Welcome back to all of our lovely parents and carers! We hope you had a fantastic Easter break — it’s been wonderful having all the children back, ready to learn and have fun with their friends. We have so much to share with you about what we’ve been learning as Primary 2 draws to a close. We can’t believe how quickly this year has flown in! We also have a few updates of events we are looking forward to before the end of the year.
Firstly, we said goodbye to our friend and classmate Lucas. Lucas had been with us since the beginning of Primary 1, and has moved school with his brother. We are going to miss him very much! We are looking forward to him coming back to visit us and can’t wait to hear all of his stories from his new school.
Numeracy
We have been really enjoying the challenge of silver, gold, and platinum activities, which we choose ourselves after the teachers explain each task. This challenge system is helping us reflect on our own learning needs and build confidence in choosing tasks that help us improve.
“Platinum, Gold and Silver are good but I want them to be even harder challenges because I feel that I am ready for Platinum Plus.” – Isla
In Beyond Number learning this term we have been learning how to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks. It has been fun playing games and singing songs and using clocks to help us learn. We have been practising saying the months of the year and seasons and used a calendar to design a birthday invitation. This term we will be learning about repeating patterns using shapes and numbers. We are going to be learning about capacity too and are looking forward to getting outside to use lots of water and containers! (Mrs Brock)
“Patterns can be used with everything, like when you see a repeating pattern of zig zags.” – Lewis
In number and operations, we’ve been focusing on partitioning two-digit numbers and using this to help us add confidently within 30, 50, and even 100! We have also been exploring shape and colour patterns, spotting them around us, and creating our own repeating patterns.
“I liked using Gattegno charts to tap out tens and ones.” – Elliot
In our money topic, we’ve been learning to recognise all UK coins and have been practising adding totals within 10p, 20p, £1, and £2. We’ve also started calculating change — a tricky skill, but we’re making great progress! Please keep encouraging your child to help with small purchases when you’re out and about, as this really helps reinforce what we’re doing in class.
Literacy
We have been working hard on consolidating all our Primary 2 phonemes, and we are now beginning to group similar sounds like ai, ay, and a_e because they all make the same ‘A’ sound. This will give us a big confidence boost in spelling and help get us ready for Primary 3!
“I think phonics is fun and it teaches us new sounds that we’ve never seen before. This will help us when we are grown up to understand tricky words in books!” – Tutsi
In reading, we are so proud of how far we’ve come. We are practising skimming and scanning for key information and answering both literal and inferential comprehension questions. We are also paying more attention to expression when reading aloud, especially when we spot exclamation marks and question marks in our texts. We are beginning to explore commas and their purpose, and are trying to remember to take a small pause when reading out loud with commas.
“Reading is fun because we get to learn and I like seeing the illustrations in the book, too.” – Kaela
“Reading can make you go around the world in your imagination.” – Wallace
“Reading helps us learn new words that we haven’t heard before.” – Cameron
In writing, we have been working on Information Reports, using our growing vocabulary (especially adjectives) to describe things in detail. We are now moving on to Narrative (Imaginative) Writing — and we’re creating some amazing stories. We are currently rewriting the story of Little Red Riding Hood with our own creative twist, transforming it into Little Blue Cozy Scarf. This was the children’s brilliant idea! We’ve changed the setting to a jungle, and the villain is now a tiger instead of the Big Bad Wolf. The children are having so much fun bringing their ideas to life. Look out on X for any upcoming pictures of our writing in this topic.
“I like putting lots of detail in my writing. I want to be a great writer and I am always looking to get better and correct my spelling.” – Katie
We have also been working on independently writing our news to show what we have learned about capital letters, finger spaces, full stops, adjectives and conjunctions. We are getting very good at this, and are writing in so much detail! Take a look at some of our news.
Health and Wellbeing
We have been setting personal goals and working towards them across all areas of learning. In PE, we’ve been learning new sports, including badminton and kickball rounders, which are helping to build our coordination, teamwork, and stamina. We’re also learning about what makes us fit and healthy, and each week we set new targets to help us improve our physical fitness — the children are showing great determination!
“Kickball is fun because it is fun to see how far you can kick the ball and the other team have to go and get it.” – Georgia
Other Curricular Areas
In Social Studies, we are continuing our topic on Climates and Habitats. The children have been fascinated to learn about the adaptations animals make to survive in different environments. We have been using Chromebooks to do a bit of research on animals that interest us.
“Our topic is fun and cool because I am learning more about animals. I want to learn more about sloths!” – Jack M
A huge thank you to all the parents and carers who came to watch our class assembly — the children were absolutely thrilled to perform for you, and we think they did an amazing job!
We’re also very excited about our upcoming trip to the Burrell Collection on Thursday 15th May, where we will be revisiting our previous topic on Ancient China. It’s sure to be an inspiring and memorable day! Please ensure your child has a packed lunch and apply sunscreen, as we hope to spend some time outside enjoying Pollok Park for part of our trip.
Thank you so much for reading our blog update, and for all of your support over the course of this session. Ms Craig and Mrs Brock have loved teaching the boys and girls of Primary 2, and wish you all the best as you continue your journey in Neilsland. We will update again at the beginning of our Primary 3 learning journey — see you then and enjoy your summer holidays when they come!
