Year Two
Communicating with the Year Two Team
We look forward to partnering with you in 2020, and welcome your input:
Julie Hall (Class 2A) hall.julie.a@edumail.vic.gov.au
Stacey Bowles (Class 2B) Bowles.Stacey.L@edumail.vic.gov.au
Literacy in our Year Two Classrooms
Can we start by saying that Miss Bowles and Mrs Hall are so proud of our students! Both classes have settled very well into the routine and structure of the Year Two program, and it has been great to see so many of our parents taking an interest in what's happening across our classrooms.
In the area of Spelling and Reading, we have been reviewing language concepts to build upon previous of knowledge for our students. Students are increasingly being exposed to more complex structures of the English language, as we have been conducting "text audits" to look at language features which authors use to make their writing interesting; such as adjectives to describe a noun which helps the reader to "visualize" what the author has written.
In the area of Writing students have been using personal "writing seeds" which is a technical term for an "idea or experience" which an author writes about. We have a saying that "good writers write about what they know". We are now discussing how to increase the interest of the pieces we write through the use of descriptive language, and trying hard to avoid just writing a recount. It has been great to see our students being able to identify "proper nouns" and "nouns" within their writing, and to suggest adjectives to describe each others' nouns.
In Speaking and Listening, we have been providing many opportunities for students to build their confidence to speak in front of an audience as we conduct regular circle time in class. We have also been continuing to build on our students' self-awareness of how and why "talk moves" promote respectful classroom dialogue.
As most parents would be aware, this year we have begun our rollout of the evidence-based InitiaLit-2, which has allowed opportunity for increased rigour and personalised learning within Literacy. Students have begun taking books for home reading. As part of InitiaLit-2, students have free-choice of short and extended chapter books to take home and read, with the expectation for each student to have "five genres" in their personal book box.
We look forward to meeting with you personally next Monday and Tuesday evening to discuss the progress, and future learning goals for your child.
