Summer Term 2 2021

'Why are lighthouses near the sea?

 

 

In this last half term at infant school, our Year 2 learning challenge question is “Why are lighthouses near the sea?”

We shall be finding out about the life of Grace Darling and comparing her with another historical figure, Mary Anning, who we studied last half term. Sea-sides of the past will be another area of history that we shall be finding out about and researching.

We will be reading about a most industrious lighthouse keeper called Mr Grinling, and some of our writing tasks will be based on these books by Ronda Armitage. Amongst other things, we will be writing character descriptions, postcards and our own extended stories. We shall be focusing on correct punctuation including capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and speech marks.

We will also be learning about pirates, compasses, maps, continents and oceans, and our artwork will be based around the artist George Seurat and a range of seaside pictures.

 

In maths, we shall be returning to multiplication and division, concentrating on 2x, 5x and 10x tables facts and the relationship between multiplication and division.  We shall be using our known facts to solve one and two step problems and revising techniques to solve simple x and ÷ calculations.

 

We hope to include transition activities this term with Bilton Junior School to help the children adjust to their new school. These include an assembly led by a member of staff from BJS and videos from the children’s new class teachers.  There may be other activities, dependent on the latest advice from Public Health regarding COVID restrictions.  More information will follow if this is able to happen.

Year 2 PE day remains Wednesday.  Pupils should be wearing their white PE tee shirt, or polo shirt, school sweatshirt/ cardigan, grey/black/navy leggings/jogging bottoms or shorts. Trainers or black pumps can be worn. No colourful leggings, denim shorts, sparkly tops/sweatshirts please.

 

Shared Learning will be posted on Purple Mash and a copy of the tasks is available on the website and will also be emailed to you.  Wednesday remains reading book change day.

 

 

 

Summer Term 1 2021

'What makes a good pet?'

 

This half-term is jam packed with exciting learning!  Our learning challenge is “What makes a good pet?”  and has 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 lifecycles and diets of different animals.  We will be observing ladybirds in our classrooms which we will then release in the school grounds to benefit the local ecosystem.  In our history focused sessions, we will be investigating fossils and finding out about the life and work of Mary Anning. However we will also find time to cover many other subjects including design technology lessons which will be centred around designing and making moving dinosaur pictures and music sessions when 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 non-chronological reports, stories, riddles and instructions whilst thinking about making exciting vocabulary choices.  As a school we have identified spelling as a common area of weakness for our children therefore we will be devoting lots of time to this area of the curriculum.  You can help your child be ensuring they are logging in to “Spelling Shed” (part of “Edshed”) regularly to practise their focus words.  A word list is set in each week of the holidays too so this is something which can continue even when the children are not in school.

 

In reading lessons we will be focusing upon understanding the text being read.  The children are now very good at decoding texts but sometimes forget to try and read for meaning.  We will therefore be focusing upon the skills of information retrieval, inference and deduction.  If you want to know a little more about this, www.theschoolrun.com/reading-comprehension-explained-parents has some really useful information and examples but please remember that your child will not be sitting their SATs this year due to COVID-19.

 

In maths, we will be helping the children to select and use all four operations 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.  Don’t forget that there are lots of games on “Maths Shed” (part of “Edshed”) which your child can access.  Although these are not always set as tasks, they are easy to access and will really help your child to become a more fluent mathematician.

 

Our PE day remains on a Wednesday and children are expected to attend school wearing appropriate sports kits in school colours with sensible trainers or pumps.  Please ensure your child is not wearing earrings on those days.  Children also take part in a ‘Daily Mile’ session on a Friday afternoon and sessions led by sports coaches at lunchtimes.  It is therefore really important that they wear appropriate footwear every day.  Reading books should continue to be returned on Wednesdays and shared learning can either be completed on Purple Mash, emailed to year2baw@welearn365.com or completed in your child’s pink book and handed in on the last Wednesday of half-term (26.5.21).

 

 

 

 

 

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.