Year 2 News
St Fidelis' Catholic Primary School
What’s been happening in Grade 2 recently?
As Inquirers, we have been learning about Harmony Week and Peace. We began our learning with a Chalk Talk, where students explored a range of images that represented both peace and not peace. This encouraged thoughtful discussion as students shared their ideas and observations with one another. We then worked together to brainstorm what the words “peace” and “harmony” mean. We shared a variety of ideas, describing peace as being calm, kind, and safe, and harmony as people getting along, including others, and celebrating differences. To express our understanding, we decorated peace symbols using colours and words that represent peace and harmony. We included words such as kindness, respect, love, and friendship, creating vibrant and meaningful designs. This activity helped us reflect on how we can show peace and harmony in our everyday actions at school and in our community.
As People of Faith, we have been learning about Catholic Education Week and what it means to belong to a Catholic school community. This year’s theme, “Christ Beside Me: Walking in the Footsteps of St Patrick,” guided our learning and reflections throughout the week. We explored how our school is a place where we grow in faith, show love to others, and follow the teachings of Jesus in our everyday actions. We discussed how St Patrick showed courage, kindness, and trust in God, and how we can follow his example in our own lives. Throughout the week, we shared ideas about how we can live out our faith at school. We reflected on ways to show kindness, compassion, and respect to others, just as Jesus teaches us. We created footprints that displayed how we can follow in the footsteps of St Patrick.
This week, we will be learning about:
- Numeracy: Addition
- Reading: Meaning making from texts
- Spelling: The graph /a/ making the sound "ar" as in mask.
- Writing: Writing about Reading
- Inquiry: Ways to be Healthy
- Religion: Holy Week
Maths Fun! In preparation and revision for addition skills, students have been developing a range of strategies to help them become quicker and more accurate mathematicians. These are important skills that now need to be consolidated at home through regular practise. Students should continue practising their number bonds to 10 (friends of 10), which are pairs of numbers that add together to make 10. Knowing these automatically will support success with more complex addition. Some examples include: 1 + 9 = 10, 2 + 8 = 10, 3 + 7 = 10 etc.
Students are also encouraged to revise their doubles facts to 20, as these can be recalled quickly to support mental addition. For example: 2 + 2 = 4, 4 + 4 = 8. Additionally, practising near doubles will help strengthen flexible thinking. This involves using a known double and adjusting it. For example: 5 + 6 → think 5 + 5 = 10, then add 1 more = 11, 7 + 8 → think 7 + 7 = 14, then add 1 more = 15.
Regular practise of these strategies at home will help build confidence, fluency and accuracy when solving addition problems.
Thank you for all your support at home!
Have a great week!
Miss Nadia Ascenzo & Miss Sarah Hogan