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Year 2

Welcome to Year 2

Spring Term 2024

Areas of study for Year 2*

     

 Literacy  


Our topic for the first half term of Spring will be ‘If I was a dragon..’ and in literacy, the children will continue to develop their narrative writing skills using the book ‘Tell me a dragon’ to write their own dragon poems and stories. In geography we will be studying Japan so we will be using non-fiction books about Japan to create leaflets about Tokyo and London.  In the second half of the term we will move on to our history unit ‘From Marbles to Minecraft’ and we will write about the games children played in the past. We will also be using our work in science to write information about living things. Our poetry will be linked to our work on animals and the children will learn to write interesting and humorous animal riddles. In all of their writing units the children will focus on the skills we use ‘Every Time We Write’ (good handwriting, spelling, punctuation and proof-reading to check our work for errors). This term we will also introduce the ART of editing which involves thinking about what we can Add, Replace and Take away from our writing to make it better.  

Numeracy

This term the children will be developing their understanding of multiplication and division by learning how to make equal groups and represent them in arrays. They will be consolidating their counting skills and solving problems using the 2,5 and 10 times tables. They will also be learning how to measure and compare length and height, mass and capacity using the correct units of measure (centimetres, metres, grams, kilograms, litres and millilitres).  The children will be reading the time on analogue clocks; reading o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to the hour.   Problem solving and reasoning will be an essential aspect of all of these areas of study. 

Reading


In reading this term, the children will be building their fluency and decoding skills, consolidating blending and using strategies such as choral and echo reading.  They will be reading phonically linked texts until they are secure in their phonics and then reading a range of guided texts, book band books, books for pleasure and enjoyment.  Our class reader will be Andy Shepherd’s ‘The boy who grew dragons’. The children will develop their comprehension and understanding of texts by being encouraged to be ‘reading VIPERS’ and to focus on vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and sequencing skills.  The children will develop their love of reading by having engaging stories and poems read to them. 

Phonics*


In phonics this term the children will be reviewing and revising alternative ways of spelling the sounds they know. They will continue to embed their understanding of alternative pronunciations and spellings.  In Spring 2 the children who are ready will move on to studying suffixes and prefixes. 
 

RE


This term the children will be developing their knowledge of the main world religions. Through a question based approach, the children will be looking at how signs, symbols and stories play an important role in religion. The main religions we will be focusing on are Christianity and Judaism, but as part of our work on Japan this term we will find out more about Buddhism.  

PE


During PE this term the children will be investigating different dance skills. They will explore different ideas, moods and feelings and experiment with different actions, directions and levels to make short dragon dance routines which they will perform to the class.  

They will also be working on fundamental movement skills, using their bodies to perform a range of tasks and actions in order to solve physical challenges involving agility, balance and coordination. There will be a focus on net and wall games so the children will get the opportunity to familiarise themselves with bats and rackets, and use them to move, manipulate and send a ball. 

Science


In Biology this term the children will be using their investigative and observation skills to find out about the seven life processes (movement, respiration, sensitivity, nutrition, excretion, reproduction and growth). We will be studying the life-cycles of many different animals. As the weather warms up we will be visiting the pond to gain first-hand experience of living things and life processes.   

History


Our history topic this term is ‘From Marbles to Minecraft’. We will be finding out about the games children played in the past. As part of this work the children will have first hand experience of these games including marbles, skipping skills, etc.  We will also be learning about how changes in the wider world (access to computers, ipads and digital devices for example) have affected how children play today compared with how they played 50 years ago. 

Geography


This term our focus will be on comparing the United Kingdom with Japan. The children will be identifying the different countries which make up the United Kingdom and their capital cities. We will then move on to studying the islands that make up the country of Japan and its capital city. The children will be using maps to locate the countries and discussing their art and culture, as well as their physical features (mountains and rivers).  We will be comparing the city of London with Tokyo. 

Music


In Music this term we will be developing our skills in composition, improvisation and playing instruments. The children will invent patterns with their voices, body percussion and then use instruments along with being introduced to vocabulary such as ‘crotchet’ and ‘quaver’. The children will be learning about ‘bird song’ and how we can create our own compositions of a bird taking flight. They will also learn about 4-beat patterns with the song ‘Grandma rap’ and become familiar with stick notation.

Computing


This term in computing the children will be investigating how we use technology for communication.  Children become aware of the use of the internet to gather information or images and how this information is communicated through webpages.  They will also be learning about e-cards to send well wishes and greetings.  Later in the term they will begin to use coding skills to develop their own ‘mini programs’ using Scratch. 


Art, Design & Technology


In art, the children will be building on their drawing skills by learning how to draw Japanese style cartoons of Pokemon characters. We will be studying the work of Yayoi Kusama to develop ‘dotty landscapes’. We will also be creating dragon eggs and experimenting with origami. 

In design and technology, the children will be learning about the uses of sewing and how to sew using a basic running stitch. They will then move on to using cross-stitch. When they have mastered these skills they will use them to design, make and evaluate a sock puppet.

 

* * To teach phonics in Key Stage 1, we use the Twinkl Phonics scheme and Rhino readers. These are organised systematically and carefully matched to the child’s phonic stage, to ensure that all of our children develop the skills they need to become fluent and confident readers.


**To teach reading in Key Stage 1, the children learn the sounds they need to decode words and read texts that are linked closely to their phonic knowledge. Alongside daily phonics sessions, the children participate in guided reading sessions to focus on their comprehension skills. They are encouraged to become reading VIPERS and focus on the key objectives of Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Sequencing. We read the children a wide selection of engaging and entertaining real books to inspire in them a love of reading and develop their language and understanding.


*If you require additional information relating to our school curriculum, please ask at the school office or the class teacher.

Top Tips

  • Share books with your children- you read to them, they read to you.
  • Discuss books and stories — characters, events, endings etc.
  • Make suggestions for a different ending, new character etc
  • Join the local library & encourage your child to choose their books— this helps to develop preferences etc.
  • Don’t forget rhymes and poems – particularly good for improving fluency.
  • Encourage your child to write shopping lists, notes, postcards, diaries.
  • Encourage correct letter formation — this will help with cursive writing later.
  • Play I spy using phonic/sounds - don’t forget endings.
  • Practise reading and spelling keywords.
  • Watch, listen and discuss news (ideally CBBC Newsround).  http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews
  • Rewards them with educational games, programmes and web-games.
  • Devise a home timetable for your child to complete homework and read.

Educational websites

The following sites provide information relating to trips and studies...

http://www.readingmuseum.org.uk

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English

http://www.kew.org/

Educational web-games

The following sites host links to relevant KS1 (Infant) web-games. You may wish to challenge your child to try some KS2 (Junior) web-games as the academic year progresses.

http://games.e4education.co.uk/groupone/index.php

http://www.uptoten.com/kids/uptoten-features-search-searchpage.html

http://www.primarygames.co.uk/index2.html