Welcome to Year 2 

The Team

Mr Rowlands
Class teacher
Larch Class
Miss Woodward
​Class Teacher
Beech Class
Mrs Clarke
Class LSA 
​Year 2 

Resources

Key Dates

  • Back to school - Monday 6th January 2019
  • Books at Bedtime - Wednesday 29th January 2019
  • Year 2 Performance - Wednesday 12th February 2019 - 2:30pm and 6pm. Information regarding performance to follow WC: 13/01/19
  • Parent SRE Meeting (Sex and Relationship Education) Wednesday 5th February 2019 @ 3:30pm and again @ 5:30pm.
  • Home Learning due in - Monday 3rd February 2019.
  • Larch PE - Monday / Forest School - Tuesday
  • Beech PE - Tuesday / Forest School - Monday
  • Half Term - Monday 17th-Friday 21st February 2019

This Half Term

 Project - Mary Anning and the Dinosaurs

This half term we will be:
  • Learning about who Mary Anning was and why her discoveries were important.
  • Investigating what fossils are and how we can use them to help tell us about the past.
  • Making connections between teeth and diet.
  • Learning about where dinosaurs got their names.

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

To support your child at home you could:
  • Research the location of the Jurassic Coast and learn about its geology and history. 
  • Visit the Natural History Museum at Tring to see its collection of fossils and models. 
  • Write diary entries/letters based on your trip. 
  • Can't make it to Tring? Visit the virtual museum HERE

Writing

This half term we will be learning to:
  • Write a recount and use past tense accurately and consistently. 
  • Use questions in a formal letter.
  • Write a description of a dinosaur.
  • Using capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks with accuracy. 
  • Use homophones correctly.
  • Write a non-chronological report using sub-headings to inform the reader about Mary Anning and her finds. 
  • Write a short biography. 

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

To support your child at home you could:
  • Think about a place you have visited and write facts about where you went.
  • Look at shopping lists, how do we use commas to separate the items?
  • Use fact books/internet to create your own fact files about your favourite dinosaur.
  • Read daily at home!
  • Learn your weekly spelling rule. 

Maths

This half term we will be learning to:
  • Continue to revise  place value.
  • Begin to unpick multiplication and division in depth.
  • Order numbers from smallest to biggest.
  • Find half of whole numbers.
  • Count in groups of 2 and 10 from a given number (i.e. add 10 to 21)
  • Learn about odd and even numbers. 

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

To support your child at home you could:
  • Look at different numbers you see in everyday life (shops, petrol stations, elevators etc.) and say what they are and compare them. 
  • Measure your height and weight! 
  • Learn the 3, 5 and 10 times tables. 
  • Learn to add 1 more to a given number. 
  • Learn to add ten to a given number mentally. 

Computing

Suggested Activities to Support Learning
This half term we will be learning to:
  • Use Purple Mash to write simple repetitive codes
  • Learn and use the terms 'command', 'repeat' and 'input'.
  • Assess our own and others' work.
  • Creating our own dinosaur game.
To support your child at home you could:
  • ​Write a set of instructions to guide a friend or family member around the house or other area (e.g. park) 
  • Talk about how the internet can be fun and used for good but must be treated with respect to avoid problems and remain safe. 

Science - Animals and Humans

This half term we will be:
  • Learning about habitats and create our own to put in the nature garden.
  • Sorting animals according to their physical attributes.
  • Learning about food chains.
  • Investigating how we can protect our planet from pollution. 
  • Learning about how humans can damage and protect the planet. 

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

​To support your child at home you could:
  • Only 40 minutes from MK, the Sedgwick Museum (University of Cambridge) is a FREE museum dedicated to fossils and pre-historic creatures. The museum recently won the 'Family Friendly Museum Award'. 
  • Take a look at the online games on the BBC website. Can you complete the food chain?
  • Take a nature walk around MK. What habitats can you find? 

Art and Design

This half term we will be learning to:
  • Draw using a range of different mediums and materials.
  • Compare charcoal and pastels and using them together to create a larger pictures.
  • Use junk to create models of dinosaurs. 

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

To support your child at home you could:
  • Create sketches of plants, objects and other items from around the house. Repeat the task but use a different pencil thickness or colour. 
  • Create some artwork out and about out of natural objects (sticks, leaves etc.) and take a photo. Don't forget to put it all back when you've finished. 

Music

This half term we will be learning to:
  • Listen and repeat short verses of percussive music. 
  • Create our own rhythms
  • Record our music using pictures and simple notation
  • Perform our music to a wider audience.

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

To support your child at home you could:
  • Listen to different pieces of music and see if you can hear any instruments in the music. 
  • Use basic instruments or objects at home to create your own music. 

PE

This half term we will be learning to:
  • Dance (when cold) - React to a stimulus and create a dance inspired by the moving creatures.
  • Catching and Throwing (when weather permits)
NB: Please ensure that children have a full PE kit in school at all times. Please also ensure that the children have appropriate clothing in case of cold or inclement weather. If you are unsure or have any questions please feel free to ask a member of the year 2 team.  
 

Suggested Activities to Support Learning

To support your child at home you could:
  • Discuss the benefits of physical exercise and the effect that it has on our bodies.
  • Try dancing in time to a piece of music and explore what shapes you can make. 

 PSHE - Dreams and Goals

Suggested Activities to Support Learning
This half term we will be learning to:
  • Identify what a personal goal is.
  • Learn about the differences between dreams and goals. 
  • Learn how to make suitable targets to meet your goals. 
To support your child at home you could:
  • Talk about what they would like to be when they grow up.
  • Talk about what you wanted to be when you were younger.
  • Talk about challenges you faced when you were at school and how you overcame these. 

RE - Passover (Judaism)

Suggested activities to support learning
This half term we will be:
  • Learning about the character of Moses.
  • Learning about the plagues and the meaning behind them.
  • Learning about the symbolism about Passover to Jewish families.
  • Re-creating the sedar plate in class and trying some foods (with permission)
To support your child at home you could:
  • Talk to them about the religion of Judaism and locate Israel on a map of the world. 
  • Talk about the differences between Passover and other festivals that you may celebrate.
  • Locate some Kosher foods in the shops / supermarket and talk about what they are used for. Can you find Matzos? How about Kedem juice?