Summer Term 1
'Would a dinosaur make a good pet?'
As this is a very short half-term, it is jam packed with learning. We have an exciting learning challenge “Would a dinosaur make a good pet?” with a science and history focus. As part of our science curriculum, we will be investigating what our pets and other animals need to survive and comparing life-cycles and diets of different animals. We will also be investigating fossils and finding out about the life and work of Mary Anning.
In our design technology lessons we will be designing and making dinosaur models. During music sessions we will be finding out about the life and music of Camille Saint-Saens and listening to 'Carnival of the Animals'.
In our writing lessons we will be focused on the importance of handwriting, correct spelling, paragraphing and using a range of punctuation. We will be writing stories, poems, instructions and letters and thinking about making exciting vocabulary choices.
In maths, we will be helping the children to select and use all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication & division) to solve problems and calculations. We will be solving problems which involve shape, position and direction, money, measurement and time. The children will also be encouraged to recall and use known number facts including doubles and halves, number pairs making 10, 20 and 100, and the 2x, 5x and 10x tables.
This term our PE days are Mondays and Thursdays. Please ensure your child is not wearing earrings on those days and that they have their PE kit in school. Learning together will continue to be on a Thursday at 8.40.
Spring Term 2
'What can we explore in our local area?'
Our learning challenge this half-term is “What can we explore in our local area?” and we will be using the school grounds to follow routes, complete treasure hunts and find out more about habitats. We will be touring Rugby School and meeting some of the students there. This will enable us to find out more about Rugby’s history and our local geography. In addition, we will be visiting Cock Robin Wood and St Mark's Church in Bilton to look at sculpture and to take part in an Easter trail.
Our science focus will be on plants and habitats. We shall be planting a variety of seeds, watching them grow and recording our findings. In our art sessions, we shall be using natural materials as our stimulus for painting, sketching and sculpture.
As part of our English work, we will be writing instructions and stories and also recounts about our trips out into the local area. Our spelling focus will continue and we would ask you to continue to support your child to learn their spellings. It is really important that the children can use the words in their writing - many of the children can tell us the right spellings but don’t use these in their writing. If you have time, you could ask your child to use each word in a sentence - this will cement their knowledge of their new spellings. These spelling lists are all available on this website. We look forward to awarding the children with their next certificates.
In maths, we will begin to find out about fractions. We will be finding a half, quarter and third of shapes and numbers of objects. Towards Easter, we will be looking at shape and measurement. We will also continue to work on developing fluency with calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Please continue to practise rapid recall of number facts with your child.
This half-term our PE days will continue to be Mondays and Tuesdays. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit in school and that earrings are removed on these days.
Spring Term 1 2019
'What do explorers need to survive?'
We are looking forward to finding out about explorers this term in our topic “What do explorers need to survive?” This theme will include;
If you have any books, artefacts or photographs relating to this topic, or know anybody who has been on an exciting expedition, we’d love to hear from you!
We shall compare the lives of significant explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, and discover similarities and differences between their expeditions.
In science, we will be thinking about how explorers survive in extreme conditions and comparing their diets to ours. Leading on from this we will be finding out about a healthy lifestyle, including exercise and diet, and the requirements all animals have in order to stay alive.
In our computing work we will be learning about online internet safety, as well as working out how some simple 'Scratch' games work, and learning about some open sources games.
In maths, we will be using mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction and movement. We will also be learning about shape and their properties including 3D shapes. Our calculation emphasis will be on the four operations with particular attention on division and the links with multiplication. In addition and subtraction we will move towards adding and subtracting two, two digit numbers.
Our grammar focus will be on suffixes, contractions and punctuation. Throughout all our writing we will be encouraging the children to use noun phrases, conjunctions, accurate spelling and punctuation.
This term our PE days will be Mondays and Tuesdays. If your child normally wears earrings, please ensure they are either not worn on these days or that your child is able to remove them themselves. They will not be permitted to take part in PE if they are wearing earrings and we are not able to remove them for them.
Reading books should be returned on Mondays in 2W and Tuesdays in 2K and Shared Learning Books should continue to be returned on Mondays. We aim at a 2 day turnaround for these as reading books have to be changed and work marked outside of the normal school day!
Autumn Term 2 2018
'Where in the world would you like to live?'
This half-term has a geography focus as we travel around the world with Miranda the explorer. We will be learning to name and locate the world’s continents and oceans and explore the physical and human features of different countries. We will find out about many countries as part of our whistle-stop tour including Russia, China and America.
Whilst studying India, we will take part in an Indian dance workshop and research the climate, dress, culture and animals that live there. If any parents have links to India and would like to come into school and share their own experiences we would love to hear from you! We will also research Indian food, and make our own vegetarian curry and Indian sweets to taste.
As a school we continue to work on developing the children’s vocabulary. Some of the vocabulary we hope the children will begin to use includes continent, ocean, country, atlas, globe, human feature, physical feature, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australasia(Oceania), Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Southern Ocean.
Our English work will focus on traditional stories and we begin the half-term with “The Magic Cooking Pot”. The children will also be learning about different word types such as adjectives, adverbs, verbs, nouns, conjunctions and connectives. We will be looking at different word endings (suffixes) such as –ed and –ing. We will continue to encourage the children to use a neatly joined cursive script and to try and make their writing as exciting as possible. Whilst reading, the children will be encouraged to use expression and to ask about vocabulary they are unsure of. They will also be asked more challenging questions requiring them to use the skills of inference and deduction.
In Maths our focus is on the operations of multiplication and division. We will explore the links between these operations, share into equal groups, count in 2s, 5s and 10s and begin to recall and understand the 2x, 5x and 10x tables. We will apply these operations to different real life problems too and think about money, time and measures. Towards the end of the term we will return to addition and subtraction and will be expecting the children to be able to decide what operation and calculation method they need to select in order to solve a problem. Some of the vocabulary we will be using includes multiply, multiplication, times, groups of, sets of, lots of, equal, equals, same, same as, divide, division, share, altogether.
PE will continue to take place on Monday and Wednesday this half term.
Autumn Term 1 2018
'Are all castles bouncy?'
Welcome to Year Two! Until January, our PE days will be Mondays and Wednesdays, so please ensure your child is not wearing earrings on those days, and that they have their full PE kit in school.
Learning Together sessions will be on Thursday mornings from 8.40a.m. till 8.55 a.m. and will begin on Thursday 13th September. Don’t worry if you are not able to join us for this every week, just send your child into school as normal from 8.45a.m. Please do not send unaccompanied children in any earlier than this, as it is difficult for us to set them work whilst talking to the other parents.
Reading books should be returned to school on Monday in 2W and Tuesdays in 2K. New books will be issued to 2W on Tuesdays and 2K on Wednesdays. Shared Learning should be completed in your child’s new pink book and returned to school each Monday. We will endeavour to return these to you by a Wednesday.
If you have any questions or need to talk to us about anything, please do come and find us at the end of the day. We are always happy to have a quick chat!
This half-term our learning is focused around the big question “Are all castles bouncy?” As part of our learning in science, we will be investigating materials and thinking about their properties, whilst trying to answer the question “Which material would make the best bouncy castle?” Our visit to Kenilworth Castle on 19th September will really bring the topic alive for the children, and enhance their historical knowledge of castles and the people who lived in and built them. Expect great excitement towards the end of this half-term when we celebrate with a medieval style banquet! The children will be asked to prepare a joke, song or other form of entertainment to present at our banquet and we will also be putting their cooking skills to the test.
This year, the whole school is focusing on enriching the vocabulary of our pupils. Year 2 will be leaning about the words associated with castles including: castle, tower, turret, portcullis, drawbridge, dungeon moat, ramparts, flags, arrow-slit window, cannon, knight, Lord, Lady, armour, shield, lance etc. As we are also learning about materials we will be using words such as: wood, plastic, glass, metal, fabric, rigid, transparent, opaque, rough, smooth, waterproof, stretchy, flexible etc. Hopefully you will also hear your child using lots of mathematical and English language terminology such as adjectives, nouns, verbs, command, question, statement, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, inverse, one-digit number, two-digit number and numeral.
We will be writing for different reasons this half term. As part of our castle topic we will be writing a non-fiction text about castles to include features such as titles and labelled diagrams. We will also be writing instructions to give directions for a journey. We will be describing characters in books and writing letters and diary entries from book characters. We will also be writing recounts about our visit to Kenilworth Castle.
In maths we will be learning about addition and subtraction. We will be encouraging the children to write numbers up to 100 in figures, using place value to help them decide which way round the digits go e.g. 24 is 20+4 and 42 is 40+2. We will be also be counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and ordering and comparing numbers.
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
To identify and comment on what a text looks like(layout)
To explain writers use of language
As a reader what do you think about the story
How does the text relate to you?