Where in Europe?
As part of our Where in the World? mini-topic, we’ve been learning about Europe: its countries, cities, capitals and the many things to see!
To learn this, we planned an inter-railing trip around Europe. We imagined we were going in August and planned our journey using the official inter-railing map. They were some things we had to do:
- visit eight places
- go somewhere near a mountain range
- go somewhere with a river
- go somewhere hot
- go somewhere cold
Once we’d planned our destinations, calculated our journey times and made sure we’d done all of the above, we used our research skills to find out what we could do in each place we visited.
Ask your child:
- Where they chose to visit?
- Why they chose there?
- What could they do there?
- Which country is______ in?
- Is that city a capital city?
Here’s some pictures of us in the early stages of planning our trip of a lifetime…
09 September 2016
This week’s spellings have been chosen by the children from a list of spellings they should know already. We’ve been working on practising their chosen spellings throughout the week and used all sorts of techniques to help us to learn them.
In their homework books, the children should show that they’re using these techniques in order to learn their spellings and they will be tested on ten of them in class on Friday by a friend (as we’ve all got different ones).
Don’t forget, homework books will be collected in on Thursday so, if you want to practise on Thursday evening, make sure you write them down!
09 September 2016
Each week, the children will be assigned a Mathletics challenge to work on at home.
This week, they have been assigned three tasks that relate to the learning we’ve done in class. These tasks must be completed by Thursday 15 September.
We’ll look at these tasks together once the children have completed them themselves and identify any strengths and weaknesses that occur from them. If for any reason they are unable to access Mathletics one week, it will be available every Wednesday lunchtime in Year 6 for them to complete it in school.
09 September 2016
This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect and is due on Thursday 15 September.
Choose a continent and see how many of its countries you can learn and locate on the map.
As our topic is Where in the World, we’ve been learning lots about different countries and where they are. This challenge will help them to become more familiar with their chosen continent and provides an opportunity to improve memory skills.
A great start!
It’s been a hectic and productive week. The class have settled well into a routine and are showing such an enthusiasm for learning. I wanted to mention a few children in particular who have really stood out in various lessons.
- Dylan and Maja for superb team work in PE. They were able to show us some great balancing skills.
- Isaac, Amrit, Danny and Manpreet for super place value work. All were keen to take on a challenge. Also, for being a great ‘buddy’ to others to aid their learning.
- Josh for superb presentation in all his work.
- Ishaan for great SEAL skills.
- Finally, a huge welcome to Danny who has joined our class. Danny has settled well into his new school and has made a great start in all his learning.
Please note that PE is on Mondays and Thursdays. We have advised the children to bring their kits on a Monday and take them home on a Friday for a wash.
Once again, please feel free to pop in if you have any questions.
Welcome to Reception!
We’ve been busy preparing the classroom and now can’t wait for the children to start!
We’re looking forward to meeting you all again next week as your child begins this exciting chapter in their lives.
Please bring your child to school on the date and time arranged.
See you next week!
09 September 2016
In a change from last year, spellings will be tested fortnightly, not weekly. This means there won’t be a test next week. Instead, you should spend more time not just practising the words but looking for other words which have the same sound in them. Sometimes, you will have spelling challenges do to to help your children deepen their learning of these and other words which fit the ‘sound’ or spelling rule .
Because of this extra time and practice, when it comes to the tests, the children won’t just be tested on the words in the initial list. I will choose some of the words from the list and some other words which fit the theme (the children will have been exposed to these extra words in class learning). Also, in future tests, some of the words from previous tests will be recapped to check that children are remembering what they have learnt.
The spellings this week do not follow a rule or pattern. Instead, I will just test the children on these words related to our topic:
world
continent
country
city
compass
where
were
England
atlas
globe
Take a look at the sheet inside your Homework book called Can you become a master of spelling? This has lots of different strategies for learning words. Find a few which work for your child.
09 September 2016
This week’s homework is Talk Time and is due Thursday 15 September:
Find out which country the flag from your peg label belongs to.
I would like you to use the brains around you to help you find out! Discuss this with people at home. If nobody knows it, you could look in an atlas or another non-fiction book. As a last resort, you could use the internet to help you but think carefully about what you would have to search for in order to find the answer!
Year 3 also have times tables each week to learn. These will be tested on Friday. This week is the 2 times table.
Class dojo
You may have heard this mentioned at home since your child has started in Year 2. Class dojo is our new class reward system which is proving very popular. Children are awarded dojo points in class for positive behaviour and learning. Later in the year, we will be linking the rewards more specifically to learning behaviours.
Well done to Phoebe who is the first to reach our target of ten class dojo points.
Autumn term school meals menu
Don’t forget our Autumn term menu is available to view on our website and is displayed on our dining room window. The menu, from our school meals provider Catering Leeds, follows a three week cycle. Have a look for the week ahead to make your child aware of what the daily meals are.
School meals continue to be free for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. If your child is in Key Stage 2, please check for eligibility for free school meals.
If your child would like to start having school dinners, please inform the office. A combination of packed lunches and school dinners is also available.