Welcome to Year 2T

Summer 2

Welcome back, I hope you have all had a lovely break in the sunshine and are recharged and ready to go for our final half term of the year. We have a fun and exciting jam packed half term ahead of us including being lucky enough to welcome back Mrs Gheelan to teach us how to play the ocarina. I know that the children will have a fantastic time learning this new instrument. Miss Ellison will also be leaving us during this half term. We thank her for all her hard work and wish her great success in her future teaching career.

Below are all the fantastic topics we will be learning about.

Literacy

This half term we will be reading the story of Lila and the Secret of Rain. The children will order the story, write setting descriptions and learn to retell the story using Talk for Writing. The children will then retell the story in the first person. Linked to our Africa topic in history and geography we will then learn how to write a non chronological report about an African animal after looking at the features of them and securing knowledge about different animals. As always we will focus on grammar features that will help us with our work. 

Maths

We will learn some life skills this half term with time and money. Children need to know o'clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past and where possible to the nearest 5 minutes using an analogue clock. For money we will be identifying different coins and notes, learning how to make the same amount using different coins and working out change when buying goods. Any help and support that you can provide your child with for these topics would be great. If you have any questions please just ask. We will also spend time solving word problems using all our mathematical skills. 

Science

We will continue to learn about living things and their habitats this half term. We will also meet our topic Scientist, Jane Goodall. 

History/Geography

We will continue to learn about Africa in Geography, understanding the differences and similarities of children here and in Kenya. 

In History we will look at some significant individuals, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks. We will learn about their lives and what makes them influential people.

DT

The children will become crafters and will design and make their own pouch. They will learn the running stitch, how to create a template and then sew their pouch together. They will then decorate their finished product. 

Summer 1

It's summer term and life at school is finally starting to feel a bit more normal. The children settled back into school brilliantly before Easter and I am so proud of each and every one of them for navigating so well what has yet again been a disrupted year. We have lots of exciting topics to cover this term. As many of you will already know, we also welcome back Miss Ellison, who was with us in Autumn term. She is eager to return to see you and to continue to teach you all.

MATHS:-  We will be learning about graphs, shapes, money and time along with reviewing addition and subtraction regularly.

LITERACY:- We will write our own poems based on the 'The Magic Box' by Kit Wright and reading about a badger who is desperate to eat a very disgusting sandwich. We will write a set of instructions as well as our own stories on a similar theme.

SCIENCE:- We will learn about different animals and their habitats understanding how to identify what is  alive, dead or have never been alive. We will also  identify some of the plants and animals in a familiar habitat,  find microhabitats, describe the conditions and ask questions about different habitats and name some sources of food.

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY- Across the whole of summer term we will focus on Africa. We will understand where it is and the different countries that make up the continent and is different climates, animals and landmarks. We will then meet some significant figures such as Nelson Mandela. 

DT- In DT we will design and make our own chairs suitable for baby bear. We will think about the best designs and different shapes to achieve this thinking about stability. We will design, make and evaluate them. 

The weekly routines are exactly the same as when we left and school will be the same fun, safe environment that it has always been.

If you have any questions we do not hesitate in approaching one of the Y2 team.

Welcome Back - Spring 2

We are finally all back together. This term has been a long hard time which has thrown lots of challenges and difficulties. But we are now back in school and I hope you are ready for a jam packed 4 weeks.

You have all worked extremely hard over the last several weeks of online learning and I am very proud of the effort and engagement you all showed. 

I am so excited to be back in school, back in our class together, where we can all have a fun-filled few weeks of our Spring Term.

The weekly routines are exactly the same as when we left and school will be the same fun, safe environment that it has always been.

If you have any questions we do not hesitate in approaching one of the Y2 team.

Dear Parents,  

What can I say, here we are again. Just when we are turning a corner, we have to stop again. I am extremely upset that I will not see all the children this half term. However for the safety of us all, needs must.

But that does not mean that the quality of the children's education will lessen. I will ensure that the highest of quality teaching is provided to all my class online, as it would be in the classroom. This will require your help and support as you did so magnificently in October when we had to isolate for 2 weeks.

The format of the day will be the same, this will help you and keeps the children in a familiar routine.
I will post videos for each of the lessons, with supporting photos (if needed) everyday On Class Dojo. This will be the learning platform that will have all the children's work on.

The children will be provided with a No Problem Maths book and an Online Learning Book. These are where the children will complete all their daily tasks. Theses books must be kept in the condition that they are received as they are school books and will be used when we return. The children did a fantastic job last time when looking after their books and I hope they take the same responsibility this time.

The children know exactly the high standard that I expect of them when completing work in their books and I know that they will ensure that all their writing is neat and well presented. It is extremely important that it is the children's work and not completed by anyone else. Whoever is working alongside your child throughout the lockdown are there to support and help the children complete the tasks, however it is extremely important that the children attempt all tasks independently and complete the work themselves.

The videos are there to help and will give not only the children with a greater understanding of how to complete the tasks, but will help you in supporting them. It is important that the children watch these before attempting any task, as this will stop any mistakes or misconceptions. All daily tasks when completed must be photographed and sent to me by the end of the day. This allows me at night to see the children's work, comment and approve it and give the children Dojo Points as a reward and recognition for their work along with providing any support needed. 

The answers to maths and reading will be posted the same afternoon so that the children can mark their own work. If they have made any mistakes they can then review and correct this. They may need your support to do this. If you are unsure about anything or your child needs further support to understand a concept please message me and I will endeavour to help. In class we always review our previous work and check our understanding before moving on as the work will build on the previous work. For literacy I will start the next days video with a review of the previous days task along with offering personalised support to work when added to Dojo. 

I totally understand that the next several weeks are going to be tough. I myself will be looking after my 2 daughters as well as teaching my class all day. I understand the struggles, and I am here to help in any kind of way. The messaging service on Dojo is the best way to contact me if you have any questions or problems.

However, if you have any issues that are not regarding the children's work, the appropriate procedure is to go through the school office, which will have a member of staff in everyday.
As you can imagine, I will be uncontactable after normal school hours and weekends, however this does not mean you cannot post photos of the children's work in those times, as I understand that we all have our own difficulties and time tables and the children may not complete it as quick as others.

Thank you for all your help and support through the next several weeks, together we will get through this and ensure that the children are safe and healthy both in body and mind.

Take care and stay safe, 

Mrs Taylor

CLASS DOJO

Please ensure that you have access to Class Dojo. If you can't or may have changed device and can no longer access it please contact school for your access details as all learning and support videos will be added to it. 

When your child has completed their work please add it to their portfolio on Class Dojo so that we can add points to their Dojo and celebrate fantastic work.  

Please find below links to support different areas of the curriculum. 

Welcome to Year 2T

Welcome to our Year 2 page. I hope you had as good a Summer break as possible and you are all excited to be back to school learning again. We have got lots of exciting things to learn about this year and a lot to cram into this half-term. We totally understand that due to uncertain times and online learning that the children may have missed vital learning last year. Therefore this first half term will be reviewing the children's understanding of Year 1 concepts and learning while introducing new Year 2 learning. This is going to be a tough time for us all, as we have to try and return to a normal everyday school routine. But please do not worry as the children will be learning in a safe and fun environment that will support them educationally and emotionally.

In Literacy, we are using ‘The Lonely Beast' by Chris Judge as our core text. We will be writing all about the characters thoughts and feelings and retelling the story through drama, repeated writing and descriptive language. We will also be have 2 phonic lessons a day along with 2 reading sessions a day. 

In Numeracy, we will be learning all about place value, addition and subtraction and beginning to learn our 2x, 5x and 10x multiplication tables. We will learn how to read, write, order and compare numbers up to 100 and beyond, identify a digit’s place value (Hundreds, Tens and Ones), and count from 0 in jumps of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. We will also learn how to mentally add 1, 10 and 100 to a number as well as using formal column method to add and subtract numbers.

P.E.

Children will not require their PE kits for the Autumn term due to the change of uniform policy. Our PE session will be on a Tuesday morning so please send your children in the appropriate clothing and footwear. PE will predominantly happen outside.

Spellings

Children will be given a spelling list every Thursday. Please ensure your child practises these everyday as there will be a test on a Thursday. To support them further, support children to use a dictionary to find their meaning as well as form sentences with the words given.

Books

Reading books will be changed every Friday. Please ensure that books are in school for those days. Reading book, upon return, will be quarantined for 72 hours before they will be recirculated. It is important that your child reads every day. This can with the help of an adult or older sibling. Please also ask the children questions about their book to check their understanding.

Please visit this page regularly as it will be updated with photos of our work and links to aid learning. Take a look at our planning documents to find out more about what we will be learning this year.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to speak to us via an arranged phone call or on Class Dojo.

Mrs Taylor & Mrs Chandler