Junior Class 2

Welcome to Class 2

We are one part of our closely linked Federation team and as our school motto says, we believe ‘Every Piece Matters’ and that we should all ‘Aim High, Be resilient and Take Care of Each Other’. Creating a happy, supportive, team environment is our top priority as this is the foundation for enabling children to challenge themselves and ‘Aim High’ across all areas of the curriculum.

Curriculum

Welcome back everyone! We hope you have had a lovely summer holiday.

Our History topic this term will be ‘The Maya Civilisation’ The children will continue to build on their locational knowledge from previous terms by locating the Ancient Maya Civilisation and Central America and its countries. We will find out about the daily lives of the Maya including buildings, food, farming and fashion as well as their beliefs and culture. Their will be many cross-curricular links this term including using colour and texture to reflect the Ammazon rainforest in art and considering how the Maya civilisation could utilise the power of different forces in Science. This also links to our Design and Technology unit on levers and pulleys which will be after half term.

Our class book for this term is The Curse of the Maya. This is a fantastic, adventure story set in the remote Guatemalan jungle. To ensure we develop reading skills across all the areas we use VIPERS, in our whole class reading, which stands for the following:

V=Vocabulary

I=Infer

P=Predict

E = Explain

R = Retrieve

S = Summarise

In Maths, we will focus on place value and number as well as the four operations. Continued, regular practice of the times tables will have a positive impact on the children’s confidence with the above topics this term so please work on these each week at home. Hit the Button is a great online game to support your child with their number bonds and times tables. They will also have a login to TT Rock Stars in their reading records. Year 4 children will be taking the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in the summer term which requires them to answer each question within 6 seconds (any table up to 12 x 12). The Soundcheck section on TT Rock Stars is very similar to the format of the tables check and is a great way to prepare for the MTC.

Reading is such an important skill to continue consistently practising throughout years 3-6 and underpins all areas of the English curriculum. It enables children to develop their confidence and understanding of a range of topics and the world around them through the constant exposure to new vocabulary. In addition to the wide range of texts we will be studying in class, it is so valuable to continue to support children with their reading at home. We suggest reading with your child at least 5 times a week. Please can you record this in their reading records.

Routines

In Class 2, we use Dojo points as our reward system. Children can earn points for an array of qualities such as showing kindness to others, listening attentively or for producing a fantastic piece of work. Children may also earn raffle tickets for stand out pieces of work and for acts of kindness towards others. At the end of term, we then have a raffle with some little prizes.

The expectation with homework remains the same with 5 home reads to an adult, practise spellings (at least 3 times per week) and Doodle Maths. As a Federation, it has been decided for spellings to be selected from the statutory word lists for their year group. Each child will select the 5 spellings they want to learn that week and these will be recorded in their journals and sent home.

The children will need their PE kits on a Tuesday and Friday but it is helpful if they have them in all week.

Tuesday pm- PE with LJD coaching and Friday am – Mrs Boother will be covering the morning including reading, maths and science (1^st half term). Mrs McLean-Thorne will be taking the children for Forest School (2^nd half term).

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. If your message concerns homework or is not urgent, you can contact me via the messenger on Class Dojo. If it is urgent e.g. relating to attendance, please contact the school office.

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Frayn (Class Teacher), Mrs Hazell and Mrs Rose (Teaching Assistants)

Class 2 – Timetable

Class 2 – Long Term Planning

Parents SATs information