Year 2
Class teacher: Mrs Bellas
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 so many adults in class and around school who are always here to help you, and 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:
- Please bring your reading books and your red diary to school every day.
- You will need to wear your PE kit on Mondays and Thursdays this half-term.
- You will be taking home a book to share with your family and have another book to help improve your phonics and fluency in reading. Please try to read both books at home every day.
- Spelling and Arithmetic tests day is Thursday.
- Wednesday is our independent reading day. You can bring a book from home to read in class and share with others!
- Spelling homework is now set online via Spelling Frame every Thursday. You will find your unique login for this in your Red Reading Records.
- Arithmetic homework is sent out on Friday.
Our Mission Statement and school prayer
Religious Education
In RE this half term, we will learn about the first Christians and how, following the teachings of Jesus, they became the founders of the Church. We will focus on St Peter and St Paul, and we will think about how our words and actions make us Apostles too.
Writing
During this half-term we will be focusing on using great language, punctuation and more complex sentences to write an instruction texts.
Following a trip to Holly Bank House, the children will be exploring different ways to build a bird feeder. Throughout their writing, the children will be encouraged to use new language and grammar to make their instructions clear and engaging. This will include the use of:
- The use of Imperative verbs/ commands, for example, 'put', 'take', 'mix', 'spread'
- Sequence adverbs at the beginning of each step, for example, 'First', 'Next', 'Then' and 'Finally'.
- Clear layouts to ensure the reader can easily identify steps and instructions., for example lists, bullet points, short sentences and images.
The children 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.
We will continue to practise our handwriting using Bubble Handwriting, inclusive of the cursive script, checking letters are all of a consistent size and ensuring capital letters and ascending letters are much taller.
Reading
In Year 2 we begin our transition away from phonics to support us in becoming confident, fluent, life-long readers.
In class, we have regular guided reading sessions where we begin to think more deeply about texts we read and answer some questions to show our understanding. This half-term we will read extracts from a range of books, including:
- "My dad's thumb" by Michael Rosen.
- "The Smallest Bird in the World" and "The Largest Bird in the World" by Peggy Campbell.
Each day ends with story time, where the children are given the opportunity to immerse themselves in a class book read by the teacher. On Fridays, we will visit our school library, where the children 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
In maths this half-term, the children will be focusing on developing their knowledge and understanding of time, beginning witho'clock and half past, then the time past and to the hour and finally the time to the nearest 5 minutes. Then we will solve reasoning problems based on the number of minutes in an hour and number of hours in a day.
Next, we will become masters of statistics, focusing first on how we read and use tally charts and tables, and then continuing with drawing and interpreting pictograms.
Finally, we will explore the language of position and direction in order to describe movement and turns.
Take a look at the website below. On here, 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
Please continue to complete the arithmetic homework, working daily on four operations and practise the 2, 5 and 10 times tables at home to help your child’s speed and accuracy of recalling those multiplication facts.
Science
In science this half-term we will be learning about three great scientists and their ground-brreaking discoveries: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Louis Pasteur and Charles Macintosh. We will discuss their lives, achievements and the impact their researchs and discoveries have had on our lives.
- Significant individuals: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson - BBC Teach
- Horrible Science - Professor McTaggart Meets Louis Pasteur | Science for Kids
- The story of Charles Mackintosh - he invented rainwear!
Curriculum Details
Please see links below for more details about the curriculum
Homework
- Spelling test day is Thursday. Spelling homework is now set online via Spelling Frame. You will find your unique login for this in your Red Reading Records.
- Arithmetic test day is Thursday. Arithmetic homework is sent out on a Friday.
Please make sure you are practising these at home each day to help you learn.
Remember, if you get full marks on your spellings and arithmetic, you will earn a save for each!
Helpful links
Below you will find some useful links to resources you might like to access at home.
Please keep reading!
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/
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
Addition without exchanging
Adding with exchanging
Have a go at completing your own addition questions.
Sing! Sing! Sing!
Sing Up at Home
If you enjoy singing and would like to learn a new song, follow the below link to visit the Sing Up at Home page. There will be a new song uploaded with a performance track and backing track each week and pointers and tips of how to sing the song successfully.
Good luck and happy singing!