.

We have enjoyed our reading books this week, focusing on reading aloud with fluency.

At writing we wrote about one thing that we liked about the holidays and why.

Ideas for learning at home:

Here is a fun game to play which will revise the phonics focus for this week. Examples of words are: black, blow, clip, cloud, flag, flock, glass, glen, plum, play, slug, sleep.

Silly Sentence

Write the words out on bits of paper. Spread the word cards out face down. Pick 3 cards and turn them face up. Say the words as they are turned up. Now try and make up a silly sentence that includes all 3 words on the cards.

Please also ask your child to share their reading book with you. Once they are finished you could ask them to explain what happened at the beginning, middle and end. Reflecting on the structure of books will help them as they write their own stories.

Numeracy

We have been practicing a variety of number skills this week. One of the main focuses has been on number recognition. We revised ‘teen’ and ‘ty’ numbers briefly and are becoming so much more confident with this now!

We have also been looking at the 100 square and looking for patterns which will help us to identify numbers and their value.

Ideas for learning at home

Click on this link to open up an interactive 100 square. Paint the Squares – Interactive Number Charts (topmarks.co.uk)

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

On the left hand side you will see options to ‘pick a puzzle’. These offer various levels of challenge and the class have enjoyed exploring this.

You could also make up your own 100 square challenges like in the photo below. Can your child fill in the spaces?

Try to look out for numbers in the environment for example house doors, bus numbers, items in packets at the shops. Real life examples of reading numbers can be much more interesting than a worksheet!

Other Areas

· We have been learning about the UNCRC article 3. We have been learning that adults make the best decisions for us. We thought about who are our five trusted adults.

· We have been learning about New Year resolutions and made some of our own in a creative way. See photos below!

· In PE we did games.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

Dear Parents/Carers,

Final blog of 2023!

What a term full of learning we had!

This week we have done revision in all areas of our learning.

All activities were linked to the Christmas theme: our morning challenges, numeracy and literacy. In Maths have been working on addition and subtraction (to 10, 30 , 100) and in Literacy we have worked on comprehension skills answering written questions about a given text. Our PE focus has been on games. We also had a Christmas tree challenge using Kapla.

We had lots of exciting activities across the school: fun run, Christmas quiz in houses, Carol singing, Window walk, etc.

We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2024!

We are looking forward to seeing you all in January.

Mrs de Bonrostro