Year 2 Spring Term 1

Date: 9th Feb 2024 @ 1:41pm

Where has time gone? The children settled back into the rhythm of school brilliantly after their Christmas break.

The topic for this term has been ‘Castles’. The children have all been thoroughly engaged so far in this topic. Our areas of provision allow the children to explore what castles look like, what it was like to live in them and they could even make a catapult!

In literacy, we have looked at the traditional stories: ‘Goldilocks’ and ‘The Princess and the Pea’. The children have written their own versions of the stories, using adjectives and using conjunctions (e.g. and/ but/ or/ so) to extend their sentences. Miss Dales and Mrs Sharp have been blown away by their unique and lively stories. We are continuing to work on punctuation, neat handwriting and spelling, particularly ‘common exception words’.

In Topic (science, history, geography, art), we have looked closely at castles. Geography lessons have involved looking at maps and locating Skipton castle. In history, we learnt how to attack and defend a castle and how toilets have changed over time. The children were very grateful we no longer use moss and a stick after we have been to the toilet! Our science lessons have been practical as we learnt about properties of materials and looked at the best materials to use when building a castle. This led us to work in groups to make castles using card, plastic, metal, and fabric. Finally, in art the children have been creating a Coat of Arms that is special and unique to them. They spent 5 weeks developing drawing and painting skills and using texture

In maths, we have been extremely busy. We have covered place value, addition, subtraction, fractions ( ½ and ¼ ), measuring and time! Children have worked practically when covering these skills and we will be consolidating these skills again next half term. Time is a very tricky concept to master so please practise at home too.

In PE, we have been looking at gymnastics; the children have worked individually and in pairs to combine groups of movements to create short routines. The children have also spent several weeks developing their ‘attack, defend, shoot’ skills. During our outdoor PE sessions, the children have been working in pairs and larger groups to attack and defend targets.

The children in Year 2 take part in whole class reading sessions almost daily. These sessions help to develop confidence, pace, fluency, comprehension and reading with expression. Please continue to read at home with your child at least three times a week. Please return reading books on a Monday morning and we will exchange the book and send a new one out on Monday afternoon. Our library day is a Tuesday.

Thank you again for your support this half term. It has been a busy (and quick) one. If you have any questions then please speak to a member of staff in Year 2 and we will be happy to help.

Many thanks,

Mrs Sharp & Miss Dales.