Here is a copy of our topic web and newsletter for our final half term in Year 2. 

Today, we have been using IPads to make Stop Motion animation. The children worked with Miss Hudson to creat their own storyboards in groups then used modelling clay to create their characters and cardboard to make backgrounds. Once they had recorded their animations, they added sound. We spent the whole day doing it today and they were so engaged. We used an app called Stop Motion which was free to download. Let me know if you create any at home, I'd love to see them. 

Mrs Furniss

Welcome back! We hope you have a lovely Easter holidays. We have lots to look forward to this half term. During the first week back, we will be celebrating Eid Ul Fitr which is a Muslim festival marking the end of the fast of Ramadan. We will be dancing, cooking samosas to eat and learning all about Eid Ul Fitr. 

We have attached the Newsletter and Topic Map for your grown ups to find out a little bit more about what we will be learning next half term.  

Welcome back! We hope you had a lovely half term. The weather has been dry and sunny so we are looking forward to hearing about what you have been doing. We have lots to look forward to this term. We have Rare Diseases Day, World Book Day and our trip with the Y1s. Its only a short term so we have plenty to fit in. We have attached the Newsletter and Topic Map for your grown ups to read to find out a little bit more about what we will be learning next half term.  

Welcome back to Year 2 Magnificent Monkeys. We can't wait to hear all about your Christmas break. We have attached the Topic Map and Newsletters for your grown ups to read to find out a little more about what we will be learning next half term.  

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thank you for a fantastic first half term in Year 2. We have been so impressed by how often the children read at home, the amount of homework regularly completed and high weekly spelling scores. This is down to the support given to the children at home so thank you very much. We are lucky to have a great bunch of parents and a fantastic group of children. Autumn 2 is always an exciting term as it brings with it our Christmas Performance, Whole School Pantomime, Christmas Stalls and Christmas Party. We will send out more information about our Christmas events closer to the time. 

This half term our main topic is ‘Light Explosions’. We will look at historical evidence and the reasons for the Gunpowder Plot. As many of you like to know what we are learning about at school so that you can help your child, we are sending home a topic web for your information. It really is beneficial to the children if you can support and reinforce their learning at home. If your child has any books or artefacts that support our topic and they would like to bring them into school then that would be wonderful.

 Maths

On a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Miss Edwards will continue teaching Addition and Subtraction. Throughout the unit, we will be working on the following objectives:

• Recall and use addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently, and derive and use related facts up to 100.
• Add and subtract numbers using concrete objects, pictorial representations, and mentally, including: a 2-digit number and 1s, a 2-digit number and 10s, two 2-digit numbers and adding three 1-digit numbers
• Compare and order numbers from 0 up to 100; use and = signs

 On a Thursday and Friday, Mrs Furniss will continue to teach Shape whilst reinforcing number fluency.

• Compare and sort common 2-D and 3-D shapes and everyday objects
• Identify and describe the properties of 3-D shapes, including the number of edges, vertices and faces • Identify 2-D shapes on the surface of 3-D shape

Supporting videos are available at: https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/  should you wish to do some additional work with your child at home.

We really recommend the White Rose 1 Minute Maths app which is available on the Apple Store, Google Play and Amazon Kindle.

Reading & Spelling

Thank you for bringing book bags in every day, we know this was a change from Year 1 and not all children are remembering to change their books even when reminded at home and in school. Children can change their books when they come into school in the morning. If they forget, they can always pop back into the classroom at the end of the day to change their books. Children should read each book at least three times. Once for decoding, a second time to improve fluency and a third for comprehension.

In order to meet the expected standard for a Y2 reader, your child would need to be fluently reading and understanding the book colours stated below by the end of each term.

To encourage your child to read at home, we have a class reading reward. The children need to read at home at least five times per week. It is important that an adult or older family member makes a note in your child’s Reading Diary after they have read. The diaries will be checked on a Friday morning and if your child has read five times, they will receive a marble to pop in our Reading Reward Jar. When the jar is full, the class will receive a reward as chosen by them.

Additional books can be read online for free using the Oxford Owl website. https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

The children will be tested on the spellings from Autumn 1 on Monday (31.10.2022). We will then hand out the next spellings and these will be tested on Friday as usual. Again, thank you for your support in learning these spellings, the children are regularly scoring full marks. The children also have individual spelling key rings in their trays on which we write words which they are regularly spelling incorrectly. The children know to use their key rings to support them when writing. They also have table mats with the Y2 common exception words written in alphabetic order. Any new or challenging words which are used in a story map are displayed around the classroom for the children to refer to.

Science

Each half term your child will be working on specific science targets that go with their current unit of work. Our science targets this half term are:

Homework

Homework will always be set on a Friday and is due in the following Wednesday. must be uploaded by the following Wednesday. Spelling homework will link to the spellings set that week and should be handed in alongside the GCP maths or reading booklet. There may be times when we set an alternative homework but we will let you know via Dojo as usual anyway.

Passport statements

This term we will be working on:

• Looking after our belongings
• Persevering when things get difficult
• Following the school rules

Further information:

Our P.E lessons will continue to be on Tuesday and Thursdays. Not that the children tend to feel the cold as we do, but please ensure they are wrapped up warm as lessons will take place outside where possible.

We continue to be supported by Mrs Lodge every morning and some afternoons. Mrs Humberstone remains with us every day except Monday afternoons. We also have parent helpers who hear children read for three afternoons each week.

We hope you have found this letter informative. If you have any questions about any of the above or any other queries please do not hesitate in coming and speaking to us.

Thank you

Miss Edwards and Mrs Furniss

Y2 Class Teachers