Year 2 - Seals and Dolphins
About Year Two
We are lucky enough to have two large, open plan and vibrant classrooms with some very dedicated teachers and support staff who are passionate about ensuring that every child reaches their maximum potential both academically and personally. We believe strongly in developing children’s key skills including; teamwork, confidence, motivation, compassion, empathy and we really focus on developing the whole child in everything that we do.
Success Criteria
Throughout Holland House, all teachers use Success Criteria to guide the children through the steps they need to make progress within their lessons. In Year Two, the children are extended by using vocabulary from ‘Bloom's Taxonomy’ to encourage them to think at a deeper level. The children in Year Two are becoming familiar with the words ‘analyse’, ‘justify’, ‘compare’ and ‘consider’ so please encourage them to use this vocabulary at home.
Topics in Year Two
In Year Two all of our topics start with a ‘Big Question’ which encourages the children to pose questions to guide their own learning. We encourage the children to think of questions at a shallow, deep and profound level then we adapt and tailor each topic to try and answer the children’s questions. The teaching and learning of English is also cross-curricular so that the children can get completely engrossed in their topics.
We also incorporate weekly science experiments into each topic that focus on developing children’s scientific enquiry skills. An example of an experiment this year was testing materials to see if they were waterproof or absorbent.
Reading in Year Two
We are very passionate about reading for pleasure and we want all children to develop a love of reading. In class we are fortunate to have extensive book corners which all children have access to on a regular basis. These contain a combination of current popular texts, texts linked to our current class author, books that are linked to our topics and there are always a selection of texts to suit all reading levels. We read with the children at least three times a week in Guided Reading and individually wherever possible.
In Year Two we also use a whole class approach to reading whereby all children have their own copies of one class text. We then read this using a combination of teacher reading, individual reading, partner reading and independent reading. We use whole class reading to focus on developing the children’s comprehension of a text and we teach them the explicit skills of retrieving, interpreting and deducing information from a text. In whole class reading, the children will also develop the ability to predict, summarise, sequence, discuss and give their opinions on the shared text.
During Year Two, the majority of children will finish the Read Write Inc phonics programme and so they will have daily sessions focused on SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar).
Homework in Year Two
Spellings are given at the end of the week and are due for return on the following Wednesday. Regular questions will also be posed via our the weekly newsletter linked to different aspects of the curriculum outlining how children can enhance their learning at home.
We also use Bug Club and Spelling Bug to allow the children to access a full range of stage appropriate texts at home. The children have their own personalised logins for this and their access is monitored by teachers on an ongoing basis.
Click on the image above for our Year 2 Curriculum Booklet, sharing information about what children learn during their time in our school Year 2.
