St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School

Where every child is special

Year 2

Summer Newsletter 2019

Making S=P+A+C+E for learning

The CHILD

Nothing but the

CHILD

The whole

CHILD

OUR SHARED VISION

Every child at St Thomas of Canterbury is

special and will achieve their full

potential academically, socially,

spiritually and emotionally through the

provision of a loving community and rich

and varied learning opportunities and the

highest quality teaching and learning.

Every staff member at St Thomas of

Canterbury will feel valued and enabled

to provide the opportunities that we want

for our children and to do so as part of a

loving community which has the highest

expectations of and for all.

Every Governor at St Thomas of

Canterbury will feel valued and enabled

to act as a critical friend to the School and

to be accountable for the School’s

strategy. They will play a visible role

supporting all children, their parents and

staff at School and in the

wider community, to provide the best

environment possible for learning and

spiritual growth.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT God’s love is at the heart of our Catholic School family.

We show this in our respect, kindness and love for others and by treating

other people as we wish to be treated ourselves.

We will encourage everyone to be the best that we can be.

OUR SCHOOL AIMS

To guide our children to grow in the love of God

and build relationships that will enable them to

make a positive contribution to the school and

society.

To develop an exciting, challenging and creative

curriculum that produces confident and successful

learners who are the best that they can be.

To develop high quality learning that enables every

child to flourish, to discover their talents and be

lifelong learners.

To establish a teaching and learning environment

that encourages everyone to enjoy, to achieve, to

be inclusive, to be healthy, and to stay safe.

To nurture a strong partnership between home

and school.

To have respect and understanding for our school,

our community and our world, helping our

children to become responsible citizens and good

role models.

What we are about…

Learning in Year 2 This letter will hopefully help guide you through the curriculum we have planned for the summer term. Connector Our Connector, through which most of our learning will take place, is BESIDE THE SEASIDE Special Events

Thursday 25th April Year 2 PTA Cake sale Week beginning 20th May Maths Week Friday 2th May Perform Seaside Workshop (TBC) Monday 27th May –2nd June Half Term Week beginning 3rd June Maths and Healthy Eating Week Week beginning 10th June Whole School International Week Thursday 13th June Blue Reef Aquarium, Portsmouth Visit Saturday 15th June PTA Summer Fayre Thursday 20th June Sports day Friday 21st June INSET Day Thursday 4th July Year 2 Prayer service

Whole School Celebration evening Friday 12th July Reports sent home Monday 15th July Year 2 Space Day – Donkeys in School! (TBC) Monday 22nd July Transition Day – Moving to Year 3 Family Picnic after school Tuesday 23rd July End of Term, School finishes 2pm.

Key S=p+a+c+e Skills Reading Carefully, Problem Solving, Being the Best we can be, Accuracy with VCOP (vocabulary, conjunctions, openers, punctuation) Challenge and Celebration Working in the computing suite; children will take part in a variety of different activities to eventually convince ‘Winter’ of the importance of ‘Summer’. Homework Reading: In Year 2 we ask that children read at home with an adult for 5-10 minutes per day. Please use the questions at the back of their reading record books to check their understanding of the text. Also, we ask that you fill in the pages read and a brief comment. This will be monitored by the class teacher. This will sometimes be reinforced with extra reading comprehension activities to complete at home. Spellings and Grammar: The children will get weekly spelling homework. There will be a sound or spelling rule to learn per week along with Common exception words (CEW). This will be set up in school and sent home to complete as homework on a Friday. Please hand in homework on a Wednesday. Maths: Every fortnight the children will get Maths homework. This will often be a fun activity to complete at home to reinforce learning at school or key ideas. Please work on times tables with your children when possible (2,3,5,10).

Contact 2D St. Dominic Miss Davies missdavies@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk 2C St. Cloud Mrs Clarke mrsclarke@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk

Transition Day: Monday 22nd July 2019

Our Transition Day is a very important day for the children and is now an established event at the end of the school year here at St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School. The day begins with a whole school assembly and is followed by a carefully planned day. The children spend the time with their new teacher in their new classrooms. The objectives of this day are:

To establish a smooth transition for the children ensuring any worries or anxieties are dealt with

To give the children an opportunity to meet their new teacher and foster a sense of belonging in the new class

To establish with the children the expectations for the new school year through discussion about our Mission Statement, our aims and the golden rules. The children will be asked to bring in their golden rule card on this day

To foster a growth mind-set and can do attitude through making S=P+A+C+E for learning and discussing the attributes of a good learner

To encourage engagement and motivation for learning through involving the children in planning the learning outcomes for the new school term

A St Thomas’ Learner makes S=P+A+C+E for their learning We believe that St Thomas’ Learners can achieve Success through Perseverance together with a

really positive Attitude, confidence and, of course, effort.

NEVER GIVES UP

At St Thomas of Canterbury we promote high expectations with the children by encouraging them to make

S=P+A+C+E for their learning, to have a growth mindset and a can do attitude. We discuss with the children the importance of working outside their comfort zone and in their challenge zone

Concepts we try to foster

That it is ok to make mistakes and that we learn from them.

If we get 100% in a task, are we really learning/pushing ourselves?

We only learn when we challenge ourselves.

Research shows these attitudes help children to become resilient and lifelong learners.

Learning about other Faiths: Islam Rules Spread the Word Treasures Discrete … Learn about Pentecost as a time to spread the Good News Know why there are rules in the Christian family and about the sacrament of reconciliation Learn about God’s treasure, the world

I can… Write a poem Write a character description Describe a setting Write a book review Write a 3 part story Write about our own experiences Writing a non-fiction report on Victorian Seaside Holidays Reading non-fiction texts about the Victorians Answer questions fully after reading a text Give opinions on a text Discrete … Learn to use paragraphs to organise writing Use conjunctions to extend ideas Focus on use of adjectives and adverbs to improve writing Form and join letters correctly Use sounds and spelling rules accurately to spell and learn common exceptions

Learning about Victorian seaside holidays and comparing them with holidays we may go on. Learning about a significant historical figure – Grace Darling Discrete … Use historical sources to find information Describe and compare features from the past and today (Victorian holidays with today- Chertsey Museum to visit) Write a non-chronological report about Grace Darling Take on the role of a historical figure Write a postcard about Victorian seaside holidays

Measure – including reading scales, weight, capacity and volume. Learning to tell the time (o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to the hour) Revision of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) Discrete … Learning to tell the time: quarter past half past and quarter to the hour Using different scales to measure capacity, temperature, weight and length Addition and subtraction with two-digit numbers Multiplication and division with two-digit numbers Times tables fluency Problem Solving

Online Safety Purple Mash Coding Computer Art Computer Science Discrete … Use the internet purposefully and safely Know that not everything on the internet is true Understand the importance of being kind and polite online E-Safety Seaside Leaflet Holiday Description Plant Diary

I can… Design and sew a toy fish with an ocean scene packaging.

I can… Learn about animals adaptations to their habitat (British woodland nocturnal animals) Draw and label pictures of nocturnal animals Learn about the night sky (phases of the moon, constellations, stars) Explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead and things that have never been alive. Identify different habitats and what they provide for the animals and plants it supports (pond, woodland, beach) Identify and name plants and animals in their habitats including micro-habitats.

Describe how animals obtain their food using the idea of a simple food chain.

I can… Observe and sketch Summer wild flowers Make a mini model inspired by nature from clay Create a seascape (look at famous artists work Kandinsky – painting to music)

I can… Identify the features of a coastline Identify holiday destinations on a map and their features (resorts) Know seasonal weather patterns in the UK Use simple directional language (near, far) To devise our own simple maps with keys.

Wild animals: learning the names of common wild animals

Town/Village: J’abite a’..,; learning a song about street

directions.

Learning a traditional French song: Sur le Pont D’avignon (

improving intonation)

My body

Learning about French National day

Revision of topic vocabulary: colours, numbers to 30,

weather, etc.

Musicianship – the elements of music Visual representation of the rhythm –dividing the beat - heartbeats. Drawing shape of melodic contour. Body percussion. Use of thinking voice. Identifying odd one out rhythms. Rhythm echo game. Pitch matching skills with actions. Working with partners. Solo singing. Reading and recognising tunes from rhythm pictures. Dynamics using different voices. Improvising movements to show pitches. Identifying similar rhythms from rhythm pictures.

Listening and appraising

Saint-Saens - Aquarium Britten Storm Prelude Topic Songs Oh I do like to be beside the seaside/ My Bonnie lies over the ocean/ A sailor went to sea/ Sea shanties Going on a picnic or holiday songs

Seaside Sports day event linked to topic designed and performed by the children over 3 lessons. Athletics: In this unit children learn how to use a range of equipment and skills to perform varying distances in running, different and new techniques in jumping and throwing. Team Games: In this unit children improve and apply their basic skills in games. They play games that demand simple choices and decisions on how to use space to avoid opponents, keep the ball and score points.