Year 2

Mrs Taylor

 Miss Edgar, Miss Lambe, Miss Taylor

Welcome to the Sycamore class page! Here you will find lots of information about what we are doing this term as well as information about our routines, PE days, library days and more. Firstly, let me give you some information about myself:

Teacher Bio

Mrs Taylor 

I am now going into my 17th year of teaching and am very excited for the year ahead. I have three daughters, a husband and a guinea pig at home which keeps me quite busy! When I have a bit of time to myself, I love to visit my family, bake cakes or go running. I really appreciated some of you cheering me on when I ran the Bracknell half marathon recently. I have always loved reading. When I was younger my favourite author was Dick-King Smith and I loved his 'Sophie' books. 

The Rainforest and Explorers

In Year 2 we will be learning about rainforests and particularly The Amazon Rainforest before comparing it with Bracknell's Swinley Forest. We will work as a team on some collaborative rainforest collage work and we will also find out about some historical figures who dedicated their lives to rainforest conservation. In Summer 2, we will move on to learning about some famous explorers and how exploration has changed over time. In Science we will be finding out about living things, habitats and food chains. In our writing, we will be telling stories to entertain based on the books 'The Lost Homework' and 'Super Joe' as well as creating instructions based on 'How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth' and recounts based on ' Here I am'. In maths we will work on calculating using money, finding fractions, telling the time and measuring length, capacity and mass accurately. We will continue practising our arithmetic skills. 

Rainforests and Explorers

English: In English, we will work on writing to entertain in two narrative units based on the texts 'The Lost Homework' and 'Super Joe'. We will use everything we have learnt this year to create stories which have lots of description and feeling in them. We will also work on two non-fiction units: instructions based on 'How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth' and recounts based on 'Here I am'. There will also be lots of opportunities in continuous provision for writing about our knowledge and learning in the wider curriculum. 

Maths: In maths we will work on calculating using money, understanding and finding fractions of shapes and amounts and telling the time. In Summer 2, we will work on measuring length, mass and capacity accurately as well as continuing to consolidate our arithmetic skills. 

Science: We will explore living thins and where they live. We will find out about which animals and plants belong in which habitats as well as discovering ways plants and animals have adapted to survive in the rainforest. We will also learn all about food chains. 

Geography: We will link lots of our prior learning together as we study rainforests. We will discover where they can be found and what geographical features we might expect to find in a rainforest before comparing The Amazon Rainforest with Bracknell's Swinley Forest. 

History:  During Summer 1, we will find out about famous rainforest conservationists from the past before learning about famous explorers in Summer 2. We will consider how travel and exploration has changed over time, using the lives of Christopher Columbus and Sir David Attenborough to help us draw comparisons. 

Art: We will work on a collaborative collage in Summer 1 before learning the textile skill of weaving in Summer 2. 

Music: We will be working on the skill of call and response before moving on to make music inspired by the theme 'musical me'. 

DT: We will focus on meal design and preparation. This work will draw on our science knowledge about what humans need to lead healthy lives. We will design, prepare and evaluate a healthy wrap. 

PE: In our PE lessons we will be focusing on developing our ball skills. 

PSHE: Our sessions in Summer will focus on looking after our bodies through making good choices about personal hygiene, diet and exercise as well as considering how to respect each others privacy and discussing the idea of 'growing up'. 

Computing: In computing we will learn how to create simple codes before making music and presenting our ideas using technology. 

RE: We will be considering the questions 'How do some religious beliefs encourage people of faith to care for the world?' and 'Why do some people follow religious leaders and teachers?'. 

Homework

Our expectations for homework are as follows: 

Weekly

Reading: Reading aloud with an adult progressing to more independent reading as often as possible. 

Maths: Daily practise on Numbots or TTRS.  

End-of-Year

Spellings: Children should be able to spell all words on the Statutory Word Lists for year 1/2.  

Times Tables: Children should be able to count in 2s, 5s, 10s, 3s. they will begin to learn 2, 5, 10x tables by heart.

Recommended Websites:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button - quickfire number games to help children learn basic number facts 

http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/ - Number games to reinforce the concept of place value

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/ks1-collection/zbr4scw - Fun songs with actions to teach many learning concepts in English, Maths and other subjects. This is my new favourite resource!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks1-english/z67ncqt - Loads of story telling, poetry and punctuation short films to watch.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks1-maths/zhng7nb - Useful Maths short films to watch. Fractions and telling the time would be particularly good ones to try. 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction - Games from any of the Maths categories will really help your child practise skills they have learnt at school.

http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/spookySpellings/index.html - great game for learning common exception words.