Year 2 Update Week 18

Year 2 Update Week 18

Friday 25th January – Year 2 Sharing! 9am to 11am. Parents to come to schoolin the morning to share in the children’s learning.

Monday 28th January – Sarah Brennan visiting to read and discuss her newbook.

Thursday 31st January – Dim sum lunch trip. Please sign the e-notice and sendin a cheque by Monday 21st January.

Friday 1st February – Chinese Cultural Day and Chinese New Year Assembly.Half term break begins.

Reading AssessmentsWe are currently in the process of completing new reading assessments with thechildren. Each assessment takes some time to complete, thank you for yourunderstanding. Colours of reading books span many levels and so if your child doesnot move to a new colour, this does not indicate a lack of progress.

Dim Sum and Flower Market TripPlease complete the eNotice and send in your payment for our special ChineseNew Year celebration Dim Sum and flower market trip if you haven’t already doneso on Monday 21st January. In the exceptional cases where there is no familymember available to accompany your child, we will encourage them to choose afriend and their family to sit next to during the Dim Sum and ensure that they arefully supervised in the market. If your child will be unable to attend the tripbecause they will be away from school that day please let your child’s teacherknow.

Book DriveBrody, Ryan and Muchan in Year 6 are organising a Book Drive to help spread ourlove of reading. The Sony Corporation will collect books to create mobile librariesin South Africa for schools that do not have enough books for children to read. Ifyou have books that are:

Please send them to school. There will be a collection box in the school foyer fromMonday 21st January. Any books you can donate will help spread the enjoyment ofreading.

Action in the PYP at BHSIt has been great celebrating the talents and achievements of our students throughthe ’Student Achievement’ section in the newsletter. We would like to dosomething similar with Student Action. Action in the PYP is when students areinspired through their learning and their experiences to make a difference to theirlives or the community connected to real life issues and opportunities. We wouldlike to celebrate our students taking action outside of school.

Please could you email examples to me, [email protected] and I willshare through our newsletter.

There are different types of Action. We would like to start with a focus onParticipation. See below for a definition and examples.

Type of Action Examples

ParticipationBeing actively involved in theirlearning and contributing as an

individual or a group

Getting involved with communityprojects

Making appropriate choices and takingresponsibility to help people

Taking on different roles e.g. being aleader, completing my chores, working in

a group, looking after my petTaking part in any decision making

processJoining a new club

School UniformThe weather is getting cooler but please ensure your child is wearing the correctuniform. Please, please ensure that your child has a school cap. Despite the coolerweather, the sun is still powerful. Skin damage from the sun at a young age canlead to problems later on in life, so help us keep your child safe by making surethey have a hat.Health awareness

As we enter flu season we ask that for the next few weeks you check your child’stemperature in the morning before they leave for school. The aim is to prevent thespread of illness and ensure that children are fit and ready to learn. A child with atemperature of 38 degrees or higher should not be coming to school. Wewould also suggest that if your child has had a temperature overnight it would notbe appropriate to send them to school. As always please talk to your child aboutthe importance of thorough hand washing. There will be a record sheet attachedto your child’s diary on Monday that we ask you to complete each day.

Thank you to all the parents who have completed the form each day.

Emily Jeves Vice Principal Year 1 and 2

Timetable

PE Kit Library Bags

2D Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday

2FTuesday, Wednesday,

ThursdayThursday

2K Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Wednesday

Fun Friends Parent Workshop

Thank you to all the parents who attended our workshop about the Fun Friendsprogram which we have started in class. This workshop provided a lot ofinformation on how you can support your child at home. Unfortunately, we can’tshare the power point on the website due to copyright laws.

Please look out for your child’s username and password which we will put in theirdiary. This will enable you to access the programme and support your child athome. We will keep you updated via the weekly update as to which lesson we havecompleted.

Unit of Inquiry

This week the children have been continuing to research and publish informationabout different celebrations. They have been finding their information fromdifferent sources.

The children have enjoyed working with Mr Lowe to create animations about achosen celebration.

The children also thoroughly enjoyed their fifth clay session with Miss Cassie!

In drama, the children continued to explore body language and facial expressions.They created ‘freeze frames’ of a chosen celebration.

Maths

In Maths, the children have been inquiring into making halves of shapes andgroups.

English

In English, the children been publishing information about different celebrations.

Central idea: People show events are important through celebrationsand traditions.

Lines of inquiry

Features of traditions and celebrations (form)1.Why people celebrate (causation)2.Similarities and differences between different celebrations (connection)3.

The children will continue to inquire into different celebrations.

The children will continue to work in groups with Miss Kannis to prepare aninformative video to show on Sharing Day. They will have their last clay session tocomplete and reflect on their clay work and they will continue to practise theirfreeze frames in Drama.

Central Idea:

Fractions are a way of representing part of a whole

Lines of inquiry:

Fractions of shapesFractions of amountsHow to make simple fractions

The language of fractions

The children will start to look at the language of fractions (whole, half, equal,share). They will look at fractions of shapes and objects.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/maths/telling_the_time/play/popup.shtml

Stop the clock – game for ½ and 1 hour

https://www.mathplayground.com/number_bonds_10.html

https://www.mathplayground.com/number_bonds_20.html

Writing focus: Writing to describe (information report) and entertain(poetry)

In reading, the children will continue to read a range of poetry and reports forinformation and enjoyment.

The children will be writing a poem for a chosen celebration. The children will also

write up the information they have gathered about different celebrations.

Well done to:2K – Henry Tam2D – Ashley Siu

2F – Zedric Cheung

InquiryYour child can practise their sharing dance at home, this can be found on theinternet by typing ‘Lets Dance Kids Celebration.’ It is the first dance that appears!Mr Gibson would also like the children to practise the music papers they havebrought home.

SpellingNew spellings will be given out after Chinese New Year. Feel free to review theprevious spelling lists and give further practise as necessary. Home ReadingPlease read at home with your child each day and sign their Reading Journal.Please encourage your child to write the date and title in their Reading Journal,including for Big Universe.In Big Universe, select ‘Library’. On the right-hand side you will be able to selectthe ‘grade’ for your child. The appropriate grade selection is kindergarten, 1stgrade and 2nd grade. This covers the age group of our children at BHS.Mandarin – All children are encouraged to take a reading book home on the days when theyhave Mandarin lessons.

Games and Activities to Develop Vocabulary

We have noticed that many of our Year 2 children would benefit from developing abroader vocabulary. With this in mind, we would like to recommend some gamesyou can easily play at home, or on the move that will give your child theopportunity to develop their awareness and language skills.

I Spy With My Little Eye

Benefits: vocabulary development, phonics and spelling awareness, observationskills and focus

Equipment: None

Number of players: Unlimited

Location: Anywhere!

Say, “I spy with my little eye something beginning with …” Start playing the gameusing objects in the room you can see. Begin with obvious items and over timemove to more discreet objects. You can vary the game by using the initial sounds(phonics), or letters (spelling) or even colours or numbers. You can increase thechallenge level by saying, “I spy with my little eye, something that ends in …”

Word Association Game

Benefits: vocabulary development, fluency, memory and recall

Equipment: None

Number of players: Pairs are good, but more players possible if everyone takesturns

Location: Anywhere!

The first player, chosen randomly, says one word out loud. The other player has toquickly say a word that has some connection with the previous word. Players lose if…

They take more than three seconds to make a connection.1.They repeat a word that has already been said in this game.2.They are challenged and loses the vote.3.

The last player standing is the winner.

For example, one sequences of words might be:

– Bus

– Stop

– Go

– Green

– Grass

– Garden

– Flower

Other well-known games we would recommendinclude, Pictionary, Charades