Welcome to Year 2 Meet the Teachers Evening

Welcome to Year 2 Meet the Teachers Evening Mrs Hatfield and Miss Earl

Themes for YEAR 2 • Disney disaster • Mr Ping’s Asian Cuisin’ • Paddington Lost in London • Lighthouse Keepers Picnic • Journeys into the unknown

Themes for the year Disney Disaster! - We will be using a fictional disaster at the Disney warehouse as a stimulus for our learning during both Autumn terms. Disney characters will be visiting the children to tell them about a fire that has burnt down the warehouse and the toys inside. - We will be creating comic strips using the four types of sentence, making wanted posters using adjectival phrases to describe the characters and writing persuasive letters. - The children will be learning about the history of toys, making their own marionette puppet or moving car as part of DT and using 2 simple and 2 paint to create the images and blueprints for their toys. In Science, they will be learning about materials and their properties. - The children are building up to hosting a Toy Shop afternoon where the toys they made will be sold to help the Disney warehouse. The children will hopefully send you a persuasive letter to invite you to this event.

Themes for the year Disney Disaster! - We will continue to use the Disney Disaster as our topic for Autumn 2. The children will become detectives to find out who started the fire. - The children will be writing reports and will be focusing on using conjunctions and writing in chronological order. The children will also write Christmas poems and stories. - The children will be learning about The Great Fire of London in History, comparing it to the fire at the Disney warehouse. We will also learn about the fire on Southend Pier and S. C Darby, a former local buisness. In science, the children will continue to learn about materials in order to make a sparkling scene. In art, the children will be creating pieces inspired by Van Gogh. In RE, we will be looking at Christianity and would hope to visit a local church near to Christmas. - For the summative task, the children will be helping Elsa improve the Christmas spirit by making a winter wonderland scene for our Christmas performance.

Themes for the year Mr Ping’s Asian Cuisin’ - Mr Ping has opened a local business and invites the children to be one of the first customers to in so they can celebrate Chinese New Year together. It is soon clear that the children need to help Mr Ping get ready. The children will be encouraged to use a knife and fork correctly and compare this to chop sticks. - In English we will be looking at various stories such as The Runaway Wok and recreating their own versions. - In Science we will be planting our own bulbs and seeds to supply Mr Ping with ingredients for our food and through DT we will be designing and making spring rolls to eat at the opening. (This may require some adult volunteer work too!) - In art we will be looking at willow patterns and designing our own version on a plate that we will then use in The New Year celebrations. - In Geography we will be comparing parts of Asian to our own country and through RE we will be meeting visitors from a range of Asian cultures and finding out about their beliefs.

Themes for the year Paddington Lost in London - Paddington arrives to class lost. It seems he was trying to get to London to see the sights. The children offer to help him prepare for his trip and offer to take him to London themselves. They find out about London sights and research the history. - In English we will be exploring speech to put into our own Paddington adventure stories. - In geography, we will be learning how to read maps that will help us during our visit to London, and we will be paying close attention to physical and man made landmarks. - In Art, we will be looking at Escher and in how he creates perspective using lines and recreating our own Escher inspired drawing during our visit to London. - Guided visit with parents to London. Each parent and child to pay for themselves, no money collected by the school. Preliminary date—Friday 5 th April 2019

Themes for the year Lighthouse Keeper’s picnic - The lighthouse keeper is lonely and asks for the kids to be his pen pal. He tells them all about his beautiful beach surroundings and they tell him about their school and local parks. They soon become disgruntled when they notice there has been too much liter being dropped at both the parks and the seaside. They come up with ideas to get people to pick up liter and arrange to meet for a picnic. - In English we will be looking closely at letter writing and writing both formally and informally. - In Geography the children will be learning about the human and physical features of the seaside and the park. They will be using atlases, compasses and maps during their visit to Southend on Sea. - In Art, we are looking at Andy Goldsworthy and will be creating our own stone or shell picture at the beach, parks and school field. - In computing, children to take pictures of their art works and displaying them on a Ebook. - School trip to Southend beach and synagogue. Each child to provide a donation to cover the cost of the coach. Preliminary date—Friday 24 th May 2019

Themes for the year Journey’s into the unknown - Children come across a back pack and find out that it belongs to Scott of the Antartic. We are soon contacted by other explorers such as Percy Fawcett and Christopher Columbus who set us the challenge to becoming explorers ourselves. - In English we will be researching and reading biographies of a range of explorers then will write our own biographies. - In history, we will be continuing the research of these famous people and charting them on timelines. - In science, we will be stretching them to try a range of different experiments and paying particular focus on keeping the test fair. - In DT we are making a comforter or pillow for us to have at the sleepover. - School sleepover. Preliminary date—Friday 5 th July 2019 pick up 9 am Saturday 6 th

PE - PE will be on Mondays and Wednesdays - Please make sure your child has their PE kit in school, long hair is tied back and earrings are removed. - As it is getting closer to Winter, we would also ask that children have warm clothes (sweatshirt/tracksuit trousers) in their PE kit. Darker colours will be preferred. - On Monday afternoons, the children will have both PE and PSHE with Mrs Hunter. NO JEWELLERY including invisible jewellery or ear hole retainers.

Reading Records - We would like the children to read daily and record their reading in their diaries. We will also be checking their records frequently. - We will strive to read 1: 1 with your child every week, however this may not always be possible. - In the reading diaries, you will also find the spelling list for the Year 1/2 spelling words, phonics sounds and a guide for reading and phonics for parents. There is also a page entitled checking understanding which has hints and tips for comprehension questions and activities. - You will also find a book bingo which the children can tick off once they have read the book. - If any parents are interested in reading with the children please come and speak to us to arrange a suitable day and time.

Homework - We will be setting reading as homework for the children as we really want to encourage them to read every day including weekends. We see the most improvement from children who read 6 -7 a week. - Times tables are an easy mental work out that can be learnt in songs. There a range of songs on You. Tube. - We may set other tasks but these will not be every week.

Assessments - The children will be doing maths, reading and GPS written and electronic tests throughout the year like the other year groups. - Their writing is assessed by their teacher throughout the year. - This usually means that the children are well rehearsed when it comes to the dreaded S word. We do not use this word at school nor do we discuss or draw their attention to it. - Please don’t discuss this at home as we find it is something they often become fearful and this may effect their performance.

Key Dates - Scholastic book fair – 3 rd-9 th October - Individual and Sibling photos – 9 th Oct - Parents’ Evening – 7 th Nov 3: 30 -7: 30 8 th 3: 30 - 5: 30 - Toy Shop – - Tuesday 13 th November 2019 Children in Need – Friday 16 th November Christmas Bazaar – Saturday 1 st December KS 1 Nativity – Monday 10 th December 2018 9: 30 -10: 30 and 1: 30 -2: 30 Last day of term – Tuesday 18 th December Inset Day – Thursday 3 rd & Friday 4 th January

We welcome your questions and suggestions