Year Two

Newsletter - St Joseph’s and St Gerard’s Class

Spring 2024

 

Welcome back after our lovely Christmas break! We hope you all had a restful Christmas  holiday and we wish you all a very happy and healthy new year. On behalf of the Year 2 team,  we would like to thank you all for your very generous gifts and warm wishes. 

RE

Our RE topic this term is ‘The Good News’, where we will be looking at various stories from  the Bible including: Jesus in the Temple, Healing of the Paralytic Man, The Ten Lepers and  the Feeding of the Five Thousand. In RSE, we will be focussing on our feelings and how we  can express them. 

Maths  

In Maths, we will be covering lots of areas, including: money, multiplication, division and  measurement- (length, height, mass, capacity and temperature). 

In the summer term, the children will be sitting their KS1 SATs papers. We will be speaking  in more detail about this with you later in this term. We are beginning to start preparations  for these and to support and enhance this, it would be incredibly helpful if you could work  with your child by doing the following at home: 

• Consolidate learning on column addition and subtraction methods.  

• We are in the process of setting up logins for TTRS which they will use to practise  the x2, x5 and x10 times tables.  

• Rapid recall of + and – to 10 and 20, including sums such as: 13 + ? = 20, 15 - ? = 11, ?  – 6 = 4 

• Counting and recognising numbers to 100, including the reading of number names  (thirty-four = 34) 

• Recognising links between numbers, for example if 3+4=7, 30+40=70. • Working with money by looking at real coins and identifying a given amount of money,  thinking about how much change you would get from a £1 if you spent less than this.  

Utilising real life experiences for this would be wonderful, to give children an  understanding of how money is used in the real world. 

English 

This term we will be looking at various instructions in English and we will use them as  prompts for our writing.  

• Please set aside quite time every evening when your child can read to you. As your child improves, they will be confident reading on their own, but it is also very  important that they have help from an adult to ensure they are understanding what  they are reading. It is also important that you look at the meaning of the words you  think your child does not know using the dictionary. Encourage your child to find the  meaning of these words and use them in sentences. There are a variety of questions  and activities printed at the front of their reading record books. These will help  develop their critical thinking and comprehension skills.  

• When reading please encourage your child to: 

o Predict what might happen next in the book. 

o Sound out unfamiliar words or consider the pictures/context of the story in  order to make a good ‘guess’ at the word. Please then consolidate their  understanding of this work. You may wish to support your child to use a  dictionary for this. 

o Build upon your child’s sight vocabulary in both the reading and spelling of  common words (then, there, when, where, some, said, our etc.) 

• Remember to practise spellings sent home each week. Remember to learn the  meanings of the spelling also if you are unsure. 

• When talking to the children try to encourage using more adjectives and ‘up wording’  in everyday situations (instead of ‘I looked’ what else could we say? Peered, gazed,  spied, glanced etc). 

• There is still a big focus on cursive handwriting so please encourage your child to  continue to practise this at home. 

Topic 

Our geography topic this half term is Let’s Go to the Artic. We will be focussing on the  human and physical geography of Artic Region and comparing it to England. Thank you for all  the fabulous projects that have been sent in. We look forward to celebrating Chinese New  Year as a year group and really immersing ourselves into different cultural aspects.  

Science 

Our science topic this half term is Materials. The children will be looking at the properties  of different materials and their different uses. They will compare and group together a  variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties. They will be  performing simple tests as well as using simple equipment.

PE 

This will be on Thursday afternoon for St Gerard Class and Friday morning for St Joseph  Class. It is taught by our PE specialist Mr Maher. This term the sessions will be indoors,  focusing on developing gymnastics skills. Please ensure that your child has a full PE kit in  school at all times. This must include a plain navy/black tracksuit, school PE shorts, school top and trainers all in the school PE bag. Remember the weather is cold so ensure your child  has the winter PE kit. 

Homework 

Homework is set on Friday and it is to be completed for the following Tuesday. Spelling test  will be carried out on Friday based on the homework. Please remember to always sign the  homework. 

We are always happy to discuss any concerns regarding the children throughout the year. Please come and see us at the beginning/end of the day if you have any concerns or make an  appointment through the office. Thank you all for your continued support and we look  forward to seeing you again at the next parent’s evening if not before! 

Keywords that will be used in the different subjects. 

Humanities	Science	RE
Glaciers	Metal	Holy Family
Ice bergs	Plastic	Miracles
Sisimiut	Paper	Disciples
North Pole	Wood	Simon Peter
Greenland	Brick	Andrew
Season	Rock	Leprosy
Arctic Fox	Glass	Feast of Passover
Polar Bear	Bend	Believe
	Squash	Faith

 

Mrs Adeyemi/Mrs Coghen and Miss Russell 

Class Teachers

 

 

HOMEWORK NEWSLETTER – YEAR 2 ST JOSEPH AND ST GERARD

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! We hope you all had an enjoyable and restful Easter break. We cannot quite believe that we are already in the Summer Term! We are really looking forward to a fun packed term with the children! This will be an important term as the children will be completing their SATS papers. Money was a topic that many of the children found challenging so please revisit this as much as possible at home. We will continue to send home extra homework to support with SATs revision.

Over this half term, Year 2 will be learning:

Maths

• Fractions
• Time

Please also ensure you are regularly revising the 2, 5 and 10 times table with your child. It is imperative they are confident with these by the end of Year 2. Please use Times Tables Rockstars to support with this

English

This term, we will be reading Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram.

• Please set aside quiet time every evening when your child can read to you. Please record this in your child’s reading diary so we know when to change their book. The expectation is at least 3 written comments from an adult at home per week.
•  Please use a range of questions to help develop your child’s understanding of the story. When reading please encourage your child to:
  • Predict what might happen next in the book.
  • Sound out unfamiliar words or consider the pictures/context of the story in order to make a good ‘guess’ at the word
  • Build upon your child’s sight vocabulary in both the reading and spelling of common words (then, there, when, where, some, said, our etc.)
  • Encourage your child to read in everyday situations e.g. from a shopping list and find the item in the shop.
• Remember to practise spellings sent home each week. Remember to learn the spellings out of order and put the word into a sentence.
• Children will need to know root words and how to add prefix and suffix and what they mean.
• When talking to the children try to encourage using more adjectives and ‘up wording’ in everyday situations (instead of ‘I looked’ what else could we say? Peered, gazed, spied, glanced etc).
• Remember to make use of DoodleSpell to consolidate learning

RE: Eastertide

The children will be learning about the story of the Resurrection and the Ascension. We will also be learning about Pentecost and how the Apostles received the Holy Spirit.

Topic - Geography – Map Makers

DT – Structures (free standing)

Science: Living things and their habitats

Computing: We will continue with our previous topics of Algorithms

Homework will be given out on Fridays and be due back in on Monday. The weekly Spelling Test will remain on Fridays.

PE will be on Thursday. Please ensure your child has the appropriate kit in school for this day. Please ensure all PE kit and uniform is clearly labelled to help us find it promptly should any of it go missing. Please tie long hair back with a plain red, white or black hair band. Children are not allowed to wear any jewellery including earrings, hair beads or shave patterns in their hair.

We are really looking forward to learning with the children over the next term. If you ever have any queries or concerns, we are here to listen and help. Please speak to us at the end of the day or book an appointment through the office.

Yours sincerely,

ENIOLA ADEYEMI                                              BETHANY GROGAN

St Joseph Class Teacher                                    St Gerard Class Teacher