Year 2 Team: Aspen and Sycamore Teachers

1. Welcome to theYear 2 Team Aspen and Sycamore

2. Teachers in Year 2 • Mrs Lou Hampson • Mrs Natalie Walters • Miss Kate Jeffery

3. Teaching Assistants in Year 2 • Mrs Pat Whitehead • Mrs Jo Band • Mrs Steph Roberts • Mrs Deborah Dartnell

4. …and another important part of the year two team… • You! Parents, relatives and carers are all so important. • We are all on the same side, wanting the best for your child. • We will be giving you ideas today for how to support your child at home. • We are also looking for helpers e.g. to come in to hear children read – please let us know if you can help. Perhaps the first or last half an hour of the day?

5. General Information • P.E. kit – t-shirt, trousers, shorts, daps or trainers • Milk – needs to be ordered online – cool milk • School dinners – must be ordered online. • Bags should be no bigger than the school book bags. • Water bottles and golden time toys must be named.

6. Organisation of the Day Structured timetable. • Early morning work at 8:45. • English, Phonics/Spelling and Maths • Afternoon handwriting, assemblies. Science, Topic (Geography and History), DT, Art, P.S.H.E., Music, R.E., Computing, P.E. (Fridays) – a lot is covered in the week! • Differentiated work in all subjects to challenge each child. Chilli Challenge

7. Superhero Learners! As the term is progressing, we are introducing different classroom superheroes: e.g. Agent Independent, Captain Carpet and Presentation Pro. Instead of the caterpillar, we have a Superhero reward chart, where the children aim to move their pegs up to the Superhero level.

8. Reading • Books bands – regular assessments for fluency and understanding. • Most children will not move up book bands so quickly as they did in year 1, as we focus on more complex comprehension. • Guided Reading – children are put into groups and share a text. Discuss text and answer questions. • Some weeks we use ‘Cracking Comprehension’ to develop skills in answering comprehension questions.

9. Superhero Home Reading Challenge Yellow reading records – please write inwhen you hear your child read, as often as possible and they can colour the reading challenge ladder at the back of their reading record. Every day counts when an adult hears them read – even if it is just for 5 minutes. They don’t have to finish a book! It is about encouraging the habit of regular reading. Once they reach 30 reads they get a reward and get a new ladder.

10. Superhero Home Reading Challenge Once the children have completed 30 reads they will receive a superhero prize. This continues every time they complete 30 reads, they get another prize. The reading MUST be with an adult – even more mature readers still need help in understanding the social context and inferences in their reading books at this age. In the front of the reading record is a list of comprehension questions for you to ask your child when they are reading…

11. Reading Dog Friends 1 We have 5 dogs that help us know what skills to use when answering comprehension questions: Rex Retriever questions – we have to go in and search for the answer in the text, like Rex who likes to fetch facts. e.g. When did the flood start? “early in the morning” What colour was the alien? “emerald green” Why did the Dad say they couldn’t play football? “he said they would slip in the rain”

12. Reading Dog Friends 2 Vocabulary Victor – we have to think about the meanings of words. Victor loves words so he carries around a dictionary! e.g. What does the word ‘ravenous’ mean in that sentence? “really hungry” Can you find a word that means the same as ‘big’? “huge” Why do you think the author used the word ‘yelled’? “because the character was so angry when he said that”

13. Reading Dog Friends 3 Predicting Pip – we have to make a sensible guess about what could happen next, based on what has happened so far. It doesn’t tell us this yet, we have to think – unless we could be like Pip looking into her Crystal ball! e.g. Where do you think they might go next and why? “They might go to the park because they could have left the magic key there” How do you think they could solve this problem? “Maybe they will run home and ask Gran for help” What might they do next? “They might go and have a party to celebrate their win!”

14. Reading Dog Friends 4 Sequencing Suki – we have to check what order the events happen in a text, sometimes using key words about the order – that’s why Suki is thinking of dog bones in order! e.g. What happened before the wolf arrived at the third house? “He blew down the 2nd pig’s house.” Can you put these events in order: spread the butter, cut the bread in half, open the fridge. What were the three big events and what order did they happen in? “They went to ancient Rome, lost the magic key, and then they found the Emporer who helped them find it again.”

15. Reading Dog Friends 5 Inference Iggy – these are questions where the answer is actually not in the text… there are only clues that we have to search for and piece together like a detective – that’s why Iggy carries a magnifying glass! These can be tricky! It’s helpful to use ‘because’ in our answers to check we’re not just guessing… e.g. How do you think the character is feeling now? “I think he’s sad and lonely because it said his brother has gone off and he is just kicking the stone on his own.” Why do you think she didn’t smile when she got the present? “I think she is quite spoilt and didn’t appreciate the present because it said she has a big house, a pool and lots of toys already.” How is Mrs May feeling now? “Happy because the rain has stopped so the children can go out to play and she can have a cup of tea.”

16. Bug Club • Bug club helps motivate children to read • And provides lots more books for everyone – especially helpful if they forget to change their book or finish it over a weekend/holiday • Log ins will be coming home and will be stuck in reading records • Use ‘puffin’ app to access on a tablet • Reading Bug Club can still count towards the reading challenge if your child reads it with you

17. Helping at Home • Techniques when helping with reading: • Use picture clues • Context clues – read ahead to find out what word could be. • Apply phonic knowledge • Helping more confident Readers: • Encourage fluency and expression in their voice. • Developing comprehension skills and particularly deeper understanding of the text, using reasoning. E.g. Why do you think that happened? • Share books with your child or read to them. Book talk is important, discuss the characters, what they think is going to happen etc. • Reading is not just about books – there are words all around us – encourage them to read instructions, recipes, newspapers, signs etc.

18. Writing • Important that children learn to write in sentences using a capital letter and full stop. • Develop structure including joining words. • Encourage children to say what they want to write, then write, then read it back aloud so they ‘hear’ where punctuation should go. • Children learn to write in different genres e.g. diary, recount, instructions, narrative, non-chronological report, explanation and poetry. • Editing is a big skill for year 2 – we use green pens and special books with editing lines.

19. SPAG – Spelling, punctuation and grammar • This year there is an optional separate SPAG test. • We will be teaching grammar during English and phonics lessons. • Introducing vocabulary such as; Noun, verb, adverb, suffix, prefix, pronouns, adjectives, expanded noun phrases (e.g. the big, shiny button), past and present tenses. You could help by correcting their speech if they say a sentence which is grammatically incorrect such as “we gone to town” “We was late.”.

20. Phonics • Basics for reading and spelling • Structured programme – 6 phases • Groups organised according to phases • Test in June for those who didn’t pass the year 1 screening test • we will send home more information and practise nearer the time.

21. Spellings • Year 2 have a list of Common Exception Words (a copy is in your pack) – they are expected to spell most of these correctly within their writing by the end of the year. • There are also suffixes and prefixes that they will learn by the end of the year – we will teach this through investigating how the root word changes, for example: • Unhappy • Happiest • Happily

22. Spellings • Weekly spellings will support sounds learnt in their phonic phases and spelling patterns. • We will be giving out spellings each week to test the next Wednesday. • Children are expected to practise their spellings at home. • How you can help? • Look, cover, write, check • Calling out the words in different order • Use rainbow writing • Sentences – using each word and encouraging punctuation • Oral testing – this is a different skill • Investigate (e.g. Are there any other words with this spelling pattern / suffix?)

23. Handwriting • Charlie Writing – cursive print which enables children to join much easier. • Each letter has a story about Charlie! • All letters start from the line. • Children often do beautiful letters in handwriting but do not apply them to their work – it will come! • Handouts

24. Maths • Lessons sometimes begin with a mental starter. • Children encouraged to learn their number bonds first to 20 – we are practising this with a ‘Number of the Day’ task this term. • Doubles and halves of numbers • Counting in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 3’s, and tens from any number e.g. 34, 44, 54 • Please help your child to practise writing their numbers at home. • We now have a Maths Game of the Month to play at home each week and record playing it on the smiley face chart please – otherwise we will need to make up time during Friday golden time.

25. Apparatus Up to Christmas children are encouraged to use: • apparatus such as unifix , counters or place value cards. • A hundred square (very useful to spot patterns) We are also beginning to teach written methods including the blank number line method for adding and subtracting, and pictures to help with fractions (see calculation policy in pack)

26. How you can help with maths • Ask your child to work out change in a shop or add small amounts together. • Play shop with them. • Measure quantities when cooking including weight and capacity. • Draw attention to measures on jars, tins and bottles. • Point out different 2-D and 3-D shapes around the house. • Time – have a large clock in their room and wear an analogue watch (without alarms!). • Quick fire 2, 5 and 10 times table questions.

27. SATs Tests • National tests will be conducted throughout May – it is important your child is in school for the whole month. • They will be tested in: • Reading (2 papers) • Maths (2 papers) • Teacher assessment for Writing • Optional SPaG(spelling paper and grammar paper) • Please do not worry! The children often don’t realise they are doing the tests. The tests are not timed and we can stop for a play. • They only make up a part of our teacher assessments.

28. Summary • Support at home: • reading with the questions in the reading record and colour in the reading challenge ladder, • weekly spellings to learn, • and weekly maths game practise please. • Contact us if you have any concerns or questions

29. It is a known fact that happy children are happy learners. • Our job is to encourage children’s learning through support, building self esteem and confidence and creating a happy environment through which they learn.

30. Thank you! • Your support is valued greatly. • We are always here if you have any worries or questions. • Thank you for coming.