Sunflower Class 2023-2024

Hello and welcome to our class page! Our Class Teacher is Mrs Leach and our LSP's are Mrs Jackson, Mrs Giles and Miss Kaid.

In our class we have lots of fun and love learning new things!  

On this page you will find our class news and lots of interesting pictures showing you what we have been learning. We look forward to an exciting academic year. 

For additional information on what happens in Year 2, please see the attached information which was shared during our Meet the Teacher meetings. If there are any additional questions, feel free to come and speak to Mrs Leach, Mrs Jackson or Mrs Giles on the playground at the end of the school day 

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 Important Information: 

If there are any queries, please email Mrs Leach on the class email which is: sunflower@reddalhill.sandwell.sch.uk

Thank you for your continued support. 

School Uniform:

Please make sure that your child’s name is written inside all school clothes (cardigans, jumpers, trousers, t shirts and coats). This makes it easier to return 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 please speak to class teachers at the end of the school day. We are always happy to help! 

Handwriting:

At Reddal Hill, we follow the '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. 

Reading Books:

We love reading in Sunflower Class and have a voting station in class, where children can vote for their preferred class read. Children's 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. We have a 'read to succeed' reward scheme where your child will receive bronze, silver and gold badges depending on the number of reads they complete at home.  We also reward our platinum readers with a book token that they can use towards purchasing a book of their choice! The scheme is as follows:

Bronze reading badge = 45 reads

Silver reading badge = 90 reads

Gold reading badge = 135 reads

Platinum reader = an additional 50 books 

P.E Days: 

P.E days are on Mondays and Thursdays. 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. Important: No jewellery is permitted to be worn during our P.E lessons.  Children will not be allowed to cover their piercings with plasters.  If your children cannot remove earrings independently then please ensure these are removed before the school day.

Additional Information:

All children in Year 2 have usernames and passwords for Mathletics, Times Table 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 Levi and Lacie-Marie who are our School Councillors, and Greyson who is our Eco Councillor.

Eid al-Fitr

On Monday 8th April, we learnt all about the celebration of Eid-al Fitr and how different families celebrate this occasion.  It was so lovely to hear about all the exciting things some of our children and their families had planned! We made some wonderful Eid cards and chose whether to take our cards home to our families or give them to a friend as a gift! We are looking forward to continuing this celebration on Friday 19th April, as we wear our party clothes to school and share our Eid celebration stories with our friends and teachers!

NSPCC 'Pants' workshop

On Tuesday 9th April, we had a visit from a nurse who had some very important things to discuss with us.  We learnt the difference between 'good' and 'bad' touch and thought of some examples of these.  We then talked about how the area that is covered by our underwear is private.  We listened to a song called 'pantosaurus', which taught us some important rules, before designing our own pair of pants!

Spring Behaviour Champions

On Thursday 21st March, our bronze behaviour champions were rewarded with an hour of fun on the school playground, whilst our silver behaviour champions spent a fun filled morning at Haden Hill Park.  Well done to our spring behaviour champions.  We are so proud of the effort and excellent behaviour you have demonstrated this term!

Comic Relief 2024

On Friday 15th March, staff and pupils wore something red to school to celebrate comic relief. Pupils learnt about the charity and how laughter can support our overall health and wellbeing.  We had lots of fun finding different ways to make our friends and teachers laugh.  We had some super jokes told by members of Sunflower Class 

World Book Day 2024

On Friday 5th March, staff and pupils celebrated World Book Day and came to school dressed as their favourite  book character.  Pupils enjoyed taking part in 'drop everything and read'. Upon hearing a bell, children stopped what they were doing and gathered on the carpet to hear a class story or read with a friend!  We had a wonderful day, inspiring a love of reading across the whole school!

Library Visit - Wednesday 13th March 2024

On the morning of Wednesday 13th March, Sunflower Class visited Cradley Heath Library.  The children had a lovely morning learning about the library and what it has to offer, as well as taking part in a microhabitats quiz.  The children remembered lots of information from our current science topic and enjoyed searching for books to research this topic further.  The children each chose a book to borrow from the library and are enjoying sharing them in school. 

British Science Week 2024

During the week beginning Monday 4th March, we celebrated British Science Week.  This years theme was 'time' and our Year 2 pupils explored the question, 'How has the Arctic habitat changed over time and what is the effect of this upon the wildlife that live there?' We began the week reflecting on our prior knowledge of living things and their habitats and used research to design an ideal habitat for a polar bear.  We learnt about climate change and designed an experiment to help answer our question. We thought carefully about the variables we would change and keep the same to make sure our test was fair and then worked together to set up our experiment. We placed one 'Arctic habitat' in a cold place and another in a warmer place and made predictions about what we thought might happen.  We recorded our findings and recorded our conclusions as a news report!  We even got to see a super science show in the hall! What a treat!

Finally, we reflected upon on findings and thought about the things we can do to help tackle climate change, before designing some amazing posters to show our learning from the week.  Well done Sunflowers! You are super scientists!

Mad Hair Day

On Friday 1st March, staff and pupils took part in 'Mad Hair Day' to raise money for school playground equipment.  We were astounded by the fantastic effort that was made by children and staff across the school.  Everybody looked fantastic, with some super creative ideas executed! Well done Sunflower Class!

Chinese New Year - February 2024

During our RE session this week, we have been learning all about Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the dragon. We looked at some traditions that are celebrated on Chinese New Year and also looked at the story of how the animals were chosen for each year. We enjoyed making some spiral dragons to celebrate. 

Kung Hei Fat Choi everyone!

Maths Inspire Workshop - Tuesday 6th February

On Tuesday 6th February, parents and carers were invited in to see how Maths is taught at Reddal Hill. We had lots of visitors come and see our Maths lesson and it was great for us to complete our activities with them. Our parents and carers were very proud of all of the things that we have been working on and they were very impressed with the methods and strategies that we were using to complete our worded addition problems. Thank you so much to those who were able to attend this session. We look forward to inviting you to our next one in the summer term. 

Children's Mental Health Week - 5th February - 11th February 2024

This week, we have spent a lot of time talking about our mental health. We learnt that this is just as important as our health and keeping our bodies healthy. Every day this week, we have completed an activity in class, focusing on ourselves and our feelings. We have discussed ways in which we can keep our minds happy and healthy and have made a list of these. We are going to try our best to complete some of these! 

Safer Internet Day - February 2024

Year 2 celebrated Safer Internet Day on 5th February during our weekly computing session. For this, we looked at staying safe online, especially when playing games. We looked at situations that were safe and some that we thought may not be and what we would do if we were in this situation. This led us to talking about our trusted adults. We also learnt that there are scams online however, we also learnt how we could report or block these. 

Storytelling Week - 27th January - 4th February

To celebrate National Storytelling Week, Year 2 invite parents and carers in for a special storytelling session. During this, we listened to Mrs Leach read some of our class book 'The Magic Finger'. We then had a look at Serial Mash, a fantastic new resource that we have purchased to use both in school and at home. We ended the session by reading a book on here with our parents and carers. 

Some of us also enjoyed making bookmarks, reading book reviews and even had a go at designing new book covers. 

Christmas 2023

Sunflowers have had the most amazing week to celebrate Christmas! We have completed so many different Christmas activities and had the most fantastic time!

Here is what we got up to:

*We took part in Christmas Jumper Day and raised a fantastic amount of money for charity.

*We had breakfast with Santa.

*We made amazing Christmas cards, calendars and place mats. 

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

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

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

Have the best Christmas holidays! See you in January!

Road Safety Week

The week beginning 20th November was Road Safety Week.  Throughout the week, we discussed what road safety is and why it is so important.  We talked about the things we can can do to ensure that we are as safe as possible when we are near busy roads.  We finished the week with an interactive story about road safety, where the children decided the characters next actions.  We were very impressed with their sensible suggestions and knowledge of road safety!  We then completed a 'safe' and 'unsafe' activity in our table groups. 

Children in Need

On Friday 17th November, we took part in fundraising for Children in Need with both staff and pupils wearing their pyjamas to school! The children looked fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed wearing their pyjamas all day!  The children learnt about the charity and some of the projects it supports and took part in a range of activities relating to this worthy cause.  Thank you to parents and carers for your continued support.

Maths - Money - November 2023

This week, during our Maths lessons, we have been looking at money. We started the week off looking at coins and recognising the value of these. As the week progressed, we started to look at making amounts. We had a go at using the coins to make the amount and we even had a go at finding more than one way of doing this. 

Anti-Bullying Week

During the week commencing Monday 13th November, we took part in a range of activities to support anti-bullying week.  Throughout the week, we explored what bullying is and how we do not tolerate bullying within our school.  We talked about what we can do if we are being bullied and how we can show kindness to others in our daily lives.

UK Parliament Week

On Friday 10th November, to celebrate Parliament week, we explored UK Parliament and it's role in running our country. We revisited British Values and discussed what they mean for our country, to us personally and as a whole school!  We then looked at the houses of Parliament in detail, using Google Earth, before completing our own Big Ben Symmetrical drawings.  We enjoyed showing the skills we have been learning in maths during this activity.

Remembrance Day

During the week beginning Monday 6th November,  we learnt about Remembrance Day and why we take part in it each year. The children discussed the word 'peace', revisiting their learning from their recent R.E. lessons. We then wrote down what peace means to us, before creating our own poppies to take home.

Diwali

On Wednesday 9th November, we learnt about Diwali - the festival of light! We enjoyed learning all about Diwali and watching video clips of families preparing for the celebration.  We then created some beautiful Rangoli patterns and Mehndi designs.

Year 2 Visit to Selly Manor Museum

On Wednesday 11th October, Year 2 visited Selly Manor Museum.  The children had such a wonderful time sharing their knowledge of the Great Fire of London during the interactive storytelling session and the tour of the Manor house! The children learnt more about what life was like during 1666 and enjoyed re-enacting the events of the great fire. Take a look at the photographs to see how much fun we had!

World Mental Health Day

To celebrate World Mental Health Day, on Tuesday 10th October, we talked about the ways we can look after our own mental health and others around us too! We watched a video clip, presented by Ant and Dec to introduce us to the topic, before designing and creating some wonderful posters to display in our classrooms.  The children have enjoyed seeing their posters in the classroom; they are a lovely way to remind us of the things we can do to support our mental health.  Well done Sunflower Class!

National Libraries Week and Poetry Day

On Monday 3rd October, to celebrate National libraries week and poetry day, Sunflower Class spent some time in our school library.  They enjoyed listening to and reading a range of poems and each found a cosy spot to read their chosen books.  What a lovely afternoon they had!

Black History Month

To celebrate Black History Month, we learnt all about Claudia Jones' life and the very first Carribean carnival she organised .  We then created our own carnival masks and flags!

European Day of Languages

On Tuesday 26th September, we celebrated the European day of languages.  We had a wonderful day, using French and Spanish greetings! We answered the morning register in French and the afternoon register in Spanish.  We then spent the afternoon learning the French words for colours before colouring a patchwork elephant by reading French colour names and colouring the corresponding squares. 

Roald Dahl Day

On Wednesday 13th September, we celebrated Roald Dahl Day.  We learnt about the famous author Roald Dahl, read an extract from his book, 'George's Marvellous Medicine' and created our own 'magical medicine potions'.  We had such a lovely time and enjoyed the extract so much that we decided to continue reading the book as our class read!  Take a look at some of our own 'marvellous medicines' below...

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End of 2023-2024 page