Welcome to our NEW Year 2 2020

Wednesday 10th February

Dear Parents,
regarding the maths paper that your children worked on today, thank you for those of you who gave me some feedback on this.
This is a Year 2 arithmetic paper so it assesses a child's knowledge of the Y2 arithmetic curriculum.  However, we need to remember that there are some things in there that the children have not yet been taught (eg - fractions of an amount).  Your children have been taught addition and subtraction so should be able to complete those questions apart from the questions where they have to carry and amount to the tens column as we have not learnt this yet.  Your child has been learning multiplication (equal groups) and division (sharing amounts into groups) over the last 3 weeks at home.  If they found these questions difficult then you could look over some of the teaching videos and activities again that have been posted since the beginning of January.

However, what I want all parents to note is that you are all doing your very very best.  Your child is not conditioned to be educated academically at home.  They connect school and their teacher with that.  You are their parent.  You have always been there to play with them, bake with them, mess around with them, take them to the park, cuddle them, bath them and just generally take care of them.  Therefore you may find that they are not responding to you in the way that you would want them to.  It is so hard for them, at such a young age, to all of a sudden see you as their teacher.

So, keep on doing what you do best - being their parent.  A little bit of learning here and there would be great. If they dont want to then dont.  All I ask is that you keep reading with them.  If they dont want to read to you then read stories to them.  Enjoy this time together, you wont ever get it back.  Your child will not look back and remember the maths you taught them, but they will remember that brilliant castle you built, the pirate day they had with their sister, the den you built and had dinner in.  These are the things that you all do best.

When we all return to school, we (as qualified educators) can pick up the pieces.  We are trained to fill the gaps in children's learning and move them forward at their own pace.  The children respond well to us because, in their eyes, that is our role, to teach them.  

Please, please, please do not worry.  I sincerely mean this from the bottom of my heart.

So keep doing the things that you do best, we are in this together.  I will work my magic with your children when I get them back.

Best wishes
Mrs Eckland

Dear Parents

Good morning to you all. I have given some verbal feedback (on Google Classroom) for those children that submitted English work today. Please let me know if it works. Usually I provide a written comment for the work that the children do, however, I realise that I have not been clicking on the 'return' button so I have no idea whether you have been receiving these comments or not. Again, please let me know.

This week is Children's Mental Health week.The theme for 2021 is 'Express yourself'. In light of this, each day I will be providing some activities for the children to try. It is not essential that they do these but may give them a break from the usual daily curriculum tasks. They will be available in Google Classroom or under the Mental Health Week 2021 tab on our webpage.

Phonics Screening Check - a Guide for Parents of Year 2 Children

What is the phonics screening check?

The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonics knowledge.  It helps the school confirm whether your child has made the expected progress.

The national phonics screening check was introduced in 2012 to all Year 1 pupils in the country. HOWEVER, DUE TO LOCKDOWN IN 2020 THIS WILL NOW TAKE PLACE IN NOVEMBER FOR ALL YEAR 2 CHILDREN. It is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in the phonics skills to read words and are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and for learning.

When will the phonics screening take place?

In 2020 the check will take place in the second half of the AUTUMN TERM.

How does the check work?

Your child will sit with the class teacher and will be asked to read 40 words aloud. The test normally takes a few minutes. If your child is struggling the teacher will stop the check.  The check is carefully designed not to be stressful for your child.

The check consists of a list of 40 words, half real words and half nonsense words, the nonsense words will be shown to your child with a picture of an alien. This not only makes the check a bit more fun, but provides the children with a context for the nonsense word which is independent from any existing vocabulary they may have.

Why Pseudo Words/non- words / nonsense words / alien words?

Non-words are important to include as they can’t be read using their vocabulary or from memory; they have to use their decoding skills. This is a fair way to assess all children’s ability to decode.

How can you help your child?

In school we are continually checking your children’s phonic development within our approach to the assessment of reading. This screening forms part of our overall assessment procedure. However, there are a number of things that parents can do to support early reading skill development.

Let your child see you enjoying reading yourself – they are influenced by you and what you value!

Immerse your child in a love of reading: share books and magazines with your child, take them to the library to choose books, read to them regularly, point out texts around you, e.g. in the street etc.

Make time for your child to read school books to you regularly – encourage them by pointing to the words and ask them about the story they are reading.

Use phonics play www.phonicsplay.co.uk. This is a website which is packed with interactive phonics games to help children to learn to hear sounds and blend sounds. We use this in school and some aspects of it are free to use at home.

If you have any further questions, please contact Mrs Eckland.

Welcome to all our Year 2 parents and families. 

We have had a great start to the year. This week we have been reading the story Elmer and writing sentences about Elmer.  We are trying to remember to use a CAPITAL LETTER at the beginning of our sentences and a full stop at the end.   However, today we have been learning about asking questions.  Your children had to write some questions for Elmer beginning with one of our questioning words (who, what, why, where, when and how) and they had to use a QUESTION MARK at the end of their question.

We have also been practising our Year 1 common exception words.  These are the list of words that your children should be able to read and spell by the end of Year 1. Sadly, due to Coronavirus and lockdown, some of these words were not taught.  Therefore we are sending the list home for you to practise with your child.  I have also attached the list to the end of this document.  

We have been trying to spell these words using playdough this week.  Your children are allowed to bring home their playdough to keep.  I would appreciate the containers coming back into school when they are finished with them.  Thank you.