Welcome to Year 2! 

 

Further to the welcome letter sent home at the end of term, we have tried to compile some further useful information for you. However, as we have said, if you do have any questions or anything you are not sure about, please do contact us at year2baw@welearn365.com.  We hope your children enjoy their first half-term in Year 2.

 

Autumn 1 Topics

This year we begin with an introductory topic entitled “How do I feel?”  The children will be encouraged to think about their own feelings and the feelings of those around them.  This learning will be based on “The Zones of Regulation”.  This is a framework used to teach children self-regulation and self-control.   It aims to help children to categorise their feelings improving their ability to recognise and communicate how they're feeling in a safe, non-judgmental way. Emotions and feelings are grouped into four coloured zones categorising alertness and emotions.  The framework emphasises the importance of letting the children know that it's fine to experience all of these emotions while they're at school. There is no bad zone, but that it is important to learn and use strategies that will help them get to their Green Zone.  We will be teaching the children to use strategies or tools to help them move between zones. 

During this unit of work we will also be delivering ‘The Taking Care Project’, Warwickshire’s protective behaviours scheme, details of which you will have received during your child’s time in their Reception class. We will also be thinking about online safety.  This work will be based on Jessie & Friends, an animated series about online safety produced by Thinkuknow. Thinkuknow is the national education programme from NCA-CEOP at the National Crime Agency. NCA-CEOP works to keep children safe from sexual abuse and exploitation. 

 

Much of our work will also be based on the books of Julia Donaldson including “The Gruffalo”, “Zog”, “The Smartest Giant in Town” and “Hamilton’s Hats”.  We will look at the rhyming language and try out some “echo reading”.

We will be taking part in a Macmillan Party Day on Friday 18th September 2020.  The children will be asked to come in non-uniform in exchange for a small donation for Macmillan Cancer Support.  Our activities will be based around the Julia Donaldson book “Room on the Broom”.

 

We will then move on to our topic “Where did the Jolly Postman deliver his letters?”.   This topic will begin with a mysterious parcel delivery!

As part of our topic we will be reading traditional stories such as “Hansel and Gretel”, “Goldilocks” and “Red Riding Hood” and “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The children will begin to write short paragraphs including character descriptions, wanted posters and letters.  We will also be working on our phonics skills.  You can support this work by logging into ‘Espresso’ and accessing “Scrap’s Phonics”, “Polly’s Phonics” and “Kim’s Phonics”.

We will also be making model vehicles with moving parts, designing a new uniform for the Jolly Postman and creating our own imaginary maps.

For further detail about this half-term’s topics, please see the topic overview also available on our website. 

 

PE Day

Our PE day is a Wednesday.  Please ensure your child wears sports kit to school on these days and that any earrings have been removed.

 

Shared Learning Books

Shared Learning is issued half-termly and can also be found on our website.  We encourage the children to do a task a week at home however, these should not be handed in until Wednesday 21st October.

 

 

Year 2 Shared Learning           
 

Reading
By the time children reach Year 2 most are fluent and accurate readers. The emphasis now changes to higher order skills talking about a text, using inference (hidden meaning and finding clues from the text) to answer questions about characters, settings or plots as well as discussing the authors choice and use of language.
The following questions may be useful when you are reading with your child, particularly if they are a fluent reader.

To deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from text

• Why did the character say this and how did it affect the story/plot?
• How did the charcater feel when....?
• How do we know this?
• What did.... do to make... say/feel that?
• Why did the character say this in a gentle/worried/angry voice?
• How did the character behave when....why?
• What made that character do that?

 

To identify and comment on what a text looks like(layout)

• Which section of the information booklet tells you about...?
• What is the heading?
• Which caption tells us about?
• Why has bold print been used for that word?
• Explain why the writer has chosen to write that sentence/word like this?

 

To explain writers use of language

• Pick out three words that explain how..... moved?
• What do these words tell us about a character/object?
• Explain why the writer uses a word... To describe the.....
• Can you think of another word with the same meaning as...

 

As a reader what do you think about the story

• What kind of story do you think it is?
• What happened in the story to make you think this?
• Can you think of an alternative title?
• What did the characters in the story learn?

 

How does the text relate to you?

• Can you compare this story with others you have read?
• What kinds of stories normally start/end/are written in this style?

Maths

In maths we often find that many of the skills such as telling the time, money and measurement are best learned when they are practical and fun activities that are covered a little and often. With this in mind if you are looking for additional ideas to help your child these are the areas to cover. You will probably find opportunities to help your child just in your usual daily routine. Kitchen cupboards, cooking, bathtime and shopping trips are perfect sources for initiating activities and conversations about money and measurement.