Owls Class Newsletter Nov 2016
A big warm welcome back to school after a welldeserved break! Our topic this half term is ‘The Great Fire of London’!
I hope you have all had a lovely week off and are ready to start the second half of this term. As part of your half term project, I asked you to re-create a scene during the Great Fire. I am very much looking forward to seeing your creations on the 4th November so we can all share these as a class! As part of this topic, the children will be undertaking a variety of creative and stimulating activities based around the Great Fire which will include; exploring the events and role playing these; using a human timeline to organise and retell these events; exploring and designing Tudor houses using our upcoming knowledge of 3D models; as well as undertaking a scientific investigation to explore what sort of materials make the best houses and why. We will also be sculpting our own Tudor house using clay and will put these together to make the street on which the fire took place- Pudding Lane. We will also be getting our hands dirty by creating a whole class Great Fire using our handprints! In Literacy we will be writing for different purposes in order to explore different styles of writing. For example, we will write in the role of Samuel Pepys, describing the events of the Great Fire in the form of a diary entry. Our objectives for this will be to write cohesive sentences using accurate punctuation, as well as using imaginative vocabulary to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. We will also take on the role of newspaper reporters, reporting on the key events which occurred during the Great Fire of London. Our focus will be on using the 5Ws to help us with this- who, what, where, when and why.
We will also put ourselves in the shoes of Tom Porter and will write letters to a friend/relative describing the events which took place and the feelings and emotions which were felt by the people around. Towards the end of the half term, we will be making a class book which will bring together all of our learning for this topic. This will be in the form of a non-chronological report- a non-fiction style of writing. There is certainly a lot to look forward to! In Maths, our first focus will be on Geometry and will be exploring both 2D and
3D shapes within practical and real-life contexts. Our objectives will be centred around; the properties of 2D shapes, including the number of sides and line symmetry (particularly Year 2). It will also include recognising and identifying the number of edges vertices and faces for 3D shapes and how these relate to real life objects. We will also be learning about different standards of measure, including length and height and mass and capacity. Children will develop their vocabulary related to these measures, such as, long/short, double/half, heavy/lightand full/empty.
After this unit we will move onto money and relate our number skills to help us make amounts in a number of ways, as well as ordering coins and notes from smallest to largest. Children in year 2 will also have a go at finding change from a given amount. We will set up a class shop in Owls class to do so. Children will then explore Time and read and write various times on an analogue clock for the o’clock, half past and quarter times. We will relate our knowledge of quarter turns and half turns to help us with this. After these units our focus will be on number for the last few weeks and we will continue to develop our mental and written strategies for these areas using practical resources to help us. PE PE will continue to be on Mondays and Thursdays during the week. Our focus will be on balance, co-ordination and agility for this half term.
Please can you ensure that children bring in a labelled kit with appropriate footwear for these sessions. Many thanks for your support with this.
Reading at home We really appreciate all of the work you do at home with your child to support their learning, particularly their reading! It is so important that your child continues to read on a regular basis in order to aid their development. This
doesn’t have to be a book you take from school, it could be books you have at home, magazines, comics or even websites. Anything counts! The most important part is ensuing that your child enjoys what they are reading and doesn’t see it as a chore. The children will continue to read regularly with an adult during school also. Changing books As the children are now in Owls class, I encourage them to try to change their books themselves as they now know what reading label they are on. We will be reminding children of this regularly as we would like them to take more ownership of this now that they are in an older class. Homework Homework will become more regular during this half term. This will be related to the learning which occurs during the week. Rewards will be given to children who complete their homework on time. Worries or concerns If you have any further questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to come and discuss these with me or write them in your child’s reading record. I look forward to seeing you all bright and early on Tuesday 1st November! Many thanks for all of your support.
Miss Kavanagh
I hope you have all had a lovely week off and are ready to start the second half of this term. As part of your half term project, I asked you to re-create a scene during the Great Fire. I am very much looking forward to seeing your creations on the 4th November so we can all share these as a class! As part of this topic, the children will be undertaking a variety of creative and stimulating activities based around the Great Fire which will include; exploring the events and role playing these; using a human timeline to organise and retell these events; exploring and designing Tudor houses using our upcoming knowledge of 3D models; as well as undertaking a scientific investigation to explore what sort of materials make the best houses and why. We will also be sculpting our own Tudor house using clay and will put these together to make the street on which the fire took place- Pudding Lane. We will also be getting our hands dirty by creating a whole class Great Fire using our handprints! In Literacy we will be writing for different purposes in order to explore different styles of writing. For example, we will write in the role of Samuel Pepys, describing the events of the Great Fire in the form of a diary entry. Our objectives for this will be to write cohesive sentences using accurate punctuation, as well as using imaginative vocabulary to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. We will also take on the role of newspaper reporters, reporting on the key events which occurred during the Great Fire of London. Our focus will be on using the 5Ws to help us with this- who, what, where, when and why.
We will also put ourselves in the shoes of Tom Porter and will write letters to a friend/relative describing the events which took place and the feelings and emotions which were felt by the people around. Towards the end of the half term, we will be making a class book which will bring together all of our learning for this topic. This will be in the form of a non-chronological report- a non-fiction style of writing. There is certainly a lot to look forward to! In Maths, our first focus will be on Geometry and will be exploring both 2D and
3D shapes within practical and real-life contexts. Our objectives will be centred around; the properties of 2D shapes, including the number of sides and line symmetry (particularly Year 2). It will also include recognising and identifying the number of edges vertices and faces for 3D shapes and how these relate to real life objects. We will also be learning about different standards of measure, including length and height and mass and capacity. Children will develop their vocabulary related to these measures, such as, long/short, double/half, heavy/lightand full/empty.
After this unit we will move onto money and relate our number skills to help us make amounts in a number of ways, as well as ordering coins and notes from smallest to largest. Children in year 2 will also have a go at finding change from a given amount. We will set up a class shop in Owls class to do so. Children will then explore Time and read and write various times on an analogue clock for the o’clock, half past and quarter times. We will relate our knowledge of quarter turns and half turns to help us with this. After these units our focus will be on number for the last few weeks and we will continue to develop our mental and written strategies for these areas using practical resources to help us. PE PE will continue to be on Mondays and Thursdays during the week. Our focus will be on balance, co-ordination and agility for this half term.
Please can you ensure that children bring in a labelled kit with appropriate footwear for these sessions. Many thanks for your support with this.
Reading at home We really appreciate all of the work you do at home with your child to support their learning, particularly their reading! It is so important that your child continues to read on a regular basis in order to aid their development. This
doesn’t have to be a book you take from school, it could be books you have at home, magazines, comics or even websites. Anything counts! The most important part is ensuing that your child enjoys what they are reading and doesn’t see it as a chore. The children will continue to read regularly with an adult during school also. Changing books As the children are now in Owls class, I encourage them to try to change their books themselves as they now know what reading label they are on. We will be reminding children of this regularly as we would like them to take more ownership of this now that they are in an older class. Homework Homework will become more regular during this half term. This will be related to the learning which occurs during the week. Rewards will be given to children who complete their homework on time. Worries or concerns If you have any further questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to come and discuss these with me or write them in your child’s reading record. I look forward to seeing you all bright and early on Tuesday 1st November! Many thanks for all of your support.
Miss Kavanagh
