Year 2 2023 - 2024

Welcome to Year 2

Autumn Term 2023

Dear Parents, Carers and Children,

Welcome to Year 2. I hope you have all had a great break and are looking forward to what promises to be a busy Autumn term.

Our topic this term is ‘Fire! Fire!’. We’ll be investigating and comparing The Great Fires of London and Nantwich: finding out what it was like to live in England in Tudor and Stuart times. We will also be visiting Nantwich Museum, where we get the opportunity immerse ourselves in Tudor Nantwich.

In maths we’ll continue to build on our learning from Year 1 to develop the quick recall of number facts and our understanding of two digit numbers, develop our understanding of addition and subtraction use this knowledge to problem solve. We’ll also be looking at the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes.

In mental maths we will be covering the following throughout the year:

• Count in 2s, 3s and 5s from 0 forwards and backwards
• Count in 10s from any given number forwards and backwards e.g. 43,53,63 etc.
• 2x, 5x and 10x table plus related division facts
• Know number facts within 20 e.g. 15+3=18
• Addition and subtraction facts within 100
• Know number bonds to 20 and use related facts up to 100 e.g. If 8+2=10 then 80+20=100.
• Know addition doubles for all numbers to at least 10, e.g. 8+8 = 16.

Miss Forrester (Maths lead at Excalibur) has added some useful home learning booklets which can be downloaded to use as extra home learning activities.  These can be found on the website under…

Curriculum > Maths > Maths Workbooks for parents > Year 2 Workbooks

There are also lots of activities on ICT games.com and Topmarks - see links below.

The teaching of reading will be continued through Read, Write Inc. Pathways to Read and Accelerated Reader. Children will be issued with Read Write Inc or Accelerated Reader levelled books to bring home and read to you.  These will be linked to the books they have been reading in their RWI sessions and will be changed each Monday.  Please ensure that RWI Reading books are returned to school each Monday, as they are purchased in sets of six and a missing book means that a whole set is withdrawn from use. Accelerated Reader books need to be in school every Monday and Friday.

In addition to this, Reading for Pleasure books from the library will be changed on Tuesdays. All children are encouraged to change their books.  Sometimes, children have a particular favourite which they want to choose again.  These books are designed to be read by you, with your child joining in when able to.  This allows children to share the reading process with you and to develop a love of reading with less pressure on them.

In Year 2 we also have Reading Rocks bags.  5 children are chosen every week to take these home to enjoy with you. They contain a variety of texts and are aimed at introducing children to something a little different!

I will be introducing new spelling patterns on a Monday and spelling lists will be sent home each week for the children to practise at home. Please remember, as with all homework, ‘little and often’ has the biggest impact, especially on retention of spellings.

Our regular PE days for this term will be Tuesday and Thursday. Please make sure that your child wears the correct Excalibur PE kit.  A list of the full PE kit is on our website.

http://www.excalibur.cheshire.sch.uk/page/school-uniform/6064

Pupils can wear tracksuit bottoms for PE if it becomes too cold.  Please make sure that long hair is tied back and that earrings are removed or covered with micro-pore tape or similar on PE days. Any earrings will need to be removed by your child for a PE lesson.

Mr Hancock will be teaching PE and Science to the class on a Thursday afternoon.

Our first science topic is Animals, including humans. We will be learning about animals' basic needs, life cycles, classes of animals and how humns can keep healthy.

Click on the image below

We will continue to communicate with you through Seesaw. This may be telling you about what we’ve been doing in class, announcements, homework etc.  It’s also great to hear about the children’s interests and achievements out of school too!  Remember to sign up for the Family Access if you have more than one child at school.

We are planning a one night residential trip to the Conway Centre in Delamere Forest in the Spring Term – more details to follow.

Meet the Teacher Meeting  -  Tuesday 12^th September 3.30pm

If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me through our contact email address (contact@excalibur.cheshire.sch.uk) or you could leave a note in your child's planner. 

Mrs Griffin, Mrs Thompson and Mrs Bebbington

A few reminders

Staff in Year 2:

Mrs Griffin - Class teacher 

Mrs Thompson- Teaching assistant

Mrs Bebbington – Support Assistant

The school gates are opened at 8:50am.  Registration closes at 9am so please ensure children are in class before then. The school day ends at 3:20 pm. 

Could you please send your child in with a healthy snack for their midmorning break. They will also be offered fruit for afternoon break.

 It is important for children to drink water throughout the day.  Therefore, children may bring in bottles of water (not juice) each day so long as the bottle has a secure lid. Please make sure your child’s bottle is clearly labelled.  They will be reminded to take their bottle home every night for washing and refilling.

Water Bottles

It is important for children to drink water throughout the day.  Therefore, children may bring in bottles of water each day so long as the bottle has a secure lid. It is also really helpful if every bottle is clearly labelled.  Please can you remind your child to take their bottle home every night for washing and refilling.  

Homework                           

Every Monday, your child will be set the following tasks: 

• Maths activities – based on the previous week’s objectives 
• Spellings - Either a spelling rule or words from the statutory Y1/2 spelling list that is taught that week. These will be tested on a Monday.

Home School Planners

Reading records planners should be in school every day and children. Children  are encouraged to read at least 5 times a week. This can be a variety of texts, reading to a younger sibling, reading magazines, recipes and instructions.

We look forward to a fabulous year working with you and your child.

Thank you for your continued support.