Today Year 2 watched this BBC Live Lesson

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04pkxkw

The programme introduces the 500 Words competition run by BBC Radio 2. The boys planned some ideas for their story and will bring their planning sheet home today. We would like to encourage all boys to write their story and submit their entries online. There are some great prizes and they might even get published!

Please can you use the link below to find out more and to submit your entry. If you decide to take part please do send a copy into school so we can see it. We are also happy for all Year 2 boys not to complete their Story Spelling Challenge homework next week in order to take part in this competition.

The stories should be as creative and imaginative as possible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00rfvk1

 

 

We have investigated how to turn liquid (water) into a gas (steam).

Can you comment explaining how we conducted our experiment this afternoon?

What did we do with the cold plate?

Here are some interesting facts about States of Matter.

BOILING

When a liquid is heated, the particles are given more energy. They start to move faster and further apart. At a certain temperature, the particles break free of one another and the liquid turns to gas. This is the boiling point. The boiling point of a substance is always the same; it does not vary.

INVISIBLE STEAM

Water boils when it reaches its boiling point of 100ºC (212ºF). This is the temperature at which water turns to steam. Steam is an invisible gas. When it reaches the lid it cools back to a liquid.

EVAPORATION

Even without boiling water in a kettle, some of the liquid water changes to gas. This is evaporation. It occurs when a liquid turns into a gas far below its boiling point. There are always some particles in a liquid that have enough energy to break free from the rest to become a gas.

CONDENSATION

Dewdrops are often found on a spider’s web early in the morning after a cold night. Water that is present as a gas in the air cools down and changes into tiny drops of liquid water on leaves and windows. This change from gas to liquid is called condensation.

 

Here are the Year 2 boys enjoying their visit to the local church yesterday.

You will see that there is a post it note in your reading record book. The boys should know what this is about but in case they have forgotten….

The boys will be making a junk robot next week (to promote recycling). They all planned they robot today and thought about what junk they will need to bring in. They are in charge of bringing their own junk in. However, they do not need to bring in scissors, glue, paint etc as we have all of those things in school. We will be making the Recycle-o-Bots next Thursday so junk can be brought in any time before then.

Many thanks!

Have a go at solving some of these time problems!

1. Martin took the dog for a walk at 5.00 p.m. He came back at 7.00 p.m. How long was he out?
2. Mrs Dingle’s cake was in the oven from 3.00 until ¼ to 4. How long was it in the oven altogether?
3. Charlie went to see his friend. He left there at 6 o’clock after staying for 2 hours. What time had he arrived?
4. The postman started delivering letters at half past 5 in the morning. He took 1 ½ hours to finish his round. What time did he finish?
5. Carol and Joe went running every morning. They left the house at half past 6 and returned at 8 o’clock. How long were they running for?
6. A man took 6 hours to build a wall. If he finished at 3 p.m., what time did he start?
7. A train leaves London at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It arrives in Manchester at 6.30. How long was the journey?
8. Gordon always takes ½ an hour to read the newspaper in the evening.He starts at a quarter past 7. What time does he finish?
9. Evans wanted to chop down a tree in his garden. He started at 10.30 a.m. and didn’t finish until 12 midday. How long did it take him?
10. Auntie Flo sat and did her knitting every evening for 1 hour and then went to bed. If she started knitting at 10 p.m., what time did she go to bed?

 

 

Today we have been revising time. We have been looking at o’clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past on analogue and digital clocks. Later on this week we will be solving simple time problems such as

I left my house at 4 o’clock and walked for 45 minutes. What time did I stop walking?

If you would like to continue to practise at home here are some games to help. The “quarter to” times were particular tricky today!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/maths/telling_the_time/play/popup.shtml

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/on_time_game1.swf

http://www.ictgames.com/clockDemonstrator/index.html

http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html

Have fun!

Last week the boys created A Field for Lochinver based on Antony Gormley’s Field for the British Isles. What do you think?

 

Here is a picture of the real The Field for the British Isles

 

This week we all tried some paper weaving. It was not as easy as it looked but the results are great!

The boys n Year 2 have all begun to learn their 2 x table which they will be tested on this Friday. Each week the boys will write their new tables in the back of the book and learn them for the following week.

In class we have been using arrays to help us understand multiplication.

Some boys found this a little tricky so if you get chance to revise it at home that would be really helpful. Here is an example

If we read this horizontally there are 2 rows of 5, or 2 lots of 5, or 2×5

We can also turn this into an adding sum 5 + 5

It’s amazing how many arrays can be found in the world around us!

Why don’t you comment below if you have found any arrays anywhere?

Happy New Year and welcome back!

The boys have made a great start to the term and have been busy throughout the day. In out Topic lesson, we talked about oceans and continents. Each group had a go at putting the continents on a balloon! They were then able to check their ideas against some real maps and globes.