Spring Communication Letter

Dear Parents,

 

Welcome back after the Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year to everyone! The children have quickly settled back into the classroom routines and we are delighted to welcome Mrs Mhairi Jeavons to the Year 2 Team!

 

This term we have one main topic which is ‘Pole to Pole.’ This will mainly focus on History and Geography, in particular, Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. However we will incorporate most areas of the curriculum. The children have already been introduced to the topic through an exciting and interesting workshop led by the Learning Outreach team from ‘The Wilson Museum.’

For your information a brief outline of coverage across the curriculum for this term is included below.

English	In addition to daily practice of handwriting, spelling and grammar we will be focusing on the following text types Recount of a real event in history Narrative Instruction writing
Mathematics	In addition to regular practice of number bonds, problem solving and calculation we will be focusing specifically on the following areas: Measuring lengths, weights and capacity using standard units. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Handling data
Science	This term in Science we will be looking at Living Things and their Habitats, with a particular emphasis on the Polar regions.
RE	This term the focus in RE is ‘Who are Muslims and how do they live? (part 2), followed by ‘Why does Easter matter to Christians?’
PSHCE	In PSHCE we will be exploring relationships. We will focus on how to stay safe at home.
PE	Our main PE session will be on Mondays with Jon, the PE coach, and this will focus on developing skills for team games. We will have a shorter PE session on Friday which will focus on Dance.
Art and Design Technology.	Our art work will focus on improving our key skills in watercolour and modelling with clay. In DT we will be making and evaluating survival biscuits.
ICT	In ICT we will be using a word-processor to produce, edit and save our work.

 

We have an exciting and busy term ahead of us! The children have already made a fantastic start to the term and are very enthusiastic about the topic. We have enjoyed looking at objects used by explorers in the past and comparing them to the modern version. As always, if children have any books, photos or artefacts linked to our topic we would love to see these and they can be brought in for Show and Tell.

 

Reading

As part of their home-learning children should be reading at home for at least 10-15 minutes per day. Children continue to choose a colour-coded reading book, these do not need to be changed daily but when children are ready. As children progress onto trickier and longer texts they should be encouraged to discuss their reading in order to develop their comprehension. Our focus has now moved towards understanding the texts and any unfamiliar word meanings. As a result of this, you may find that a larger part of the reading time at home is spent discussing stories and texts and developing the skills of prediction and inference.

 

Spelling

A copy of this term’s Half Termly Spelling list is included with this letter. Children complete a baseline test at the beginning of term and their score is attached. The children will be re-tested on these words at the end of the half term. In addition to their half termly list, children will also continue to bring home a list of 6 words to be learnt weekly. These will be sent home every Monday and children will be tested on these words, plus two unseen words following the same pattern, the following Monday. These words will help children to learn the spelling pattern, rule or sound that is the focus of our daily phonics and spelling lessons.

 

Maths Homework

This will continue to be sent home each Thursday and then tested the following Thursday. Thank you for all your support in helping the children to practise these skills, it is really helping with their quick recall of number facts.

 

Communication books

Communication books should be brought into school each day and will be checked and signed. Please continue to use these books to record your child’s reading and to send any important messages to and from school.

 

PE kit

Weather permitting, we will be outside as much as possible on a Monday PE session. If children would like to wear trainers for their outdoor PE sessions this is absolutely fine.

 

A plea for labelled uniform!

Please could you check that all of your child’s uniform is labelled, we seem to have a lot of lost property already this term. Many thanks in advance for this.

 

If you have any questions, concerns or comments throughout the term please don’t hesitate to come and see us on the playground or make an appointment for after school.

 

Kind Regards,

Jane Rowe and Mhairi Jeavons.