Dear Parents and Carers of Year Two,
It’s the end of our year together and we wanted to say goodbye and good luck!
Thank you everyone for sending in your letters to school. Mrs Veale has enjoyed reading your letters and has shared them with us. We have read about all the interesting things you have been doing and were impressed at the quality of your handwriting! You have obviously been working hard at home – well done!
This is our third and final week of transition and we have prepared this PowerPoint for you. Year 2 Transition Week3
This week’s activity is about what is in your heart!
For our second transition week we would like you to watch the two videos below where Mr Gorrod and Mrs Jethwa share their thoughts on Determination and Resilence.
Think about how these values will help you next year. This PowerPoint will help you. Year 2 Transition Week2
For our English work this week we hope you have received your letters from your teachers. Each letter included an envelope to allow you to write back to Mrs Veale. So your task is to write a letter which you will post back to Minet Infant & Nursery School. Mrs Veale is looking forward to reading your letters!
For our Maths learning this week we would like you to follow this link to the Oak National Academy and complete the learning for week 11. This is about using our times table knowledge to solve maths questions.
Our first week thinking about transition was focused on the values of Positivity and Courage. One is on Positivity, narrated by Miss Potiha and the second is about Courage, narrated by Miss Carson. After viewing the videos please discuss the activities in this PowerPoint: Year 2 Transition Week 1
For our English work this week we would like you to listen to the story of The Thank You Letter, to remind you how to write a thank you letter.
Then write your own letter to your class teacher and the support staff from your class, to thank them for helping you with your learning. You may also wish to tell them how you have been staying positive and continuing your learning at home during the lockdown. Use the model letter here Model_Letter1 to help you write your letter in the correct way. Can you send your completed letters to the school email address. office@minetinfants.org.uk
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart” – Confusius
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems” – Gever Tulley
At Home Learning
Click on the pictures to visit the free online resources that we recommend.
You can also visit our Reception Phonics Page for additional links that you can use at home!
Monday 29th June
For our English work this week we would like you to listen to the story of The Thank You Letter, to remind you how to write a thank you letter.
Then write your own letter to your class teacher and the support staff from your class, to thank them for helping you with your learning. You may also wish to tell them how you have been staying positive and continuing your learning at home during the lockdown. Use the model letter here Model_Letter1 to help you write your letter in the correct way. Can you send your completed letters to the school email address. office@minetinfants.org.uk
Monday 22nd June
Listen to the story of Spike: The Hedgehog Who Lost His Prickles
After listening to the story, complete this activity sheet; Literacy_Activities
Maya Angelou
At our school we have a different value for each month to show that everyone is valued for who they are and their contribution to the school. This week’s story is about Maya Angelou, who demonstrated the importance of different values through her life.
After listening to the video and reading the powerpoint School Value activity create a Respect Acrostic Poem
Ruby's Worry
Watch the video and then complete the activities that are at the end.
The Storm Whale
The Storm Whale is a gentle reminder that sometimes you need to make an effort to stay connected to each other. Noi’s dad is plodding through life but it takes the Storm Whale to make him realise that he needs to make more time to share with Noi.
Here are some questions that you might want to use to start a discussion in your family. You know your family and which questions they are ready to tackle now and which can be left for another day:
- How does Noi feel when his dad goes off to work?
- How do you know how Noi is feeling?
- Why doesn’t his dad notice how he is feeling?
- Does Noi tell his dad how is feeling?
- Is it a good thing to tell someone how you are feeling?
- Why did Noi take the little whale home?
- Was it the right thing to do?
- What would you do if you found a whale beached on the sand?
- Why did it make it easier for Noi to say ‘goodbye‘ to the whale when his dad was with him?
- Can you think of anything else that is easier when your dad is with you?
The Robot and the Bluebird
Healthy Eating

The Lonely Beast
Can you describe The Lonely Beast?
Draw The Lonely Beast and then describe him. Write words to describe how he feels on the inside of his body and write words to describe what he looks like (what we can see) on the outside of his body.
Monday 29th June
Monday 22nd June
Remember when we used: difference, subtract, difference between, less, minus, take away, inverse operation, column subtraction.
Look at the subtraction methods below first.
And use this helpful Instructions subtraction summer 2 guide.
Then follow the link https://wordwall.net/resource/3014457
Work out the subtraction sentences on a piece of paper.
.
Monday 15th June
Can you remember when we used: add, total, make, plus, more, altogether, mentally, column addition?
Follow the link https://wordwall.net/resource/2903628
Work out addition sentences on a piece of paper.
(Hint: remember to add your ones first.)
Capacity
Weight
Position and Direction
In Maths…
Position is the ability to describe where an object is in relation to another one.
Direction involves describing how something moves, for example forwards, backwards or in a full or half turn.
In Year 2, children are taught how to order and arrange objects in patterns and sequences, describing their position in relation to each other. They also continue to build their knowledge of the language of position, direction and movement that they have learnt in Year 1. Children should be encouraged to describe movement in a straight line as well as rotation as a half turn, whole turn, quarter turn and three-quarters turn.
Children are introduced to the words clockwise (turning in the direction of the hands of a clock) and anticlockwise (turning in the opposite direction of the hands of a clock).
Division
Statistics
Fractions
Monday 22nd June
This week practise sorting words into lists by the way the i sound is pronounced. Words: tin, pin, his, milk, link, mild, wild, blind, behind, remind.
Play the Acorn Adventures using the link below https://legacy.phonicsplay.co.uk/member-only/Sneaky_Squirrels.html
Draw the activity sheet in your book and choose which words has the i sound then find the alternative pronunciation.
Week Beginning: 15.06.2020
Spellings:
cow
owl
now
growl
town
clown
frown
brown
towel
crowd
Week Beginning: 08.06.2020
Spellings:
thigh
might
bright
flight
fight
high
right
tonight
fright
tight
Visit PhonicsPlay, choose phase 5 and scroll down to investigate alternative spellings /igh/. Use the interactive phoneme spotter, word sort and best bet activities.

Week Beginning: 01.06.2020
Spellings:
Child
Children
Class
Climb
Clothes
Could
Old
Only
Again
Any
Week Beginning: 18.05.2020
Spellings:
kind
improve
again
after
climb
floor
hour
half
last
children
Please practice these tricky words so that you can spell them perfectly!
Once you’ve learnt your spellings, can you put each word into one of these sentences?
- If I practice my spellings, my spellings will ______.
- To get to the top of Mount Everest, you could ______ it.
- If I make a mistake in my spellings, I should write the word ______.
- If it is two O’clock now, in one ______ it will be three O’clock.
- Sarah fell over and banged her knee on the______.
- It took a long time, but at ______ I finished my chores.
- All the teachers at Minet Infant School miss the ______ very much.
- ______ of four is two.
- My mum is very ______ to me.
- I cannot wait to come back to school ______.
Week Beginning: 11.05.2020
Spellings:
late
mate
rate
plate
amaze
gaze
place
race
case
game
Visit PhonicsPlay, choose phase 5 play the game buried treasure and select the split digraph a_e.

Art and Crafts for week commencing 15th June
In art this week we will be continuing to think about animals and their habitats. We will be thinking about how we can help those animals to survive, by ensuring that we do not pollute their habitats.
Could you draw a picture of a habitat, with lots of the animals that live in that habitat?
You can choose any environment that you wish! It could be a rainforest, an ocean, a desert, a mountain or anywhere else! It could even be the park, as lots of animals will live there, even if you cannot see them.
Think carefully about what kinds of animals you would see in these environments, as well as what these environments will look like. Would there be lots of plants? Would it be raining, or snowing?
If you wish to download this activity it is here: Arts and Crafts 15.06


Animal Collage
Can you create a collage of an animal? You can use anything you like to create an image of an animal, you could use bottles, pencils, balls, coins, anything at all!
It will help if you draw the outline of your animal on paper first, and then fill it in with all the objects that you want to use. If you are feeling brave, you could create the outline of the animal with your objects, and then use the rest to fill it in. Have a go and see how many animals you can create!
Drawing
Can you draw a picture of an endangered animal?
Make sure that you draw the animal, as well as their habitat that they live in. So, if you choose to draw a tiger, you will need to draw it in living in a different habitat to a drawing of a shark.
When you have drawn your picture, can you write three facts around the drawing?
You could look these facts up on the internet, or in an encyclopaedia. You might also be able to see a television show which will tell you lots of interesting facts about an endangered animal.
Remember: An endangered animal is an animal which may go extinct, so there will be none left for us to ever see again.

Pot Painting
Don’t throw away jars or pots when you are finished with them, you can make them into different things!
You could use pasta sauce jars, Nutella jars, yoghurt pots or anything like this.
Look at these pictures for some ideas – you could even make a plant pot!
You just need to wash the jar/pot and make sure it is completely clean and then you can decorate it however you like.
You could paint the outside with whatever colours you have, let it dry and then decorate the outside with pens, pencils or paints.


Habitats
Make your own habitat!
You can use recycled materials like paper, shoeboxes and wrappers.
These pictures are of Ocean habitats…


The World
You will need:
- A balloon
- Newspaper
- Flour
- Water
- Blue paint and paintbrush
- Scissors
- Glue
- Blow up a balloon and balance it on a cup
- Make a papier-mâché paste by mixing 3 parts water and 1 part flour
- Tear up long strips of newspaper
- Dip the newspaper in the mixture and scrape of any excess papier-mâché
- Cover the balloon evenly and leave it to dry (it may take a day or so)
- Paint the globe blue
- Draw your own continents on a piece of paper, label each continent and ocean then cut them out and stick them on your globe

Visit these websites to see step-by-step instructions:
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/paper-mache-globe-craft-1253090
https://thecraftyclassroom.com/crafts/geology-crafts-for-kids/paper-macheglobe-craft/
https://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-and-experiments/paper-mache-earthcenterpiece
Funny Characters
- Take a sheet of paper and fold it into four to create the creases
- Unfold the paper to begin
- Draw the head of your picture then fold the paper over so it cannot be seen
- Pass the paper to the next person
- They can draw the body and fold the paper over so it cannot be seen
- Pass the paper to the next person
- They can draw the legs and fold the paper over so it cannot be seen
- Pass the paper to the last person
- They can draw the feet
- Now you can unfold the paper and look at the funny drawing that you have created together!

Fruit
Staying at Home
Family Portrait
Can you draw and colour a picture of your family?
Remember to draw everybody in your family, even your pets! You can choose how to colour your picture – you might want to use colouring pencils or even make your own paint – click here to find out how!

Now you can add a label to each person.
Think carefully about what your favourite thing is about them…
You could say that your favourite thing about your Mum is that she looks after you or your favourite thing about your Brother is that he plays games with you. Write your favourite thing next to their label.
Rainbow Fruit
Can you make a rainbow out of fruit?
You can either put the fruit on a skewer, or you can arrange the fruit on a plate to make it look like a rainbow before you eat it all up!
Remember, you will need the colours: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – you can replace indigo and violet with purple if you want.

You could use 1 raspberry, 1 strawberry, 1 orange segment or 1 cube of peeled mango, 1 chunk of peeled pineapple, 1 chunk of peeled kiwi or 1 green grape, 1 red grape and to finish off, 2 blueberries.
Monday 22nd June
This week we are learning about food chains. We are going to focus on the different groups of animals in the food chains. Please read the PowerPoint Lesson Presentation Food Chains and click on this video link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z96r82p to help you understand what a food is.
Also, look at the Key words before completing tasks 1 and 2 here: what is a food chain soritng animals in the categories
Lesson 9
This week we are looking at habitats. Read through the PowerPoints of two different habitats.
desert-animal-habitats-powerpoint
winter-arctic-animals-habitat-powerpoint-
Look at the animals that live in those habitats and on a piece of paper copy out the table in this document Can I identify animal diet
Fill in the table by writing or drawing the name of the animal that matches the label.
Lesson 8
Read the fact sheets above. If you click on them, they’ll get bigger.
Now Choose 1 habitat and create a fact file on a piece of paper.
Include 2 for 3 facts about the habitat and choose 2 or 3 animals who live in the habitat and write about how they survive.
You can also research the habitats and add any interesting facts you find.
Lesson 7
Lesson 6
Lesson 5
Lesson 4
Lesson 3
Lesson 2
Lesson 1
Oceans
Listen to the song and answer these questions:
- What percent of the Earth is covered in Ocean Water?
- How many oceans are there?
- What is the biggest ocean?
- What is the smallest?
- What fraction of the Earth is the Pacific Ocean?
- What is special about the Mariana Trench?
- Who is the Atlantic Ocean named after?
- What ocean is the warmest?
- What ocean could you find Antarctica?
- Which ocean is the smallest and the shallowest?
- What oceans do Polar Bears walk on? How can they walk on the ocean?
Challenge Questions:
What ocean is at the top of the Earth and what ocean is at the bottom?
Hint: Have a think where the Southern ocean is by trying to remember which direction is South.
If you don’t have a printer, you can copy and draw the map by yourself onto a piece of paper!
Continents
Listen to the song and answer these questions:
- What is the biggest continent?
- What is the smallest?
- How much of the world live in Asia?
- What special river is in Africa? Why is it special?
- Can you name one of the animals you could see in North America?
- What continent could you find rainforests? What kind of weather do you see in rainforests?
- What is Antarctica made out of?
- Would you like to visit Antarctica? Why?
- Name 3 types of food you can get in Europe you hear in the song. Can you think of another type of food that isn’t in the song?
- What do some people call Australia?
- What does Australia have a lot of?
Challenge Questions:
What continent do we live in?
Were you or your family born in a different continent? If they were, write down an interesting fact about this continent!
If you don’t have a printer, you can copy and draw the table by yourself onto a piece of paper!
At Minet we love using Tales Toolkit to help us to create stories and use our imagination.
Click on the symbols below to find out a bit more about what they mean so you can start using them at home!
Stay Home, Stay Safe
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have used these beautiful illustrations from their stories and added captions to remind us to stay at home and how to stay safe. If you would like to listen to the original story, visit our Reception Home Learning page!