Year 2 at Heron Hill School
Left to Right: Mrs Hudson, Mrs Scott, Mr Murphy, Mrs Broomby, Miss Dollard, Mrs Cooling.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Arrival at School
Children should meet and wait in the playground on arrival at school. When the whistle blows at 8.50 am they should line up in their appropriate places and stand quietly until the teacher asks them to walk into class. Please help your children to become independent and encourage them to line up with their classes without you.
If it is raining heavily the doors will be open for the children to go to their classes from 8.45 am.
Departure from School
We ask that you collect your child from the classroom door on the reception playground in 2D and the classroom door on the Upper Junior playground in 2H. This is for health and safety reasons and reduces the amount of children on the Reception yard.
Snacks for Morning Break
Fresh fruit is provided for all infant children through the ‘Fruit for Schools’ scheme. There is no need to bring any other snack.
Milk
School milk is available on a daily basis at a cost of approximately 23p per day. If your child is not already registered in this scheme and would like to have milk please ask the office for further details.
School Meals
All children in Reception to Year 2 are entitled to Universal Free School Meals. Meals should be ordered on-line by 9.30 am on the day and can be booked up to 3 weeks in advance. Our school kitchen prepares the delicious hot meals on site, providing 3 meal choices each day. If your child is ill and unable to attend school, please remember to cancel their meal by 9.30 am.
Lunch Boxes
Please label lunch boxes clearly to avoid confusion! In warmer weather it is advisable to put a cool pack in the lunch box.
Water Bottles
Children are recommended to bring a water bottle to school in addition to their lunchtime drink. These will be stored in the classroom to allow children to access a drink hygienically and regularly, and then sent home each night to be cleaned and refilled. Only WATER please. Please label bottles clearly with your child’s name.
Parental Involvement
We are always pleased if parents/grandparents would like to help and be involved in classroom activities. If you are able to offer your time, please fill in and return the school helper’s form or see your child’s class teacher.
Jumpers and Clothing
Please ensure ALL of your children’s clothing is clearly and permanently labelled (pen often washes out).
Physical Education
PE kit needs to be kept in school all week. Kits will only be sent home at the end of each half term to be washed. Please can you ensure that your child brings the correct indoor and outdoor PE kit (every item named) in a suitable bag. Additionally, children with long hair will need to tie their hair back, so please provide them with a bobble. Also, if your child wears tights please make sure they have a spare pair of socks in their PE kit. Please note that children are not allowed to wear any jewellery, including earrings, for PE. Earrings should be removed before coming to school on PE days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) as staff are not allowed to take them out. The school’s policy on jewellery is in accordance with Cumbria County Council’s policy which is that no jewellery should be worn in school apart from simple, working watches. If you are planning to have your child’s ears pierced please do so at the beginning of the summer holidays so that the earrings are able to be removed before returning to school in September.
PE Kit (Indoor)
Plain white t-shirt
Dark blue or black shorts – not lycra/tight fitting or very short - no skorts
Black pumps/gym shoes (socks must be worn)
PE Kit (Outdoor)
Dark blue or black tracksuit
Trainers
Playground Rules
We encourage children to play well together, consider others and share equipment fairly. As they move through the school we support children in being able to resolve minor conflicts independently, whenever they can.
Playground Toys
Children are encouraged to bring skipping ropes to school for use at playtime. They should be kept in your child’s own tray and are their responsibility. No balls or other toys please. We have class toy boxes for use at playtimes outside and a football rota.
Home-School Book
Weekly class timetables are in the front of your child’s home-school book. Please use the yellow home-school book for reading comments and to pass on any messages if you are not able to see the teacher personally. For reading, please record the date, title of book, the page your child has read to and any comment you feel is relevant, on the left hand page. Please ensure your child tells us when there is an important message in this book as we do not check home-school books every day. We ask that you sign the book at the end of every week so that we know you have seen any comments or messages from the teacher. Your child’s teacher will also use the book to communicate other information. We would be really pleased to hear of any comments your child makes about things they have enjoyed at school and about any specific progress you notice. Please use the book for this purpose too. Please note that we will be hearing your child read weekly during guided reading, but this will not be recorded in your child’s home-school book.
Spellings
You can help your child at home by ensuring they can spell the Common Exception words for Year 1 and 2 (see below)
Home Learning
If your child brings home a home learning task, please support them in completing the activity.
READING GUIDE
Books
Your child will experience a wide range of books in school, both fiction and non-fiction. At any one time your child will have two or more reading scheme books, appropriate to their level, to read at home. Please encourage your child to read their scheme books to you and discuss the storyline, pictures and their enjoyment of what they have read. We may send home question prompt cards to help you to develop children’s inference and deduction skills. School reading scheme books should be read two or three times each to gain fluency and full understanding. It is just as important to read books to your child and discuss the stories or content or to share the reading, letting the child join in with repeated phrases or parts of the book they can manage.
Please record in the home-school reading record book when you hear your child read, with comments on fluency, understanding, intonation and expression, if appropriate.
Teachers hear all children read each week during a focused small group Guided Reading session. In addition to this, the children will read individually to teachers, teaching assistants and other adult helpers in school. It is very important that teachers and parents work together so that our children become enthusiastic, confident readers by the end of Year 2. We do encourage the children to change their books on their own so please remind your child to swap them once they have read all their books.
READING AT HOME
Please try to put aside a regular period of about 10 minutes a day to read with your child.
The following are guidelines to help your child read at home:
When children are reading encourage them to:
If your child is struggling, join in and read together. Always remain positive, patient and relaxed.
If your child is reading with some fluency look for:
Comprehension
It is vital that children not only read fluently but have a clear understanding of the text. They will need to be able to extract information and discuss preferences and underlying meanings of what they have read by the end of Year 2. So please do not just ask them to retell the story but ask specific questions, eg
Most importantly, enjoy this reading time with your child.
The Common Exception Spellings:
Year 1
the, a, do, to, today, of,
said, says, are, were, was, his,
has, I, you, your, they, be,
he, me, she, we, no, go,
so, by, my, here, there, where,
love, come, some, one, once, ask,
friend, school, put, push, pull, full,
house, our, is,
Year 2
door, floor, poor, because, find, mind,
behind, child, children, wild, climb, most,
only, both, old, cold, gold, hold,
told, every, everybody, even, great, break,
steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last,
past, father, class, grass, pass, plant,
path, hour, move, prove, improve, sure,
sugar, eye, could, should, would, who,
whole, any, many, clothes, busy, people,
water, again, Christmas, money, Mr, Mrs,
parents, half, kind, bath
Plus: days of the week; months of the year; numbers to twenty; common colour words; pupil’s name and address; name and address of school.
Children will be taught to read and spell these words.
Ways to Support your Child with Writing in Year 2
The writing skills skills we focus on throughout Year 2 are listed in the ‘End of Year Expectation’ booklet. It is important to remember that children progress at different rates and every child is different.
The most crucial thing is to encourage and praise all of children’s attempts at writing and to involve them in enjoying writing lists, party invitations, Christmas cards etc at home. Your child’s teacher will discuss specific writing targets with you at parents’ evenings.
Year 2 Writing
Vocabulary (adjectives and adverbs)
We encourage the children to look for and collect words that describe settings, characters and movement, etc. We discuss their meaning, their effectiveness in the story and how they could use the same and similar words in their writing. We encourage children to use ambitious adventurous vocabulary. Though their spelling may not be accurate, these words enhance writing and make it even more enjoyable for the reader.
Conjunctions
These are words that are used to extend a sentence and enable children to develop their sentence construction, eg and, but, also, when, with, so, as, although, however, despite.
Time conjunctions: First, next, after that, later, then, finally etc are used to vary sentences openings and to write structured recounts.
Openers
We encourage your child to begin sentences in different ways using a range of openers or adverbs, eg Suddenly, Meanwhile, Eventually, Finally, At last, Soon, Slowly, Quietly, Hurriedly, Cautiously, Curiously.
Punctuation
We focus on the importance of punctuation and how to use it effectively in writing. In Year 2 we particularly focus on capital letters and full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas and inverted commas and possessive apostrophes.
Handwriting
Letter and number formation are taught weekly and once children have mastered these they begin to join their letters cursively. Please encourage them to make capital letters and ascending letters taller (b, d, h, k, l, t) and to ensure that the letters g, p, q and y sit on (and not above) the line. Letter and number formation sheets were sent home in Year 1; please ask if you would like another copy.
Targets
Children will work on class and personal targets and should be able to tell you their current targets, which are recorded in their Writing and Maths books.
MATHS
To become successful mathematicians, children need to develop their thinking skills, their ability to use mental strategies and be able to apply their mathematical knowledge. Ideally, we are also trying to encourage children to enjoy maths – to have fun with numbers.
Spread the message: MATHS IS FUN!!
Maths Toolkits
These are available to buy from the school office for £4.00 and enable parents to support their children’s Maths development at home. Once your child has a toolkit, they will use it throughout their time at Heron Hill. They include practical maths resources, more ideas for maths games to play at home, maths websites and teaching approaches to calculation (Year 1-6).
Maths Facts
The following tables show key number facts that we will help your child to learn during Years 1 and 2. Children should be encouraged to use their fingers, counters or other practical materials to count and work out totals.
Please refer to the school’s website for more information on Maths calculation methods and for useful websites to support your child’s mathematical development.
Learn Its
In Year 2 we will consolidate the Reception and Year 1 Learn Its:
1 + 1 = 2 2 + 2 = 4 3 + 3 = 6 4 + 4 = 8
5 + 5 = 10 2 + 1 = 3 2 + 3 = 5 1 + 9 = 10
2 + 8 = 10 3 + 7 = 10 4 + 6 = 10 7 + 2 = 9
9 + 2 = 11 4 + 3 = 7 5 + 3 = 8 6 + 3 = 9
6 + 6 = 12 7 + 7 = 14 8 + 8 = 16 9 + 9 = 18
4 + 2 = 6 5 + 2 = 7 6 + 2 = 8
We will also learn the Year 2 Learn Its:
4 + 7 = 11 4 + 8 = 12 4 + 9 = 11 3 + 8 = 11
3 + 9 = 12 5 + 4 = 9 5 + 6 = 11 6 + 7 = 13
8 + 7 = 15 8 + 9 = 17 5 + 7 = 12 5 + 8 = 13
6 + 8 = 14 5 + 9 = 14 6 + 9 = 15 7 + 9 = 16
The Learn Its your child is focussing on will be sent home in their home-school book.
Arrival at School
Children should meet and wait in the playground on arrival at school. When the whistle blows at 8.50 am they should line up in their appropriate places and stand quietly until the teacher asks them to walk into class. Please help your children to become independent and encourage them to line up with their classes without you.
If it is raining heavily the doors will be open for the children to go to their classes from 8.45 am.
Departure from School
We ask that you collect your child from the classroom door on the reception playground in 2D and the classroom door on the Upper Junior playground in 2H. This is for health and safety reasons and reduces the amount of children on the Reception yard.
Snacks for Morning Break
Fresh fruit is provided for all infant children through the ‘Fruit for Schools’ scheme. There is no need to bring any other snack.
Milk
School milk is available on a daily basis at a cost of approximately 23p per day. If your child is not already registered in this scheme and would like to have milk please ask the office for further details.
School Meals
All children in Reception to Year 2 are entitled to Universal Free School Meals. Meals should be ordered on-line by 9.30 am on the day and can be booked up to 3 weeks in advance. Our school kitchen prepares the delicious hot meals on site, providing 3 meal choices each day. If your child is ill and unable to attend school, please remember to cancel their meal by 9.30 am.
Lunch Boxes
Please label lunch boxes clearly to avoid confusion! In warmer weather it is advisable to put a cool pack in the lunch box.
Water Bottles
Children are recommended to bring a water bottle to school in addition to their lunchtime drink. These will be stored in the classroom to allow children to access a drink hygienically and regularly, and then sent home each night to be cleaned and refilled. Only WATER please. Please label bottles clearly with your child’s name.
Parental Involvement
We are always pleased if parents/grandparents would like to help and be involved in classroom activities. If you are able to offer your time, please fill in and return the school helper’s form or see your child’s class teacher.
Jumpers and Clothing
Please ensure ALL of your children’s clothing is clearly and permanently labelled (pen often washes out).
Physical Education
PE kit needs to be kept in school all week. Kits will only be sent home at the end of each half term to be washed. Please can you ensure that your child brings the correct indoor and outdoor PE kit (every item named) in a suitable bag. Additionally, children with long hair will need to tie their hair back, so please provide them with a bobble. Also, if your child wears tights please make sure they have a spare pair of socks in their PE kit. Please note that children are not allowed to wear any jewellery, including earrings, for PE. Earrings should be removed before coming to school on PE days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) as staff are not allowed to take them out. The school’s policy on jewellery is in accordance with Cumbria County Council’s policy which is that no jewellery should be worn in school apart from simple, working watches. If you are planning to have your child’s ears pierced please do so at the beginning of the summer holidays so that the earrings are able to be removed before returning to school in September.
PE Kit (Indoor)
Plain white t-shirt
Dark blue or black shorts – not lycra/tight fitting or very short - no skorts
Black pumps/gym shoes (socks must be worn)
PE Kit (Outdoor)
Dark blue or black tracksuit
Trainers
Playground Rules
We encourage children to play well together, consider others and share equipment fairly. As they move through the school we support children in being able to resolve minor conflicts independently, whenever they can.
Playground Toys
Children are encouraged to bring skipping ropes to school for use at playtime. They should be kept in your child’s own tray and are their responsibility. No balls or other toys please. We have class toy boxes for use at playtimes outside and a football rota.
Home-School Book
Weekly class timetables are in the front of your child’s home-school book. Please use the yellow home-school book for reading comments and to pass on any messages if you are not able to see the teacher personally. For reading, please record the date, title of book, the page your child has read to and any comment you feel is relevant, on the left hand page. Please ensure your child tells us when there is an important message in this book as we do not check home-school books every day. We ask that you sign the book at the end of every week so that we know you have seen any comments or messages from the teacher. Your child’s teacher will also use the book to communicate other information. We would be really pleased to hear of any comments your child makes about things they have enjoyed at school and about any specific progress you notice. Please use the book for this purpose too. Please note that we will be hearing your child read weekly during guided reading, but this will not be recorded in your child’s home-school book.
Spellings
You can help your child at home by ensuring they can spell the Common Exception words for Year 1 and 2 (see below)
Home Learning
If your child brings home a home learning task, please support them in completing the activity.
READING GUIDE
Books
Your child will experience a wide range of books in school, both fiction and non-fiction. At any one time your child will have two or more reading scheme books, appropriate to their level, to read at home. Please encourage your child to read their scheme books to you and discuss the storyline, pictures and their enjoyment of what they have read. We may send home question prompt cards to help you to develop children’s inference and deduction skills. School reading scheme books should be read two or three times each to gain fluency and full understanding. It is just as important to read books to your child and discuss the stories or content or to share the reading, letting the child join in with repeated phrases or parts of the book they can manage.
Please record in the home-school reading record book when you hear your child read, with comments on fluency, understanding, intonation and expression, if appropriate.
Teachers hear all children read each week during a focused small group Guided Reading session. In addition to this, the children will read individually to teachers, teaching assistants and other adult helpers in school. It is very important that teachers and parents work together so that our children become enthusiastic, confident readers by the end of Year 2. We do encourage the children to change their books on their own so please remind your child to swap them once they have read all their books.
READING AT HOME
Please try to put aside a regular period of about 10 minutes a day to read with your child.
The following are guidelines to help your child read at home:
- read stories together
- talk about the story together, discussing characters, key events, etc
- let your children see you reading
- make shopping lists together
- help your children to read signs and labels when out together
- visit the library together and help them to choose suitable books
- share songs and rhymes
- listen to CDs of books and songs
- discuss films or television programmes with them.
When children are reading encourage them to:
- use initial sounds
- sound out whole words
- use picture clues
- make a sensible guess
- re-read a sentence for sense, or if mistakes have been made.
If your child is struggling, join in and read together. Always remain positive, patient and relaxed.
If your child is reading with some fluency look for:
- correct phrasing
- taking note of punctuation
- change of pace
- use of speaking voices
- use of expression/intonation
- full comprehension of the text.
Comprehension
It is vital that children not only read fluently but have a clear understanding of the text. They will need to be able to extract information and discuss preferences and underlying meanings of what they have read by the end of Year 2. So please do not just ask them to retell the story but ask specific questions, eg
- What is happening here?
- What might happen next?
- Can you think of a different ending?
- Why do think that happened?
- Why did the character (use the name of the character) act like this?
Most importantly, enjoy this reading time with your child.
The Common Exception Spellings:
Year 1
the, a, do, to, today, of,
said, says, are, were, was, his,
has, I, you, your, they, be,
he, me, she, we, no, go,
so, by, my, here, there, where,
love, come, some, one, once, ask,
friend, school, put, push, pull, full,
house, our, is,
Year 2
door, floor, poor, because, find, mind,
behind, child, children, wild, climb, most,
only, both, old, cold, gold, hold,
told, every, everybody, even, great, break,
steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last,
past, father, class, grass, pass, plant,
path, hour, move, prove, improve, sure,
sugar, eye, could, should, would, who,
whole, any, many, clothes, busy, people,
water, again, Christmas, money, Mr, Mrs,
parents, half, kind, bath
Plus: days of the week; months of the year; numbers to twenty; common colour words; pupil’s name and address; name and address of school.
Children will be taught to read and spell these words.
Ways to Support your Child with Writing in Year 2
The writing skills skills we focus on throughout Year 2 are listed in the ‘End of Year Expectation’ booklet. It is important to remember that children progress at different rates and every child is different.
The most crucial thing is to encourage and praise all of children’s attempts at writing and to involve them in enjoying writing lists, party invitations, Christmas cards etc at home. Your child’s teacher will discuss specific writing targets with you at parents’ evenings.
Year 2 Writing
- In Year 2 children will gain experience of many different kinds of writing throughout the year, including story writing, letters, recounts of trips, non-fiction skills such as writing captions, labelling and writing their own facts.
- Over the year, your child will become very familiar with the terms ‘vocabulary, conjunctions, openers and punctuation’. We focus heavily on grammatical terms, what they mean and how they can use them effectively to improve their writing. The following skills, used effectively, can have the largest impact on their writing:
Vocabulary (adjectives and adverbs)
We encourage the children to look for and collect words that describe settings, characters and movement, etc. We discuss their meaning, their effectiveness in the story and how they could use the same and similar words in their writing. We encourage children to use ambitious adventurous vocabulary. Though their spelling may not be accurate, these words enhance writing and make it even more enjoyable for the reader.
Conjunctions
These are words that are used to extend a sentence and enable children to develop their sentence construction, eg and, but, also, when, with, so, as, although, however, despite.
Time conjunctions: First, next, after that, later, then, finally etc are used to vary sentences openings and to write structured recounts.
Openers
We encourage your child to begin sentences in different ways using a range of openers or adverbs, eg Suddenly, Meanwhile, Eventually, Finally, At last, Soon, Slowly, Quietly, Hurriedly, Cautiously, Curiously.
Punctuation
We focus on the importance of punctuation and how to use it effectively in writing. In Year 2 we particularly focus on capital letters and full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas and inverted commas and possessive apostrophes.
Handwriting
Letter and number formation are taught weekly and once children have mastered these they begin to join their letters cursively. Please encourage them to make capital letters and ascending letters taller (b, d, h, k, l, t) and to ensure that the letters g, p, q and y sit on (and not above) the line. Letter and number formation sheets were sent home in Year 1; please ask if you would like another copy.
Targets
Children will work on class and personal targets and should be able to tell you their current targets, which are recorded in their Writing and Maths books.
MATHS
To become successful mathematicians, children need to develop their thinking skills, their ability to use mental strategies and be able to apply their mathematical knowledge. Ideally, we are also trying to encourage children to enjoy maths – to have fun with numbers.
Spread the message: MATHS IS FUN!!
Maths Toolkits
These are available to buy from the school office for £4.00 and enable parents to support their children’s Maths development at home. Once your child has a toolkit, they will use it throughout their time at Heron Hill. They include practical maths resources, more ideas for maths games to play at home, maths websites and teaching approaches to calculation (Year 1-6).
Maths Facts
The following tables show key number facts that we will help your child to learn during Years 1 and 2. Children should be encouraged to use their fingers, counters or other practical materials to count and work out totals.
Please refer to the school’s website for more information on Maths calculation methods and for useful websites to support your child’s mathematical development.
Learn Its
In Year 2 we will consolidate the Reception and Year 1 Learn Its:
1 + 1 = 2 2 + 2 = 4 3 + 3 = 6 4 + 4 = 8
5 + 5 = 10 2 + 1 = 3 2 + 3 = 5 1 + 9 = 10
2 + 8 = 10 3 + 7 = 10 4 + 6 = 10 7 + 2 = 9
9 + 2 = 11 4 + 3 = 7 5 + 3 = 8 6 + 3 = 9
6 + 6 = 12 7 + 7 = 14 8 + 8 = 16 9 + 9 = 18
4 + 2 = 6 5 + 2 = 7 6 + 2 = 8
We will also learn the Year 2 Learn Its:
4 + 7 = 11 4 + 8 = 12 4 + 9 = 11 3 + 8 = 11
3 + 9 = 12 5 + 4 = 9 5 + 6 = 11 6 + 7 = 13
8 + 7 = 15 8 + 9 = 17 5 + 7 = 12 5 + 8 = 13
6 + 8 = 14 5 + 9 = 14 6 + 9 = 15 7 + 9 = 16
The Learn Its your child is focussing on will be sent home in their home-school book.
Behaviour/Reward System
Key Stage 1 classes operate the Sun/Raincloud/Thundercloud system and Golden Time treats. Every child starts each new day on the sun. If a child has behaved in a way that means their name has been moved onto the thundercloud at any time during the week, they will lose some of their Golden Time (an extra five minutes play on Friday afternoon). Classes can also earn an extra Golden Time afternoon reward by collecting 50 marbles in a jar. Children can earn stickers or house points for making an extra effort with their class work, for showing consideration to others or for being extra helpful. We will cover aspects of behaviour, social and co-operative skills etc as an integral part of our teaching. These aspects are also addressed in our Key Stage 1 weekly assemblies.
Spoken Language (Speaking and Listening)
This is a vital part of English and maths. A child cannot be expected to write about something unless they are able to talk about it. We give the children lots of opportunities to share their experiences throughout the whole curriculum – through paired, group and whole class speaking. We also give the children opportunities to listen both to us and to one another. Listening can be hardest thing to learn for many children!
Family Group Point System
All children at Heron Hill are put into one of four ‘family groups’ which are named after Kendal’s bridges – Miller, Nether, Romney and Victoria. The children stay in this family group through their Heron Hill years and will be in the same family group as their brothers and/or sisters. Once a term we will have a family day, when the children will work on a special topic with other children from their family group, who will be from years Reception to Year 6. When children are rewarded for good work or behaviour, the point will go towards their family group and at a half-termly assembly the family group with the most points is celebrated. Points from sports days and other activities also go towards the family group.
Key Stage 1 classes operate the Sun/Raincloud/Thundercloud system and Golden Time treats. Every child starts each new day on the sun. If a child has behaved in a way that means their name has been moved onto the thundercloud at any time during the week, they will lose some of their Golden Time (an extra five minutes play on Friday afternoon). Classes can also earn an extra Golden Time afternoon reward by collecting 50 marbles in a jar. Children can earn stickers or house points for making an extra effort with their class work, for showing consideration to others or for being extra helpful. We will cover aspects of behaviour, social and co-operative skills etc as an integral part of our teaching. These aspects are also addressed in our Key Stage 1 weekly assemblies.
Spoken Language (Speaking and Listening)
This is a vital part of English and maths. A child cannot be expected to write about something unless they are able to talk about it. We give the children lots of opportunities to share their experiences throughout the whole curriculum – through paired, group and whole class speaking. We also give the children opportunities to listen both to us and to one another. Listening can be hardest thing to learn for many children!
Family Group Point System
All children at Heron Hill are put into one of four ‘family groups’ which are named after Kendal’s bridges – Miller, Nether, Romney and Victoria. The children stay in this family group through their Heron Hill years and will be in the same family group as their brothers and/or sisters. Once a term we will have a family day, when the children will work on a special topic with other children from their family group, who will be from years Reception to Year 6. When children are rewarded for good work or behaviour, the point will go towards their family group and at a half-termly assembly the family group with the most points is celebrated. Points from sports days and other activities also go towards the family group.
