Welcome to Class 2

Dear Parents,

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas break and I wish you all a very happy New year. We have another exciting term ahead of us with lots of activities planned.

A couple of dates for your diary – Parents’ Evening on Monday 20th January and our Class assembly on Wednesday 26th February at 3pm. As in previous years, Class 2 will be visiting the Children’s Forest on Tuesday 18th March and Thursday 20th March - more details will follow nearer the time.

The Creative Curriculum

Our context for learning this term is The United Kingdom. Our focus for each subject area will be as follows:

• Art: drawing and painting, British wildlife, Andy Goldsworthy;
• Computing: copying and pasting pictures and combining with text using Word;
• D & T: textiles – designing and making banners of UK flags;
• Geography: UK mapping, the 4 countries of the UK, capital cities, flags, surrounding seas, making posters of famous landmarks in each of the 4 capital cities, local mapping and aerial photos;
• History: the Great Fire of London – causes, sequence of events, resolution, Samuel Pepys;
• Music: Charanga – reggae music, traditional folk music from around the world;
• PSHE: Rights and Respect, valuing difference, British values – democracy and the rule of law;
• PE: football with Rowan and cricket with Fraser;
• RE: what is philosophy, how do people make moral decisions, what do Muslims believe about God, Easter;
• Science: forces and magnets, pushes, pulls and twists, investigating gravity and friction, magnetic materials.

Homework (a reminder and an update!)

English and Maths homework will continue as before – Maths homework given out on Monday to be returned by Wednesday and English homework given out on Wednesday to be returned by Friday.

Times tables:

Weekly tables tests will continue on Friday mornings, now for Year 2 as well. Please help your child to practise and learn the times tables they are working on throughout the week. Don’t forget that the children can also use Times Tables Rockstars to support their learning.

Spellings –The children will continue to have a weekly spelling test on Fridays. In some cases, practising spellings 3 times a week, as suggested in the layout of the spelling record, may not be enough. Please help your child to write their spellings correctly on demand and out of order! For children in Year 3, please remember to check that the children know what each word means and are able to give an accurate definition as well as use each word correctly in a sentence. Each week, the children will be asked to put one of the words into a sentence and to write the definition of another.

Reading – Please do continue to hear your child read frequently, asking questions and talking about the book as you do so. This is important even if your child is a very able reader.

Earrings and Hair

I would like to remind you that all long hair should be tied back so that it is out of children’s faces when they are working.

If children have pierced ears, they must be able to remove their earrings for PE so we would be grateful if you could teach them how to do so as soon as possible after having their ears pierced. In the interim, earrings must be covered by protective tape for PE.

I would also like to remind you that earrings worn at school should be small and simple studs.

Communication

As always, I am available for a chat at the beginning and end of the school day, so please do not hesitate to come and see me if you have any queries or concerns.

It is also possible to leave a confidential message for me via the school telephone system, or to e-mail me direct with any questions you may have or information that needs to be passed on. I usually manage to check my e-mails each morning and at the end of the day, and sometimes at lunchtimes. The address is: fiona.sweetman@irthingtonvillage.cumbria.sch.uk

Please do pop in and ask if there is anything else you would like to know!

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Sweetman