Friday Sept 8^th 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Year 2 and welcome to Madan class. Myself, Mrs Foster & Miss Lulu have all very much enjoyed our first hot, hot, hot week back at school and we hope the children have too. We’ve spent most of the week getting to know each other and adjusting to the expectations of Year 2. The children are doing brilliantly and we think we’re going to have a fantastic year together.

In English we’ve been learning about our class poet Vikram Madan and studying a poem he wrote called Roller Coaster. The children discussed the poem, how it made them feel and words that they liked. They also learnt the meaning of unknown words in the text before drawing their own pictures to accompany the poem – we have some great artists in the class!

A little bit of admin.

Mrs Foster & Mrs Wordsworth will both be in class on Mondays together. Mrs Foster will be teaching on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with Mrs Wordsworth on Thursdays and Fridays. The children have the pleasure of Miss Lulu’s company all week!

Homework will be set on Fridays and will be uploaded on the class website page – but not this week. We will start in earnest next week so enjoy this weekend!

Miss Bell will be reading with all the children to determine their current reading level soon. Once levels have been checked, reading books will start to go home with your children.

PE is on Mondays and Gymnastics is on Thursdays so please make sure that your children come to school in their PE kits on these days.

We have uploaded a copy of our timetable, curriculum map and our class poem to the website so please do familiarise yourselves with them. Please feel free to email us with any questions or concerns. Our email addresses are

s.foster@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

l.wordsworth@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

For our Art lesson on Tuesday 19^th we need 16 tea towels. It would be amazing if the children could start to bring these in.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Dear Parents and Carers,

Our first full week in Year 2 and luckily no water or concrete issues to keep us off school (although I (Mrs W) was sadly off sick on Thursday – huge thanks to Miss Lulu for holding the fort).

This week we have been reciting the class poem Roller Coaster by our class poet Vikram Madan. The children picked their favourite describing words from the text before writing their own versions with new adjectives. You can find a copy of the poem on the class webpage and soon you should be able to hear your children recite it too!

In Maths, we have been looking at Place Value partitioning numbers into tens and ones and finding different ways of breaking numbers apart using part-whole models, tens and ones and as calculations e.g. 12 = 12 + 2 and 12 = 6 + 6. Some children are still finding this tricky so we’ve included a place value activity in our homework this week for extra practice.

In Humanities this week, we learnt about London landmarks such as Big Ben and the London Eye so do ask your children what they remember and see if they can spot any landmarks on your activities this weekend.

We also began our RE topic on Hinduism, learning what it means to be a Hindu and the importance of family. Students drew pictures, wrote about who is important in their family and why they are important. Could it be you..?

This is the first week for homework so do save some time this weekend! Children always have weekly spellings, a little bit of Maths, three sentences to write linked to spelling words and a fortnightly Comprehension activity that you’ll find in their homework book starting from this week. Children will bring home their homework books this afternoon (Friday), complete the homework in their books and return by next Wednesday at the latest. You will also find homework information on this webpage.

Mathletics will also be set this Friday and should be completed by the following Friday – so a couple of days extra to return! Please don’t let your children get behind with Mathletics. The work set will consolidate their class learning and help ensure it is stored in their long term memory.

Mathletics logins and spelling groups (which are fluid throughout the year) can be found on the inside front cover of your child’s homework books. The green group should learn the first 5 spellings, and the blue group should learn all 8 spellings. There are also 5 statutory spellings that all children should learn. Spelling tests will take place on Friday mornings starting from next week. Children will also be tested on two ‘unseen words’ that follow the spelling pattern for that week to assess children’s understanding of each rule.

Last call for tea towels – so far we’ve only received 4 donations and need a further 12 so do please dig around in your kitchen drawers for any tea towels you are happy to pass on. These will be used in our Art lesson this Tuesday.

Your children should also have in their school bags to bring home a leaflet from FOSS detailing their amazing efforts last year and what their donations helped to pay for in school. The leaflet gives information on how you can support their work this year in the form of donations or by volunteering.

Finally, a plea for house plant donations to help our classroom look more green and inviting. We will have weekly plant monitors chosen from the class to help keep your donations looking healthy. Thanks in advance.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday everyone.

This week Year 2 have been carrying on our Maths Place Value work partitioning 2-digit numbers and we have re-introduced the class to the greater than/less than symbols. A good trick to help children remember which way round these go is ‘the greedy crocodile always eats the bigger number!’ The Maths homework set this week will help to consolidate this.

In English we have started our new topic based around Margaret Mahy’s beautiful book ‘The Lion in the Meadow’. The class have acted out the story, answered comprehension questions and looked at the difference between retrieval and inference questions. (Answers to retrieval questions can be found in the text whilst you need to look for clues for inference questions.) The class have also thought of their own adjectives to describe the animals in the story and wrote their own questions for the lion.

Thank you for all of your plant and tea towel donations which have been put to great use. The tea towels were used to help make children’s own felt with wool fibres.

We are still after small boxes (think matchbox size) to give our imaginary creatures in English a comfortable home so do please have a hunt at home. Many thanks to the new homes that have already been provided.

Next week, the children will be split into two groups for Maths. One will be with Miss Whiting and the other half will stay with us. We will be telling the children which group they are in on Monday.

Reading books will start to go home with your children next Monday and are due back each Friday. Miss Lulu will not be able to change books if they are not returned. Thank you to the parents who have already come forward to offer their help as parent-readers. If you would like to volunteer to read in Year 2 and across the school then do let us know and we will put you in touch with Natasha to start the ball rolling with DBS checks and Safeguarding training so you can be added to the list.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Foster, Miss Lulu and Mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday everyone.

Well the big news for this week was our amazing trip to St Pauls Cathedral. Madan class climbed over 300 steps to reach the Whispering Gallery and were blown away (not literally) by the beautiful interior. Josie, our guide told us all about the history of the cathedral and how it has been rebuilt five times over the centuries. She was really impressed with how much the class already knew about the Great Fire of London. Some of the class were chosen to play the roles of Samuel Pepys, the Mayor of London and fire-fighters from the time. Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to help that day and did a fantastic job. I’m sure everyone slept really well that night after all of our adventures!

In Maths, we have been counting in twos, fives and tens really well. Today, we moved onto counting in 3’s which was slightly trickier but the class were brilliant at spotting lots of patterns to help. We’ve added a number square to the blog for practice with this.

Parentmail letters have gone out this week to alert everyone to the fact it’s Harvest Festival next Wednesday and to ask for donations. Also on 11^th October it’s Hispanic Day and our year will be focusing on – Mexico! Children can wear colours from the Mexican flag or general Hispanic costumes that day so do start looking in your wardrobes for items to use.

And just a plea from us both regarding last minute emails about pick up changes for your children. We don’t have access to emails after lunchtime as are busy teaching so may not get to read any messages sent after this time. Please could you alert reception to any last minute changes so that they can inform us. Unless we respond to your email we probably have not had the opportunity to read it.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday everyone and it looks like Summer is still with us so lets make the most of it!

Thank you to all parents who attended or contributed to our Harvest Festival on Wednesday. You all helped make it a truly wonderful event and well done to S for her great prayer reading!

Next week we have Hispanic Day on Wednesday so do please get those outfits ready – either colours of the Mexican flag or Spanish ‘dance’ outfits. Ms Pereria has some wonderful activities planned..

Next Friday is school photographs day so please could all students come to school in their Winter uniform on that day looking spit-spot!

Thank you to all the mums in Madan class who have given up some of their precious time to read with Y2 students – we really appreciate this extra help. If any further parents  have an hour to spare each week then do please get in touch.

This week, we have started working on our odd and even numbers whilst continuing our work counting in 2’s, 3’s 5’s and 10’s. You can help practice on your walk to school counting at house numbers on the way.

In English we have left our lions behind and our new topic is The King’s Guard which fits in perfectly with our London landmarks Humanities topic. The children have been looking at the difference between command, question and statement sentences.

The students have taken home some wonderful abstract art compositions created this week – we have some wonderful artists in Year 2!

Have a lovely, sunny weekend.

Mrs Foster, Miss Lulu & mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday 13^th everyone and Autumn is now definitely here.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Parents’ Maths Information session on Monday evening at 6.30pm. This is an opportunity to find out more about the Year 2 curriculum, supporting children both in class and at home and guidance on using Mathletics. If you have any specific questions that you would like us to address please email these in advance.

This Tuesday morning, we kicked off Black History Month by joining many schools across the country virtually participating in the Great Big Live Assembly. The children were introduced to this year’s theme for Black History Month: ‘Celebrate Our Sisters’. The children listened to inspiring stories about black women of influence around the world and had the opportunity to listen to responses from panellists about practical things they can do to help make a difference in their communities. In Year 2 we will be focusing on space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin Pocock who is truly inspirational in more ways than one.

On Tuesday we also celebrated World Mental Health Day – a day to talk about mental health and show everyone that mental health matters. It’s day to let people know that it’s okay to ask for help, no matter what you’re going through. This is something we look at throughout the year in our RHE work with the class.

Wednesday was our annual Hispanic Day which started by everyone coming together to sing ‘Somos como las Flores’ and watching an amazing Peruvian dance performance by ‘Ilusion Flamenca’. During the day, each class took part in a Peruvian dance workshop and learnt more about our chosen Spanish speaking country – Mexico in Year 2. As part of the day, we created self-portraits inspired by Frida Kahlo. For lunch we enjoyed a Spanish feast and finally, at the end of the day, we all came back together to watch and listen to a live Salsa Band! Olé!

Next Friday, the last day of term is our annual ‘Red Card to Racism’ day, an opportunity to show support and raise money for the UK’s largest anti-racism charity. On the day, children can wear their own clothes and we encourage them all to wear something red.

Have a lovely weekend all,

Mrs Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

We made it everyone! Autumn 1 complete and half term awaits!

This week, we have been focusing on Black History Month with the theme of ‘Celebrate our sisters’. Year 2 have been focusing on the awesome space scientist/TV presenter Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock who, despite moving schools 13 times, went on to invent equipment for telescopes and satellites to enable scientists to see far into space and understand more about climate change.

Also, as part of Black History Month, students watched an Anansi puppet workshop, based on Caribbean folklore, and children made their own puppets linked to the story.

It was wonderful to see so many bright red outfits for our annual ‘Red Card to Racism’ day today and we all enjoyed Zephaniah’s assembly linked to the theme. This is an opportunity to show support and raise money for the UK’s largest anti-racism charity. Thanks to those of you who have contributed via Parentmail to this important cause so far.

It was great to see so many of you at the Parents’ Maths Information session on Monday evening. For those of you who couldn’t make it Miss Whiting has sent out a copy of the presentation via Parentmail. Thanks to those parents who recommended the White Rose app for parents to use at home – lots of quick activities linked to topics we are covering in Year 2 right now such as number bonds. Please look at the link for more information.

1-minute maths app | White Rose Maths (whiteroseeducation.com)

On the White Rose website, you can also find a series of short videos for parents – Maths with Michael (sadly not our Michael..) – explaining how maths may have changed since the days of your education – which was also a question raised by parents during the evening.  Maths with Michael | Michael Underwood | White Rose Maths (whiteroseeducation.com)

If you have any further questions about how Maths is taught in Year 2 then do get in touch.

And if you find yourself with nothing to do over half term then why not enter the  Daunt Books Children’s Short Story Competition? Please look at Ms Pereira’s Parentmail message for more details and email your story as an attachment to Ms P at  l.pereira@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk by Friday 19th January. The competition is open to all children aged four to fifteen. The story must be all your child’s own work and must be between 300 and 1500 words. Good luck!

Your child should come home this afternoon brandishing a daffodil bulb as part of the returning London Children’s Flower Society Spring competition. We can’t wait to see all of your blossoming flowers next year. We had over 100 entries last time…

Have a wonderful half term and see you all on the other side – Autumn 2 here we come!

Miss Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Welcome back everyone to what now properly feels like Autumn. Mr Schumm’s even allowed us to put the heating on!

Our new English topic reflects this Autumnal feel with poems about Autumn leaves looking for the rhyming words and using actions when reciting them. We’re hoping to record the class reading these out later in the term so watch this space.

We also have new topics in Humanities (the Great Fire of London) which the children have been enjoying remembering their trip to St Pauls last term.

In RE we have been learning about the 10 Commandments, discussing which ones we think are the most important – a toss up between ‘Put God first’ and ‘Obey your parents’ you’ll be glad to hear. Some of the children came up with their own additional rules needed for today including ‘always hold your mummy or daddy’s hand when crossing the road!’

In Maths we’ve been learning how to cross 10s when adding together a two-digit and one digit (or two-digit number) e.g. 15 + 6 and 23 + 38. Some of the children have been finding this tricky and we’ve been looking at all the different strategies we can use to help us, such as adding the 10’s together first.

In Science we are continuing with our Animals Including Humans: Growth and Survival topic and this week looked at how humans grow as they get older. This included thinking about what we can do at each stage of our growth – from babies, toddlers, children, teenagers and adults such as learning to walk or drive. SCIENCE FACT ALERT: Did you know that your foot is the same size as your forearm? You can get your children to show you how to check if this is correct or not!

And a huge well done to all of Year 2 on their cross country efforts this Wednesday including the long walk to Ravenscourt Park. We know that some children were rather anxious about the trip beforehand but we were all so impressed at how everyone overcame their fears. And what a speedy bunch we have in Year 2. Miss Marchant (Sports lead) was super impressed with how fast everyone was. Also a big thank you to all the parents who remembered to pack spare clothes as my goodness we all needed them when the heavens opened on the way back!

Apologies we did not get to change Library books today. We had to squeeze in an extra lesson due to the time missed from cross-country and dance class and something had to give. Normal service resumed next week..

Your children should have come home with their Nativity script today and their highlighted lines! Do take time to help them practice this weekend as rehearsals will start shortly and we want them to be word perfect – many thanks in advance.

Lastly don’t forget it is flu immunisation day next Monday when children who have returned consent forms will receive a nasal spray. We’re sure they will all be brave little soldiers!

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday everyone.

We want to start by saying a huge thank you to you all for the amazing response to the feedback form this week sent by our special visitors. The number of responses took even our visitors by surprise along with the overwhelmingly positive scores. We are so grateful for your support this week. You should also be very proud of your children who behaved beautifully around our visitors – you could have heard a pin drop in our Maths classes – so thank you each and every one. It’s been a long week but we are looking forward to reading the report – watch this space!

In Science, as part of our Growth and Survival topic, we looked at what we should eat for a healthy and balanced diet including foods that are carbohydrates and proteins etc. We learnt an action for each of our food groups and designed healthy meals for the day. We’ve asked the class to look more closely at their cereal boxes this weekend and see which ones contain the food groups we have learnt about. It would be great if you could help them locate the nutritional values and have a chat about the meals you are sharing this weekend.

We met Abi – our new dance teacher for this term who taught us 4 dance moves including the ‘Bart Simpson’! The children also showed Abi their own dance moves – we have some serious movers in Year 2!

During Collective Worship today, the children listened to our local MP, Andy Slaughter, talk about his job as part of Parliament Week. The children were very knowledgeable about each of the parties and the name of our PM. When Andy asked if anyone would like to be PM themselves LOADS put their hands up so we have a few politicians in the making.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday everyone.

Firstly, let us introduce you to the newest member of our class – the carpet! Our previous carpet was looking a little worse for wear so we decided to replace it with our brand spanking new model – we hope you approve. The children were very excited to see their new spots.

Thank you to everyone who attended the parents evenings this week, albeit virtually. It was lovely to put faces to names and have the chance to wax lyrical on how amazing your children are! We know that some of you experienced technical issues and rest assured we will be getting in touch to organise new appointments once we are both back in again next Monday to check diaries so do watch this space. We will also be getting in touch with details of a parents open morning to give you the opportunity to look at your children’s books and have an informal chat with us all – details out shortly.

In Science, as part of our Growth and Survival topic, we looked at why exercise is important. The children checked their pulse rates before and after exercising and talked about the benefits of exercise – not just on our bodies but for our mental health and to have fun.

In Maths today, we started our new topic of inverse calculations (7 + 3 + 10 so 10-3 = 7). Some children found this trickier than others and we will be reinforcing this next week with lots of practice.

This week, we also started our new RE topic, Where is the Light of Christmas? looking at the extract from John describing Jesus as the ‘light of the world’ and what this means. We also looked at the painting of Jesus from St Paul’s Cathedral (sadly not on display at the time of our visit) by William Holman Hunt.

And we’ve been lucky enough this week to have not just one but two class assemblies from Year 5 which definitely kept us entertained and educated. We learnt lots of new myths & legends jokes today in Mr Perry’s assembly so do get ready for some belly laughs as they are repeated back to you.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Happy Friday everyone.

As many of you are aware, the rehearsals for this year’s Nativity, ‘The Angel Who Nearly Missed It All’ have begun. The children have done a great job so far learning their lines, dances and songs.  Videos of each number have been sent to the class whats app groups so please do take time this weekend to help children learn their lines and routines – your help is much appreciated!

The performances will be on Thursday 14^th December at 9.30am and 2pm in the school hall.

Costume lists have been sent out via Parentmail. If your child is required to bring in additional costume pieces, costumes need to be put into a clearly labelled bag and sent to their class by Friday 1^st December.

In Science this week, the children took part in their first experiment of the term predicting what would be the best way of washing hands – with paper towels, with water or with soap and water. We used a special lotion and UV torch to check where any missed dirt still remained and wrote out our conclusions. This was part of our work on hygiene and how important it is to wash hands throughout the day and especially before eating and after going to the toilet.

In Maths today, we started our new topic on adding together 3 one digit numbers. The Maths homework on the sheets this week is on our last topic which we finished yesterday – inverse calculations (7 + 3 + 10 so 10-3 = 7) Some children found this tricky and it would be useful to practice this weekend.

In English, we read our new topic book Look Up by local author Nathan Byron sequencing the sections of this space-tastic story into the right order. The children loved the pictures and we’re looking forward to carrying on with this next week.

For our RE topic, Where is the Light of Christmas?, we looked at Christingles and the meaning behind each item, for example the orange represents Earth. Next week we will be making our own Christingles which you will be able to buy at the school fair (Saturday 2^nd December) – look forward to seeing you there!

And don’t forget that next Thursday (30^th November) is own clothes day. We’ll be dusting off our Christmas jumpers especially.

Have a lovely weekend and keeeeep practicing!

Miss Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Happy 1^st December everyone.

First the good news – there is NO usual homework this week. No spellings, no mathletics, no sentences to write. Instead please, please, please can you help children to learn their lines and routines for the Nativity? As we draw nearer to the performance day of 14^th December, it’s important that everyone feels confident that they’ve got this. It WILL be alright on the night with your support.

And on that note, a reminder that all costumes should have been sent in by today. We are still missing some costumes so please do try to bring these in next week.

And on the homework front – mea culpa. An apology from myself (Mrs Wordsworth) for not uploading the –il spellings last week. Luckily I had uploaded them to the Hoberman class page and some of you knew to look there as a plan b. Normal-ish service to be resumed next week…

In RE this week, following on from last week’s lesson on light, children made their own Christingles ready to be sold at the Christmas Fair tomorrow. All oranges have been personalised so do look out for your child’s creation.

We all loved meeting the donkeys yesterday – all dressed up for Christmas and so well behaved (which goes for your children too!). Children got the chance to groom the donkeys and ask questions – they were very interested in looking at the donkey’s teeth and wondering if they have to visit the dentist too.

We also loved Author day and meeting David Macintosh who spoke about his books and led a draw-a-long session teaching the class to draw animals and socks!

Have a lovely weekend  – perhaps there will be more snowflakes (we spotted some at lunchtime!)

Miss Foster, Miss Lulu & Mrs Wordsworth

Dear parents and carers,

Nativity rehearsals are most certainly in full swing!  The children are doing so well remembering their lines, songs and actions. No homework again this week as we’d like the children to continue to practise for this Nativity.

Please could all children come into school on the morning of the Nativity (Thursday 14th) wearing their usual school uniform. Gymnastics for Madan will either be cancelled or rescheduled next week as it clashes with the Nativity. More details to follow once confirmed.

This week in English, the children have used our book ‘Look Up’ to compose question and exclamation sentences about space. For example ‘Do you know?’, and ‘In 1957 a dog went to space’. We have also worked with a partner to brainstorm verbs, adjectives, adverbs and expanded noun phrases to describe a meteor shower.

In Maths, we have found halves and doubles of numbers, for example ‘double 6  = ?, and half 18 = 9’. We have also completed our end of unit assessment for addition and subtraction.

In computing, we have been planning and recording routes for beebots using instructions such as forward, clockwise turn, clockwise turn and forward followed by go. We were very careful to remember the go  instruction, as without it the beebots stay put!

In RE, we have looked at a painting of the Nativity scene and discussed where the light was coming from and why the Holy family had halos around their heads.

We look forward to seeing you for show time next week.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Foster, Mrs Wordsworth and Miss Lulu