In English, the children enjoyed whole class guided reading sessions, with the help of the Usborne Beginners Rainforest book, and were able to navigate this beautiful non-fiction text proficiently. However, we were not so prepared for the proportion of nature / rainforest experts in the classroom! The teachers are definitely looking forward to learning from the budding David Attenborough style natural historians currently resident in Year 2! Next week we will be reading “The Great Kapok Tree” by Lynne Cherry, having already written predictions as to what they think will happen in this tale of the Amazon rainforest this week.
In mathematics, we have turned our attention to fractions. First of all, we reminded ourselves about parts and wholes from a variety of pictures and objects. We then moved onto exploring and identifying equal and unequal parts. The children found this relatively straightforward since they have already used many skills required for this step in the multiplication and division block when identifying equal and unequal groups. Finally, the focus was on specific fractions, starting with a half (recognising half of a shape and of a quantity). Children were also introduced to the terms “numerator” and “denominator” for the first time.
We kicked off our new science topic – “Living Things and their Habitat” by finding out what we know already and then by asking questions to develop our understanding. We spent some time defining and learning scientific vocabulary to support our learning (organism, habitat, consumer, producer, consumer, prey, predator, nutrition) and played fun games to consolidate their meaning.
Have a super weekend!
