Year 2 News 

Term 3 Let’s Go!! 

There was an immense amount of chatting last week when the Year 2 students returned from their two-week holiday break. There is always so much to discuss and catch up on after the students have been away from school for a period of time. 

We were straight back into our learning and our usual weekly routine the last 2 weeks. The students have completed some impressive learning and produced some amazing work. It’s a jammed packed term with incursions, an excursion, a showcase just to name a few. Keep a close eye on Compass as your first point of call to keep up to date with activities coming up that require consent or just to find out what’s happening in Year 2.  

Literacy 

We have been very busy during our literacy sessions over the last 2 weeks. Our grammar sessions have involved revising verbs. We have completed many fun activities including identifying verbs in a picture, identifying verbs in different places such as in the kitchen, in a park at the cinema etc. 

We have also played several grammar games revising nouns, adjectives and verbs. There were lots of laughs as the students played the ‘Silly Sentences’ game adding nouns, adjectives and verbs.  

Our writing consisted of a continuation of our ‘Lucky Dip’ writing where the students choose a picture prompt from a lucky dip box and wrote a narrative story. During this writing the students focused on adding a bold beginning a mighty middle and an excellent ending. 

This week in writing our focus has been ‘Identifying Audience’. The students were learning how to match audience to text. We discussed how our text changes depending on the audience we are writing for. We also discussed how our voice might change depending on who we are talking to. The students did some role play and showcased various scenarios and how their dialogue and voice my alter depending on who they are talking to.  

The students then had a choice of 6 different writing activities to complete. The students chose one of the cards below from a lucky dip box. The result was some fabulous writing targeting a different audience. We hope you enjoy the photos of our amazing writing below.  

Smart Spelling

Our SMART spelling this week focused on the plural rule, Words that end in sh, ch, tch, s, ss, x, z and zz- add es. The last two weeks the students have completed a spelling grid which is the best way to determine if they are understanding the SMART spelling sequence. It requires the students to say the word, write the word, write how many sounds in the words, then write the word divided into the letters and finally identify the tricky part. The students are becoming experts when completing this activity.  

We continue to focus on the Daily 5 ach week. This week during literacy groups the students worked with words, read to someone and worked on writing. The Daily 5 provides the perfect structure for the students to practise their literacy skills.  

Numeracy 

In Maths we have covered the relationship between addition and subtraction through the use of 'fact families'. 'Fact families' are three different numbers that can make two related addition and two subtraction problems. 

The children made a 'fact family' house which demonstrated their understanding as they selected the three numbers they were going to use. We also played a game where the children had to select the matching related number fact to the one they landed on in the game board.  

We have started exploring multiplication and the children brainstormed what they knew about it, watched a video and then added new information that we learnt. We explored repeated addition through a story about a girl who was given a set of stamps. She discovered that each number stamp represented a different shape with that number of sides. Eg 1 was a circle, 3 was a triangle etc. We then completed a worksheet and board game using repeated addition for multiplication based on this book. 

We also continued with money and the children played a game with a partner where they had to work out the change from either $1 or $10s and another game where they had to add up the given amount of coins. 

We have continued with focus groups, where the children are placed in small groups who have a similar misunderstanding and work with the teacher to consolidate their knowledge on a particular maths concept. 

Cyber safety/Respectful Relationships 

In week 1 students participated in a cyber safety lesson titled 'Digital Tattoo' where they were able to learn about the permanence of information they share online and consolidate their knowledge of what details are safe to be shared online and what information should be kept private. 

For the remainder of the term, students will participate in The Resilience Project program which will run alongside out 5 lessons on Respectful Relationships. In week 2 of term 3, students were introduced to the Respectful Relationships program, with lesson 1 focussing on setting the students up for success by revisiting what respect looks like including being a respectful friend. 

The resilience project lesson for the week reenforced the importance of teamwork both inside and outside the classroom, with an emphasis on together everyone achieves more. These concepts will be built on throughout the term. 

Unit of Inquiry 

The grade 2 students have been learning about celebrations and how they are informed by the past and present.  

The students chose their favourite celebration and looked deeper into who, what, where, when and why these celebrations meant so much to them.  It has been enlightening finding out more about our children’s interests. Great job kids!