Welcome to Year 2. Our Teaching Staff are Ms Lee (Monet class) and Ms Lupo (Turner class). Our teaching assistants are Mrs Oakaby-Wright, Mrs Parvez and Ms Barimah.
Homework will be sent home on Thursday and is due back in school the following Tuesday. Maths homework will be completed online using MyMaths and phonics and spellings homework will be sent home and completed in a homework book. Spelling tests will be on Tuesday morning and reading books will be handed in every Monday morning, with 4 entries from an adult.
PE – both classes will have PE on a Friday afternoon. Children should come to school on this day in their PE kits.
Summer Term 2023
During the Summer Term our theme will include:
The Seven Continents and Explorers
The Geography focus will involve the children studying in depth the seven continents of the world. Children will compare and contrast the continents and learn about their main characteristics. They will also learn about seas and ocean, the equator and the North and South Pole.
The first-hand knowledge that staff and children have from journeying to different continents will be used to enrich our studies.
Our learning will be focused around an Enquiry question:
What are the seven continents and five oceans?
History
Linked to our Geographical studies of the continents the children will consider the significance of explorer’s journeys. They will also focus on how the lives of significant individuals in the past have contributed to national and international achievements.
We will be studying a range of explorers from different periods and making comparisons between the lives of these explorers. The children will commence their studies by learning about Ibn Battuta followed by researching explorers such as Christopher Columbus, before studying Antarctica and space explorers.
Children may have some comprehension homework or tasks linked with these explorers. This will broaden their knowledge and understanding about why these people set out on their journeys. They will be asked to reflect on the impact that the explorer’s journeys had at the time and for future generations.
Science
he children began exploring plants during the National Science Growth week last term. They will continue to develop their understanding of plants by focusing on the needs of plants through observations and investigations. Their experiences will be enriched by the outdoor learning in different areas of our school grounds. 
During Summer 2, our Science focus will be on animals including humans and how their offspring grow into adults. Central to this will be the idea that all living things have certain characteristics that are essential for keeping them alive and healthy. We will compare animals in familiar habitats with animals found in less familiar habitats and discuss how they are suited to their environments. Habitats will be included from a range of continents studied this term.
Art
Our focus for art will be creatures of the deep; this theme will be explored using drawing, painting and textiles. Our artist for this term will be Michelle Parsons. The children will draw and make models of fish and other sea creatures. They will enhance their skills of using felt and decorative stitching to create fish they have designed.
Sea monsters – real and imagined will form part of the learning for this term including exploring some historic drawings of sea life. Links will be made with our Literacy unit Imaginary Worlds.
Computing will continue to be an essential part in all subjects as well as discrete lessons where children will be taught IT skills. Online-safety remains a top priority to ensure that children are aware of the way we should behave online and what actions to take if anything makes them feel uncomfortable or worries them when they are online.
In Summer 2, our focus will be on Being Creative. Children will explore using computers for drawing and painting. Animation will be used by the children to bring their images to life. We will continue to use DB Primary, our school learning platform, which will allow children to access learning with you at home.
In Maths, the children will be developing their knowledge of multiplication, division and the relationship between them. They will explore further multiples of 2, 3, 5 and 10. Lessons will foster the development of a deep understanding of strategies that will enable the children to calculate effectively. Learning this term will also include fractions which will involve the children finding, naming and writing fractions 1 / 3 , 1 / 4 , 1 / 2 and 3 / 4 of a length, shape, set of objects or quantities. We will then focus on equivalence of fractions before moving onto revisiting telling the time on analogue clocks to 5-minute intervals. The children will learn about 2D and 3D shapes. Problem solving will be embedded in all units of Maths.
We will be exploring Literacy through a variety of genre. Our learning will commence with stories from imaginary worlds. Drama activities will support deepening of the children’s understanding of stories before discussing character’s actions, writing character descriptions and making predictions about future events based on evidence from the texts. The children will read and write reports (linked to our unit on Explorers) and explanation texts. During the term, the children will focus on different types of poetry, which they will read, perform and write. Our school environment will continue to be used to develop language.
In Reading children will read daily in class following our new Little Wandle reading scheme. Each reading group gets a new book to read in class on Monday. With an adult, children read the same book three times a week: decoding, prosody and comprehension. On Friday, these books are sent home to be read again with parents/carers. Alongside these books, children get to pick a ‘reading for pleasure’ book to take home each week. These are meant to spark the love of reading different genres and styles of books at home. Please continue to engage in reading with children at home by asking them questions, using expression and exploring different types of books.
PE
Our lesson takes place on Friday afternoon each week.
This term we will be focussing on sports day practice and athletics. Children will explore different ways of running and jumping. They will work on coordinating running and jumping and the techniques used for different jumps. Children will learn to change the techniques depending on whether height or length is required.