Notices:
Thank you for such a fabulous first week back. We are super excited for Week 2 where we can really get into our new Space theme!
Active Travel Initiative
Miss Aviss and the eco-committee are very excited to inform you of the ‘official’ launch date for our active travel initiative for 2023. On Friday 13th January 2023 we would LOVE to see as many children as possible walk, scoot or cycle to school, come rain or shine! If you live further away, please feel free to park at least 5 minutes away and walk, scoot or cycle the remainder of your journey. Any child who participates in our active travel launch will receive a badge on the day!
We would love for you to continue your start to an active 2023 by trying to travel to school in an active fashion for the entirety of the week beginning 16th January 2023 for our Active Travel Week. The children will receive a sticker for each day that they participate in our active travel week and if they manage to collect 5 stickers, they will receive a certificate in our celebration assembly on Friday 20th January.
You can find more information about this in the newsletter.
Homework
You should by now have received an email with this term’s homework grid attached. If not, here is a copy below. Please try and challenge yourself to complete at least 4 pieces of homework over the next 2 terms. Try your best, be creative and have fun! Please remember that reading is the most important, ongoing homework that should be done as frequently as possible, 5-10 minutes at a time. Our homework sharing morning will be on Monday 27th March 2023. Please bring in your homework on this day or email it to the class teacher.
Week 1 celebrations:
The children enjoyed reading one of our new key texts for the term – How to Catch a Star. They wrote some super sentences about this new text. We will continue to refer back to this text over the term.
If you wish to enjoy this with your child, you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3oQcKxE-ck
English
Reading:
It is wonderful to see some completed sides of bookmarks this term. This shows your commitment to reading regularly at home and will be celebrated with certificates! Please see below for a reminder of the Read for the Stars incentive.
Read for the Stars – Reading Incentive
We will continue with guided reading and activities linked to reading skills. We are really interested in sharing examples of information about SPACE. If you come across an article/ information page/ news page that would be of interest and is suitable to be shared with the class -please send it in!
Writing:
In handwriting this week we will begin with a fun handwriting session which will be jam-packed full of engaging fine motor activities to help the children develop their finger strength and dexterity. The children will then use these skills in their writing throughout the week to ensure their handwriting is clear, legible and neat.
Any practice you can do to support your child’s handwriting at home is invaluable. We use 4 formation families to help with letter formation. You can use these to help with your practice at home. It is really important at this point in Year 2 that all letters are being formed accurately as this will help the children to make the joins correctly, of which we will be starting to look at more in depth this term.
Our writing focus for the next 2 weeks is recounts. Recounts are used to retell past events or experiences. The children will look at the many features of a recount including:
– past tense
– chronological order
– using time words
– using powerful verbs and adjectives.
By the end of Week 3 the children will have put all of these skills into practise by writing an incredible recount of their Space WOW day. Some of these fantastic examples will be PUBLISHED on the blog for all to see so any writing practice you can do at home with your children will only help them make their recounts even more fabulous.
Maths
This week in maths the children will begin by looking at the link between the 5 and the 10 times table, thinking about which numbers are in both the 5 and 10 times table and noticing any patterns. They will then consolidate their understanding of multiplication and division through some fun and active games and activities.
Remember – you can use the White Rose app – 1 minute maths – to help support your child with their maths at home.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World (Topic)
In History this week we will be learning about space travel! We will be sequencing space events into chronological order as well as making links to our own lives and ordering life events chronologically. Our new unit of Science explores what humans need to survive. As well as looking at what humans need to survive on Earth, we will be looking at how life in Space is very different; particularly the food you can eat when in a spaceship!
Religion and World Views
In R + WV we are thinking about the big question, why is Jesus important to Christians? We will be looking at some of the miracles he performed and asking questions about what this means.
PSHE
In PSHE we will be thinking about the challenge we set ourselves, have we achieved it? How will we persevere if not? What steps do we need to take to challenge ourselves and succeed in our goals?
Stars of the Week
Magnolia: Rehan
Sycamore: Oisin
Maple: Otto