Welcome to 2SW!

*** You can access Home Learning for your class here ***

Our class information can be found at the bottom of the page.

Today in our jigsaw time, we had our 'calm me time' whilst laying down. This really helped us focus our minds. We practised our breathing and thought about how our bodies and minds need to be healthy for us to become “healthy me.” 

We also considered what we would do if Jigsaw Jo wasn’t feeling well. We suggested lots of brilliant ideas like giving them a hug, having a drink of water or getting some fresh air. We then discussed that sometimes we might need medicine to make us better, but we must never do this ourselves and only do so if it is given to us by a trusted adult. 

This week we have continued creating our sea creatures dance routines. We have worked well with a partner to synchronise our movements and perform in time to the music. We have had lots of fun doing this.

In our nature detectives science topic we have made bird feeders and put them in our school ground to attract the wildlife at our school.

This week we have started our autumn work in English, linking to our weather topic in Geography and Nature detectives in Science. We loved exploring our wild area to find all signs of autumn. We focused on our 5 senses and used them really well. We then thought about the weather in Autumn and how we could use musical instruments to create these weather noises!

Our completed art work! We are so proud of our own tree we created using finger paints to represent the 4 seasons. 

A great first day back creating trees with finger paints showing the 4 seasons and our new displays.

What a wonderful morning we had in school with our parents and grandparents helping us to make our very own castle. Thank you so much for all your help, there were some wonderful models! 

We have loved exploring the apparatus in PE. We have learnt how to hold a balance and how to use our squashy knees when we jump and land! 🙂 

We have learnt more about programming and we are able to use bee bots to give our instructions. We had to follow dragon footprints, linking to our topic and English work on castles. We worked in groups to give our bee bots instructions to try and catch the dragon. 

Wow what an amazing day year 2 had at Pontefract Castle! We became dragons, planned stories, explored the castle and our favourite part... going down in to the dungeon! The behaviour of all the children was excellent and a fabulous day was had by all (including the staff!).

View all the photos here.

We have had the most amazing week in 2SW and produced some fantastic instructions on how to become a good knight! On Friday afternoon, we made the most of the sunshine and spent time enjoying the fitness trail, sharing books, conker hunting, skipping and hoola-hooping!

I am so proud of all the children for settling into year 2 excellently! Keep it up my superstars! 

We have become super scientists this week in 2SW by looking at a range of items and deciding what material they were made out of! We found the rubber glove quite a difficult one! We then discussed what properties these materials had. 

Class Information

Welcome to Year 2, I am so excited to be working with you and your child for the following year. Please feel free to speak to me at the start or end of the day. Another great way to communicate with us, is through the reading record, which will come home with your child every evening.

In year 2, we encourage the children to be organised and prepared for each school day. Year 2 is an important milestone because of how much your child will grow, mature and become more independent over the course of the year. We appreciate your continued support in every aspect of your child’s learning.

Important information

About our class

In 2SW, we are a team. We work together, with the support and guidance of the adults, to be the best we can be. We support and celebrate each other’s achievements and we are proud when we accomplish something new. This classroom philosophy is based on a foundation of mutual trust and respect- between the adults and the children- and we show this through constant hard work and effort.

Maths

Mathletics is a fantastic online resource for children to develop their mathematical understanding in a fun and accessible way. Every child has a log in for Mathletics- please encourage your child to use the programme even just for 15 minutes a day. All the activities are differentiated for your child’s needs- meaning they provide just the right level of challenge according to their level and depth of mathematical understanding. If that wasn’t exciting enough, using Mathletics frequently earns your child points, which go towards bronze, silver and gold certificates. The more children in our class who use Mathletics will hopefully earn us enough points to win the weekly Mathletics trophy in Friday’s celebration assembly! (Mrs Wilson’s competitive side comes out here!)

As a school we are taking part in the ‘Times Tables Rock!’ challenge. By the end of Year 4, all children should know up to 12x12; however, in Year 2, we focus on knowing the multiplication and division facts for the 2s, 5s and 10s. We complete a time table challenge as part of our morning work- Mrs Wilson may send a sheet home if she thinks anyone needs a little more practice. Please support your child with this.

Every child also has a tt rockstars log in and can practice getting quicker on line, how cool is that!

Reading

Reading is extremely important to children of all ages, but during Year 2, you will notice significant changes in your child’s reading fluency and comprehension as they become more independent. There are numerous things we as a school do to support children’s reading and coupled with support from home, their progress accelerates momentously.

• Reading raffle- 1 ticket for every 5 times read at home, having had their reading records signed by an adult.
• I would love every child to read for at least 10 minutes every day- reading is so important
• 100 books to read before you leave Year 2- this list was published by an experienced teacher in a different school. Starting from their first day in Year 2, please make a note in your child’s reading record every time they read one of the books from the list. We aim to have read all 100 of these by the end of the year. These books are all freely available to borrow from local libraries and it is likely you have some of these at home too. The children can also read a selection of them in our reading garden.
• Guided reading- all children participate in a mixture of guided or whole-class reading every day in Year 2. Children will also have the opportunity to read individually with an adult at school too. Any reading volunteers who could spare an afternoon would be greatly appreciated!
• Phonics- in Year 2 we work on consolidating Phase 5 sounds in the Autumn term, then begin to work on Phase 6 for the rest of the year. If your child did not pass the Year 1 phonics check, they will receive additional support from an adult to prepare them for the re-sit in June.

Homework

Spellings are given out every Monday and need to be learned in preparation for the spelling test the following Monday. These spellings consolidate sounds practised during the week. Please support your child with learning these.

Physical Education

PE kits need to be available in school on a Tuesday and Thursday. Could we have both indoor and outdoor kit please.

Kit required for P.E:

Boys - White T-shirt and black shorts and trainers or pumps for outdoor games during summer and winter months. Warm navy/black tracksuit and trainers for outdoor games during the winter months.

Girls - White T-shirt, black shorts or cycling shorts (not nylon or lycra) and trainers or pumps for outdoor games during summer and winter months. Warm navy/black tracksuit and trainers for outdoor games during the winter months.

Please note earrings must be removed for PE or covered by tape provided by the parent.

Behaviour

We follow the ‘good to be green’ behaviour management system. Every child starts the day on the green lilypad; if they make bad choices (e.g. shouting out, not listening etc.) they will move down the chart onto the yellow warning fish or red consequence fish. However, they can rectify this with good choices and move back onto the green lilypad. Exceptional behaviour is rewarded by moving up to the rainbow.

If your child arrives home on Friday without their good to be green sticker, it means that at some point in the week they received a yellow warning or red consequence fish; it may be worth a gentle discussion with your child about how they need to make things better for the following week.

We love rewarding good choices and hard work; we offer certificates for Writer, Reader, Mathematician and Star of the week and one lucky child brings home Bonzo, our class pet (!), to look after for the weekend. Your child can update his weekend book with information of what he has been up to if you wish to do so (but this isn’t compulsory!)

Thank you for your ongoing support and I look forward to a brilliant year,

Mrs Wilson, Mrs Rodgers and Mrs Shawdon.