Friday 25th April
We hope that you all had a relaxing and refreshing Easter holidays.
It has been a great start to Summer 1, and so lovely to have everyone back in school and looking so refreshed and excited for the new term.
Next week we will be starting to explore our new English text, which has a focus on suspense and mystery. We are looking forward to sharing that with our class!
In Maths, we will be learning about money. If there is time over the weekend, please show your child any notes and coins you might have, and explain how you pay for purchases, as a head start to our topic.
We will also be continuing to launch into our foundation subjects:
Geography - exploring the megacity of Lagos in Nigeria (comparing it to Rickmansworth)
Music - learning to play the glockenspiel
PE with Mrs Lee - dodging and jumping skills
RE - compassion shown in the religion of Islam
Computing – Recording data using pictograms
Spanish – The weather
Science – Plants and their life cycles
Art - African art inspired by the work of Edward Tingatinga
PSHE – Being my best - linked with making healthy choices
Please return all SATs papers given at Parents evening (a Maths paper and a reading comprehension paper) to school on Monday, no matter what the outcome has been.
PE will start on Monday so please come in PE kit ready.
Reading - please keep reading 5 times a week and signing their Reading record.
Have a lovely weekend, and we are look forward to seeing you all on Monday
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 4th April
It has been a lovely final week of term. We have had an Easter theme to much of what we have done whilst rapidly completing many topics! Highlights have included:
Successfully publishing our diary recounts from the Great Fire of London
Visiting the ducklings in Reception, which were adorable
Our Easter service last night and the enthusiasm from our Y2 singers
Seeing the many wonderful Easter bonnets today
Y5 working so well with Y2 to complete the Easter egg hunt on Tuesday
Thoughtful RE reflections on forgiveness
Report from Mrs Bennett - PE lessons on a Wednesday:
During our PE lessons this half term, we focused on developing our dribbling, passing, and receiving techniques to maintain possession of the ball and score points. We practised these skills in a variety of games and matches, helping to improve our ability to control the ball.
Please spend a moment checking that your child has the correct school and PE uniform before we return in the Summer term. Mrs Bennett spent time talking to the children on Wednesday about correct kit.
We look forward to seeing everyone back again on Thursday 24th April.
We wish you a very Happy Easter and hope that you have plenty of opportunity for rest, relaxation and laughter.
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 28th March
It was great to meet with so many of you this week to talk about your amazing children!
During the parents' meetings, we gave out a small pack of resources: a handwriting pack, an old Maths SATS paper and an old reading comprehension paper. To clarify, we have sent home the SATs papers predominantly to help build up an idea of the levels we are aiming for by the end of Year 2. They are also given as an invitation for you to do with your child over the next month, but they are not statutory homework. Please could you return them, completed or not, in the first week back, at the end of April. The Handwriting sheets can be completed as and when (no need to return those). As always, if you have any questions, please do ask one of us.
As a school, we have been reflecting on an act of kindness every day of Lent.
On Tuesday, the challenge was to see if they could do a chore or a job without complaining. The 'Extra Challenge' was to see if they could do a job first without being asked, and if they could keep this up all week. We promised the children that we would give extra House points to anyone whose parents let us know after the weekend, if this was achieved. So, please do let us know if your child went 'Above and Beyond' to help you this week!
This week:
In English, we wrote diary entries from 1666 with super examples of clauses and conjunctions :)
In Maths, we learnt how to read quarter past and minutes past. Next week, we will continue to explore 'time' in Maths - quarter past and quarter to, as well as 5 minute intervals past and to (e.g. 5 past 3, 20 past 6). As with our statistics unit, we will return to 'time' after the Easter holidays. If you have, a moment over the weekend to practise these times, this will greatly help to build upon this skill ready for next week.
In RE, we learnt how Christians reflect their beliefs in the songs they sing at Easter and in Lent fasting and Communion.
In PE, we practised mini games of underarm throwing
In Music, we performed with great enthusiasm, the 3 folk songs we have been learning.
In Computing, we tested the mats we designed for the BeeBots, and explored ‘debugging’ the algorithm we programmed these robots to do, if they didn’t get to the correct destination on our mats.
For DT we were extremely excited to bake and decorate our Easter egg themed biscuits, next week we will complete our evaluations about how they tasted!
Finally, much of next week has an Easter flavour, being the final week before the holidays!
On Tuesday, FoSMS are organising an Easter egg hunt for the whole school.
On Thursday, we have our Easter service at St Mary's Church at 6pm. We will be singing a KS1 song as part of the service. Pupils need to arrive at the Church Hall at 5:45pm, dressed in smart uniform. Mrs Maxwell does expect that all pupils from Years 1-6 attend. It was such a lovely occasion last year so please do plan to join us this year.
On Friday, we will have our Easter bonnet/hat parade on the KS1 playground at 9am, where you are most welcome to stay and watch as the whole school parades their magnificent designs. This will be followed by 'Easter around the World' celebrated in our St Mary's families.
Date for your diary: The planned trip to the Royal Academy of Arts has been cancelled; however, we look forward to taking the class to Hampton Court Palace on June 12th. More details to follow next term.
Have a lovely weekend. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 21st March
We have had another really productive week in Year 2. The children have been working extremely hard in English, with learning how to write in the style of a diary recount, whilst pretending to be Goldilocks. Next week we will be writing a diary extract as a character from the Great Fire of London, using all the tools we have been practising this half term. We look forward to reading their finished pieces!
Reading and creating our own Pictograms has been this week’s focus in Maths. Next week we will be moving on to the topic of time: making and telling the time on analogue clocks of quarter past and quarter to, as well as minutes past and minutes to in 5-minute intervals. Please could we kindly ask you to practise telling the time - o'clock and half past - over the weekend. It will really help to prepare your child for next week, and the build upon the times we have been practising during our Maths fluency sessions this week.
In History, we continued to explore the Great Fire of London and learnt about what sources of evidence there were from this event.
For computing, we created our own route maps, which we will test out with the BeeBot robots next week.
In Science, we were very intrigued to learn about Chris Packham, and how he links to our topic on animals and their habitats.
Next week in DT, we will be shining a light on Mary Berry and deciding what design we would like to make as a biscuit, before baking them as well!
We would really appreciate donations of tissues, as many of the children have colds and hay fever season is just around the corner.
Mrs Lee is very much hoping to be back in school on Monday, and we both look forward to seeing you at our Parents' evenings on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the spring sunshine!
Mrs Collett
Friday 14th March
It has been another busy and productive week in Year 2. In English, we have spent time using the tools in our current toolkit for our fairy tale genre. We have practised writing with particular conjunctions, clauses and time connectives. We will be writing our own fairy tale dairies for the next 2 weeks and in preparation for this next fortnight require some support from home, please. In class, we have and will continue to explore the tales of Rapunzel, Goldilocks and Rumpelstiltskin, please could you read/revisit ONE further, different fairy tale with your child this weekend and over next week so that they have a good knowledge of that fairy tale story? Any simple fairy tale would suffice, e.g., Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood. Thank you! We would really value your help :)
In Maths, we started a new unit on statistics: reading tally charts, tables, block graphs. Our next unit after statistics is 'time' and for this, every pupil needs to be able to read and make o'clock times and half past on an analogue clock. (Apologies - last week it said digital, which is incorrect.) The latter skill is a little wobbly at the moment so please revisit these Year 1 skills with them.
In other subjects:
In RE we explored the Big Bible story and how Christians believe that Jesus made a bridge between people and God, to save their friendship.
In PE, we continued refining our underarm throwing skills
In Music, we sang pitch patterns and began to learn a new folk song
In History, we discovered some of the main reasons the Great Fire of London spread so quickly and lasted so long.
In computing, we made predictions about the routes our Bee-bot robots would follow, after we had chosen a variety of four step algorithms.
For Science we investigated which habitat a woodlouse would prefer, and discovered it was one with leaves and bark for them to hide in.
Today in DT, we learnt about the flour and butter making processes and had a go at making our own butter curds, sadly not enough was formed for us to taste.
Please do continue to read at least 5 times a week with your child and ask them simple retrieval questions.
Have a wonderful weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 7th March
It was fantastic to see so many of you on Monday morning, joining your child in reading in the Library. The class came back buzzing 🙂 a great way to start the week.
It was also brilliant to see everyone wearing such fantastic costumes yesterday on World Book Day! Thank you for all your hard work and support.
Today we all enjoyed a bedtime story with a glass of chocolate milk and a biscuit; the perfect ending to a wonderful week!
Aside from our focus on books, we have spent the rest of our English lessons, learning our new text about Rapunzel and exploring the tools we will be using in our new English toolkits, these include time connectives, the use of 'which' and 'who' clauses, and the conjunctions 'or' and 'when'. They have learnt these new tools quickly and we were impressed with their ideas. The whole class has shown an increased level of maturity in their understanding of how to write, which has been wonderful to see! If there is opportunity over the weekend and next few weeks, please read fairy tales with them in particular as this is our genre.
In Maths, we have continued our learning of fractions: finding non-unit fractions, knowing that a half is the same as 2 quarters, and recognising and then finding 3/4. Next week, we are moving on to statistics: tally charts, tables and block graphs. As well as this, it is our assessment week in school so there will be a few assessments in reading and Maths. Our next unit after statistics is 'time' and for this, every pupil needs to be able to read and make o'clock times and half past on a digital clock. The latter skill is a little wobbly at the moment so please revisit these Year 1 skills with them.
In other subjects: we explored the Easter story through visual aids and a beautiful book called 'The Easter Story' by Brian Wildsmith. We acted out some of the events and touched a real crown made of thorns. In Music, we began our new topic of 'Musical Me' and had a wonderful lesson learning about pitch through our voices as well as the chime bars. In History, we discovered the events of the Great Fire of London and have begun to understand why it was called the 'great' fire.
For Spanish we have started to learn the days of the week, and we will be practising this again next week. In Science, we continued to explore microhabitats for mini-beasts and looked at how they meet their basic survival needs.
Next week in DT, we will be attempting to make our own butter from milk. The only ingredient will be full fat milk but please do let Mrs Collett know if your child is unable to eat this product.
PE will also be back on Monday as usual.
Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the spring sunshine
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 28th February
Welcome back to the second half of this school year! Time is going so quickly! We hope you all had a refreshing and relaxing half-term.
In class, we have launched many of our new foundation subject topics.
On Monday, we had a treasure hunt and found clues about the Great Fire of London. Well done to Eryk for guessing first! The children were excited to ask questions, and we spent time comparing London in 1666 to 2025.
On Tuesday, Rabbi Aaron came to visit us for our RE lesson; the final in our Jewish topic. The class were interested and reflective in their questioning. He complimented them on how well behaved they were and hopes to visit us again.
In Maths, we have continued learning about fractions: half, quarters, thirds - recognising them and finding a fraction of amounts.
In English, we began our new genre - diary writing to fit with fairy tales and our History topic. To discover who the new main character could be, we went on a clue hunt to find out who had visited our classroom. We really enjoyed solving the clues to discover that our new text is based on the story of Rapunzel.
Our foundation subjects for this half-term are:
Computing – Robots & Instructions, DT- Cooking , History - Great Fire of London, Music - 'Musical Me' (pitch, singing folk songs expressively), PE - ball skills (throwing and catching with Mrs Lee, football with Mrs Bennett), PSHCE – Rights & Responsibilities, RE - Easter, Science – Habitats, Spanish – Days of the week.
We would like to invite you in to join your child for a reading session in our school Library, on Monday morning (8:40 - 9:15am) to start Book Week. However, please could we ask for some support with this, as we had a number of the class who were quite unsettled after the Nativity performance, and after the Writing Workshop. If you are coming in for this session and you know that your child can become tearful or unsettled when you leave, please can we ask that you remind them, that it is a normal school day for the rest of the day, and reassure them that you will see them as usual at home time.
Many thanks!
Library slot on Thursdays - we apologise for the lack of Library time recently. We are returning to our normal routine as of next week and will have a slot on Thursday afternoon. If your child would like to change their book, please put it in their bag, or remind them to do so, each Thursday morning.
PE - we will ONLY have a PE lesson on Wednesday next week due to subject leader 'learning walks' in school on Monday and Tuesday.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 14th February
We cannot quite believe that we are now half-way through the academic year! Time has flown! This half-term we have seen a growth in their ability, stamina and resilience which has been great to see. Thank you for all your hard work and partnership in supporting their reading, spellings and Doodle learning. It all makes a difference.
We have spent the week publishing our wishing tales, exploring the start of our Maths unit on fractions, and completing our learning journeys for RE, PE, Geography, computing, DT and Science. Music will be completed in the first week back.
We had a brilliant walk around Rickmansworth on Monday. Our thanks to Giana's Mum, Jacob's Mum and cousin, and Louis' Mum for braving the cold and the many excited Year 2s as we learnt about and visited many of the significant features of our town. We learnt the basics of the history of Rickmansworth too, including its mention in the Domesday Book and that St Mary's Church was rebuilt 200 years ago. These historical and geographical facts were then tested in the 'St Mary's Junior Mastermind Spring 2025' competition where 5 finalists chose Rickmansworth as their specialist subject. After an exciting and tense final, we declared Orla the winner. Well done to all our mini Rickmansworth experts!
PE with Mrs Bennett:
This half term, we focused on jumping using a variety of gymnastics equipment. We practiced jumping on the trampoline, where we worked on gaining height and control. We also used the springboard, developing our technique for springing and landing safely. Additionally, we explored jumping from different heights using box tops of various sizes, improving our strength and balance. These activities helped us to refine our jumping skills while focusing on proper form and safety.
We are looking forward to starting new topics after half-term, including 'The Great Fire of London' in History, animal habitats in science, exploring the meaning of Easter for Christians in RE, Ball skills in PE (throwing and catching). We are planning to have our usual Monday PE lesson on the first day back, and it should be outdoors, so please dress warmly.
Maths:
We are aware that not all of the class can tell/make the time for o'clock and half past. This is a Year 1 skill. Please can we encourage you to revise these skills, and practise reading and making o'clock and half past times with your child during half-term, so that we can build on this after half-term.
In addition, we discovered this website https://www.timestables.co.uk/2-times-table-worksheets.html that has a variety of worksheets that would be brilliant to help them learn 2s, 5s and 10 times tables. You do not need a login to download the sheets.
Date for the diary - we have booked a trip to Hampton Court Palace on Thursday June 12th. More details to follow.
Please do keep reading and spelling going over the holidays. The continuation of hearing them read and supporting them is even more important if your child is reading: Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Turquoise levels as this is below Age Related.
We hope that you have a brilliant half-term.
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 7th February
It was great to see so many of you this morning at the workshop. We hope you enjoyed it and gained an insight into how we build up the children’s vocabulary, through focusing on certain toolkits (prepositions, senses, conjunctions – but, because), and then build up their writing through short burst tasks.
We have been really pleased with how much the class have taken on board in our English writing lessons this half-term. Their own versions of a wishing tale were a success and included prepositions, emotions, conjunctions and sensory details. Well done Year 2! Next week we will be editing and publishing our stories ready to share with you on our parent’s evenings.
In Maths, we continued to divide - this week into groups. Next week we are starting our unit on fractions, looking at equal/unequal groups, part and whole, finding a half and a quarter of shape and amount. Please continue to count in steps of 2, 5 and 10 at home.
In RE, we learnt about how the Torah is treated with great care and respect in the synagogues as well as how many Jewish people have a mezuzah on their doors.
In PE, we continued to work as a team on challenges.
As this week has also been art week in school (a favourite for all our budding artists in Year 2), we enjoyed taking part in a photography workshop on Wednesday afternoon, and have been focusing on Canaletto’s painting entitled ‘A Regatta on the Grand Canal’. We have been exploring many of the features of this painting and will continue to build upon this next week as well.
We were delighted with how many children achieved 100% in their spelling test this week. Thank you for all your support with this. Everything you do at home makes a real difference in class.
We are off on our field trip around Rickmansworth on Monday afternoon. There will be NO PE lesson at as result. Please ensure that your child has school uniform on, a coat (a hat, gloves and scarf too - depending on the weather) and good shoes to walk in, as we will be out all afternoon. Many thanks to Louis' Mum and Jacob's Mum who are accompanying us.
Please continue to focus on reading at home. Sitting next to your child is the best way to do this, so that you can talk about the book, help with their fluency and correct any substituted words.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 31st January
We have had a successful week in Year 2, both in our writing and in learning how to divide in Maths. In English, we have spent the week writing a close version of the original text, this time about a hare called Harry who wanted to jump higher than any other hare. The class really took on board the 'tools' in our 'toolkit'. Next week, is their opportunity to write their own unique version without too much support to see what they have really understood, which will then be assessed before half-term. We wait excitedly...
In Maths, we have spent the week learning how to share equally, using counters, drawing out the groupings and checking the answer makes sense. Next week we will continue with division through grouping. Please support your child by helping them to learn their 2s, 5s and 10s times tables. It will make a real difference to their Maths. This can be done in various ways: Count up and back in steps of 2/5/10 to 12 x the number, quick fire questions, missing number (e.g. 2 x ____ = 12).
In RE we learnt about Moses, an incredibly important leader for Jewish believers. 'The Prince of Egypt' is a cartoon film version of the story of Moses, which you might like to watch as a family. Produced by Dreamworks in 1998, it is a musical and creative rendition of the story. However, it does have a PG certificate. We have invited a Rabbi to come and talk to Years 1 and 2 after half-term to support our learning.
This week in science, we learnt about the importance of exercise for humans and shone a light on the Olympian Laviai Nielsen.
In Art, we have continued to explore the work of two famous architects ‘Hundertwasser & Zaha Hadid’ and also learnt about the terms: Organic shape, Complementary colours and Distorted lines. We will continue to explore these further next week!
In addition, next week, Mrs Bartram has booked an artist to come and support each class on Wednesday for a special art activity. We are really looking forward to that!
Geography field trip - Monday 10th February 1-3pm. We will be going on a field trip walk around Rickmansworth in the final week before half-term. We will be walking from school to the Aquadrome, through and down the High Street to the Library, then to St Mary's Church and back to school past Tesco. All the while, we will be looking at key physical and human features of our town. If you can support us by accompanying us on our walk, we would be really grateful. Please let one of us know or contact the Office.
Thank you for all your support with their new Spelling book. Please continue to help them learn them by writing them out as 'look, cover, write, check' and in sentences.
We wish you all a lovely weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 24th January
We have had a very productive week in Year 2. A highlight has been our successful short bursts of writing, practising use of prepositions, conjunctions and sensory details. Next week, we will focus on writing an alternative version of the story of Pip, remaining close to the original, before planning our own unique 'Wishing Tale' the following week. Please support your child at home by encouraging them to use tall ascenders and low descenders every time they write. This is a very important skill for us to learn in order to be able to achieve ARE (age-related standard) with our writing. We are working hard on this in class.
In Maths, we have completed our multiplication unit and will be starting division next week.
Geography field trip - save the date :) Monday 10th February, 1-3pm. We are planning to take the class on a field trip walk around Rickmansworth in the final week before half-term. We will be walking from school to the Aquadrome, through and down the High Street to the Library, then to St Mary's Church and back to school past Tesco. All the while, we will be looking at key physical and human features of our town. If you can support us by accompanying us on our walk, we would be really grateful. You only need to be able to follow a simple map, following Mrs Lee as 'tour guide'!
Thank you for all your support with their new Spelling book. Please continue to help them learn them by writing them out as 'look, cover, write, check' and in sentences.
Have a wonderful weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 17th January
This week has been full of fervent activity, as we have embraced all of our new topics with gusto! :)
We have spent the week in English, using our Toolkit to write sentences using prepositions, our senses and the conjunctions 'but' and 'because'. This will be continued next week. The class have worked really hard to tell our story of Pip, in 5 paragraphs including using actions to help remember key vocabulary.
In Maths, we have learnt how to use the multiplication symbol and how to write multiplication sentences alongside repeated addition sentences.
In RE, we started looking at our topic on Jewish believers and the concept of joy. We were very impressed with Cianna, who after the RE lesson, made her own Torah scroll!
In Music, we learnt to sing 'London's Bridge is falling down' with great enthusiasm.
For Science, we learnt all about the offspring of different animals, and discussed how much we had all changed since being a baby.
There was great excitement today with the start of our new Art project called ‘Be an Architect’. The children loved having a go at sketching a variety of different styles of buildings.
Spellings
On Tuesday, we will test the children on their spellings in their new book. Please return the book to school on Tuesday morning and please continue to support them in learning their new words over the weekend.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 10th January
Welcome back to a new year and a new term! We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. In class, we have enjoyed starting new topics this week, and will continue to do so next week:
Geography - Comparing London and Rickmansworth
RE - Learning about the Jewish holy book and the concept of joy
PE - Team building skills and gymnastics (Mondays and Wednesdays)
Music - Singing songs from around the country
Science – Animals and humans linking it to survival and living healthily.
PSHCE – Keeping ourselves safe, which also partly linked to this term's Science topic.
If you have any books or London/Rickmansworth 'memorabilia' at home, we would welcome your child sharing these with the class.
In English, we launched our new unit of work designed to improve narrative description, in particular settings. Our model text is all about a bird, Pip, who is desperate to fly higher. The class have already begun to practise using prepositions as well as their senses to describe the setting. Next week we will add in to our toolkit, the use of conjunctions. In Maths, we started exploring multiplication. This will also continue next week. Please support your child by counting with them, up and down, in steps of 2s, 5s, and 10s. For example: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8.
Spellings
Next Wednesday, we are hoping to begin using our new spelling books. Similar to Year 1 we will give individual spellings to each pupil in their A4 spelling book. They will bring home the book until the following Tuesday. During that time, please support them to learn their spellings through writing them out as individual words, and then putting them into sentences IN their spelling book. (This is an excellent opportunity to practice their handwriting skills! Look out for those descender letters – g, j, p, q and y). They can also practise writing them in different ways, e.g. in different colours or highlighting the vowels only. Books will need to be returned every Tuesday for the spelling test, which they will do in the back of this book.
Have a lovely weekend. (Hopefully it will not be as cold next week!)
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday, 20th December
Firstly, a huge thank you from the 3 of us for your kindness and generosity. We are very grateful for all of your gifts and cards, and will thoroughly enjoy spending the vouchers. Secondly, a loud well done to each and every one of your children. They have worked incredibly hard this term and we join you in being very proud of them 🙂
All of our topics were completed this week, including 'publishing' our monster reports and finishing our learning about 2D and 3D shape. We are looking forward to next term's Spring 1 topics. We wanted to let you know that we have swapped the African and Rickmansworth Geography and Art topics so that we learn about our own locality in Rickmansworth before comparing with a city in Africa. We will arrange a walk around Rickmansworth to study the physical and human features towards the beginning of February. In Science and PSHCE we will be exploring healthy eating, healthy living and exercise in animals and humans. We have booked a workshop in the very first week back to launch this!
A report from Mrs Bennett about our gymnastics unit:
This half-term in PE, we have been focusing on developing gymnastics skills, specifically learning how to perform forward and backward rolls, as well as improving their balancing techniques. I have been so impressed with the progress made in these skills.
Children practised forward rolls, focusing on the correct form and technique. Some children moved on to practising backwards rolls and further challenges! Balancing exercises were a key focus throughout the half term. We worked on various balance poses, both static (such as balancing on one leg) and dynamic (such as balancing on a beam or moving between positions). The aim was to strengthen core stability, body awareness, and coordination.
Please keep reading and signing the Reading Records. We have given extra reading books to keep them going over the holidays. All books can be changed in the first week back.
See you on Wednesday 8th January ready for an action packed term!
Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!
Mrs Lee, Mrs Collett and Mrs Merrell
Friday 13th December
We hope that you enjoyed watching your child perform in 'Everyone loves a baby!' We were very proud of how they all acted, sang and narrated. Thank you for your support with our production. The class also really enjoyed the pantomime and Christmas dinner/jumper day. Next week will be quieter by comparison!
In Maths, we will be completing our unit on 2D and 3D shape, looking at symmetry, sorting and patterns. In English, we will be publishing our monster reports, having worked very hard to create new descriptions and information this week. In RE, we are going to look at how and why Christians sing carols at Christmas and what we might learn from the Christmas story for ourselves. In PE, it will be our final session developing our handball skills. The class have really enjoyed working on these skills this half term and we have begun to learn what it means to work as a team.
We have started creating our moving monsters in DT; if possible please could you bring in a cereal box by Wednesday, so that we can create the linkages for the monsters body next week. We only require 15 boxes for the whole class, as each child will only need one side of the box.
As a class, they are very tired having worked so hard all term, so please do factor in rest this weekend, where possible. We have some lovely activities planned for next week, including a visit from 'someone special' who we know the children will be really excited to meet!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 6th December
We are looking forward to sharing our Nativity with you all very soon! 'Everyone loves a baby' has been top of our agenda this week and the children have worked incredibly hard. We had a pre-dress rehearsal this morning and we are looking and sounding good!
As well as singing and acting, we have focused on 2D shape in Maths, learning shape names as well as their properties, and also how to find vertical symmetry. We will be exploring 3D shape next week.
In English we will be 'boxing and hugging' our monster text using ideas of our own and weaving in generalisers, comparisons and adverbs.
This week we have continued to practise our ball skills, in particular dribbling to avoid our opponent. In RE, we learnt that most Christians believe Jesus was a baby king and why.
Next week we will be enjoying other Christmas festivities: Wednesday is Christmas Jumper Day and our Christmas dinner so children are invited to wear their Christmas jumpers. We will be taking a collection for our school charity - Save the Children. On Thursday, we are off to the pantomime.
Reading assessments have all been completed. Please continue to support your child by reading with them 5 times a week and asking questions to check and aid their understanding of the texts.
Next Tuesday, we will have our final spelling test of the term. We are thinking of altering the system in January, since a handful of parents have struggled with the spelling sheets. We understand that they can become dog-eared or misplaced easily between school and home :) For some of the class, much more practise is required; therefore, this to be all in the same book would be useful.
We will explain any and all adaptions for those children in the New Year.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 29th November
We had a brilliant day in London on Monday. A huge thank you again to the parents who accompanied us. We really appreciated your time and energy. The children behaved brilliantly on the train journeys and listened/followed instructions really well. We all learnt some interesting details about Sir Francis Drake and his voyage, then thoroughly enjoyed exploring the ship. Seeing St Paul's Cathedral and the Fire of London monument in the distance, set us up beautifully for History next term when we shall be learning all about the Great Fire of London. If you have time and are looking for something to do over the Christmas holidays, a trip to see either, up close, would be well worth the time.
This week since our return we have focused our energy on completing our subtraction topic. Next week - 2D shape!
In English we have read 'The Big Book of the Blue' and looked at how other authors used generalizers and adverb starters. Advent starts on Sunday and we have lots of lovely activities planned for the final 3 weeks of term but English and Maths will still be paramount!
As per our email yesterday, please can your child bring in (in a named bag) a base layer costume ready for our Nativity. We have put the same details at the end of this. We have photocopied song words and lines for each child to practise over the weekend. (Most children have 1 or 2 lines to say). Please support us with this, as the performance date is so soon.
Reading assessments will take place next Thursday and Friday, so please can we ask that all Reading Records and books are in school on those 2 days.
We hope to see many of you at the fayre tomorrow. For those who would like to take part, we are performing 2 songs from our upcoming Nativity at 2pm. A 1:50pm gather in the Year 5 classroom has been requested by Mrs Maxwell. We will then walk down to the Hall to perform.
Costumes
We have costumes in school so please simply provide a base layer as follows:
Shepherds, wise men, Joseph, photographer, visitor, innkeeper and his wife, the 6 children - a plain long sleeved, dark coloured top and plain long dark coloured bottoms
Angels, star: a white or gold/silver outfit
Mary: a white or light-coloured base layer
Narrators and readers: smart /party wear
Any problems, please come and talk to us.
Please send all of these in a NAMED bag by Friday 6th December.
Have a wonderful weekend
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 22nd November
Year 2 have worked especially hard this week on subtraction, non-fiction texts and Nativity plays! Well done to everyone for great focus.
In English, we have looked at our non-fiction text on monsters and started to use tools from our toolkit: comparative sentences, generalisers, descriptive vocabulary and adverbs. Next week we are going to explore alternative non-fiction texts to see what we can 'magpie' from a wider selection.
In Maths, we have focused on subtracting ones, tens, and then 2-digit numbers from 2-digit numbers without crossing a ten. Next week, we will complete our addition/subtraction unit before heading onto 2D shape the following week. Please do continue to practise number bonds to 10/20/100 at home.
We have talked a lot about our trip on Monday. They were very excited to see photos of the Golden Hinde and we are all looking forward to travelling there, and to an exciting day out.
We have been through groupings, adults accompanying us, expectations for travelling and getting on to/off the trains. Please could you also remind your child over the weekend, about the importance of staying with their group leader.
We look forward to seeing you at 8:45am on Monday morning, at Rickmansworth train station.
We will gather all of the children outside the station to the right of the entrance. We are aiming to leave at 9am. Please could you remind your child to go to the toilet before leaving home, as this will be tricky once we are on the trains.
Please ensure that they have a warm coat and decent shoes to walk in. The ship is fairly open and therefore will be colder than being in a warm classroom! In addition, there is no area to put bags so they will keep their bags with them all day. A small rucksack would be perfect, since there is a large amount of small stairs to climb up and down on the ship, and both hands will be needed for this! Lunch will also be eaten outside in their outdoor lunch area. Please ensure that your child's lunch does not contain any nuts or sweets.
We anticipate arriving back at school before the end of the school day for a normal pick up time. The Office will let you know if there are any changes.
Have a great weekend, and we look forward to seeing you all at Rickmansworth Station on Monday morning.
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 15th November
We have had a busy and productive week. In English, we started our new unit of writing - non-fiction reports on monsters! The class really enjoyed finding clues for who was reportedly in the classroom on Tuesday night :) and we have spent time carefully learning the model text. Next week, we will continue exploring the text, practising some of the key tools found within it: generalisers, comparative sentences, descriptive vocabulary.
In Maths, we had an extremely successful end to our unit on addition where many of the class learnt how to exchange 10 ones for a ten when adding a 2-digit number with another 2-digit number. On Wednesday, we switched focus to subtraction. This will be continued next week and we will be looking at strategies for subtracting 2-digit numbers from 2-digit numbers without crossing a ten. Please do practise number bonds to 10, 20 and 100, as these are fundamental skills in Year 2.
Apologies for the late sending out of the spelling sheets this week. In the top right hand corner of the spelling sheet, we are now writing the score of the previous test so that you are aware of how your child performed, in the absence of the spelling test books coming home. We are very aware that for some children it is a real struggle to learn spellings for good reason. If you are struggling to help your child learn their weekly spellings, please do come and talk to us.
We will not be visiting the school Library on a Thursday until December now, as we have to focus on our Nativity rehearsals. We apologise for that but we can't fit everything in to our current timetable!
Trip: thank you to everyone who kindly offered to accompany us on our up-coming trip into London, to the Golden Hinde, on Monday 25th November. Ms Davoren, Ms Lucock, Mrs Pryzwara and Mrs O'Toole will be coming with us this time and we have members of Staff accompanying us too. We have 3 further trips coming up later in the year: a trip around Rickmansworth, to a London art gallery and a day visit to Windsor Castle, for which we will need parent helpers. There are 8 children without a response as yet, so can we urge you to complete the relevant section on the School Gateway. We will be leaving from Rickmansworth station at 9am so please drop your child there at around 8:45am, where we will be waiting to receive them. We will walk from the Underground station to the Golden Hinde Museum and it is about a 10-minute walk. Lunch will be outside in the museum's covered area. Once we arrive back at the station we will then be walking back to school to arrive back before the end of school. Please ensure that your child is wearing a coat and suitable shoes with a rucksack for their lunch. We are really looking forward to the day! If you have any questions, please do ask us.
We wish you all a lovely weekend.
Mrs Lee & Mrs Collett
Friday 8th November
From the stories that were being shared on Monday morning, it sounded like everyone had a good half-term!
The class have come back ready to learn with renewed focus and enthusiasm, which has been brilliant :) We have introduced many of our new topics this week, including 'Explorers' in History, Photography in computing, handball skills and gymnastics in PE.
Next week we will begin learning songs for our KS1 Nativity 'Everyone loves a Baby' for a performance day on Tuesday 10th December. More details to follow in the coming weeks.
This week in English, we have published our pirate stories in our Publishing book, refining our editing skills as well as focusing on sentence structure and handwriting. From next week, we will be launching our next unit of learning: non-fiction report writing. We will focus on a text about monsters, which fits brilliantly with our DT unit where they will be making their own moving monster.
In Maths, we have been learning how to add two 2-digit numbers without crossing a ten. Next week, we will be learning how to add 2-digit numbers together where we need to exchange 10 ones and regroup. After this, we will end the week with a focus on subtraction. Where possible, please practise simple addition and subtraction with your child at home, as this will really support our current learning.
In order to fit in Phonics, English and Guided Reading before break time each day, we need to start Phonics at 8:55am. Please ensure that your child is in school by 8:50am to support this important learning.
Please continue to read 5 times each week and sign the Reading Record Book. We have some children who have already reached their bronze badge. A thank you for all your support at home. These badges will be given out at a later date to allow Year 6 plenty of time to make them first.
Thank you for all the donations of tissues. No more are needed at this time.
Notices
Monday 11th November - Scouting uniform for Remembrance Day
Tuesday 12th November - Odd Socks Day for Anti-Bullying week
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Lee and Mrs Collett
Friday 25th October
Thank you for making time to meet with us this week at our parents’ evenings. It was really good to spend that time together. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do come and talk to one of us, before or after school, or book an appointment through the school office.
It has been a busy but brilliant week in Year 2, to end a very full first half term.
We thoroughly enjoyed Pirate Day on Tuesday. Thank you for providing wonderful costumes! We spent the day creating then following a treasure map, using our compass knowledge, singing sea shanties and talking like a pirate whenever there was opportunity! We have completed many of our foundation subject units and look forward to starting new ones after half term.
Half-term homework:
Instead of the Doodle Learning, we would encourage the class to have a well-earned rest. Please keep up the reading though! Books can be changed on the first Monday back if needed.
If when you are out and about, you see signs of Autumn in the natural world (e.g. leaves, conkers, acorns etc.), and can bring to school any small examples, that would be appreciated. We would like to make a display on our return. This time of year is always a great opportunity for conversations about our natural world.
We hope you enjoy the half-term week.
Mrs Collett & Mrs Lee
Friday 18th October
We have enjoyed our penultimate week before a well-deserved rest over half-term for all of Year 2! We are looking forward to talking to you all on Tuesday or Wednesday next week about how your child has settled into this new academic year. Please do take a quick look at the mini report that was sent out, as we will be discussing these targets.
In English this week we have written very successful pirate stories, and what an adventure some of the pirates had! Sea monsters, dangerous lagoons and ferocious enemy pirate crews, to name a few of the 'problems' in our stories.
For Maths, we focused on addition strategies and will continue to do so next week.
We has some time thinking as philosophers in RE, this week. Having learnt such a lot about what many Christians believe that God is like, we spent some time thinking about our own personal beliefs and actions.
In art, we have started our mini beast collages and cannot wait to finish these off next week!
Spellings next week: As Tuesday is our Pirate Day, we will change spelling tests to Wednesday next week. New spellings will be given out before the end of the week for a longer time to learn them over half-term.
Mini report from Mrs Bennett about Wednesday's PE sessions:
This half term, we have focused on improving three key physical skills: agility, balance, and coordination.
Agility: To develop agility, we performed a variety of circuit activities, which helped us practice quick movements and changes in direction.
Balance: For balance, we used equipment in the hall, including ropes, to challenge ourselves and improve stability.
Coordination: Our coordination skills were enhanced by focusing on dribbling and kicking techniques, helping us better control our movements, especially with a ball.
Thank you so much for the donation of boxes of tissues. They have been really appreciated!
We are looking forward to having fun as a crew of trainee pirates on Tuesday. Please can they wear clothes/shoes that are suitable to go outside for our usual break times.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs Collett & Mrs Lee
Friday 11th October
We have had another busy, hard-working week. Well done to Year 2 for increased stamina and resilience.
In English, we have been working diligently to write our own version of 'Captain McGraw and the storm'. We have been really pleased with their creative ideas and well-chosen vocabulary, and are looking forward to reading their finished, crafted work next week.
In Maths, we have explored number bonds to 10 and 20. Next week we will be focusing on a number of addition skills: using related facts, adding ones, adding to the next 10, making number bonds to 100.
In Geography, we started to plan and draw our own treasure map.
In PE, we learnt a sequence of movements for our unit on water, whilst dancing to Funk Monk's 'Beach Bongos Part 1'. Great fun!
We investigated the term ‘durability’ in Science, and tested various fabrics to see which one would be the best option for playing outside.
Today in Art, we started designing our own mini-beasts ready to make them using a collage style next week.
Spellings: we are aware that some find learning spellings more challenging than others. If your child is struggling to learn their spellings and gets a word wrong 3 weeks in a row, we will simply leave that word for the time being and return to it at a later date. If you are finding spelling challenging at home, please come and talk to us.
Next week you will receive an email with a mini report. This is to show, ahead of parents evening consultations, your child's learning behaviours in Year 2 as well as a target for Maths, reading and writing. We will discuss these at the consultation in the final week of this half-term.
Pirate Day - a reminder please that Pirate Day is on Tuesday 22nd October. It would be great if your child could come to school dressed as a pirate on that day! Thank you
Further donations of boxes of tissues would still be really appreciated as we go into the colder months.
We do hope you have a wonderful weekend, and look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Mrs Collett & Mrs Lee
Friday 4th October
We enjoyed being at the Church on Wednesday for our Harvest festival service. We looked very smart too! A huge thank you to all parents who donated food and toiletries.
In English this week, we read alternative texts, spending time particularly exploring 'Inside the Villains' where we learnt all about the giant and the wolf characters from many fairy tales. The class really enjoyed this book! Keeping our focus on vocabulary, adjectives and the 'Power of 3', the class are prepared for next week when we will begin to write our own versions of a pirate tale, using these same writing techniques.
We have completed our Maths unit on place value. Next week we will be revisiting number bonds to 10 and 20 before exploring addition more fully.
On Wednesday afternoon, we welcomed in Karl and Shaniah, from Wellspring Church, who helped us to understand how and why many Christians worship by singing.
In Geography, we learnt about compass directions, and in science we investigated the term ‘rigid’ by testing the strength of different rulers using weights.
We were excited to sketch some real life insects in Art today! We observed and sketched the insect’s details closely and enhanced our sketches by adding colour, using pastels.
Library - Apologies for the change of day with Library this week. We have discussed keeping Library changing day on a THURSDAY now as a permanent move. So please do encourage your child to bring in their library book each Thursday.
Homework: a small number of parents have raised questions/made comments about the new homework system. These comments are really valuable so please do let us know if you are having difficulties.
Next week, we have school photos taking place on Monday (individual as well as siblings), so Year 2 will need to come to school in their smart uniform, with their PE kit in a bag, as on Wednesday for Harvest festival.
Looking ahead - Pirate Day is only 2 and a half weeks away, when Captain Whitebeard will be back to choose a suitable crew for his next voyage. Please could we ask that all children come dressed as a pirate on that day (Tuesday 22nd October). Parents evenings are also in that final week of half term so please look out for the email and sign up to discuss your child's progress.
We would appreciate donations of boxes of tissues please. The colder weather means we are blowing our noses more!
We wish you all a wonderful weekend
Mrs Collett and Mrs Lee
Friday 27th September
We have had a busy week in Year 2 and have enjoyed exploring our foundation topics. As pirate explorers, we have been learning about the 7 continents and 5 oceans, ready to use a compass to navigate the seas next week!
In English, we continued with our text all about Captain McGraw and have spent the week learning about and writing using the Power of 3 and 2A sentences. Next week we will be reading alternative texts to extend our vocabulary and experience, ready to write our own stories. 'The Eyebrows of Doom' and 'The Villains' are both fantastic books, which we are confident the class will enjoy.
In Maths, we have learnt to place numbers on a number line, ready to order and compare 2-digit numbers next week.
For Science we investigated how stretchy different fabrics were, by placing 4 oranges into 3 different thicknesses of tights, and seeing how far they stretched.
Art was exciting this week, as we were challenged to do a continuous line drawing looking carefully at different mini beasts. We also tried a variety of different sketching tools to produce these images.
We are looking forward to welcoming a visitor in next week's RE lesson who is coming to talk to us about why Christians sing in Church.
Our Harvest festival service is on Wednesday so please drop off your child, at St Mary's Church Hall (round the back of the church); at 8:45/8:50am ready for our 9am service. If you can stay and walk back to school with us, that would be really appreciated. All food and toiletries donations will be going to the Foodbank charity.
Library books can be changed on Tuesday next week.
Spellings:
Spelling sheets were sent home on Thursday. These will be tested on Tuesday next week and new spellings will be sent home on Wednesday.
We hope you have a lovely weekend
Mrs Collett & Mrs Lee
Friday 20th September
It was great to see many of you at our 'Meet the teachers' event on Tuesday morning. We hope that it was useful.
We have uploaded the PowerPoint slides in which you can find a copy of our Autumn class timetable and our curriculum overview for this first half-term. If you were not able to be there, please do come and ask any questions you may have. We are keen to work well together to bring out the best in each and every child. No comment or question is too small to ask.
This week we launched our new English scheme and started with a clue finding session to see if we could work out the main character in our first text. Clues of a peacock feather, a gold hoop earring and a beard kept us amused! We then spent the rest of the week exploring adjectives, 2A sentences and the 'Power of 3' as techniques found in the story, which we are hoping to use when we write our own pirate adventure in a few weeks' time.
In Maths, we have continued embedding understanding of 2-digit numbers, partitioning into tens and ones using Dienes, place value charts, number lines counting in 10’s and part/whole models.
In RE we read and acted out the story of Jonah; for Geography we named (and sang) the 5 oceans on our planet. Next week: the continents!
In Art, we continued to learn about the works of our chosen artist Van Kessel, and we had the opportunity to enhance our own sketching skills!
Science provided us with a challenge to find a suitable material for the Three Billy Goats Gruff to use to build a new bridge; we loved testing all of the material options to find the strongest one.
Library books were chosen this week. We are still working on a set day to visit the Library but for now, any Year 2 who would like to change their Library book can bring it in on a Tuesday, and we will aim to change them that day.
As discussed in the 'Meet the Teachers' presentation, the Homework letter sent out at the end of last week contained some inaccuracies regarding our spelling system. Spellings will be tested on a Tuesday and new lists sent home on a Wednesday. Most children will receive 6 each week. We will be working from the assessments given to us by Miss Devlin at the end of Year 1. Our focus will be Common Exception words.
We will print out and send home the Maths Knowledge Organisers next week, for you to use at home.
Home Learning
Doodle Learning - green zone in English and Maths by Monday morning
Please read 5 times and sign the Reading Record book.
We will send the first spelling lists home next week - you can always do some Doodle Spelling for this week
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Collett and Mrs Lee
Friday 13th September
We have successfully completed our first full week in Year 2; the children have worked very hard.
It has been a busy week so a restful weekend might be in order!
In English this week, we have been exploring 'Into the Blue' as our class text. The poem explores an imaginary journey of a person holding onto a blue balloon as it floats over landscape and then pops, leaving them to land on a cloud. We discussed vocabulary and adapted ideas to compose our own version. Next week we will be starting our new unit on character description looking at texts all about pirates and characterisation.
In Maths, we have embedded understanding of teen numbers and begun to make, draw and write 2-digit numbers to 100 in different ways. We will continue this next week.
We have launched into many of the foundation subjects, including Geography where we had a surprise visit from a pirate in search of new crew! Captain Whitebeard will be back in 6 weeks on our pirate day (Tuesday 22nd October) to choose pirates to join him on his next voyage.
Next week, our fledgling pirate crew will learn about the oceans.
In RE we begin to explore the story of Jonah to understand what Christians believe about God.
Our investigation work in science was all about looking at different materials and their properties, and we will continue to explore these further next week.
Today we really enjoyed starting our Art project on ‘Flora and Fauna’ and discovered the work of Jan Van Kessel, who was really inspired by nature.
Next Tuesday morning at 9am, we look forward to welcoming you to our 'Meet the Teachers' presentation where we can unpack Year 2 systems, routines, structures and expectations.
Home Learning:
Please read 5 times each week and sign the Reading Record book.
You will receive an email from Mrs Maxwell about the expectations of home learning on Doodle Learning. We will share more information at our 'Meet the Teacher' session on Tuesday. Please e ncourage your child to used Doodle Maths and Doodle English.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Lee and Mrs Collett
Friday, 6th September 2024
A warm welcome to Year 2!
We hope you have had a wonderful Summer holiday.
The children have been excited and enthusiastic starting in Year 2. We have introduced them to the classroom routines and spent time talking about the school Code of Conduct 'Respectful, Ready and Reflective' and our school vision, thinking about how we can shine our light. Yesterday afternoon we celebrated the return to school with a 'Family Group' afternoon. They had great fun with a variety of activities, including a scavenger hunt.
Our class page will be used to keep you updated on learning, events and key information, and will be updated weekly.
Home Reading
All children will be bringing their reading records home from Monday, after we have completed our initial assessments.
Please sign their Reading Record each time you hear them read; 5 times a week is the aim so that children can get their star stamps and begin collecting their badges. The books (including the signed Reading Record) are required in school every day but will be changed on the allocated day only - written at the top of their Reading Record.
Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange levels: Please read each book with your child 3 times so that they have opportunity to build up their fluency of vocabulary and understanding of the text.
Turquoise, Purple, Gold, White, Lime levels: read the book through once as they are significantly longer but check for accuracy of unfamiliar vocabulary.
In English next week we will be exploring the poem ‘Into the Blue’ before writing our own version and publishing it in our new publishing books. In Maths we will be revisiting numbers to 20 and then learning how to read and make 2-digit numbers to 100. We will also be launching into many of our foundation subject topics, including our main topic: Pirates.
Mrs Lee will teach on Monday and Tuesday, Mrs Collett on Thursday and Friday with a day of shared teaching on Wednesday.
Homework will start next Friday. Further details of this, class routines, expectations and curriculum will be shared at our Meet the Teacher Meeting on Tuesday 17th September at 9am in the classroom. In the meantime, Mrs Maxwell has challenged year 2 to earn some stars by completing some learning on Doodle Learning.
PE days are Monday and Wednesday - please can children come to school dressed in PE kit.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to a great year together.
Mrs Lee and Mrs Collett