Welcome to Amur Leopard Class!
This year we have chosen class names of endangered animals in the hope to raise awareness and to help understand the environmental crisis our world is facing. With only around 120 adult cats left in the wild, the Amur leopard could be the most endangered big cat on Earth. The good news is, having been driven to the edge of extinction, their numbers appear to be rising thanks to previous conservation work.
For more information and how you can help, use the QR code below:
Amur Leopard Class is made up of 30 fabulous Year 2 children. Our class teacher is Mrs Ganguly and our teaching assistants are Mrs Salt, Mrs Dowthwaite and Mrs Leese. Every other Friday, we will be taught by Mrs Robinson whilst Mrs Ganguly has her planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time.
On our webpage you will find regular updates on our learning as well as useful information and important dates. Alongside this webpage, you will also have access to our class dojo where we will share regular updates with you so that you know exactly what we have been up to.
Messages from Mrs Ganguly
Hello,
We are in the final term of our academic year and it has been just an amazing journey with the children since September. I am going to make the most of this term with them and looking forward to a fantastic term ahead. We have a very busy term with lots of events planned
We are extremely excited about our trip this year. On the 8th of July, we will be going on our Year 2 trip to the Black Country Museum in Birmingham where the children will be learning more about Victorian Britain and transport through the ages.
This term our outdoor PE lessons are on Mondays and our indoor PE slot will be on Thursdays.
Please don't hesitate to contact me on dojo or email if you would like to discuss / ask anything.
Kind regards
Mrs Ganguly.
Summer Term 2:
Dates for your diary:
- Monday 3rd June - Start of Summer 2
- Tuesday 4th June - The Book Bus in school
- Wednesday 19th June - Expert group afternoon
- w/c 24th June - Celebration Week
- Friday 5th July - Sports Day and Summer Fair
- Monday 8th July- Year 2 Trip to Black Country Museum
- Tuesday 9th July - Transition Day
- Wednesday 10th July - Meet the teacher after school drop in
- Tuesday 23rd July - End of the year, last day in Year 4
Timetables
Our class book
Our class text for this term is:
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
There once was a boy and one day a penguin arrives on his doorstep. The boy decides the penguin must be lost and tries to return him. But no one seems to be missing a penguin. So the boy decides to take the penguin home himself, and they set out in his row boat on a journey to the South Pole.
But when they get there, the boy discovers that maybe home wasn’t what the penguin was looking for after all.
A truly magical book from a gifted artist and master story teller. It is a beautiful story of friendship and discovery.
Spellings
Our weekly spelling test of Year 2 words takes place every Friday and our first spelling test this term will be on Friday, 19th April 2024.
Your child will also receive spelling practice and tests on words at their phonics level, which takes place throughout the week as part of their phonics lesson.
PE / Forest School
Our PE days for Summer 1 are as follows:
Outdoor PE - Every Monday afternoon
Indoor PE - Every Thursday afternoon
The indoor PE kit should include:
A plain red t-shirt (with or without the school logo)
A plain black sports jacket/zip-up jacket - please ensure these are named
Plain black or navy joggers or shorts (weather dependent)
If your child has long hair please make sure they have a bobble to tie it back in.
Our Summer 2 Curriculum
Maths: This term we will continue our learning on data handling as part of our Statistics topic. We will also begin to think about positional and directional language to describe movement, including turns. Alongside this we will recapping all the maths we have done so far with a particular focus on our SATs.
English: In writing, we will focussing on narratives, exploring story writing using powerful vocabulary including adjectives and adverbs. We will begin to look at how we can group ideas into paragraphs to extend our pieces of writing.
Geography: Our lessons this half term will be based around fieldwork in our school grounds and local area. We will begin to look at compass points, aerial photographs and basic map work skills including keys and symbols.
Science: To tie our learning together, we will begin to consolidate our knowledge of working scientifically. In these lessons we will be looking as experiments and investigations, thinking about the aims and outcomes, beginning to make predictions, observing data and findings and discussing the conclusions we can see.
Art: We will be finishing our textile art learning tie and dye techniques and also embroidery skills.
Music: In these sessions we will be trying to become musicians ourselves, by looking at our improvisation skills. We will take popular music and make tweaks to the rhythm, tempo or lyrics to make them our own. We will begin to look at the question of how does music help us look after our planet.
Computing: Programming quizzes.
PE: Outdoor – Athletics - this will include practising for our sports day. Indoor -
RE: How should we care for others in the world and why does it matter?
PSCHE: This term we will look at our health and well-being strand, considering who can help us and why. We will look at ways in which we can be safe and responsible in the decisions we make.
Knowledge organisers and targets
Reading
Your child will receive a reading diary and a wallet containing 2 books. The first book is a black and white ‘storybook’ – this will be a copy of the book your child has learned to read in their Read, Write Inc phonics group. They will know this book and should be able to read it fluently – this is their book where they can show off their great reading skills to you! The second book is a ‘Book Bag Book’ – this book will be matched to your child’s phonics knowledge. Although they will not have read this book in school, they should be able to read it quite easily. This book enables your child to apply their phonic skills independently and for this reason, this is the book we encourage you to focus on at home.
Each child will also choose a book to share together at home. We promote a love of books and reading at school and would like to encourage this at home. We do not expect children to be able to read the sharing book themselves, but we do expect them to enjoy listening to it, learning from it and talking to you about it!
In order for our phonics teaching to work effectively, it is essential that all books are returned to school. After hearing your child read at home, or sharing a book together, please make sure all books go straight back into their reading wallet / bag so they are always readily available at school. Depending on their phonics group, children will be given new reading books every 4 to 6 days.
Please note: Some black and white storybooks have a space for the child's name. Please leave this blank as these are not personal copies, and will be re-used.
Finally, a reminder that we ask for you to hear your child read at least 3 times each week. Please sign your child’s reading diary after each read and include any comments you would like to make. If your child has read at least 3 times each week their name will get entered into our Reading Raffle!