The Year 2 Team:

Mrs Webb, Mrs Sandiford

& Mrs Macdonald 

Routines:

P.E. - On a Tuesday we have JB Sports coaches come to teach our P.E lessons; on these days we come to school in our P.E kit. Our P.E kit should be:

• Plain white t-shirt
• Black/navy shorts.
• Trainers or Plimsolls can be worn for PE lessons.
• Black/Navy tracksuit bottoms for colder weather/outdoor PE.
• Black/Navy tracksuit top for colder weather/outdoor PE.
• No Football/Sports shirts

Spellings – As part of our new Active Spelling Scheme, spellings will no longer be sent home as we are not having weekly spelling tests. However if you would like to support your children's spelling at home please find an overview of the spellings we are learning each half term below. 

In addition to learning spelling rules through Active Spelling, your child is learning their Year 1 and Year 2 Common Exception Words, which are a statutory requirement and an important part of the spelling programme in Year 2. Your child will be given an individual list of CEW which they have regular opportunities to learn and practise in class but it would be advantageous to support your child with these at home too. These will change every half term and you will be sent a new set. 

At North Somercotes CE Primary we follow the Monster Phonics scheme to support the teaching of early reading.

What is Phonics?
The 26 letters of the alphabet and combinations of these letters make 44 speech
sounds in English. The 44 sounds (phonemes) are spelt by 144 different letter
combinations (graphemes). For example, the sound O is spelt 6 different ways: o
(no), o-e (home), oa (boat), ow (snow), oe (toe) and ou (though).
 

What is Monster Phonics?
Monster Phonics makes learning to read and spell through phonics easier, by
categorising the 44 sounds into 10 categories and each of these 10 categories are
represented by a Monster.  Each Monster is a different colour, and this colour
represents that way of spelling the sound.  This makes learning to read and spell
much easier and more fun.

Why does Monster Phonics improve learning?
The child learns through the assignment of colour and the linkage of the sound, as
well as seeing the colour, creating more ways of remembering the spelling.
The games, songs and activities within the programme continuously reflect this way
of learning, so that structure is constantly seen, heard and experienced by your child.
This consistency is critical in ensuring that a complicated language is learnt in the
most simplistic way. 

High-frequency words are learnt much faster with Monster Phonics. These words
make up 65% of the words used in reading.

1. Once colour-coded, high-frequency words can be taught in easy to learn sets
of similar words. This significantly improves spelling.

2. With colour-coding non-decodable words become decodable. Children are no
longer told that words like ‘they’ and ‘my’ are tricky as they can be decoded.

To find out more about how Monster Phonics works visit https://monsterphonics.com/how-it-works/

Reading

As part of our whole school phonics scheme, we will listen to each child read a Monster Phonics book in Guided Reading groups three times per week. On a Wednesday your child will bring the book home which has been read in their group for further fluency practise. A brief explanation of how to follow the activities is included in the books. Children will be able to feel confident about reading and will be able to read this book with fluency and speed. They will have a good understanding of this book and will be able to talk about it to an adult. Please record these readings in your child’s Reading Record. This book needs to be returned to school the following Monday.

For more information on how to support the reading of Monster Phonics books at home please go to: https://monsterphonics.com/guide-to-reading-monster-phonics-books/

In addition to this book, children will choose an independent reading book to take home as we encourage daily reading and reading for pleasure. This book is will be chosen by your child, they may require more or less support reading the book depending on which they have chosen. Please record your child’s reading in the Reading Record with any comments on understanding and fluency.

To encourage reading at home, each time your child reads their name is entered in a weekly draw where a small prize can be won. 

World Book Day 2025

We are so excited in Year 2 to have begun our Numbots journey!

Numbots is a fun, interactive way for your child to practise a variety of maths skills learnt throughout KS1 through games and challenges. Each child has their own login which can be found in their reading record.

You can download the Numbots app or click here so your child can practise at home too!

Each Monday we will be giving out certificates for improved score and practise! 

"Let your light shine so others may see the good that you do."

"Your light is in your heart." - Esther, Year 2 (23-24)

Spring 1

This term we are shining light on Mary Seacole.

Mary Seacole, like Florence Nightingale was a nurse in the Crimean War. 

She funded her own journey and established the British Hotel which provided respite for sick and injured soldiers. The hotel was close the the front line and visited the front line herself to tend wounds. 

During History we have learnt about both Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole and compared their achievements and the recognition they received. Despite both saving many lives and both being well known on returning to England after the war, Florence Nightingale received a trust fund and medals whereas Mary Seacole returned penniless.

In fact Mary Seacole did not receive recognition through a medal for her work until 1991 which was over 100 years after she died. 

So we decided that we would design some medals for Mary Seacole recognising the amazing and courageous work she did helping the soldiers in the Crimean War. 

Spring 2

So far this term...

Maths -

In Maths we are learning about multiplication and division with Mrs Webb. We have been looking at equal groups, adding these together and writing number sentences using X. 

With Mrs Sandiford, we are looking at money, making amounts using the different coins. 

Power of Reading - 

This term, we been reading Magic Finger by Roald Dahl. We have been writing letters to the Gregg family persuading them to stop hunting and writing diary entries exploring the family's feelings throughout the story. 

Geography - 

In Geography we have been learning about the continents and oceans, locating them on a map. We have talked about the different continents and how their climates are different because of where they are in relations to the equator. We have also looked at the seas surrounding the UK and have been labelling these on a map. 

DT - 

Science - 

This Year So Far...