Year 2
Welcome to Year 2!
From Miss Williams, Mrs Bennett, Mrs Southern and Miss Thomson!
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.
- Friday 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 Wednesdays this half-term.
Our Mission Statement and school prayer
Religious Education
‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day’ (1 Cor 15:3).
In this branch, pupils will study the season of Lent and its culmination in the events of Holy Week. They will learn about the Paschal Triduum at the heart of the Catholic Church’s Liturgy and life. The title of this branch points both to the liturgical journey from the desert of Lent to the garden of Resurrection, but also to the Paschal journey from darkness to light, barrenness to fruitfulness, death to life.
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:
- Little Red Reading Hood (narrative)
- The Great Fire of London (non-fiction)
- This is how we do it (non-fiction)
We will focus on the structure and elements that are characteristic of each genre (narrative, poetry, instructions and letter writing) 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. For this reason, during the Autumn term, we will have whole-class phonics lesson alongside regular whole-class and small group reading sessions where we begin to think more deeply about the texts we read, as the children develop their fluency, prosody and comprehension skills. This term we will read extracts from a range of books and texts, including:
- The Snow Dragon (narrative)
- Amelia Earhart (non-fiction)
- The pirates next door (narrative)
- The secret sky garden (narrative)
- Dunlop. McAdam. Macintosh (non-fiction)
- Kind (poetry)
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 the link below 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
Money
In this unit, Year 2 children will develop their understanding of money by recognising coins and notes, counting totals, and finding different combinations to make the same amount. They will practise adding and subtracting money and apply their knowledge to solve simple, real-life problems involving spending and giving change.
Multiplication and Division
Children will begin to explore multiplication and division through practical activities and visual representations. They will learn to make equal groups, share and group objects, and use repeated addition to understand multiplication. The unit also introduces division as sharing and grouping, helping children build strong foundations for future learning.
Length and Height
During this unit, children will measure, compare and order lengths and heights using standard units. They will use rulers and other measuring tools accurately, record measurements, and solve problems that involve comparing and calculating differences in length and height.
Mass, Capacity and Temperature
In this unit, children will learn to measure and compare mass and capacity using standard units, as well as read and interpret temperature using thermometers. Through practical investigations, they will develop their understanding of heavier and lighter, full and empty, and hotter and colder, applying their skills to real-life contexts.
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
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:
Science
In this science unit, children will explore a wide range of natural and human-made materials such as wood, metal, plastic, glass and paper. They will investigate and compare the properties of materials, learning why some are better suited for particular purposes than others. Through hands-on testing, children will explore how materials can change shape by squashing, bending, twisting or stretching, and begin to think about where materials come from and their sustainability. They will develop their scientific skills by sorting and classifying materials, recording observations, asking questions, and using evidence to form simple conclusions.
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.
- For those children still on Phonics, Phonic books will be sent home every Monday. The children must bring these to school each day for their small group reading sessions. Phonic books will change on a weekly basis.
- 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!
Photos
Christmas Pyjamas & Movie Day
Autumn 2 Forest school session
Year 2 have really enjoyed their Forest school session this week. They've used a map of the school grounds to map different physical and human features that can be found in school. They have also had time to explore our forest school grounds and hang the bird feeders we made as part of our writing unit.
Bright Colours Day
As the dark nights are drawing in, the children have been learning about the importance of wearing bright/fluorescent clothing so that they can be seen, especially by traffic, when out and about. To encourage this we celebrated Bright Colours Day when, instead of wearing school uniform, the children were asked to come into school wearing bright clothing. Our class didn't disappoint!
Autumn 1 Forest school session
🌿 Forest School – Celebrating Creation 🌿
This week our children enjoyed their very first Forest School session, perfectly timed with the Catholic Church’s Month of Creation. Linking their learning in Science and RE, the children explored Living Things and their Habitats and reflected on the beauty of God’s Creation.
They discovered what animals need to survive and investigated how different creatures make their homes in our own school grounds. We built hedgehogs homes, a bug hotel and designed creation flags. Alongside this, they discussed the important concept of stewardship—understanding that God has entrusted us with caring for the world and all living things.
It was a joyful start to our Forest School journey, bringing faith and learning together in the great outdoors 🌎✨
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/
