Welcome to Class 2M (2024-2025)! Mrs. Murray is your class teacher. Our learning support assistants are Miss Gargan and Miss Han (also 1-1s). We hope you enjoy every minute of being in year 2 while we have lots of great fun along the way!

On this class page, you will find lots of information about your class. We aim to update you regularly with what is going on in our class but you will be able to use this website to read up on information about the year 2 curriculum, school learning schemes, reading books, P.E information, homework topics and important dates for your diary.

If there is anything you would like to ask, share, or have a question about, please do not hesitate to contact staff during school hours using class dojo. We will endeavor to reply to messages as soon as possible.

Read, Write, Inc.

Read, Write, Inc. (RWI) is taught daily in Year 2. RWI. is a method for teaching reading, where your child is taught to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sounds that they represent. Your child can then start to read words by blending the sounds ('Fred Talk') together to make a word.

Our school follows the Read Write Inc (RWI) approach to teaching early reading and spelling. This is a structured and systematic approach, that is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers, and willing writers. It is vital that your child is encouraged to pronounce phonemes (sounds) correctly.

For further information on RWI please visit the following website: -

www.oxfordowl.co.uk

Book Bags

 In support of our approach to teaching reading, your child will take home a Read, Write Inc. home reading book. Your child will be reading their book during their RWI lessons and we ask that you reinforce your child's learning by revisting the book. Depending on the group that your child is working with they will either have a new book every 3 days or every 5 days.

Your child may also like to take home a book for you to read together for pleasure. We encourage that you ask your child questions about their book and that you encourage your child to ask their own questions. It is important to develop comprehension skills, as it supports your child with reading and writing. We encourage you to visit our amazing local library to expand your child’s knowledge and love of books.

Ebooks will also be allocated regularly on Oxford owl. Your child's log in details are the same as last year. If you are unsure about the log in details then please message us on class dojo.

The Spelling Shed, Maths Shed and TT Rockstars

Your child will be given a password to access this. The passwords will enable them to log onto the spelling shed, maths shed and TT rockstars. We will set a variety of fun activities on this site for you to share at home with your child.

PE

Our PE day this year is Monday. The school P.E. kit is available from Lazer School Wear, St. Mary's Road in Garston. This is a red T-shirt with the school badge and school blue shorts. Children can also wear a plain red T-shirt and plain blue shorts that are available from most supermarkets. The children should wear trainers or pumps.

This is part of our school uniform and must be worn for PE lessons.

Football kits and other sportswear will not be allowed.

Water Bottles

 There are studies to say, that drinking water and being well hydrated, improves the mood, memory, and attention in children. We would ask that you send in a water bottle for your child each day. We request that your child brings in water only and not juice or fizzy drinks. The bottle needs to have your child’s name on. The children will have access to their water throughout the day.

Upcoming dates this term:

Wednesday 4th September - Children return to school. 

Wednesday 9th October - Crosby Beach Trip (Geography-Coasts)

Friday 25th October- Finish for half term 

Monday 4th November: Return to school

Friday 20th December: Break up for Christmas

AUTUMN CURRICULUM 2024

Our first few weeks in year 2 will begin with getting to know new routines, meeting new adults and going over the expectations for the year ahead. We will ensure children feel happy and confident in their new surroundings and that they have the opportunities to talk about their feelings. Please see below the overview for each area of the curriculum and I hope you enjoy seeing the photographs of your children hard at work.

RE- Branch 1 - Creation and Covenant-Autumn 1

The overarching theme of this year is Baptism.

Baptism is the meeting point where people are reborn to a new life in Christ and become part of the Christian community.

In this branch, pupils will learn about the story of Noah, mainly focusing on God’s promise, or covenant, with Noah and with all creatures that ‘nothing of flesh shall be swept away again by the waters of the flood’ (Gen 9:15), a promise symbolised by the rainbow.

RE - Branch 2 - Prophecy and Promise-Autumn 2

The liturgical season of Advent is explored as the four weeks of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas. The references to Isaiah may be taught whenever Advent begins or when teachers feel it is appropriate in the sequence of the branch. 

Children are invited to understand some of the symbols used during the Advent season, namely the Advent wreath, and to explore how other cultures prepare for Christmas, such as Las Posadas, the nine-day prayer and pageant that originated in Mexico. 

Additionally, children should be encouraged to make links with the message they hear in Scripture and actions, considering how Christians today can bring joy to the world. 

Maths- Inspirational Maths, Place Value and Addition and Subtraction

To begin the year the children will take part in a variety of maths lessons that will enable them to show off their problems solving skills as well as develop some basic maths skills. Children will think creatively about numbers and explore different ways of using numbers in everyday life.

The children will then start their first unit of Maths - Place Value, with a real emphasis on counting, recognising and partitioning numbers 0-100. We will be using practical resources in our lessons to support our work such as numicon, number fans, base 10, cuisenaires and counting cubes.

More confident in place value, the children then progress to learning about addition and subtraction. Learning about bonds to 10 and 100, fact families and related facts, inverse and the use of resources, number lines to support their learning.

Learning about Shape - Autumn 2

Children in Year 2 learn about the number of sides, vertices and lines of symmetry on 2D shapes. they learn to use a ruler, draw the shapes and the lines of symmetry. Learning about 3D shapes, they learn how many faces, edges and vertices each shape has. They also learn about making repeated patterns.

Maths Basic Skills

In Year 2, we also enjoy our Mastering Number sessions. In these sessions, we focus on developing our Number Sense. Here we will cover skills of subitising (knowing the amount without counting), cardinality, ordinality, counting, composition, comparison and number facts. In these sessions, we use a rekenrek to support our understanding of numbers and their relationships. In addition to this, we also work through Maths Flashback (White Rose) for our morning Maths work, which helps to recap on our previous learning.

English

We have started a new English programme called Ready, Steady, Write. We teach writing around a set text where we role-play, explore language in the Immerse part; we then analyse an example text by exploring the language and text structure; leading to planning for our own writing based on the text; finally writing our own text implementing our learning throughout the unit. Children also explore 'sentence accuracy' lessons to revisit key grammar skills of Year 2.

Autumn 1 - The River (circular Narrative and letters)

Autumn 2 - The Night Gardener (setting narrative and diary)

Whole Class Read

Our whole class read lessons will be based around 'Rivers and Seas' and ties in with our geography topic for this term. The children will be introduced to various fiction and non-fiction texts. Through questioning children will develop their comprehension skills and be introduced to technical vocabulary.

Geography Entry point-The Coast

For this topic the children will be finding out all about 'Coasts.' In the early lessons they will look closely at the differences between seas and rivers and will carry out research into the cause and effects of coastal erosion. They will enjoy talking and sharing their experiences of visiting a beach or a coastal area and make links to their home Liverpool, in relation to it being a coastal settlement.

Art: Autumn 1-L.S Lowry

We will be looking at the work of L.S. Lowry. Children will have the opportunity to create fact files about the artist and look at pieces of his work. We will look closely at the skyline and buildings in each of his pieces and how he uses this to give background to his work. Thinking about the skyline of Liverpool, children will then attempt to create their own work using sketching pencils to replicate the different skylines of Liverpool.

Autumn 2 - Georgia O'Keefe

Moving on to another artist, we explore her use of 'zooming in' to see the vivid, detail of flowers and living objects. We continue to explore tone and colour mixing using paint. We learn how she became an artist and her life as a famous artist. We complete the unit by creating our own painting in the style of Georgia O'Keefe.

PSHE  - Different types of families

In these lessons children will explore the similarities and differences between families. They will talk about how they enjoy spending time with their family and what family means to them. Children will research 'weddings and marriage' and how different religions might celebrate.

Science-Living things and their habitats

Before children begin this topic they will spend some time thinking of their prior knowledge from Year 1. As a class we will talk about various animals, where they live and what animal group they belong to. Children will then go on to explore other types of animals and their habitats. They will complete bug/insect hunts and recognise where animals live. They will discover that certain animals live in certain habitats for different reasons. Children will learn that different habitats provide for different needs. Thinking about animal needs, children will create their own food chains. Throughout this topic, children will spend time researching scientist - David Attenborough and create a fact file about him.

P.E.

In our P.E. lessons, children will begin with a gymnastics unit. They will learn how to develop balance, agility and control. They will create routines in which they demonstrate how to balance using different parts of their body. Children will be taught various types of rolls and how they can do this by mastering control of their bodies. Using apparatus safely children will be taught various types of jumps.

Computing

The children will re-cap the work started last year using code studio. They will have the opportunity to master skills with programming, editing and de-bugging.

Music

The children will learn a new song - 'Music is in my soul.' They will enjoy looking for the pulse in the piece of music and be introduced to spotting rhythmic patterns. Children will work together to find a steady beat within musical pieces and develop confidence when performing in front of others.