Monday 6th July

Hi Toucans,

Happy Monday! I can't believe that we are in July and that there are only a couple of weeks left until the summer holidays, time is flying by! Another great week of home learning, well done for continuing to do this at home, I know it has been a long time since we have been in school and I really am impressed with all of the commitment to your learning at home, well done!

Here is what I would like you to have a go at this week...

English- For English this week I would like you to write a short information text, 'All about Year 2'. You could include things that we have learnt about, the weekly routine, helping hands, superstar chair etc and explain all the things that you need to know about year 2. Imagine that you are writing a bit of a guide for a year 1 child who will be coming into Toucan Class in September.

Reading- Keep reading for at least 10 minutes every day, it is so important! I will also send you over some reading comprehension activities for you to complete if you wish.

Spelling- We have now finished the set spellings to get through this year. You now have the choice to revisit any previous spelling patterns that we have done or go back over the common exception words. You can find all of these in you Toucan diary. I have also sent you some activities to do on common exception words.

Maths- This week I would like everyone to take part in the sumdog national contest. Sumdog is brilliant for practising your mental maths skills and it's also lots of fun. No pressure, but last year's Toucans managed to win the summer contest, let's see if we can get the Toucans up there again!

Science- Science this week will be a bbc bitesize lesson on parts of a plant. Here is the link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrh8wty There are a couple of videos to watch and then some activities.

A few final bits.....

This week would have also included our Sports Day. Perhaps you could try and have a mini sports day at home with you family. You could run races, do an obstacle course or practice some of those field activities that we do including throwing balls into buckets and awarding yourself points, seeing how many jumps you can do in 1 minute or seeing how far you can throw a ball etc. Have lots of fun!

I have also sent you over some summer fun activities that are linked to the year 2 objectives that we have covered this year if you wish to complete them too.

Don't forget that there are lots of lessons on bbc bitesize if you would like any more home learning ideas.

Have a lovely week Toucans, miss you all lots,

Mrs Nethersole

Monday 22nd June

Morning Toucans,

Another week has passed, they seem to be going so quickly, I can't believe I am setting you another lot of work already! I hope that you are all well and keeping busy at home, it certainly looks like you all are by your photos!

English- In English this week I would like you to have a look at the bitesize lesson for sentence types. We have previously looked at sentence types separately but this bitesize lesson looks at them all together. There is a video lesson to watch and then some activities to do. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7b3trd

I have also allocated you an activity on Bug Club that is linked to sentence types, have a go!

Reading- This week I would like you to share a book with someone. It could be someone in your household that you have read to before, but you could try and be more creative and perhaps read to Grandparents over a video call or read to a neighbour over a fence. Please talk to the grown ups in your house about different people that you could share a story with beforehand, just to make sure that it is safe to do so! I would like to hear about all the different people you have read to this week. I am sure that hearing you read will cheer them up! (If anyone would like to email me a video of them reading I would love to hear it!)

Spelling- Here are your spellings to learn for this week, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, day, week, month, year

Only 8 this week.

Maths- This week in Maths we are going to revisit fractions. Although we have done fractions already this year, this was a long time ago. Fractions can be a bit tricky, but give it your best go!

In year 2 we need to know how to....

• recognise, find, name and write fractions 1/3, 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 of a length, shape, set of objects or quantity.

• write simple fractions for example, 1/2 of 6 = 3 and recognise the equivalence of 2/4 and 1/2.

I have sent you a home learning booklet to work through. You could also....

• Join different colour lego together to show 1/3, 1/2, 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4.

• Fold and cut strips of paper/ string into fractions.

• Using pasta, marbles, lego, beads etc(anything that you have at home!) find 1/2 of 6, 10, 12, 14, 20, find a 1/4 of 8, 12, 16, 20.

• Try and find a way to show, using different objects, that a 1/2 is that same as 2/4.

Science- This week in Science I would like you to have a look at the life cycle of a plant. I have sent you a powerpoint that will explain more about the life cycle of a plant and then there is a cut and stick activity for you to do to put the life cycle of a sunflower in the correct order.

Create- Linked to our work on plants in science I would like you to see if you can make a picture by using different natural items in your garden or collected from any walks and visits that you might go on. You will need to see if you can find different colours to use to make your picture (I am sure you will be surprised at how many different coloured things you can find from outside!)

Last but not least..... Please don't forget about the Top secret homework that I set you last week, please email me if there are any problems.

I hope that you have a lovely week, missing you lots,

Mrs Nethersole

Monday 8th June

Hi Toucans,

I hope that you have had another lovely week. I have enjoyed seeing lots of photos and videos of completed work this week and other things that you have been up to, thank you very much for sharing with me. Last week I had fun celebrating my birthday, I am very lucky that my sister is a baker and she made some delicious cakes and treats for us to enjoy with afternoon tea! I know some of you have had 'lockdown' birthdays and I have loved seeing photos of you celebrating in different ways! Last week Mrs Edney and I were back in the Toucan classroom for a couple of days with Mrs King and some of the year ones, it feels very quiet without all of you guys there and we missed you lots! We really hope that we can see you all again soon.

So here is what I would like you to have a go at this week...

English- Last week you wrote some brilliant letters as the crayons from 'The Day the Crayons Quit'. This week I would like you to continue this by writing a letter back as Duncan to convince the crayon of your choice to come back. How will you make them happy again? Can you persuade them that being your crayon is a good thing?

Reading- I hope that you are all still managing to read for 10 minutes each day. There are another couple of reading things for you to look at this week....

Last week The Essex Library service launched their Summer Reading Challenge which is all going to be online this year. You can sign up and register here http://www.sillysquad.org.uk/ . The Library Summer Reading Challenge is always a great thing to take part in and now everyone can still take part in this online version. Have a go!

Also this week puffin are running a 'Festival of Big Dreams' which celebrates Puffin's 80th birthday and the power of imagination. Have a watch of some of the videos from well known authors. (Parents - You can watch it through facebook or youtube, find out information here https://www.penguin.co.uk/puffin/dream-big.html )

Spelling- This week we are looking at homophones or near homophones. A homophone is where two or more words sound the same but have different meanings and can be spelt differently. I have sent you a couple of activities on this to work through. There are lots of homophones but here are ten that you can practise for your spellings this week; there, their, they’re, too, to, two, which, witch, know, no

Maths- For Maths this week we are going to revisit multiplication and division, we have already done lots on multiplication and division this year and you were fab at this! I will send you over a booklet to work through looking at all the different objectives that we need to cover in year 2. In year 2 we need to.....

• recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables, including recognising odd and even numbers.

• calculate mathematical statements for multiplication and division within the multiplication tables and write them using the multiplication, division and equals signs.

• show that multiplication of two numbers can be done in any order (commutative) and division of one number by another cannot.

• solve problems involving multiplication and division, using materials, arrays, repeated addition, mental methods and multiplication and division facts, including problems in context.

Create- This week I would like you to find out about one of the following artists; Paul Klee, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko or Robert Delaunay. Each of them painted and created art in different ways but all used colour to help them to create their pictures. See what you can find out about them and see if you can recreate one of their pictures.

Science- This half term in Science our topic would have been Plants. I have seen that lots of you have been spending lots of time in your gardens and growing plants at home recently so I'm sure that you will already know lots about this. This week I would like you to go outside and have a look at the different types of trees and flowers that you can find. See how many you the name of and maybe see if you can find out the names of some you don't know. Look for similarities and differences between them, are there any growing in unusual places?

I hope that you all a have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing what you all get up to, miss you all very much,

Mrs Nethersole

Monday 11th May 2020

Good morning Toucans,

Wow another week has passed! I hope that you have enjoyed the bank holiday weekend and any VE Day celebrations you may of have. Thankfully the nice weather also seems to be back , at least for a while anyway, so I hope that you are all managing to spend some time enjoying the outdoors! Thank you for your weekly emails, it is lovely to see what you are getting up to and the work that you are doing at home, well done guys!

Here is your work for this week....

English- This week in English we are looking at proper nouns. We have done lots of work in class on nouns, but this week we look at proper nouns which name specific people/ characters or places/ landmarks etc. (Mrs Nethersole, Donald Duck, Holy Trinity Primary School, Stonehenge). Months of the year, days of the week and some events, festivals, brand names and companies are also considered to be proper nouns. It is important that all proper nouns start with a capital letter.

I would like you to write an a-z of proper nouns, making sure that they start with a capital letter. You could challenge yourself by trying to make it specific so place names or people or you can just do an a-z of different proper nouns.

I have also emailed over a proper nouns challenge sheet for you to have a go at.

Reading- Please make sure you are reading or sharing a story with an adult for at least 10 minutes a day. It doesn't matter what you are reading, it could be a book, magazine, annual or comic, but I would just like you to be reading every day! I have also emailed over to you a reading comprehension activity if you would like to have a go at it.

Spelling- This week for spellings we are looking at adding the suffixes -ment, -ness and -full to a word. Here are the list of spellings for this week, but remember there are lots of other words that you can also add these suffixes to- enjoyment, sadness, careful, playful, kindness, argument, merriment, happiness, plentiful, cheerful.

Maths- This week and next week we are going to revisit place value. We have already covered all of the place value objectives at different points of the year so your child should have an idea about all of these. This week we are going to look at the following year 2 objectives to......

- recognise the place value of each digit in a two- digit number.

-compare and order numbers from 0 up to 100; use <,> and = signs

-read and write numbers to at least 100 in numerals and in words.

There are lots of different games and activities that we play in year 2 to practice place value. I have emailed you a couple of place value activities and booklets for you to have a go at. You could also have a go at...

• Bingo- You can play bingo either with normal 1 or 2 digit numbers with the 'caller' saying a number to cross off. Or we play place value bingo where the 'caller' gives a place value instruction like 'cross out your number if it has a 2 in the tens place.' or 'cross out your number if it has a 3 in the ones place.'

• Number sort- Ask an adult to write down 5 different 2 digit numbers on cut out pieces of paper, put them in the right order from smallest to largest. Can you then think of 5 other numbers that could go in between the numbers your adult has written down for you?

• Number writing- Ask an adult to give you a number between 0-100, can you write it in digits and words? You could chalk them, draw them with different colour felt tips etc.

• Number hunt- Look through comics, magazines and newspapers- cut out the numbers that you find- can you put them in order from smallest to largest? Can you compare them using <, > or = symbols?

Create- This week I would like you to carry on with your work about Kandinsky. Kandinsky often listened to music when he painted and tried to draw what he heard and felt. This doesn't have to be an image or object but could be shown by using shapes, lines and colours. I would like you to listen to some music and draw/ paint/ chalk how you feel and what the music makes you imagine. Try listening to different types of music and see if this makes you feel differently or want to draw different things and use different colours. There is no right or wrong with what you draw, just whatever comes into your mind.

Science- Carrying on your work from on habitats from last week, I would like us to think about microhabitats this week. A microhabitat is a smaller habitat that you might find inside a larger habitat. For example a woodland is a habitat but inside the woodland there will be many microhabitats; under stones, inside fallen logs, in and on the soil etc. In a microhabitat you will usually find minibeasts such as ants, woodlice, beetles etc. I would like you to have a look for microhabitats in your garden or on your daily walk. Once you have found two different microhabitats compare what minibeasts live there, thinking about why they have chosen it as their place to live. You could even keep a tally of all the different minibeasts that you find and turn this information into a pictogram using 2count on purple mash if you wanted.

Last but not least- Don't forget all the resources that you can use on the tabecat page! There are daily lessons on bbc bitesize if you want some extra home learning https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/dailylessons. Try and stay active, check out Mr Wiskin's PE page on the tabecat website if you want some ideas of activities that you can do at home.

I have emailed you some resources to help you with your home learning this week, once again please don't think you have to do them all, just use what you wish!

We are trying to make sure that we have weekly contact with everyone so please try to send me a weekly email, we want to make sure that all our families are keeping safe and well. I also really like hearing from you and seeing all the wonderful things that you are up to!

Have a lovely week, missing you all lots,

Mrs Nethersole

Monday 6th April 2020

Good Morning Toucans!

I hope that you have had a great week and have managed to spend lots of time outside enjoying the sunshine.

A great week of home learning guys, well done! Thank you to all those children that have emailed me their pirate story, these were brilliant and I loved reading (or watching them!) I am pretty sure that I have managed to email you all back but please send me another email if I have missed yours. Lots of you completed the Sumdog challenges and a special well done to holrip and treray who managed to complete them both. I have also enjoyed looking at all the different pictograms that you have completed on Purple Mash, they were all completely different and I know that there were some interesting ways of collecting data during our time at home (thank you parents!).

Well done to each and every one of you that have given the home learning tasks a go, I am really impressed.

So over the next two weeks we will be celebrating Easter and as a school we have have some exciting Easter activities for you to do this week.

Easter Egg Design- Each child in the school is being asked to design their own Easter egg. This can be done in any way that you like, it could be a decorated real hard boiled egg, or a painting, drawing, cake etc. absolutely anything that you like. You can take a photo and email these to me or post on the 'At home' page of the school website, so the rest of the school can see them as well.

Sumdog Contest - Sumdog have a National contest that started on Friday 3rd April and runs until Thursday 9th April at 8pm, log in and play as usual to join in and answer as many questions as you can, but remember to take your time and answer carefully!

The Easter Story- At this time of year we always look back and reflect on The Easter Story. Read The Easter Story with your family (If you do not have the story at home or a Children's Bible you can watch The Easter Story here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/religious-studies-ks1-the-christian-story-of-easter/zhgv47h ) Re-write the main events of the story in your own words. Don't forget all those wonderful writing skills that you have been practicing and using this year, maybe try to use some co-ordinating conjunctions (and, or, but) or as a challenge some sub-ordinating conjunctions (because, when, if) in your story.

Rainbows- I have been so impressed with all of the rainbows that you have been creating and they are looking brilliant on the school website, please share any more that you make with me so they can be put on the school website for all to see. You can email them to me and I will pass onto Mr Handy or you can post these directly onto the 'At Home' page

And last but not least please remember to keep reading and sharing stories, it is a brilliant time to be able to relax with a good book, so please make the most of it! I would love to hear of any good book recommendations!

Most importantly though enjoy spending time with your family, playing games, building dens, baking, reading or having Easter egg hunts! This is such a precious time to be together, make sure you all enjoy it!

Please continue to send me emails, photos and videos I really do love receiving these and seeing what you are all up to! I know Mrs Edney has liked receiving hers too!

Take care, missing you all,

Mrs Nethersole