Buttercup Class 2023-2024

Hello and welcome to our class page! We are very lucky in Buttercup Class, we don't only have 1 teacher, we have 2! Mrs Spence is our class teacher who teaches on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Mrs Williams teaches on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Our LSP is Miss Wright and she is in class every day. 

On this page you will find our class news, along with some very important information. You will also see lots of interesting pictures showing you what we have been getting up to in school. We are all very excited to learn lots of new things this year!

We will be holding a 'Meet the Teacher' event on Monday 16th October at 9:00am for those who wish to join us. Here, you will find out what happens in Year 2. If you are unable to make this meeting, please speak to a member of staff and we will be happy to help.

Important Information

*If there are any queries, please email Mrs Spence and Mrs Williams on the class email which is: buttercups@reddalhill.sandwell.sch.uk

Thank you for your continued support. 

Diary Dates:

*To be confirmed*

School Uniform:

Please make sure that your child’s name is written inside ALL school clothes (cardigans, jumpers, trousers, t shirts, coats and PE kits). This makes it easier to give out misplaced clothes back to their rightful owners. Remember if your child takes their jumper/cardigan off in class, then it is their responsibility to keep it safe!

Homework:

Children will be given 1 piece of homework every week, along with spellings to learn. Homework will be given out on a Friday and must be returned the following Wednesday, so we can monitor your child's learning. If you need any help completing your child's homework then there is a homework club you can attend on a Monday after school with Mrs Whitehurst. 

Handwriting:

Reddal Hill follow 'Kinetic Letters' handwriting scheme. Your child will have daily handwriting lessons. If you need any support with this, please speak to your child's class teacher. 

Changing Books:

Reading books are changed weekly, but this is not on a set day so it is very important that your child brings their book bag to school every day. Please write a comment in your child’s reading diary when you hear them read.

Reading at home is extremely beneficial for your child. We are holding a reading challenge this year! Every time you read, write it in your reading record. For every comment, you will earn a point. When you reach 45points, you will be awarded the Bronze Level; when you reach 90points, you will be awarded Silver Level and for 135 for you be awarded Gold Level! 

Good Luck Buttercup Class! 

 PE Day:

P.E days are on Tuesday and Thursday. Please ensure that appropriate footwear is worn and PE clothing is appropriate for the weather as our lessons will be outdoors on the playground. Please make sure that your child's name is written inside all PE clothes.

Additional Information:

All children in Year 2 have usernames and passwords for Mathletics, TimesTable Rockstars,  Purple Mash and Bug Club. These can be found in their reading records.

Please encourage your child to use Mathletics in order to enhance their Mathematical progress. Purple Mash is a fantastic resource as it covers all areas taught across the curriculum and helps children consolidate their learning. By the end of Year 2 children should be confident at reciting their 2,3,5 and 10 times tables, hit the button is a fantastic resource that allows children to consolidate their times tables knowledge in a fun way!

School and Eco Councillors:

A huge congratulations to Max and Eritrea who are our School Councillors, and Leo who is our Eco Councillor. 

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 World Music Day

On Wednesday 21st June it was World Music Day. We celebrated by learning about what music was like in the 1980s. We listened to the song ‘Livin On A Prayer' by Bon Jovi. We then made our own cassette taps and designed our own album covers for Bon Jovi! 

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Healthy Eating Week

On Friday 16^th June, we celebrated Healthy Eating Week by colouring in a rainbow of fruit! We discussed the importance of healthy eating and exercise, and took part in a quiz. Well done, Buttercups! 

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Art

Our topic in art this half term is tie dye. We spent a lesson learning all about tie die, we planned what tie die design we wanted to create and then we were lucky enough to have a go at making our own tie die socks. Some of us came to school the following day wearing them. Don't they look amazing! Well done, Buttercups! 

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King Charles' Coronation

On Friday 5th May, the children came dressed in Red, White and Blue to celebrate the coronation of King Charles. We made our own royal crowns, made a design for a Coronation mug before having our own tea party to celebrate. 

Science Experiment

During the Summer term, we are learning all about plants. On Thursday 27th April, we had a virtual tour of the Eden Project, exploring the different biomes on their site. After this, we then worked in groups to make our own greenhouses and planted seeds inside. Mrs Fazey also planted some seeds, but she didn't put her in a greenhouse. We are going to investigate whether the plants will grow better in the greenhouse or outside of the greenhouse. Most of us think that the seeds will grow better inside a greenhouse! We will be observing the growth of the seeds in our greenhouses. We all think that our seeds will grow much better than  Mrs Fazey's! 

On Wednesday 10th May we measured our plants. Mrs Fazey's plant was 14cm tall, and the tallest one of ours was 35cm! Our predictions were correct!  

We have now planted them in the garden and can't wait to watch them grow even more! 

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 Eid Al-Fitr

To celebrate Eid, we made our own cards and completed some Eid colouring. We hope everyone who celebrated Eid had a lovely time. 

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Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day, each year group chose a different country and geographical feature to focus on. In Year 2, we learnt all about India. 

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World Down Syndrome Day

On Tuesday 21st March, we came to school wearing odd socks to raise money for the 21Together charity. We also planted and have been looking after three sunflowers; they are growing really well! Well done, Buttercup class!

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Easter Egg Hunt

On Friday 31st March, we had a very 'egg-citing' treat! We took part in an Easter Egg Hunt and worked together as a team to see if we could find all of the Easter Eggs!

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Dudley Zoo

On Monday 20th March, we we went on a trip to Dudley Zoo. We saw so many different animals, from tigers to tortoises and seals to giraffes. 

The children had the opportunity to engage in an interesting workshop about habitats and got to feed the Gibbons some seeds. Despite all of the walking, we had a fantastic time. Well done, Buttercups! 

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World Book Day

On Friday 3rd March, we celebrated World Book Day! Everyone came to school dressed as a character from a book; everyone looked fantastic! We focused on our class read: 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. During the afternoon, we talked about the story and our favourite characters so far.  We then made our very own chocolate bar designs and wrappers! They all looked brilliant! Well done, Buttercup class! 

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Library Visit

On Monday 27th February, we were lucky enough to visit our local library. We completed a quiz and then we had some time to explore and read some of the books in the library. We were even able to pick a book to keep in our classroom. 

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 Inspire

On Wednesday 8th February we had our reading inspire. We had so much fun completing a carousel of reading related activities with all of the grown ups! Thank you to all of the grown ups who were able to make it. 

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Safer Internet Day

On Tuesday 7th February we celebrated Safer Internet Day. This year the theme was about 'Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online'. As a class we looked at a range of apps and discussed the age suitability of them. Then, we had a discussion about who our trusted adults are and when we might need to talk to them.

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Chinese New Year

On Friday 20th January, we learnt all about Chinese New Year - 'The Year of the Rabbit'. We researched key information and discussed the celebration! We then made lanterns and completed some colouring.

Well done, Buttercup class; your lanterns are brilliant!

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Christmas 2022

*Christmas Week 2022 has been amazing! We have completed so many different Christmas activities and had the most fantastic week!

Here is what we got up to:

*We took part in Christmas Jumper Day and raised a fantastic amount of money for charity and visited Santa's pop up grotto.

*We had breakfast with Santa and watched The Snowman.

*We made amazing Christmas cards, calendars and elf hats.

*We had the most joyful afternoon singing Christmas songs in our Carol Concert.

*We had a brilliant Christmas party with games and food.

*We finished the week with a Christmas Winter Wonderland disco in the hall with the PTA.

A fantastic week Year 2 and an amazing end to our first term!

Have the best Christmas holidays! See you in January! 

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Children in Need

On Friday 18th November, we all came to school in spotty clothing to celebrate and raise money for Children in Need!  We created a Pudsey bookmark, coaster and completed some colouring to celebrate the amazing charity! A brilliant way to highlight the importance of Children in Need; well done Buttercup Class! 

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Science

On Thursday 17th November, we had a very special visit from Alesha's mum! We are currently learning about the basic needs of animals and Alesha's mum kindly brought in a selection  of her pets. We had a brilliant afternoon, learning all about these animals! 

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Anti-Bullying Week

During the week commencing Monday 14th November, we took part in Anti-Bullying Week. 

On Monday 14th November, we all wore odd socks to school to highlight that we understand that even though we all have different traits, we all still need to be treated equally and celebrate how unique we all are! We also completed a range of activities to highlight the importance of this event. We discussed what it means to be a good friend and how we can help each other. 

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Parliament Week

On Tuesday 15th November, we participated in a lesson all about parliament, the government and prime ministers to celebrate UK Parliament Week.  We had our very own democratic vote to choose two school councillors. The speeches were absolutely amazing, and it was really difficult to choose the two children to represent our class this year!

Well done, Buttercup class! 

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Road Safety Week

On Monday 14th November, we discussed the importance of road safety and how to avoid danger when crossing the road! We took part in some quizzes where we looked at safety on the road. We then completed a 'safe/unsafe' activity where we had to look at the pictures and decide if it was safe or unsafe to cross the road. We also ordered the Green Cross Code pictures.

You are all road safety heroes. Well done, Buttercups! 

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 Remembrance Day

On Friday 11th November we discussed the importance of Remembrance Day. We spoke about how we remember the soldiers who unfortunately lost their lives during the war. We then collaged a poppy to help us remember.

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P.E

This half term in during our PE lessons, we are learning to play cricket. We are extremely lucky as we have a cricket coach every Tuesday who teaches us the fundamentals of this sport. So far, we have learnt how to correctly bowl a ball using underarm and overarm techniques. We can't wait for the rest of the term. 

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DT

During our DT lessons this half term we will be looking at sliders and levers. We are hoping to create our own Great Fire of London inspired design at the end of the term. On Friday 4th November, we made our own sliders in preparation for our final project. 

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Diwali

On Tuesday 1st November, we learnt all about Diwali - The Festival of Light.  We then created our own Rangoli patterns and Diya lamps. Well done Buttercup class; your creative Rangoli patterns were amazing! 

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Show Racism the Red Card

On Thursday 20th October we came to school wearing an item of red clothing, this was to support the initiative 'Show Racism the Red Card'. We discussed the importance of coming together with purpose and without prejudice. Join us and say NO to racism. 

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Inspire

On Wednesday 19th October we had our maths inspire. We had so much fun completing a carousel of 2D shape related activities with all of the grown ups! Thank you to all of the grown ups who were able to make it. 

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Mental Health Day

On Monday 10th October we celebrated 'World Mental Health Day'. During the afternoon, we had some great discussions about what mental health is and how we can look after the mental health of ourselves and others. As mental health is all about how we are feeling, we discussed our emotions, the thoughts we might have and how these feelings affect the choices we might make and how we behave. We played 'The Rainbow Game' where children had to choose a colour and say something that makes them feel happy/sad/excited/angry etc. Then the children completed some calming colouring and wordsearches. Well done, Buttercups. 

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Black History Month

October was Black History Month. On Monday 3rd October, we spent some time learning about a range of inspirational black people and what impact their actions have had on the world. We researched Mary Seacole and how she helped all of the soldiers during the Crimean War. The soldiers called her 'Mother Seacole' as she nursed them back to health and comforted them. 

Which material would be the best for a raincoat?

Our topic this half term is materials. On Tuesday 27th September, the children learnt all about the scientist Charles Macintosh and took part in an experiment. The children predicted, and then tested a range of materials to investigate which material would be the most suitable for a raincoat. All of the children came to the conclusion that the most suitable material was plastic, as this was the most waterproof and wouldn't absorb. 

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Languages Day

On Monday 26th September, we celebrated Languages Day. Our focus language was French and we had so much fun learning the language. We learnt how to say the names of a variety of fruit in French and then had a go at writing some sentences in French. Tres Bien, Buttercups! 

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