Curriculum News Year 2
Term 4, 2024

Welcome to Term 4! We have an interesting term ahead with many exciting activities and events planned to engage and stimulate our learning.

Units of Inquiry

Transdisciplinary Theme:

How the world works

Central Idea:

Forces change the way things move

Lines of Inquiry:

Forces make things move
The different types of forces
How forces impact our lives

The students are investigating how forces change the way things move with our unit of inquiry, “How the world works”. We will be focussing on push and pull, gravity, friction and buoyancy. These are all involved with our experiments with students’ toys, play equipment, paper planes and marble runs.

Units of Inquiry

Transdisciplinary Theme:

How we organise ourselves

Central Idea:

The structure and function of organisations are determined by the community

Lines of Inquiry:

Organisations in our community
The functions of organisations in our community.
The connection of organisations within our community.

Later in the term, the students will focus on exploring their local community as part of our unit of inquiry in “How we organise ourselves”. The students are identifying the structure and function of organisations as determined by the community.

Literacy

Reading

The students will continue to focus on the various reading strategies under the headings of Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expand Vocabulary. The emphasis will be on students reading fluently with increased expression and understanding and comprehending what they have read.

Writing

The students will learn how to organise their writing into paragraphs and when to begin a new paragraph. They will be introduced to Persuasive Writing and discuss the writing traits of Word Choice and Voice when trying to persuade their reader. The students will create advertisements and brochures to encourage visitors to their local community and learn to write procedural text to explain how to complete a specific task. This writing will tie in with our units of inquiry on How the world works and How we organise ourselves.

We will continue to revise the organisation of a recount, narrative and information reports and how to use adjectives to make our writing more descriptive and interesting for the reader.

Grammar

This term, students will revisit and consolidate their understanding of punctuation and grammar as part of our inquiry into effective communication. We will focus on key elements such as full stops, capital letters, commas, nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Through various interactive activities, students will enhance their grammatical skills, developing a clearer and more accurate use of language. This supports their growth as communicators, a key aspect of the PYP Learner Profile.

Speaking & Listening

Students will practice active and respectful listening when engaging with teachers and peers. They will develop skills to attentively hear and thoughtfully respond to others, fostering a collaborative learning environment. This approach encourages students to embody the attributes of the Learner Profile, such as being open-minded and respectful.

Numeracy

Number

During Term 4 the students will explore all areas of number, particularly focusing on recognising and interpreting common uses of halves, quarters and eighths of shapes and collections. Additionally, students will revise the function of Australian coins and notes, practicing counting, ordering, and calculating money amounts, including giving change. This exploration will help students understand the practical causation of money in everyday transactions.

We will continue to incorporate the Math Daily 3 of ‘Math by Myself’, ‘Math with someone’ and ‘Math writing’ into our learning routines enabling the students to practise their learning, consolidate and clarify new concepts.

Space

In our applied mathematics sessions, students will interpret maps, compass points, pathways, positions, and grid references. They will also describe three-dimensional objects using terms like surfaces, edges, and corners, developing an understanding of their perspective in space. This will enhance their ability to see and describe spatial relationships from different viewpoints.

Measurement

We will focus on telling time to the quarter-hour, using the language of 'past' and 'to' on both analogue and digital clocks. This will help students grasp the form and function of timekeeping devices and understand the causation of time’s passage in daily life.

Whole-school Focus on PYP Learner Profile Attributes

October –- Inquirers

We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.

November -Principled

We are fair, acting with integrity and honesty

We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences

December- Knowledgeable

We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.

Inclusive Approaches

Resilience Project Focus

The students will continue to participate in lessons from the Resilience Project with a focus on empathy and gratitude. Students will also participate in lessons from the Respectful Relationships program that compliment what students are learning from the Resilience Project.

Cyber Safety

Cyber safety lessons will run throughout Term 4. Students have been engaged in these lessons throughout the year and have learnt valuable skills to help keep them alert and safe online.

Lessons in Term 4 have a focus on empathy where students will learn about the qualities of a good online friend, respectful online behavior and making good choices when online.