Year 2
Year 2 is a time for children to take ownership of their learning and enjoy increased independence and responsibility. Our varied and active curriculum allows every child to flourish, preparing them for Year 3.
If you would like any further information regarding the school’s curriculum, please speak with the class teacher. We support our children to develop their author’s voice by ensuring they have the key skills of handwriting, grammar, punctuation and spelling. Our Year 2 children are inspired by creative activities connected to classic and modern literature. We have received letters from the crayons in “The Day the Crayons Quit” by Oliver Jeffers. We have applied for positions at MI6 and helped to track the Wolf from the Three Little Pigs. We let our imaginations roam free as we wrote our own adventure stories based on “The Magic Finger” by Roald Dahl. Every day in class, we share and talk about a book we enjoy. Our guided reading groups, independent quiet reading, use of iPads and cosy book nooks, all encourage a love of reading. We regularly invite our Year 6 children to listen to their Year 2 buddy read. We continue with systematic synthetic phonic teaching using Read Write Inc. for pupils in Year Two and use fiction and nonfiction texts in our guided reading groups. Providing children with a range of opportunities to apply their phonological Group reading activities may include adult led discussions or tasks to promote the independent application of taught skills. Carefully selected quality text informs, inspires and supports teaching across the whole curriculum in Year Two and matches the individual needs and abilities of the children. It is important that children are encouraged to enjoy listening to stories as a much loved and valued part of our curriculum. We believe this plays an important role in promoting early literacy skills, curiosity, emotional understanding and imagination. Pupils are encouraged to read at home with an adult each day. Books match closely with each child’s stage within the RWI programme or within the coloured book band system. Reading sessions with any adult, in or out of school are monitored and progress in reading is shared with parents via Google Classroom communication. We encourage bold and confident mathematicians who enjoy problem-solving. In our classrooms we use songs and games to embed essential facts such as times tables and number bonds. This year the children designed their own playground which uses the skills of measuring, costing, designing, co-ordinates and even area! Our children make Pirate treasure maps using their knowledge of direction and rotation. We make concepts such as fractions accessible by asking the children to share out slices of pizza between their friends. Through these creative approaches, our children gain a solid understanding of number, calculation and methodology that will enable them to transition happily to Year 3. We are lucky to have the resource of 4 acres of wide-open gardens that allow us to teach through scientific enquiry. The children have observed the processes of MRS GREN* in our environment through mini beast hunts, the life cycle of frogs in our pond and maintaining their own garden. In Year 2 we also learn about animals including humans which includes healthy eating. The children design, carry out and evaluate their own experiments. We were amazed to find out just how much sugar is in popular drinks! * MRS GREN is an acronym often used to help remember all the necessary features of living organisms: Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion and Nutrition. We love mapping and exploring Highgate through the story of “Percy the Park Keeper”. Our topic of Rivers teaches us key geographical terminology and we research the landmarks on the River Thames. We are excited to identify them during our school trip on the Clipper! Our thrilling summer topic of Pirates enhances our knowledge of the continents and oceans of the world. History comes alive in Year 2 when we burn our cardboard model of London when studying the Great Fire of 1666! The children also created their own fact book on Florence Nightingale and we compared medicines from then and now. Through collective worship, circle discussions, meditation and cross-curricular learning we explore our Christian values and other religions.English
Reading
Maths
Science
History & Geography
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