Our Year 2 Class    

A very warm welcome to our Year 2 class page. In Year 2, our children are really starting to fly! Building on previous years they will become confident readers, writers and mathematicians. As school life falls into place, they find themselves our oldest infants and begin to develop a real sense of responsibility. I hope that you find all the information useful and if you have any questions I am available before and after school for a quick chat.  

Our Year 2 Class 2024-2025

Class Information

Who's Who

Miss Barton- Year 2 Class Teacher

Mrs Jackson -  Part-Time Teaching Assistant

Mrs Holmes – Part-Time Teaching Assistant 

Mrs Casilli - Inclusion Teaching Assistant

Supply - Inclusion Teaching Assistant

In Year 2 PE is on Tuesday and Friday, please make sure you send your child in the correct PE kit. 

Reading

The guided reading schemes we use in Year 2 are:

• Read, Write Inc
• Oxford Reading Tree  

Home Reading books

Whilst your child will read regularly in school you can make a big difference by listening to your child read and asking them questions about what they have read for just ten minutes each night. Your child will bring home a reading journal, please update this each time they read at home. Children need to read 5 times a week at home to earn a stamp in their reading journal. 

Please note: Your child will only change their books on a Thursday when they will bring a book home to read the following week. This is to allow your child to become a fluent reader and have time to spend discussing the text. 

Phonics

In Year 2 we follow Read, Write Inc

Each day we undertake a RWI lesson. During this time we review the set 2 and 3 sounds and will learn a new sound each day. After the Speed Sounds lesson we look at a key text for the following three days. RWI is really helpful for embedding spellings and during each lesson we come across new 'Red Words' which, we learn how to spell and are encouraged to use in our independent writing. We really enjoy our RWI time (particularly the partner work, actions and rhymes!)

Homework

Homework is sent home on Thursdays and needs to be completed by the following Thursday.

• Spellings will be sent home on paper and will be added to Spelling Shed, a minimum of 5 games need to be played each week.
• Handwriting will be sent home in a small yellow book, each week your child will have different letters and words that need to be practised and written out.
• RWI Speedy Sounds videos will be added weekly to watch at home with your child, these will be the same as the Speed Sounds learnt in class that week.
• A maths number bonds sheet will be sent home weekly to work on mastering basic number facts. Maths practise can be completed on Numbots.

Evidence for all homework needs to be added to Seesaw by Thursday each week so that dojos can be awarded to your child.

 This half term.... Spring Term 1 (January - February 2025)

Over the next half term our topics will be:

• English - To kick start the new term we will be starting with the book The Crows Tale by Niomi Howarth and using this story to inspire our own writing. Linking with our new science topic, Plants, we will be reading the book Bloom by Anne Booth. This will help us write instructions using imperative verbs.  We will be continuing daily with our Read, Write Inc lessons and getting to grips with the trickier sounds.     
       
• Maths – In Maths we will be moving onto the properties of shapes unit. The children will learn how to recognise 2D and 3D shapes, how to count the sides and vertices on 2D shapes, count the faces, edges and vertices on a 3D shape and all about symmetry. We will then move onto the money unit which teaches the children how to coin count coins and notes, compare different amounts of money, find different ways to make the same amount and work out the amount of change.   
                  

• Science – This term in science we are looking at plants. We will explore how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants. We will then investigate what plants need grow and stay healthy. We are going to be planting lots of different kinds of seeds and bulbs and observing them as they grow. This unit allows the children to work scientifically by using simple equipment.   
       
• Geography – In this topic we are going to be learning about our local environment. We will look at the differences between rural and urban areas, explore the features of our school ground and local area, recognise symbols on an Ordnance Survey map and create our own map of my local area.    
     
• Art – Our exciting new art unit this term is called Life in Colour! The children will focus on the primary and secondary colours, colour mixing and creating textures using different tools. They will learn some collage techniques and experiment with different materials. They will learn about the artist Romare Bearden and his famous piece ‘Untitled’ created in 1985. At the end of the unit the children will create a final piece which will be a collage using the skills they have learnt.    
     
• Music- In music the children will play tuned pitched percussion instruments and remind themselves of the difference between high and low notes. Through a range of games, songs and activities the children will learn the difference between fast and slow and loud and quiet and be able to demonstrate this when playing their instruments. They will learn how to follow a conductor and when to stop and start.     
        

• RE- In RE the children will be finding the answer to ‘Who is a Muslim and how do they live?’ They will find out about Islam, key beliefs and ways of living for Muslims. The children will explore some of the key Muslim beliefs and the 99 names of Allah. They will hear stories about the Prophet and find out how what they teach Muslims about how to live today. They will learn the importance of prayer and what this means to Muslims all over the world.    
        
• Computing – This term the children are learning about word processing and how to stay safe online as well as developing touch typing skills. They will get to grips with some handy keyboard shortcuts as well as using simple editing tools with a word processor such as bold, italics, underline and font colour as well as how to import images. Using sources from the internet they will create their own poetry book and create their own piece of digital writing.   
       
• PE Indoor – This term the children are going to develop their team building skills. Through a series of games and activities they will develop their communication skills and problem-solving skills. They will learn to discuss, plan and reflect on their ideas and strategies. This unit promotes honest and fair play between the children.

• PE Outdoor – The children will learn how to play target games and develop their understanding of attacking and defending. They will develop their skills of throwing, rolling and striking towards a target and be given opportunities to select and apply the correct action for the target taking into consideration its size and its distance. The children will work individually, in pairs and in small groups to help them begin to organise themselves and self-manage their own games.

Autumn Term 2 NEWS!

In Maths the children have worked very hard to master addition and subtraction and have strengthened their understanding of number bonds to 20. They began to add two 2-digit numbers together and subtracting a 2-digit number from another 2-digit number. To help strengthen this new skill the children used place value grids, part whole models, number lines, bar models and tens frames. We then progressed onto the money unit and how to understand the value of each coin and note. The children were able to count amounts of money and then find how much change was needed.

In English the children unpicked a non-chronological report and looked at all the different features needed. Using our writing rainbow, we wrote our own reports on hibernation and habitats. This linked in with our science topics and we were able to include all the facts we had learned. The children did extremely well with their home reading and many completed their Christmas reading reward charts.

In Science we had a very exciting new topic to get to grips with, habitats. To get the children engaged with this learning we went on a mini beast hunt to Pennington Hall park, we looked at the habitats around us and explored microhabitats for bugs and insects. We took photographs and kept a tally chart, this helped us to keep a record of what we saw and linked to our computing unit, We are zoologists. The information gathered will be converted into graphs and charts. The children went on a school safari to look for worms and we looked closer at pond habitats. We had lots of fun exploring the world around us and learning about the many types of habitats.

In RE the children explored the topic of good news in the bible and how it was delivered to God’s people. We discussed how angels often brought good news and then explored the nativity story. The children loved listening to the story of Jesus’ birth and hearing about the many visitors to the stable. This linked with our school nativity play, A Bundle of Joy.The children retold this story and had a wonderful time doing so.

In DT the children worked hard to master the running stitch, they practiced this on small pieces of felt and paper. They then designed their own small pouch and cut up felt to create a design for the front. They then used the running stitch to sew the two pieces together. They really enjoyed this unit and can’t wait to do more sewing!

In outdoor PE the children develop-ed the fundamental ball skills such as throwing, catching, rolling, hitting a target, dribbling with both hands and feet and kicking. They developed their control and accuracy whilst performing these skills.

Our indoor PE unit was dance and the children created themed dances, the secret garden and jack frost. The children explored how they could use their bodies to express an idea, mood, character or feeling. They used counts of 8 to keep in time with the music and with a partner. They explored pathways, levels, shapes, directions, speed and timing to help them create dances individually and in pairs.

Autumn Term 1 NEWS! (September - October 2024)

In Maths we have been mastering place value to 100, using lots of different resources. We have been using the part whole model to partition two-digit numbers into tens and ones and to deepen their understanding of place value. Using this new knowledge, the children order and compare numbers. We then moved onto to counting forwards and backwards in steps of 2, 3, 5 and 10. Once the children have mastered this, we will begin to explore times tables.  

In English the children wrote a letter independently based on the book Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies. The children really enjoyed this story and the beautiful images. They have been using their predicting and inference skills when reading the story and using clues from the text to help with their understanding. We have been introduced to the 'Writing Rainbow' and the different FANTASTIC symbols, which we included in our letter. We read lots of wonderful books this term by Benji Davies and lots of other Authors, our class book was The 13 Storey Treehouse.

In Science, we have discovered what makes things alive, dead or never alive. The children sorted and compared animals, plants and non-living things to help them create a list of the features of a living thing. The children enjoyed creating lifecycles for different animals and plants, this allowed them to discover that not all offspring resemble their parents at birth. The children loved looking at pictures of themselves as a baby and comparing it to a picture of themselves now to see how they have grown and changed.  

In RE we have been learning about the ‘Good News’ Christians believe that Jesus brings. In this unit the children learnt about the concept of ‘Gospel’ and the good news of forgiveness, peace and love. They learnt about Matthew the Tax Collector and how Christians believe that Jesus offers forgiveness, looking at their heart rather than what they have done in the past. The children learnt about the instructions that Jesus gives in the Bible and how Christians follow his example and these instructions in order to behave in a Christ like way.

The class topic in Art was Drawing to tell a story. The children learnt how to draw with charcoal, techniques to create textures and draw expression on faces. They did an observational drawing of a teddy bear and used the techniques they had learnt to add texture to the fur. Using Grandad’s Island as a stimulus the children created their own story book and character.

Our outdoor PE unit was Fundamentals. In the lessons the children learnt the fundamental skills of how to run, balance, jump, hop, skip and change direction. They took part in many activities to develop these skills, some independently and in small groups. The children learnt why exercise is important and how their body feels during and after exercise.

Our indoor PE unit was Gymnastics. The children learnt to explore and develop basic gymnastic skills, on the floor and using apparatus. They developed their balancing, jumping, rolling and travelling skills. They worked together to create short sequences including different shapes, levels and directions.

In Computing the unit the children have been learning about is Computing systems and networks, what is a computer? First they learnt about the different components of a computer and how they are controlled. They learnt what an input is and what an output is. They designed their own computer and decided what they wanted it to do, they then added how they would control it through inputs and outputs. In the last lesson the children took part in a supermarket role play.

 In music the children have been listening to and composing their own folk music. They have developed their listening and thinking skills. The children began playing the recorder, understanding how to hold it correctly, make a good sound and how to play different pitches.