Year 2 News

From Sally, Year 2 Teacher

Edging towards the end of Term 2 and how quickly time is flying! 

Reading and Phonics

Over the past fortnight, we have begun to explore Ancient Egypt, using a range of reading strategies such as inferring, making connections, visualising and asking ‘wh’ questions to build comprehension. Students have also used their understanding of syllables to create haikus inspired by what we’ve learned. This could be something to try at home—writing a simple three-line haiku together is a great way to practise syllable knowledge in a creative context.

In Phonics, our focus has been on the suffixes -tion, -sion, -ous, and -ive. We’ve looked closely at how these endings change both the pronunciation and the meaning of words, and students are beginning to notice these patterns in their reading and writing.

Writing

Most students completed their dinosaur narratives by the end of this fortnight. We’ve worked on building rich descriptive language—separating adjectives with commas to describe characters and settings—and ensuring that each story included a clear problem and solution. As we moved toward publishing, students revised their work at the sentence level, focusing on conjunctions, pronouns and consistent verb tenses. Handwriting has continued to support fluency and stamina across all writing tasks.

Maths

In Maths, we wrapped up our Measurement unit by exploring mass and capacity, focusing on practical skills such as hefting—using estimation and comparison to deepen our understanding of weight and volume. At home, students can continue this learning by comparing the weight of everyday household items, predicting which is heavier, and explaining their reasoning.

We then moved on to fractions, focusing on halves, quarters and eighths using length, set and area models. Students are introduced to key vocabulary including equal parts, whole, numerator, denominator, and equivalent fractions. They are working towards demonstrating that fractions represent equal parts of a whole or a group and are beginning to recognise equivalent fractions.

Humanities

In Humanities, we’ve been learning about the Yarra River/Birrurung Marr and its cultural significance to different communities over time. We also explored how technologies have changed, particularly across generations. Families might like to continue this conversation at home—looking through old family photos or talking about how everyday items like phones, TVs or transport have evolved.

Until next time!

The Grade 2s