Grade 2

Literacy

In our phonics sessions, students have been exploring a range of sounds, including blends and digraphs, to support their reading and writing. They have been practising how to break words into smaller parts. 

Alongside this, we have been building our comprehension skills by reading a variety of texts. Students are learning to think more deeply about what they read by making predictions, identifying key information, and retelling stories in their own words. We have also been practising how to answer questions using evidence from the text.

It has been wonderful to see students becoming more confident readers who are beginning to understand not just how to read, but what they are reading. As always, we encourage families to continue supporting reading at home by listening to your child read and discussing the story together.

Writing 

In Writing, we explored narratives using the mentor text The Shop Train. Students created story maps that identified the key narrative elements such as characters, setting, problem, and resolution, and discussed how these features help to shape an engaging story. We also discovered how the book is based on real events, learning about the historical Tea and Sugar Train and how it delivered essential supplies to remote communities across Australia. Students compared the narrative elements in the story with the real historical details, building their understanding of how authors blend fact and fiction. 

Using The Shop Train as inspiration, students then practised identifying and writing the four types of sentences: statements, commands, questions, and exclamations. We also built on our prior learning about expanding sentences by identifying the who, what doing?, when, and where. This week, our focus shifted to including adverbs to describe how an action is performed. Students practised adding this extra detail to make their writing more vivid and engaging for the reader.

Maths 

Our Grade 2 students have been exploring the exciting concepts of time and movement!

Students have been learning about clockwise and anti-clockwise turns by describing and physically demonstrating how objects move. They have also explored different types of turns, including quarter turns, half turns, and three-quarter turns, using hands-on activities to build their understanding.

In addition, students have been developing their calendar skills. They have practised identifying the day of the week for specific dates, as well as working out the number of days between two events. These skills help students make connections to real-life situations, such as planning events and understanding schedules.

It has been wonderful to see students actively engaged and building confidence in applying these important Maths concepts!