Welcome back to Primary 2’s class blog! We are officially into the final term of the year, and it is shaping up to be a busy one! The children have settled back in quickly, and we are delighted to have Miss Barrie joining our team every Thursday and Friday.

Our main focus right now is preparing for our Class Assembly on May 15th, where we will explore the differences between the Scottish Islands and the Mainland.

Additionally, our class trip to the Science Centre is on June 2nd; we are so excited!

Numeracy & Mathematics

We’ve been moving away from standard addition and subtraction to explore how numbers multiply in groups.

We have been using hundred squares and counting sticks to master skip counting in 2s, 5s, and 10s. This is helping us get a head start on our multiplication.

“Skip counting helps us count faster and gives us time to do more things.” – Harlie

“Skip counting helps us to count faster and we can use it to count things without making mistakes to help our brains work better.” – Maisie

“If my mum bought things in the shop in packs of 10, she could skip count to work out how much she was buying.” – Freya

“If you bought lots of toys and you needed to count them all, and they were in groups of 5, you could say 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and so on!” – Eshan

To understand division, we’ve been using ‘sharing circles’. We’ve been busy handing out cubes and counters to ensure everyone gets an equal fair share—a very important skill in P2!

Miss Barrie has been helping us recognise different coins. We’ve been practising how to pay for items using the exact coins needed, which has been great for our mental maths. We will continue to recognise coins up to £2, and will explore the different ways to pay for items using different combinations of coins.

“We have been learning about £1 and pennies – there are so many pennies!” – Aiden

“Pennies help us buy things. We can pay in coins or on card. Everything costs money!” – Aidy

Literacy

The children are becoming much more independent readers and writers this term and should be so proud of the progress they have made this year.

We’ve turned into a classroom of narrative story authors! We’ve been looking at how to build interesting stories, with beginnings, middles and ends, moving from a peaceful beginning to an exciting problem which is eventually resolved. We will use story cubes to roll for random characters and settings to jump-start our imagination. We are drawing on our prior knowledge of nouns, verbs and adjectives to make our stories interesting.

“A verb is a doing word. Verbs are all around us!” – Myles

“Adjectives are descriptive words. We can describe colour, weight, shape and lots of other things. For example a ruler has numbers, it is rectangular and it is informative because it tells you how many centimetres.” – Andrew

The books we are reading in our reading groups have become a bit more challenging lately. We are seeing some great progress as the children tackle longer chapters and discuss the “why” behind a character’s actions. Thank you for your support in developing your child’s reading at home.

“Reading helps us when we are older because we can think back to stories we knew when we were younger and then we could become authors.” – Harlie

“I like my reading books because the illustrations have good clues to help me know what is happening in the story.” – Leo

Having reached the end of our Primary 2 sounds and handwriting joins, we are now in mastery mode. We’ve been doing sound group challenges and developing our ability to independently perfect our cursive joins before we make the big move to P3.

Health and Wellbeing

We are focusing heavily on how we move and how we lead others:

In the gym hall, we’ve been practising our footwork and chest passes in basketball. Outside, we’ve been playing games like ‘Capture the Flag’ to work on our communication and team spirit. We are also spending a good portion of our time rehearsing our assembly.

“PE helps us to be faster and to get exercise. This is good because it helps our bodies be stronger.” – Jayden

“PE is fun and we get to play lots of games which helps us with friendships and getting to know each other.” – Myles

In class, we’ve been talking about what makes a good leader, like being a good listener or helping a friend. We’ve introduced reciprocal roles in class, where children take turns as the leader, recorder, timekeeper, and encourager. We are finding that this is helping our communication and positive class ethos.

Learning Across the Curriculum

Our Scottish Islands vs. Mainlands topic has been a huge hit. We’ve been using Google Earth to ‘fly’ from our school over to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides to see how the landscape changes.

We’ve been busy creating maps and comparing how people get to school—realizing that a ferry or a small plane is a bit different from our usual walk or bus ride! All of this research is coming together for our big assembly on May 15th.

STEM (Mr Connor)

Over the past term we’ve been learning all about forces being a push or pull on something. We made cool air rockets, modelled in clay and had a whole-class tug of war (click on the QR code). This term we’ll be learning about germs and disease – what the germs actually are and how we protect ourselves from them by washing our hands and keeping clean.

“When we played tug of war there was a team at the ladders and another team at the stage and there were mats around us. Then we had to pull the rope and whomever won was the team that pulled the other team onto their side. I liked when the winning team would give a player over to the other side for the next game.” – Mason

As always, thank you for your support at home. We have a lot to pack into these final few weeks, so keep an eye on our Instagram for more updates and photos of our island projects!

Welcome Back to Primary 2’s Class Blog!

It has been a wonderful start to the new year! We have hit the ground running in 2026, but we still have such fond memories of our final weeks in Term 2. We all thoroughly enjoyed our Eco Fun Day, where we learned so much about looking after our planet while having a great time together. A huge well done to all the children for their hard work on the Nativity—it was a magical performance and a perfect way to end the term. Now, we are feeling refreshed, motivated, and very much looking forward to all the learning ahead in Term 3.

Numeracy

Before the break, we were busy mastering 2-digit column addition and building our speed with doubles and halving within 20. We also explored data handling by creating our own tally marks and bar charts to represent information. To help us with tricky math stories, we started using the CUBES method, which helps us circle key numbers and underline questions to ensure we choose the right calculation. Finally, we went on a shape hunt to identify 2D shapes and 3D objects in our environment.

“I remember doing the column addition and word problems. They make me excited to be a grown-up with more responsibility to do hard maths!” – Myles

We have started this term with a very “hands-on” approach to Measurement.

• Non-Standard Units: We began by exploring the length and height of objects around our classroom using “non-standard” items. The children have been busy measuring desks, books, and even each other using their hands, feet, and cubes. This helps us understand the concept of “long” and “short” before we move on to official scales.
• Standard Measurement: We are now transitioning to using a ruler to measure in centimetres (cm). We are learning how to line up the “zero” mark at the start of an object and read the numbers accurately to see exactly how long something is.

“Measuring was hard but I tried my best. I used a ruler to help me.” – Aidy

“I think our new topic of fractions is quite hard. There is so much to remember – we will need to practise!” – Blair

Literacy

In Term 2, we continued our Primary 2 phonics journey using our magnetic boards to build and break apart words. We also shared different ‘tricks’ to help us remember the spellings of tricky common words. Our reading has gone from strength to strength as we used Tools for Reading strategies to tackle more complex book-banded books.

“Every day that I work with my partner is feels like phonics gets easier.” – Freya

“Reading is so much fun.” – Georgia and Mason

“Reading helps my brain to settle down and it helps me get smarter. The more I read, the better I get at doing things I didn’t think I could do before.” – Henry

“I liked reading about planes. I went to a museum to learn more!” – Aiden

We finished the term by becoming authors of our own Descriptive Writing pieces. Our new writing focus for this term is Information Reports. This is a very exciting shift from stories to non-fiction.

• Factual Writing: We are learning that an information report is meant to give the reader facts. We are practising how to use a title, sub-headings, and clear, factual sentences.
• Structure: We are looking at how to organize our ideas into categories (for example, what an animal looks like vs. what it eats).
• Continuing Skills: While we learn this new style of writing, our reading and phonics work continues every day. The children are doing exceptionally well at applying their phonics sounds when they come across new technical words in their research.

“We wrote about bikes and how people can use them safely. We wrote about wearing scooters on helmets. We even wrote about Robert Burns.” – Andrew

“Writing helps us with our spelling. It is good practice.” – Aylin

Health and Wellbeing

Our physical focus last term was all about fitness and dance. We practised partner dancing, which required us to use the space effectively and stay coordinated with our teammates. Outdoors, we developed our skills in various ball games, and in class, we spent time setting personal targets to help us achieve our best.

We have a very active term planned for both our bodies and our minds:

• Indoor PE (Athletics): We are transforming the gym hall into an athletics track! We are focusing on our running technique, building up our stamina, and practicing different types of jumps and throws.
• Outdoor PE (Netball): On the court, we have begun learning the fundamentals of Netball. This includes learning how to find space, the “sticky feet” rule (not running with the ball), and different types of passing like the chest pass and bounce pass.
• In-Class HWB (Emotional Regulation): We are spending time talking about our “internal weather.” We are learning how to recognize different emotions and, more importantly, finding “tools” to help us stay calm, focused, and ready to learn.

“PE can be a challenge – it depends what you’re doing. The more we practise, the better we get.” – Iver

Other curricular areas

STEM:

Social Studies:

Last term, we learned how our community works together. We explored the vital work of the Foodbank and followed the journey of a letter through the Post Office, learning exactly what happens after we pop an envelope into the red post box.

Our new topic is all about the beautiful patterns of Tartan! This is a very creative and historical topic where we will be:

• Weaving: We are learning the physical skill of weaving—going “over and under” with different colored materials to create a checkered pattern.
• Dyeing Fabrics: We will be experimenting with how to change the color of white fabric using various dyes to see how different threads are prepared before they are woven into a traditional tartan.

“When you post things, it only gets delivered Monday – Saturday, not Sunday!” – Maisie

“Tartan is a Scottish fabric that people wear. It is really cool – we get red, blue, yellow and green.” – Harlie

“We made our own dyes with blueberries, beetroot, spinach and turmeric.” – Jayden

Thank you for your continued support, particularly in supporting your children with homework tasks. As we move through this busy term, we will keep you up-to-date on your child(ren)’s learning using the school Instagram.

Welcome, all parents and carers, to Primary 2’s class blog! We have been having so much fun in our learning journey and can’t believe how quickly time has passed! We have been working hard on our new routine and are learning and supporting each other wonderfully.  We have enjoyed an Wear Pink Fun Day, a brilliant open session (thank you to all who were able to attend) and we have said a fond farewell to our lovely support staff memebers, Mrs Gardiner and Mrs Barnes – we will miss them dearly!

We are beginning to prepare for our Nativity. Stay tuned on Instagram and ParentPortal for updates!

Numeracy

We have been enjoying the challenge of silver, gold and platinum activities (that we choose ourself, after Ms Craig explains each task). We love to choose tasks that challenge us and are starting to learn how to choose the right challenge for each lesson.

“Platinum tasks give me more of a challenge.” – Myles

“When we go from Silver, to Gold, to Platinum the jobs have bigger sums.” – Freya

We have been learning all about numbers sequences to 100 – we can say them forwards and backwards! We have also been learning about number patterns and colour/shape patterns and how to recognise their rules.

“Blue and red can make a pattern. White and yellow can make a pattern rule, too. Green and blue can make a pattern, too!” – Charlie

We are now using what we have learned about numbers to add ones and tens together in column addition – we are very good at putting this into our jotters!

“You can explain to Mums and Dads: you add ones first and then you add the tens. Parents can ask us for help – we know what to do!” – Henry

We have also been completing some of Neilsland Primary School’s Outdoor Maths Challenges during the months of September and October. We are looking forward to sharing at an assembly at the beginning of November on how we got on with these challenges (we thought they were very fun!)

In November, we will begin investigating measurement (using rulers and metre sticks) and data handling (reading and writing tally marks and creating bar graphs based on the tally marks).

We will also start using our ‘floor book’. This is a big pad that we make notes on. Everyone gets a chance to write in the floor book. We use this to help us remember how to complete calculations. We are excited to see the pages getting filled up as we learn more and more.

Literacy

In literacy, we have been building on the skills we learned in Primary 1. In phonics, we have been using our Active Literacy boards to work with Ms Craig and our shoulder partners to say, make, break, blend, read and write our spelling and phoneme words. We are enjoying the challenge of P2 phonemes and common words!

“When we do cut and stick phoneme jobs, you need to cut out the letters to make words. I enjoy doing those jobs!” – Bella

“In dictation, we listen to the teacher and we write down sentences.” – Harlie

The sounds we learn in phonics are helping us with our reading too. We all work in different groups to read books that are good challenges for us. They test our phoneme and common word knowledge. We are trying to read 3 times a week in class with an adult, and we would all like to read as much as possible at home to show off what we are learning!

“When you read it can be skinny books or chapter books.” – Maisie

“When you read it can be nice, it gives you an imagination and helps you know more about the book when you read properly.” – Blair

We have been working so hard in our literacy lessons; we have risen to the challenge of new work and were very proud of our jotter work. We have been developing our handwriting since August, and are now beginning to learn joins in our handwriting. We know that this will help our handwriting become faster and neater.

In writing, we are using PM writing, and we will use it up ’til Primary 7! We listen to a story in ‘the big book’ and look at different aspects of grammar and vocabulary, During independent practice, we change small aspects of the story to make a new story (this could be changing characters, settings or adjectives, for example). By the end of the topic, we should be able to write our own stories. We have learned about recount and descriptive stories so far. Stay tuned to our school Instagram account for sneak peeks of our excellent writing.

“Handwriting can help us to write faster.” – Charlie

 Health and Wellbeing

We have been splitting our PE timetable between using the gym hall and the outdoor quadrangle:

In indoor PE (Monday) we have been developing our gymnastics skills, and have learned how to have busy and quiet feet, how to land with ‘squidgy knees’ when performing a jump, and how to roll on the gym mats in a variety of ways.

Since the October break, we have started to learn how to folk dance. What we learned in gymnastics has helped us; we are using our fast and quiet feet and awareness of space to be excellent dancers.

In outdoor PE (Wednesday) we have been playing playground games and are now developing our skills with balls. We are learning how to control a ball with the inside of our feet, and how to stop the ball if we lose control. Our next steps are to begin to play simple football games and exercises to develop our skills.

“When you run lots in PE you use up energy in your body.” – Eshan

In our in-class Health and Wellbeing lessons, we have been looking at Children’s Rights and how we can work together to all have fun at school. We have developed two ‘class rules’:

1. You are allowed to have fun.
2. You are not allowed to ruin anyone else’s fun!

Take a look at our Class Charter, based on our unique qualities and the rights we thought were most important to us:

We have also been developing our awareness of emotions and their names during lots of circle-time games.

Other Curricular Areas

In our topic time, we have been learning about Toys From the Past; we used a lot of the information from our 80s, 90s and 00s topic that we experienced in Primary 1 to help us. We really enjoyed making peg dolls, just like the Victorians used to do!

Since the October break, we have started our new topic of ‘The Foodbank’ – we will be learning all about services in our community and developing our understanding of equity through this topic.

“Toys in the past were usually made from wood because it was very cheap.” – Aylin

Art

In art and design we have been experiencing sculpture. We first played with play-doh, and enjoyed seeing what shapes we could make.

We then used air-dry clay to make ‘creative creatures’, and learned how to mix paint to paint them.

We have also looked at the work of an artist: Kandinsky. He used concentric circles to make his art. We had a go of doing this, as well! We used different circular objects from around the class and drew around them on different colours of paper. Once these were stuck, we also used halved potatoes to do some printing in paint. We finished off our pieces with round buttons.

“We know how to draw faces now (where the eyes, ears, nose and mouth go) and how to paint them. We can make skin colours by mixing brown, white, red and yellow.” – Aidy

Thank you for reading our first class blog – we look forward to updating you again in at the end of Term 2!

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