Welcome to Year Two!

 

Staff

Beech Class

Teacher: Mrs Jamieson

Mrs Ramaloo (covering the class:Tuesday pm)

Cedar Class

Teacher: Mrs Wadsworth

Mrs Finn (covering the class:Tuesday pm)

 

Mrs Finn will be assisting in both classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday  am

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

They are : Miss Picard, Miss Thornton-Greet, Mrs McMillan and Mrs Herd

Reading

Please hear your child read at least three times a week. This can be their school reading book, a bedtime story, reading with a sibling, or even making up their own stories. A few pages is absolutely fine and there is no need to finish a whole book each night.

When you read together, please record the page your child has reached and any comments in their Reading Record. We check these weekly, usually on a Friday, to see how children are progressing and how regularly they are reading. Reading the same favourite story again and again is also very beneficial. Repetition helps children develop their vocabulary, language, memory and understanding, even if you are getting a little tired of the same story!

If you feel your child’s school reading book is too easy or too difficult, please let us know so we can review their reading level.  Children read every day as part of their Read, Write, Inc. sessions and will also read with their class teacher at least once each half term. Please make sure your child brings their Reading Record and reading book to school every day so that we can hear them read 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 spelling 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.

Writing

We are following the Literacy Tree writing programme, which is based on engaging and enchanting books for children to enjoy and respond to in written format. These books, and the writing plans attached to them, can take around  a month to complete and your child may come home and speak to you about the book we are reading. Could we please kindly ask that you do not buy these books until we have finished the text, as it can ruin the surprise element for the children.

At the end of each book, we will send home a list of ‘Recommended Reads’ associated with the book, which you may like to purchase or borrow from the library to enjoy with your child. In addition to this, we are asking for money from the PTFA to provide ‘Reading Suitcases’ for each year group so that these ‘Recommended Reads’ are also available for the children to enjoy at school.

Numeracy

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 numbers to 10 and then 20.
• 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 to find a total. Use coins to make a total
• Tell the time. to the nearest half hour, and then to quarter of an 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. 

Please ensure that ‘Show & Tell’ items are relevant to what we are learning, or are medals/certificates which we can celebrate with your child.

Please be mindful that if your child is ill and they need medication, they should not be in school. However, missing school really does impact learning, and so a minor cough or sniffle does not mean that your child needs to stay at home. If you are confident that your child is well enough to be in school, show that confidence to your child, and do not tell them that you can pick them up if they want you to. We will always call you if your children are not well or not themselves.

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

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

 

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

The Year Two Team.