Year 2
Welcome to the Year 2 page!
We are so happy that you are here and hope that you enjoy finding out about our learning journey along with being kept up to date with important events.
Spring 1
Maths
In maths this half-term, the children have learnt about the fractions a half and a quarter. They have learnt to find a half and quarter of amounts and shapes. We have recognised that one half is the same as two quarters and to find one quarter you can find one half and halve it again. We have also been focusing on addition and subtraction mental and written methods, mass and money. It would be really beneficial to continue to support your child at home by helping them to identify different coins and adding different values. Learning to tell the time to o'clock, half past and the quarter hours is a key part of the Year 2 curriculum, extending to 5 minute intervals.
Geography
As part of the KS1 Geography national curriculum, children are expected to compare a region of the UK to a region in a Non-EU country and so we zoomed in to focus on the cities of London in England and New Delhi in India for our comparative study. We developed our sense of place knowledge about India and discovered what the climate is like there and which animals, foods and clothing can be found. We learnt about New Delhi and the human and physical features that make the city such an interesting place to visit. We used our previous knowledge of London and learnt new information about it as a capital city. During this unit, we have explored the human features that attract tourists. To conclude our unit, we compared both of the capital cities and found similarities and differences between the two.
English
To support our learning in Geography, in English we read two different texts. 'This is our World' by Asa Gilland and Tracey Turner is a non-fiction book about children who live in different countries all over the world. The second text of study was 'The boy who biked the world' by Alastair Humphreys which follows the story of a young boy named Tom who bikes from England to the end of Africa. Children used both of these texts as stimulus for writing which hopefully you enjoyed reading pieces of during Parents' Evening. There is a sequel to 'The boy who biked the world' for any avid home readers!
Design and Technology
During DT this half term, the children learnt about healthy eating, party food and well-known chefs who make this type of food. The children designed their healthy wraps, ensuring that it had different foods from the 5 main food groups. During this unit, the children learnt how to hold and use knives and cheese graters safely. They also learnt where certain foods come from and whether they need to wash or cook food before preparing it for a meal. They made their wraps ensuring they were applying what they had learnt about preparing food and staying safe around equipment. They thoroughly enjoyed making these wraps and eating them too!
Autumn 2
Maths
In maths this term, we have taught and covered place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, shape, measure, time and position and direction. The children have been using their place value knowledge of 2-digit numbers to be able to add and subtract them using a CPA (concrete, pictorial and abstract) approach. Please see our calculation policy for more information. The children have also been learning how addition and subtraction are inverses of each other. In areas of geometry, the children have learnt to name and identify the properties of both 2D and 3D shapes, conducting a shape hunt around school (see some photos below). Arithmetic continues to be a weekly focus through daily morning maths and mental starters. Please support your child with quick fire mental recall of addition and subtraction number facts as well as practising their 2s, 5s and 10s times tables. TT Rockstars is a great resource that all children can use at home to support with this.
English and History
In English, all of our reading and writing lessons are 'rooted in reading' and there is a story, book or text at the heart of each writing unit. Here is a list of some of the books and stories we have read this term as part of our Kings and Queens unit:
The Queen’s Knickers by Nicholas Allan
Queen Victoria’s Knickers by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine by Gloria Whelan
The Queen's Orang-utan by David Walliams
Little People, Big Dreams: King Charles III by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
The children have loved reading and learning about different monarchs and using these stimulus to inspire their writing. They have designed their own pair of knickers for Queen Elizabeth II and used expanded noun phrases to describe them. They have written instructions for how to use Queen Victoria's bathing machine. They have written their own adventure stories based on what mischief an orang-utan butler might get up to at Buckingham Palace and what adventure Queen Victoria might take around London. We have received a letter from King Charles III in his new role and the children have written replies. We have also researched the lives of significant monarchs and written a non-chronological report about King Charles III and a biography about Queen Elizabeth II. We have been practising using questions and exclamations, as well as beginning to use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to extend sentences.
We hope you enjoyed reading some of the children's writing at Parents' Evening.
Geography
In our geography lessons in Autumn 1, we learnt about the 4 countries that make up the United Kingdom and learnt the name of each capital city. We learnt about the population of the countries and the capital cities within the UK. We used cubes to represent the number of people that lived in these areas. This helped us understand the size of each country or capital city and to compare them to each other.
We have also learnt about the 7 continents and 5 oceans that form the structure of the world. We explored the climates of the world in relation to the equator and polar regions. We learnt about the temperatures, size and animals of the 5 oceans too.
Other Curriculum Areas
In Science, the children have been learning about materials and their uses. In PSHE, we have been thinking about responsibilities as a class and in RE we are learning about the Christian creation story. In computing, the children have been learning about Information Technology and Digital Photography.
Welcome to Year 2!
We would like to wish each and every one of you a big, warm welcome to Year 2! We are so excited to see the children and welcome them back into school. We know the children are going to have a fantastic year, and we cannot wait to start our new adventure together.
Please bear with us while the children settle into their new routines and expectations for Year 2. Similarly to Year 1, the children will still be able to take school books home to read, and we encourage them to read as often as possible. The children will be given weekly spellings to learn which will follow the Year 2 spelling rules.
If you need to contact us, please catch us after school. Alternatively, leave a message at the office, and we will phone you back as soon as we can.
Staff Team:
2T: Mrs Till (teacher) and Mrs Williams (teaching assistant)
2B: Mrs Bennett (teacher), Mrs Bailey (teaching assistant) and Mrs Harland (1:1 teaching assistant)
Important Information:
PE: Tuesday and Friday
Homework to be given out on a Wednesday and returned to school on a Monday.
Spellings to be given out and tested on a Monday.
Reading books and diaries will be checked on Mondays and Thursdays. The children can change their reading books as many times a week as they would like: please ask them to let us know during registration times if they would like to change their books. Please encourage your child to show us their diary if they have any messages from home as diaries will not be checked every day.
Dates for Diaries
Wednesday 5th February - Parents' Evening
Thursday 6th February - Parents' Evening
