Year 2 - St. Francis Class
Class Teacher - Miss Coogan Teaching Assistant - Mrs Schorah
What's happening this term?
What a busy first half of the Autumn term we have planned! Keep a look out for weekly class blogs where we will be showing off some of our work on:
MATHS:
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We will begin looking at numbers to 100, comparing and contrasting them, exploring ways of representing these numbers and developing our rapid recall of the number bonds to and within 10, 20 and finally 100. Once we have mastered these, we will start to look at adding and subtracting these numbers and again explore ways in which this can be done and demonstrated. |
READING:
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Our first Pathways to Read book of the year is Julia Donaldson's terrific tale 'The Troll'. The children will join the troll on his adventures; tired of only ever eating fish, he sets off to explore somewhere new to live and encounters some interesting characters along the way! |
WRITING:
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Linked to our reading book, the children's first writing unit will be based around the amazing book 'Troll Swap'. Children will enjoy developing their vocabulary and story writing skills after reading how Timothy Limpit and Tabitha Lampit are upset as they don't quite fit in and act how other trolls and little girls should act. What will happen when these two accidentally bump into each other one day? The children will be working towards writing their own story. |
RE:
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In our first RE unit of the year, we will be looking at just some of the people throughout the Bible who God has chosen to help Him in different ways. We will also explore how He has chosen us, how this affects our lives and the way in which we treat other people. I wonder how many of the children have heard of Moses, Daniel and Abraham. |
SCIENCE:
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In this unit, children will learn about a variety of habitats and the plants and animals that live there. They will learn to tell the difference between things that are living, dead and things that have never been alive, and apply this in a range of contexts.
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HISTORY:
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This term we will be completing a local history study, exploring at the history of New Brighton. We will discover the significance that our area had in the recent and further past and discover reasons for the boom and decline of the resort. If any family members have any photographs, artefacts or even would like to speak to the children about their own memories, we would love to hear from you! |
GEOGRAPHY:
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This term we will be exploring the techniques used to map the United Kingdom. Developing map reading skills, the children will be introduced to the human and physical features of the four Countries that make up the UK and we will learn about the key rivers and oceans that surround us. |
PSHE & RHE:
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We will use our PSHCE lessons during the first half term to consolidate and develop our understanding of the school values, expecatiations, secrets to success and in our RHE lessons, the children will listen and discuss the Gospel story of Jesus welcoming little children to Him in spite of others telling them to stay away.
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ART:
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Time for play: We will be introducing the French artist Georges Seurat who developed a new way of painting called pointillism. The children will have a chance to learn about the artist, develop different techniques in their new sketch books and will paint their own masterpiece replicating Seurat's technique. The image at the side shows one his iconic paitings 'A Sunday Afternoon'; his use of contrasting colours, shadows and the way the little child in white is looking at the observer, will surely create some wonderful discussions this half term! |
D&T:
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We will begin Year 2 Design & Technology by looking at natural and man made structures. Exploring the 4 main types, children will investiagte the purpose of structures, how to increase stability and strength as well as developing their finger fluency before being challenged to apply their learning to design, make and evaluate a chair for a very special guest! |
COMPUTING:
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To start our year, we will spend some time ensuring children are able to log on to the computers, access the internet and locate and log onto different websites.
When the children are confident with this we will being exploring what Information Technology means and where it is used in the world around us. We will be looking at how we use it to improve our lives and ways in which we can make sure we are using it sensibly and safely.
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MUSIC:
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This half term, the children in Year 2 will listen to the sounds of some of Africa's most notorious animals and attempt to replicate these with instruments whilst exploring the variations of timbre. Children will then move onto singing and responding to a traditional African response song called 'Che Che Kule', before responding with instruments. |
Our Learning Behaviours
These eight ‘secrets of success’ are taught and encouraged throughout our curriculum.
- Try new things
If children are willing to try new things, they may just find something they are good at. Even better than this, they may find something that they love doing. Most successful people love what they do.
- Work hard
Although it may seem attractive to design a curriculum that is fun for children, it is also important to plan activities that will make children work hard. No real success comes without hard work.
- Concentrate
Successful people learn to give their full attention to whatever they are doing. Allowing children to focus on things that interest them, whilst at the same time learning all of the content that is required, is a great way to secure engagement.
- Push yourself
Successful people need to push themselves. A great curriculum needs to push children and teach them about the need to push themselves. Of course, it is much easier to push yourself if you see the point to what you are doing. That is why the curriculum needs to be engaging and relevant for children.
- Imagine
Successful people have ideas. They use their imagination and are prepared to be wrong. The curriculum needs lots of opportunities for children to use their imagination.
- Improve
Real accomplishment does not come from doing something once and moving on. It comes from lots of tweaks and refinements. Successful people are always trying to improve what they do.
- Understand others
No one has experienced success by thinking about themselves. Successful people understand others. The curriculum needs to help children to realise that collaboration is what the real world is about,
- Don’t give up
The curriculum needs a certain degree of danger and risk if children are to experience the real world. They need opportunities to fail in a safe environment and learn to have another go.
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