Year 2 – Spring Newsletter 20 26

Dear parents/carers,

Happy New Year!  Welcome back, I hope everyone had a good break and we are looking forward to the new term of learning. Firstly, on behalf of Mrs Elliston, Mrs Snelling, Mrs Hemsley and I, I’d like to thank you all for your incredibly generous gifts at the end of the last term, they were very much appreciated.

Please see below an outline of what will be covered this term.

English

To begin with, we will be studying the book ‘Dear Earth’. Through this, we will develop our sentence structure including punctuation, vocabulary choices and conjunctions. We will also learn about writing dialogue. Through other aspects of the curriculum (Science, Geography, History etc.) we will be developing our non-fiction writing.

Ensuring your child reads for at least 10-15 minutes a day will help their reading skills to develop along with discussions around the text read. It is important that an adult records in the reading record every time your child reads at home, whether this is a schoolbook or a home book-this can be as minimal as an initial/page number. If your child has read to themselves, get them to tell you what they have read – these discussions should also be recorded in their reading record.

Maths

To begin the term, we will be learning about multiplication and division, before moving onto fractions. We will be using a variety of equipment to help children build their practical mathematical skills to support problem solving and calculations. The children will also be developing their mathematical vocabulary to develop reasoning tasks.

History and Geography

We begin the year with a History topic learning about the British monarchy, looking at a timeline of monarchs and focusing on key historical figures such as William the Conqueror, Henry VIII and Queen Victoria. After half term we will be learning about Mugurameno village in Zambia, drawing comparisons to how we live.

Science

Throughout the Spring term we will be looking term we will be looking at ‘Plants’. In the first half of the term, we will be investigating how plants grow and the second half we will focus on how plants contribute to habitats. We will also be looking at sustainability, with a focus on plastic by thinking about how plastic can be harmful and helpful and considering  how we can reduce our plastic waste in school.

Computing

This term in computing we will begin with a unit called ‘We are Gamers’ children will use algorithms to create sequences of instructions for a virtual robot to solve a problem. Along side this we will continue to revisit how to stay safe online.

Art, Design and Technology

In Art children will be studying African art with a focus on fabric printing. The children will learn about the styles and be inspired to create their own prints. In DT we will create glove puppets which will include creating a template and using a simple running stitch.

RE

This term our focus will be human and social sciences. Our two questions we will be exploring are: How to Christians belong to their faith family? And How do Jewish people celebrate Passover (Pesach)?

PSHE

Our PSHE learning will lead us to think about living in the wider world with a focus on:

• Watch Out! Viewing Choices
• Mental Health & Wellbeing

Music

In Music we will be developing the skills of listening and appraising, musical activities and perform and review.

Physical Education

The children will have PE on a Monday and Tuesday this term. For the first half term, our Monday PE will be swimming. Please refer to the swimming email for further details. The children will cover invasion games, fitness, and yoga in their in-school PE sessions. All children must have their PE kits in school all week as PE days can be subject to change. Please check the uniform policy to ensure your child has the correct kit including joggers and jumpers as we will still be using the outside areas during the cold weather. Please ensure that children have socks in their kits particularly if they wear tights.

Homework and Spellings

Children will receive a weekly homework task (in their folder) to complete. This should be taking roughly 20 minutes. This will be relevant to class work, therefore; to support progression at school please ensure you are fully engaging with homework tasks. Homework will be set on a Thursday, usually to be returned the following Wednesday.

Children will also receive the next spelling list for the half term. Tests will continue to be on a Monday and the lists are dated.

Reading Books

Reading records are checked and books changed (as needed) daily. Please try to read with your child daily (including free readers), this will help their reading skills to develop as will discussions around the text. It is important that an adult records in the reading record every time your child reads at home, whether this is a schoolbook or a home book, please also indicate if the book is finished.

Snack   

We would like to encourage all children to bring in a snack for break time. It is a long time between breakfast and lunch; a snack makes a big difference to children’s concentration levels and ability to learn. As a healthy school we have agreed strict guidelines for the type of snack brought in, it must be fruit or vegetable in the form in which it grew (i.e. nothing added, not stretchy or made into a bar and wrapped). Children will be provided with a piece of fruit for their afternoon playtime.

Please ensure that children have a water bottle with them each day, these can be refilled in the classroom.

Finally, please ensure all items of clothing, including PE kit, are labelled. It is so much easier to ensure children take home the correct uniform when it is named.

If you have any concerns or issues you would like to discuss regarding your child, please email the office and I will be in touch. I look forward to working with you and your children over the next year.

Kind Regards,

Miss Hagger