Year 2

Welcome everybody to the Year 2 section of the website.

KS1 Assistant Head Teacher:

Mrs Spoor

 

Class Teachers:

2MS Mrs Marron (Monday-Wednesday) & Mrs Spoor (Wednesday-Friday)

2Y Miss Yates

2G Ms Greenhalgh

 

Learning Support Assistants: Mrs Taylor, Mrs Andrews, Mrs Clemans,  Mrs Armes, Mrs Gregg

If you have any questions, then please don’t hesitate to ask one of the Year 2 team.

 

Reading at home

In Year 2, it is important that you read with your child at least 5 times a week and sign their reading record.  A member of the Year 2 team will check reading records daily, so please ensure that reading records are returned to school each morning. Books will be changed once they have read it 3 times. In the front of their reading diary, you will find their login details for online learning too. Every child has been given a folder for their reading books and diaries. Please bring the folders to school every day. Please note: If a reading record is lost, there is a small charge for a replacement which is payable via ParentPay.

Homework

Children will be given spellings to learn each Friday, spellings should be practised at home each night ready for a spelling test the following Friday.  We will also upload the spellings to seesaw every week.

In Year 2, children are beginning to learn their multiplication table facts for 2, 5, 10 and 3. Please support your child in regularly accessing ttrockstars and Numbots to help develop their number fluency. If you need support logging in, please speak to a member of the team. 

We also add a range of activities to Seesaw from across the curriculum for your child to complete at home. Please check Seesaw frequently to access home learning opportunities. 

 

P.E.

Our P.E. days are: Monday and Wednesday

A gentle reminder that our school P.E. kit is a plain white t-shirt, black shorts and black pumps or trainers for outdoor sports, without visible branding. Some P.E. sessions may take place outside so you are welcome to send in long black jogging bottoms and a long sleeved white top. Children are to come to school in their school uniform and change into their P.E. kit

Water bottles and snacks

Don't forget to bring a water bottle to school each day - it is important for children to stay hydrated throughout the day. Please label bottles and refill them each day. 

Children are welcome to bring a healthy snack such as fruit and vegetables to school each day for snack time, but are also offered a piece of fruit from school each day. Please don’t send in nuts due to children in school with allergies. Bread sticks and milk can be purchased at the start of each half-term (please speak to the school office about this.)

 

English

Our English curriculum consists of Read, Write, Inc, Get Writing and Pathways to write. 

Read Write Inc. is a systematic phonics scheme. It teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Children then read words and storybooks that are carefully matched to the sounds and words being taught, this allows them to read confidently. Their home reading book is also carefully matched to the sounds they are learning in phonics. Children are taught to read words by identifying the sounds and special friends in the word. They then use 'Fred Talk' to read the words. Children practise 'Fred in your head' to build fluency before 'Speedy reading'.

Please watch the RWI video, understanding phonics for more information 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXOJUPNVnLc 

Get writing- During the Get Writing programme children will develop their writing skills through daily practise with teacher support. Children will learn to hold a given sentence and orally compose simple sentences before writing. We focus on the correct use of capital letters, finger spaces and full stops and guide children to be successful in writing simple sentences. We teach children to form letters correctly using the handwriting phrases taught. Children will write using the sounds they have been taught and write about the book they have been reading in their focus reading sessions. Over time, this builds confident and competent writers. We have a range of exciting books to write about in our Read, Write, Inc library.

Pathways to Write- This term the children are reading The Owl who was afraid of the dark by Jill Tomlinson. Plop, the baby owl, is like every barn owl there ever was, except for one thing – he is afraid of the dark, the children will follow Plop's adventure as he discovers that the dark is brimming with excitement and magic! The children will discuss the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related. They will then read non-fiction books that are structured in different ways and draw on what is already known about owls. They will then use this knowledge, along with taught information and vocabulary to write a fact sheet about owls in a non-chronological report. Children will proof-read, evaluate and amend their writing before reading their fact sheets aloud to their peers and sharing their wonderful facts.

We are continuing to develop our handwriting skills.

Children will learn to read and write a range of words and take part in a weekly spelling quiz.

 

Maths

Our focus this half term is;

Addition and Subtraction

Children will explore and continue to develop their understanding of multiplication and division, with a continued focus of 2s, 5s and 10s. We will be looking at how to recognise, make and add equal groups, doubling and halving and odd/even numbers. Following this, we will look at money – specifically looking at the value of coins and notes, counting in pounds and pence and finding change.

Please continue to access TTRockstars to practise multiplication facts.

 

Science

In our science lessons we cover the three subjects of chemistry, biology and physics.

This term we will be categorising plants, highlighting similarities and differences in growth patterns, looking at food chains and food groups, investigating the differences between living, dead and never alive, grouping materials and comparing and contrasting weather.

 

History

How did the fire of Liverpool Road compare to the great fire of London? (A local study)

We will be comparing seaside holidays from the past to how they are now. We will compare how food, entertainment and how people dress has changed over the years. By the end of the unit, children will have had the opportunity to look at the differences between fact and fiction, identify differences between ways of life at different times, explore history through recounts, artefacts and photographs (and recognise these as historical sources), continue to develop our sequencing skills and identify key differences and similarities between past and present life.

Geography

What is it like in the Arctic?

In Geography, we always encourage children to ask simple geographical questions: 'Where is it?' and 'What is it like?' and to make appropriate observations about why things happen. This term children will learn about the 'Arctic'. Children will be locating and virtually exploring the Arctic continent whilst investigating the animals and physical and natural features that are present. We will look at the climate in The Arctic and discuss how the seasons might look and how this differs to our own. We will be engaging in conversations and research about global warming and how this is affecting the Arctic climate. Finally, children will compare a city in the Arctic to Manchester; discussing similarities and differences, key features and which they would rather live in and why.

 

Art

Pablo Picasso – Weeping Woman

This term the children will develop their knowledge of Pablo Picasso. The children will respond to visual stimuli of self-portraits to develop their understanding of what a portrait is and look at Pablo Picasso's artwork, Weeping Woman. They will develop their understanding of the artist by creating a research page of his work. They will explore the term cubism and use this vocabulary when observing pieces of artwork. They will mix primary colours to create new colour palettes and develop a range of brush strokes. The final piece of work will be to create a Picasso inspired self-portrait using pencil skills or paint focussing on surrealism and cubism. They will reflect on our work, evaluate and annotate the final piece.