Year 2 Spotlight

What a successful start to the year we have had!

Year 2 students have enjoyed meeting new friends, as well as reconnecting with old ones. We have been learning about our school values and establishing routines for our classroom communities. Students have worked hard to establish their roles and responsibilities in their new learning spaces and have enjoyed getting to know their new peers and teachers. A big focus for this year is developing a growth mindset, knowing that it is okay to make mistakes as they help us to learn and grow!

Reading

During the Reader’s Workshop we have been practising comprehension strategies such as questioning, visualising, text-connections, and predictions. Students are building their independent reading stamina and using their reading journals to record and display their thinking. We learnt what a reading workshop should look, sound, and feel like. Can you spot which photos show the Year 2s reading independently, and which do not?

Writing

Students have been working on recount writing and started the year with a recount about their weekends. It was great to hear about the students’ weekends, and for their classmates to learn a bit about each other. We are also excited to begin learning about poetry later this term.

Numeracy

Numeracy has begun with learning about what great mathematicians do, such as using concrete materials, trying different strategies, and learning from mistakes.

We have been developing and refining our counting skills and our place value knowledge. Students have been using their counting skills in a variety of meaningful situations and extending their abilities by counting forwards and backwards from any given number using any given counting pattern. We have also been practising how to represent a number in many different ways.

We have been learning lots of new and exciting maths games like Tug of War, Greedy Pig, Place Value War, Get Out of My House, Mastermind, Make 15 and The Price is Right.

Our favourite maths games are:

My favourite game is Get Out of My House because I like getting counters out of the houses! ~ Monte 2D
My favourite game is Mastermind because you get to use whiteboards and markers. ~ Ava, 2D
My favourite game is Tug of War because you use subtraction. ~ Hugo, 2D
My favourite maths game is Get out of My House because I love taking counters out. ~ Miranda, 2D
Tug of War is the best maths game! ~ Will, 2A

Inquiry

‘Healthy Me’ has begun with a focus on emotional wellbeing. Students have explored emotional literacy and revisited the Zones of Regulation. Students have identified strategies they could use to get them into their ‘green zone’ and make a catastrophe scale to help them identify the size of a problem. They have been enjoying practising the art of mindfulness and will soon be moving on to healthy food choices and water and sun safety.

~ Year 2 Teachers (Mariah, Caitie, Sarah, Sophie & Nicole) and Students