Year 2
A big hello from Year 2!
Year 2 are taught by Miss Reid and supported by Mrs Harmsworth.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Year 2! In our class, we are encouraged to explore new things, we embrace our curious minds, and we feel empowered to be ourselves. In our class we are helpful, kind and take care of one another. In Year 2, children are valued and are always encouraged to try their best, no matter how challenging something may seem at first. We make learning engaging, interactive and fun, and enjoy learning through our exciting topics!
Throughout the year we will be exploring, learning and investigating through our Geography and History topics which include Amazing Africa, Nurturing Nurses, The Great Fire of London, Poles Apart and Beside the Seaside.
Through these topics we continue to develop reading and writing skills, as well as using our investigative, imaginative and creative skills to make our learning engaging and fun!
Reading
In Year 2 your child will have their own reading book and reading diary. Reading is a key life skill and forms the basis of all other learning. Providing children with a range of early reading experiences helps to develop their imagination, promote reading for pleasure and develop their general knowledge, spelling, vocabulary and writing abilities.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” – Dr. Seuss.
In class, we will read a different book each half term. This will be part of our whole class reading sessions. We will read a chapter of the story 3 times per week to encourage a love of reading and the children will take part in discussions or short activities.
The children take part in guided reading 3 times each week, with a new text being the focus each week. The children are exposed to fiction, non-fiction and poetry within these sessions. There is a focus on oracy and reading fluency skills in the first session. In the second session, the children unpick the text, focussing on new vocabulary. In the third session, the children practise their comprehension skills by answering questions about the text. These questions include a mixture of vocabulary, retrieval, inference, prediction and summarising style questions.
We also have story time at the end of every day where the children will listen to, discuss and express their views about a wide range of poetry, fiction books and traditional tales.
Help us to promote a love of reading by reading with your child at least 3 times per week. W encourage children to read their home reading book and their own books from home to develop a range of vocabulary.
Our book club sessions take place every Friday. In this session, the children’s reading is celebrated! In our class, we have reading awards which are awarded to children who go above and beyond with their reading! These are given to children who display a love of reading and work hard during their reading lessons in school. Children can earn badges, pencils and stickers as a reward for their reading in school. One child is chosen each week to take home our reading journal. This gives the children an opportunity to share their favourite books from home with their friends.
In our whole class reading sessions we will read:
English
In Year 2, we often use class books to deliver our writing curriculum. Where possible, we try and link these books to our class topics or our Science learning. We use book talk and drama to capture our ideas and we use these to produce our writing. We also incorporate EGSP (English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling) in our English lessons. In English we also learn how to write for different purposes including non-fiction style texts such as reports, letters and instructions. Here are some of the key texts we will be enjoying this year:
Here, some of the children performed their Christmas poem for some younger children.
Maths
In Maths, our school follows the White Rose Maths Hub scheme of work, as well as using other resources to encourage reasoning and problem solving. We enjoy using concrete apparatus to support our learning too!
The children are learning to use Rekenreks to support their number work.
The children explored 2D shapes and worked in pairs to sort the shapes.
Learning to add two 2-digit numbers using the column method practically.
PE
We have PE twice weekly on Wednesday and Thursday. PE may take place outdoors or indoors so we encourage the children to have appropriate PE kit with them for such circumstances. See the PE policy on the PE subject page for more details.
Science
Our topics in Science are Animals including humans, Uses of Everyday materials, Living things and their habitats and Plants.
In Year 2 we love to take part in super investigations! Here are some investigations that the children have done in school.
Geography/History
Our Geography topics this year are: Amazing Africa, Poles Apart and Beside the Seaside.
Our History topics this year are: The Great Fire of London and Nurturing Nurses.
Within these topics, the children will develop their chronological understanding (History) and their knowledge of the world around them (Geography). Through WOW events, parent involvement days and work showcases, the children are inspired and enjoy learning about these wonderful events in history and places around the world.
In the Autumn term, we held a ‘parent involvement day’ as part of our Amazing Africa topic work. Parents were invited into the classroom to support their child with African themed activities. We had a fantastic time! A huge thank you to all parents for your attendance and support.
Art and DT
In DT, the children have designed, made and evaluated their own Christmas Puppet. The children developed their sewing skills within this unit of work.
The children have also learned about wheels and axles in DT. The designed, made and evaluated their own moving vehicles.
Click on this link to read more information about Year 2.
Click on the links below to access important documents for Year 2:
Additional resources to support learning: