A warm welcome back to all Year 2 children and parents! I hope you had a wonderful Easter break. This term, we will continue to flourish by exploring the topic, ‘Bloom and Blossom: How will you grow this term?’ I am looking forward to the children being even braver and bolder in their final term.
Year 2
Welcome to Year 2!
As always, our RE topics will be at the heart of our curriculum.
This term, our topics are: ‘Spread the Word’, ‘Rules’ and ‘Treasures.’ We will be learning about the story of Pentecost and how we are challenged to follow Jesus’ rules and instructions. We will have chance to explore the many treasures in the world around us and to share what we are grateful for. We will also be learning about Hinduism as part of our ‘Other Faiths’ topic.
Our key questions this term are:
Why should we spread Good News?
Do we need rules?
Is the world a treasure?
Our theme this term is Bloom and Blossom. In Maths, we will be challenged to grow our knowledge further. Children will learn about multiplication and division, measures, telling the time and problem solving efficiently. We will of course be continuing to practise all four operations so we are ready for whatever challenges lie ahead! Our English lessons will allow us to meet trolls and dinosaurs! We will be writing diary entries from the characters’ perspective and persuasive letters, lining to our Come and See ‘Treasures’ topic. As always, we will be checking our spelling, punctuation and grammar to make sure our work is of the highest standard. There will be lots of reading in class to make sure we are developing our reading fluency and our understanding of new vocabulary. Phonics lessons will take place every day in order to build the children’s understanding of the English code and to enable them to become confident readers and spellers. In Computing lessons, the children will create stop motion animations and learn about programming with Mrs Chahal. Mrs Head will continue teaching Year Two every Thursday and supporting the children with their Wider Topic lessons.
In Science, we will exploring the topic of ‘Living Things and their Habitats’ and ‘Plants’. We will identify and classify living things before investigating how their habitats help them survive. We will plant flowers and seeds, nurturing them and watching them grow. Our Geography learning will take us to India as we learn about the tropical climate and monsoons and compare to UK weather. In DT we will learn about food and nutrition before developing our cooking skills and making a vegetable curry. In Art, we will explore Rangoli patterns and the importance of colour and symmetry in these patterns. Children will create their own Rangoli pattern using a variety of materials. In History, we will use our enquiry skills to compare our holidays now, with holidays many years ago and how they have changed over the last 100 years. In PE we will be practising our Gymnastics with Ms Bathgate, and we will start swimming lessons after half term (see key dates).
Year 2 End of Key Stage Assessments
As you know, your children will have the opportunity to showcase all that they have learned in KS1 at the end of May. We will be taking these tests as Super Secret Agents and the children know it is an opportunity to show off their learning! Here are some ways in which you can support your child in the run up to the assessments…
- Check weekly homework newsletters for up-to-date information. The children will be set homework on Friday.
- Regularly revisit number facts with children. Practice totalling three dice, adding money, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s, doubling and halving to 20. This will help them to feel more confident when solving trickier word problems. Children also have their maths passports to support with this. Mathletics and Times Tables Rocks Starts is also still available to all our children– let me know if you need the password again. Encourage your children to read at home and ask them questions about what characters say and do.
Practising skills little and often can make a huge difference. Thank you as always for your support.
Here are some videos to introduce you to some of our new topics:
Ways To Help At Home!
Homework: Year 2 will be given homework each Friday and it will be due in the following Thursday. This will include two spelling lists. The children will be told which list they should choose to challenge themselves to learn. The Diamond list is more challenging as the words are new Year 2 words, whereas the Ruby words are ones that the children will have experienced in Year 1 (but they may need refreshing). The children will have their spelling test with Mrs Kennelly on Thursdays.
Handwriting: All Year 2 children will be given a handwriting book to take home. Please encourage your child to bring their book in with completed letters so that they can receive Housepoints.
Reading: “There is no such thing as a child who dislikes reading; there are only children who haven’t found the right book.” – Frank Serefini.
At this age, decoding words and reading fluently can still be challenging for many children. Year 2 need to push past this initial challenge and read as much as possible in order to become fluent in reading and therefore able to enjoy the abundance of stories and magical worlds in books. Pease encourage your child to read every evening. They should be able to read their ‘Phonics Practice Book’ mostly independently but they may need help with their ‘Sharing Story’ or they may need an adult to read it to them. Sign your child’s reading record so we can keep up-to-date with their successes at home.
PE: Earrings – due to health and safety reasons, earrings must be removed before all PE sessions. Please remove them before school if your child is not able to do this independently. Please help your child to make sure their indoor and outdoor PE kit (white t-shirt/ black shorts/ socks/ trainers/ hoodie when necessary) is with them in school at all times.
Uniform: Please ensure all your children’s clothes are labelled with their name. This helps us to reunite clothes with the correct child!
Websites for Year 2 to learn from and enjoy…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zgkw2hv
http://community.mathletics.com/signin/
https://go.educationcity.com/?_ga=2.197658671.1662638739.1611861474-2073701833.1611531084
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/helicopter-rescue
Key Dates
Bank Holiday: 01/05/23 and 08/05/23
KS1 Sports Day: 17/05/23 2pm
Ascension Day Mass: 18/05/23 9.30am
KS1 National Assessments Week: 22/05/23 – 26/05/23
KS1 Disco: 24/05/23 3.30pm-4.30pm
INSET Day: 26/05/23
Half Term: 29/05/23-02/06/23
Class Photos: 05/06/23
Swimming: 06/06/23-12/07/23
Class Mass: 09/06/23 9am
Open Afternoon: 21/06/23
End of Year Mass: 24/07/23
Last Day of Term: 25/07/23
