Blackgates

The children have made a great start to the new school year and have settled back into school life well. It has been so lovely to see the children enthused by learning and they are already showing sensible behaviour and maturity when tackling their work.

What will my child be studying this term?

Topic

This half term we are investigating the question: Who loved living here before we did? We will learn how the Victorians influenced the local area and will learn what life was like in the Victorian times, especially for children.

Phonics and Reading                                                                                        

The children will continue their phonics work and begin spelling lessons. The books that the children read both in school and home will be closely matched to their phonic ability and we would like as many children as possible to move up to reading books from our ‘Accelerated Reader’ scheme. In our whole class reading lessons we will be reading the story ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens and adapted by Gill Tavener.

Writing

We will be writing our own historical stories about a child who works in a Victorian mill. We will be continuing to use the ‘Fantastics’, ‘Grammaristics’ and ‘Boomtastics’ to aid our writing, following Jane Consadine’s, ‘The Write Stuff’ approach.

Maths                                                  

Units that will be covered in Maths include Place Value (representing, counting, reading, ordering and writing numbers) and Addition and Subtraction.

PE

PE lessons in Year 2 take place on Mondays and Fridays. Children will need their indoor PE kits on these days - White T-shirt without buttons, black shorts and black pumps. Please ensure all PE kit is clearly labelled with your child’s name and class.

Ways to help at home

Accelerated Reader/Phonics Books – Reading a minimum of 3 times per week with your child and signing the reading record. Reading books must be brought into school each day.

Spellings – Your child will have spelling bricks personally allocated to them. Please spend some time practising the spellings NOT highlighted in pink. Again, please make sure these come to school everyday.

Number Sense Maths – The number facts fluency programme builds confidence and flexibility with number, and fluency in addition and subtraction facts. Each Friday, children will be given ‘Activities for Home’. Please spend some time supporting your child’s learning.