Year 2 Curriculum overview - Spring Term

Here is what Year 2 are going to be busy with this term.  You can download a copy here

Guidance about Year 2 Reading

Teachers Mrs Crown and Mrs Futers

Our cross-curricular theme(s) for this term are:

Island Homes (linked to Katie Morag stories) and Florence Nightingale

During our topic work we will develop skills in the following subject areas:

First half term - Island homes / Mairi Hedderwick’s Katie Morag books

Literacy – Comparing stories by same author, writing own story using familiar characters, following instructions, writing persuasive text

Speaking and Listening – presenting case for living on an island, discussing advantages and disadvantages

Geography – comparing  and contrasting life in the local area with life on an island. Use of maps and atlases. Drawing simple maps.

Art  – Colour mixing to create seascapes. Creating artefacts /souvenirs linked to Isle of Struay

DT – Follow instructions to make porridgies

ICT  – use of the Internet and CDs to research information about author and islands. Programming control devices (on-screen / floor turtle) to follow a given route on a map.

Music – Scottish and local songs

Numeracy – co-ordinates, position and direction linked to map work

Second half term - Florence Nightingale

History – recognising that there are different viewpoints of historical events, placing events from Crimean war in relation to the Fire of Gateshead, understanding changes that arise from historical events, to learn about past events by exploring the life of a famous person.

Art / DT – Exploring textiles. Designing and making individual glove puppets related to Victorian era – nurses, soldiers, patients etc. (Volunteers welcome to help with sewing.)

Speaking & Listening / Literacy – writing and presenting short plays for different audiences

ICT – Recording views of people in the Crimean War – patients, cooks, nurses, doctors, researching information online

Science / PSHE – comparing health facilities now and then (Guest speakers welcome from any health professionals)

Other subjects to be covered this term are:

PSHE – Going for Goals / Good to be me

RE – Christian beliefs and practice – including a visit to a local church, Ideas about God in Christianity and Judaism (visit to synagogue to be arranged)

PE – Gymnastics – large apparatus, Multi-skills – linked to games and athletics

Science – Electricity – making and testing simple electric circuits

               - Health and Growth - keeping fit and healthy, having a healthy diet.

Literacy – instructions and explanations, word play in poetry

Numeracy – In addition to our work on number, place value, addition and subtraction we will be working on a range of topics including mental calculation strategies, data handling, word problems, weight, time, money and shape.

Visits and visitors / Dates for your diaries

Visit to St George’sChurch– Wednesday 1st February

Visit to Gosforth Synagogue – either just before of just after Easter

Homework

As you should already be aware, this term we are sending out weekly spellings each Monday night to be learned for the Spelling Quiz each Friday morning. For the first couple of weeks of this half-term we will also be sending homework books home with Literacy and Numeracy activities, linked to the work from the previous week in the classroom. Children will then have a mini-project book based on Katie Morag and Island Homes.

Next half-term there will be a mini-project booklet linked to our Florence Nightingale theme, part of which will involve children designing their own glove puppet linked to the topic. (We will also be looking for willing volunteers when it comes to helping children to sew the puppets.)

When the children are working on project work we will not send home their homework books but they will still get their weekly spellings. If you are ever unsure about the homework, please come and discuss it with us at the end of the school day. (or email if you are not in school on a regular basis).

In addition to written Numeracy homework children will be assessed each Friday morning on the number facts we have worked on during that week.

Targets

Children will continue to have an individual writing and numeracy target, one to keep in school and a copy in their reading bag for home. These will be updated on a rolling programme but some children, who may not have achieved all of the elements of a target, may receive the same card as they had previously.

As well as individual writing targets we are having a class target of writing in complete sentences – starting with a capital letter and ending with either a full-stop (.), question mark(?) or exclamation mark(!). You can help by pointing out sentence punctuation when sharing reading books or reminding children when they are writing.

This term’s numeracy targets will focus on multiplication and division facts, as well as recapping number pairs to 10 and 20.

Just a reminder, our non-negotiable targets i.e. - the essential facts that all children should know by the end of Year 2 are -

• Addition and subtraction facts for all numbers up to at least 10 e.g 3 + 4 = 7,  8 – 5 =3
• Number pairs with totals to 20
• Multiplication facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and linked division facts

While we will work on these whole class targets in school, any extra input from home would be greatly appreciated.

SATs

Some people have already asked about the Year 2 SATs tests that are completed in the Summer Term. These are standardised national tests that are carried out on every child in the country in the school year when they reach age 7. The results of these tests, combined with the ongoing teacher assessments carried out throughout the school year,  help us to identify the level children have reached at the end of their first three years in school.

Children who achieve a level 2 are judged to be working at the appropriate level for their age. (This is sub-divided into 2A, 2B and 2C with 2A being the highest level.) Level 1 is slightly below the expected level and level 3 is slightly above. The levels children achieve in reading, writing, mathematics and science will be reported with the annual school report.

As far as possible, we aim to make the SATs tests ‘invisible’ to the children (i.e. we do not even mention the word SATs) and would appreciate your support with this, as we do not wish to put them under any unnecessary pressure. For this reason we administer them over a two week period, weeks beginning Tuesday 8^th and Monday 14^th May, as part of the normal school routine. All we would ask from you as parents is that you make sure children go to bed early and, if possible, avoid any unnecessary absences during that period. (i.e. please book holidays later in the year).