REQM Silver Award

Sycamore Class

Picture
Welcome to Sycamore Class!

It is a pleasure to welcome you to Sycamore Class. The children will be taught by Mrs Coles and Miss Smith and will be supported by Mrs Wilkinson, Miss Hunnibell and Mrs Godin.
 
On this page you will find useful information including important dates, what we have been learning about, messages, reminders about homework tasks and some photographs of our best learning. If you have any questions or would like to talk to us, please speak to any of the team at the gate before or after school and we will be happy to help you. If you aren’t able to catch us then, please write a note in your child’s reading record book. Alternatively, you can make an appointment at the school office. 


Show  We have a very busy autumn term ahead of us. Some of our learning will include :

Literacy – responding to stories, descriptive writing, traditional tales, non-fiction animals, comprehension and winter poetry

Numeracy – number, place value, addition, subtraction, length, shape, money, fractions, position, capacity, statistics, multiplication and division

Science – plants, animals including humans

Humanities – geography with Barnaby Bear, famous events in history

Music – duration, pulse and rhythm

Art – mosaics, Richard Friend, Tartan, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro, Japanese Calligraphy, Native American art, Divali, Puppets, Winter art and Christmas

Computing – E-safety, typing skills, word processing, website navigation, graphs and pictograms, coding and Purple Mash pictures

PSHE – class rules, feelings, strengths, hygiene, dangers of drugs, firework safety, road safety, making others feel good, anger

PE – multi-skills, dance, games and gymnastics

RE – How do we show care for others? How and why do we celebrate at significant times?

Reading in year two – The children take on more responsibility for their own books as they move up a year group. They will be assigned to a specific colour band and will be able to choose from a selection of books from that band. We will encourage them to flick through the pages and read the blurb on the back to help them make their choice. As they read at home, you might like to ask them about what drew that to that particular book? Did it meet their expectation? Why? Why not?

PE Days – As in year one, the children come to school in their PE kit so that we can maximise the time that they are active. For Sycamore this is Monday and Thursday.

Library – The children have an opportunity to choose a library book each Thursday. Please help them to remember to bring this in each week to change. We let them choose from across all sections of the library but will check to make sure it is age and content appropriate.

Show and Tell - We appreciate that that the children are often keen to bring things in to school to share with the staff and their friends. We have made a decision to do this in the last week of each half term. If the children wish (and with your permission) they may bring in something closely connected with a topic we have worked on recently, a medal or certificate that they have not previously shown or something homemade (a model, collage or similar - rather than simply a drawing). We will remind the children about this the week before.

School Day - The Year 2 team will open the doors to our classrooms off the main playground at 8:45 to greet the children and the door closes at 8:55 for registration. If you have arrived after this time, you will need to enter the school through the school office. The children will have a morning break at 10:30. Fruit is provided for a snack at morning break, however the children can bring in their own fruit snack if they prefer. The children will have their lunch break at 12:30 and you can choose for your child to receive a free school meal or you can send them in with a packed lunch. We would like to politely remind you that we are very careful to maintain the safety of the children in our school and are a nut free school, so therefore ask parents and carers to keep snacks and lunches nut free. The children will also have an afternoon break at 2:30.
The end of the day is at 3:30 and the children will be delivered back into your care through the same doors that you dropped them off at. May I politely remind you that if someone different is picking your child up, that you make a member of our team aware, through a written message that is sent with your child, or a message to the school office.

Websites and Learning at Home - There are many excellent websites that we recommend the children access from time to time. These include :
Other ways you can help
  • If you would like to be a parent/volunteer helper, please contact us or send a message to the school office
  • Read with your child for 5 to 10 minutes every day
  • Ask the children questions about stories that you are reading to them
  • Complete the homework tasks that are regularly set
  • Give the children opportunities to use money
  • Help your children to count backwards and forwards in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s
  • Help your children practise reading and spelling the common exception words for Year 2 - there are many ways to do this, our favourites include : writing in different pens, wet paintbrushes outdoors, chalk outdoors, magnetic letters, typing and printing out, tracing them in a shallow tray of flour or sand, writing letters on pebbles to rearrange, make using playdough or salt dough, writing on playing cards or post-its, making letters / words with pipecleaners, alphabet spaghetti ...the list is endless.
 
Year 2 Common Exception Words (NC) - door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, climb, child, children, wild, most, only, both, old, cold, gold, hold, told, clothes, every, everybody, hour, even, any, many, great, break, steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last, past, father, class, grass, pass, plant, path, bath, busy, move, prove, improve, sure, sugar, could, should, would, eye, people, water, who, whole, again, half, money, parents, Mr, Mrs, Christmas

We look forward to getting to know you all this year and please remember to speak to us as soon as possible with any questions and queries, Mrs Coles and Miss Smith.