Year 2

	
		
	
	
			
			
			
		
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WELCOME BACK

I am looking forward to a lovely year with Year 2 and would like to tell you about the weekly routine. Please continue to use the home-school books or the class dojo for ANY notes, messages and questions. Please place any money sent into school in an envelope in their folder and make a note in the book of the amount and purpose. Please encourage independence by allowing your child to bring their folder and coat into the foyer each morning the staff will be there to greet and direct your child to their classroom.

Class teacher- Mrs Pearce.
Teacher Assistant- Mrs Martin
Could children be sent to school in their P.E kit on Fridays, plain shorts and t- shirt (joggers in Winter).
Reading activities are completed every day and include individual and guided reading sessions together with writing and spelling activities. Please ensure the home school books and reading books are kept in the folder and brought into school everyday. The essential part of your child’s progress is reading – if you can read with your child every day this will really help. I would be grateful if you could write in the home school book when you read together at home.
Homework will be given out every Friday and needs to be returned on a Wednesday.
We show and tell items relating to interests,themes and hobbies on Friday.
We aim to start the day with a brisk ‘mile a day’ walk around the school grounds.
Water and milk are available during the day and everyone is encouraged to drink often. Please purchase a school water bottle(£2.50) or provide your own bottle.
Fruit can also be brought into school or bought for 30p.
Please ensure all clothing is clearly labelled.
Could you ensure that I am aware of any changes in address, telephone numbers or medical information as soon as possible.
Any further information you require please ask.

Many thanks

Mrs Pearce and Mrs Martin

Memory Box

Are you ready to travel back in time?

This half term, we’re taking a trip to the past to discover what life was like at the time when we were born. Younger children will come along to our Teddy Bear’s picnic, so we can observe how toddlers play and move. We’ll also find out how babies change and grow over time. Thinking about our childhoods, we’ll use photos and objects from the past to help us remember special times including weddings and christenings. We’ll talk about our families and share happy memories of people or pets who are no longer alive. Learning about the days, weeks and months of the year will help us to work out how long we will have to wait for our birthdays to arrive! We’ll decide how objects from the past were used and have fun learning games, songs and dances from bygone days.

We’ll share class memory books, collages and a rap with you at the end of our project and make memories that will last a lifetime.

ILP focus	Knowledge and understanding of the world
Language, literacy and communication	Recounts, diary writing, rhymes and mnemonics, descriptions, information books
Mathematical development	Number and shape patterns, using calendars
Personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity	Caring for babies and toddlers, sharing memories, playing and working co-operatively, feeling positive
Knowledge and understanding of the world	Changes within living memory, fieldwork in the local area, animals including humans (parts and senses), working scientifically
Physical development	Traditional games
Creative development	Drawing, painting, collage, portraits, making picnic foods, celebration cards, making a memory box, songs that help us remember, dance sequences

Help your child prepare for their project

Looking back on the past can be funny, poignant and interesting! Why not get together as a family and share photos from the past, commenting on wacky clothes and happy holidays? Alternatively, visiting a local museum would allow you to see what life was like in the past. You could also play some traditional games from your childhood. Hopscotch, skipping and conkers are all lots of fun!

Moon Zoom!

The countdown has begun. Are you ready for blast off? This half term, we’ll travel through space to learn about the Solar System. We’ll investigate an alien crash site, write an incident report and try to find the aliens who have landed. Where could they be? We’ll make models of the Solar System and design spaceships, space buggies and space-related toys. Books and photographs will help us to learn about the first lunar landing and the astronauts who venture into space. Floor robots will be programmed to move around an alien landscape, and we will compose space sounds and dances. We’ll also explore satellite images, investigate rockets and use ICT to communicate our ideas and present our work. At the end of our project, we’ll share our learning in a variety of different ways. We’ll read our exciting science-fiction stories aloud, sing space-themed songs and create an exhibition of our space models. It will be out of this world!

Help your child prepare for their project

There’s so much to learn about space! Why not stay up late and look at the stars? A stargazing app could help you identify well-known constellations. You could also visit the local library and find some exciting space stories and information books to share. Alternatively, create extraordinary aliens using modelling clay or a drawing app.

Carnival

This project has an art focus and teaches children about carnival art from cultures around the world. At the heart of this project children write and re-tell a range of stories from a range of different cultures.

In the Innovate Stage children apply their skills and understanding by holding their own seasonal carnival.

In this project the children will learn:

About a range of carnivals and celebrations around the world;

How to use art and design skills to design, make and construct masks and headdresses;

How colour, decoration and pattern is used in different cultures;

About different cultures around the world;

How to re-tell and write a range of stories from different cultures;

How to make patterns using 2 and 3D shapes;

How to work together and perform collectively.

Cardiff Tales

Cardiff is a stunning capital city steeped in history. Are you ready to explore? During this half term, we’ll visit Cardiff and take in the sights and sounds or hear firsthand about the jostling city from a travel agent. We’ll research Cardiff’s magnificent landmarks, using coordinates to identify them on a map and exploring how they have changed over time. Once we’re more familiar with Cardiff’s remarkable buildings, we’ll sketch and label them and use a computer to superimpose ourselves into images. We’ll make a version of Cardiff’s Animal Wall using modelling clay and cut out pictures, and sell our wares at our own Riverside Farmer’s Market. To further our research, we’ll Skype a school in Cardiff and find out all about Billy the Seal, using percussion instruments to play along to ‘his’ folk song. The entertaining childhood story of Cardiff’s local hero, Roald Dahl, will be read to us and we’ll create our own humorous tales. At the end of the project, we’ll share our learning with you. We’ll decide if Cardiff is similar or different to where we live and create TV adverts to promote Cardiff.

Help your child prepare for their project

Cardiff is a city brimming with possibilities. Why not plan a visit together, making a list of all the things you would do? You could also get crafty and make a scrapbook, filling it with pictures and useful information about the capital. Alternatively, choose a story by Roald Dahl to read together and write a short review.

Land Ahoy

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Get ready to take to the high seas and set sail in search of treasure!

This half term, we’ll visit a boat yard, river or harbour to find out about boats and ships of all shapes and sizes. We’ll write about our visit, read information books, investigate amazing sea rescues and write postcards and poetry influenced by the sea. Our science skills will help us to understand how boats float and we’ll design and make model ships using a variety
of materials. We’ll study paintings of boats and draw detailed pictures of our own. Our map reading skills will help us to identify different seas and oceans, and we’ll learn about famous sea explorers. Stories of pirates will inspire us to make pirate flags, treasure maps and fact files. We’ll even find out how to talk and sing like a pirate!

At the end of the project, we’ll share our learning with you. We’ll hold a special assembly, set up a maritime museum in our classroom and perform stirring sea shanties. Shiver me timbers; it’s going to be good!

ILP focus	Knowledge and understanding of the world
Language, literacy and communication	Narrative, information books, descriptions, poetry, postcards
Mathematical development	Mass, position, direction and movement
Personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity	Becoming independent learners
Knowledge and understanding of the world	Using and making maps, location knowledge, using and giving directions, significant historical people – Captain James Cook, Grace Darling, famous pirates, everyday materials, working scientifically
Creative development	Observational drawing, printing, mechanisms, structures, sea shanties

Help your child prepare for their project

The sea is fascinating! Why not take a trip to the coast? Visit the harbour, lifeboat station and beach and take plenty of interesting photographs. You could also make boats from plastic cartons, cardboard boxes and polystyrene trays. Add sails and cargo then see which boats sail around the bath successfully! Alternatively, sing along to some lively sea shanties performed by The Fisherman’s Friends from Port Isaac in Cornwall. Visit their website to access free sample tracks.

Beachcombers

Pack up some sandwiches, pick up a fishing net and keep your eyes peeled because we’re off to the coast to go beachcombing!

This half term, we’ll visit a local beach to experience the sights, sounds and smells of the seashore and explore rock pools to find living and non-living things. Bringing shells, pebbles and seaweed back to the classroom will help us to learn about a wide range of coastal plants and creatures. We’ll read a range of seaside stories and use the coast as a setting for our writing. Maps and film footage will help us to find out more about the coast and we’ll create a wide variety of artwork. We’ll use books and the internet to search for information about the seashore and use our knowledge to write our own non-fiction books.

At the end of the project, we’ll decide how we should look after the coastal environment and how the beach can be kept clean. We’ll use our ICT skills to create a final presentation including photographs, captions and sound files.

ILP focus	Knowledge and understanding of the world
Language, literacy and communication	Labels, lists and captions, tongue twisters, narrative, letters, non-fiction books
Mathematical development	Measures (mass)
Personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity	Caring for the environment
Knowledge and understanding of the world	Habitats, living and non-living things, food chains, basic needs of animals, working scientifically, coastal features
Creative development	Sketchbooks, 3-D modelling, sand art, seascapes, finger puppets

Help your child prepare for their project

Beaches are fascinating places. Why not visit a beach and go on a rock pooling expedition of your own? Alternatively, you could visit a local pet shop to see a wide variety of fish, crustaceans and aquatic plants. You could also create drawings, paintings or models of sea creatures using online images for inspiration.