Hello and welcome to Year 2!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter break and the children are now all ready for more learning challenges in Year 2.

Staffing

I am in Year 2 every day except for Tuesday afternoons which will be covered by Mrs Cook, who is new to our school.  Mrs Crocker is the teaching assistant in Year 2 every morning and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and Mrs Ward is also in Year 2 in the afternoons.

Year 2 Curriculum.

We will be using Power Maths for most of our Maths learning this term.  We will be learning to read, write, calculate and shade fractions, tell the time, describe position and direction and use different types of measurements such as measuring mass, volume or temperature.

In English we will be focusing on comprehension skills and developing how to answer questions about texts.  For writing, we will be using a system to improve the children’s sentence making.  We will encourage the children to use a range of vocabulary, we will model sentences and then the children will build their own sentences using the daily focus and new vocabulary. We will be developing skills in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar. We will also focus on editing and improving our writing.

Our new topic for the first half term will be ‘Night Time Animals’ and after the half term holiday we will be thinking about ‘The World Around Us.'  Our Science topic will focus on animals and plants which ties in well with our overall topic.  We will be growing plants and looking at  lifecycles of different animals.

 See the Curriculum News document for more information.

Other Useful Information

PE

Outdoor Games will be on a Tuesday with Mrs Cook so please ensure your child wears their PE kit to school on Tuesdays.

On Thursdays we will have Swimming so the children will need their swimming kit. Please do ensure that all their kit and their uniform is named.

Reading Books

The same days continue as for the last term. Please return reading books and reading records to school each Wednesday to be changed.  Reading books and records will come home on a Friday. The children will have a mix of books that are either new to them or will have already been read at school.  Please do record every time your child reads with you.  A sticker will be placed in the book if a child has read aloud 4 or more times that week and a certificate will be given after 10 stickers are earned in Year 2. Please do take the opportunity to talk about the story with your child. Comprehension of the text is as important as reading the words so please ask them questions about the plot, characters and why things happened.

Library

Our class library slot is on a Friday, once a fortnight so please return any books on the Wednesday of that week so that your child may choose more books to enjoy each week. 

Words for Writing and Home Learning

A list of words will come home on a Friday for the spellings to be learnt for a test on the following Thursday.  Most lists will be based on a phonic pattern with the aim being for the children to learn the phonic patterns as well as the words.  A second piece of home learning will also come home on a Friday to be returned the following Wednesday.  This will usually be Maths or English but could be any subject.

Snacks and water bottles

Please provide a snack for your child to eat in the morning and bear in mind that we would like this to be a healthy option of fruit or vegetables.  The children will still be given a healthy snack each afternoon so there is no need to provide an afternoon snack.  Please also send in a water bottle for use in the classroom which is separate to the bottle in their lunch box. Please do not send in any nut products in lunch boxes or as a snack.

Please do ensure that everything is named.  We will do our best to try to reunite any lost property with its rightful owner!

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to make an appointment through the office and I can call you.

I am looking forward to having a wonderful Summer term.

Mrs Franklin

'Working together to be the best we can.'

Welcome to the Spring term in Year 2!

First of all let me say thank you very much on behalf of the Year 2 staff for the Christmas cards, gifts and vouchers that we received at the end of the Autumn term.  We really appreciate them!

I do hope that you have all been able to have a relaxing Christmas and hope that you have stayed well throughout this time.

Mrs Franklin continues to be the full time class teacher and is supported by Mrs Crocker who will work with the children in the mornings and 2 afternoons and Mrs Ward who will also be working with us in the afternoons.  On a Tuesday afternoon the class will be taken by Mr Smith for the afternoon.

Our topic for the first half term is Space and we will be looking at this from a historical perspective.  The second half term also has a history basis and is about Castles.  These have both proven to be very engaging topics for the children in the past.

We will continue learning and teaching using the ‘carousel’ approach familiar with the children, meaning that the children will normally complete activities which are either English or Maths based in the mornings.  We will continue to use the Power Maths scheme familiar with the children. The children will spend some of the time working with an adult each day and some time working independently. Topic, Science and most other subjects are usually in the afternoons but we try to use links between subjects whenever appropriate. 

Our PE slots for this term will be on a Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesdays will be outdoor PE and Thursdays will be indoors. Please do come dressed warmly for outside PE.

The Spring Curriculum News, available below soon, outlines the topics we will be focusing on in each area of the curriculum during the Spring Term.

Learning at home

We hope you will continue to support your children at home with Home Learning activities, especially reading, spellings and learning multiplication tables. (We start learning about multiplication this term).  Outside of the above, we will set a piece of Home Learning a week and we would expect the children to spend about 30 minutes on it.

Reading

• Reading books and reading records will come home on a Friday and must be returned to school on the following Wednesday. We encourage the children to read at least four times a week, if they do, they will get a sticker put in their reading record. Once they have ten stickers, we congratulate them with a reading certificate. The children will often have already read the books they come home with at school that week, but it is important to reread books to develop fluency and understanding. Parents are asked to continue to read and discuss texts with children.
• Library books will come home fortnightly on a Friday and need to be returned on the Wednesday, a fortnight later.  We will visit the Library on a Friday when it is our turn on the rota so children will always have the opportunity to change their books and we also have a range of books in the classroom. We can’t stress enough the importance of reading and the understanding of reading as it is vital to access so much of the curriculum.

Home learning

Your child will have one piece of home learning a week. It will be sent home on a Friday to be returned on the following Wednesday. This may be phonics, English, Maths, Science or a topic-based task.

Words for Writing

‘Words for Writing’ will be sent home on a Friday on a look, cover, write and check sheet for the children to complete. Please take a few minutes each day to complete a column rather than completing the whole sheet in one sitting. Little and often is considered a more effective approach for learning new words. The words will either be common exception words or based on a phonic pattern. The children will have a spelling check each Thursday. The words for writing sheet will then be returned home with a tick (correct) or dot (incorrect) next to each word so you are able to help them again at home.

Some Practical Points

• We remind you that children are expected to set a good example and look smart at all times. Hair should be tied back with plain hair ties and clips of a colour which blends in with school uniform. Ear studs are permitted as the only type of jewellery but nothing else
• Please send in a named water bottle for classroom use. This is additional to the lunchtime drink.  
• Please ensure that lunchboxes are named and that your child is able to open any of the contents of their lunch. 
• The children need a fruit or vegetable snack from home for the morning and we will give them a piece of fruit or vegetable for the afternoon snack.

Year 2’s Weekly Timetable

Finally, please communicate with us as it is important that your child is happy in school and making good progress. If you have any queries or questions please contact me via the office by phone or email office@cedarpark.bucks.sch.uk and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Mrs Franklin

“Working together to be the best we can.”