Year 2

Notices

• Christingle 
  Orange - Please send children in with one large orange on Monday 9th December (no sooner). This will be used to make their Christingle orange ready for our performance on Friday 13th December. 
  
  Parent Helpers - some classes still need helpers for either Wednesday 11th December or Friday 13th December to walk with children to the church. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you are able to help. Thank you.

• Gardening & Cooking:
  
  We are very proud to provide a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to attend class cooking sessions during school hours. Sessions commenced in September and an annual voluntary contribution of £12.00 to cover the cost of ingredients has been uploaded to your Laser school cashbook. Your prompt payment is really appreciated.

Calendar

Year 2 Letters

Year 2 Christingle: 

We need parent volunteers to accompany children to and from the church on Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th November. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you are able to help.
 
For further information please see the letter below.

Year 2 Newsletter

We have updated our newsletter as Year 2 Christingle dates have been changed. Please read for further information.

Home Learning

Top education researchers tell us that homework has minimal impact for primary age pupils, unless it requires children to rehearse and practise.  We have therefore adapted our routines to reflect this. The routines for children in this year group are as follows:

• Reading and/or talking about their reading to an adult for at least 20 minutes, 5 times a week. This will be evidenced through reading being recorded in reading records. Reading records and reading books should be coming into school daily. Reading records will be signed by teachers to check regular reading is occurring.
• Learning spelling patterns linked to age-related expectations ready for use in dictation towards the end of every week. These spellings will be on year group notice boards and should be practised at home. Dictation (recorded on sheets) will now be sent home weekly in reading folders so you can see achievement and progress.
• Reciting multiplication tables to increase their fluency so that they can be applied in other areas of maths and problem solving. These will be  tested in our weekly times tables challenge and will be sent home.
• Half-termly creative home learning will be set at the start of each half term and will celebrated and fed back on during our creative home learning showcases.

You will be able to see achievement and progress through the dictation and times tables challenge sheets going home weekly. You will also be able to witness progress through class exercise books for English and maths being sent home at least once during every term as well as at parent consultation meetings.

Reading

Reading response activity options:

- Write a review of the book; include what you liked and didn't like about it

- Write a description of your favourite character; what they look like and what their personality is like

- Draw a scene from the book and describe it using adjectives and verbs

- Write 5 facts from the book

- Retell the story in order 

- Design your own quiz; write questions (with answers) about the book

- List 10 words from the book that you found interesting, write the meanings of these words

Spelling

Current Week: 

Previous Week: 

Gardening and Cooking

Children are to come on their G&C day in comfortable and appropriate clothing for the kitchen and allotments. Please ensure children also wear safe and comfortable footwear which covers their feet (i.e. trainers) and any long hair is tied back. Children do not need to bring an apron as these will be provided. In addition, children must also bring a container on the day where they can store their cooking to bring home, these can be a standard small sized container.

Information about any termly £4 donations you would like to contribute which goes towards their G&C lessons can be found on the 'Welcome Back Newsletter' and payments are to be made on the Fielding Laser page. The Year 2 team would like to thank parents for any donations which are made towards the G&C lessons.

Maths - Times Tables Rockstars!

Times Tables Rockstars is a online programme we have introduced to encourage children to have fun with multiplication facts while improving fluency, recall and speed. Children can access it in their own time on any IOS, Android or Windows device.

What is it?

Times Tables Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of  times tables practice. This programme has very successfully boosted times tables recall speed for hundreds of thousands of pupils over the last 7 years in over 4500 schools - both primary and secondary - worldwide.

How does it work?

Incorrect answers are always immediately corrected in front of your child so that they start to associate the correct answer to every question. The clever code behind the scenes works out which times tables facts each child is consistently taking longer to answer and then it gradually starts to present these facts more frequently until they have mastered them. It will also ask related division questions 20% of the time in order to reinforce division facts.

Where do children begin?

Children should begin with 'Gig'. This is TT Rockstars' baseline/check mode for progress tracking and diagnostics. This then determines which is their priority tables and the 'Auto Training' mode enabled by teachers should then provide the correct levels for children to play. 

Is this instead of the times table challenge completed in class?

No, this is to supplement the times tables challenge, giving children a fun way to practise and challenge themselves.

Where does this fit with National Curriculum expectations?

From June 2020, all pupils at the end of year 4 in England will take an online multiplication tables check .The national curriculum specifies that pupils at this stage should be able to recall the multiplication tables up to and including 12x12.

The check aims to support pupils to master multiplication skills, which are essential for future success in mathematics. It will help to identify pupils who have not yet mastered this mathematical concept, so additional support can be provided.

How do I log in?

Log in here: https://ttrockstars.com/login, use your child'd details that came home at the end of the Summer Term, lost them? Speak to your child's class teacher.

Learning This Week

English 

We are learning to write instructions on 'How to make a Christingle Orange'. Children are looking at the following grammar skills: 

Maths

Money - Children will be learning about the value of coins, different ways to make the same amount, addition and subtraction and calculating change. We encourage that children at home are exposed to money, allowing them to explore and identify all the different coins and notes we have and practise how to make an amount in different possible ways. 

Below is our STAR Vocabulary we will be focusing on during the study of money.

Fielding Learning Challenge Curriculum - History: What Did We Learn From The Great Fire of London? 

Follow the Year 2 link below to our Knowledge Organisers designed for each challenge. This will provide you with the key information we aim for children to have learnt by the end of each challenge. 

Specialist subjects