Fantastic Pioneers

Year 2 have been extremely busy this half term and have been working hard with their learning. We are incredibly proud of them all! They continue to amaze us with their knowledge, resilience and creativity! Please do ask them about what they have been learning, We are sure you will be impressed too! 

In Science, they have thought about how to keep healthy in terms of the foods that they eat, hygiene and exercise. They have carried out exciting investigations and surveys to support their learning. Do ask them what happened to the pepper (representing the germs) in our soap experiment. They loved it and it was a great visual representation of the importance of using soap to wash away germs. 

In DT, we designed a very tasty vegetable soup as a better option for Charlie Bucket (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), who was just eating cabbage soup.  We wanted to help to give him a more balanced diet and we think we succeeded. We had a food tasting session to pick the vegetables that we wanted to include.  We then prepared the vegetables, cooked, tasted and evaluated our soup. We all thought it was delicious!

In our English and History lessons, we have been learning about fictional and real life pioneers: Mr Wonka, Marcus Rashford, Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. We have enjoyed creating some exciting writing linked with these topics and will be finishing our biographies next week which we hope to share with you. 
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Here is some of our art work, linked with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Florence Nightingale.
We have enjoyed being creative!
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We have also been thinking about how we too can be pioneers, and thinking about ways that we can make a difference and be good role models. We are extremely proud of 2B who decided to make a difference by tidying and sweeping up around the school grounds. We think you'll agree that they did an amazing job! 2R and 2BT will be carrying out their own tasks in the next few weeks. 
A few reminders: 
  • Please can all children bring in their library books to be exchanged on a Monday. They are also able to change reading books on these and other days across the week. 
  • We ask that all children read at home at least 4 times per week and that this is recorded on their reading record sheet. Remember to also access Oxford Owl books online for children on RWInc and Bug Club books for all other children. The comprehension tasks that accompany these are also really useful in helping to support the development of comprehension skills. We give out a weekly class star reader certificate to a child in each class who is working hard with their reading. We also hope you are engaging with the Friend's of St. Mark's '22 days in February Sponsored Read' which is also a great way to get children reading. 
  • An additional weekly homework task, is to spend at least 20 minutes of numbots or ttRockstars. The login for both of these platforms is the same and was sent to you at the beginning of the year. By the end of Year 2, it is essential that children are confident with these number bond facts, and also with their 2, 5 and 10 times tables and related division facts. Any additional support that you can give your children with these key skills, will be beneficial and will build confidence. Thank you for your support with this. In class, we will be carrying out speedy tables tasks and will work towards our Ruby Award certificate which we hope almost all children will achieve by the end of the year. Children also receive regular certificates for time and effort on these platforms and when they go up levels.
  • As we move through year 2, it is important that children become secure and confident spellers. With this in mind, spellings are put up on Google Classroom to be covered across two weeks and are also available on Spelling Shed. It would be great if you could find time to look at these with your children, trying to identify the tricky bits or patterns in the words that can be applied to other spellings too. Spotting these spellings in books can also be great fun!  We are keen for our children to be confident spellers and are really focusing on spellings in our classes.
Thank you for all of your continued support and encouragement. Do chat to us at the classroom door or contact us via our year group email if you have any questions: year2@stmarksce.org.uk
The Year 2 Team