Year 2

Welcome back to all of the Year 2 pupils and families! I hope that you all had a restful Easter break and are ready and raring to get back to school for our final term together.

As always, our RE topics will be at the heart of our learning this term:

Desert to Garden: We will retell the stories of the events that took place during Holy Week. Children will  learn that Lent is a time for reconciliation and forgiveness. Children will use religious words and phrases to describe what happens at Easter Vigil Mass.

To the Ends of the Earth: We will recall the stories of the resurrection of Jesus, Ascension and Pentecost Day. We will recognise that the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to God and is always with us. We will also learn about the significance of the life of St Francis of Assisi and Oscar Romero.

Other Faith: Sikhism We will discover that family life is important to Sikh people. We will find out how they pray together and how Sikh children learn about their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib.

Our whole school scripture theme continues this term: ‘The Treasure Within’ Matthew 6:21, where we continue to focus on our spiritual values within and showing human dignity to all. We have a very busy term planned with lots of exciting topics to discover.

Year 2 will enjoy science learning about living things and their habitats as we explore the creatures living in our school grounds. There will be plenty of bug hunts as we discover microhabitats and observe the living conditions of the mini beasts living there. We will also learn about food chains and the diets of a range of animals.

During history lessons, we will find out about the history of Clifton and the creation of Clifton Estate. We will also learn about the history of our school.

In geography, we will develop last terms learning about continents and oceans as we discover more about the UK coastline. We will learn about coastal towns and ports and the impact of tourism on holiday destinations in the UK.

Our art lessons will be lots of fun as we get to explore sculpture using clay. We will look at the inspirational work of artists such as Rachel Whiteread and Ranti Bam before designing and making our own clay houses.

Our PE lessons this term will focus on yoga with Mrs Bathgate, Sports Day preparation and Basketball with Coach Jimmy.

Our English lessons will be full of exciting opportunities as we read Fantastic Mr Fox, write instruction texts linked to the story and develop non fiction texts about foxes. We will also explore eco issues related to the story of Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish.

During weekly visits to the computer lab we will learn how to program simple games using Run Marco.

Maths lessons will be packed full of daily problem solving and reasoning challenges linked to fractions, time, statistics, position and direction,  capacity and temperature.

This term is going to be packed full of adventures and lots of exciting opportunities and learning. We can’t wait to get started!

 

Ways to help at Home!

PE: PE will be on Wednesday and Friday afternoons this term, please make sure your child has their full PE kit (outdoor and indoor kit) in school. As the weather becomes colder, your child will need the appropriate PE kit e.g jumper and joggers.

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.

Reading:   “Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage” ― Roald Dahl. 

Please encourage your child to read every evening. Sign  your child’s reading record in their diary so we can keep up-to-date with their successes at home.

Homework: Year 2 will be given homework on a Wednesday. Please check your child’s homework sheet each week for more information.

Spellings: Year 2 have their Spelling Quiz on Wednesday mornings.  Please remind your child to learn their spellings and to learn how to use the words accurately in sentences. Vocabulary knowledge is key to ensuring your child has strong reading comprehension and writing skills.

Maths: Please encourage your child to access NumBots and Mathletics at home for 5 minutes a day. This will help them to practice their number facts and support their learning in class.

Websites for Year 2 to learn from and enjoy…

https://my.risingstars-uk.com

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zgkw2hv

http://community.mathletics.com/signin/

https://ttrockstars.com/login  

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/helicopter-rescue

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/primary/zd7p47h

https://www.phonicsbloom.com/

We look forward to supporting your child to thrive and flourish this term and we will continue to help them to investigate, discover and learn through making ‘marvellous mistakes’. Strong home-school links are key to ensuring that your children gain the best support from both school and home so, if you do have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch so we can discuss them further. Thank you in advance for your support over the coming term, it is very much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Mrs Cook