Year 2 Deer
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Year 2 Deer
Home Learning Menu
Reading (10 minutes per day)
Please read with your child every day for approximately 10 minutes.
I collect reading records every Friday and check comments the that are put in them (comments must be recorded at least 3 times a week please)
Children can change their books every day or as needed.
Spellings (15 minutes per week)
This week we have been spelling Words ending in '-ful' and '-less' These are set in Ed shed.
I have set it up, so you will only see the focus spellings for each week. Your username and password for Ed Shed is at the beginning of your reading records.
Notices
PE this half-term.
PE will continue to be on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please ensure full PE kit is worn on this day, including jogging trousers / leggings and shorts.
Library
Our library day is on Thursday. Please ensure library books are in school, if your child wishes to change them.
Taste of our learning
Friday 26th May
Well done Year 2 for an amazing half-term - you have all worked so hard (and have now completed your SATs) and I am proud of you all. Have a lovely half-term.
Mrs Wood x
This week we have finished our Titanic unit, however we still have our assembly on the Titanic next half-term, where we are looking forward to sharing all of our knowledge.
We finalised our work by deciding whether we think the Titanic was a tragedy or triumph. The children have differing and interesting opinions on this question. Here are two examples of their answers.
Using our instructions from last week we painted our own Titanic by sketching the ship first and then using water colours to finish. The children will be showing their finalised painting in their assembly on Friday 16th June.
Friday 19th May
We had a wonderful day at the Sea-City museum this week. It was fascinating to see different artefacts or items that were on board the ship, learn about what things the passengers got up to on board the Titanic and learn lots of new facts about the Titanic. In the interactive rooms, the children also enjoyed listening to the witness accounts about what happened when the Titanic started to sink and the emotions that surrounded it.
Throughout the day the children completed a self tour of the museum, a workshop and then a guided tour in which a guide spoke about the different artefacts and parts of the museum and gave us lots of extra facts that we didn't know about before.The activities in the workshop were looking at different objects/artefacts that were on board the Titanic; thinking about what they could have been used for, deciding in a group which passengers would get saved on the lifeboats, looking at different quarters around the Titanic including guessing the smells and finally a water investigation using an ice cube tray to see how many compartments it would take for it to sink. The children were fascinated to learn that when you spread out the water, the tray can hold a lot more before it sinks rather than it all being in one area, which reasons why the Titanic sank so quickly.
Class reader - Dogs Don't do ballet
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Why do you think Biff loved ballet so much? Do you agree with the characters who say 'Dogs don't do ballet!"? Why? Explain your thinking. |
Friday 12th May
Maths - Time
This week the children have started to look at time. The children have been learning about the features of a clock, the use of the long and shorthand and what the numbers on the clock represent. The children have started to tell the time past and to the hour. Any practising of time at home would be great to ensure secure understanding of telling the time.
Writing-Samson's Titanic Journey.
The children have also been writing and editing their own adaptation of Samson's Titanic journey. They included some lovely story language, a range of conjunctions, expanded noun phrases and even suffixes. Here are some examples of their fantastic stories.
Class reader - Titanic
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What new facts have you learnt about the Titanic this week? What features do you find in a non-fiction text? How is a non-fiction text different to fiction texts? |
Friday 5th May
Coronation weekend!
We have been celebrating the coronation of the king today by reading about the King's life and his journey to become King. We have read and discussed the meaning of the word 'Coronation' and talked about why it is an important part of the Monarch's history. The children created a fact file on King Charles III, read and compared the coronations of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III, decorated crowns and completed a coronation word search.
Class reader - You wouldn't want to sail on the Titanic!
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What ideas did the designers have when building the ship? Why did they think the Titanic was unsinkable? Which famous people were on board the ship? |
Friday 28th April
We have been continuing to learn all about the history of the Titanic and the events that unfolded before, during and after it sank. We have researched into the different people that could be to blame for the reason why so many people died on the day that the Titanic sank. The children read information about Captain Smith (the captain of the Titanic), Bruce Ismay (the manager of the white star line), Frederick Fleet (the look-out on the night the Titanic sank), Officer Murdoch (the chief officer of the ship who tried to stop the Titanic hitting the iceberg) and Captain Lord (Captain of the Californian ship that was nearby when the Titanic sank). The children made notes about each person and thought about how their actions impacted the final fate of the Titanic. We have had many discussions on who was to blame and very differing opinions.
After the Titanic sank, all ships then followed strict guidelines relating to the safety of passengers and crew on board. This then changed the amount of lifeboats on board every ship, the training of the crew, SOS signals and the navigation of icebergs. These can be highlighted here in the children's safety posters.
Samson's Titanic Journey
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How did Samson feel at the beginning of the story? How did he describe the Titanic? Did Samson's feelings/behaviour change throughout the story? How? Why? Where do you think Samson's adventures could lead him next? |
Friday 21st April
Titanic
We have started our term researching and reading lots of information about the Titanic.
The children began the week by reading a mixture of Primary and Secondary sources.
Primary sources are real pieces of evidence or information. We discussed that examples of primary sources tell us real information about the sinking of the Titanic. Items such as a watch that stopped when a passenger entered the water, eyewitness accounts, diaries or letters of passengers who were on board the ship or reports of icebergs that were communicated days before the ship hit the iceberg.
We also discussed secondary sources, which are pieces of information which can be made up, do not know the full story or tell aspects of the truth. We looked at and read a range of newspapers that were reported in the days after the sinking of the ship. They all reported very different statistics of how many people survived and there were many different stories on what happened on board the ship on that fateful night.
The children also researched information about the passengers who were on board the ship. The children looked at the facilities, bedrooms, food and price of a ticket to board the Titanic for the three passenger types; first, second and third class.
The children then used this information to write in role as one of these passengers on board the ship. They wrote a letter reporting what life was like on board the ship.
Class reader - Titanic
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What is the story of the Titanic? Can you remember the timeline of the events that unfolded on the night the Titanic sank? Who were the people responsible for the ship? |
Friday 31st March
Art- LS Lowry
The children have been learning about the artist L.S Lowry. This week we painted our own seascapes using the skills of creating different shades of blue. The children started with white and mixed in blue to create a colour palette. They then added in blue then black to make different shades from white, blue to black. Using the same skills of mixing white, blue and then black to start their seascapes using different shades of blue to create effect for the sea. The children then created and added the people/objects etc to their sea scape. They used the skills of mixing the primary colours red, blue and yellow. They continued to use white and black to make the objects lighter or darker.
History - Explorers
We finished our topic on explorers by creating a newspaper article on our favourite explorer. The children could all explain in great detail about their favourite explorer and what their explorer achieved and any barriers that they may have faced. In our newspaper articles the children created fun facts, headings and subheadings.
Class reader - Lost and found
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Who does the boy find at the door? Is this something you would expect to find at your door? What does the boy realise when he leaves the penguin? Where could they go next? |
Friday 24th March
The children have had a busy week completing some tricky maths questions and writing amazing diaries in role of Christopher Columbus. In the middle of the week the children went outside for forest school which included making dens, climbing trees, playing in the mud kitchen and completing numerous other activities outside. They had lots of fun!
Class reader - Great women who made History
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Which women who have made history, have inspired you? What were there achievements? |
Friday 17th March
Science week
The children have enjoyed completing numerous extra science challenges this week. Their first challenge was to make a strong bridge out of paper which could hold a 10 gram weight without it dipping in the middle. The children soon discovered they had to either fold or twist the paper to make it stronger.
Another science activity the children completed was the fingerprint challenge. The children coloured in a piece of paper, rubbed their finger over the top of it, then used sticky tape to stick their finger on to it and placed the tape down on to the paper. The children could then look and see if their fingerprint was a loop, arch or whorl.
Class reader - Bodhi sees the world
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What challenges did Bodhi face when travelling to Thailand? How did her attitude and feelings change throughout the story? Why do you think these feelings changed? |
Friday 10th March
English - Charlie and the Chocolate
The children have been reading and acting out the Pie Corbett story ‘Charlie and the chocolate’.
First, we read the story together and went through significant parts of the story and thought of a good action that everyone would remember e.g. opening up our hands like a book for once upon a time. We completed this as a class and used the pictures that Mrs Wood drew on the flip chart to help us remember it.
The children then divided into small groups and acted out the story using the known actions. The children then completed role play, performing the story in their groups; such as each child being one of the characters or objects in the story.
Class reader - Oh the places you'll go.
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If you could go anywhere, where would you go and why?
Does this story remind you of any other books that you have read? How is it similar? |
Friday 3rd March
Science
We started our week off by having a special visitor in, Mr Pelling, who is a parent in school. He spoke to the children about different aspects of science, focusing on pushes and pulls and the force of gravity. The children enjoyed listening to his knowledge, they especially enjoyed the hair dryer experiment with a ball. Thank you, Mr Pelling.
English - 'Adventures are the Pits'
Mrs Lawry has started a new unit this week, linking our topic on explorers to a fiction book called 'Adventurers are the Pits'. They worked in pairs then groups recapping the different words we have learnt in year 2 so far such as adjectives, verbs and adverbs. The children came up with different similes to compare the variety of pictures in their groups.
Class reader - A bare bear (homophones book).
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What homophones can you remember in the book? e.g. dear and deer. Can you find homophones in the book you are currently reading? |
Friday 24th February
This half-term we have started our new topic - Explorers.
The children have enjoyed talking about what they think an explorer is and different explorers that they know.
We discussed the different types of explorers that there are such as astronauts, pilots and people who travel the world to help other people or animals.
We have started our topic off by learning about Amy Johnson who was a pilot in 1930. Amy Johnson was the first female pilot to fly from London to Australia. It took her 19 days to complete her voyage and she faced many barriers on her journey.
Next week we are going to look at famous astronauts.
Which astronaut do you know already?
Class reader - There's a snake in my school.
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Why do you think the headteacher is so un-kind to the animals? Do you think the story should have ended differently? How? Does this book remind you of anything else that you have read? |
Friday 10th February
Take one picture - Surprised by Henri Rousseau
The children enjoyed take one picture week using the picture - Surprised by Henri Rousseau.
The children have enjoyed creating a piece of the picture and then loved putting it back together again like a puzzle. The children drew and used water colours to create their part of the picture. The end result below looked very effective.
This week the children have completed numerous activities based around the picture. They created descriptive sentences using adjectives, verbs and adverbs. They also created an acrostic poem using the word 'Tiger'.
Safer Internet day
Class reader - The Squirrels who squabbled
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What does squabble mean? What are the rhyming words? Make a list. What is a micro-habitat? |
Friday 2nd February
PSHE
In our class assembly this week we spoke about the difference between RUDE, MEAN or BULLYING.
Attached below is the PowerPoint to help you if your child is confused with the meanings of these words.
DT - Moving vehicles
In DT the children have been creating vehicles in teams. They have been planning the type of vehicles that they will build and thinking about what resources they need in order to make successful axles and wheels for their vehicle. They will be finishing them today, so look out for the photos of them next week. The children have been working well in teams, listening carefully to each other and persevering with anything tricky that gets in their way. Well done Year 2.
Class reader - The lion inside
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Why do you think the mouse wanted to be heard? Can you identify with the characters? Which character? Why? Does this book remind you of any other books that you have read?
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Friday 27th January
Amazing fable story writing!
This week the children completed some amazing fables based on the short fable 'Bridge'. The children included amazing story language, different sentence types, a range of punctuation, expanded noun phrases and even suffixes!
Here are just a few snippets of their fantastic stories.
Class reader - The Koala who could
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Why is Kevin a nervous Koala at the beginning of the story?
What event makes Kevin change his ways?
Why do you think Kevin develops a 'can do' attitude at the end of the story?
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Friday 20th January
This week we have continued with the fable 'Bridge' where a stubborn elk and bear are crossing a bridge but neither of them will let each other across. Later in the fable, a racoon and rabbit join them on the bridge, also wanting to cross it. The bear and elk continue to be angry at each other and are also very unkind to the racoon and the rabbit. The racoon and the rabbit work as a team and manage to both cross the bridge safely. We spoke about the moral of the story. We discussed that the main messages we received from this fable were that the rabbit and racoon were patient, they worked as a team and were kind.
In groups, we played different team games such as moving a hoop around a circle without letting go of each other's hands. At first the children struggled to move the hoop. They soon realised that to be successful with this activity they had to display all three of these attributes to complete the task. Later in the week, the children planned and wrote their own fable using their own characters based on the story 'Bridge' maintaining the messages to work as a team, be kind and patient, in order to have a positive outcome.
Class reader - The rhyming rabbit
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Can you remember the rhyming words in the book? Are there any other rhyming books that you have read that are similar to the 'rhyming rabbit'?
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Friday 13th January
Guided reading.
We have been reading the book 'The smartest giant in town' we have been completing some comprehension questions about the beginning part of the book. The children are beginning to understand how to successfully record answering a reading question about the book. They understand that they may need to look back at that particular part of the text in order to find the answer.
The children have been introduced this week to the Reading dogs which are:
We will be using examples from these questions when reading our class reader, guided reading activities and individual reading. These are the bookmarks in their reading diaries. By reading one question at home every day (when your child is reading) would really help your child improve their comprehension skills.
Class reader - The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
In the book, the author uses the words 'The grubber'.
What does he mean when he refers to 'The grubber'?
Why do you think the author chosen these characters to star in the book?
Do they have certain uses?
Friday 6th January 2023
Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. We have started our new unit in Maths on money which the children are enjoying and using their prior knowledge for. The children have also been starting to complete extra challenges in maths on place value, adding and taking away and shape to keep up with remembering and applying their amazing skills in maths.
We have also started a new video unit in writing, called 'The Bridge'. The class have enjoyed this short fable, speaking about the meaning of the word 'moral' and what the moral is in the story.
Can you remember the moral of the fable?
We have recapped and focussed on the different sentence types this week, writing what the bear and elk could be saying to each other. The children wrote statements, questions, exclamation and command sentences.
Class reader - The smartest giant in town
What type of person is George the giant? e.g. kind, greedy, unhelpful?
How do you know? What actions/ things does he do/ say to suggest he is this type of person?
Do you know any other stories by this author? Which is your favourite and why?
Friday 16th December - Merry Christmas everyone
Well done Year 2 on an amazing term. You have all worked so hard and deserve a restful, fun break.
We have had a busy week with Christmas Jumper Day, the pantomime, our Christmas party and, of course, the spectacular nativity.
The nativity was amazing !! They have all worked so hard and I'm really proud of them all. They were amazing at remembering all of their words, they spoke clearly and with such confidence and all sang beautifully. They deserve a huge rest at Christmas. Well done Year 2!
I look forward to starting 2023 with you all. See you in the new year, Mrs Wood x
Friday 9th December
World faith and philosophy
In our lessons in world faith and philosophy we have been focussing on 'Angels'.
We spoke in depth about our understanding of what an angel is, what we think they look like and what we think they do. The children enjoyed talking about angels and most children spoke about how angels make us think of Christmas as they feature in the Christmas story in the Christian bible.
We read and spoke about different scenarios and peoples out look on faith and their belief in angels. The children enjoyed discussing this scenario below. We spoke about how everyone's beliefs should be respected. Here I have recorded some of their responses.
We also discussed this scenario about how someone's belief can influence their understanding or belief on a situation. Here are some of their answers about this scenario.
Class reader - Paddington and the Christmas Surprise
What was the surprise? Have you ever had a surprise in your life? How did it make you feel? Did you feel the same emotions as Paddington?
Friday 2nd December
This week the children have been looking at a range of 2d shapes. They have been counting the sides and vertices and naming the correct 2d shapes. They have also been looking at irregular shapes and counting the sides and vertices too!
At the end of the week the children were looking at different shapes that are symmetrical. Using a ruler and a mirror they were checking which shapes have a vertical line of symmetry. The children drew the remaining symmetrical side to the shape.
Class reader - Kindness grows (continuing)
Can you share kindness with your peers in your class?
How could be show this kindness?
Friday 25th November
English - The Day the Crayons Quit.
This week we started our new English unit called 'The Day the Crayons Quit'.
We started the week off by thinking about what our favourite colour is and why? The children wrote some amazing persuasions on why their favourite colour is the best. They thought about which objects, people or things they can use that colour for, and they thought about different adjectives to describe why that colour is so special to them. We also found out about words that you can use an apostrophe for and discovered them inside the book, such as the author used the word I'm instead of I am. We then wrote some amazing letters in role of Duncan, the boy in the story, being understanding about the crayons feelings and using their persuasive language again to get the crayons to come back.
Class reader - Kindness grows
What happens if we don't share kindness?
How does it feel when people are kind to us?
Friday 18th November
Anti-bullying week and children in need
The children have enjoyed a week of anti-bullying week finished off with children in need on Friday. On Monday the children enjoyed a workshop which was of exciting games, whilst learning how to be successful in our friendships and where to go if we are struggling with our peers. Throughout the week the children have completed kindness sheets, noting down kind words that someone has said to them and thinking about how this made them feel. We all agreed it made us feel warm and fuzzy inside when a kind word is said to us.
On Friday we completed lots of children in need activities including a guided reading activity and a code breaker in maths. The children enjoyed dressing up in their comfy pyjamas and loved eating their cake at playtime. Thank you for all your donations.
Science
We have had another exciting week in Science completing an experiment on testing the absorbency of different materials such as a paper towel, paper, tissue paper and cloth. The children predicted and then tested each piece of material in a small pot of water. The children made it a fair test by drawing a line in the same place on each piece of material and dipped it into the water to see how many seconds it took for the water to reach the line and absorb the water. The children then shared their findings as a class, overall we mostly discovered that the cloth was the most absorbent.
Class reader - Sharing a shell
What was the message in the story?
How does it link to anti-bullying week?
Friday 11th November
In Science this week the children started their topic on materials. We discussed the meaning of the word material and wrote down the definition of the word materials in our science glossaries. The children identified different materials around us such as plastic, brick, metal, glass, wool and paper and started to think about why these materials are used for particular objects. In pairs the children walked around the classroom and found different items that are made out of these materials, and we shared our findings as a class.
Class reader - Where the poppies now grow
We have been discussing remembrance day and reading about why the poppy is a special emblem to represent this day. The children discussed how remembrance day is a day to remember people who were in the war and that the poppy is a continuing symbol of remembering service men and women who serve our country today.
Why do you think Ben and Ray's friendship remains strong throughout the story?
Friday 4th November
After learning all the different word types such as adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions and repeated phrases, we used all of this knowledge to create our own acrostic poem. The language remembered and used in the poems are fantastic, and the children enjoyed creating their own poem based on a natural object or an animal. I enjoyed reading their unique poems which were full of interesting and exciting word choices.
The rest of the week the children have been creating expanding noun phrases using nouns that a bird could see, e.g. trees, hills, and fields. They have also learnt how to use commas correctly by playing a fun game using names of objects to create a list. The children worked together to find the correct place for the comma and extended their learning further by using a comma and the conjunction and to separate the nouns or adjectives in a sentence or list.
Can you create your own acrostic poem?
Class reader - Gorilla
How does the characters feelings change throughout the story?
Friday 21st October
This week the children have been reading the poetry book 'The lost words'. In the book we have been reading the poem 'Bluebell' which is an acrostic poem. The children have been looking at the different words that the author has used in the poem to make it interesting to the reader, such as preposition and verbs.
After reading the poem 'Bluebell' the children went on a nature walk outside to observe, draw and write down the nature objects around them such as a leaf, acorns or trees to give them inspiration to write their own poem. Once the children choose their object they started brainstorming verbs (doing words) such as floating, leaping, falling. They then learnt about prepositions such as under, next to and above and wrote sentences combining these two types of words.
The children then ended the week by beginning to write the repetitive sentences in their poem. We will continue with this poetry unit after half-term!
Can you write your own poem using verbs?
Class reader - The first hippo on the moon
What do you aspire to be?
How can you achieve your dream?
Friday 14th October
WANTED - a terrible thief is on the loose! 
This week we have read the story 'The highway rat'. The children enjoyed making a wanted poster using their prior knowledge of combining adjectives and nouns into expanded noun phrases to describe the rat. They completed fantastic descriptions of the rat and used some amazing adjectives to add detail.
The children enjoyed finishing the week off with getting into role as either the rat in the story or a police officer interviewing the rat. As the police officer they asked questions such as; Why did you steal food that you didn't need or like?
If they were in role as the rat they had to think about how the rat might answer the question.
Why do you think the rat changed his behaviour at the end of the story?
Class reader - Detective dog
Can you find out about dogs that help the police?
Could you think of some questions to ask a police dog handler?
Friday 7th October
We made jam sandwiches!
To finish our writing topic on 'The lighthouse keepers lunch' we wrote instructions on how to make a jam sandwich. The children had fun giving me instructions on how to make a jam sandwich. They soon realised they had to be more specific with their vocabulary and recognised the importance of putting the instructions in the correct order.
In their sandwich instructions they used 'Imperative verbs’ which are bossy doing words, such as 'spread', 'cut' and 'eat'. They used time vocabulary such as 'first', 'then', 'after that' and 'finally'.
After writing their instructions, they made their own sandwich and followed the instructions carefully.
Can you follow instructions correctly at home?
Were you successful in your activity if you followed the instructions carefully?
Class reader - Cave Baby
Why do you think the author uses rhyme throughout the book?
Friday 30th September
We have been continuing our topic in science called 'Animals including humans'. So far the children have been talking about the 5 different animal groups and finding out and discussing the word 'maturity'. This week the children have been looking at a variety of animals and sorting whether they look like their adult or don't look like their adult. They discussed their finding's in groups and then shared as a class. They thought about whether there was a pattern of animals that did/did not look their adult in certain animal groups. Next week the children are going to be starting to think about humans and the different stages that a human goes through.
Don't forget your height recordings next week as we are going to be using these in the next two lessons!
Can you remember the 5 different animal groups?
What is meaning of the word offspring?
Class reader - Tabby McTat
How did sock feel at different parts of the story?
Why does his thought and feelings change throughout the story?
Friday 23rd September
We have been continuing with our maths unit on partitioning. The children have been using and finding different methods to find the tens and ones in a variety of different numbers. This week we have been looking at how we can partition the same number in different ways such as the number 54 = 50 and 4, 54 = 40 and 14, 54 = 30 and 24, 54 = 20 and 34, 54 = 10 and 44.
The children have used a variety of dienes, bead strings and counters to partition a number in different ways.
Can you partition the number 67?
How many ways can you split the number?
Class reader - The singing mermaid
Why did Sam Sly tell the mermaid she could sleep on fine feather bed and swim in a pool of marble?
Friday 16th September
Lighthouse keepers lunch
This week our writing has been focused around the story, The lighthouse keepers lunch. The children have been thinking of some amazing prediction's about what might happen to the lunch such as seagulls taking it, pirates stealing it, or it all falling into the sea. Throughout the week we have been focusing on the subordinating conjunctions 'because, if, when and that' and we have completed activities on how we use them in a sentence.
We finished the week with the children thinking about all the disgusting things that you could put in a sandwich to make it less appetising for a seagull. They described their sandwich and gave their reason for the choice of filling using the subordinating conjunction 'because'.
Can you write a sentence with a subordinating conjunction? (if, because, when, that)
What would your favourite sandwich be and why?
Class reader - The snail and the whale.
Why do you think the author chose the main characters to be a
Whale?
Snail?
Year 2 ambassadors
Arts Ambassador: Bonnie
Eco Ambassador: Ed
School councillor: Dotty
Well done to our ambassadors, I know that you will represent year 2 really well.
Friday 9th September 2022
Hello and welcome to Year 2. It has been such a busy but lovely week getting to know everybody. It has been great to see how well the children work together and how independent they all are already. This week we have been going over Year 2 expectations and the children have created a class charter. They discussed the rules of the classroom that they believe should happen in Year 2 and everyone has agreed on them. The children created their own individual puzzle piece, we spoke about how we are all part of a puzzle and for our class to work well we all need to work together as a whole.
What is a successful learner?
This week we read the story called 'The Rainbow Fish'. This is about a fish who chose to be unkind and to not work or share with others. We spoke about different attributes in our self which makes us a successful learner. We created our own Rainbow fish by all decorating our own fish scale. We spoke about the different qualities we need to be a successful learner and related this to the different story characters in our classroom.
