Year 2

Teacher Mrs H Lyon & Mrs S Redding

Teacher Miss L Stringer

Teaching Assistant Mrs R Wiggins (HLTA)

Current Topic - Down At The Bottom of The Garden - Summer Term 6

This term our learning will be based on the book 'Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt' by Kate Messner. We will be using the information to write non-chronological reports about animals, before creating our own imaginary animals to base our reports on. We will also be planting seeds and writing instructions for others to follow, before reading, writing and performing our own riddles and limericks. Our Art this term is based on the work of Hessa Al Ajhami and will see us using fruit and nature to create patterns and prints in clay pots. During our geography lessons, we will be learning about The 7 Continents and 5 Oceans of the world, including the countries within each continent. We will then move on to learning about the UK and the different counties and countries it includes.

Our computing lessons will continue to ensure we understand how to stay safe online, while in Life Education we will be discussing our feelings and how to respond to others feelings, before discussing the names of body parts and the differences between male and female bodies.

Reminders and Routines:

Homework activities will be sent home every Friday, to be collected the following Friday.
We encourage daily reading. Please try to listen to your child read at least three times a week.
Once your child has shared their book at home, they can exchange it for a new one in class.
Please bring in a named water bottle and a named healthy snack.
Please remember to label all of your child's school uniform/belongings.

PE Days

Children should come to school dressed in their PE kit on Monday & Thursday. Children should come to school wearing their PE kits.

Reading In Year 2

Reading underpins all learning in Year 2 and is a running thread through all our lessons, from reading word problems in maths to instructions in DT.

Below is an overview of ways in which reading is taught more explicitly throughout our curriculum.

Whole Class Reading

Whole class reading is taught for 30 minutes each day and covers a range of reading skills necessary to ensure the children become confident readers.

In KS1 we focus our learning on:

Retrieval- the skill of finding the answer to a question within a text.

Summarising- the skill of succinctly retelling the main, important points of a text.

Predicting- making sensible and clear predictions about a character of a story based on what we already know about the book.

Clarifying- defining and understanding new, unfamiliar vocabulary.

Inferring- using details from a text to infer meaning, thoughts and feelings.

We read a range of vocabulary rich text types all linked to our current term’s learning. These texts will always be listed on our termly newsletter which you can find on our school website.

Individual Reading

In Year 2 we aim to hear each child read at least once a week, with some children being heard daily. This will be recorded in their yellow reading diary. Please ensure your child brings their reading book and their yellow diary to school everyday, regardless of whether they have read or not. If they do not have their book in school however, we will select another appropriately matched book for them to read to us in the meantime. Their books have been chosen according to the children’s fluency, comprehension and word recognition skills. We ask that you support us with your child’s reading by listening to them read at least 3 times per week at home, and recording it in their yellow diaries.

Library

All children visit the library once a week and are able to select a library book of their choice to bring home and share with their family. It is also a lovely opportunity for the children to find a cosy spot to share and enjoy a book with their friends.

Story Time

Story time is an integral part of developing a child's enjoyment and love of reading. At Glory Farm Primary School, we have daily story time where we can introduce children to vocabulary rich texts as well as re-reading some of our favourites too.

Reading Vending Machine

Each week children have the opportunity to gain a raffle ticket for reading 5 times at home. Twice per term, we draw a raffle ticket and the lucky winner gets to visit the reading vending machine and choose a book to keep. The more the children read at home, the more chances they have of having their ticket drawn. Please ensure you write in your child’s reading diary when they read at home - it doesn’t have to be their school reading book.