(Mrs Kirk also covers PPA time in class on Wednesday afternoon).
We hope you have enjoyed a lovely holiday and are now refreshed and ready to continue being happy learners and high achievers!
This half term we will study the differences between living in a hill village like Denholme and urban Townsville in Australia. We will learn about the changes in industry and environment in Denholme over the years and identify characteristics of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom.
Across the year we will used a range of texts to cover elements of our reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation work. This term we will use the book 'Window' by Jeannie Baker and 'Diary of a Wombat' by Jackie French.
The children have their spelling test each MONDAY. This will assess the words which are sent home each week and it will take the format of writing the words within the context of a sentence (This follows the format of the Year Two SATS spelling paper which the children will take during the summer term). The children will bring home a list of target words and sentences to practise their spellings each week. Please help with these where you can and encourage your child to practise the spellings we are sending home. These word lists, along with the Year 1 and 2 common exception words (which can be found in your child's planner) are an important aspect of your child's English work this year. These are key words which are used across the children's reading and writing. Please help your child to learn these words. Just a few minutes each day sounding them out, writing them down or reading them out will really help your child to learn these! There will be prizes for children who have got all of their spellings right, and prizes for children who have improved from the previous week.
Grammar focuses on the rules of the English language and the children are now expected to have a good understanding of how to apply this in their work. The children will learn about different word types including nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and how to use these accurately in different aspects of writing. These will be taught as part of our daily English work, and also within our guided reading and phonics sessions. There are many useful games online which will support your child in their understanding of word types. These might help to make grammar seem more interesting and appealing too!
The children read at school every day throughout the curriculum. They also take part in regular guided reading sessions each week. In addition to these reading sessions, we hold daily phonics lessons and reading assemblies, to ensure that we are providing the children with opportunities to develop the skills needed to become effective readers. At home, we ask you to engage in reading with your child as often as you can. We know how busy and hectic your days can be, but just a few minutes sharing and talking about texts can greatly help your child's understanding and confidence. This doesn't always have to involve reading their school reading book. It could be you sharing a text with them, asking your child to tell you about what they have read, reading a comics, newspapers, magazine articles or leaflets, or simply reading signs and labels when you're out and about - every bit helps! Please support your child wherever possible.
This term, our guided reading sessions are focusing on the skills needed for the reading papers will the children will undertake as part of their SATs. We are working on different examples of these so that the children are familiar with the structure and organisation of them. We are encouraging the children to find the relevant information in the text and to highlight or underline this, in order to help them answer the questions successfully.
All of the children have a login for Bug Club. This can be found at the front of your child's planner. This site can be accessed from home and is a valuable tool for the children to practise their reading and comprehension skills. They are assigned a variety of books appropriate to their reading level and are given questions to answer about the information they have read. They earn rewards for the books and tasks which they complete. On this site they can also access some spelling and grammar games too. For children who might be reluctant or not want to read, this can be a rewarding incentive!
This half term we are focusing on multiplication and division. We will be learning methods to solve simple calculations and word problems related to multiplication and division. We will learn how to group and share, use arrays and bar models to help solve these calculations.
Each half term we have a target for our key instant recall facts. These are number facts which we need to know by heart so that we can recall them instantly. This will enable us to be efficient in our mental calculations. Our instant recall fact for the this half term is: To recall multiplication facts for the 10x table.
If you are unsure about the methods which we teach children to solve calculations or you would like more information about these, please do not hesitate to come and see us. We know that these can seem very different to the methods which you may have been taught! The methods which we are currently working on will be displayed on our maths working wall in the classroom. You could ask your child to explain these methods and how to use them.
In our Science work we will be exploring a unit based on Living Things and their Habitats. We will learn about how living things have different habitats and how they adapt and change to be able to survive in their habitat. We will study British birds and will learn about how animals obtain food from plants and other animals.
Our P.E. sessions take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week. On Wednesday the P.E session will be led by a P.E coach and supported by the class teacher as we learn new skills in different areas of P.E. The children look forward to these lessons and are hugely disappointed if they cannot participate because they do not have a suitable change of clothing or footwear. Please help your child to be prepared for these lessons. All children require a full P.E kit for both indoor and outdoor work. This is to ensure the children's hygiene and safety. Details of our P.E kit can be found in our school prospectus and in our home school planners. Please help to ensure that your child is prepared and ready for their lessons.
Our main focus for homework in Year 2 is to regularly listen to your child read, including questioning their understanding, to practise the spellings we send home weekly, and to practise the maths targets which are found in your child's planner. These aspects focus on the basic skills needed to help your child in reading, writing and maths. When new learning has taken place in particular subject areas we will occasionally send additional homework that focuses on consolidating that learning. In addition to this, we will create opportunities each term to have a topic based homework project. This is often a creative activity which encourages your child to use their imagination and work with adults at home to produce something based around the learning taking place in class.
If you would like to speak to us about any aspect of your child's learning, you can catch us at the start or end of the school day, or arrange an appointment at a suitable time. Please don't be afraid to ask though. We greatly value the support of parents and guardians, and know how a close home/school relationship can support the children in their learning.
Thank you from all of the staff working in Year Two.