Weekly update 08.06.09

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the last half-term of the year. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone, before we know it it will be Christmas!!



The children had a brilliant time at Beeston and I'm sure had some tales to tell when they arrived home! Fortunately the rain held off long enough for the famous campfire!!! Everyone had a good night's sleep and ate really well. The children were all very well behaved and we were extremely proud of them. Well done Year 2. You were a credit to your parent's and your school.

Also a great big thank you to all the staff who gave up their time to take the children on the residential. Without them the children would not be able to go.


We still have a few SATs to complete over the next week or so. We have the longer writing task and a Numeracy paper to do so we are still reviewing our Maths topics at the moment.


Literacy

We begin a new topic this week- Extended stories. In this topic the children will have the opportunity to practice all the skills they have learned over the year and put them into a longer story. By the end of the unit, the children will work independently to plan and write their own sustained story with a logical sequence of events. They should be able to include elements from reading, for example characterisation, setting, story language, and add detail and dialogue to sustain the reader's interest.

If you get a chance at home, this would be a great opportunity to read a longer story together as a family, or maybe the children could read to a younger sibling.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/games/story_plant/small_no_sound/standard2.shtml



http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/?fairy



http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/drilldown/stories/2/2/1/



http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/lit_sites/speech_marks/index.htm



http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/funandgames.htm#General_Knowledge



http://www.eduplace.com/tales/help.html



http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/floppy.shtml


Science

We begin a new topic on Forces and Movement. This is a great topic for the Summer as you can discuss the forces used in moving a swing, a roundabout, a bike or a scooter. With some better weather on the way (hopefully!!) the children can get outside and learn at the same time.



http://www.mystery-productions.info/hyper/Hypermedia_2003/Johns/index.htm



http://www.mystery-productions.info/hyper/Hypermedia_2001/lall/1.htm



http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/pushes_pulls.shtml



http://rubble.heppell.net/simulations/nb_friction0.htm



http://www.camelsdale.w-sussex.sch.uk/teach_with_ict3.asp



The last new topic for this term is The Seaside.

This topic has both a History and a Geography focus and is very interesting.



We are starting the history topic called "What were seasides like in the past?"



This week that children will be looking at which parts of the year key holidays take part, recall information from their past to answer questions about holidays and to place key holidays in chronological order.



Websites for this topic:

http://www.seasidehistory.co.uk/50s_60s_70s_holidays.html



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/uk_bristish_seaside_history/html/1.stm



http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/seaside_01.shtml



From now on all the weekly 'domestic' notices about what is happening in school will be available on the school web site and not posted on the blog as before. This is in preparation for a phasing out of the weekly blog and the introduction of the Virtual Learning Environment which will be brought in for next term.

the address for the website is:



http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/



Have a good look at the new site as it is very user friendly and has some great information on it.



Have a great week!



Love from the Year 2 team xxxxxxxxxxx