Year 2

Reading:

In Reading this term, students will be learning how good readers ask questions before, during and after reading to help them make meaning from a text. They will revise what a question is and how questions need an answer. Students will learn to recognise questions in a text, for example, when we see a question mark we know a character is asking or wondering about something. They will have the opportunity to write or say any questions they have about texts, to strengthen their understanding of the text and help them look for answers in their reading. Students will also be learning about making inferences. This includes inferring how a character may be feeling, such as sad or happy, as well as exposure to character traits which is what a character is like. They will be learning about new vocabulary and strategies they can use to help clarify unfamiliar words in a text. They will also continue to work on making meaningful connections. These connections include text to self connections, where they connect the story to their own personal experiences, and text to text connections where they connect a text to another text they have read before.

Writing:

In Writing, the Grade 2 students are beginning to write persuasive texts. The students will be learning how to form opinions, give reasons and provide evidence as a support. They will be explicitly taught the structure of a persuasive text and have the opportunity to write their own based on their interests. During our next unit in the term, the Grade 2 students will learn how to write a procedural text. They will learn the structure of a procedural text and experiment with creating their own based on food recipes, game rules etc.

Maths:

This term in Mathematics, students will begin with some short focuses on fractions of a whole and telling the time. In a combined unit we will start by breaking whole shapes, such as, squares and circles into halves, quarters, and eighths. At the same time we will translate this learning to reading clocks to the hour, half hour, and quarter past and quarter to.

Later in the term the focus will shift to Number, with units on multiplication and division, and fractions of a collection. Students will explore the idea of equal groups and sharing through stories and hands-on activities. They will use this knowledge in an investigation of simple fractions of groups, including one-half and one-quarter.

Ongoing throughout the term, we will continue to revise telling the time and counting.

Inquiry:

In inquiry learning this term students will be exploring a unit titled Time Traveller. By the end of this inquiry, students will be able to explain that family histories provide an insight into how daily life has evolved over time. The key questions guiding our inquiry are:

What is my personal and family history?
How has family life changed or remained the same over time?

The unit will focus on developing students’ historical skills of continuity and change, cause and effect, and significance in the context of their personal history, school and community. Additionally, as students explore the concept of change and continuity they will investigate ways to look at the past and future reflectively by creating their own personal time line.

Students will continue to strengthen their meta-cognition and thinking skills by using routines such as Connect, Extend, Challenge and Circle of Viewpoints with historical objects and artworks. These thinking routines aim to encourage curiosity and wonder as students engage in the learning experiences.

I am looking forward to an engaging and creative term ahead.

Art

The Year 2s are going to explore shape, form and texture in Art this term. We will work with a range of materials, including charcoal, paint, plasticine and wool. In addition, we will explore ‘mixed media’, artworks that are created using a combination of different materials. Our creations will involve the use of skills such as developing simulated texture, stamping, and handmaking paper and pom poms. Artists such as Quandamooka (North Stradbroke Island) contemporary artist Megan Cope, Spanish painter Joan Miró, and Melbourne based artist Charlie Sofo, will inspire the development of our knowledge. Art activities will involve lots of discussion and problem solving, as we discover creative possibilities in making two- and three-dimensional artworks. It has been wonderful to see the students’ confidence in the art room grow thus far, allowing their artistry and inventiveness to shine.

LOTE

Welcome back to another exciting term! In term 3, students in years one and two will learn to say the Chinese words for seasons, weather and 4 different countries. They will use Chinese to describe and write “today’s weather”. Students will use Chinese to ask peers “what is the weather like today?”. They will also learn to write a sentence to describe today’s weather and the current season.

Welcome back to another exciting jam-packed term of Physical Education! Throughout term 3 we will be learning about Australian Rules Football and developing our skills associated with the game such as marking, kicking and handballing the ball effectively. Students will also be undertaking gymnastics classes where we can focus on students’ gross and fine motor skills in order to complete associated task such as balancing, somersaulting and much more. Finally we will finish the term learning how to effectively bounce, pass and shoot the basketball with both sides of our body. Looking forward to a fun and exciting term with our year 2 students.

Science

This term in Science, students are focussing on the Physical Science strand where we will be learning how a push and pull force affects how an object moves or changes shape.

Students will observe and model the different ways that objects move and change shape, and explore which forces enable objects to move. Through investigations and observations, students will explore, test and record the effects of the push, pull and gravity forces through a variety of different experiments.