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

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.... Summer  1  (April - May 2025) 

In English we will be completing our work on Lila and the secret of rain by writing our own story called Yaro and the secret of the watering hole. The children are then going to write a non-chronological report on big cats! 

This term in Maths we are preparing for year 2 SATs so will be revisiting previous areas we have covered to strengthen the children’s understanding and consolidate previous learning. The children are going to get to grips with telling the time, properties of 2D and 3D shapes and weight, volume, and temperature.   

Our new Science topic is Changing Shape. The children will learn that the shape of a material can be changed by bending, twisting, squashing and stretching. They will explore how twisting can make threads stronger and which materials are the easiest to bend or squash. They will also get to perform some exciting experiments with silly putty and slime!    

In Geography we will be exploring a village in Zambia called Mugurameno. The children will discover the similarities and differences between their life and the lives of the children in the village, starting with the school day. The children will learn about what it is like living close to what, what animals they are surrounded by and what the village homes are really like.    

In Art we will be exploring African colours, shapes and patterns. We will look at African jewellery and make our own headband, then after looking at African animals and masks we will make a mask using collage. By studying African sunsets, the children will learn how to blend colours using a dry paint brush and make silhouettes to add features to their painting. For computing we will be exploring algorithms, learning the basic skills of programming and gain an understanding of debugging.  

This term the children will be learning about The Church in RE.  We will visit our church to look at the different artefacts and features. We will then compare our church to one from a contrasting faith, looking for the similarities and differences.          

In our Computing lessons we will begin to understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and how programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions. We will use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs and recognise common uses of information technology beyond school. We will also understand how to use technology safely and respectfully.   

This term our Music topic is Call and Response Songs. The children will learn how to warm-up their voices and the importance of this. The children will be taught how to stand and sit correctly when singing. The children will learn a range of call and response songs. They will focus on accurate pitch matching, singing in a group, enunciation, performing skills and following a conductor.    

In Well-being the children will be learning about the weather and developing their emotional skills with The Weather Gnomes.  The Weather Gnomes will help the children understand their own emotions, identify different situations that can cause them to feel emotions and develop strategies for self regulation. 

PE Indoor and Outdoor – This term in PE we are going to be revisiting areas from our previous PE lessons that we need to improve and strengthen. We will also be playing some team games such as rounders and football to help the children work together as a team.  

Spring Term 2 NEWS!

During Spring Term 2 we were very busy, here is a snapshot of what we did:  

Maths –This term maths has been all about multiplication and division and mastering the 2, 5 and 10 times tables! We began by understanding what an equal group is and how to correctly add them together. The children began to write repeat addition sentences that then helped them progress onto writing multiplication sentences. The children worked hard to understand the two different ways division can be done, by sharing or by grouping. Next the children began to divide by 2, 5 and 10. The children have used lots of practical equipment to help them understand this new learning.  

English – The children planned and wrote a story based on the book The Crow’s Tale, they included conjunctions and time adverbs. Next they read a poem call When I Am By Myself and then wrote a rhyming poem of their own. They created rhyming pairs and used metaphors to describe themselves. Linking with RE the children wrote a retell of the Easter Story.  

Science - We investigated materials and their properties. Using our working scientifically skills we tried to generate our own questions to investigate. We found out which materials are used for which purposes and explained why materials are suitable/not suitable for a job. We looked at the four different ways of changing the shape of materials and discovered harder materials are more difficult to change shape. We also learnt about recycling materials and why this is important for our planet, setting up a battery recycle project throughout school.  

RE - In RE we talked about the importance of the Paschal candle and what the symbols on it mean, then we had a go at designing our own.  We looked at the Easter story and discussed the true meaning of Easter, when Jesus died for us and how the bread and wine we have in church represents his body and blood.  

DT- In DT the children learnt about Mechanisms. They made their own linkages using split pins for pivots and card for levers. They experimented with different widths, length and thickness of card to see which worked best. They created a design criteria for a moving monster and then had lots of fun creating their own. 

History - We kicked off our new history topic, The Lives of Children in Victorian Cotton Mills. The children looked at different sources if evidence to help them truly understand what life was like in a Cotton Mill and how this was different to the loves of children from a rich background. The children loved learning about the different jobs the Victorian children had to do and how dangerous the machines were. They created a post advertising one of the many jobs. This unit linked to our computing topic, We are Researchers.   

Computing – In this unit of computing the children used a new app called ScratchJr. They spent time understanding the different functions of the blocks of code and experimented with creating their own algorithm. At the end of the unit they completed a short project with 4 different lines of code, they retold the story of The Three Little Pigs.  

Outdoor PE – Invasion Games – In this unit the children began to understand what invasion games were and how to play small, simple ones. They developed their understanding of the principles of defending and attacking. 

Indoor PE – Yoga – The children spent time this term in PE learning about mindfulness and body awareness. They began to learn techniques that will help them to connect their mind and body whilst building strength, flexibility, coordination and balance.

Spring Term 1 NEWS!

This term our writing in English linked with our science and PE topic, Plants. As a class we read the book Bloom by Anne Booth. This inspired the children to write their own instructions about how to plant a seed and how to care for it to ensure it grew. We focused on using imperative verbs, time adverbs, adjectives and conjunctions. We then read The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage, the children wrote some wonderful sentences using adverbs, adjectives and used commas in a list. Independently they rewrote the story of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Breakfast using the new grammar they had learnt.

In Maths the children explored the features and properties of 2D and 3D shapes. Firstly they began by learning the names of the shapes and how to identify each one. They counted sides, vertices, faces and edges. The children enjoyed using mirrors to understand how symmetry works and how to find lines of symmetry. Our next unit was Money, the children learnt how to count coins and notes, compare different amounts of money, find ways to make the same amount and work out the amount of change needed. 

In Science we became gardeners and planted a variety of seeds and bulbs. We had to make sure we remembered to water our plants and we observed how much they grew and changed each week, recording the growth in our diary. To prove what conditions plants need to germinate, we placed 3 basil plants in different places. The one without water wilted and died, the one in the fridge also died and the one in the dark continued to grow but turned yellow. Plants has been our favourite science topic so far!

In Computing the children got to grips with word processing. They began by learning keyboard shortcuts to help them type faster and change the style of the text. Next they learnt how to insert images from the internet into a document and then how to copy and paste poems and stories. To end the unit the children became digital writers, using the knowledge and skills they had learn their created their own newspaper.

Our Geography this term we focused on our local area and to start our new topic we went on a local area walk. We created a tally chart with the different types of houses and recorded what we saw. We completed a scavenger hunt and ticked off what we could see e.g. a vets, a doctors, a cycle lane, a post box and more. We looked at different types of maps of the area and the different symbols used. We then wrote a recount of our walk.

Our Art topic this term was Life in Colour! The children began by painting with the primary colours and mixing them to make the secondary colours. Using paint and different materials the children painted different textures and explored patterns. They then using this technique to add texture to different types of paper and cardboard. Inspired by the work of Romare Bearden the children made a collage of the bandstand in Pennington Park.

In RE we explored how Jesus was a friend to everyone and the miracles Jesus performed. . We read many different bible stories; Jesus and the children (Mark 10:13-16), The Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19), Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43) and The man lowered through the roof (Luke 5:17-26). We focused on the values of friendship, love, compassion and hope. The children loved listening to the different bible stories and understanding the meaning behind each one.

In our indoor PE unit the children work together to play some fun and exciting Team Games. Each week they played a variety of games that encouraged them to support their friends, communicate in small groups clearly and make a plan and including everyone in the games. In our outdoor PE unit the children began to work on the fundamental principals of defending and attacking ready for the next unit of PE. They developed their throwing, catching and rolling skills and worked hard to improve their aim when throwing at a target.

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! 

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.