Swish, swish! That’s how you say ‘Hello’ underwater and Year 2 have been swimming along beautifully in their underwater worlds throughout Term 1, settling in to new class groups and routines and learning such a lot together.

Literacy

Our focus for writing through Term 1 has been recount; we have learnt to include all important events and use time-sequencing words, writing in past tense (since the event has already happened) and using compound sentences to make our writing more interesting. While there is always something to write about, our excursion to see The Gruffalo’s Child made for the perfect writing provocation to end the term.

In Reader’s Workshop we have been learning to use clues as we read to create pictures in our minds (visualising) and predicting (making a sensible guess) what might happen in the stories. We have also focused on ways to ensure we have a good-fit book to read each time so we can grow as readers. Sharing our own Hot Reads with others has been an interesting way to find out about different books and try something new. We know that reading is a lot of fun, you can read in a group, or read just for one, you can read at your desk or on your back in the sun, you can read wherever - it’s for everyone!

Mathematics

There are so many patterns to find in numbers, particularly when you skip count. We have explored skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s (forward and backward!) and the different patterns they create on a 100s chart. We have also explored place value to 1000 through a range of approaches, including representing numbers with MABs, number lines and playing a game (or three) of Place Value Bingo.

Rhombuses and kites are no longer a mystery to us as we explored these, along with the other better known 2D shapes and their properties. We can also recognise and make the edges, vertices and faces of 3D objects through drawing, matchsticks and BlueTac and folding nets.

One of our highlights was making kites using a 2D shape we thought might work.

HASS

We live in an incredible world which is ‘chopped up’ in different ways. From streets to suburbs to states, the world we live in is divided in different ways. We are becoming confident to name continents and oceans and explain the connections we have to different places. We have also looked at how places and things change over time. Did you know that the Rubix Cube wasn’t around until the 1980s? Learning why things change over time, such as developments in technology and the sharing of ideas that change how people live have been one of the areas focused on this term.

Zones of Regulation

Along with the rest of the school, we have been spending time learning about the different ‘Zones’ we can be in throughout the day; the reasons we might move between them and why it can be helpful to know which Zone we are in. We are looking forward to exploring our toolbox of strategies to help us when we’re in the Yellow or Red Zones, plenty of fun lessons with our specialist teachers for PE, Art, Japanese and Music.

And in between all these things there has been time spent with our Buddies, participating in our first Cross Country carnival, Harmony Day celebrations and so much more. We are excited for all the plans we have for Term 2.