Year 2
Welcome to Year 2!
From Mrs Bellas, Mrs Jervis and Mrs Southern.
Welcome to our Year 2 class page! In year two, we love making learning fun and are always here to help you on your learning journey. Don't forget that there are many adults in class and around school who are always here to help you, and that God is always here for us too.
On this page you will find all the key information you’ll need throughout the year along with information about our learning.
Key things to remember:
- Homework books will be sent home on Mondays and must be returned to school on Thursdays.
- Reading records must be signed by your parents on a daily basis and returned to school each day.
- On Fridays, we will have arithmetic and spelling tests based on the homework you have completed during the week.
- Tuesday is our independent reading day. You can bring a book from home to read in class and share with others!
- You will need to wear your PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays this half-term.
Our Mission Statement and school prayer
Religious Education
‘Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28:19).
In this branch, we will study the events that flowed from the Resurrection and Ascension in the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Apostles and Early Church, focusing particularly on the figure of St Paul, his conversion and his letters.
Artwork by Jen Norton - https://www.jennortonartstudio.com/pentecost-and-the-holy-spirit/
Writing
During this term we will be focusing on using great language, punctuation and more complex sentences to write fiction and non-fiction texts based on high-quality texts. The texts we will use this term are:
- The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty
- The day the crayons quit
- The Crow's tale
We will focus on the structure and elements that are characteristic of each genre in order to ensure each piece of writing is coherent and cohesive. As well as this, throughout their writing, the children will be encouraged to use new language and grammar to make their writing clear and engaging. They will also be taught to re-read their work and begin to check that it makes sense and to find any errors in spelling and punctuation, as well as ensure their presentation is up to a high standard.
We will continue to practise our handwriting and the cursive script, checking that letters are all of a consistent size and ensuring capital letters and ascending letters are much taller and well-formed.
Reading
In Year 2 we begin our transition away from phonics to support us in becoming confident, fluent, life-long readers.
In class, alongside our fluency sessions, we have regular whole class reading sessions where we begin to think more deeply about texts we read and answer some questions to show our understanding. This term we will read extracts from a range of books and texts, including:
- "The Magic Finger" by Roald Dahl
- "The world's smallest and largest birds in the world" by Peggy Campbell
- "My dad's thumb" by Michael Rosen
- "The whale watchers" by Dougie Poynter
Each day ends with story time, where the children are given the opportunity to immerse themselves in a class book read by the teacher. Children will also have plenty of opportunities to visit our school library, where they can explore a range of genres, discuss books they have read with others and find books written by authors they have discovered during the year.
Please see below a link which will take you to our literacy page. Here you will be able to access a range of documents and videos to help with the pronunciation of phonetical sounds to help your children with their reading.
Mathematics
This term, the children will develop their knowledge and understanding of fractions, including finding half, a quarter, three quarters and a third of a given amount, recognising and differentiating unit and non-unit fractions and counting in fractions up to a whole. These are important concepts for children to master as they are fundamental steps to performing calculations in KS2 and solving problems in their daily life.
As well as this, the children will learn different concepts related to the use of time and how to read and tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes. Finally, we will explore basic concepts and representations in Statistics, including tables, block diagrams and pictograms, and they will develop their language of position to describe movements and turns.
By the end of Year 2, our children should be fluent in their knowledge of the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication and division facts. Please, ensure you revise these times tables with your child as often as possible to ensure their recollection of these multiplication facts is secure. The website below is free and it's a great way for the children to revise these independently:
In year 2 we use base 10 representations to solve additions and subtractions. Below are two videos which show the method we use in class. When completing homework, please ensure your child uses this method and not others, as it is crucial for them to comprehend the reasoning behind regrouping and exchanging before moving on to using formal methods of addition and subtraction in Year 3.
Addition without regrouping
Addition with regrouping
Subtraction with regrouping
In the website below you will find some great tools to help bring your learning to life using all the manipulatives we use in the classroom at home on your device!
https://whiteroseeducation.com/resources/digital-tools
Science
This half-term we will be learning about living things and their habitats, focusing specifically on mini-beasts. It's a great topic the children always enjoy! When possible, explore the local woods and parks with your child and invite them to look for animals and plants that are local to us - it is a fantastic way to enable them to secure their learning from school through experiencing the real world.
Other curriculum details
Please see links below for more details about the curriculum
Homework
- Homework books will contain your weekly homework. They will be sent home on Mondays and must be returned to school on Thursdays.
- Reading records must be signed by your parents on a daily basis and returned to school each day.
- All spelling homework is now set online via Spelling Frame every Thursday. You will find your unique login for this in your reading records. Please make sure you are practising these at home each day to help you learn.
- On Fridays, we will have arithmetic and spelling tests based on the homework you have completed during the week.
Remember, if you get full marks on your spelling and arithmetic tests, you will earn a save for each!
Helpful links
Click on these extra links below to play some exciting maths games linked to your times tables.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/times-tables/coconut-multiples
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train
Follow the link below to read free eBooks online on the Oxford Owl library:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/
