It was great to see some of the Year 2 children using our new reading house today. This has been created in the classroom and allows children to browse the books before choosing their next read.
We are very lucky to have lots of new chapter books and these seem very popular.
For their homework, Year 2 were asked learn a new relaxation technique. During our review, the children demonstrated a variety of techniques that help to calm the mind.
As part of their PE lesson, Year 2 created games. How to play the game was written as an algorithm. The children then tested their instructions. Some of the class realised that the easiest way to test their algorithm was to walk it through.
Forward 3, turn right, forward 2 – Oh no that’s wrong! It is supposed to say turn left. We need to debug!
We need to draw straight lines.
We gave our friend the instructions and pretended he was a robot.
We would like the children to begin to learn another key spelling rule: drop the e for ing. All of the words in the list are verbs. Before the suffix ing is added to the verb, the e needs to be removed.
The children are also beginning to learn their times tables. We are starting with the 10 times table and the children will be tested on this next Friday.
It is important to note, when rehearsing tables, to vary the mathematical language used. In class, we will be familiarising the children with the words multiply, lots of, groups of and times.
Last week, for their homework, the children were asked to show ways in which things can be made better. During our homework review, we saw a variety of creations. The children had thought carefully about the situations where a change could be made for the better.
Year 2 have been busy looking at some instructional texts. Today, in our writing lesson, was to learn about imperative verbs. Often, these words are referred to as bossy verbs. Following a quick recap on what a verb is ( a doing word) the children were introduced to the term imperative verb.
An imperative verb tells someone to do something, so that the sentence it is in becomes an order or command. For example in this sentence (a command, outlining an action that must be done):
Fold your clothes up!
The imperative verb is ‘fold’.
We carried this learning on into our PE lesson. The children were given different commands to follow.
To finish off our lesson,we played some parachute games.
This week the words are all adjectives and require you to double up for a short vowel sound when adding the suffixes er and est. The children will be tested on any of the words where a suffix has been added.
The children will be tested on Friday 24th January 2020
Big topic: Computing 
Throughout this topic the children will learn how to create a clear, precise algorithm. Algorithms are described as something very simple but important. They are explained as instructions that are split into little steps so that a computer can solve a problem or get something done. The children will discover how to de-bug a simple algorithm when it goes wrong!
Debugging is when you find an issue in the program that you have written and repair it. When writing a program it is very easy to make mistakes in your code.
We began with a lesson to help us understand that a computer follows precise commands and will respond to those commands consistently. Next, we will plan and predict the behaviour of simple programs and work with a
friend to plan a route for Beebot.
We always begin a new topic by introducing relevant vocabulary that will be referenced throughout our lessons. The intention is for the children to learn the words and feel confident to use them in context.
These are the words/phrases the children will be using;
During the topic we will also be looking closely at how we stay safe online. Age restrictions, digital content, passwords, privacy, personal information and online vs. offline behaviours are all on our agenda.
The spellings this week are words that require the doubling up of consonants when adding the suffix ed or ing to a word with a short vowel. The children will be tested on both suffixes.
This week’s home work is Practice Makes Perfect.
I can respond to a text.
We’d like the children to read the non-fiction text and answer the questions (Section C is optional). When we read texts in class, the children are used to underlining words they don’t know. If they find any unknown words, please discuss these with your child.
Homework is due back in school by Thursday 16 January 2020.