Year 2
Summer 1, 2025!
Welcome back! We hope you are ready for lots of learning and fun this half term in Year 2.
Start time – 8:40am Pick-up time- 3:15pm
If you have any questions, concerns or worries, please contact us at year2@cpa.dsat.education and we will do our best to respond as soon as we can.
Please ensure that your child brings a labelled water bottle to school each day as well as ensuring that all items of your child's uniform is clearly labelled too. A healthy fruit snack is provided for all our Year 2 children.
Please follow the link below to view information from the Year 2 Beginning of Year Meeting.
Please follow the link below to view information from the Key Stage 1 Reading Information Meeting.
We are continuing to deliver the program to all year groups at school called myHappymind. myHappymind is all based around helping children to understand how their brain works and to support them in developing positive skills and habits to be their very best selves!
Please click on the link below to access an overview of what the program entails.
myHappymind Parent information
At the end of every myHappy mind session, we finish with our Let Your Light Shine prayer which you can find below.
Curriculum
Our History theme this half term is "How did Emily Davison and Rosa Parks make a difference to how people are treated?'‘
Our theme this half-term will focus on developing our historical knowledge, skills and vocabulary. Throughout our study, we will find out about the lives of Emily Wilding Davison and Rosa Parks. We will be creating information booklets comparing and contrasting the lives of Emily Davison and Rosa Parks and recognising how the impact of their actions continues to make a difference in how people are treated today.
Writing
Our writing this half term will be based on the book The Last Wolf by Mini Grey.
Once upon a time, Little Red set off into the woods to catch a wolf . . .
But the woods aren't all they seem - and are there even any wolves left? Mini Grey re-imagines the classic Little Red Riding Hood fable in an entirely new way. Can Little Red help her new friends in need and recover the wild days of the past?
This is a powerful, moving and funny picture book and as a class, we will enjoy discussing the important message it holds.
In response to the book, we will engage in a variety of writing opportunities, including writing letters to persuade others to save the trees.
Phonics and Reading
As a school we follow the Read, Write, Inc programme to deliver our phonics teaching. During this half term, we will continue to work hard embedding our knowledge of phoneme / grapheme correspondence, as well as continuing to segment and blend. We have lots of information on our schools phonics page.
For those children who have progressed from the RWInc phonics lessons, we will continue with our whole class reading lessons which are taught in the same style as KS2. We will focus on different skills throughout the week (vocabulary, retrieval, inference and sequencing) and how to answer different styles of questions.
Click on the link below to see the list of Year 1 and Year 2 Common Exception words that our children have to read and write confidently by the end of Year 2. Please support your child in learning these.
Year 1 and Year 2 Common Exception Words
Maths
This half term we will continue to build our knowledge of fractions and fractions of amounts - 1/2, 1/4, 3/4. We will also further develop our knowledge of 2D and 3D shape, experience practical activities involving mass as well as representing 3-digit numbers using concrete, pictorial and abstract representations and partitioning 3-digit numbers in a variety of ways.
This half term we will also be focusing on knowing and remembering our Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) for Summer. Please click on the links below for Year 2 Summer KIRFs that will support your child with their reading time to the nearest five minutes. The online game, HIT THE BUTTON, will also support your child with this.
If you have any questions about these areas of Maths please don’t hesitate to come and speak to us.
R.E.
In RE, we will study Judaism, exploring the question 'How important is it for Jewish people to do what God has asked them to do? We will develop our understanding of the importance of the covenant - a promise that God made with Abraham - and why Abraham and Moses are so significant to Judaism. From our learning, we will understand the special relationship between Jews and God and the promises they make to each other.
Science - Changing Materials
Our science theme this half term is Changing materials. In this module, we will:
● find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.
We will develop our scientific skills by:
● asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways.
● performing simple tests.
● identifying and classifying.
● using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions.
● gathering and recording data to help in answering questions.
Art and Design - Textiles
In this study, we will use running stiches and overstitches to join fabric and use applique to add depth to our textile work. We will use the oil painting Surprised! Tiger in a Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau as inspiration for our ideas in creating our own tapestries.
P.E. - Athletics
In PE, our focus is Athletics. In our learning, we will explore focus on developing fundamental skills in running, jumping, and throwing. We will understand when to vary our pace and direction while running, jump for height and distance, and throw for accuracy, as well as developing our skills of teamwork and cooperation.
Our PE day is Tuesday. Please ensure that your child comes to school in the correct P.E kit and brings their school uniform to change into after their lesson. If your child wears earrings, these must be removed or provide tape to cover them. Ensure long hair is tied back away from the face.
P.S.H.E. - Engage/ Economic Education
The Engage module is focused on teaching children the following:
- What goal setting is
- Why goals are important
- How to review our goals
We will also focus on the theme of Economic Education. We will recognise where money comes from and how it can be used. We will discuss the idea of spending and saving and understand why it is important to keep belongings, including money, safe. We will also learn about the different things on offer when we go shopping and how we need to identify the difference between the things we want and the things we need.
Computing – Programming
In our computing lessons this half term, we will learn about Programming: Algorithms and debugging. In this module, we will be able to:
- decompose a game to predict the algorithms.
- give a definition for ‘decomposition’.
- write clear and precise algorithms.
- create algorithms to solve problems.
- use loops in their algorithms to make their code more efficient.
- explain what abstraction is.
Music
Our musical theme is Exploring improvisation. Throughout our learning, we will explore how music makes us happy. We will identify and clap two-beat rhythms, creating long and short sounds. We will sing with actions and improvise using one, two, three, four or five notes, on G, A, B, C and D on glockenspiels.
NUMBOTs – Every day 10 minutes
NUMBOTs is an on-line programme to boost addition and subtraction skills. It is available on a range of devices, including mobile phones. You can play online at NUMBOTs Game or download the NUMBOTs app. Playing little and often will significantly improve your child’s recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts. These are critical foundations in maths so we are excited by the impact NUMBOTs will have. In order to get the best out of NUMBOTs children should regularly play for short bursts of time over the week, there are 18 stages to complete!
If you have misplaced your log in details or are having trouble accessing the website, please email me to let us know.
READING – Every day 10 minutes
Please continue to enjoy your reading each day. Reading is fun and a great way to spend time together with your family, as well as developing our imaginations. Encourage your child to talk about what they have read and ask them a question or two about the book. This will help consolidate their comprehension work in school. Adults please remember to record what your child reads at home in their reading record. We will count all entries in the reading diaries weekly and award golden tickets to those who have read 20 times or more in a month.
Our book change day is Friday.
OXFORD OWL – One book a week
Oxford Owl is an e-book library to boost reading skills. Once your book has been read there is a short fun quiz to complete afterwards. Children will receive a golden ticket for every book they complete. Click on the link below to access Oxford Owl;
Oxford Owl for School and Home.
If you have misplaced your log in details or are having trouble accessing the website, please email me to let me know.
As always, thank you for your continued support with your child’s learning.
Miss Westwood, Mrs Margetts, Mrs Smith and Mrs Watson