Welcome to 2S!

The children have made a wonderful start to Year 2! I have been so impressed with the positive 'can do' attitude they have displayed towards their learning. We have a lot to learn this year, and I am excited to continue to guide the children on this part of their learning journey. Keep checking our class page for regular updates on what we have been learning.

  Writing

So far this term, our writing has been inspired by ‘Whiffy Wilson’, the smelly wolf who refused to take a bath! The children have written character descriptions, predicted what might happen next, retold the story and designed wanted posters to try and track down this smelly wolf!

Maths

In maths this term we are focusing on number.  During our maths lessons we will continue to work on number by representing numbers from 0-100 in numerals, words and pictures. We will then move onto exploring more than (>),  less than (<) and equals (=) as well as learning about estimating and rounding numbers to at least 100! As you can see below the children enjoy using lots of different maths resources including numicon, base ten and 100 squares to help them understand the value of numbers from 0-100. We will also continue our weekly maths challenge as the children try to move up the football pitch to reach the world cup! You can help them achieve this by providing plenty of opportunities at home for your child to practise there 2, 5 and 10 times tables and division facts, which they must be able to recall by the end of year 2.

Reading

So far this term, we have been developing our skills of 'skimming and scanning' during our guided reading sessions, in order to locate the answer to a question. We will continue to develop this skill and introduce more retrieval skills in Autumn 2. At our school, each year group has a chosen author, so that each class can become familiar with him/her  and their set of works, . In Year 2, our author is Roald Dahl. Look out for the Roald Dahl display in our school library to find the Year 2 section.  We have just finished reading 'The Twitts' during book talk. The children loved the tale of the evil Mr and Mrs Twitt and were thoroughly entertained by the constant tricks they played on each other. Currently, we are reading 'The Witches' during book talk. I have even been accused of being a witch  myself by one or two of the children! Ask your child about the tell tale signs to spot a witch to ensure you don't encounter any yourselves this winter!

I can not stress the importance of reading with your child every night. A lot is asked of the children in Year 2, in terms of understanding a text, and they can only being to do this when they are fluent readers. Reading every night with your child will have a positive impact on their development as readers and writers. Our school library is available to the children every lunch time and after school.

Topic

History

I would like to say a big thank you to all the parents who have supported their children to dress in role as children from 1666 this half term. We  have travelled back in time every Friday, working by candlelight, to try and understand what life was like in London in 1666. The children have sequenced the events of the Great Fire of London, compared modern day London with the past, written an eye witness account of the fire,  explored artefacts from 1666 and completed a human timeline (some of the pictures from this are below). In doing so, the children have developed key historical skills of interpretation, enquiry, chronology and communication.

Music

Every Tuesday  the children take part in music lessons with Mrs Fowler. This term they have composed and preformed their very own piece of music. The piece is inspired by bonfire night and the children carefully chose instruments to reflect the fireworks they like. Videos of the children's performance will be uploaded soon!