2024 Year 2 Term 3 Newsletter

Welcome to Term 3! We hope you and your family had a restful and enjoyable break. We’re excited to dive into this term with the start of the 2024 Olympics and Book Week. Thank you for your continued support with your child’s education. It has been wonderful to hear about the sharing of knowledge between home and school. Please remember the following:

Please label all school items.
Brainfood (fruit/ vegetable) is eaten at 10 am. Please provide it in a small container separate from the whole lunchbox
No nuts, please
Please look out for communications on our School Dojo and Year 2 Dojo. For any issues please contact the school office: office@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

STAR VALUES

S - Stay Safe
T - Try your best
A - Act responsibility
R - Respect yourself and others

STAR awards will be given to students who demonstrate the STAR values at our assemblies.

English

Reading

There are five essential and interdependent components of effective, evidence-based reading instruction that we follow at St Joseph’s.

Phonemic awareness: Knowledge of, and capacity to manipulate, the smallest, distinct sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.
Phonics: Learning and using the relationships between sounds and letter symbols to sound out (decode) written words.
Fluency: The ability to read accurately, quickly, and expressively. Fluent readers can focus on reading for meaning.
Vocabulary: The words children need to know to comprehend and communicate. Oral vocabulary is the words children recognise or use in listening and speaking. Reading vocabulary is the words children recognise or use in reading and writing.
Comprehension: Extracting and constructing meaning from oral and written text using knowledge of words, concepts, facts, and ideas.

These 5 components are taught consistently through the weekly lessons. Each morning we will continue our Multisensory Structured Literacy (MSL) and through our knowledge-rich unit “The Human Body” embed the components of the English Curriculum.

Writing

Writing is taught explicitly and sequentially in the lessons. It begins at the basic sentence level and builds to the construction of recounts and narratives. Students are also taught the accompanying grammar and punctuation when writing sentences. This term the students will be focusing on complex sentences, including conjunctions and clauses. This will lead to the construction of paragraphs.

Speaking & Listening

We have regular opportunities for the students to learn the skills of speaking and listening.

Informal opportunities to share in class in small groups and whole class sessions as well as weekly ‘Show & Share’. Show and Share begins in Week 2. Please note the following foci based on our Topic ‘Australia and Our Neighbours:

Week 2 Share about an interesting location in Victoria

Week 3 Share about an interesting location in New South Wales

Week 4 Share about an interesting location in Queensland

Week 5 Share about an interesting location in the Northern Territory

Week 6 Share about an interesting location in Western Australia

Week 7 Share about an interesting location in South Australia

Week 8 Share about an interesting location in Tasmania

Week 9 Share about an interesting location in the Australian Capital Territory

Week 10 Share about a place that you and your family are connected to

Please note the days for each student:

Monday: Christopher, Bennett, Harvey, Lilly

Tuesday: Oli, Eliana, Mary, Ethan

Wednesday: James, Harry, Clements, Alina

Thursday: Elise, Ari, Archie, Dylan

Friday: Lucy, Abigail, Lucas, Liam

HOME READING: Students will continue their nightly reading routine. Thank you for the amazing support and commitment to your child’s reading progress. Please ensure that your child’s reader log book is filled out each night and that your child brings their reader bag into school when they need to change their readers. Please ensure your child brings their reading diary to school for checking on Fridays.

Mathematics

We will be focusing on the following units:

Number: Multiplication & Division
Space: Shape
Number: Operations

This term we will have a strong focus on building our knowledge of multiplication and division. If you would like to supplement your child’s learning at home, they would benefit from skip counting (repeated addition) which leads to the fundamental knowledge of multiplication facts.

Religion

In Religion, we will focus on Morality and Justice. These are the learning statements that the students will focus on throughout this unit:

K&U – Knowledge and Understanding

I can explain key scripture stories about love and care for the environment and how they relate to local community issues.
I can explain key scripture stories of Jesus' forgiveness and compassion and their impact on community relationships.

R&R – Reasoning and Reflecting

I can understand the meaning of stewardship in relation to local community actions.
I can understand the significance of the life and teachings of Jesus for building a community today.

P&CE – Personal and Community Engagement

I can think about and share ways people can be stewards of creation.
I can reflect on how my actions impact the community.

Humanities: Geography

In the unit ‘Australia and Our Neighbours’, Students will explore their local area by learning about different places and their features. They’ll look at how people connect to these places and why they are important. They’ll also discuss ways to take care of places and learn how to describe locations and distances using geographical terms. Additionally, they will get to explore the continents around the world.

Term 3 Dates

Friday 2nd August	Green and Gold Dress-Up Day
Friday 9th August	Feast of St. Mary MacKillop Liturgy (Parents welcome)
Thursday 15th August	Feast of the Assumption Mass (Parents welcome)
Friday 16th August	First Aid session for students
Monday 19th August	School Closure Day
Monday 19th August - Friday 23rd August	Dental Van visit (more information to come)
Wednesday 21st August	Book Week Celebration
Friday 30th August	Father’s Day Liturgy and Breakfast Year 2 Assembly
Friday 20th September	End of Term 3 Footy Colours Day

CLASS SPORTS DAY IS TUESDAYS, students wear sports uniform

PHYSICAL EDUCATION DAY IS THURSDAYS students wear sports uniform

LIBRARY DAY IS THURSDAYS for borrowing and returning books at the school library

Contact Information

Please send all communications regarding students’ absences and appointments to

office@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au and include me in the email.

Please note we do not use Dojo messaging and that all communication is through email or by calling the office. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. We are always here to assist and support you and your family.

Tanya Huebner

tanya.huebner@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

Junior Leader: Marta Cummings

Email: marta.cummings@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

100 Days of Prep