Letter for Year 2 Miss Wright’s class: 25th January 2021

Dear Year 2 children and parents,

Wow, Year 2, what a busy week! I have seen excellent work turned in via Google Classroom and email. I am very pleased to see children using, or drawing, tens and ones to support work on subtraction. I have really enjoyed reading your information about the Wright brothers. Fabulous facts!

Thank you for making such a brilliant effort with our home learning journey. It is great seeing so many of you every day via Zoom, including our extra afternoon sessions as well. This letter includes your home learning for the week beginning Monday 25th January. All resources have been posted on Google Classroom ready for you.

As you know, we are keen to facilitate continued sharing of work, feedback and praise and we are now doing this via Google Classroom. Your child will be able to ‘turn in’ some more pieces of work via Google Classroom this week. There is a button above the ‘turn in’ option that allows you to ‘add/create’ a file and you can attach a photograph of your child’s work. Please aim to submit a piece of English (perhaps a piece of extended writing) and a piece of Maths (perhaps Thursday’s task, which is the most challenging) if you can. Our yr2photographs@fiveways.staffs.sch.uk email is now for queries from parents and we will continue to do our best to support you with any questions you may have. Please can all children remember to bring some home learning to share during Friday’s Zoom call. We will now only share additional items if they are a special project such as art or craft.

Happy news!

Congratulations to Mrs Horton’s class! They won the ‘Battle of the Bands’ on ttrockstars this week. Our class was in second place this week, so well done to all of our rockstars.

Your next Year 2 battle starts … NOW! Have a go Year 2!

I am very pleased to announce that you are invited to join some more exciting, additional Zoom meetings in the afternoons …

On Monday afternoon, you are invited to get creative and join in with an Art workshop. All you will need to bring is a few sheets of paper, a piece of card, scissors and a glue stick. A4-sized paper would be great. If you have coloured paper, perfect, if not bring along some colouring pencils or wax crayons or felt pens and you will be shown how to create your own coloured paper. Your piece of card should be no bigger than A4, e.g. cut from a cereal packet. Please note, I will be demonstrating the Art project and getting the children started, then the children can carry on with their project after the meeting has finished. Perhaps they would like to share their Art during Friday’s Zoom call. There are examples posted in ‘Additional learning’ if children wish to refer to them for ideas after the workshop has finished.

On Tuesday afternoon, we are going to hold some more ‘story time’ sessions. We already have some special guest story-tellers lined up and they will be reading the stories for us this week. Each week I will invite more brave volunteers to read a short story to our class, e.g. Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Snail and the Whale’. You can relax, get comfy and just enjoy listening. Feel free to bring your teddy along too!

On Wednesday afternoon, you are invited to join an extra ‘mental maths’ session via Zoom. We will be playing some games and you will need your whiteboard and pen, or a piece of paper and a pencil. Girls are welcome at 1:30pm and boys are welcome at 2:00pm.

Miss Wright has recorded an extra story time session for you to listen to this week. The story time has been posted on Google Classroom in ‘Additional learning’. You need to ‘View material’, open it, select the three vertical dots to the top right and open it in a new window. This will allow you to download and play the story in Powerpoint as a slideshow. You can listen to it whenever you want to. The story links to our PSHE and you will find more information below in the PSHE/RHE section of this letter. I hope you enjoy it.

Please note, the additional Zoom meetings are optional.

It has also been brought to our attention that the BBC has launched Blue Peter on YouTube and it is free to subscribe. 

This week’s ‘WOWs!’ go to …

Our brilliant bubble children … The bubble teachers at school have been telling me how proud they are of the children working with them. They are also seeing fantastic work and they are really enjoying working with you. Well done to all children attending bubbles in school!

Our amazing Zoomers … on Monday afternoon, Amber and Lacey won the girls’ Big Quiz, and Kadence, Harry and Joe won the boys’ Big Quiz. Well done to all of you!

Sharnee, Georgia, April, Akiyah and Evie are participating in the Zoom calls really well, joining in and meeting my challenges. Well done girls!

Our really fabulous readers … on Tuesday afternoon, Harry led the boys’ story time and Ava-Grace led the girls’ story time. Brilliant reading Harry and Ava-Grace!

Our ttRockstars superstars … Harry has stormed into the lead with over 15,000 coins. Fantastic, Harry! We also have Max, Aaliyah, Kadence, Joe and Harrison with very high scores too.

A special mention also goes to … Lacey who earned the most nuggets on Nessy. Super phonics, Lacey!

I continue to be amazed by everyone’s response to the home learning. Thank you, everyone!

My very best wishes to you and your families,

from Miss Wright

Date: Monday 25th January

Daily English:

Daily Maths:

Unit - Connecting with others

Listen to the story, ‘Under The Same Sky’. Read by Tom Hardy on CBeebies.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hsff/cbeebies-bedtime-stories-750-tom-hardy-under-the-same-sky

Task: Think about someone you would like to connect with at the moment. Maybe …

· someone in your family who you are missing at the moment

· someone you want to thank for doing an important job (e.g. a key worker, Mrs Mander – who is working hard to keep all of us safe and challenging us to carry on with our learning)

· someone who is by themselves (e.g. a neighbour who your family know)

Choose a person who you want to write a letter to:

Use the Planner and jot down some brief ideas.

· what you want to tell them, e.g. what you have been doing for home learning, what you have been playing or reading or making

· perhaps you want to ask them a question

· a statement of good wishes to them

A reminder for parents …

Our Year 2 Parent Workshop can be found in the ‘Information for Parents’ section of our school website. It has lots of tips and examples for supporting, and extending, your child with their work on number.

Today’s task: Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s

Today your task is to fill in the missing numbers on the number tracks. You will need to count in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Some children will just count in 2s. Most children will try counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Date: Tuesday 26th January

Daily English:

Daily Maths:

Task: Use your planning notes to write your letter to the person you have chosen.

You can use the ‘Under the Same Sky Writing sheet’ or you can use your own.

Include a picture, if you would like to.

Challenge: Post your letter.

Choose which success criteria to use.

You can fill in the success criteria as you write. Or you could write independently and then work with a grown-up to evaluate your writing and see which challenges you have met.

Remember to refer to the phonics mats and common exception words to support your spelling attempts.

MyMaths

Please find today’s Maths task on MyMaths.

Date: Wednesday 20th January

Daily English:

Daily Maths:

Task: Send your teacher a short email at yr2photographs@fiveways.staffs.sch.uk

We would like to know what you have enjoyed about your Home Learning – if you have found something challenging or if you need some extra support and tips with a skill you have been working on. You might want to tell your teacher which piece of home learning you feel most proud of so far. You might want to ask your teacher some questions or make a special request for future home learning and zoom calls.

If you would like your teacher to reply, please send your email today by 3:45pm.

Multiplication

Firstly, try the multiplication questions using your knowledge of counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Then most children will try solving other multiplication calculations by drawing arrays.

Date: Thursday 21st January

Daily English:

Daily Maths:

Task: Connect with a friend

Please ask your grown-up if it would be alright for you to chat with a friend, or some friends, e.g. via FaceTime, Skype or Zoom.

Challenge:

· hold your own ‘Big Quiz’ - invite 2 or 3 of your friends to a virtual quiz – be the Quiz Master and write 10 questions to challenge them with

· read a story to your friend/s

· play one of the games we play together in class, e.g. Who Am I? What number am I? Heads and Tails

· design a Beetle Drive for you all to play – remember we made our own Snowman Drive before Christmas and we allocated points to each part of the snowman’s body, e.g. 6 for the body, 5 for the head, 3 for the carrot etc You will need a dice – there’s one in the Maths toolkit in Google Classroom.

· look at this week’s optional Music challenge

Multiplication Word Problems

Read the word problems carefully, underline or circle the important numbers, write a calculation to solve the problem.

Some children may try the ‘reasoning’ problems on the third page, other children may complete just page 1 and 2.

Date: Friday 22nd January

optional English/Art

Daily Maths:

Have a go at the Art challenge; it’s all about your friends.

Extra time to complete spelling and SPAG challenges.

Multiplication Dice Game

There are 3 games, each getting more difficult. Choose the most appropriate game for you and have a go at playing (with an older sibling or an adult).

If you don’t have a dice, there is a net on Google Classroom so you can make your own.

Daily Spelling:

Daily Reading:

Children who access Nessy:

· 10 to 20 minutes of Nessy

All other children:

· start learning this week’s spellings – see the spelling sheet posted on the website with this letter

New spellings will be posted each week. The spelling task will include suggested strategies for learning the spellings.

All children:

· choose a Bug Club book

Please remember, it is really important to talk about your reading with a grownup to check your understanding. Revisit your Bug Club books to improve your fluency and understanding.

· or you might enjoy choosing a book from the

e-library on home.oxfordowl.co.uk

· or you might enjoy choosing a Book Trust book https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/

Remember to keep working to learn the common exception words if that is part of your reading challenge as well.

Optional extra challenge for readers aiming to be ‘secure’ or higher: Please read the ‘Reading Challenge: Meanings of words.’

Daily Mental Maths:

Optional daily PE:

Mental Maths:

Use ‘Hit The Button’ to practise your knowledge of number bonds to 10 and 20.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Have a you visited Mathszone? It full of super resources to support your learning in Maths.

https://mathszone.co.uk

You might like Save The Whale.

https://www.ictgames.com/saveTheWhale/index.html

Use ttrockstars to improve your recall of times tables, including 2, 5 and 10.

https://ttrockstars.com

If you like a ‘speed’ challenge, download one of the minute strips sheets that have been posted in the Year 2 toolkit on Google Classroom.

Perhaps you would like to dance this week …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKyuJhHQCfI&safe=active

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDcRSutPsE&safe=active

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5GegqI4IJI&safe=active

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYX6H0zRmbc&safe=active

You might enjoy being in the audience too…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zn6d7ty

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zjkvr82

Joe Wicks has also relaunched his ‘PE with Joe’ and he will be leading live workouts online on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23WakeUpWithJoe

Optional SPAG:

Optional PSHE/RHE and story-time:

There are two verb-related challenges to complete.

SPAG challenge Verbs

SPAG challenge Adverbs

Do a ‘mindful’ challenge. These can help you to feel calm and give your mind a break during your busy day. Take your pencil for a little walk then colour it in.

Lie down, close your eyes and do a mindful body scan. https://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-for-kids/#activities

Story-time with a focus on self-worth: Watch The Hueys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmry14iqC7E and talk about the story with your grown-up. Is it okay to be different? What is special about you?

Complete the I Am An Amazing Person challenge.

Design your own jumper on the Huey challenge and annotate the Huey with all the things that are brilliant and special about you.

Listen to story time with Miss Wright.

This week Miss Wright will read you a story. The story time has been posted on Google Classroom. You will need to download it and play it on Powerpoint as a slideshow.

Optional Computing:

Optional Science:

Online Safety

Task – Wonderful Websites?

Look carefully at the different websites, cut them out and stick them on the sorting sheet in the correct column. Think carefully about whether they would be safe for children to use or not.

Materials

Try our ‘Uses of Materials’ challenge – see if you can identify some different objects when you are having your daily exercise. Try to identify what material they are made of.

Optional Music:

Why not improve your singing and learn some songs with ‘Sing Up.’

https://www.singup.org/singupathome/silly-stuff

Try some crazy songs … Alice The Camel

Hey, My Name Is Joe (you might know the actions from Music lessons with Mr McFarlane)

Little Green Frog (you might know the actions from Music lessons with Mr McFarlane)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

You could even invite your friends to Zoom or FaceTime and sing along together.

Optional Art:

We know lots of children are missing spending time with friends at the moment.

Your Art challenge is to create a Friendship chain to celebrate all of the special friends you have.

You could decorate each person on the paper chain as one of your special friends.

On the back of the person you could write words to describe them and reasons why they are such as special friend. I’m sure your friends would love to see your chain during a Friday Zoom call.