Year 2 - Bumblebee Class
2023-2024
Welcome to our year 2 class page!
Bumblebee Class
Teacher: Mrs Cousins
TA: Mrs Hanley
This page will become a vital 'pit stop' for you to visit and find out what your child is learning at school. You will find lots of important information about your child's school experiences and photographs of our classroom learning.
Don't forget to check our Class Dojo page too.
We share lots of photographs and videos of our learning on Class Dojo, you will get notifications when your child is awarded Dojo points and you can find helpful links for homework, phonics practice and maths games! Class Dojo also has a handy messaging window where you can ask questions about your child's work and we can send reminders and helpful messages about what your child is doing in school.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Our school day begins at 8.45 and finishes at 3.30.
We will be waiting outside to greet the children and welcome them into class. Please wait by the class area gate at the end of the day, children will be dismissed by staff once we have seen you!
Bumblebee Class will have PE on Thursday and Friday every week. Children should bring a named school PE kit in a PE bag and will be encouraged to change for PE independently. Please tie long hair up and remove any jewelry before attending school. It would be beneficial to your child if they can practice independent dressing skills at home and are able to do their own shirt buttons and shoe laces wherever possible.
We will visit the school library every Tuesday. Children will be invited to change their books on a weekly basis.
Summer 1
Hello! Hopefully we will be enjoying some pleasant weather this term and will get outside to enjoy some learning around the school grounds! We have a busy term ahead with lots of learning and fun to be had!
Our literacy lessons will be focused around writing non-fiction texts about plants and retelling the story of The Goose Who Laid The Golden Egg. We will be having a big focus on spelling rules and our common exception words in class.
We are learning about fractions and time in maths this term. We will also be recapping our learning of multiplication and division facts and of course, continuing to practice addition and subtraction strategies.
Our humantities focus this term is our local area, we will be learning about map skills in geography and will discover the local fishing history of Great Yarmouth. We are looking forward to a trip to The Time and Tide Museum to support our local studies.
In science lessons we will be re-visiting our learning of materials and living things and their habitats. We will be thinking about pets and what they might need and why.
Our focus artists for this coming term are Clarice Cliff and Nancy McCroskey - do you know anything about these artists?
Remember to check the class story on Class Dojo for regular updates on our learning and photographs of what we are doing in class. We look forward to seeing what you share on Dojo too!
Newsletter and homework
Curriculum overview for Summer 1
Spring Term 2
Welcome back to school after the spring half term break!
Please ensure children arrive at school punctually at 8.40am. Children should have a warm coat in school (and a hat, scarf and gloves if the weather is particularly cold) as the children will continue to go out to play during the winter season as long as it is not raining. We have space to store your child's wellington boots if the weather is particularly wet when you travel to school.
Spring Term 2
Curriculum focus
Literacy:
Children will be learning to write cultural stories and recounts from personal experience. We will be reading 'Rhythm of the Rain and Little People, Big Dreams - David Attenborough in our guided reading lessons. Children will continue to learn key spelling patterns in our spelling lessons this term.
Maths:
We will be moving from addition and subtraction to multiplication in our maths lessons. There are lots of games and websites that you can access to support your children's learning - we will share these on CLass Dojo when we start teaching next term.
History:
In our history lessons we will be learning about our local area and will find out about Horatio Nelson and why he is significan to Great Yarmouth.
Geography:
Our geography learning will be taking us to learning about fieldwork and map skills we will explore the local area and learn about scale in maps.
Science:
We will be learning about plants in science. Perhaps you could grow some plants at home and find out what they need to grow and stay healthy!
If you would like to find out more about the year 2 curriculum offer this term, please read the overview below. If you have any questions about your child's learning - pop it on DOjo messenger and we will get back to you shortly!
Spring Term 2 - overview
Spring newsletter and homework for Easter
Autumn 1
Curriculum Focus:
Human and physical geography in the local area.
Children investigated the school grounds and learned about human and physical features in the local area. We went for a walk to the river to see how many diffeent geographical features we could find. Children have drawn maps and created keys.
Animals and their habitats.
Children learned about different animals in the local area. We looked for habitats and learned about simple food chains. Children used observational skills in the school grounds and completed tables and charts to show their learning.
The Great Fire of London.
Children learned about The Great Fire of London and how it started. They learned about the houses and streets of London and compared London in 1666 to the present day. Children learned about how the fire spread and considered what could have changed the outcome.
Curriculum information for Autumn term 1
Autumn term newsletter and homework project ideas.
Autumn Term 2
This has been a very busy half term in school. Not only did we have a full timetable with the curriculum, but we also had lots of Christmas preparations to squeeze in too!
This year, KS1 performed 'The Nativity' as their Christmas Performance and invited parents and carers to join us in celebrating a joyous time of year and applaude the children's hard work following all of the rehearsals throughout the term.
We hope that you enjoyed learning about the world with us and joined in with your children's homework projects this half term!
Learning for the second half term...
Don't forget to look at our class story on Class Dojo, there will be regular updates, photographs and messages shared on our class page.
Geography:
Comparing Niarobi, Kenya with London, England.
Children will look for geographical features and compare life in both places.
History:
Continuing learning about The Great Fire of London.
Children will learn about how the fire stopped, what people did afterwards and how London changed. Children will learn about how the fire was reported and how we know about it in the present day.
Science:
Animals including humans.
Children will learn about animals and their young, how animals change as they grow (life cycles) and how we grow and change as we mature.
Autumn 2 Newsletter and Homework Project pages
Spring Term
Curriculum Focus:
Literacy: Children will explore and write poetry. Later in the term, children will create their own non-chronological reports based on our science learning.
Guided Reading: Children will read 'The Quangle Wangle's Hat' and 'Coming to England'.
Maths: Children will compare numbers and learn about different types of measure. Children will deepen their understanding of addition and subtraction.
Science: Children will learn about the everyday uses of materials and what happens when we bend, squash, twist or stretch them.
Art/DT: Sculpture and mixed media, children will explore Roy Lichtenstein's work, create 3d models using wire and plasticine and will create collages.
History: Recapping The Great Fire of London - children will deepen their knowledge and understanding of what happened in 1666 and how life changed following the fire.
Geography: Children will continue their learning and understanding of the similarities and differences between London and Nairobi.
Computing: Word Processing skills and Internet Safety.
RE: Our focus is 'How do some Muslims show Allah is merciful and compassionate?'.
PSHE: Children will learn about where money comes from, wants and needs, looking after money and jobs.
RSHE: Children will learn about their bodies and how they change as they grow older.
Music: Stories through orchestral instruments.
PE: Lessons will be led by Premier Sports and will continue to be on Thursday and Friday each week.
What will my child do in Year 2?
Developing literacy skills
In English, the children will continue to work on the phonics they have learned in Year 1, aiming to read words by sight without having to sound them out individually. They will learn further spelling patterns and rules, and begin to apply those in their writing. They will look at the possessive apostrophe, homophones and near homophones and suffixes.
There will be a more detailed focus on handwriting, with children encouraged to form their letters correctly, learn which letters are to be joined and make letters a consistent size. Children will learn to write for a range of purposes including stories, poetry and real events.
Grammar
Grammar is a hot topic in Year 2! Children this age are expected to understand the following terms, to be able to spot them in their reading and apply them in their writing:
Noun, adjective, adverb, suffix, subordination, noun phrase, past tense, present tense, statement, question, exclamation, command, capital letter, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark, compound sentence and expanded noun phrase.
Maths
Pupils will be expected to know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. They will learn to add and subtract with numbers up to 1000. They will learn multiplication and division facts for the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times-tables. In fractions, they will find 1/3, 1/4 1/2 and 3/4 of a shape or a quantity of objects. They will study measures, including weight, capacity and length, and they will learn to tell the time to five minutes. They will also study properties of 2D and 3D shapes, as well as a range of data-handling methods such as bar charts and pictograms. The new curriculum ‘mastery’ style of teaching concentrates on breadth of knowledge and children will be encouraged to use their understanding of the new concepts to solve challenges to deepen their understanding.
Science
Science in Year 2 is engaging and fun. Expect your child to learn about living things and their habitats, plants and animals (including humans). They will also learn how to work scientifically, how to observe closely, and how to record their observations.
How can I help my child in Year 2?
Help them understand what they read
Hear your child read often, daily if possible, but also remember it is just as important for your child for you to model reading to them. Children learn a lot from the way we read aloud and we can encourage them to see how the author's use of punctuation changes the way we read their work. Think about pointing out statements, commands, questions or exclamations when reading with your child. You might want to use a range of voices to show how types of sentences and punctuation can be read in different ways. As reading comprehension is so important this year, checking your child's understanding of the book they are reading is an excellent way to support them. Asking questions about the plot such as: 'What might happen next? Why do you think the boy is feeling sad? What sort of mood is being created?' will help them to engage with their reading on a deeper level.
Practise spellings with them
Your child will bring home a list of spellings on Friday that we have been focusing on in class for that week, it would be useful to talk through the words with them, which sounds are in them? Do they know what they mean? Can they say they them in the context of a sentence? You could display them in a space where they will look at them everyday such as on a fridge or a bedroom wall.
Real-life maths
Any opportunity to use maths in a real-life context is really useful. For example, ask them to help you pay for goods or calculate change when shopping. This will help to develop their reasoning and problem solving skills. Learning to tell the time, especially to five minutes, is another great way to support your child's learning at home; this also links neatly to their counting in 5s in the 5 times-table.
Perhaps most importantly for maths, you can help your child at home by practising their times tables (2,3,4 5 and 10) regularly. There are many different ways you can do this, but it is beneficial if your child can use and apply this knowledge — for example, not just knowing that 10 x 2 is 20, but also realising that 20 divided by 2 is 10. You could use journey time to school to give your child fun times table challenges. You can also make up word problems relating times-tables facts to real life
Encouraging independence
Finally, you can develop their independence at home by encouraging your child to get ready for school on their own, giving them some responsibilities such as feeding/taking care of pets, tidying up or organising their belongings more independently. This will help enormously as they move up through the school!