Swan Lane First School

Year 2

Welcome to Year 2!

Make sure you visit our class blogs to find out what we get up to every week:

2K Class Blog, 2G Class Blog

Meet the Team

Things to know about Year 2

Year Two is a wonderful and exciting year for your child. It is the final year of Key Stage One and you will see your child being encouraged to work more independently. This guide will help you to understand what your child will be learning and suggest helpful ways in which you can support them at home.

In English, the children will continue to work on the phonics they have learned in Year 1. They will aim to read common words by sight (particularly Common Exemption words), whilst still sounding out unfamiliar words as well as writing written answers to comprehension questions. They will learn further spelling patterns and rules, and begin to apply those in their writing.

Children will learn to write for a range of purposes including stories, poetry and real events. Grammar becomes even more important in Year 2.

In Maths, we focus on counting forwards and backwards, in 1s, using our fingers. We also learn to count up in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s. Children in Year 2 will learn to add and subtract with two-digit and one-digit numbers. They will learn multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times-tables. In fractions, they will find one third, one quarter, one half and three quarters of a shape or a quantity of objects. They will study measures, including weight, capacity and length, and they will learn to tell the time to five minutes. They will also study properties of 2D and 3D shapes, as well as a range of data-handling methods such as bar charts and pictograms. By the end of Year 2, pupils will be expected to know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. Each week we use Big Maths Learn It Checks to improve our rapid recall of the key Year Two number facts. The children have 90 seconds to answer as many of the 40 number sentences as they can. An example of these Learn It Checks can be found on the Year Two webpage along with the CLIC sheets we complete too.

Science in Year 2 is engaging and fun. Expect your child to learn about living things and their habitats, plants, animals (including humans) and uses of everyday materials. They will also learn how to work scientifically, how to observe closely, and how to record their observations.

At the end of Year 2 in 2022, all pupils will take SATS in Reading and Maths. The reading test is made up of two papers, each worth 50% of the marks. Maths is also split into two papers. The first is arithmetic where the basic understanding of place value and number is tested. The second is reasoning, where your child will need to apply their problem solving and reasoning skills to show their understanding. If you require further information on the SATS or would like to see examples of previous test papers then please follow the link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-practice-materials

How can I help my child in Year 2?

Obviously, keep doing all of the usual things that have helped them to be successful so far at Swan Lane First School. Continue to hear them read, practise counting, help them with homework, talk to them about their day and encourage them to read by visiting the local library, bookshops or using eBooks online. Make sure they are in on time every day and that their attendance is high.

Help them understand what they read: As reading comprehension is so important this year, checking your child’s understanding of the book they are reading is an excellent way to support them. Asking questions about the plot such as: ‘What might happen next? Why do you think the boy is feeling sad? What sort of mood is being created?’ will help them to engage with their reading on a deeper level.

You can also do this when you are reading to them, which is still so important at this age. Children learn a lot from the way we read aloud and we can encourage them to see how the author’s use of punctuation changes the way we read their work. Think about pointing out statements, commands, questions or exclamations when reading with your child. You might want to use a range of voices to show how types of sentences and punctuation can be read in different ways.

Real-life maths: Any opportunity to use maths in a real-life context is really useful. For example, ask them to help you pay for goods or calculate change when shopping. This will help to develop their reasoning and problem solving skills. Learning to tell the time, using an analogue clock (not digital), to the nearest 15 minutes, is another great way to support your child’s learning at home; this also links neatly to their counting in 5s in the 5 times-table.

Encouraging independence: Finally, you can develop their independence at home by encouraging your child to get dressed on their own or organise their belongings more independently. This will help enormously as they move up through the school!

By far the most important thing that a child can do at home is read. Children are expected to read each day at home (minimum 5 times a week) and this should be recorded in their reading records. Children are never too old to be heard reading or to be questioned on a book that they are reading. The discussion that can come from reading with your child and questioning them can encourage a real love for reading that really helps them in all areas of the curriculum.

Our aim is for your child to have a wonderful year with us, learning lots and having fun at the same time! We are always here to discuss anything that is important to you or your child. We look forward to a successful and productive year with our Year Two!

Useful Year Group Documents

Useful Websites