Last week and next.  

We had an amazing trip to Pentre.  The children were remarkable, entering into the activities with positive attitudes and enthusiasm.  Huge apologies for the lack of photographs whilst we were away.  Every effort was made to post pictures but the wifi just wasn't up to it!  The computer was left running whilst we went for our evening walk (which was about 2 hours long!) but only 3 pictures uploaded in this time.  Hopefully you all received your little note about bringing in a memory stick - if not, please see below this article for a copy of it. At the moment the photographs take up 2.07GB of memory in the folder created, so if you wish to send in a memory stick please be aware of the size.  If you have any garments at home that do not belong to your child, please return them to school at your earliest convenience so they can be reunited with the correct owner.  A big "thank you" to those who have already done so.

On Thursday morning we were treated to a talk by Mr Strydom, Mia from 2ER's Dad.  He gave us a fascinating talk about life in South Africa and other African countries.  He brilliantly put the information into more understandable terms for us and even gave us questions to find the answers to in class!  Thank you so much for giving up your time to help us learn more in our "World Explorers" topic.

Hopefully you have received the message about the whole school photograph which will be taking place this coming Wednesday - 23rd May.  Mr MacLennan has politely asked if all children can please wear their winter uniforms for this event?  Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

A morning of activity.

We were visited by Mark a tennis coach who came to teach us some first tennis skills.  It was a windy morning and everyone did well to keep their eye on the ball.  We learned the tennis 'ready' position and practised bouncing and hitting upwards and down to the ground.  Controlling the ball with our rackets was the aim.  At the end of the session we worked with a partner to  hit the ball back and forth.  It was lovely to see the positive attitudes displayed by the children.  They persevered in the windy conditions and have some basic skills to build upon and practise at home.  A leaflet was sent home giving details of an tennis open day in Rhos.  have a look at the photographs to see us practising our skills!

After this it was swimming.  We have 2 more weeks in school before the school holiday so we have 2 more swimming sessions to go.  

We are hoping, if the wifi connection allows, to use our class web page to post a few pictures whilst we are away in Pentre.  Our days will be busy and packed with activities so it is more than likely that the update will take place in the evening. Please check in to see what we have been up to.

New week, new beginnings.

With the national tests behind us we are good to go with our new topic.  This will be called "World Explorers."  We are planning on keeping this topic until the end of the school year as there is so much scope for learning.  We will look at different countries, temperatures, rocks and fossils, animals in different countries and in the sea to name but a few of the educational possibilities.  

We are continuing with our child led planning.  This means that the children will inspire us with what they want to learn.  Today we had a visit from 'Explorer Betty' who was a little bewildered to say the least.  Having fallen asleep in Africa she awoke to find herself in the grounds of Ysgol Pen Y Bryn with just her rucksack contents for clues as to what she had been up to!  She had maps, pegs and plastic sheeting, some old sandwiches and a warm drink and a few items she had collected along the way! This was my no means the only content of her backpack but just a short summary...

The children then collaborated with a member of the other class to think of questions they would like to discover about the world.  This could have been related to Betty's explorer clues or anything that they had since been discussing.  There were lots of great ideas and questions generated and in the afternoon we thought more about the kinds of activities that we could put in areas like the small world, role play and construction areas, either through our theme or based on the children's interests.

In other news, the caterpillars have now stopped moving and growing.  They have (as you have probably heard!) formed a 'j' shape from the underside of the pot lid and we now have several chrysalis ready to move to the net ready for when they emerge in a few weeks time.  The children have been captivated by the growth and development of the caterpillars  and, although there is not much to see at the moment, cannot wait to see the beautiful butterflies when they emerge!

If your child is of to Pentre next week we will be sending a short note home in the next few days with details about the timing arrangements and the amount of pocket money to bring.   

We will resume the weekly spelling tests once Pentre has been and gone.

Have a fantastic week.  Many thanks for your support in all things school. 😁

End of the week review.

We are now at the third week back in school and the first part of the summer term it is flying by!

Next week is the week of the National tests.  Because of this we have not sent spellings home again this week.  We will begin sending them again next week.  Look out for them being posted up here again once the children have received them to take home.

This week we have been busy with our observational writing.  We have looked closely at our class guests (caterpillars and stick insects!) and written about what we can see.  We have noticed big changes in the caterpillars watching with amazement as they have grown with each passing day.  Take a look at how big they are now compared to when we got them 15 days ago!! Unfortunately, there has been no change in our stick insect eggs 😔.  We are still crossing our fingers that something happens soon.

We also got to complete our science investigation.  The children collected woodlice and we then put them into our shoebox with 4 different areas.  We made 2 areas damp and kept two areas dry and had a light an dark area of each.  Previously we had predicted where we thought the woodlice may go based on what we already know about them.  We looked to see whee they were after 5 minutes and then 10 minutes.  

We will continue our "Wriggle and Crawl" topic next week before moving on to an exciting new learning topic.

A big "THANK YOU" to Mr and Mrs Tuffery and Mrs Theaker who spent this afternoon planting and making our Year Two gardens look amazing!  We really appreciate the time you have spared to refresh the outdoor area and make it look fabulous for us.  Thank you.

End of the week round-up.

New spellings have been sent home today.  Next week our test will be on "oo - oo look at a book" words.  Yesterday the words were tested in a mixed up order and the children did a fantastic job at recalling them.  Please continue to practise in this mixed up way as it is very beneficial.  Thank you everyone for your hard work in this area.  A link to the new spellings can be found following this instalment.

Children who are going to Pentre in May also received a bundle of letters.  Some of the documents need to be sent Pentre BEFORE our arrival so please complete and return the relevant forms as soon as possible.  Having been to Pentre before, Mrs Roberts has given pointers regarding which items are there for the children to use at Pentre and which will be needed to be brought along.  Please try and label as many items as possible with either name tags or marker pen to avoid mix ups and to ensure that children return home with their correct belongings.  Many thanks for all your continued support.

Have a great weekend! 😀

Welcome back!  

The Easter holidays are over and we are back to learning inside and outside the classroom.  

We are continuing our theme of 'Minibeasts' for a few weeks longer and you may have heard about the new arrivals we have in class.  Today our tiny caterpillars and stick insect eggs arrived.  We will be watching the lifecycle of the caterpillar as it grows and then prepares for it's transformation.  The stick insects eggs will hopefully hatch and we will then be able to have a close up view of an insect - we have been learning about what exactly makes an insect 🐜 and why a spider 🕷 isn't one!  Once the stick insects hatch we will be looking for some food for them.  They are herbivores and have a few leaves that they particularly like.  It would be extremely useful if you could collect a few leaves  to sustain our visitors if you are out and about on a walk.  There will be a link to to a web page that provides details on all the different leaves.  

Tomorrow is also our swimming day.  Please can children come to school in their P.E. kits?  They will also need a towel and their swimming kits.

Please keep looking back at or page to watch with us as our caterpillars and stick insects grow!

Pentre update.

Yesterday, those children who brought in a deposit or slip for the trip were given a letter to take home.  Just in case it did not reach those of you who expressed a wish for your child to go, the letter confirmed that ALL pupils in Year 2 who hoped to go to Pentre in May, will be going!  You will receive a kit list in the new term.  I will post a copy here on the website once it has been issued, for reference, in case you should need it. 

A short but packed half term.

We have made it to the end of the second spring term.  It was an odd one with the snow days but packed full of work and events.

Yesterday we took to the field to complete laps for the Sport Relief billion steps challenge.  All Year 2 did a remarkable job.  We had a 15 minute or maximum 5 lap limit for this and the children could run or walk.  The sun was out and it was lovely to be out in the fresh air to raise awareness of the Sport Relief message of charity and fitness.

This week we have been researching mini beast facts.  In groups we solved clues to work out what mini beast we would be focusing on.  We then used books and the computer to look for information that we will then share with the rest of the class.  We made big posters with the information on and added illustrations too.

We are carrying on with our mini beast topic for 2-3 weeks after the Easter holidays as there is still a lot left to do.

The next set of spellings have been sent home.  After the holidays I intend to mix up the spelling when doing the test.  This does not mean that all 10 need to be learned.  If only doing 'mild' I will mix up the order of the 'mild'.  Then I will mix up the order of the 'spicy' words and then the 'hot' words.  This is so the children are actually thinking about what they are writing.  There is also plenty of time to practise the words in and then out of order over the Easter holiday.  All previous spelling can be revisited over the holidays too.The children are really practising and are doing a great job on a Friday.  We keep on reminding them to think of the words they are learning when writing independently.  

Abacus tasks have also been allocated in case there are a few minutes to fill.

Have a great Easter holiday everyone. 🐣

See you in a couple of weeks. 

Weekly Happenings

During the week we were compiling individual tally charts to show where the minibeasts we found were living.  We had to be careful when we were moving objects so we did not disturb the creatures too much or damage their habitats.  Next week we will use this information to make a bar chart outside. 

We also wrote stories this week.  We had to try and use a selection of different items, characters and settings to create a story map with a partner before writing up our story individually with extra added details. In the writing area next week will be able to use our story writing creativity and Pie Corbett language to create our own stories.

Spellings and Abacus allocations.

The children are doing fantastically well with the spellings that are being sent home each week.  This week the sound pattern in the words is 'ow' as in 'blow the snow'.  The children are being reminded of the purpose of learning the spellings and we are hoping to see what they are learning be transferred to any writing that takes place. If at all possible, please could you also try and learn the words in a mixed up order once the children are more familiar with them?  This means they are consciously having to think about the spelling of the words and not just recalling a pattern of letters.  

There is also a new Abacus allocation.  This will cover recent Maths topics covered in class - time or money. Also, please feel free to revisit previous allocations to consolidate skills that have been learned.  Have a super weekend everyone. 😀

'Careers in Science Day' at Ysgol Pen Y Bryn

From the 9-18 March 2018 it is British Science Week.   To recognise this in school, and promote science to all pupils, some super volunteers came in to school to tell the children all about their jobs.

We had visits from an oil rig worker who brought samples of oil and water discussing the density of oil in simple terms and kindly giving the children each a yellow 'hard' hat.  There was Mrs Rutledge, a geologist, who brought in a huge variety of rocks and fossils to handle. Some budding young geologists even brought in rocks beforehand for her to identify - quartz was the mysterious white stone!  

We had a talk from a plumber who explained all the different places that a plumber could work and use their skills and a veterinary nurse who explained how she looked after sick animals.  

We also saw two nurses who the children impressed with their knowledge, and got to feel a brain - thankfully it was just a demonstration tool and not real!!!  Mrs Talbot, a sports scientist, explained about fitness and even brought a helper with her - Mr Bones Jones!!

Finally we saw two police officers who brilliantly demonstrated how they would look for suspects of a crime.  To identify if anyone in the room had taken a bite of the hot cross bun and drunk the glass of water the children we asked to bite into a piece of apple to see if the bite mark was the same.  One officer then demonstrated how to fingerprint the glass.  The 'culprit' was caught - Mrs Humphreys was honest and owned up to it - and the officers thanked her for her honesty.  Next year she may even be nominated for an acting award!!

We had an amazing day learning about jobs with backgrounds in science.  Thank you to all the guests who gave up their time to share their expertise with the children and to Mrs Land for organising such a valuable experience.

For your information...

A letter went home today about a musical performance outside school.  We were a few copies missing when they were handed out.  I have taken a picture of the letter and posted it here for you to take a look at.

PC Vicky Visited Today

Once again the snow arrived, however today we were open for business!  Well done to everyone who made it to school today 😀. PC Vicky made it too, arriving first thing to chat to everyone about medicines.  The children learned lots of important messages about safety of medicines and drugs.  They all enjoyed a game with dice which highlighted the safety messages of her talk.  PC Vicky also treated us to a impromptu juggling performance which impressed us all! There is a website schoolbeat.org which PC Vicky talked about with the children which you can explore together.

Pentrellyncymer 2108

A letter has been sent home today with those children in school.   If your child was absent, everyone should have received an email version of the letter and your paper copy is waiting in school for you.  The dates for the Pentre trip are May 16-17 2018.  On Tuesday next week Mrs Roberts and I will be holding a short meeting in the mobile.   More details about the trip will be available and there will be chance for you to ask questions before you and your child make a decision.    

Our “World Book Day"

Today was our “World Book Day" - slightly later than everyone who dressed up on 1st March but this didn’t matter; it was lovely to see everyone get in to the spirit of things.  There were lots of amazing costumes and it was great to see the effort everyone put in.  

Mrs Roberts had organised a reading event where parents and grandparents were invited to come and read to to the children.  We went and spent some time listening to books being read in the morning.  Alongside the event, we drew ourselves in our costumes, labelling as we went and designed a new book cover and wrote a blurb for a Oliver Jeffers book.

We have also been busy making bookmarks and in the reading area there have been review sheets for the children to fill in recommending books to the other children in the class that they have enjoyed reading.

New spellings have now been sent home in the blue sound and word logs.  Apologies that this week there are a few less practising days.  The children did so well with the new way of testing spellings but I have reminded the children that they need to try and remember the spellings even though the test is over.  I know you can do this Year 2!

This week in school...

This week was, when weather allowed, a hands on week.  We went outside looking for minibeasts.  We lifted logs, up turned stones, rummaged through leaves and found what we were looking for - snails, slugs, worms and other little creatures.  We used magnifying glasses to take a closer look.  Due the cold and windy weather, and the fact that this was no weather for minibeasts either!, we had to put our outside enquiries on hold for the later part of the week.

The iPads have also been in use.  We have been recording each other retelling the ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’ story. We had lots of fun doing this independently. 

The construction area has been very popular, with lots of mini beast shelters being made. The designs have come in all shapes and sizes and the children have worked collaboratively to produce many of these.

Next weeks spellings use the pattern ‘ee’.  In Read Write Inc we say “ee, what can you see.”  These have been posted here too in case you need them. 

Last week we were halving and doubling numbers so I have also put up some halving worksheets.  They are by no means exceptional in quality (apologies, they are some I located quickly!) but provide an example of one of the strategies the children are taught to use for numbers up to 20.  With larger even numbers eg. 46 we would encourage halving each digit - half of 6 is 3 and half of 4 is 2 so half of 26 is 23.  We halve the 1's digit first.  I have a hastily put together diagram that is attached which I hope provides a visual explanation. The opposite to halving is doubling so if the children can mentally recall doubles to 20 this can help when they try and halve.

The concept covered this week in my Maths group has been time - revising o'clock and half past and the introduction of quarter past.  I have allocated my group an Abacus task.  The week however has been very strange so we have not done as much work on this as planned so we will continue to develop our specific  'quarter past' knowledge next week.  

Have a good weekend everyone and see you all on Monday in your 'World Book Day' costumes...

Eisteddfod 2018

After making daffodils on Monday (phew that was lucky!) to wear at the St David’s Day Eisteddfod, today was the day!  The venue was slightly different to what we had planned as contingency plans saw us participate in the school hall and not the community centre.  This did not curb our enthusiasm as we took to the stage to perform our song “Aderyn Melyn.”  The children had worked in their colour groups to decide on how they were going to perform the song in front of the audience and the judges.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the homework activities.  There were some very creative Welsh Love Spoon designs.  It was great to see how the children used their imaginations and used a variety of different materials to make their entries.  We have now got the love spoons on display. 

The Welsh themed baking also had fantastic entries. These were sold after school - thank you to the Friends for helping with this - and if you stayed around in the cold weather to buy some produce thank you too. The selling of the cakes made over £50 pounds for this years’ school charity - Alder Hey Children's Hospital. 

Well done to everyone who participated.

Monkey see, monkey do.

We are continuing to work on our Pie Corbett story telling.  The children are amazing at remembering the actions for the key words in the story.  This has really helped with recount writing and the children have re-written the story, recalling the events sequentially, with lots of detail.  I know the children are really keen to keep revisiting the story so I have attached the words below for those children who wish to continue practising at home.  

End of the week round up.

A new Abacus Maths task has been set for everyone. Have fun this weekend with the new activities.  Spellings have been stuck in the blue homework book.  Please keep these at home to practise the spellings regularly before the test next Friday.  The new spellings will be stuck in the book next Friday ready for the following week.  I will once again attach copy of the next set of words here on the website in case you need them.  

Next week promises to be great fun as we begin our new topic in earnest.  As always, the children are encouraged to bring in any relevant topic items.  If any books or items are sent in, please could you make sure they are named so as to avoid any confusion?

Swimming was very successful.  A few odd garments were left behind in the changing rooms and are now back in school.  Please ask if you are missing any items of importance.  

Due to the Eisteddfod next Wednesday we will not be able to have our outdoor P.E session, therefore it is not necessary to return P.E. kits this week.  Please keep them at home ready to wear to school for swimming next Friday. Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend and see you all next week!

New half term new topic.

'Wriggle and Crawl'- Minibeasts

Welcome back!  We are already into our new topic and our new learning adventures.  Read on to see what we have been up to...

Today we have been doing more child led planning.  We have been putting down our ideas and thinking about the learning we would like to do in our different subject areas - humanities;, health and wellbeing; science and technology; language, literacy and communication; expressive arts and maths and numeracy.

This was slightly easier than the first time we did it as the children knew how we were going to do this.  We are now learning what each of the titles means and the types of activities we can include.  We have had some good suggestions and ideas in which way to take the learning experience for 'Wriggle and Crawl’.

We have also been busy learning Pie Corbett stories and actions.  The story that we have been learning is called ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’.  We are developing our repertoire of actions for words and phrases like ‘now’, ‘suddenly’,’because’, ‘next’, ‘in the end’ and many more story phrases!  The idea is that the more we practise the more fluent in memorising and recalling the whole story - without reading the words -we will become.  It’s something new for everyone so we are all learning together!

Swimming

Letters have gone home today (20:2:18) in book bags regarding the swimming sessions which will take place on a Friday.  These will be starting this Friday at the pool in Eirias Park.  

**Please return the permission slip to school as soon as possible.**

After our Wednesday P.E session the children will bring their P.E kits home.  Please could they wear their kit for school on Friday?  There is no need to send their uniform to change into afterwards.  We also kindly ask that P.E kits are returned before our next P.E. session which will be the following Wednesday.  Many thanks for your assistance. 

Spellings

We are changing the way we do our spellings. This has been explained to the children (and those of you who I have already seen at parents' evening) and there is some information at the bottom of the spelling list.  I have added a copy of the spellings here so that should it be necessary, you can always see what the words to practise are.  Should you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  Thank you in advance for helping your child practise these for Friday 2nd March.

Half Term 

There have been new Abacus allocations set for over half term. Please take a look if you have a few spare minutes.

The children have also been given letters regarding the Infant Eisteddfod.  We have had a brief chat about what they can do at home if they choose to enter the ‘design a love spoon’ and baking competitions.  Feel free to gather inspiration from other sources before your child attempts their own design. We have looked at a few in school but it is always lovely to see how creative the children can be.

Swimming will begin after half term.  The sessions will, once again, be held in Eirias Leisure Centre.  Letters will be sent home when we return to school with more detailed information.  

**Thank you for your support and cooperation in all these events and the activities have taken place since Christmas.** 

Have a fabulous week off and see you back in school on 19th February! 

Rugby - Session 2.

Although the weather had been uncertain first thing, it was clear and dry by 11 o’clock so out for rugby we went.  It was a little chilly but with plenty of running about and dodging going on there was plenty to keep us warm. It was a also little less muddy this week as we were out on the MUGA!

Keystrings Visit Ysgol Pen Y Bryn

Another day, another fun experience!  We were lucky enough to have a visit from the Keystring musicians who entertained the children with different music and instruments whilst helping them to understand musical terms such as 'pitch' and 'timbre.'  This time there was a 'Chinese New Year' theme running through the show which was interactive, fun and thoroughly enjoyable.  We always look forward to the Keystring visits and the entertaining way in which they assist our learning.  Kung Hei Fat Choy! 

Quick P.E. reminder.

Tomorrow is P.E. day for both classes.  If possible, please could you make sure P.E. kits are back in school as we have our session tomorrow and another rugby session with the RGC players on Friday? Many thanks.

Today was the day!

If arriving at school in the snow was exciting, then making pizzas and having a class restaurant was extremely exciting! Find out what happened during the day…

We headed straight to the school hall where we had tables set up to watch Dai Chef demonstrate how to make pizzas.  He had some homemade dough and showed us the order in which we needed to add our toppings to make the perfect pizza. After making the pizzas they were cooked in the school kitchen.  Whilst this was happening we constructed pizza boxes ready to take any leftovers home at the end of the day.  

With the tables set and the food prepared and cooked we then had some children take on the role of diners whilst the other children took orders, dished up the pizzas and handed them to to the waiters and waitresses to give to the customers.    We also had an ‘ice cream factory’ with sweets for the top.  In the afternoon session the workers became the customers and the morning diners  became the children with the restaurant roles.  It was amazing to see the children embrace the roles they chose to do and participate in such an enthusiastic way.  Have a look at the photographs to see the children in action.

Once again a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped make this day happen.

Weekly Roundup.

As usual it’s been a busy week! Here are a few things we've been up to...

We’ve been busy diary writing.  In order to do this we watched a short animation chosen by the children - they had a choice of two clips that were watched and then a vote held.  Overwhelmingly the children voted for a clip with a busker and a dog who who were saving money for their dream.  We then rewatched the clip 3 or 4 more time to really know what we were writing about.  We then wrote 4 diary entries; from the dog’s view or the character’s.  The standard of writing was amazing  and it was thoroughly enjoyable to read all the different work.  Da iawn Blwyddyn dau!

In between rain and cold wind Wednesday was a sunny morning and ideal to get our sponsored run completed.  The children really got into the spirit of things and put maximum effort into completing 5 laps of the school field. Thank you once again for all the sponsor money donated for our pizza day.  This will be happening next week, Tuesday 6th February.  The excitement has been building and today we decorated paper tablecloths and the underside of our plates.  We put our orders in and now the only thing we need to do is make our pizzas!

Today we also had a visit from RGC rugby players. The players worked with the children for a half hour session on the field (apologies for the muddy P.E kits) where they completed fun activities and ball skills.  Next Friday the RGC will return for another session.  If PE kits could be returned before next Wednesday (our next P.E. session) I would be extremely grateful.

For anyone in my Maths group a new Abacus activity has been allocated.  Log on and check out the weighing activity.  Have fun!

Check back next week to see how we got on with our pizza making...

Welcome back!  

We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and wish everyone every happiness for 2018.

By the sounds of things, the children had a wonderful time over the holidays.  They all had so much they wanted to say.  Everyone had the chance to write about Christmas in their recount writing.  We looked at paragraphs and will use these more and more in our independent writing.  

This afternoon the children also spent time thinking about their aims for 2018 - something realistic they would like to achieve or improve during the next 12 months.  There were lots of original ideas and hopefully the children will work on these goals at home and school.  Feel free to ‘pop - in’ and see what your child aims to work on.  ‘Pop -in’ details  will be given in the next Year 2 newsletter.

Come back soon to see what we have been doing.

Thursday 14th December

Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper (own clothes)!

How exciting!

Dosbarth 2LC

Welcome to our class page of the Pen Y Bryn website. We will be updating it often with news about our topics, trips, what we have been doing in class and dates for the diary such as pop in dates.

Teacher:  Mrs Chapman

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Humphreys 

Year 2 Topics 2017 - 2018

• Autumn 1- Supermarket
• Autumn 2- Superheroes and Christmas Show
• Spring 1- Superheroes
• Spring 2- A long time ago
• Summer 1- Creepy Crawlies 
• Summer 2- Far Far Away 

Christmas Concert 2017

Thank you once again for the brilliant costumes and helping your child with their lines. We are very proud of the children! Da iawn ti pawb!!! x

Infant Panto at Venue Cymru

Tuesday 12th December 

General information about Year 2

Homework

Reading needs to be done each night and there is an opportunity for children to change their books on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please ensure that book bags and reading books are brought into school every day as your children will be reading every day. 

Sound and word logs are your child's individual spelling books. They will be sent home with words to learn how to spell each week. These books must be brought back to school on a Monday ready for your child to be tested on the words for that week and given new words.

Maths Skills folders will be sent as and when we feel children need to practise a particular skill. Please complete this work with your child and refer back to it throughout the week. 

Water bottles

Please could you ensure that your child brings water bottles to school each day and that these come to school full.

Fruit money- 50p per week 

Please pay at the start of every term online. 

Dinner money

£2.20 per day

Please pay online. 

PE Kits

Please ensure your child's PE kit is in school at all times. Ensure all items are labelled, even socks and pumps!