Year 2 - Emerald

Mrs Lawrence

I am Emerald Class Teacher. I have worked at Homer for 17 years and I have been lucky to work across all year groups.  My favourite lessons to teach are Maths (as I enjoy numbers and finding patterns) and History/Geography (finding out about past events and the world around us). I live in Windsor with my husband, our 3 children and our dog Odie. Outside of school I enjoy socialising with friends and family, walking my dog and watching my son play football. I am very exciting about this year and looking forward to getting to know all the children. I am planning lots of fun activities to support and extend the learning in the classroom.

Ms Carlton

I am Emerald Class teaching assistant. I joined Homer when my two sons were pupils here and I enjoyed it so much that I am still working here 19 years later! When I am not at school I spend lots of time with friends, shopping and eating out. I am really looking forward to working and having fun together throughout the coming year.

Mrs Bleach

I teach lots of classes across the school. I love teaching Science and Music and I also lead the singing assemblies. I enjoy putting on shows and performances across the school. You'll often hear me singing or humming to myself as I walk around. You might also see me in the school gardens with the Homer Growers, making our outside areas look good. I'm looking forward  to being in Emerald this year and teaching you Science.

Mrs McDowell

I am a teaching assistant in both Emerald and Topaz classes and I have been at Homer for 6 years. I enjoy helping with Maths lessons and working with phonics groups. Outside of school I like travelling, socialising with friends and going to the theatre. I am really looking forward to working in both classes this year and supporting children with their learning.

Reindeer Visit

What an amazing way to kick off the week! We had the pleasure of welcoming two beautiful reindeer, Flash and Jet, to visit Homer.

The children were captivated as they listened and learned all about these incredible animals.

We discovered that reindeer come from the Arctic Circle and countries like Sweden. Did you know they can run up to 40 mph for over two hours? We also learned that they shed their antlers every year just after Christmas, and within 12 weeks, a brand-new set grows back—identical to the ones before!

Reindeer are herbivores, meaning they only eat moss, grass, and leaves. What a fascinating experience for everyone involved!

Anti-Bullying Week

This week, we explored the concepts of being a 'bully' and being 'bullied.' Through thoughtful discussions, the children shared their understanding of these terms. They all agreed that bullying is not the right path and emphasised the importance of treating one another with respect. To reinforce this message, the children coloured meaningful words that highlight the significance of Choosing Respect.

Coming Up for Autumn Term 2

Maths         - Additions/Subtractions

                   - Shape 

English      - Poetry - Ten Things in a Wizards Pocket 

                   - Recount - Oh No George!

Science      - Seasons and their changes

Computing - Purple Mash - Lego Builders

                                              - Effective Searching

Art              - Make Your Mark 

Music         - Colonel Hath's March

Geography - Why is our world wonderful?

RE              - Should you wear symbols?

                   - Special things belonging, special occasions

PE              - Real PE - Social

PHSE         - Hoax Calling

                   - Road Safety

Autumn Term 1

What a fantastic start we have had in Emerald class with all children settling well. Everyone is enjoying their learning and challenging themselves ensuring they do their best! All children are reading daily and we have already earned a Mufti-day because of this. Well done!

Maths - This term in Maths we have revisited Place Value 0-20 and also extended our learning using numbers to 100. We have become extremely confident using number bonds and are able to use these to solve number problems. We are currently using them to support our learning of adding and subtracting numbers up to 100 and also comparing the value of numbers. The children are using the correct mathematical symbols to show the greater/less or equal number. We will continue focusing on addition and subtraction using 2-digit numbers as well as crossing over a 10 number. In addition to our daily Maths, we use Mastering Number (10 minutes 4 times a week) to support number fluency and confidence. This is thoroughly enjoyed by all!

English - We use Talk For Writing and started by using the losing tale 'Dogger' as our focus. The children all enjoyed the story and added actions using their text maps to support their recall of events throughout it. We have completed a variety of work such as discussing new vocabulary(understand the meaning), extending sentences and using connectives (because, but, so, and), created a 'toolkit' which enables the children to think about what they need to include in their story (full stops, capital letters, finger spaces, adjectives, etc). The children then used the original story to create their own new version. Finally they used their learning to write their very own losing tale. Our current focus text is 'How to wash a Woolly Mammoth'. The children are really enjoying this text and have again completed various tasks to extend their learning such as using time connectives and bossy verbs. The children are now in the process of choosing their own animal that they would like to write instructions on how to wash them.

Geography - This term we have been learning all about where we live. We have used Google Earth to see how the world is structured and atlases to see where we actually are in the world. The children have used aerial view maps of Windsor and have been able to identify places such as our school, Windsor Castle and other surrounding places. We have learnt that Windsor is a town and what the differences are in villages, towns and cities. 

Music - The Menu Song has been our feature and the children have used actions to help recall it. It has been highly successful with all the children learning it and remembering what food is connected to what day of the week. The children have enjoyed using their bodies to follow and display different beats, instruments and pitches.

Science - This term the children have been learning all about plants. They planted their own beans and monitored their growth using a diary. The beans grew so successfully we had to move them to Mr Bleach's allotment! Along with plants the children have been learning about the four seasons and how different things happen in each.

RE - We have used the bible story of Moses to reflect on how people influence us and had lots of discussions on when some peoples influences are good but not all. The children have recognised a variety of different people in different areas of their lives that have influenced them.

Computing - This is an extremely popular activity and the children really focus and enjoy accessing Purple Mash. They are able to move around the program with growing understanding of how it all works. The children have also learnt about Online Safety and how important it is. Recently the children have been given access to Numbots and it appears to be highly successful.

PE - We have been fortunate to have specialist sports coaches in twice a week to work with the children. On a Monday the children have been practising and learning new football skills and how teamwork is essential. Friday mornings the children have been focusing on fundamentals which include developing balancing, agility, running, jumping as well as coordination.

Design Technology - We have tried and tasted a variety of different fruits and vegetables in order that we could create a smoothie. The children identified what a fruit is compared to a vegetable. They really enjoyed juicing lemons, limes and oranges which we then added to our final smoothie.

PSHE - This term using Decision 1 we have been looking at relationships especially bullying. The children have watched videos whereby they can choose which form of action the characters should take. Once they have chosen, the videos continue showing the outcome and then show the children what could have happen if they had chosen the other option.  This has really helped children to gain a stronger understanding of bullying and its consequences. It has also given them advice should they ever feel under pressure from others.

Instructions 

We created our Witches Houses today and next we will be writing up how we actually created them step by step.