Here are some of our wonderful Starfish children on their first day in Year 2!

Starfish voted for who they would like to represent us in the school council, the eco council and as a rights respecting representative. Here are the children who were voted in for these positions.

What have we been getting up to…

Our Topic this term is:

Beside the Seaside! 

English

This term, we will be looking at a book called ‘Last Stop on Market Street’. A fiction text that will allow the children to participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play and debates. We will also be continuing to focus on skills including coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and how these can be used in our writing. We have also be looked at expanded noun phrases and how we can use adjectives to make our writing more exciting.

Throughout this topic we will focus on basic punctuation and recapping our phonic knowledge. We will also have weekly guided reading sessions, where your children will develop their fluency and comprehension knowledge.

Phonics

Following on from the children’s learning in Year 1, we will continue to follow the Monster Phonics programme to reinforce our knowledge of all phonemes and graphemes as well as our recall of High Frequency and Common Exception Words.  The weekly spelling tests will support the learning we have done in class each week.

Maths

This term in Maths, we will be looking at fractions.  We will begin by learning to recognise a half, a quarter and a third of a shape and then developing the children’s knowledge of finding a fraction of a number. Following on from this, we will be looking at time and showing children how to tell the time using o’clock, half past, quarter to and past. We will also be focusing on minutes in an hour and hours in a day.

Throughout Year 2, we will be focusing on the children’s times table knowledge, in particular 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.  Your child’s login for TT Rockstar’s will remain the same as last year so please encourage your child to use this to practise their tables.  This log in will now also give you access to Numbots which can be used in a similar way to TT Rockstars to practise number bonds and basic Maths skills.

TT Rockstars – https://ttrockstars.com/

Numbots – https://play.numbots.com/#/intro

Here is some of the children using manipulative in maths to explore addition.

Understanding Science and Technology

Science:

Throughout our Science topics we will be using a range of Science skills to explore, predict, record and conclude.

In Science, we will be exploring Materials.  We will be learning about the difference between man-made and natural materials and exploring the properties of everyday materials, such as whether they are opaque or transparent. From this children will be able to identify and explain what material is suitable for a certain objects.

Computing:

In Computing will be using Scratch to program instructions.  We will start by giving and following simple instructions before imputing these commands into Scratch.  We will then use Scratch to create our own quiz involving giving separate instructions to different sprites.

Design and Technology:

In Design and Technology we have designed and created our own moving picture using a slider mechanism. This term we have looked at different types of puppets and used our sewing skills to make our own puppets using a running stitch.

Here are some Starfish children conducting their own research into animals habitats.

Understanding the World

History:

We were very lucky to have a workshop in school in Autumn which took us through what life was like during The Great Fire of London in 1666.

This term we will be looking at significant people from the past. The children will learn about Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell and their amazing contributions to nursing.

Geography:

We will continue to recap prior learning about Oceans, Continents and the four countries which make up the United Kingdom.

This term in Geography, we will be looking at maps. The children will learn how to use simple compass directions, identify important symbols on a map and use this to create plan a route on a map.

RE:

We will continue to recap prior learning about key beliefs and practices of Islam and Christianity as well as the different festivals they celebrate.

This term in RE, we will be looking at the importance of charity in Christianity and Islam by understanding the story of The Good Samaritan and the meaning of Zakat.

Understanding Arts and Culture

Music

In music, we will be exploring beats and patterns and listening to music from a range of countries and cultures.  We will then move on to pitch where the children will become familiar with pitch shapes and perform them in a variety of different arrangements.

Art

In the Autumn term, we looked the artist Matisse and using his work as inspiration for our own autumn leaf project.  We will focus on tints and tones while also developing our skills using paint. Here is some of our amazing Art work the past two terms:

This term in Art, we will be studing Vincent Van Gogh and the work he created and using this to inspire our own sketching picture. We will be using pastels to create our own starry night picture using skills such as smudging and blending.

During the spring term we will be exploring clay, using different techniques to create our own sea creatures. Starfish Class really enjoyed making their sea creatures!

Understanding our Health and Well-Being​

This term we will be learning how to play Cricket. We will continue to develop skills such as being able to throw and catch a ball with increasing accuracy.

PSHE:

Our topic in PSHE is called ‘Relationships’. We will be learning about who is important to us and ways we can resolve conflict between friends.

Home learning

In line with the rest of the school, we encourage your child to spend time reading at home each evening. This can be recorded in their Reading Record by an adult or by the child.

Each Friday, we set homework on Education City and/or Marvellous Me. We post a selection of activities and ask that your child has a go at completing.

Link to Education City

https://go.educationcity.com/?_ga=2.73813714.114098745.1662124901-793430212.1662124901

We will also be sending out Spellings, from our Monster Phonics books, every Friday, ready to be checked the following Thursday.

Water bottles

We ask that your child brings a named water bottle to school each day. These are kept by our sink so that your child has free access to them throughout the day. Your child can refill their bottle at one of the water fountains when they need to.

PE kits

We ask that your child has their PE kit in school each day of the week as our timetable is subject to change due to the weather and the availability of space. In line with our school uniform policy, they require a pair of plain blue jogging bottoms for the winter months as we may have our lesson outside.

Reading

We would ask kindly that you please read together with your child every day as it really does make such an enormous difference to their ability to read with fluency, confidence and understanding; reading records should be in book bags daily.

Stars of the week

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