Year 2
Welcome to Year 2!
In Class 2, the teacher is Mrs Jessop and the teaching assistant is Mrs Spruce. Please find below a brief outline of the topics to be covered this year and our daily/weekly routines which are explained in the Year 2 class booklet. We follow a two-year rolling programme in Key Stage 1 and we try to plan as much of our learning as possible around our current topics. This creates an immersive and exciting learning experience for the children. Here is an overview of the topics to be covered over the coming year in Class 2:
| Terms | Topics Covered | Brief Outline |
| Autumn 1 | Far, Far Away | This is a science-based topic looking at materials. Children will learn about the suitability of materials for different uses. They will also learn about how we can change some materials. In History, children will learn about castles and what it would have been like to live there. The theme of castles will link into our English planning where the children will create pieces of writing linked to a variety of stories |
| Autumn 2 | London’s Burning | In London’s Burning, the children study the historical events of the Gunpowder Plot and the Great Fire of London. The children study the events and understand where they fit into a timeline. They look at key figures involved and learn what impact they had. The children will learn more about the United Kingdom and will name the countries and capital cities. In art, the children will look at the skills needed to create a collage, creating a scene of the Great Fire |
| Spring 1 | Take One Picture | This is an art-based topic looking at the life of Vincent Van Gogh. The children will learn about the life of this famous artist and study his artwork. Children will re-create pieces of his work using a variety of media. |
| Spring 2 | Healthy Me | Healthy Me is a science-based topic looking at how humans can keep fit and healthy. The children will describe the importance of exercise, healthy eating and good hygiene. In art, the children will study the skills involved in printing and will use fruit and vegetables to create their own printed pattern. |
| Summer 1 | Author Study | This is an English based topic where we study an author. We will look at a range of their books and the themes and characters they describe. |
| Summer 2 | The Secret Garden | In the Secret Garden, the children gain an understanding of plants. They will look at how plants grow and investigate what seeds needs in order to grow healthily. The children will identify and name common plants and this will link into our geography work on creating maps. We will create a map of our school grounds labelling the flowers and trees that we find. |
Class Booklet:
Home Learning:
Children will receive new home learning tasks set on SeeSaw every Friday and they will have until the following Thursday to complete this. A writing book has been provided so that your child can continue to hand write their tasks where appropriate and upload their work onto the SeeSaw platform. Children should be able to attempt home learning independently, but may need some adult support to help them keep on task and to answer any questions if they get stuck. They will probably need some support with typing or annotating their work using SeeSaw until they become more familiar with the website and its tools. Home learning tasks are normally English or maths based, but can take the form of topic or research based activities. As part of their home learning, children will be sent new Action Words to practise at home every fortnight and this will be linked to a task they can carry out on SeeSaw.
Spellings:
The children will receive new spellings every Friday and will be tested on these words the following Thursday. The spellings children are given link to the spelling pattern we have been learning in class that week. Please use the ‘look, cover, write, check’ method in their yellow spelling books to help the children learn their spellings. I will note any mistakes in your child’s book for further revision at home.
Reading:
Please encourage your child to read their reading books as often as possible at home. It is beneficial for your child to read daily. They don’t have to complete a book each night, but a couple of pages every day is extremely valuable to making good progress in reading. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, we are trying to limit how often items are brought in from home so we are asking the children to bring all their reading books and reading records in every Thursday. This has been working well so far. The children can then take a maximum of five new books for the following week, depending on whether or not they have read all of their current reading books. We run a reward scheme in class to encourage regular reading at home and your child will receive a tick on the chart for every time they read at home, even if this is not the whole book. There are stickers and small prizes at different milestones on the chart.
PE:
Our PE sessions in Year 2 are on Mondays and Thursdays this term. Mr Sheahan will be teaching PE on a Thursday, but this may be subject to change. Any changes will be detailed in the next topic letter. Please make sure that all earrings are removed on PE days and that your child has the appropriate PE kit for outdoor PE in school on those days.
