Summer Newsletter, Year 2      

Welcome back for the last term of the year in Fox Class! We have a busy and exciting term ahead, including our visit to the Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green on 5^th July.

Many thanks to all of you for your kind wishes and gift for Miss Sabin on her departure on maternity leave; she is happy to announce the arrival of Henry Alexander on 13th April. Mrs Rudkin will this term teach the children for three full days from Monday to Wednesday, Mrs Hall will continue to teach the children on a Thursday morning and a Friday and the children will enjoy PE with Mr Snelling on a Thursday afternoon.

We outline below the children’s planned learning for the term.

English

The English curriculum will include non-fiction units on instruction writing and writing to persuade as well as the opportunity to study play scripts, including some drama as well as writing our own short scripts. We will also be looking at the nonsense poetry of Spike Milligan.  Writing skills will continue to focus on basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops and question marks and commas in lists) as well as looking further at the use of the apostrophe, both for possession and contraction, and at the use of speech marks.  Spelling and handwriting also form an ongoing part of our learning in English; all children should be showing increasing evidence of a regular and consistent, joined style by the end of Year 2.

Please continue to listen to your child read, discussing their understanding of the texts they are reading. As well as our group, guided reading sessions, we are introducing regular written comprehension activities to prepare the children for Key Stage 2; we encourage the children to find specific evidence and word choices from the texts they have read as well as to read between the lines to answer higher level questions.

Maths

The children will continue to build on their independence and presentation this term as well as developing their times tables knowledge (division facts as well as multiplication). They will continue to practice multiplication and division using bead-lines and grouping, concentrating on understanding the connection between the two operations. The children will also continue to focus on place value, using this to help them add and subtract two-digit numbers and will use a number line and counting on to help them find the difference between two numbers as well as ordering and rounding 2-digit numbers to the nearest 10. They will learn to recognise and know the value of all coins, using them to make amounts.  The children will continue to recognise and count in fractions as well as finding fractions of amounts. They will also continue learning to tell the time to the nearest 5-minutes as well as undertaking a range of number puzzles and maths investigations.  Their learning will be re-enforced with practical work both within the classroom and at home through homework activities.

Geography

Our topic work this first half term will have a geography focus; we will become weather watchers, looking at weather patterns at home and abroad and introducing compass directions in the context of wind direction. We will be making our own equipment to monitor the weather, recording and comparing the weather conditions that we observe (so please hold on to plastic bottles for use as rain gauges later in the term!).

History

In history, we will be learning about significant figures in history, focusing our learning on famous artists from home and abroad. We will link this with our art course work, studying the life and work of Henry Moore and comparing his style and the inspiration for his work with that of Van Gogh.  We will discover how we can learn about the past from paintings and other forms of art and how art works are informed by the experiences of the artist.  Our learning will be supported by a visit to the Henry Moore Foundation, where we will visit the artist’s studios with a talk about his life by museum curators as well as looking at his work in situ.

Science

In the first half term, we will explore the world of seeds: learn why plants disperse their seeds and the various clever ways in which they do this. The children will plant sunflower seeds, cress seeds and grow a bean using hydroponics and then using their maths skills will watch and record what happens to them. In the second half term, the children will create a class allotment, grow and nurture their own plants by watering and introducing useful mini-beasts. They will also learn how food chains work and understand that energy from the Sun is passed through each link in a food chain.

Computing

We will be using the school laptops and a variety of different programs to learn how to manipulate images. They will learn how to import, crop, rotate and alter the colour of a chosen picture that links to our art topic. E-safety will continue to be re-enforced when using the internet for research. Developing the children’s fluency in typing continues to be important and regular practise at home will be extremely beneficial.

Art and DT

In art this term we will developing our observational skills, sketching flowers and looking at use of colour to paint in the style of Van Gogh. We will work collaboratively to produce a class version of starry night and will use our own environment for inspiration to make a Henry-Moore style, clay maquette.

Our DT learning will link with our geography, using a range of materials to make weather station equipment. We will focus on methods of joining and quality of finish as well as the idea of evaluating and refining our designs.

RE and PSHE

In RE, our focus will be special places, considering how our environment affects our wellbeing and our spirituality in a range of cultures and religions. In PSHE will be learning about growing and changing, recognising our achievements and understanding physical changes as we grow.

Music

Year 2 Music will continue to be taught by Mrs Ford on a Wednesday this term. The children will experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music.

PE

PE will now take place on a Tuesday and a Thursday. We will be improving our athletics skills and learning ball striking and fielding in Three Tees cricket and rounders games.  The children will need trainers and a warm tracksuit top (navy blue please), together with their school PE shorts and top, for use outdoors throughout the summer term.

Mrs Rudkin and Mrs Hall