In this section
Year 2
Remote Learning
In the event of remote learning being activated, please follow the timetable below:
Google Classroom Information
Year 2 Summer Term Curriculum Newsletter
Meet the Teachers Presentation
Year 2 is an important year for your child; this is the year the children will continue their journey through Key Stage 1 and will complete their SATs assessments. This year, the children in Year 2 will experience a variety of interesting and exciting topics, alongside developing all the skills required to achieve outstanding learning.
English
In English we follow the curriculum map that has been devised from the National Curriculum expectations. Children cover topics such as story writing, character and setting descriptions, poetry, play scripts and persuasive writing.
English lessons are planned and taught to build upon prior skills and knowledge to enable the children to create a final writing piece. Strategies, such as, role play, mimes and freeze frames encourage children to become immersed with the characters of the focus books and develop a love and passion for reading. The children become increasingly familiar with features of different genres of writing, for example, letters, diary entries and instructions. We are learning more about using different types of sentences and punctuation to suit various genres of writing.
Children will be encouraged to use statements, commands, exclamations and questions to write for different purposes. The children will learn a range of poems off by heart, they will express their views and finally compose poems to perform. We will be working extremely hard on using more interesting vocabulary and exciting language to up level our writing and develop coherence.
Each week, we will complete an extended piece of writing for Big Writing/Talk Write. Children should prepare for this by discussing their talk homework with an adult at home so they have many ideas for the lesson. Please click here for more information about English teaching and learning at St Joseph’s.
Read Write Inc Phonics
Some children continue to have a session with the trained team to ensure they develop confidence to use their ‘Fred sounds’ to tackle new words in their reading. The remainder of the children work in the classroom using groups of phonemes to support their reading of unfamiliar words.
Spellings
The children will continue to get weekly spellings, with a specific phonic pattern or spelling rule to learn at home, which should then be evident in their writing and also impact on their reading. The spellings are planned carefully and specifically with the expectations of the year group. Children now have a dedicated spelling sessions where they learn important spelling rules to use throughout their writing. They use prior knowledge of phonics to decode words, revise common exception words and learn how to change root words when we add suffixes.
Handwriting
Everyday there is a focus on developing the cursive script throughout every writing piece across the curriculum. The whole school follows the same programme so that each year group is consistent. Many children are now taking great pride in presenting the cursive writing style in much of their work and some will continue to have some extra sessions to ensure their style becomes more fluent.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, we will continue to develop our knowledge of the CPA model to embed our familiarity with numbers. There is an important focus on all mathematical operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Furthermore, we will extend previous learning about time, measures and weight, fractions and collecting and using data.
Children are working hard to recite and recall their times tables in any order. They should also practise at home so they become accurate and fluent with their 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables.
Children will take part in various investigations and practical work to solve problems. They will be encouraged to use mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain their answers. Please click here for more information about Mathematics teaching and learning at St Joseph’s.
Science
Throughout Year 2, children cover a range of topics; ‘Exploring Everyday Materials’, ‘Growth and Survival’, ‘Super Scientists’, ‘Living in Habitats’, ‘Growing Plants’ and ‘The Secret World of Plants’.
In the topic ‘Exploring Everyday Materials’, they will explore the properties of materials, such as wood, plastic, metal, glass and fabric, through a variety of fun activities. The children will begin to think about the purpose of familiar objects and why they are made out of particular materials.
In the topic ‘Growth and Survival’ we will help the children understand what animals, including humans, need in order to grow, thrive and survive. They will explore the life cycles of various animals and investigate how young develop into adults, looking specifically at what humans need to live a healthy life. We will continue to observe changes in the seasons and report on how this impacts the natural environments around us. Please click here for more information about Science teaching and learning at St Joseph’s.
Religious Education
Children will be learning many religious stories throughout each topic; they will explore the bible using references so they can build up confidence to find books of the bible and also specific stories. We will discuss how bible stories can link to our own lives and how we can use the stories to learn how to follow in Christ’s footsteps. The children will be encouraged to discuss aspects in pairs and then share their ideas and thoughts with the class, developing their questioning skills.
Regular prayer sessions will continue to encourage the children to develop deeper reflection and responsibility. During his weekly visits to the school, our Parish Priest supports the learning on the current Religious Education theme.
History
The history topics taught in Year 2 are: Burning Down the House (The Gunpowder Plot), Women Who Changed the World and Three Queens. Children will develop their awareness of chronology within and beyond living memory. They will explore the lives of significant historical individuals and understand differences and similarities between ways of life in different periods.
Please click here for more information about history teaching and learning at St. Joseph’s.
Geography
The geography topics taught in Year 2 are: My World and Me, Life on the Farm and Africa. Across the topics, children develop their skills in key geographical strands: locational geography, physical geography, human geography, place geography and geographical skills and fieldwork. Please click here (link to geography curriculum page) for more information about geography teaching and learning at St. Joseph’s.
Please click here for more information about geography teaching and learning at St. Joseph’s.
Art and Design Technology
Art and Design Technology is closely linked with the curriculum, plus current and cultural events. The children will develop their artistic and creative talents, advancing their art, design and technology skills will be achieved through exploration, refinement and consolidation. We shall also use art galleries’ websites to study specific artists and art styles to complement the learning.
Children use a variety of materials to create interesting pieces of art and sculpture based on their investigations. Design and Technology skills are developed through investigating how 3D creations bring an object to life.
Computing
This year the children will continue to develop their skills when using Chromebooks and IPads. The children will use personalised usernames and passwords to access the Purple Mash units of work.
Throughout the ‘Online Safety’ topic, the children will learn how to use the search bar for appropriate searches, understand what a digital footprint is, reasons why it is essential to keep their password safe, how to open and respond to emails and how to report inappropriate content to an adult.
During the ‘Coding’ unit, the children will use instructional language and symbols to create pathways and algorithms, they will follow given sets of instructions and then extend to writing their own set of instructions.
Other topics covered throughout Year 2 are: ‘Spreadsheets’, ‘Questioning’, ‘Effective Searching’, ‘Creating Pictures’, ‘Making Music’ and ‘Presenting Ideas’. The children will develop their skills of using hyperlinks, copying and pasting images and organising digital content. Please click here for more information about Computing teaching and learning at St Joseph’s.
Physical Education
The children will have 2 hourly sessions of PE with the class teacher and the PE Specialist. The children will develop their skills in dribbling and kicking the ball, gymnastics, tennis, games, athletics and dance.
Music
In Year 2, every child learns to play the recorder, using a popular graded method book as a scheme of work. Building on what they learned in Year 1, Year 2 children continue to expand their knowledge of the musical elements and repertoire through playing instruments and performing.
French
In Year 2, the French curriculum focuses on greetings and responding to greetings, counting and using numbers, following and giving simple instructions, expressing thanks, saying what day or month it is, describing some simple objects and people as well as expressing likes and dislikes. The children start to join in with storytelling, repeat words and phrases modelled by the teacher and remember sequences of spoken words. The children present role play conversations, taking turns and having the confidence to speak in front of the class.
Home Learning
The children will continue to be encouraged to read each evening for 20 minutes with an adult who supports by helping with tricky words but most importantly by talking about the text to ensure understanding. The spelling list will continue to be brought home on Monday so the children can practise a few words each night and be tested on Friday. Talk homework will also be handed out on Monday so the children can prepare for their Big Writing/Talk Write task on Thursday. On Wednesday, the children will be set a Mathematics task which links to their current learning. Tasks will also be set up on MyMaths on a Wednesday which will be online and will also be linked to the topic we are covering in class. On Friday, children will receive Religious Education activities and also an English based activity.
Please click on the links below to access learning resources which will complement the current teaching and learning in Year 2. If you require any other support or have any questions regarding the Curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher via the school office to arrange an appointment.