We have been thinking about non-fiction (information) texts this week - what their purpose is and what they look like. 

We found some non-fiction books in the library and then looked at the different features of these types of text, such as the contents page, glossary and index, then used post-it notes to label some examples of these in our books. 

   

This has started to help us find out lots more about Antarctica and especially penguins, which we will be working on more next week!

We have also been looking at the lifecycle of penguins and talked lots about the roles of the mother and father in caring for penguin chicks after watching a clip from the 'Frozen Planet' series.

In Maths we have been thinking about position and direction and have learned a 'trick' to help you tell which hand is your left one. We have started to try to work out half and quarter turns which has been quite tricky - keep practising over the weekend!

Billy was in the Golden Book this week for settling in really well to our class and trying really hard with everything he has been asked to do.

Well done to Jack for winning a medal and trophy for his Judo - we loved seeing them in class and in Golden Book assembly!

A huge well done to Sophia L for some beautiful handwriting - you have given the rest of Year 2 something to aim for! 

Home Learning

Due Thursday 2nd February.

In preparation for next weeks learning I would like you to research some facts about penguins, based on the area you have chosen to research - more details in home learning books.

Please also keep practising right and left and different turns. See if you can become confident doing full, half and quarter turns by next week!

*** Don't forget Tuesday is our trip to Ipswich Ski slope for some tobogganing fun - a letter has been sent home today to remind you all to bring gloves, a spare pair of trousers, sensible footwear and a drink (even if you have asked for a school packed lunch to be provided) ***

This week we have been looking at the story 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers. We have been working on getting to know the story by retelling it in different waya - for example using actions... 

...and creating some lovely 'story maps' to help us remember the order of the story!

In Maths we have been thinking about how to find fractions of shapes. Our friend 'Mr Pineapple' wants to have a birthday party but he cannot decide what colour he wants his party plates and mats so we have been experimenting with designing some with different fractions in different colours, such as half yellow and half green, or one quarter red and three quarters blue.

As part of our Science and Topic work we have been thinking about 'Winter in Wenhaston' and have been measuring the weather using a thermometer (temperature), rain gauge (rain fall) and weather vane (wind direction). We have then been keeping a weather diary to compare with the weather in Antarctica.

The snow today certainly helped us with this too! 

Home Learning:

Home Learning this week is to keep practising finding fractions - there are activities in Home Learning books that are similar to ones we have been doing in class this week.

You could also try cutting some things into fractions (halves and quarters) this weekend - food, playdough, paper shapes etc.

Spellings:

We have changed how we will be doing spellings this term.

The children will now learn and practice spelling a different word each day in Spelling Time (Monday - Thursday). 

On Friday children apply the learned words in sentences (which usually include other 'tricky' words or words learned in phonics sessions that week.).

We will then send the words home in spelling books for further practice over the weekend.

Please continue to practice these words, especially any marked with a pink dot – these will be those your child is still finding tricky and has not mastered yet.

We hope that this will help children retain spelling patterns/rules for key words more easily, rather than simply ‘learning for a test’.

Welcome back!

We hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and a restful break.

A is for....
Today we found lots of clues in our classroom to tell us what our next topic would be. 

We had to wear our coats indoors as it was so chilly - there were icicles and snowflakes everywhere! There was also  a bag containing a hat, gloves, scarf, warm socks and a few maps - as well as a penguin and the story 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers. 

We talked about what all of these clues might mean and worked out that for our 'A is for...' topic we would be looking at some icy places beginning with A - Antarctica, the Arctic and Alaska!


No home learning this weekend, but you could spend some time thinking about some things we could use to set up our 'base camp' - next week we will become explorers and will need to bring lots of things with us as, we begin our journey to the South Pole!