Year 2 News

From Risa Hammel, Year 2E teacher

The Fantastic year 2's

We cannot believe it is already the end of Term 1 for our Grade 2s! We have had a busy last few weeks of the term, introducing new concepts and wrapping up projects.

Reading

We have spent some time reading Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, while focusing on character traits and exploring themes in the text, such as hope, suspense, persistence, and teamwork. This unit has also allowed our Grade 2s to investigate interesting vocabulary that you may have heard them trying out, including desperately, wafted, and undefeated, among many others.

We have also taken inspiration from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are in our writing the last couple weeks. Our Grade 2s used themselves for their main character in a story, using something they have always wanted to do as their starting point for a problem and action. These have produced some amazing pieces, and we have seen a lot of passion around these stories!

Maths

We have finished off our addition and subtraction unit in maths. This included practising sums using one-digit and two-digit numbers through dice-rolling games, Bar Model, base 10 blocks, and number lines to jump forward and backward. As always, please continue to practice number fluency at home through skip counting and multiplication facts. You can also help your child practice the mental strategy of adding or subtracting eight or nine, by first adding or subtracting ten and then jumping to get to the eight or nine. 

For example, 16 + 8 = ? 

First, 16 +10 = 26. 

Then, 26 - 2 = 24. 

So, 16 + 8 = 24.

Wellbeing

We celebrated Harmony Week with several activities and have looked at strategies for working independently at school. In Digitech, our Grade 2s have continued to explore new school apps on the iPads safely, while practicing their partner skills like negotiation and teamwork. 

We are so proud of all the hard work the Grade 2s have put into term 1! We hope everyone has a fantastic school holiday and look forward to welcoming everyone back for a fresh and exciting next term.