Willow - Year 2

Class Letter Summer 2012

Welcome back! I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable Easter break. This term is always the busiest so I would like to briefly outline our plans.

SATs are to take place in this first half term. The tests will begin on 30th April and continue until the 4th May. Please try to ensure your child attends school on these days. These tests will involve a maths paper, a comprehension activity, reading and two writing activities. We have covered all aspects of the tests over the past two terms and the children are used to the way in which the tests are presented. The activities are interesting so the class should really enjoy them and I am anticipating that they will do well. We will not be telling the children they are doing SATs to avoid any unnecessary stress and pressure. They will simply think they are carrying out just another piece of work.

The first unit of work in Literacy will be concerned with the writing fantasy stories. Our remaining weeks of literacy will be spent looking at the work of a number of famous children’s authors. We will explore their styles and choice of vocabulary. The children will work on their own styles of writing and develop their skills in using more detail and greater punctuation. Our ICT work for the first half term will be linked to this work and they will produce their own story. We will continue to change your child’s reading book twice per week. I’m sure you will appreciate what a busy first half term we have ahead of us and for this reason we can not guarantee we will listen to your child read twice a week. We will do our best to hear readers as often as we can. It is really important that you continue to support your child’s reading by reading regularly with them at home.

Numeracy lessons are to remain the same, where skills are reinforced and practised. Homework will continue during SATs to support the work covered during the week. In the second half of the term we will continue to practise and reinforce skills. We will also link numeracy with ICT and teach the children how to navigate routes by programming a floor turtle.

In our science work the children are to look at similarities and differences between each other. They will look for patterns in nature, in both plants and animals. The children will look for common factors and develop their observational and describing skills. We will then move on to looking at electricity and make simple circuits. We will wire the lighthouses (made in the spring term during DT) to light up and programme them to work to a timer.

In History we will be learning about seaside holidays in the past. We will focus on comparing modern day holidays to holidays taken in the 1950’s. In the second half of the term we will focus on Geography and will study Sicily and its volcanoes.

Our music is concerned with playing a variety of instruments and recording how they were played. We will explore how sounds are made and how to change the duration, tempo and dynamics.

In RE the children will be learning about the Hindu religion. We then will move from Hinduism to Christianity. We will compare the use of symbols in both faiths.

Our Artwork is all about using natural resources. The children will be developing their collage skills with detailed planning stages. The children will look at how sculptures are used to blend in with their natural surroundings.

We will end the school year making toy vehicles. The children will plan and develop their ideas to incorporate fixed or loose axles. So once again we will be collecting resources after the two week May holidays. The children will compile lists of what they will need to make their design.

Our PSHE topics are, ‘Me, My Community and My Environment’ and ‘Me and My Relationships’. The children will carry out role play activities to explore these two topics. We will continue with circle time sessions and show and tell.

Details of Sports Day and our Summer Social will be sent home nearer the time.

As the weather is getting better this term please make sure you send your child to school with a sun hat, sun cream and a water bottle. Water bottles will be sent home at the end of each day and should return the following day.

Please feel welcome to come in at any point if you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s well being.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,

Mr Brown and Mrs Kellett