Year 2 News 

Year 2 Wrap Up 

What a busy term we’ve had in Year 2. We couldn’t have fitted one more thing in. From swimming to our Dance Around the World Incursion, learning new maths concepts, playing many maths games, writing a variety of stories, learning about nouns and adjectives , completing activities on Literacy Planet and Mangahigh, learning how to stay safe online and to treat each other kindly, learning about how a balanced lifestyle is influenced by choices we make and how the past influences our present and future, family history, migrating to another country with our beautifully decorated suitcases and finally completing two learning tasks and a variety of assessments ready for reports. 

You can definitely see why your children are ready for a well-earned holiday. We are very proud of all our students and the progress they have made this term. It’s been a productive and busy term filled with some amazing learning opportunities. We wish you all a wonderful break over the holidays. Time to recharge with family and friends.   

Numeracy 

Over the past two weeks we have been focusing on subtraction. As a class we brainstormed what we know about subtraction, such as other names for it, what manipulatives we can use to solve subtraction problems and what strategies we can use. 

We completed lots of fun games with a partner, such as “Subtraction Difference Game”, where you roll a dice to create a 2-digit number, then roll again to make a 1-digit number. They then used their ruler (as a number line) to find the difference.  We also played a game called “First to 200”. We learnt how to use the count back and jump strategy, where you jump back by tens and then ones on both a hundred board and number line. 

We also explored probability and chance and data. We brainstormed what we know about chance words and then watched a video about it.  

We played a game called “Home Sweet Home” where the children tried to get to their counter on the hundred board, but if they drew a King card had to go back to the start and their turn was over! We created spinners that showed an equal chance of landing on each colour and another one to show an unequal chance. 

Literacy 

The students have continued to learn about adjectives. They are learning to add interest to their writing by using a variety of adjectives to describe characters, objects and settings. 

During literacy groups the students added interesting adjectives to describe a colourful bird and an interesting lizard. They enjoyed our lucky dip writing choosing a picture prompt to write about. This is always a class favourite as the students never know which picture they will get when they reach in the lucky dip box.  

A highlight of the last few weeks was when the students completed their adjective portraits. All students drew a self-portrait and decorated it with various colours. The students were then asked to add six adjectives to describe themselves.  We hope you enjoy viewing some of their portraits.  

Last week the students finally added their ‘Excellent Endings’ to their stories. The students learnt all the different types of endings that could add to their stories. We listened to several picture story books and the students guessed what type of ending the story had.  We certainly have some creative writers that wrote some amazing stories using the picture prompt below.   

This week the students enjoyed completing their adjective jigsaw puzzles. They were given a variety of animal jigsaw puzzles that contained many interesting facts and descriptive language. The students had to cut the jigsaw up and paste it back together. 

They then wrote an information report using the information from the jigsaw and circled all the adjectives in the text. During Literacy Groups this week we completed some activities using Literacy Planet, wrote a year 2 reflection for term 2, wrote another lucky dip writing piece, completed an adjective draw and write sheet using an object in the classroom and listened to each other read. 

It’s been a busy few weeks in Literacy and we are proud of the students' achievements. Enjoy viewing our Year 2 students’ amazing work.  

PYP 

Where we are in place and time

Our past influences our present and future  

What a fabulous time we have all been having investigating our current unit of inquiry. We started by viewing 5 short movies of what life was like from the 1900s to the 1940s. 

During the viewing the students drew items of interest from the past. We then began viewing artefacts from more recent times. We set up several tables with items from the past that the students enjoyed exploring. There were old cameras, iPhones, telephones, a record player, a tape recorder, a video player, DVD player, video tapes, film, records and the list goes on.

The students were amazed and interested to learn about the various items we used to use and enjoyed guessing what some of the items were. They drew what the item looked like in the past and then what it currently looks like today and then predicted what it might look like in the future.  

The next session involved the students thinking about their own family. They divided their page into 4 boxes and drew their family, activities they do together including celebrations and food they like to eat.  

The students then enjoyed interviewing one of their grandparents and finding out about their past. From family traditions to birthday celebrations and how life has changed through the years. The students then shared this information with the class and graphed the responses. Finally, we compared birthday celebrations from the past to the present using a venn diagram.  

It was then time to prepare for our migration afternoon. After watching an informative video, we brainstormed a list as to why people migrate. The students were asked to bring pictures to decorate their pretend suitcase and 5 special items to place in their suitcases to take on their migration journey. It took the students quite a while to decorate their cases and finally they added a name tag. They then filled in their passports complete with photo id and finally wrote about the reasons they placed three of their items in their suitcases.  

Thursday afternoon the students were all given a migration map to begin their journey. Their migration took them to various places around the school. The students went through the customs office where their suitcases were checked for suspicious items by our highly trained customs officers, Kerryn, Annie and Janine. It was disappointing to find some contraband in the cases including food, money and additional passports. These students were then questioned to find out the reason they tried to smuggle those items into the country. 

There was lots of laughter and denial going on. Janine checked everyone’s temperature and then sent them to the passport officers, Sherril, Nicole and Jenny, where they were asked the reason for their visit and several other questions. Their passports were stamped and then they continued their journey back to the classroom where the students shared the contents of their cases and why they decided to choose those items.

 It was a highly successful afternoon of role play and we would like to thank everyone for their participation in making it such a fun afternoon.  

Respectful Relationships 

In week 7, students participated in lessons that focused on developing students' communication skills around positive relationships both at school and home. 

Students were given the opportunity to participate in role plays where they worked in small groups to work through various scenarios, with a focus on students identifying and displaying the characteristics that make good friends and what actions students can take at school to promote positive relationships. Students developed an understanding of both seeking help and receiving help dependent on the scenario. 

Students also spent some time identifying trusted adults they can turn to both at school and at home if they need help, feel sad or upset. Students took their hands home to share with their families and were encouraged to add to their list of trusted adults with input from their families. 

Cybersafety 

Students enjoyed participating in a variety of group and individual activities in our Cybersafety lessons to finish off term 2. 

In week 8 students learnt about the importance of making the right choice when online, particularly when faced with new experiences and dilemmas. Students learnt ways to respond positively to challenging situations when online by considering two possible outcomes to a situation or dilemma.  

In week 9 students focused on the importance of choosing positive words when communicating with others both at school and online, and the ways in which we use our words can impact people’s feelings. Students' role-played different emotions and shared examples of when they have experienced them. Students were then asked to list kind words that focused on inclusion, compassion, and courtesy.