Cherry Tree - Year 2
Welcome to Cherry Tree Class!
Welcome to all of our Year 2 children. We're really looking forward to the upcoming year. We have lots of fun activities and interesting learning to do!
Our Class teacher is Miss Storr.
Our TA is: TBC
PPA cover: Ms Sofflet (Friday mornings) and Ms Chamberlain (Wednesday afternoons)
Life in Cherry Class
Cherry Class are friendly, respectful and curious. We are all eager to learn new things. We are working well in our table groups and are developing excellent listening skills. We love reading, show and tell, and fact-sharing opportunities.
Sometimes we do yoga or mindfulness sessions after lunch to calm us down and help us notice and regulate our emotions. We also use the zones of regulation to better communicate how we are feeling.
The children in Cherry love to share their knowledge about animals and other topics.
Curriculum
We learn about all the core and foundation subjects of the National Curriculum: English, Maths, Science, PE, History, Geography, Art, Computing, DT, RE, PSHE and Music. Although we're not required to learn a modern foreign language in KS1, we sometimes have Spanish lessons on a Friday afternoon each week to introduce us to the language. More information about each subject is also available under the 'Curriculum' area of the website.
Each week during the day we embed our learning through short activities such as creative free writing, maths games and times table practice.
In curiosity corner, we have our fact box, estimation station and creative writing prompts for the children to access.
Homework
Each Thursday, your child will bring home a maths homework. These are to be done in their homework journals and returned the following Thursday.
Additionally, each half term there will be a topic homework sent home. There will be two options to choose from however you could think up your own activities relevant to the topic instead. This piece of homework will be returned by the end of the half term and they will all be celebrated in class.
Please let us know if your child struggles or you feel that they need more practice with something.
Spellings
We learn new spelling patterns each week. We have weekly spelling checks every Thursday. New spelling words will be given out on the same day.
This applies to children who are in Miss Storr's comprehension group only. Children doing Read Write Inc. will practice spellings within these sessions.
PE
PE days are Wednesdays (indoors) and Thursdays (outdoors). Please ensure your child has suitable clothing especially for PE days. PE kits should include a T-Shirt, shorts, trainers, jogging bottoms and a warm top for outdoor PE. Extra socks would be really useful especially if some children are wearing tights. Children need to remove jewellery including earrings or cover their earrings with tape. Long hair needs to be tied back. Please remember to label all clothing!
Supporting your child
There are so many ways to support your child's success.
Reading with your child is great for their writing development, social development, and much more. Ask them questions about what they are reading and what the story means - inference questions are especially good (e.g., "What do you think the character is feeling?" "Why do you think he did that?"). When you read with their child, recording their book and reading strengths and weaknesses in their Reading Records would be useful for us to monitor progress. We will do the same when we read with your child in school.
Finding opportunities for writing will support your child too. Writing postcards, stories, signs, newspapers, comics etc. all allow children to experience the creativity and freedom that can come through creative writing.
In maths, practicing fluency in a number of areas could do wonders. We suggest:
- Counting forwards and backwards from 0-20
- Practicing the 2, 5, and 10x tables
- Involving your child when using maths in the real world is great for stimulating their curiosity and re-enforcing their learning i.e., weighing ingredients, spending money, setting the table (e.g. "If each person has 2 pieces of cutlery and there are 4 people at the table, how many pieces of cutlery do we need in total?"), telling the time, measuring length and distance, counting objects around the house etc., simple subtraction and addition ("I bought 6 apples but your brother ate 2... how many will be left?" or "I have 2 eggs but need 4 for my cake recipe, how many more do I need?")
Any and all practice will be a huge boost to your child's learning.
Topic Webs
Homework
Useful Resources for Reading and Phonics
Oxford Owl - ebooks (please email for class login)
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/
Free access to Collins Big Cat ebooks
https://collins.co.uk/pages/big-cat-ebooks
Libby: This is a wonderful app that lets you access library books for free online (web or mobile/iPad). There are audiobooks for children and adults of any age and genre. There are picture books too. You can access Libby if you have a library card. The catalogue on Libby changes and is dependent on the selection your local library has uploaded.
Youtube also has a wealth of children's stories being read aloud.
Introducing and engaging your child with a range of text types is great! Newspapers, audiobooks, magazines, comics, scripts, poetry, and recipe books are all good to experience.
Useful resources for spelling, grammar, and writing
Karate Cats on BBC Bitesize is excellent for practicing all three of these skills, and for practicing the SATS format questions too!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/karate-cats?
Small Town Superheroes has even more mini-games for practicing these skills!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/small-town-superheroes?
- check back for more -
Useful Resources for Maths
White Rose
https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/
NRICH Maths
Maths if Fun
TopMarks
Not all of these games will be relevant to content that has been covered but there are some good games on here to practice a range of maths skills for your child to access.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/place-value-odd-and-even
Wellbeing
If your child would like support with wellbeing outside of school, you can try these resources. If you would like specific recommendations, please let me know.
Smiling Mind - this is the mindfulness programme we are trying this year in Cherry. It is free to access and has a lot of great calming sessions. If you would like to learn more about it or access it for your child, see this website: https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
Books are a hugely beneficial tool for supporting social skills, emotional development, and conflict resolution skills. This list is a good place to start!
https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Wellbeing_booklist_-_Manchester.pdf
The BBC has KS1 wellbeing support on a range of topics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks1-pshe/zfyskmn
Regulating emotions can be difficult for anyone. These resources might help.
https://camhs.rdash.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NL-Emotion-regulation-e-leaflet-02.21.pdf
https://readykids.com.au/7-fun-games-to-improve-emotional-regulation/
https://www.theottoolbox.com/childrens-books-for-zones-of-regulation/
https://www.readbrightly.com/7-books-to-help-kids-with-their-emotions/