January 2016

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. After the excitement of the Christmas break we have now settled back into our working routine. This is a brief outline of the work that we will be undertaking within the class during the third term.

Literacy
We will be continuing to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme in phonics and common words. This term we will be using the 5 A Day computer program in class to support the learning of phonics and common words. The children will continue to read one or two books per week with associated writing tasks in class to develop their comprehension skills. It is important that the children continue to bring their books into school daily to ensure they are able to use them to carry out their tasks. In Big Writing this term the children will be given opportunities to write narrative, information and persuasive pieces of writing using our new topic Scotland as our stimulus.

French
As part of our French programme the learning will be focused on the following areas; basic greetings, how to ask and say their name, the weather, days of the week and numbers 0-5.

Numeracy
In Primary 2F we will be learning Measure (Length and Area), Multiplication and Division (by 2, 5 and 10), Data Analysis (Tally’s, Tables and Pictograms) and Fractions, Decimals and Percentages (1/2, 1/3, 1/4 and 1/5). Within numeracy the concepts are taught and the children are given opportunities to learn as a whole class, with a partner and participating in active maths activities where the children will be given opportunities to put their knowledge into practice.
Religious Education
During the third term the children will be learning about New Birth/Baptism, Lent and Eastertide. The teaching and learning will take the structure of a prayer service/circle time, Bible readings and written tasks.

Health and Wellbeing
In P.E. the learning will be focused on Possession, Central Net and Wall Games. The children will practice and improve their skills to develop control and flow. They will learn to follow and understand the rules and procedures of a variety of games. Please ensure your child continues to bring their P.E. kit to school on a Monday and takes it home on a Friday. In Primary 2F the children will be working on the Friendship Terrace program. They will be learning about friendship blockers and friendship builders.

Interdisciplinary Learning
This term we will be learning about Scotland. The learning will be focused around 6 main areas; my local area, my local environment, weather, our Science investigation, Scottish foods and Scottish music and artists.

Thank you for your continued support, please use your child’s homework diary to communicate any concerns/comments.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Debbie Ferns
Class Teacher Primary 2F

Term 2 Update from Mrs Ferns and Primary 2F
We have settled into a great working routine and we have been enjoying the exciting activities we have been undertaking.
We have been learning about the human body this term and using this to support our instructional writing. We have written instructions about how to keep safe when using sparklers and this week we were writing instructions for keeping our bodies healthy. The children have really grasped the concept of this genre of writing and enjoy informing people about what to do. Remember to look out for our weekly star writers on twitter.
The children have been very enthusiastic when learning about the human body. They are fascinated about how their body works and have really enjoyed the fun learning experiences we have had so far. When learning about the skeleton we drew around one of the children and then labelled the body with the names of the bones which we learned. The children were able to see inside the human body by using the school human anatomy model. They were fascinated by this and they had a great time trying to put the body back together again. The children were then able to label the major organs in the body.
We are looking forward to the rest of the term. Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Ferns and Primary 2F

November 2015

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I have enjoyed getting to know your wonderful children and we have all settled into a great working routine. I am looking forward to this term as it is always a magical time, especially teaching the infant children. This is a brief outline of the work that we will be undertaking within the class during the second term.

Literacy
We will be continuing to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme in spelling and phonics. This term we will focus more on the phoneme stories and the children will be using elkonin boxes in class to support their learning of phonics. The children will continue to read two books per week with associated writing tasks in class to develop their comprehension skills. The children will be given opportunities to answer questions from their books and complete beginning, middle and end tasks. It is important that the children continue to bring their books into school daily to ensure they are able to use them to carry out their tasks. In Big Writing this term the children will be given opportunities to write both narrative and instructional pieces of writing.

Numeracy
In Primary 2F we have been working on time, focusing on days, months, seasons and using a calendar. We will be continuing with addition and subtracting looking at expressions and equations. 2D and 3D shape will be developed this term where the children will be able to identify these shapes and investigate whether the shape can be tiled or not. Also we will be learning about measure through length and area and using money up to £2. Within numeracy the concepts are taught and the children are given opportunities to use their knowledge within games situations.

Religious Education
During the second term the children will be learning about Jesus’ Family and Ours where they will learn about their own family, Jesus and the Holy family and The Church Family. We will be celebrating how God made everyone unique and special to him in their own individual way. Advent will be our main focus for learning this term and I have no doubt that the children will thoroughly enjoy this time. We will create our own Advent wreath and our class Nativity scene. The children will learn more about how the Angel Gabriel brought God’s special message to Mary as well as how the angels and shepherds rejoiced together at Jesus’ birth.

Health and Wellbeing
In P.E. the learning will be focused on Gymnastics and Dancing. The children will be given opportunities to experience balancing, rolling and using their weight on hands. Then the children will be able to sequence these together. In Dancing the children will be given opportunities to create and perform a selection of dance actions within a space. Please ensure your child continues to bring their P.E. kit to school on a Monday and takes it home on a Friday.

Science
This term Primary 2F will be learning about The Human Body. They will be learning about the position and function of the human skeleton and about major organs in the human body. They will learn ways which they can keep their body healthy and understand how germs spread and what they can do to prevent this. They will be given opportunities to explore their senses and will conduct a science experiment based on their senses.

Thank you for your continued support, please use your child’s homework diary to communicate any concerns/comments.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Debbie Ferns
Class Teacher Primary 2F

An Update from Mrs Ferns and Primary 2F
We have settled in nicely to our new class and we have been enjoying our learning experiences so far this term.
We have been reading the tradition tale The Little Red Hen and we have been using this as a stimulus for some of our learning. We have been using this to learn through play in our class. In the photographs you can see us enjoying ourselves in a number of different activities; the farm corner, the bakers shop, building a farm with lego, the writing table, using Happyland to create our own village and the drawing table.
We have also been using The Little Red Hen and extending this into an agricultural theme to support our writing. We have been using VCOP (vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation) to support the teaching of writing. The children have been working on recount writing and have written their own version of The Little Red Hen, Old Macdonald and The Farmer in The Dell. The children have really enjoyed this, in particular making the animal noises! Look out for our weekly star writers on twitter.
We are looking forward to the rest of the term. Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Ferns and Primary 2F

August 2015

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope everyone had a lovey summer break. I am delighted to welcome the children back to the new school year and I look forward to the exciting year ahead. This is a brief outline of the work that we will be undertaking within the class during Term 1.

Literacy
The children will continue to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme in spelling and phonics. They will learn a new sound and a different set of common words every week and this will be consolidated through class work and homework. As part of the reading programme the children will read two books per week with associated writing tasks in class to develop their comprehension skills. It is important that the children bring their books into school daily to ensure they are able to use them to carry out their tasks. Within story writing the children will continue to write independently, using the appropriate punctuation and linking their sentences together in a way which makes sense.

Numeracy
In Primary 2 we have already begun by learning about numbers in our environment and how numbers are essential to everyday life. The children will develop their understanding of place value, knowing that our number system is built around 0-9. The children will be given opportunities to read, write and order numbers to 20 in a variety of ways. We will be learning about the purpose and usefulness of estimating and rounding of numbers.

Religious Education
During the first term the children will be learning about the Bible and how God speaks to us through Bible stories. The children will understand that the Bible should be treated with reverence and how God can help then in difficult times. We will move on to learning about the community of faith and how as a community we experience God’s love and care together.

Health and Wellbeing
In P.E. the learning will be focused on Athletics and Outdoor Learning. The children will be working within the concept of travelling through balance, flight, rotation and inversion. The children will encounter a range of experiences; individually, with a partner and in a group situation. Please ensure your child brings their P.E. kit to school on a Monday and takes it home on a Friday.
Social Subjects
As the school is celebrating its Golden Jubilee this year we will be focusing our learning on Children in the 60’s this term. The children will be comparing aspects of children’s daily lives in the 60’s with their own. After discussions with the children they decided to focus their learning on what St. Brendan’s school was like for children when it first opened in 1965. They also want to learn about what the children would have played with and watched on the television. We will also learn about the moon landing as it was a significant event of that decade.

Thank you in advance for your support this term, please use your child’s homework diary to communicate any concerns/comments.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Debbie Ferns
Class Teacher Primary 2F