Year 2
Welcome to Year 2
Autumn Term 2023
Areas of study for Year 2*
English
This term our half-termly topics are ‘The Enchanted Wood’ and ‘Street Detectives’. We will be encouraging the children to develop their language skills by having many opportunities to articulate their ideas for writing in talk. They will be encouraged to speak in sentences and use accurate and interesting vocabulary to plan their writing tasks. The children will continue to develop their narrative/story telling skills by writing their own fantasy stories based on the book ‘The Enchanted Wood’ by Jacqueline Wilson. They will also be writing autumn sensory poems and reports on woodland habitats. In the second half of the term we will be writing letters to the Highway Rat, describing old fashioned sweets based on Roald Dahl’s ‘The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me’ and writing about what our local area was like in the past.
Numeracy
This term the children will focus on recapping and consolidating their skills in representing numbers to 100, using practical apparatus such as tens frames, dienes and ones. They will continue to develop their understanding of number using part-whole models and number facts. They will be comparing and ordering numbers using the mathematical signs for greater than, less than and equal to (<, > and =). They will consolidate their skills in arithmetic (adding and subtracting numbers using pictorial methods and practical apparatus) and they will apply these skills to working with money. The children will continue to develop their reasoning skills by explaining their thinking and making choices. They will also be developing their times tables skills by learning the 2, 5, 10 and 3 times tables.
Reading
In reading this term, the children will continue to develop the skills to become fluent, confident and attentive readers. They will build their fluency and decoding skills by consolidating their phonic knowledge in daily phonic sessions and by reading (and re-reading) books matched closely to their phonic knowledge. They will also participate in choral and echo reading. The children will develop their comprehension and understanding of texts through shared story times and in guided sessions where they will be exposed to high quality texts and encouraged to be ‘reading VIPERS’ focusing on understanding new vocabulary, making inferences, predicting, explaining and retrieving information from the text.
Phonics*
The children will continue to work on their ability to recall the different sounds up to and including Phase 5, with an emphasis on identifying gaps in their knowledge and focusing on them. The children will be identifying, using and applying their sounds throughout the day in reading and writing tasks. They will be learning how to blend in order to decode words and to segment in order to spell words in their writing.
RE
In RE this term the children will be using a question based approach to articulate their own thoughts and feelings about who is special to them and why. They will be widening their understanding by thinking about who is special in our community and the people we rely on. Moving on they will begin to study how different religions regard key figures as special, and investigate who is special to Christians, Jews and Sikhs. They will also be learning the story of the Nativity and re-enacting it for our year group performance.
PE
During PE this term the children will be investigating different skills in gymnastics. They will learn a variety of balances, jumps and rolls and link these skills to make a gymnastics sequence. The skills learnt will be performed on low and high level equipment. The children will focus on having control over their bodies throughout their routines.
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 travelling with control using a ball, including bouncing skills.
PSHE/RSHE
The children will take part in creating a class charter to set up class rules and expectations for the year based on Owlsmoor’s school values (Determined, Kind, Safe, Inclusive and Respectful). They will consider what a growth mindset is and how to achieve their goals by developing good habits of mind. They will discuss how to make and maintain good friendships, and what to do when you struggle in new social situations. They will develop strategies to be a good friend and will talk about how all families are different. They will discuss personal safety and the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching. The children will also learn about a healthy diet and keeping fit.
Science
In Science this term, the children will be exploring their knowledge of animals and their habitats. They will be looking at a variety of large and small-scale habitats and identifying how these meet the needs of the animals living in them. They will then be carrying out their own investigation into the habitat of a woodlouse.
The children will also be investigating materials and their everyday uses. They will begin to think about how the materials around them are better suited to specific purposes. They will be conducting their own investigations into the properties of these materials and test how well they bend, twist and stretch.
History
This term in History we will focus on being ‘Street Detectives’ to gain a deeper understanding of our local area. Linked to our work in Geography, the children will be looking at how the local area of Sandhurst has changed through time. We will use photographs, books and other sources to find out what the area we live in was like in the past, with a particular focus on how people’s shopping habits and the way we buy goods has changed dramatically in living memory.
Geography
As with history, our focus in Geography will be as ‘Street detectives’ and we will be finding out about local landmarks, parks, lakes, towns and woodlands, using a variety of maps to identify key features of our local area as well as exploring how to create our own simple maps. The children will be looking at the different symbols on maps and using these on their own maps. They will also be comparing the human and physical features of our local area.
Music
This term the children will listen to a variety of songs surrounding minibeasts. They will explore timbre and rhythm, using classroom percussion instruments and movement to represent the crawling, scurrying creatures by creating mini-beast inspired music and dance. The children will also be learning songs for their Nativity performance that they will perform in December.
Computing
This term in computing the children will be looking at creativity, specifically photography. The children will be using iPads to capture photos and then edit them. We shall then be using laptops and Microsoft Word to develop our keyboard skills as well as learning how to open, save and edit a document.
Art, Design & Technology
This term in Art, the children will be studying the work of Andy Goldsworthy and exploring pattern and shape in nature. They will use found and natural materials to create their own ‘art installations’ in the school grounds. They will also be experimenting with collage to create their own woodland scenes. In design and technology, the children will be developing their skills in food technology by inventing their own sweets. They will taste and review ‘old fashioned’ sweets then design and make their own using good hygiene skills and their cutting/spreading/chopping and assembly skills. Finally, they will evaluate their creations!
* To teach phonics in Key Stage 1, we use daily phonics sessions linked to Rhino Readers reading materials. 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 are taught the sounds they need to decode words and read texts that are linked closely to their phonic knowledge. Alongside daily phonics sessions, 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
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