Year 2
Spring 1, 2025!
Welcome back! We hope you are ready for lots of learning and fun this half term in Year 2.
Start time – 8:40am Pick-up time- 3:15pm
If you have any questions, concerns or worries, please contact us at year2@cpa.dsat.education and we will do our best to respond as soon as we can.
Please ensure that your child brings a labelled water bottle to school each day as well as ensuring that all items of your child's uniform is clearly labelled too. A healthy fruit snack is provided for all our Year 2 children.
Please follow the link below to view information from the Year 2 Beginning of Year Meeting.
Please follow the link below to view information from the Key Stage 1 Reading Information Meeting.
We are continuing to deliver the program to all year groups at school called myHappymind. myHappymind is all based around helping children to understand how their brain works and to support them in developing positive skills and habits to be their very best selves!
Please click on the link below to access an overview of what the program entails.
myHappymind Parent information
At the end of every myHappy mind session, we finish with our Let Your Light Shine prayer which you can find below.
Curriculum
Our History theme this half term is "Why should we remember the explorer Sir Captain James Cook and the inventor Thomas Fishburn?'‘
Our theme this half-term will focus on developing our historical knowledge, skills and vocabulary. Through our study, we will find out about the life of Sir Captain James Cook and his adventurous expeditions as well as find out about what it was like to be a sailor in the 18th century. Finally, we will research how ships are built, focusing on the ship builder, TRhomas Fishburn.
Writing
Our writing this half term will be based on the book The Dragon Machine by Helen Ward.
George is a young, overlooked boy, who becomes aware of dragons hiding all around him.
But when it becomes apparent that they don't belong in George's ordinary world, he endeavours to do the best for his new friends and find them the home they deserve.
This touching story about a lonely boy with a passion for dragons, shows the power of the imagination to free the spirit, and highlights the importance of friendship.
In response to the book, we will engage in a variety of writing opportunities, including character and setting descriptions as well as creating our own alternative stories.
Phonics and Reading
As a school we follow the Read, Write, Inc programme to deliver our phonics teaching. During this half term, we will continue to work hard embedding our knowledge of phoneme / grapheme correspondence, as well as continuing to segment and blend. We have lots of information on our schools phonics page.
For those children who have progressed from the RWInc phonics lessons, we will continue with our whole class reading lessons which are taught in the same style as KS2. We will focus on different skills throughout the week (vocabulary, retrieval, inference and sequencing) and how to answer different styles of questions.
Click on the link below to see the list of Year 1 and Year 2 Common Exception words that our children have to read and write confidently by the end of Year 2. Please support your child in learning these.
Year 1 and Year 2 Common Exception Words
Maths
This half term we will build on our knowledge of time and read o'clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to times as well time to the nearest five minutes. We will learn new strategies of addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers involving regrouping and adjusting and use these to solve addition and subtraction problems involving money.
This half term we will also be focusing on knowing and remembering our Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) for Spring. Please click on the links below for Year 2 Spring KIRFs that will support your child with their learning of doubles and halves of numbers up to 20. The online game, HIT THE BUTTON, will also support your child with this.
If you have any questions about these areas of Maths please don’t hesitate to come and speak to us.
R.E.
In RE, we will study Judaism, focusing on Passover and explore the question 'How important is it for Jewish people to do what God asks them to do?' This will support our understanding of how celebrating Passover helps Jews show God
how they value their special relationship with Him.
Science
Our science theme this half term is Growing Seeds and Bulbs. In this module, we will:
● observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.
● about the conditions that mature plants require for healthy growth.
Art and Design - Collage
Our learning will build on the work with natural objects and we will be introduced to how we can tear, cut and manipulate materials. We will learn about the artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, cubism and what a collage is.
P.E. - Multi-skills
In PE, our focus is Multi-skills. In our learning, we will explore a variety of movement, thinking and communicating skills that are the foundation of different sports or physical activities as well as develop our agility and coordination.
Our PE day is Tuesday. Please ensure that your child comes to school in the correct P.E kit and brings their school uniform to change into after their lesson. If your child wears earrings, these must be removed or provide tape to cover them. Ensure long hair is tied back away from the face.
P.S.H.E. - Appreciate/ Community: Online Safety
In our myHappymind module we will continue to learn more about our brain. We will discover the value of appreciation and how being grateful or, being thankful make us feel. We will recognise the different ways to show gratitude or to express our thanks and the importance of taking time out to stop and be grateful or thankful.
We will also focus on the theme of Community and Online Safety. We will recognise that people need to get the correct
balance of time spent online and offline. We will understand how the internet and digital devices can be used safely
to find things out and to communicate with others.
Computing – Programming
In our computing lessons this half term, we will learn about Programming: Algorithms and debugging. In this module, we will be able to:
- decompose a game to predict the algorithms.
- give a definition for ‘decomposition’.
- write clear and precise algorithms.
- create algorithms to solve problems.
- use loops in their algorithms to make their code more efficient.
- explain what abstraction is.
Music
Our musical theme is Playing in an orchestra. Throughout our learning, we will understand that playing together is a very important part of learning music. There are many ensembles, bands and groups you can play in. One of these groups is an orchestra. This unit features the orchestra - what can you learn about the orchestra?
NUMBOTs – Every day 10 minutes
NUMBOTs is an on-line programme to boost addition and subtraction skills. It is available on a range of devices, including mobile phones. You can play online at NUMBOTs Game or download the NUMBOTs app. Playing little and often will significantly improve your child’s recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts. These are critical foundations in maths so we are excited by the impact NUMBOTs will have. In order to get the best out of NUMBOTs children should regularly play for short bursts of time over the week, there are 18 stages to complete!
If you have misplaced your log in details or are having trouble accessing the website, please email me to let us know.
READING – Every day 10 minutes
Please continue to enjoy your reading each day. Reading is fun and a great way to spend time together with your family, as well as developing our imaginations. Encourage your child to talk about what they have read and ask them a question or two about the book. This will help consolidate their comprehension work in school. Adults please remember to record what your child reads at home in their reading record. We will count all entries in the reading diaries weekly and award golden tickets to those who have read 20 times or more in a month.
Our book change day is Friday.
OXFORD OWL – One book a week
Oxford Owl is an e-book library to boost reading skills. Once your book has been read there is a short fun quiz to complete afterwards. Children will receive a golden ticket for every book they complete. Click on the link below to access Oxford Owl;
Oxford Owl for School and Home.
If you have misplaced your log in details or are having trouble accessing the website, please email me to let me know.
As always, thank you for your continued support with your child’s learning.
Mrs Milnes, Mrs Margetts, Mrs Smith and Mrs Watson