06 September 2013
The spellings this week are all words where you have to drop the ‘e’ at the end of
the word when adding ‘ing’. The children will be tested on the ‘ing’ words in the third column. However, it’s important that they also know the root words (second column) so they understand how the rule works.
| 1. | hope | hoping |
| 2. | use | using |
| 3. | write | writing |
| 4. | take | taking |
| 5. | shake | shaking |
| 6. | joke | joking |
| 7. | share | sharing |
| 8. | smile | smiling |
| 9. | have | having |
| 10. | shuffle | shuffling |
06 September 2013
The first piece of homework in Year 2 is creative homework. Just to remind everyone, this means that the homework can be presented in a variety of different ways – it’s up to you and your child! The only rule is that you can only use one page of the homework book (but you can come up with your own sneaky ways of enlarging the space if you need to!).
Homework needs to be handed in on Wednesday 11 September 2013.
I can explain how five different materials change when you heat and cool them.
It’s up to you how you do this but if you’re stuck here are some suggestions;
- Conduct your own experiment
- Take pictures of your findings
- Create and information page / booklet
- Draw labelled diagrams
I’m looking forward to seeing what all our Year 2 professors find out.
Happy experimenting!
06 September 2013
The home work this week is Talk Time and is due in on Wednesday 11 September.
I can talk about what I’m going to do at home and at school to make sure I have a successful year.
Below are the guidance notes taken from the school’s Homework Policy for Talk Time homework:
Talk Time
Teachers have noticed that, in some instances, a lot of time has been taken on the presentation of the Talk Time homework. Children are welcome to do this although it is not necessary. The purpose of Talk Time homework is to encourage a conversation around their current learning. Any notes made in their homework book should simply be there to aid them as a prompt when it is discussed in class the following week. For this reason, teachers tend to give verbal feedback during their talk time session in class. We want our children to be expert talkers, using a variety of sentences and expressions, and able to back up their points or disagree with others in a polite way – this is more important than written notes for Talk Time. Simply: it’s hard to be a good writer if you’re not a good speaker, so Talk Times using ambitious words, useful phrases, interesting sentences is the best way to support your child.
06 September 2013
The first piece of homework in Year 1 is creative homework. This means that the homework can be presented in a variety of different ways – it’s up to you and your child! The only rule is that you can only use one page of the homework book (but flaps and fold-outs are sneaky ways to enlarge the space if needed!).
Homework needs to be handed in on Wednesday 11 September 2013.
“I can show what things are made of in my house.”
This homework is linked to a mini topic that we are doing on “Materials”. We have had a couple of lessons about materials so this is your child’s chance to think about what they have learnt so far. Here are some suggestions of things he / she could do:
- photos of different materials in the home
- groups of objects all made of the same material – photos or drawings
- rubbings / examples of different materials
- lists of things made of certain materials
Let’s be material detectives!
Attendance
A letter from Paul Brennan, Deputy Director of Learning Skills and Universal Services for Leeds Children’s Services:
Dear parent/carer,
I would like to advise you about important changes to legislation announced by the Department for Education (DfE) with regard to holidays in term time.
From 1 September 2013, schools are no longer allowed to authorise any requests for children to be taken out of school for a holiday during term time.
Requests for leave can only be granted in exceptional circumstances, and a holiday would not be considered exceptional. Requests for leave must also be made to the school in advance, as the DfE have told schools that they cannot authorise any absences after they have been taken.
Parents may receive a penalty notice if their child is absent from school without permission. From September 2013 the cost of these notices will be £60 per child per parent if paid within 21 days, and £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days.
We appreciate the challenges that some parents face when booking holidays, particularly during the school holidays. However, regular attendance at school is vital in helping children and young people to achieve their full potential and get the best possible start in life.
Nationally, five million school days were missed in the academic year 2011/ 2012 because of family holidays in term time, which is 10.1 per cent of overall absence in schools. This high level of absence has led the government to make this important change to legislation.
We anticipate that all schools in Leeds will introduce firm policies, and we will work closely with them to ensure that this change to the law has a positive impact on rates of attendance in the city.
I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the council and your child’s school to thank you for your full support in this matter.
Further information can be found at http://www.education.gov.uk/.
Yours sincerely
Paul Brennan
Welcome to Year 2
Hello everyone,
September is here and it’s time for a new year to begin! I know everybody is looking forward to returning to school tomorrow, ready and raring to learn and have fun. We’ve got lots of exciting things planned for the coming term, kicking off with a mini topic on changing materials so make sure you pack your lab coats.
I’ll see your smiling faces at 8.50 tomorrow morning.
Welcome back!
Hope you have all had an enjoyable summer break.
Mrs Taylor, Mrs Weekes and Mrs Strange look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
Teacher training!
This morning, the teachers have been learning/recapping how to use the school website to post news, homework and spellings.
Welcome to Reception!
It is not long now until your child starts school. We will begin our home visits this week and look forward to seeing you and your children.
Our home visits are an opportunity for you to share as much information as you can with us in order to ensure the transition into school is as smooth as possible for your child. In addition, the information you give us will help us to support your child to reach their full potential. Please feel free to ask lots of questions at the visit and to provide us with information which will help us give your child the best possible start to school.
New SEAL theme – New beginnings
As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on New beginnings.
We begin this half term with a focus on manners: I can greet someone politely.
Subsequently, I can make someone feel welcome is the first SEAL statement to launch the theme of New beginnings.
New beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting. This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.
The key areas of learning throughout this theme are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.
Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.
New beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong. Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.