Year 2
Welcome to Year 2
Mrs Abrey - Allium Class: pabrey@gordon.greenwich.sch.uk
Miss Vander - Violet Class: svander@gordon.greenwich.sch.uk
Learning at Gordon Primary School is broad with a wide range of engaging experiences that reinforce key concepts in every subject. It is balanced so that children receive a full and rich curriculum containing all subjects, and implemented well so that children remember in the long term the information and skills they have been taught. We place priority on the children’s personal, social and emotional development because we know this is key to a successful school career and life in general. Our curriculum is designed to engage and meet the needs of all children and enables them to achieve success in all subjects.
Autumn Term Learning
This term we will be working on the following topics:
English
Our focus texts will be Paddington Bear Stories, Vlad and The Great Fire of London, Toby and the Great Fire of London, Lila and the Secret of Rain and Meerkat Mail. Through these texts we will write for different purposes, including fictional personal experiences and fictional narratives. We will develop our ideas for character descriptions, settings and story retelling.
When reading, we will develop our comprehension of a range of texts.
In grammar lessons, our focus will be adjectives, verbs, adverbs and sentence structure, including the use of conjunctions to join simple sentences.
Maths
We will be using the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics) to support our mathematical learning. We will focus on numbers 10 to 100, including place value, comparing numbers, number bonds and number patterns. We will explore calculations within 20 and develop our fluency when adding and subtracting within 10. We will explore methods for addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers and begin an introduction to multiplication.
Science
We will be studying two science topics this term. In Everyday Materials we will explore the different properties of a variety of materials and carry out an investigation to decide the suitability of these materials for a given purpose. In our topic Plants we will learn about the conditions required for planting and growing bulbs and naming different parts of a plant.
Geography
We will be learning about life in Kenya and comparing this to life in Eltham.
History
We will be learning about The Great Fire of London and finding out what life was like before the fire. We will explore the similarities and differences between housing then and now. We will look at the long term impact of the fire and how it changed the face of London.
Art & Design
We will be exploring the formal elements of art: pattern, texture and tone. We will create printed patterns using everyday objects; take rubbings using different media, and learn how to make three dimensional drawings.
Music
In Music this term, we will be learning about pitch and notation using tuned percussion. We will focus on reading music and learning songs for the Harvest Festival in the first half-term. In the second half-term, we will focus on performance skills, working on our Christmas production.
Computing
We will look at information technology at school and beyond, in settings such as shops, hospitals, and libraries. We will investigate how information technology improves our world, and learn about using information technology responsibly.
Design Technology (DT)
We will design our own monsters using functional linkages and pivots, selecting materials to create our planned monster features.
Physical Education (PE)
Gymnastics – We will learn to explore and develop basic gymnastic actions on the floor and using apparatus. We will develop gymnastic skills of jumping, rolling, balancing and travelling individually and in combination to create short sequences and movement phrases. We will learn to work safely with and around others and whilst using apparatus.
Religious Education (RE)
Using a range of sources including survey data, we learn about beliefs around using offerings to showing gratitude and giving thanks.
Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE) / Relationships & Sex Education (RSE)
Our topics this term are:
Families and friendships; how to be a good friend, about different ways that people meet and make friends and strategies for positive play with friends.
Safe relationships: managing secrets; resisting pressure and getting help; recognising hurtful behaviour and respecting ourselves and others. Respecting ourselves and others. Recognising things in common and differences; playing and working cooperatively; and sharing opinions.
General Information
Reminders
- Your child needs to bring in a labelled water bottle every day.
- The weather is beginning to get wet at this time of year. It is important that your child has a raincoat.
- Children need to read every day. This could include an adult reading to them and also the child reading to the adult. We expect to see three comments a week in the child's reading record book. Parents need to check and sign the record book at least once a week. Reading records will be collected every Monday.
- Allium and Violet Class will both have PE on Tuesdays. PE kit should stay in school in a named draw-string bag.
- We are a Healthy School. Please do not put sweets or chocolate bars in your child’s packed lunch. Please do not send in sweets or other treats when it is your child’s birthday. If you want to celebrate your child’s birthday with their classmates, you could buy the class a book, send in a healthy snack such as boxes of raisins or buy stationery such as a pencil, but due to the impact on the environment, we ask you not to send in plastic toys.
- If your child is absent from school, please contact the school office: 020 8850 5486 and leave a message detailing why your child is absent. If your child has had an upset stomach they can return once they are better. Please try to book medical appointments outside the school day and note that family holidays will not be authorised.
- If you have any questions or wish to raise a concern, please contact the class teacher in the first instance. Please use the email addresses above.
- Donations of boxes of tissues would be very welcome – thank you!
Diary Dates
Wednesday 4th September - first day of the Autumn term
Wednesday 11th September - Welcome Meeting for parents and carers (3:25pm / 3:45pm / 4:05pm)
Monday 30th September to Wednesday 2nd October - Book Fair
Tuesday 15th October - Harvest Festival (pm)
Wednesday 16th October - Harvest Festival (am)
Monday 21st October - School photographer (individual and sibling shots)
Tuesday 22nd October - Visit from Freshwater Theatre
Friday 25th October - Inset Day (school closed)
Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November - half-term break
Wednesday 20th November - Flu vaccinations
Friday 20th December - last day of the Autumn term