Year 2

This term we will be working on the following topics:

English       

Our focus texts will be A Voice in the Storm, Paddington Bear stories and Lila and the Secret of Rain. Through these texts we will write for different purposes, including fictional personal experiences and fictional narratives. We will develop our ideas for character descriptions, settings and story retelling.

When reading, we will develop our comprehension of a range of texts.

In grammar lessons, our focus will be adjectives, verbs, adverbs and sentence structure, including the use of conjunctions to join simple sentences. 

 

Maths          

We will be using the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics) to support our mathematical learning. We will focus on numbers 10 to 100, including place value, comparing numbers, number bonds and number patterns. We will explore calculations within 20, and develop our fluency when adding and subtracting within 10. We will explore methods for addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers and begin an introduction to multiplication.

 

Science        

We will be studying two science topics this term. In Everyday Materials we will explore the different properties of a variety of materials and carry out an investigation to decide the suitability of these materials for a given purpose. In our topic Plants, we will learn about the conditions required for planting and growing bulbs and naming different parts of a plant.

 

Geography

We will be learning about life in Kenya and comparing this to life in Eltham.  

 

History       

We will be learning about The Great Fire of London and finding out what life was like before the fire. We will explore the similarities and differences between housing then and now. We will look at the long-term impact of the fire and how it changed the face of London.

 

Art & Design                

We will be exploring the formal elements of art: pattern, texture and tone. We will create printed patterns using everyday objects; take rubbings using different media, and learn how to make three-dimensional drawings.

 

Music              

In Music this term, we will be learning about pitch and notation using tuned percussion. We will focus on reading music and learning songs for the Harvest Festival in the first half-term. In the second half-term, we will focus on performance skills, working on our Christmas production.

 

Computing

We will look at information technology at school and beyond, in settings such as shops, hospitals, and libraries. We will investigate how information technology improves our world, and learn about using information technology responsibly.

 

Design Technology (DT)                  

We will design our own animals using functional linkages and pivots, selecting materials to create our planned animal features.

 

Physical Education (PE)

The children will develop the fundamental skills of balancing, running, changing direction, jumping, hopping and skipping. They will be given opportunities to work with a range of different equipment and work collaboratively with others, taking turns and sharing ideas.

       

Religious Education (RE)              

We will be learning about the importance of light in religions such as, Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism through learning about Advent, Christmas, Diwali and Hanukkah. We will learn how and why light can be important to each festival and think about what light and darkness can represent and symbolise in each religion.

 

Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE) / Relationships & Sex Education (RSE)  

Our topics this term are:

Families and friendships; how to be a good friend, about different ways that people meet and make friends and strategies for positive play with friends.

Safe relationships: managing secrets; resisting pressure and getting help; recognising hurtful behaviour and respecting ourselves and others. Respecting ourselves and others. Recognising things in common and differences; playing and working cooperatively; and sharing opinions.

Reminders

• Your child needs to bring in a labelled water bottle every day.
• The weather is beginning to get wet at this time of year. It is important that your child has a raincoat.
• Children need to read ​every day.  This could include an adult reading to them and also the child reading to the adult. We expect to see three comments a week in the child's reading record book. Parents need to check and sign the record book at least once a week. Reading records will be collected every Thursday.
• Ammolite and Sapphire Class will both have PE on Tuesdays and Fridays. PE kit should stay in school in a named draw-string bag.
• We are a Healthy School. Please do not put sweets or chocolate bars in your child’s packed lunch. Please do not send in sweets or other treats when it is your child’s birthday. If you want to celebrate your child’s birthday with their classmates, you could buy the class a book, send in a healthy snack such as boxes of raisins or buy stationery such as a pencil, but due to the impact on the environment, we ask you not to send in plastic toys.
• If your child is absent from school, please contact the school office: 020 8850 5486 and leave a message detailing why your child is absent. If your child has had an upset stomach they can return once they are better.  Please try to book medical appointments outside the school day and note that family holidays will not be authorised.
• If you have any questions or wish to raise a concern, please contact the class teacher in the first instance. Please use the email addresses above.
• Donations of boxes of tissues would be very welcome – thank you!

Please check the school calendar and weekly newsletters for information about events for Year 2.