Year 2

Welcome to the class page of Year 2!

Mr Hammersley and Mrs Wilcox

Come and see our classroom! Everyday and every second of the day you will see us working hard and having so much fun! We are consistently busy in Year 2 as we have lots to learn and explore. We love learning about new things that help our brains to grow even bigger! We are fantastic at making sure we are confident in whatever we are doing to help us achieve our absolute best! Most importantly, we are resilient learners and whatever the task may be we continue to try our best!

In Year 2, we are beginning to see ourselves as role models for children who are younger than us, so always be on the look out for the most polite and responsible children in the entire school! We know that Year 2 is the end of Key Stage 1, so we are all preparing for life in Key Stage 2. 

A big thank you to all parents and adults who support our children - we couldn't do it without you!

Welcome back!

Welcome back to you all – I hope that you have all managed to have a restful break over the Easter holidays and had chance to make some wonderful memories – the children have already been telling us all about them in the first couple of days!

The aim of this letter is to explain some important things to help us all through the upcoming term. Please note that lots of the information will be available on our school website: https://www.st-giles.staffs.sch.uk/

This coming term our Curriculum Vehicle will be focusing on the impact of key figures throughout history, namely Mary Seacole, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Andy Goldsworthy and many others!

RE

Our Class Saint - Saint Bernadette

In RE we will dive in to the New Testament, starting with the importance of the Christmas story, specifically the Magi and the journey of Mary and Joseph. We will then look carefully at the different types of Parables and Miracles from the Bible, reflecting on the message that Jesus was trying to convey. Following this we will be looking at the Special Celebrations that are a key part in the Catholic life of the children, before starting Lent preparations towards the end of the term. We will also continue our learning around Buddhism, as the month of January is where Buddhist New Year is celebrated too!

English

In our English lessons this term we will be continuously recapping our basic skills, with a real push on our handwriting, pencil grip and presentation – which will not just be a focus in English lessons, but across all of our subjects. We will expand our descriptive language and move on to more interesting phrases and word classes, in order to make our sentence more exciting! The children will also be looking at new ways to extend sentences and will be introduced to different types of conjunctions. We will spend time looking at the writing process and how we can apply our skills into our writing. Our reading will still be led by Read, Write, Inc and children will continue to improve their fluency throughout the term.

Please remember that it is policy for children to read each night – don’t forget to write in their diary so that we can see how they are getting on.

Children also now have access to ‘Spelling Frame’ which is a fun software that allows children to practice their high frequency spellings!

 Maths

In RE we will continue our New Testament work, starting with a unit on Easter and the importance of the symbols within the church at this time. We will explore the symbols within the church itself and hopefully will have a guided tour from Father Eric! We will look closely at the Mass and the logistics of it, specifically how the words that Jesus speaks are replicated in specific parts of the service.

Science

Our Science units this term will continue our learning around living things in their habitats. We will explore different habitats, ensuring that we understand why they are suited for particular animals and vice versa! We will then move on to plants, linking in with our habitat work and see how they support life cycles.

History

Our History unit this term is all about key figures throughout history. Our focus will start with Mary Seacole and her work within the Crimean War, followed by Sarah Forbes Bonetta and how her life changed when she met a Queen! The key focus of this unit is the impact of the lives of these people and how we can see a difference in our lives today!

Geography

Geography will give a focus on our wonderful country of the United Kingdom. We will learn the individual countries within it, as well as their capital cities and famous landmarks. On top of this we will also discover the incredible mountain ranges that each country within the United Kingdom has to offer!

Art

Through our Art lessons this term we will be looking closely at the work of Andy Goldsworthy. The children will explore how he used different colours and textures, as well as his natural art work. They will work towards creating a natural piece of art using materials that they will only find in the playground!

Design and Technology

Our Design and Technology work this term will centre around mechanisms! We will look at the different materials that are used within mechanisms and why they are appropriate for specific creations. We will also look at using shapes to create a Ferris Wheel that will hopefully stand by itself!

PE

PE will continue our work around basic movement skills by moving into specific athletic skills. We will hopefully make the most of the outside weather to take our learning to the playground and try our skills out in team based settings. We will progress from this to looking at how we can develop our tactical knowledge into these game based environments. Please remember that PE kit should be in school every day – this will be left on the children’s pegs.

Computing

Our Computing lessons this term will be driven by Purple Mash, but we will also be using different software in order to broaden the horizons of the children. We will be honing our basic skills, along with our Online Safety work, before moving on to coding, which will make up the building blocks of everything we do in Computing going forwards.

A few more important things for this upcoming term:

• Please ensure that your child is reading as much as possible, as this is especially important at this stage in their learning. This should be written in the child’s diary each night as these are checked each day by myself and Mrs Wilcox.
• Please remember that, along with Class Dojo, diaries are a key form of communication between yourselves and us – if you wish to speak to me directly then please get in touch through the school office.
• Homework will be given out on a Wednesday and due in the following Monday. Homework will include a weekly English question – which will involve discussion and an explanation. Children will also take home their daily ‘Mini Maths’ which will incorporate basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division questions that the children should know before they leave Year 2.

As always, thank you all for your continued support with your children – we really could not do it without you!

Many thanks,

Mr Hammersley and Mrs Wilcox

Year 2