Blackbirds - Year 2

So far this year, we have read:

The Twits (Roald Dahl)

Bill's New Frock (Anne Fine)

The Hodgeheg (Dick King-Smith)

       ... and are currently reading: 

Zombierella (Joseph Coelho and Freya Hartas)
 

Encourage your child to discuss these at home by asking: 

 - about the plot, settings and characters

 - their opinions about it

 - see if they can find out more about the author / illustrator

 - if it is like any other books or stories that they've heard of

We read our class book everyday and spend time discussing what's going, our feelings about the characters and and try and predict what might happen. This is a great opportunity for children to learn new and interesting vocabulary (and perhaps apply to their own writing!).   

Term 2 - Christopher Columbus

Our topic for this term is indeed an interesting one, and hopefully, something for everyone to enjoy. We will be setting sail on a voyage of discovery – to find new lands, learning loads about Christopher Columbus and his crews on the way.

Did you know…?

• Christopher Columbus discovered The Americas.
• He thought he was the first from Europe, but The Vikings got there 500 years earlier (unbeknown to him).
• However, he was in fact trying to find a direct route across the sea to India, but somehow stumbled upon other lands that we now know to be America.
• Because he thought he had found India, these islands became the West Indies, and the people in them, were to known as Indians.
• This was not an easy mission though. Many a time, his crew had had enough, and wanted to give up.

We will be studying various aspects of geography, history, culture and civilisation, making comparisons to now. Children will hopefully gain a sense of dates throughout history, geographical locations and an understanding how people lived in the past. They will learn how important these discoveries were in terms of how civilisations are today – and make up their own minds as to whether Christopher Columbus and his contemporaries were right all those years ago.

Maths

This term we are focussing on addition and subtraction, whilst still building on our place value knowledge. Everyday, we practice some kind of mental maths in order to build our maths brains. Quick recall knowledge of facts and calculation strategies helps significantly when it comes to solving more complex problems. 

Practice the following with your child as much as you can: 

 - Counting up and down in ones, twos, fives and tens

 - Counting up and down in tens from any given number (e.g. 4, 14, 24, 34. 44, ...)

 - Counting up and down in threes

 - adding up / subtracting simple numbers (e.g. shopping list, objects needed etc.)

 - Letting your child have access to educational maths activities (e.g. online) - list of useful sites attached.

Please see our maths calculation policy at Drayton Community Primary School for mathematical methods:

https://www.drayton-pri.oxon.sch.uk/maths-coverage/

Term 1: Seven Wonders of the World

Welcome back! It’s so good to be back at school after what seems like a life-time away. It has been wonderful to meet all the children that make up the new Blackbirds Class, and of course, the parents too.

This term, our topic is all about landmarks, more specifically ‘The Seven Wonders of the World’. A truly interesting start to the beginning of our new year, and a topic that encompasses both history and geography, giving children an insight to the world beyond our (long shut) front doors.

See if you can name them all (before peeking at the list below)…

• The Taj Mahal (India)
• The Great Wall of China
• Machu Picchu (Peru)
• Chichen Itza (Mexico)
• Petra (Jordan)
• Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), and finally…
• The Colosseum (Italy)

Did you notice? The Great Pyramid of Giza is NOT on the list!

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World are a list of landmarks that have long been considered to be the most awe-inspiring structures in the world. Many, made hundreds (even thousands) of years ago, must have taken an unbelievable number of hours to build, not to mention the brainpower of some very clever individuals. Because of this, they each attract millions of tourists every year. The current list replaced the original list that consisted mostly of landmarks that no longer exist. (I have attached a Powerpoint if you are interested in finding out more).

Humanities:

We will be studying various aspects of geography, history, culture and civilisation, making comparisons to nowadays. Children will gain a sense of dates throughout history, geographical locations and an understanding how people lived in the past. They will learn why each of these landmarks qualify as ‘Wonders of the World’, are key landmarks and popular tourist attractions today. Hopefully, this will be an interesting topic for all.

Writing:

Each term, we aim to teach two writing genres. By this I mean, children will be working towards writing two different pieces of text. By the end of the year, they will have experienced writing for a variety of different purposes (including fiction and non-fiction). This term, we will be writing a narrative (or story/tale) to begin with, followed by a non-chronological report in the last three weeks. For more information about writing genres, please visit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zd66fg8

Maths:

This term’s focus is place value (counting, ordering, comparing, hundreds/tens/ones, representing numbers using apparatus). Children need to have a solid understanding of ‘number’ before progressing onto other operations (+ - x and ÷). Next term, we will be starting addition and subtraction. You can help you children by visiting some useful websites (see below) and regular counting with them (ones, twos, fives, tens and forwards/backwards from any given number).

Topmarks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zjxhfg8

White Rose: https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/

Please find attached: our weekly timetable, curriculum map for this term plus other useful information.

Best regards,

Mrs Durman and Mrs Jacobs – The Blackbirds Team