Heroic Hedgehogs (Year 2)

Spring 1 Newsletter 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 Welcome to 2024! We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas break and that the children are looking forward to returning to school. This half term our main topic is ‘Fire! Fire!’. This will follow on from our London topic last half term and will focus on The Great Fire of London. We will look at historical evidence and the reasons the fire spread so quickly. It really is beneficial to the children if you can support and reinforce their learning at home so we have created a topic web to provide further information about each subject we teach. If your child has any books or artefacts that support our topic and they would like to bring them into school, then that would be wonderful. Below is a vocabulary triangle which includes some of the words which we will be introducing the children to throughout this half term.

Reading & Spelling

The majority of children have now finished 6a reading books and will move onto 6b this half term. We have contacted Twinkl and they are in the process of producing even more reading books so hopefully, we will be able to add to our current stock. Children should read each book at least three times. Once for decoding, a second time to improve fluency and a third for comprehension. You can supplement reading using our old reading books which will be outside the classroom on a Monday and Friday for the children to independently borrow. Children can also read their library books and any other books you have at home or from the local library. We would also encourage the reading of comics, magazines, recipe books and subtitles whilst they’re watching TV. As the Rhino Readers are brand new and we have a limited number of books, the children will need to return their book on a Friday before being able to swap it for a new one. Lost books will incur a charge of £3.40. We have ordered some new Rhino Reader books which will hopefully arrive in the next few weeks.

 In order to meet the expected standard for a Y2 reader, your child would need to be fluently reading and understanding the books stated below by the end of each term.

 We can’t emphasise enough what a difference regular reading makes to your child’s development. It has the single biggest impact on their progress across the curriculum. To encourage your child to read at home, we have a class reading reward. The children need to read at home at least five times per week. It is important that an adult or older family member makes a note in your child’s Reading Diary after they have read. The diaries will be checked on a Friday morning and if your child has read five times, they will receive a marble to pop in our Reading Reward Jar. When the jar is full, we will be able to have another Book Brunch. The children thoroughly enjoyed the Book Brunch last half term. Thank you for your support with this.

 A spelling overview for the half term was sent out on the last day of term. There is also a copy of this on the website within our class page. The majority of the class are regularly getting full marks in their spellings so thank you for your support with this. Spellings will be tested on a Friday so please make sure your child has their red spelling book in school on a Friday. There are some children regularly forgetting their spelling book which delays the start to our day. We currently have two spelling groups. The majority of children stay in the classroom with us whilst a small group of children work with Miss Heath Smith. Following our phonics assessment, some children will receive additional intervention in the afternoons to support their spellings.

 Science

Each half term your child will be working on specific science targets that go with their current unit of work. Our science targets this half term are:

Homework

Homework will always be set on a Friday and must be returned by the following Wednesday. Homework should be completed in pencil and should be of an acceptable standard.

Homework Timetable:

Please keep a copy of the timetable. There will also be a copy of the newsletter on the website should you need to refer to it.

 Further information:

Our P.E lessons will be on Tuesdays (outdoor) and Thursdays (indoor). Children should also not be wearing any jewellery on PE days. If your child is not able to take out their earrings, you must send them to school with earrings taped up on these days or provide tape that they can put on themselves.

 Miss Clare Edwards works on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Mrs Furniss works on a Thursday and Friday. PPA time will be covered by Mrs Michelle Beach on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Our student teacher, Miss Lankanau will continue with us until the end of this half term.

 We hope you have found this letter informative. If you have any questions about any of the above or any other queries please do not hesitate in coming and speaking to us. If you have an important message which we need to be made aware of on the day, please contact the school office. We won’t always check Dojo if we are teaching and we would hate to miss something important.

 Thank you

 Mrs Furniss and Miss Edwards

Curriculum Web Spring 1

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term. 

Autumn 2 Newsletter 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 We are really proud of how the children have settled into Y2 and are looking forward to the second half of the Autumn term and the build up to Christmas. We have been impressed with the children’s commitment to reading, homework and spellings so thank you for your support! This half term our main topic is ‘London Adventure’. This will mainly focus on comparing the main Geographical features of London and those of the countryside. We will also be locating the UK on a World Map. You can support your child at home but looking at the UK in an Atlas is you have one at home. As many of you like to know what we are learning about at school so that you can help your child, we are sending home a topic web for your information. It really is beneficial to the children if you can support and reinforce their learning at home, below you will see some of the topic words your child will be introduced to this half term. Please discuss these with your children and encourage them to use the words at home. If your child has any books or artefacts that support our topic and they would like to bring them into school then that would be wonderful.

Reading & Spelling

The majority of children have now moved onto 6a reading books. Children should read each book at least three times. Once for decoding, a second time to improve fluency and a third for comprehension. You can supplement reading using our old reading books which will be outside the classroom on a Monday and Friday for the children to independently borrow. Children can also read their library books and any other books you have at home or from the local library. We would also encourage the reading of comics, magazines, recipe books and subtitles whilst they’re watching TV. As the Rhino Readers are brand new and we have a limited number of books, the children will need to return their book on a Friday before being able to swap it for a new one. Lost books will incur a charge of £3.40. We have ordered some new Rhino Reader books which will hopefully arrive in the next few weeks.

 In order to meet the expected standard for a Y2 reader, your child would need to be fluently reading and understanding the books stated below by the end of each term.

 We can’t emphasise enough what a difference regular reading makes to your child’s development. It has the single biggest impact on their progress across the curriculum. To encourage your child to read at home, we have a class reading reward. The children need to read at home at least five times per week. It is important that an adult or older family member makes a note in your child’s Reading Diary after they have read. The diaries will be checked on a Friday morning and if your child has read five times, they will receive a marble to pop in our Reading Reward Jar. When the jar is full, the class will receive a reward as chosen by them. They are currently working towards a Book Brunch! Thanks to their efforts and yours, we are only a few weeks away!  

 A spelling overview for the half term was sent out on the last day of term. Thank you for your support in helping your child in learning these as it impacts on their reading & writing attainment. The majority of the class are regularly getting full marks in their spellings. Spellings will be tested on a Friday so please make sure your child has their red spelling book in school on a Friday. We currently have three spelling groups. The majority of children stay in the classroom with us, another group go to Miss Ward and another group with Miss Alford. Following our phonics assessment, some children will receive additional intervention in the afternoons to support their spellings.

 Science

Each half term your child will be working on specific science targets linked to their current unit of work. Our science targets this half term are:

 Homework

Homework will always be set on a Friday and must be returned by the following Wednesday. Homework should be completed in pencil and should be of an acceptable standard. We have finally received our Reading Comprehension books so we will use these for the first couple of weeks. Please take a screenshot of the homework timetable so you know what to do when.

 Occasionally some children may bring home some extra work from the homework outlined above. This may be because they are working in an intervention group and need some extra practice at something or it may simply be that your child needs a little extra work on something they have not understood.

 Further information:

Our P.E lessons will be on Tuesdays (outdoor) and Thursdays (indoor). Children are invited to come into school in their PE kits just as we did last year. Children should also not be wearing any jewellery on PE days. If your child is not able to take out their earrings, you must send them to school with earrings taped up on these days or provide tape that they can put on themselves.

 Miss Clare Edwards works on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Mrs Furniss works on a Thursday and Friday. PPA time will be covered by Mrs Michelle Beach on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Mrs Beach will also be supporting as our Y2 teaching assistant on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. We also have Mrs Rachael Alford supporting every day and are lucky enough to have Mrs Kate Mills running interventions on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. Mrs Burkinshaw will begin supporting our English lessons in the morning and also runs some online interventions called Lexia and Nessy in the afternoons too.  Our student teacher, Miss Lankanau will begin teaching maths and phonics with our support. She has already proven to be a great asset to our Y2 Team.

 We hope you have found this letter informative. If you have any questions about any of the above or any other queries please do not hesitate in coming and speaking to us. If you have an important message which we need to be made aware of on the day, please contact the school office. We won’t always check Dojo if we are teaching and we would hate to miss something important.

 Thank you

 Mrs Furniss, Miss Edwards, Mrs Beach, Miss Alford, Mrs Mills, Mrs Burkinshaw and Miss Lankanau.

Curriculum Web Autumn 2

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term

Autumn 1 Gallery 

We used little match sticks to make 3D shapes in our maths lesson. 

Autumn 1 Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

 Welcome back to the start of a new academic year. We have a brand new topic called Brilliant Barlborough! This will mainly focus on significant people and places in Barlborough. We will begin the topic with a session at The Barlborough Heritage and Resource Centre. The children will learn about Barlborough in the past through talks and artefacts. We will then compare life in the past and life now. Our author for this term is Julia Donaldson. We will be reading lots of Julia Donaldson books and basing our writing on her stories.

Reading & Spelling

Last year we trialled Twinkl Phonics. We really enjoyed using the resources and so did the children. We have decided to invest in Rhino Readers which align with Twinkl Phonics. They are fully decodable, exciting and cover a variety of topics which reflect our modern world. We will continue to send new books home on a Friday, just as the children did in Y1. Children should read each book at least three times. Once for decoding, a second time to improve fluency and a third for comprehension. The new Rhino Reader books are quite long so we don’t expect the children to read the whole book in one sitting. However, we know that some children will get through their book quite quickly so we will leave a box of our old reading books outside the classroom for either you or the children to independently borrow. As the Rhino Readers are brand new and we have a limited number of books, the children will need to return their book on a Friday before being able to swap it for a new one. Lost books will incur a charge of £3.40. We are also hopeful that we will be able to set Rhino Reader books online soon too. Watch this space!

 In order to meet the expected standard for a Y2 reader, your child would need to be fluently reading and understanding the books stated below by the end of each term.

We can’t emphasise enough what a difference regular reading makes to your child’s development. It has the single biggest impact on their progress across the curriculum. To encourage your child to read at home, we have a class reading reward. The children need to read at home at least five times per week. It is important that an adult or older family member makes a note in your child’s Reading Diary after they have read. The diaries will be checked on a Friday morning and if your child has read five times, they will receive a marble to pop in our Reading Reward Jar. When the jar is full, the class will receive a reward as chosen by them. We will start checking Reading Diaries on Friday 15^th September.

 A spelling overview for the half term will be sent out on Friday 8^th September. Please try to support your child in learning these as it impacts on their reading & writing attainment. Spellings will be tested on a Friday so please make sure your child has their red spelling book in school on a Friday. As in Y1, we follow Twinkl Phonics and most children will start on level 6 of the program and receive daily phonics lessons in the Y2 classroom.  Some children will continue to receive phonics with Miss Ward if they are not ready to move onto level 6. They will receive spellings linked to the sounds they are learning with Miss Ward.

 Science

Each half term your child will be working on specific science targets linked to their current unit of work. Our science targets this half term are:

Homework

Homework will always be set on a Friday and must be returned by the following Wednesday. Homework should be completed in pencil and should be of an acceptable standard.

Occasionally some children may bring home some extra work from the homework outlined above. This may be because they are working in an intervention group and need some extra practice at something or it may simply be that your child needs a little extra work on something they have not understood.

Further information:

Our P.E lessons will be on Tuesdays (outdoor) and Thursdays (indoor). Children are invited to come into school in their PE kits just as we did last year. Children should also not be wearing any jewellery on PE days. If your child is not able to take out their earrings, you must send them to school with earrings taped up on these days or provide tape that they can put on themselves.

 Miss Edwards works on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Mrs Furniss works on a Thursday and Friday. Mrs Beach will cover PPA time on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Mrs Beach will also be supporting as our Y2 teaching assistant on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. We also have Mrs Rachael Alford supporting every day and are lucky enough to have Mrs Kate Mills running interventions on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons.

 We hope you have found this letter informative. If you have any questions about any of the above or any other queries please do not hesitate in coming and speaking to us. If you have an important message which we need to be made aware of on the day, please contact the school office. We won’t always check Dojo if we are teaching and we would hate to miss something important.

 Thank you
Mrs Furniss, Miss Edwards, Mrs Beach, Miss Alford and Mrs Mills

Curriculum Web Autumn 1

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term