Year 2 Curriculum Newsletter

Welcome back Grade 2 families!

How quickly this year is going! Term 3 already! We can’t wait to fill you in on all the learning that will occur this term.

Reading

During term 3, we will continue to explore unknown vocabulary and incorporate it into our everyday language experiences. Students will continue to engage in fluency pairs to work on reading accurately, at a good rate, and with expression. A specific focus will be around reading pace and increasing how many words we read per minute. Our focus will be on text structures and features, including both fiction and non-fiction genres, their purposes, and audiences. Comprehension Strategies that we will continue to learn and practice include:

Activating Prior Knowledge and Predicting
Questioning
Determining Importance
Summarising

In Week 6, we will celebrate Book Week and immerse ourselves in the theme for Book Week 2024: Reading is Magic.

Writing

Our weekly handwriting sessions will focus on:

Increasing writing fluency
Ensuring appropriate space between words
Maintaining legible writing with consistent sizing
Appropriate use of uppercase and lowercase letters

We will explore two genres this term. The first will be to describe and inform in which students’ final piece will be to report on an Australian place. The second genre will be to explain, in which students will write explanation reports describing scientific processes and perform oral explanations of these processes.

Maths

In Term 3, our maths curriculum will focus on skip counting and patterns, multiplication and division, as well as exploring shapes and objects. Students will practice skip counting by different intervals to recognise patterns, which will lay the foundation for understanding multiplication and division concepts. They will learn to multiply and divide numbers through various hands-on activities and exercises designed to enhance their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills. We will continue to refer to time in all aspects of learning, telling time on analogue and digital clocks, focusing on half past, o'clock, and quarter past/to. We will also continue to build fluency in counting specifically focussing on:

Counting by 1s, 10s, and 100s to 1000 from different starting points
Counting by 3s to 30 and by 4s to 40

Inquiry

Our key understanding will involve immersing ourselves in the wonder of the Paris 2024 Olympics, with a focus on geography, digital technologies, and the Paralympics. Each class will specialise in a particular sport or Australian Olympic team and rotate to learn from each other.

We will use digital technology to explore the Olympic and Paralympic games and learn about Australia's location in relation to the world, including the different states and territories that make up Australia.

As their final piece, students will research an Olympic or Paralympic athlete and complete a report.

Some tuning in questions that students will be asked include:

- What do you know about the Olympics?

- How do the Olympics differ from the Paralympics?

- Can you locate Australia on a map?

- What are the states and territories?

- What digital tools do you use at home and school?

- How do you think athletes train and communicate using digital technology?

We thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning.

Grade 2 Team

In Grade 2 PE classes, students will continue to build on their fundamental movement skills through fun and interactive activities. They will engage in more structured games and sports, learning basic rules and teamwork. Students will also explore concepts like spatial awareness and develop social skills through cooperative play.

Japanese

This term in Japanese, the Grade 2 students will develop their Japanese vocabulary through the book ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?’. Students will be supported to read the book chorally. Students will use flashcards to help with their recall of 8 animals and 8 colours. They will participate in games and songs to support their learning. Students will learn to use the animals and colours in sentences. They will develop their reading and writing skills through tracing and copying activities of the focus vocabulary. Students will participate in rotational activities to support their engagement and learning of term 3 vocabulary, as well as revising previously learned vocabulary.

Visual Arts

This term students in Year 2 will continue to explore new materials and techniques to create works of art. They will use new materials such as cardboard and recycled materials to create 3 dimensional sculptures. Students will continue to study the work of famous artists as they follow their ideas and styles when creating their own art. They will continue to paint their landscapes on canvas with visiting artist Bree Morrisonm which will surely be a highlight of the Art Show. Students will be supported to take courageous steps when exploring new concepts and they will work safely in the art room. This term students will experience how exciting it is to share their artworks with their family and community at our well anticipated show.

Performing Arts

This Term in Performing Arts, Grade Two students will be working as a team to choreograph a dance performance to the popular song ‘Can’t Stop This Feeling’. Students will be working on their gross motor skills and timing when learning and rehearsing various dance steps as well as remembering stage positions and rotations. They will build upon critical thinking skills when giving and receiving feedback with each other and develop their on-stage confidence when sharing their performance to the school and community at assembly later in the term.