Year 2 2023 - 2024
Mrs Siddall
Mrs Blatch
Autumn Term
The Year 2 Team: Teachers- Mrs Siddall and Mrs Blatch
Teaching Assistants- Mrs Mason and Mrs Persjanow
SEN Teaching Assistant- Ms Reddy
Welcome to year 2.
Mrs Siddall and Mrs Blatch are very excited this term as our overarching topic is dragons!
In literacy, we will be using poems and a selection of dragon stories to increase vocabulary, extend noun phrases and consolidate punctuation and conjunctions. We will be writing character and setting descriptions, a dragon fact file and writing a history report on the Great Fire of London.
Science is all about materials. We will learn the properties of different materials, use simple tests to decide which materials are more suitable for different jobs as well as find out how the shapes of some solid objects can be changed.
Fire is our focus in history. We will look at and compare 3 great fires! How did they start? Why did they spread so quickly? and what have we learned from these fires? We start with the Great Fire of Nantwich, then The Great Fire of London, and finish with the Great Chicago Fire.
Chicago will also be our focus in Geography, along with identifying the British Isles and its 4 countries and surrounding seas, the 7 continents of the world, and the world's oceans.
Should you need to email either class teacher please feel free to use the class email address below.
For 2S use 2Shomelearning@chesterbluecoatce.cheshire.sch.uk for 2B use 2Bhomelearning@chesterbluecoatce.cheshire.sch.uk
Events this term Dragon workshop with TeachRex Monday 10th September
Meet the teachers - Monday 18th September 6pm
A basic outline of the school day is also attached below.
School Uniform
Whilst we want to make sure all pupils are comfortable and happy at school we do ask that all pupils come to school dressed in the correct school uniform, this includes PE Kits and forest school outfits only being worn on the days pupils are doing these lessons. This helps build our school community and provides unity among the pupils. Please see the correct uniform requirements using the link below.
http://www.chesterbluecoatce.cheshire.sch.uk/page/school-uniform/34353
PE
The children currently have 1 PE lesson per week - every Tuesday.
This will be led by the P.E. experts from KIXX.
On PE days, children should come to school in their School approved PE Kit:
>trainers/ pumps
>black or blue shorts/ leggings/ jogging pants (plain with no logos or pictures)
>a white tshirt
>a sweatshirt/ hoodie ( plain -no pictures)
Long hair should be tied back and earrings should be removed. If this is not possible earrings should be covered with a plaster.
Homework
At Chester Blue Coat we expect every child will do their best and work incredibly hard at school throughout the day, so therefore we keep homework expectations to a minimum.
However, in year 2, we expect children to complete regular reading and maths tasks at home, which are explained below.
Reading homework
The expectations in year 2 is that each child should read at home at least four times a week.
Please make a comment or just sign your child's reading record to show that your child has read.
The summer term focus on reading is comprehension. This means making sure each child fully understands everything they have read and are able to answer questions about a piece of writing. When reading with you child at home, please make quetioning a priority.
Children also benefit greatly from listening to adults and older children read stories to them, so snuggle up and enjoy books together. Being read to, develop's children's understanding of story structure as well as vocabulary.
These videos from the Open University give top tips on how to share books with your child:
Maths
Please help your child to learn basic number facts, such as number bonds to 10, 20 or even 100.
Also now begin to use the Times Tables Rockstars app to develop your child's recall of multiplication tables.
The children are expected to instantly recall the two amounts which equal 10, and recognise the inverse operation of the amount remaining when a number is subtracted from 10. The quick speed of recall is ver important. A great game which we use in school is Hit the Button.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Alternatively, dominio type games or matching cards can be made and played to increase the speed recall of basic number facts. There are some resources attached.
Spelling and Phonics
An explanation of the terminology used in school and the phonic knowledge your child is expected to have is attached below.
Also, a list of 'common exception' words for Years 1 and 2 is attached too. These are words that the children may not be able to use their phonic knowledge to spell. They are words that tend to crop up regularly when they are writing and so it is helpful if the children learn how to spell them. We have attached below some ideas for practising spellings with your child.
If you need any help printing out resources, please speak to a member of the Y2 team.
If we feel that your child would benefit from some additional practice in reading, writing, phonics, maths or any subject, then we will approach you and ask for your help to complete work at home.
If you feel your child would benefit from some additional work, please let us know and we will organise work pertinent to your child's needs.