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In Year 2, we encourage the children to be organised and prepared for each school day. Year 2 is an important milestone because of how much your child will grow, mature and become more independent over the course of the year. We appreciate your continued support in every aspect of your child’s learning.

Important information

About our class

In 2GN, we are a team. We work together, with the support and guidance of the adults, to be the best we can be. We support and celebrate each other’s achievements and we are proud when we accomplish something new. This classroom philosophy is based on a foundation of mutual trust and respect- between the adults and the children- and we show this through constant hard work and effort.

Maths

Mathletics is a fantastic online resource for children to develop their mathematical understanding in a fun and accessible way. Every child has a log in for Mathletics- please encourage your child to use the programme even just for 15 minutes a day. All the activities are differentiated for your child’s needs- meaning they provide just the right level of challenge according to their level and depth of mathematical understanding. If that wasn’t exciting enough, using Mathletics frequently earns your child points, which go towards bronze, silver and gold certificates. The more children in our class who use Mathletics will hopefully earn us enough points to win the weekly Mathletics trophy- and we all know how much Miss Newton loves to win!

As a school we are taking part in the ‘Times Tables Rock!’ challenge. By the end of Year 4, all children should know up to 12x12; however, in Year 2, we focus on knowing the multiplication and division facts for the 2s, 5s and 10s. Please encourage your child to log on to the Times Tables Rock website- their username and password can be found on the inside of their reading record.

Reading

Reading is extremely important to children of all ages, but during Year 2, you will notice significant changes in your child’s reading fluency and comprehension as they become more independent. There are numerous things we as a school do to support children’s reading and coupled with support from home, their progress accelerates momentously :-

• Reading raffle- 1 ticket for every 5 times read at home, having had their reading records signed by an adult. We set a new target for each week, please ask your child what it is!
• 100 books to read before you leave Year 2- this list was published by an experienced teacher in a different school. Starting from their first day in Year 2, please make a note in your child’s reading record every time they read one of the books from the list. We aim to have read all 100 of these by the end of the year. These books are all freely available to borrow from local libraries and it is likely you have some of these at home too. The children can also read a selection of them in our reading garden. Please don’t back-date books, e.g. we will only count the books that they have read from when we started in Year 2.

• Guided reading- all children participate in a mixture of guided or whole-class reading every day in Year 2. These sessions are not marked in their reading records, so it may appear that your child hasn’t read at school. Children will also have the opportunity to read individually with an adult at school too. Any reading volunteers who could spare an afternoon would be greatly appreciated!
• Phonics- in Year 2 we work on consolidating Phase 5 sounds in the Autumn term, then begin to work on Phase 6 for the rest of the year. If your child did not pass the Year 1 phonics check, they will receive additional support from an adult to prepare them for the re-sit in June.

Homework

Spellings are given out every Monday and need to be learned in preparation for the spelling test the following Monday. These spellings consolidate sounds practised during the week.

Physical Education

PE kits need to be available in school on a Tuesday and Thursday. Could we have both indoor and outdoor kit please.

Kit required for P.E:

Boys - White T-shirt and black shorts and trainers or pumps for outdoor games during summer and winter months. Warm navy/black tracksuit and trainers for outdoor games during the winter months.

Girls - White T-shirt, black shorts or cycling shorts (not nylon or lycra) and trainers or pumps for outdoor games during summer and winter months. Warm navy/black tracksuit and trainers for outdoor games during the winter months.

Please note earrings must be removed for PE or covered by tape provided by the parent.

Behaviour

We follow the ‘good to be green’ behaviour management system. Every child starts the day on the green lilypad; if they make bad choices (e.g. shouting out, not listening etc.) they will move down the chart onto the yellow warning fish or red consequence fish. However, they can rectify this with good choices and move back onto the green lilypad. Exceptional behaviour is rewarded by moving up to the rainbow.

If your child arrives home on Friday without their good to be green sticker, it means that at some point in the week they received a yellow warning or red consequence fish; it may be worth a gentle discussion with your child about how they need to make things better for the following week.

We love rewarding good choices and hard work; we offer certificates for Writer, Reader, Mathematician and Star of the week and one lucky child brings home Manuel, our class pet (!), to look after for the weekend.

If you have any questions/concerns, I am always available to chat at drop off/pick up time.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Miss Newton

We're still having plenty of fun at school, despite the strange situation we find ourselves in. The children have enjoyed continuing activities related to our topic of Traditional Tales, and have even been making masks and wanted posters!

Well done everyone. I miss you - but we'll be back together soon 🙂 

We are thinking of the most vulnerable people at this very difficult time, so the children have written cards to the elderly in isolation at their care homes due to the Coronavirus, in and around Horbury. 

We've had an amazing afternoon planting our beans. We have also started completing our bean diary which will fill out every week, as we observe how our bean grows from a seed into a mature plant. 

World Book Day fun! All the children looked magnificent in their costumes on World Book Day. As part of the "magic" theme, we read 'Room on the Broom' by Julia Donaldson. The children then made finger puppets and acted out the story, and got really creative by even making their own wands and brooms!

We've had a great day making pancakes with Mr Rosamond and Miss Broome. The children were accurately measuring the ingredients using the correct scales and having plenty of fun at the same time!

We've been making 3D shapes out of marshmallows and cocktail sticks!

Super scientists in 2GN investigating where our bowls of ice will melt the quickest. 

Our new book is 'The Great Explorer'. Inspired by our main character’s adventures, the children enjoyed exploring maps of different areas of the UK. There was great excitement when we spotted Horbury on one of them! 

Another autumn walk! But this time we were on the hunt for the leaves of different trees that grow in the United Kingdom. The children examined the leaves carefully, and we even made friends with a little frog who calls our wild area home!

We had an amazing autumn walk in the sunshine this morning! The children used all five senses to explore our school grounds, and had a great time whilst doing so! 

We’ve been learning about Judaism and how the Torah is treated. We learned how precious the holy book is, so we decided to make our own filled with rules on how to make the world a better place. 

2GN have been exploring the apparatus in PE, and worked on moving along and balancing on the apparatus in different ways. 

We have been learning about materials in our science lessons, and today we investigated which material we should use to slow down a teddy on a slide. We discussed the importance of conducting a fair test, which variables we needed to change, and what must remain the same. 

We enjoy sitting in the reading garden for morning work and guided reading too. 

The children in 2GN have been examining source material today and using the information to design their own castle. They decided to place the keep in the centre of a castle, to protect the lord and lady from any enemies. 

The children in 2GN have been learning about the roles of different people who lived and worked in a castle. They decided that Lord Noah and Lady Isabella were the most important, whilst the chambermaids were left to scrub the floor, the jesters juggled away and the knights bravely defended the keep! An exciting morning was had all round. 

View all of the Y2 photos here.

The children in 2GN loved sharing their special books as part of our RE topic on sacred books.