Summer 2

Welcome back, I hope you have all had a lovely break in the sunshine and are recharged and ready to go for our final half term of the year. We have a fun and exciting jam packed half term ahead of us.

It is also a term in which we will sadly be saying goodbye to Miss Batool as she starts her teaching career, we have loved having her as part of our Y2 team and I know the children will miss her. So lets make her last few weeks as fun as possible.

Below are all the fantastic topics we will be learning about.

Literacy

This half term we will be reading the story of Lila and the Secret of Rain. The children will order the story, write setting descriptions and learn to retell the story using Talk for Writing. The children will then retell the story in the first person. Linked to our Africa topic in history and geography we will then learn how to write a non chronological report about an African animal after looking at the features of them and securing knowledge about different animals. As always we will focus on grammar features that will help us with our work. 

Maths

We will learn some life skills this half term with time and money. Children need to know o'clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past and where possible to the nearest 5 minutes using an analogue clock. For money we will be identifying different coins and notes, learning how to make the same amount using different coins and working out change when buying goods. Any help and support that you can provide your child with for these topics would be great. If you have any questions please just ask. We will also spend time solving word problems using all our mathematical skills. 

Science

We will continue to learn about living things and their habitats this half term. We will also meet our topic Scientist, Jane Goodall. 

History/Geography

We will continue to learn about Africa in Geography, understanding the differences and similarities of children here and in Kenya. 

In History we will look at some significant individuals, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks. We will learn about their lives and what makes them influential people.

DT

The children will become crafters and will design and make their own pouch. They will learn the running stitch, how to create a template and then sew their pouch together. They will then decorate their finished product. 

Summer 1

It's summer term and life at school is finally starting to feel a bit more normal. The children settled back into school brilliantly before Easter and I am so proud of each and every one of them for navigating so well what has yet again been a disrupted year. We have lots of exciting topics to cover this term. 

MATHS:-  We will be learning about graphs, shapes, money and time along with reviewing addition and subtraction regularly.

LITERACY:- We will write our own poems based on the 'The Magic Box' by Kit Wright and reading about a badger who is desperate to eat a very disgusting sandwich. We will write a set of instructions as well as our own stories on a similar theme.

SCIENCE:- We will learn about different animals and their habitats understanding how to identify what is  alive, dead or have never been alive. We will also  identify some of the plants and animals in a familiar habitat,  find microhabitats, describe the conditions and ask questions about different habitats and name some sources of food.

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY- Across the whole of summer term we will focus on Africa. We will understand where it is and the different countries that make up the continent and is different climates, animals and landmarks. We will then meet some significant figures such as Nelson Mandela. 

DT- In DT we will design and make our own chairs suitable for baby bear. We will think about the best designs and different shapes to achieve this thinking about stability. We will design, make and evaluate them. 

Welcome Back - Spring 2

We are finally all back together. This term has been a long hard time which has thrown lots of challenges and difficulties. But we are now back in school and I hope you are ready for a jam packed 4 weeks.

You have all worked extremely hard over the last several weeks of online learning and I am very proud of the effort and engagement you all showed. 

I am so excited to be back in school, back in our class together, where we can all have a fun-filled few weeks of our Spring Term.

 As you already know from our zoom meetings, Miss Batool will be joining the Y2 team and she is very excited to meet and teach all of you.

The weekly routines are exactly the same as when we left and school will be the same fun, safe environment that it has always been.

If you have any questions we do not hesitate in approaching one of the Y2 team.

P.E.

Children will not require their PE kits for the Autumn term due to the change of uniform policy. Our PE session will be on a Tuesday morning so please send your children in the appropriate clothing and footwear. PE will predominantly happen outside.

Spellings

Children will be given a spelling list every Friday. Please ensure your child practises these everyday as there will be a test on a Friday. To support them further, encourage children to use a dictionary to find their meaning as well as form sentences with the words given.

Books

Reading books will be changed every Friday. Please ensure that books and signed reading diaries are in school for those days. Reading book, upon return, will be quarantined for 72 hours before they will be recirculated. It is important that your child reads every day. This can be done independently or with the help of an adult or older sibling. Please also ask the children questions about their book to check their understanding.

Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS)

The children will have been given their logins for Times Tables Rock Stars. They can access the application at home on a laptop or iPad/tablet and even get the opportunity to play against each other or myself some evenings. Please encourage your child to access TTRS at home as this will give them much needed practice of the multiplication facts they are unsure of. 

Please click the link below to access the TTRS website: https://ttrockstars.com/

To find the school name either type St Thomas’s CEP School or type in the postcode BL9 7EY.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to speak to us via an arranged phone call or on Class Dojo.

Mr. Hyde 

ONLINE LEARNING SPRING TERM

Dear Parents,

What can I say, here we are again. Just when we are turning a corner, we have to stop again. I am extremely upset that I will not see all the children this half term. However for the safety of us all, needs must.
But that does not mean that the quality of the children's education will lessen. I will ensure that the highest of quality teaching is provided to all my class online, as it would be in the classroom. This will require your help and support as you did so magnificently in October when we had to isolate for 2 weeks.
The format of the day will be the same, this will help you and keeps the children in a familiar routine.
I will post videos for each of the lessons, with supporting photos (if needed) everyday On Class Dojo. This will be the learning platform that will have all the children's work on.

The children will be provided with a No Problem Maths book and an Online Learning Book. These are where the children will complete all their daily tasks. Theses books must be kept in the condition that they are received as they are school books and will be used when we return. The children did a fantastic job last time when looking after their books and I hope they take the same responsibility this time.
The children know exactly the high standard that I expect of them when completing work in their books and I know that they will ensure that all their writing is neat and well presented. It is extremely important that it is the children's work and not completed by anyone else. Whoever is working alongside your child throughout the lockdown are there to support and help the children complete the tasks, however it is extremely important that the children attempt all tasks independently and complete the work themselves.

The videos are there to help and will give not only the children with a greater understanding of how to complete the tasks, but will help you in supporting them. It is important that the children watch these before attempting any task, as this will stop any mistakes or misconceptions. All daily tasks when completed must be photographed and sent to me by the end of the day. This allows me at night to see the children's work, comment and approve it and give the children Dojo Points as a reward and recognition for their work.

Every lesson will have a marking video, this will be posted the day after. All the children must mark there own work using these videos. These videos are a very important way of showing the children any mistake they may have made and gives them the opportunity to correct it. This with how the children consolidate their learning and understand next steps. This is what we do in class and the children have become more confident at doing it.

I totally understand that the next several weeks are going to be tough. I myself will be looking after my 2 daughters as well as teaching my class all day. I understand the struggles, and I am here to help in any kind of way. This message service is the best way to contact me if you have any questions or problems.
However if you have ant issues that are not regarding the children's work, the appropriate procedure is to go through the school office, which will have a member of staff in everyday.
As you can imagine, I will be uncontactable after normal school hours and weekends, however this does not mean you can not post photos of the children's work in those times, as I understand that we all have our own difficulties and time tables and the children may not complete it as quick as others.

Thank you for all your help and support through the next several weeks, together we will get through this and ensure that the children are safe and healthy both in body and mind.
Take care
Mr Hyde

Please find below links to support different areas of the curriculum.

Phonics Play

https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/

*** This now works on all devices including iPad's and iPhones***

Phonics Play is a great resource that we use in school every day.

• You can recap your sounds and tricky words
• Play some phase 5 & 6 games

They are offering this as a free resource

Username:jan21  Password:home 

BBC Bitesize- KS1 

These games on the BBC Bitesize website link to Phase 6 phonics. 

Children start Phase 6 phonics in Year 2. This has more of a grammar focus and builds on different patterns to support spelling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/small-town-superheroes?exitGameUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbbc.co.uk%2Fbitesize%2Farticles%2Fzncgvk7

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zd63xyc/articles/zdp4pg8

• BBC Bitesize - KS1 grammar

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zkxxsbk

>This is a great website that explains all of the different aspects of grammar in KS1.

>There are videos along with quizzes and games to test your understanding. 

• Support your child to form their cursive letters correctly.

This is the script that we teach our children. 

>This powerpoint shares some useful rhymes to help children to remember how to form each letter. 

Math Games, tasks and activities.

Please go on these links to help support your child's understanding of Y2 new learning and build on prior knowledge with these math websites

Reading

How to access free Collins Big Cat ebooks:

Go to Collins Connect and click on the Teacher portal and enter: 

Username: parents@harpercollins.co.uk

Password: Parents20! 

and click Login. 

-Then go onto the Big Cat ebooks and select your child's book band colour. 

-They can either listen to the story being read to them or pause the audio and let your child read the book to you. 

-For some books there are also questions at the end or worksheets that can be viewed. 

Welcome to Year 2H

P.E.

Children will not require their PE kits for the Autumn term due to the change of uniform policy. Our PE session will be on a Tuesday morning so please send your children in the appropriate clothing and footwear. PE will predominantly happen outside.

Spellings

Children will be given a spelling list every Friday. Please ensure your child practises these everyday as there will be a test on a Friday. To support them further, encourage children to use a dictionary to find their meaning as well as form sentences with the words given.

Learning Logs

Children will be given learning log challenges each half-term which is linked to the work they will be covering in their topics. Please look at our homework grid below. It states how many tasks need to be completed. Remember to encourage children to be creative and share their learning in different ways. Work can be completed and uploaded onto Dojo when finished to reduce the number of things being brought into school and can be electronically marked.

Books

Reading books will be changed every Friday. Please ensure that books and signed reading diaries are in school for those days. Reading book, upon return, will be quarantined for 72 hours before they will be recirculated. It is important that your child reads every day. This can be done independently or with the help of an adult or older sibling. Please also ask the children questions about their book to check their understanding.

Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS)

The children will have been given their logins for Times Tables Rock Stars. They can access the application at home on a laptop or iPad/tablet and even get the opportunity to play against each other or myself some evenings. Please encourage your child to access TTRS at home as this will give them much needed practice of the multiplication facts they are unsure of. 

Please click the link below to access the TTRS website: https://ttrockstars.com/

To find the school name either type St Thomas’s CEP School or type in the postcode BL9 7EY.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to speak to us via an arranged phone call or on Class Dojo.

Mr. Hyde & Mrs Hughes

Online Learning

Dear Parents,
I was really hoping that this wouldn't happen to our class but it's a situation that we all know could happen at anytime. The good news is that the school has acted quickly and appropriately to ensure that the children are safe. You have all received a letter with guidance, please read this carefully and please make sure that we all follow the appropriate advice as we all want to be back in school together as soon as possible.
I feel extremely upset at this moment, as we were just getting back to normal and the children have worked so hard since the being of this term are were all enjoying being class again.
For me personally it has been an absolute joy teaching your kids and I will ensure that they have high quality online learning everyday that would have been taught within the classroom. I will be posting work on this site everyday for the children to complete. This work will come with supporting videos and photos that will help and support, not only them, but for you to understand and support them to complete. I would like the children to work independently as much as possible, but they will need support as the concepts and learning will be new to them. This is where the videos will help them understand and help you support them.
I would appreciate that all the children complete their daily tasks and then take photos of their completed work so I can see it and approve it. Every lesson will have a marking video the day after, these videos will allow the children to mark their work and make any corrections. These videos will help explain any mistakes or misconceptions that the children may have.
I will be posting the daily tasks throughout the morning and expect all of them to be completed with photos of the finished work.
We have worked extremely hard this term to get the children back on track and these 2 weeks are vital that they continue to progress and learn. This is our responsibility to ensure that our children keep to a school routine and keep learning through this difficult time and not treat this as a holiday, we need to keep learning. I am very grateful for all of your support in keeping the children engaged and focused through the next 2 weeks.
If you have any questions regarding work please message me on this site, however I will not be contactable during school times. If you have any questions regarding school please contact the school office.

Thank you for all your support
Mr Hyde

Class Dojo

For the next two weeks all the children will be accessing and completing their work using the Class Dojo app. I will post work on here if you have any problems with Class Dojo so you'll be able to access it using this website. However the supported videos will only be accessible on Class Dojo, so please continue to use the Class Dojo app as the main source of learning as all the videos, input, marking and messaging will be done on there.

Due to the swiftness of closing both Year 2 classes the online learning will start from Monday 28th September. Your child has taken most of there books home, I will also be providing supporting packs so they can continue to follow the learning that was planned to be delivered in class. Please ensure that your child looks after the books and packs very carefully as they will need them back at school when they return.

Thank You

Welcome to Year 2H

Welcome to our Year 2 page. I hope you had as good a Summer break as possible and you are all excited to be back to school learning again. We have got lots of exciting things to learn about this year and a lot to cram into this half-term. We totally understand that due to uncertain times and online learning that the children may have missed vital learning last year. Therefore this first half term will be reviewing the children's understanding of Year 1 concepts and learning while introducing new Year 2 learning. This is going to be a tough time for us all, as we have to try and return to a normal everyday school routine. But please do not worry as the children will be learning in a safe and fun environment that will support them educationally and emotionally.

In Literacy, we are using ‘The Lonely Beast' by Chris Judge as our core text. We will be writing all about the characters thoughts and feelings and retelling the story through drama, repeated writing and descriptive language. We will also be have 2 phonic lessons a day along with 2 reading sessions a day. 

In Numeracy, we will be learning all about place value, addition and subtraction and beginning to learn our 2x, 5x and 10x multiplication tables. We will learn how to read, write, order and compare numbers up to 100 and beyond, identify a digit’s place value (Hundreds, Tens and Ones), and count from 0 in jumps of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. We will also learn how to mentally add 1, 10 and 100 to a number as well as using formal column method to add and subtract numbers.

Please visit this page regularly as it will be updated with photos of our work and links to aid learning. Take a look at our planning documents to find out more about what we will be learning this year.

P.E.

Children will not require their PE kits for the Autumn term due to the change of uniform policy. Our PE session will be on a Tuesday morning so please send your children in the appropriate clothing and footwear. PE will predominantly happen outside.

Spellings

Children will be given a spelling list every Friday. Please ensure your child practises these everyday as there will be a test on a Friday. To support them further, encourage children to use a dictionary to find their meaning as well as form sentences with the words given.

Learning Logs

Children will be given learning log challenges each half-term which is linked to the work they will be covering in their topics. Please look at our homework grid below. It states how many tasks need to be completed. Remember to encourage children to be creative and share their learning in different ways. Work can be completed and uploaded onto Dojo when finished to reduce the number of things being brought into school and can be electronically marked.

Books

Reading books will be changed every Monday and Friday. Please ensure that books and signed reading diaries are in school for those days. Reading book, upon return, will be quarantined for 72 hours before they will be recirculated. It is important that your child reads every day. This can be done independently or with the help of an adult or older sibling. Please also ask the children questions about their book to check their understanding.

Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS)

The children will have been given their logins for Times Tables Rock Stars. They can access the application at home on a laptop or iPad/tablet and even get the opportunity to play against each other or myself some evenings. Please encourage your child to access TTRS at home as this will give them much needed practice of the multiplication facts they are unsure of. 

Please click the link below to access the TTRS website: https://ttrockstars.com/

To find the school name either type St Thomas’s CEP School or type in the postcode BL9 7EY.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to speak to us via an arranged phone call or on Class Dojo.

Mr. Hyde & Mrs Hughes

Dear Parents,

This is a document of some guidelines around and in school regarding Covid-19 safeguarding.
Please read this document to ensure we all follow the guidance. We are trying our very best to keep all the children, parents and staff safe. 
Thank you