Year 2 News
From Sally, Year 2 teacher
It’s been another exciting week in Grade 2, full of learning, creativity, and curiosity.
Reading
We have been diving deeper into figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, and personification, and learning how these help paint a picture in the reader’s mind. We also introduced quotation marks in fiction, discussing their use and the importance of balancing speech with narration. Students explored a variety of synonyms for “said”, replacing it with words like whispered, exclaimed, muttered, shouted, replied, demanded and discussing how each changes the tone of the sentence and affects how the reader imagines the scene.
When reading together at home, you might pause during dialogue and ask, “How is this character saying this? Could we replace ‘said’ with a stronger word?” Try acting it out to match the word chosen!
Our learning in Reading has flowed into Writing, where we have been adding dialogue to wordless picture books such as Tuesday by David Wiesner. Students have been working on balancing dialogue with descriptive language, making sure the reader can both hear the conversation and see the scene.
For example, rather than writing:
“Look over there,” said Greg the Frog,
students are learning to write:
“Look over there!” gasped Greg the Frog, pointing at the enormous frog leaping past the window.
This week, we are beginning the writing process again, starting with planning and moving through drafting, and revising our own narratives with a focus on weaving in purposeful dialogue and vivid description. We are also hoping to see some of our work with figurative language shine through! At home, encourage your child to tell you a story from their day, but perhaps prompt them to include at least two pieces of dialogue. You can model this together by adding “he said/she said” words with expression.
Maths
We have been exploring strategies for adding and subtracting two- and three-digit numbers. Students have been practising the number line and split strategy to break numbers apart and make calculations more manageable. For example, to solve 456 subtract 127, students might split 127 into tens and ones and have two equations: 400 subract100 and 56 subtract 27, then recombine the answers. We’ve been discussing which strategies are most efficient for different types of problems and encouraging students to explain why they chose a method. This can we fun to weave into everyday problems at home. Take it into mind next time you're at the shops!
Humanities
We have been learning about the Wurundjeri seasons and how these recognise changes in the environment. Students explored how plants, animals, and weather patterns signal seasonal shifts, and compared these to the European four-season calendar. When outside, encourage your child to notice seasonal clues: What trees are flowering? What insects are about? How is the weather changing? This helps them connect classroom learning to the world around them.
House Spirit Day was a wonderful opportunity to come together as a school community. Students proudly wore their house colours, participated in activities, and supported one another throughout the day. A highlight for many was our whole-cohort game of hide and seek, where students worked in teams to sneak, dash, and hide from the seekers. The playground and school grounds were buzzing with excitement, laughter, and some very clever hiding spots!