CURRENT NEWS
Summer Term 2 - TITANIC!
Summer 2 Website Update
English
In our English lessons this half term we will be reading a selection of books based around stories and
animals from Africa to help support our learning in our Geography topic of Kenya. We will continue to develop our proof-reading and correcting skills as well as extending our knowledge of how to use
fronted adverbials, 2A sentences and a wider range of conjunctions and punctuation to help us prepare us for our Year 3 writing journey. As part of this journey, we will also be working hard to develop our cursive handwriting. Here’s the genres that will be our main focus this half term
:
In Spelling and Phonics, we will continue to work through Level 6 of our school’s Twinkl Phonics sheme as well as looking back and consolidating the trickier spelling rules from throughout this year.
In our Reading sessions, we will be working hard to develop pace and expression when reading aloud and continue to question the meanings of new words and add them to our growing vocabulary that
we can use when writing independently. We will also continue to focus on our prediction, inference,deduction and sequencing skills to build upon our success so far with our reading comprehension
skills.
Year 2 Class Reading Journey:
Summer 2 website update 2023
English
In our English lessons this half term we will be reading a selection of books based around stories and
animals from Africa to help support our learning in our Geography topic of Kenya. We will continue
to develop our proof-reading and correcting skills as well as extending our knowledge of how to use
fronted adverbials, 2A sentences and a wider range of conjunctions and punctuation to help us
prepare us for our Year 3 writing journey. As part of this journey, we will also be working hard to
develop our cursive handwriting. Here’s the genres that will be our main focus this half term:
In Spelling and Phonics, we will continue to work through Level 6 of our school’s Twinkl Phonics
scheme as well as looking back and consolidating the trickier spelling rules from throughout this
year.
In our Reading sessions, we will be working hard to develop pace and expression when reading aloud
and continue to question the meanings of new words and add them to our growing vocabulary that
we can use when writing independently. We will also continue to focus on our prediction, inference,
deduction and sequencing skills to build upon our success so far with our reading comprehension
skills.
Maths
In Maths this half term, we will be continuing to develop our rapid recall of multiplication and
division facts as well as our number bonds to 20 and 100, we will also continue to focus on the 4
rules of number to build upon the arithmetic work we’ve already done in class. We will continue to
use fluency starters to consolidate and revise our prior learning and develop our written calculation
methods linked to addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers etc. Here are the topics we will be
studying:
Active maths investigations covering:
• Missing number and inverse calculation, word problems and money, telling he time to nearest 15
and 5 minutes, fractions and multiplication and division, finding halves, thirds and quarters of
amounts.
Maths
In Maths this half term, we will be continuing to develop our rapid recall of multiplication and
division facts as well as our number bonds to 20 and 100, we will also continue to focus on the 4
rules of number to build upon the arithmetic work we’ve already done in class. We will continue to
use fluency starters to consolidate and revise our prior learning and develop our written calculation
methods linked to addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers etc. Here are the topics we will be
studying:
Active maths investigations covering:
• Missing number and inverse calculation, word problems and money, telling he time to nearest 15
and 5 minutes, fractions and multiplication and division, finding halves, thirds and quarters of
amounts
• Rounding, ordering 3 digit numbers, writing place value additions and understanding place
value in 3 digit numbers.
• Using number facts to solve number puzzles, use knowledge of 2D shapes to recreate
tangram pictures.
• Venn diagram – handling data Problem solving and Investigations
RE
In our collective worship and class discussions, we will be considering this half term’s whole school
Christian Value of Perseverance and begin to understand this value by reading the Old Testament
story of Noah’s Ark and thinking about how Noah showed perseverance and the reasons why.
In our class RE lessons, our topic is Ascension and Pentecost. We will explore what happened during
these important times and develop our understanding of the Holy Spirit and link this to the meaning
of The Holy Trinity
Science
In Science this half term, we will be continuing with our topic of Materials. Everyday Materials
We will use our prior learning of naming various materials, classifying them in regards to their
properties in order to investigate and answer the following questions:
• What materials burn/melt?
• What materials bend/squash?
• What materials can be frozen?
We will also be finishing our TITANIC BASED EXPERIMENTS and conduct experiments to develop our:
• Understanding of reversible and irreversible changes to materials such as water – children to
make their own icebergs.
• Understanding of what makes a material fit for purpose – looking at waterproofing materials
and strength of materials in order to make and test the sturdiest boa
Our Science topic for this half term is all about Materials. Within this topic, we will study the following learning objectives:
- LO: I can identify and compare the suitability of different materials
- LO: I can identify and name a variety of everyday materials including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water and rock.
- LO: I can find out how the shape of solid objects made from materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching
- LO: To identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper, cardboard for particular uses.
In Music this half term our focus is: Glockenspiels and Titanic Song
Titanic Soundtrack
Exploring Instruments and symbols –
The children will sing a variety of songs and explore the versatility of instruments by finding different ways of making different sounds on the instruments. The children will compose sound bites/ music (using their voices, body percussion and instruments) in response to a stimulus and then use symbols and graphic notation as a way of ‘recording’ their music.
In our PSHRE this half term, we will be completing transition activities in preparation for the end of
Year 2 and the move to Year 3 alongside the Introduction to the final HeartSmart principle of No
Way through isn’t true. We will explore these topics within these activities:
• Road signs - Finding alternative solutions to problems
• Ways to Say - Looking at seemingly impossible situations in different ways
• Rainbows from Rain – Overcoming challenges and difficulties
• Get Back Up- Importance of getting back up and trying again
• ‘The Heart and the Bottle’ - Unpacking a story dealing with grief
• ‘No Way Through’ isn’t True – Reflection Circle time - What we have learned about‘No Way
• Through’ isn’t True?
Geography
Our Geography topic for this half term is ‘Amazing Africa’. This unit will teach the class about the
geography of Kenya through focusing on the main human and physical features of the country.
Children will learn about the key geographical features of the country including Kenyan wildlife,
landscapes and culture. Children will learn about the similarities and differences between Kenya and
the UK along with continuing to develop their geographical skills through a variety of fun and
interactive activities. Their work on this topic will also be closely linked to tbooks we are studying
within this half term’s Literacy sessions, helping the children to learn more about life in Africa from the
perspective of a young girl and comparing what they read, as well as learning more about the animals
in the African Savannah. The topic will begin to develop their knowledge of the wider world, and help
them understand hot climates after studying colder climates in Year 1.
Art and Design
Our art and design work this half term will be inspired by our Geography topic of Africa. We will
study traditional African patterns and look at examples of African pottery before designing and
making our own clay pots. We will also be studying the jewellery worn by the Massai tribe and
making our own bracelets and necklaces.
Computing
In our Computing lessons this half term are focus will be Pictograms Data collection as tally charts.
This topic ntroduces attributes to organise data and teaches children to begin presenting data
graphically as pictograms.
Music
Our Music topic for this half term is: Glockenspiels and What’s The Score – Exploring instruments
and symbols. We will sing a variety of songs and explore the versatility of instruments by finding
different ways of making different sounds on the instruments.
We will also compose sound bites/ music (using their voices, body percussion and instruments) in
response to a stimulus and then use symbols and graphic notation as a way of ‘recording’ their
music
ONLINE LEARNING
In the event of your child needing to self-isolate at any time during this school year, I will be uploading tasks to complete regularly on the Year 2 Information page alongside setting printer free activities and mini challenges on Seesaw too. Maths and English will be set on a weekly basis and will mirror the work the children are completing in task. There will also be a topic grid full of activities that cover all the other subjects we do in class linked to our current class topic.
There will also be a weekly little lesson over on Mrs G's Little Lessons Youtube channel to help you practice your weekly spellings at home and links to other usual learning videos will be posted regularly on our class Seesaw page.
Check out the different spelling, phonics and maths playlists videos and little lessons on YouTube here:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCTWM1mZ7HDSMu-hvF9YCivA
READING
Reading is the cornerstone of all the children do and learn to do in Year 2. As children are expected to leave Year 2 on Stage 10 or higher, it is vital that children read at home as much as possible. Regular reading also helps children to learn the high frequency and common exception words that the children need to be able to read and spell, as well as modelling coherent sentence structures. Children need to become more fluent when reading aloud, and should only need to sound out a few words within the book.
From September, we will be assessing the children's reading and matching their reading books to their current phonetical knowledge. We group the children in class into 2 groups and endeavor to change reading books at least twice a week on a daily alternating basis, to ensure your child's book is changed when needed, please remember to record all reading in the blue reading diary.
It is also really important that your child reads as much as they can - these books do not need to be the school reading book, and I would encourage you to share your favourite books or authors with your children. In the next few weeks, I will be inviting parents (who wish to) to come and read their favourite children's book to the class at home time - to show children that books and stories should be enjoyed and loved! If you would be interested in this, please pop in and see me any time - the children and I would love to have you!
Homework and Spellings
In Year 2, it is very important that the children complete their homework including spellings and reading their homework book every week. At the end of the year, the children will be taking their SATs tests which include separate reading and spelling tests. The outcome of these tests supplement my end of year decisions - spelling plays a big factor in whether or not your child will reach the expected level for Year 2 by the end of the year. At Parent's evening later on this half-term, I will be sending home the lists of High Frequency words and the newer 'Common Exception words' for your child to practice reading and spelling at home to consolidate the work done in class as well as intervention groups. (Please see below for the list of words.)
Revising Year 1 Learning Home support:
This half term, your child will begin the year revising the phonics they learnt in Year 1 to help develop their confidence in both their independent reading and writing. A core skill we will be focusing on is teaching the children to use their phoneme fingers to sound out words when spelling independently. In class, we will be completing phonics fluency tasks that focus in on 5 words that include the same sound and the children have to write down the graphemes for the sounds they can hear. I will also be uploading the Gimme 5 Mini lessons on a regular basis to help your child be able to practice at home and begin their journey to become a Super Speller. Check out the most recent uploads to help you with your sounding out:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDNY9D-fYJHzpjh__CiVcvUyipeX98BBW
Phonics Information for Parents:
Please continue practicing using all the phonics resources we will be sending home in September and don't forget I love to see those videos on the Seesaw app.
You can also visit this website to play some phonics games:
Year 2 Common Exception words
These are all the words your child will need to be able to read and spell correctly when writing independently in class, your child may also refer to these as 'rainbow words' too as this is what we call them in class. Keep your eye out for Rainbow word challenges on Seesaw throughout this half term!
TIMES TABLES CHALLENGES:
In Year 2, the children need to know their multiplication and division facts for the 10,2,5 and 3 times tables.
Fancy practicing your timetables facts? Check out these games here:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/multiplication-and-division
Want to find out a little more about what Year 2 is going to be like, and what your child will be learning in maths and spelling? Check out these handy Parent guides below:
What will my child learn in Year 2?
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/at-school/year-2-at-primary-school/what-to-expect-in-year-2-age-6-7/
More about Year 2 maths:
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/maths/primary-maths-age-6-7-year-2/
More about Year 2 spelling:
