Primary Coordinator’s Report

Great Learning Happening in Year Two!

Each fortnight we like to put a spotlight on the great learning happening in a particular grade in our school. In this report the spotlight is on Year 2!

During reading group sessions Year 2 have continued to focus on improving their oral reading which has included self-correctly and rereading to maintain meaning, paying attention to sentence punctuation, reading with expression, fluency and accuracy. In each session students are asked to identify the author’s purpose of a text using the PIE acronym. The students will identify and explain if the author is trying to persuade, inform or entertain the reader. Once a week student’s practice using the 5-finger strategy when retelling the story which is: characters, setting, problem, events and resolution. The students have been working hard to develop the skill of being able to make connections to find ways that students can personally relate to a text.  Text-to-self connections is where we connect the text with our own experiences. 

To foster the students’ love of reading, students take part in ‘Flash-light Friday’. During this time the classroom lights are turned off and students are invited to sit somewhere comfortable with a finger flashlight. This is a time for our Year 2 friends to read their favourite book with a blanket or pillow and enjoy a quiet start to their Friday. This is a highlight of week for most Year 2 students.

In writing, Year 2 have been learning about the structure of narrative texts with the focus on Fairy Tales. They have read Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, The True story of the Three Little Pigs and Rapunzel. These classic fairytales and the twists on the originals have allowed students to understand the need for effective character development, descriptions of setting and overall story structure in creating an entertaining fairytale. Students have started to write their own fairytale and have started with writing a description of their setting using adjectives and the 5 senses to make it engaging for the reader.

In Maths, Year 2 are learning different strategies for 2 digit addition. This fortnight they have been focussing on using the jump strategy on a number-line to solve their addition problems. Students have been supporting each other by reminding their partner to always start with the bigger number and make their jumps of 10 nice and clear before they add their jumps of one. The students enjoyed using their whiteboard to show their working which also enabled some trial and error which is necessary in Maths lessons.

In Science, the Year 2 students have had lots of fun engaging in great hands on experiments and investigations. The unit is titled ‘Forces and Energy’. In this unit students explore stationary objects that are subjected to pushes and pulls. Students are investigating how the different strengths of pushes and pulls affect the movement of objects. The concept of gravity has been introduced this week and students have considered the effects of objects being pulled towards the Earth. In this week’s lesson the students investigated what happens when we change the strength of a force. They worked in groups to create a toy car ramp, the students then predicted what will happen to a toy car when the force to push it is made stronger. The students launched their toy car from the launch different marks to measure the distance it travels. Check out these photos of Science in action!

During Sport lessons, Year 2 students have been focusing on Athletic skill development. This fortnight the focus has been on the correct technique for long jump and effective throwing and catching skills.

 Well done Year Two students, I know your teachers are very proud of you all!

Mrs Suzie Monks

Primary Coordinator