Welcome to Year Two!

Welcome back! We hope you all had a good summer break! We hope that the information below is helpful as your child settles into their new class.

Staff

Beech Class

• Teacher: Mrs Jamieson
• Mrs Casey (covering the class:Tuesday pm)

Cedar Class

• Teacher: Mrs Wadsworth
• Mrs Finn (covering the class:Tuesday pm)

Mrs Finn is assisting in both classes Monday, Tuesday & Thursday  am

In addition we have Teaching Assistants working with individual children within both classes.

They are : Miss Davidson, Mrs Smiley, Mrs Newell, Mrs Critchley, Mrs Shepherd and Miss White

Reading

Please hear your child read as often as you can - our expectation is at least three times per week. When you have read with them, please note down the page they are up to and any relevant comments about how you feel they are getting on with their reading in their Fish Book. Their Fish Book will be checked once per week, usually on a Friday, so that we can see how they are getting on and how often they are reading.

Please let us know if you feel the book is too easy or difficult and we can then re-assess your child’s level.

Please don’t feel that you have to rush through books or read a book a night. A few pages is often enough and it’s hugely important that children have time to discuss the meaning as well as being able to read the words.

Children read daily as part of their Read, Write, Inc session, but will also be heard once every half term by their class teacher and sometimes additionally by teaching assistants. Please ensure that your child has their Reading Record or  ‘Fish Book’ and reading book in school every day so that they can be heard reading as often as possible.

Spellings

We will initially be focusing on a daily spelling practice, particularly of Year 1 and 2 common exception words, which the children need to be familiar with. We will be testing them first on the Year 1 words and we will send home a highlighted sheet to show how they did  (a word highlighted green means they knew it). In the meantime,  at home, we would like you to practise any words not highlighted. The children will practise these spellings either on their arrival in school, or during RWI sessions and they will be tested on these words approximately once per term.  We find that practising for a test often only achieves short-term results, and we are keen to focus on consistent spelling practise to gain long-term benefits.

When your child knows the words, they could practise using them in written sentences.

Numeracy

We follow the ‘White Rose’ scheme of learning which covers different topics in ‘blocks’. Most lessons are preceded by counting activities and you could help at home by encouraging your child to : 

• Count forwards and backwards in tens, twos and fives
• Count in tens starting on any number eg 3, 13, 23, 33, 43 53 etc.
• Find numbers one more and one less from any number to 100.
• Identify odd and even numbers. (Drawing them as pairs of dots can help them to visualise this.)
• Double and halve. 
• Add and subtract with numbers up to 30.
• Work on number bonds to 10, 20, 100 eg, 6 and 4, 8 and 2; 17 and 3, 15 and 5; 60 and 40, 10 and 90.
• Partition 2 digit numbers – 32 (how many tens and how many ones?)
• Work on the names of 2D and 3D shapes.
• Count coins and give change.
• Tell the time. to the nearest half hour.

Homework

Learning logs will be sent home shortly and the children will be given the chance to choose which order they complete tasks from a home learning zone grid. In addition, please continue to go through the Year 1  common exception words as often as you are able, and we will soon be sending home the Year 2 common exception words as well

General Reminders…

The children will be doing PE on Tuesday and Wednesday in Beech class and Tuesday and Thursday in Cedar class.

Please can children come in wearing their PE kits on their selected PE days. 

Communication

If you have any concerns about your child, please feel free to make an appointment to see us after school – or contact us via email. Please note that emails will be responded to within 36 hours

Mrs Jamieson:   heather.jamieson@firslower.org

Mrs Wadsworth:    hannah.wadsworth@firslower.org

For general queries, please contact the school office. office@firslower.org

The Year Two Team.