Summer Term 2024
Welcome back everyone! We hope you had a fabulous Easter holiday and are rested and ready for the Summer Term in Year 2. We have lots of new things to learn so we hope you are looking forward to our exciting term ahead.
The Class Two Team
Your team this term is
Class Teacher Mrs Fearon
Teaching Assistant Mrs Green
Summer Term Learning
English
This term we will be continuing to develop our reading, writing and spelling skills through our phonics scheme and a collection of other texts. In English we will be will be reading the story Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram and using non-fiction texts to help us find out about Neil Armstrong and space exploration. We will be writing space logs, space poems and adventure stories as well as continuing to develop our spelling, grammar and punctuation skills throughout the term.
Mathematics
In Mathematics we will be developing our calculation skills. We will continue to developing our skills by learning facts related to the 2, 5, 10 and 3 times tables and use our knowledge of the four numerical operations to help us solve problems. We will be learning to measure using M and cm, we will also be recapping our telling the time skills and looking at the calendar. We are beginning the term with a unit of work on statistics where we will learn about tally charts, block graphs and pictograms. We will use all of these skills to solve everyday 1 and 2 step problems.
History
In History lessons we will be learning about Neil Armstrong who was the first man on the moon. We will look at his timeline and consider the importance of space exploration. We will also compare his experience as an astronaut to Tim Peakes' time spent on the ISS (International Space Station). We will look at the impact of space travel on our local area.
Art/DT
In Art we will be creating a painting of an alien as inspired by the work of Danny Flynn. In DT the children will learn about wheels and axels before designing, making and evaluating their own moving space vehicle.
Science
In Science we will be learning about plants. We will be learning about the parts of a plant and we will be investigating what seeds need to enable them to grow into plants, as well as seed dispersion and plant reproduction. We will be completing investigations and recording our findings in a variety of ways including graphs, tables and charts.
PE
In PE lessons we will be developing ‘Team Building’ and athletics skills. We will be learning to use a racket and we will work with the Beth Tweddle coaches in school to build on our gymnastics skills.
Computing
In Computing the children will be using a computer to create music. They will listen to a variety of pieces of music and consider how music can make them think and feel. They will compare creating music digitally and non-digitally, look at patterns and purposefully create music. After half term, the children will begin to understand what the term data means and how data can be collected in the form of a tally chart. They will learn the term ‘attribute’ and use this to help them organise data. They will then progress onto presenting data in the form of pictograms and finally block diagrams. They will use the data presented to answer questions.
RE
Our key questions this term in RE are ‘What Does It Mean To Belong To a Faith Community?’ and ‘How Should We Care for Others and the World?’
PSHE
In PSHE the children will learn about coping with change as they get older and the diversity of families.
Music
Our topic is 'Friendship Songs'. We will listen to and appraise the Friendship Song and other songs about friendship:
● Friendship Song by Joanna Mangona and Pete Readman
● Count On Me by Bruno Mars
● We Go Together (from Grease soundtrack)
● You Give A Little Love from Bugsy Malone
● That's What Friends Are For by Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Dionne
Warwick with Elton John
● You've Got A Friend In Me by Randy NewmanWe will perform rhymes, raps and songs.
Homework
Spelling - New weekly spellings are given out every Monday. The children can use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check method to practise spelling the words. The children will have a weekly spelling test on a Friday.
Reading - Reading must be completed each night and we ask that parents fill in pages read etc in the Reading Record Books so staff can see that children have read at home and if they are ready to have their books changed.
At the Grange we believe that it is crucial to work in partnership with parents and carers. There is an expectation that you will support us by ensuring that your child completes the tasks that we set as homework.
Obviously the level of your engagement will depend on your child's age but we expect you take an active part in all aspects of homework and, where necessary, indicate that you have monitored the completion of it ( e.g. by signing the Home/School Reading Record Book)
The routines of reading every day, learning spellings and multiplication tables etc. can be great fun and very rewarding for all concerned. Best results are achieved when homework is not done at the last minute but has a fixed time in a child's established home routine. Short, sharp periods of activity are preferable to prolonged periods of study where concentration can be lost.
Effective learning and consolidation of learning cannot happen in an environment with lots of distractions (e.g. television etc.) Please give some thought to where your child works at home.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Class Two team.
Online Reading Opportunities
Some Useful Links
Please see below the extensive list of websites that your child can visit to consolidate and extend his/her learning.