ENGLISH

Reading and Viewing 

This term in Reading, we will be focusing on reading Poetry and Information Texts. During our Poetry topic, Speaking and Listening will be closely aligned with Reading. Students will read a variety of poetry to discover vivid vocabulary, analyse meaning and connect themes with themselves and the world around them. Students will practise reading poetry out loud to understand the power of rhythm, how to read with emotion and how to use inflection to convey meaning.  

During Information Texts, students will be undertaking research. Students will be taught how to determine the reliability of the text. They will be encouraged to summarise the key points and main facts of the information to use in their Information Texts. Students will identify the key features of Information Texts and understand the variety of ways they can be presented.  

To support your child’s learning at home, you could:   

• Read and share poetry: Encourage your child to read poetry books or poems online. Make it a family affair by taking turns reading poems aloud. Discuss the themes, emotions, and imagery within the poems. 
• Conduct research together: Guide your child in conducting research using age-appropriate resources such as books, websites, or documentaries. Assist them in finding reliable and relevant information to support their reports. 
• Present and share: Encourage your child to present their information texts to the family. This can be done through a short oral presentation, a poster, or even a multimedia project. Provide a supportive audience and praise their efforts. 

When helping your child to read at home, if they become stuck on a word, pause and encourage them to concentrate on the word. You could use prompts such as:  

• Cover the end of the word and sound out the beginning.  
• Could you chunk or cut the word into smaller sections or syllables? 
• Can you see any smaller words inside this word?  
• Does this word remind you of a word you already know?  

Speaking and Listening 

As we move into the second half of Year 2, the students will focus on consolidating their speaking and listening skills. Students will be encouraged to use the strategies taught and their knowledge of the Zones of Regulation to converse with their peers to build relationships or solve conflict. Students will be encouraged to demonstrate active listening by responding to the thoughts, ideas and questions of others with relevant conversation.  

Students will be encouraged to use the correct terminology when speaking about their learning. We will continue to focus on challenging the students and asking them to voice how they feel during the productive struggle of learning, acknowledging the difficulty they may face with the learning task and implementing strategies to help with frustration.  

To support your child’s learning at home, you could:   

• Read aloud together: Set aside time for shared reading sessions. Take turns reading aloud and discuss the story or content. Encourage your child to ask questions, make predictions, and share their interpretations. This fosters active listening and develops their ability to articulate their thoughts. 
• Storytelling and retelling: Encourage your child to tell stories or retell events from their day. This helps develop their narrative skills, vocabulary, and coherence in speaking. Listen attentively and provide feedback or ask follow-up questions to expand the conversation. 
• Record and listen: Use technology to your advantage by recording your child speaking or presenting. Play it back together, allowing them to reflect on their delivery, clarity, and areas for improvement. Offer constructive feedback and encourage them to practice and refine their speaking skills. 

Writing 

This term, students will explore the excitement of poetry. Using literary devices such as rhythm and syllables, rhyme, descriptive language, similes, metaphors, personification and alliteration, students will write a variety of poems to invoke vivid imagery and engage their audience. Students will explore a collection of poem types, including couplets, limericks, cinquains, songs and haiku. At the conclusion of the Poetry unit, students will create an anthology of poems they have written themselves.  

During the second half of the term, students will conduct research into facts and information about topics of their choice. Using this research, students will write Information Texts to convey this information to their audience. Students will look at different formats of Information Texts to explore the best form of disseminating information for the target audience.  

Throughout the term, students will have the opportunity to revise and edit their work, ensuring correct spelling, sentence-boundary punctuation, and text structure. They will also learn to focus on capitalisation for common nouns.  

We are excited to see our Year 2 students develop their creating and informative writing skills and we look forward to sharing their published pieces with you. 

To support your child’s learning at home, you could:   

• Write poetry together: Engage in poetry writing sessions as a family. Encourage your child to teach you the different poems that they learn. Provide them with prompts or themes to inspire their creativity. 
• Incorporate poetry into daily life: Look for opportunities to incorporate poetry into everyday routines. Encourage your child to write a poem about a favorite activity, a family outing, or a special occasion. Highlight poems or rhymes in advertisements, jingles or songs.  
• Celebrate achievements: Celebrate your child's accomplishments by displaying their information texts at home or sharing them with relatives and friends. This will boost their confidence and reinforce the value of their hard work. 

Spelling 

This Term, our focus in spelling is driven by the needs of cohort. These needs have been identified through the writing of the Year 2 students. The students will be exploring double letters, silent letters, syllables and vowel digraphs. Here is a breakdown of the learning contents for this term: 

1. Double letters: Students will be taught common double letters as well as the instances that a letter is doubled when adding a suffix.  
2. Silent letters: Students will recognise and read words with silent letters (e.g. knife, castle, write). We will be covering initial, medial, and final silent letters using a traditional tale to teach phonic elements. 
3. Vowel digraphs: We will be using accuracy strategies in reading to transfer phonics, applying beginning, middle, and end sounds. Students will be taught variations of long ‘a’, including ‘ai’, ‘au’, ‘ea’, ‘ee’ and ‘oa’ and variations of long o, including ‘oa’, ‘oe’, ‘oo’, ‘oi’, ‘ou’ and ‘oy’.   
4. Consonant blends: Students will be able to write words containing consonant blends (such as 'cr’, ‘rt’, ‘lt’ and ‘ld’). 
5. Words investigations: Students will be learning about the etymology of words. 
6. Syllabification: Students will be supported with this strategy to chunk complex, unfamiliar words into syllables to support their spelling.  

To support your child’s learning at home, you could:   

• Encourage your child to practice writing regularly. The more they write, the more they will become familiar with the different spelling patterns and rules they are learning. 
• Play word games that incorporate spelling and phonics, such as Scrabble, Boggle or Hangman. This can make spelling practice fun and engaging. 
• Read aloud with your child regularly and ask them to spell unfamiliar words they encounter. This will help them develop their phonics skills and reinforce spelling patterns.