Year 2 Curriculum News
Term 3, 2025

Welcome to Term 3! We have an interesting term ahead with many exciting activities and events planned to engage and stimulate our learning.

Units of Inquiry

Transdisciplinary Theme

Sharing the planet

Central Idea

Living things go through a process of change

Lines of Inquiry

Recognising common features of minibeasts
How living things change over their life-time
The relationship between living things

This term students will be introduced to many minibeasts and their life cycles, features and behaviours. They will observe, draw and make predictions about a mystery minibeast as it changes forms. They will observe bees, crabs, spiders, moths and ladybirds and learn how they survive and help the environment.

The students will then create a poster, oral presentation, picture story book and PowerPoint on their chosen minibeast to present to the class and show the school community through a year level showcase.

Literacy

We will continue to use the Daily 5 framework when completing our literacy activities. The 5 elements include:

1. Read to self

2. Read to someone

3. Listen to reading

4. Word work

5. Work on writing

Spelling

This term we are continuing with our SMART spelling approach. SMART Spelling is based around whole words with an emphasis on meaning and vocabulary development.

Students must be able to read their spelling words, understand what they mean and how to use them. The students complete daily word work activities using their chosen weekly spelling words and then complete dictation and a weekly spelling test on a Friday.

Throughout each week, the students have multiple exposures to the spelling focus daily. We follow a VAK approach which incudes, visual, auditory and kinestetic. The students work on visually segmenting, decoding and blending words containing the weekly focus.

They use hand movements to chop the words while segmenting and then a sweeping action to blend the letters back together to form a word. Finally, the students write the words using their personal whiteboards.

Earlier in the year we also introduced choral and partner reading. This is also based on the spelling focus for the week. Choral reading involves reading a text altogether as a class.

The students then work with a partner to read several weekly spelling words and then take it in turns to read the text to each other hopefully improving their fluency each time.

Writing

This term our main focus for writing will be Information Reports. The students will learn how to set out an information report with a clear heading and sub-headings. The students will also learn about using facts rather than opinions in their information reports. They will use specific language and word choice and learn how to draw a labelled diagram.

The students will continue to focus on narrative writing weekly during our literacy rotations with the emphasis being on punctuation, bold beginnings, mighty middles and excellent endings.

Students will also be exposed to the qualities which make for good writing through the Writing Traits.

These are:

Ideas - the main message.
Organisation - the internal structure of the piece
Voice - the personal tone and flavour of the author's message
Word Choice - the vocabulary a writer chooses to convey meaning
Sentence Fluency - the rhythm and flow of the language
Conventions - the mechanical correctness of writing which includes basic punctuation skills such as capital letters, full stops, exclamation marks and question marks

Reading

This term in Year 2, our reading focus is on developing fluency, comprehension, and a deeper understanding of texts. Students are learning to use a range of strategies to decode unfamiliar words, including sounding out, looking for smaller known words within larger ones, and using context clues.

We are also exploring different text types, such as narratives and information texts, to build students’ ability to identify key ideas, make predictions, and ask and answer questions. Through group discussions and guided reading sessions, students are encouraged to share their thinking, explain their reasoning, and develop a love of reading.

Grammar

The students will work on developing their editing skills. We will be revising the use of punctuation, including full stops, commas, speech marks, exclamation marks and capital letters. We will also continue to revise, adjectives, nouns and verbs and introduce synonyms and antonyms through a variety of games and activities.

Speaking & Listening

This term, we are focusing on listening carefully and with respect when teachers and other students are speaking.  As part of our unit of inquiry 'Sharing the Planet', the students will be preparing a poster and oral presentation at school as one of their Learning Tasks.

Numeracy

We are looking forward to another busy and fun term in Numeracy as we continue to develop the student’s skills in Number knowledge. We will continue with the ‘Math Daily 3’ of Math by myself, Math with someone and Math writing. We will be building on our knowledge by utilising various concrete materials and manipulatives to reinforce learning and clarify the student’s understanding of the concepts through practical real-life experiences.

We are also continuing with focus groups, where the teacher will work with a small group of children who have a similar misunderstanding of a maths concept, and we work together to try and consolidate their knowledge through activities and worksheets.

Number Fluency

Prior to commencing our Maths lessons, the students have continued to practise their maths fluency and number facts by engaging in a variety of activities where they are required to share their reasoning and strategies. We will continue with prompts where the children are presented with a problem/activity and then have to apply different strategies to try and solve it.

Number and Algebra

During Term 3 the students will continue to focus on the area of number and algebra, particularly multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays. The students will learn to recognise and represent division as sharing and grouping into equal sets and solve simple problems using these representations.

Measurement

During our applied Maths sessions, we will be measuring and comparing objects based on length, capacity and mass using appropriate uniform informal units and smaller units for accuracy when necessary. We will be discussing the language and tools used for each of these areas of measurement e.g., for length we can use rulers, measuring tapes etc and the units we measure in are centimetres, metres and kilometres.

The students will be further developing their logical thinking skills through working on their understanding that objects can be moved, however changing position does not alter an object’s size or features. They will work on investigating the effect of flipping, sliding or turning objects and shapes. The students will be given opportunities to predict and reproduce patterns using half and quarter turns of different shapes.

Inclusive Approaches

Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships and Cyber Safety Project

Students will continue lessons from the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships as well as the Cyber Safety Project.

Students are successfully working their way through lessons focused on developing skills in Emotional Literacy, Personal Strengths, Positive Coping, Problem Solving, Stress Management, Help Seeking, Gender and Identity and Positive Gender Relationships. These have been linked in with our units of inquiry where applicable.

Our focus at the end of Term 3 and into Term 4 for Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships will be Topic 4: Problem Solving, while Cyber Safety lessons will continue to build students understanding of safe online practices including strategies to manage their emotions online and developing students’ capacity to make responsible choices online.

Whole-school Focus on the PYP Learner Profile

Learner Profile focusses

July – Risk-takers 

We approach uncertainty with consideration and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change. 

August- Balanced

We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives - intellectual, physical, and emotional to achieve well-being for ourselves and others. We practice mindfulness to create a calm and relaxed environment.

September- Open-minded

We show appreciation for our own cultures and personal histories. We respect the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view.