Junior 2

Welcome to Junior 2!

Junior 2 is a mixed year 5/6 class and their teacher is Mr Tyler.

6.11.20

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all healthy and well, in these strange times.  We have had a good first week back at school in Junior 2.  The children have settled back in really well after the two week half term.

This half term in Junior 2, our topic will be World War One.  This will involve looking at the British Empire, how WWI began, the Christmas truce, life in the trenches and life back home. 

In English, we have started by looking at recounts, using the books ‘UFOs and Aliens: Investigating Extra-terrestrial Visitors’ and ‘UFO Diary’.  The rest of our English work will then be focussing on ‘War Horse’ by Michael Morpurgo.  If you have a copy of this book at home, please bring it in to school. 

In maths, we will be focussing on number, looking at multiplication and division, addition and subtraction, fractions and shape.  In science, we will be learning about properties of materials, which will include dissolving, separating mixture and reversible and irreversible changes.

Due to the latest Lockdown, we will not be able to swim for the next 4 weeks.  Our last swimming session is supposed to be on Tuesday 8^th December, so we may still have one more week of swimming.  We will let you know if this final session will take place.  As a result of swimming being cancelled, Junior 2 will now have PE on Tuesdays where we will be doing athletics.  As part of our Enrichment afternoons, Junior 2 will also have PE on Wednesday afternoons too, where they will be doing circuit training.  Therefore, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, rather than bringing a PE kit in school, the children need to come to school wearing their PE kit.  On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, the children need to wear their normal school uniform, with dark trainers.

As I’m sure you are aware, your child has been given a planner, which should be brought to school each morning and taken home each night along with their reading book.  Inside the planner, there should be your child’s values card, reading pages and homework and reminder pages.  Homework will continue to be given through Bug Club and Mathletics.  Mathletics will be set before each weekend to be completed by the following Wednesday.  Bug Club reading comprehension homework will also be set on a regular basis where the children will be set a book and be given a deadline for when it needs to be completed by.  Please support and encourage your child to complete this homework to the best of their ability and to a high standard.  Children also need to read at home each week both independently and to an adult, with the minimum requirement recorded in your child’s planner.  To show the reading has been completed, please tick the relevant boxes and sign your child’s reading pages for Friday each week.  The children will continue to be given weekly spellings to learn and they will be tested on these in school, on a Monday this half term, so they will need their spelling books in school.   

If you have any questions or would like to speak to me, please contact the school office if it is of an urgent nature.  If it is not urgent, please email junior2@gunthorpe.notts.sch.uk which I will be checking weekly.

Many thanks

Mr J. Tyler

9.9.20

Dear Parents,

I would like to start off by saying how well the children have returned to school and how well they have settled into their new year group, and for some of them their new class.  It has been great to finally have the new class together.

This half term in Junior 2, our topic will be on Earth and Space.  This will mainly be a science based topic, including looking at early views of our solar system, how we get day and night, the phases of the Moon, dwarf planets and the ‘Space Race’. 

In English, we have started by looking at the book ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers, just like all of the other classes in school.  We will then move on to look at some of Rudyard Kipling’s work including The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories, followed by some non-fiction work looking at U.F.O.s.  In maths, we will be focussing on number, looking at place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Junior 2 will have PE on Mondays this half term when we will be doing Mindfulness and Yoga, starting this Monday (14^th September).  On Mondays, rather than bringing a PE kit in school, the children need to come to school wearing their PE kit.  The whole school are also able to come to school dressed this way on a Wednesday (although we don’t actually have PE that day).  On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, the children need to wear their normal school uniform, with dark trainers.

As you already know, Junior 2 are swimming on Tuesdays all term, starting this Tuesday 15th September with the last session on Tuesday 8^th December.  Please ensure your child has their swimwear and towel each week.  Boys require tight fitting trunks or shorts with no pockets and which are no longer than mid-thigh length.  Girls require a snug-fitting one-piece swimsuit.  There is further guidance in the ‘School Swimming’ section under the ‘Parents’ tab on the school website.  We have been asked for the children to arrive at the swimming pool wearing their swimming trunks or costumes under their clothes to speed up the changing time.  We will be providing the girls with time to change in school before we leave.  However, we are asking for the boys to come to school in the morning, wearing their trunks under their school uniform (please remember to pack underwear, with their towel, to change into afterwards).  If you are wanting your child to wear goggles, you need to have sent in a new goggles form.  If you have not sent in a new goggles form, either just before the summer holidays or this September, then your child will not be able to wear googles (the goggles form is available on the school website).

Your child will be given a planner this week which should be brought to school each morning and taken home each night along with their reading book.  Inside the planner, there should be your child’s values card, reading pages and homework and reminder pages.  Homework will usually be given through Bug Club and Mathletics (this will start from next week).  Mathletics will be set before each weekend to be completed by the following Wednesday.  Bug Club reading comprehension homework will also be set on a regular basis where the children will be set a book and be given a deadline for when it needs to be completed by.  Please support and encourage your child to complete this homework to the best of their ability and to a high standard.  There is also an expectation that children read at home each week both independently and to an adult, with the minimum requirement recorded in your child’s planner.  To show the reading has been completed, please tick the relevant boxes and sign your child’s reading pages for Friday each week.  The children will also have weekly spellings to learn and they will be tested on these in school, on a Monday this half term (their first spellings will be given out on Monday 14^th September).   

If you have any questions or would like to speak to me, please contact the school office if it is of an urgent nature.  If it is not urgent, please email junior2@gunthorpe.notts.sch.uk which I will be checking weekly.

Many thanks

Mr J. Tyler

Thursday 19th September: Flintham 3 Gunthorpe 3

A massive well done to our boys' football team who played magnificently in our first match of the year, away at Flintham Primary School.  The boys worked so hard as a team and were very unlucky not to win, with Flintham scoring with the last kick of the game.