Autumn 2 2021

'Was the fire of London really great?'

 

Year 2 Learning Challenge

Our learning challenge this half-term is “Was the fire of London really great?” and we have begun by exploring modern day London, thinking about famous London monuments and tourist attractions.  During the topic we will find out about how the fire started and spread, and the historical sources that can be used to find out more about this.  The children will learn about Samuel Pepys’ diary and have the chance to write their own diaries and newspaper articles about the fire.  We will also think about materials and their properties, with the children being given the chance to carry out various investigations to find out the suitability of different materials for different tasks.  During December we will move onto a unit of work based around the question “Why do Christians celebrate Christmas?”  As well as exploring the Christmas story, we hope that the children will be able to take part in fun Christmas themed activities including making cards and decorations. 

 

Reading Books

Reading books will continue to be issued on Wednesdays and must be returned to school on the following Monday.  Please ensure that you keep to this pattern in order to give your child’s teacher time to change the book.

 

Spelling Logs/ EdShed

You should return your child’s spelling log to school on a Monday with their reading book.  This will then be checked by their teacher and returned to you on the following Wednesday.  Spelling Shed is updated every Monday with a new list of words for your child to learn.  The children then use these words in class dictation exercises on a Friday. Tasks are set weekly for the children to complete on Maths Shed too.  Please encourage your child to access these regularly throughout the week.

 

Shared Learning

In addition to daily reading, Spelling Shed and Maths Shed, shared learning tasks are now available on our learning platform, ‘Purple Mash’.  Please remember you must access this via www.welearn365.com.  Once your child is logged in to Purple Mash, their tasks can be found by clicking on the ‘Alerts’, ‘2Dos’ and ‘Work’ tabs.  We would be thrilled to see your child’s work online.

 

PE Days

Our PE days continue to be Wednesdays and Fridays.  Please ensure your child wears their school PE uniform on these days, and that any earrings have been removed.

Thank you for your continuing support.  If you have any questions or anything you are not sure about, please do contact us at year2baw@welearn365.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn 1 2021

 

 

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 began with an introductory topic entitled “Who am I?”  The children thought about their own feelings and the feelings of those around them.  This learning was 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 have begun helping the children to use strategies or tools to move between zones. 

During this unit of work we also delivered ‘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 also thought about online safety.  It is amazing how many of our children are accessing content aimed at a much older audience- we talked about why this is not a good idea and things they could do to ensure they stay safe online. 

You will no doubt have heard about our Roald Dahl Party Day, Tri-Golf workshop and Scouting afternoons!  The children loved finding out about hobbies and have thought of some new things they might like to try.

 

We have now moved on to our topic “Where did the Jolly Postman deliver his letters?”.   This topic began with a mysterious parcel delivery (our book and a letter).

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”.  Your child’s login remains unchanged however we will be reissuing these shortly for those of you who may no longer have this information.

We will also be making model vehicles with moving parts, designing a new uniform for the Jolly Postman and creating our own imaginary maps.  We will be asking for some junk materials just before half-term.

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

 

PE Day

Our PE days are Wednesdays and Fridays.  Please ensure your child wears sports kit to school on these days and that any earrings have been removed or covered with micro-pore tape as staff are unable to assist children with this.

 

Reading Books

Reading books will be issued on Wednesdays and should be returned to school on Mondays to allow us time to read your comments and change the books.

 

Shared Learning

Shared learning will be available on Purple Mash. We will be setting a range of activities and would like the children to complete a task each week if possible.  We will then review and comment on their work online. Again, they can continue using the same login as last year.

There will also be tasks for the children to complete on Edshed (again they can continue using the same login as last year).  Ideally children should be accessing this for a few minutes at least 5 times a week.

 

 

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.