Grade 2 Community News

Dear Grade 2 parents and families,

We’ve had a fantastic start to Term 4, with all students thoroughly enjoying the Grade 2 swimming program. There are still lots of exciting events ahead, and we can’t wait to make the most of this final term together before the students move on to Grade 3!

Literacy

During Weeks 3–4, our InitiaLit comprehension and fluency lessons have focused on bringing together all the reading strategies we’ve learned this year to strengthen our understanding of texts. Students have been practising the strategies of predicting, connecting, visualising, asking questions, inferring, summarising, and monitoring to help make sense of what they read.

In InitiaLit spelling, we continued learning about the ‘dge’ and ‘ge’ spelling patterns that make the /j/ sound in words. If the vowel before the /j/ sound is short, we use ‘dge’ (as in bridge). If the vowel is not short, we use ‘ge’ (as in large). Students also explored when to use ‘tch’ or ‘ch’ for the /ch/ sound. If a short vowel sound comes just before the /ch/ sound, we use ‘tch’; otherwise, we use ‘ch’.

In writing lessons, we revisited The Snail and the Whale. Students planned and created their own stories by examining each stage of a narrative. Using the “narrative hill,” they identified that at the beginning of a story we introduce characters and setting, in the middle we describe the problem and how it makes the characters feel, and at the end we explain the actions the characters take to solve the problem.

Numeracy

In Weeks 3–4, we continued our EMP program by exploring fractions. Students practised writing fractions based on shapes divided into equal parts and demonstrated strong progress in their understanding.

We also focused on regrouping three-digit numbers twice to support subtraction strategies. Students are showing great confidence and fluency with these skills.

This term, we have been strengthening fluency with addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts. Our focus has been developing automatic recall of multiplication facts using cognitive strategies. Students have enjoyed applying these strategies in a variety of problem-solving tasks.

In Measurement, students have been learning to read both analogue and digital clocks, focusing on telling time to the quarter hour. They have also explored Volume, estimating and comparing which objects have greater or lesser volumes.

Knowledge Building and Health

Our Knowledge Building unit this term has continued with the topic Cycles in Nature. Students have learned about the stages and importance of both the plant and butterfly life cycles, and they can now describe and illustrate each stage in detail.

In Health, we’ve been learning how to keep ourselves healthy and safe. Our second topic, Water Safety, has been especially timely as we approach summer. Students explored why it’s important to stay safe around water, identified key safety strategies, and examined how advertisements promote water safety messages. They then worked in pairs to design their own creative water safety posters.

Grade 2 Reminders

• Melbourne Aquarium Excursion – Week 6: We’re excited to be heading to the Melbourne Aquarium later this term for our final excursion together! Please check Compass to ensure that payment and consent have been completed.

• Hats in Term 4: All students are required to wear a hat during recess and lunch this term. Please make sure your child has a clearly labelled TRPS hat.

• Take-Home Reading: We encourage all students to continue reading every night and recording their progress in their take-home diaries. Our goal is 200 nights of reading by the end of the year — is your child close to reaching this milestone? Keep up the fantastic effort as we finish the year strong!

Thank you for your continued support and partnership in your child’s learning. We truly appreciate your involvement and encouragement as we work together to finish the year on a high note.

PLC 2