Welcome to Class 2
Welcome to our class! In Class 2 we teach children in Years 1 and Years 2 and follow what is known as Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum. We continue to build on the phonics learned in Class 1. We also use many different reading schemes to develop our reading skills – focusing on comprehension and understanding of our books, whilst continuing to develop fluency and expression. You can learn more about the Key Stage 1 national curriculum on our National Curriculum page.
On this page you will find useful information about your time in Class 2 including our Topic of the Term, information about home learning and links to our Key Instant Recall Facts. If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Boreham, the Class 2 teacher.
Topic of the Term…..
This term our topic is Castles, Dragons & Fairy tales and we will be visiting Dunster Castle in Somerset to help us imagine what living in a castle might have been like. We will be asking the following key questions
What are the key features of castles?
Who lived in a castle?
What was it like to train to be a knight?
Who was King Arthur and what is the story of the sword in the stone?
Home learning in Class 2
Reading. Children in Class 2 are encouraged to select books independently to bring home and read with you. Please hear them read as often as you can! Ask them lots of questions about what they are reading, check their understanding and help them think about what they are reading in different ways. See if they can summarise the book or think about what they like and don’t like about the story. Lots of questioning about their reading is vital for the development of good comprehension skills.
Spelling. Children will bring weekly spellings home to learn on a Wednesday, to be tested the following Wednesday. In Class 2 we work through Phases 2 – 5 of Letters and Sounds, then move on to the ‘Next 200’ word list. These ‘Phases’ contain a mixture of decodable and tricky words. They are the most frequently used 100 words and need to be learnt as soon as possible! There is also a Year 1 ‘Common Exception Word’ list, and a Year 2 ‘Common Exception Word’ list. These are words that occur frequently, but whose grapheme-phoneme correspondences have not yet been taught. Again, these need to be learnt as quickly as possible, so children can confidently use them in their writing. We then move on to more formal spelling strategies, aiming to teach children the knowledge they need to accurately add prefixes and suffixes to a wide range of words. Accurate use of spellings and sensible spelling choices for unknown words are the ultimate goal of all the children’s work on their spellings.
Key Instant Recall Facts(KIRFs)
Each half term we will send home a sheet of Key Instant Recall Facts which we would like you to practice. The objective is for children to know and be able to recall, instantly, the numeracy facts on the sheet. The facts can be practised in many ways – the key to success is practising a little and often – walking to school, in a car journey, over dinner time? Have a look at our suggestions for fun games to help you practice and learn the facts.
Click here to download the Year 1 Autumn 1 Key Instant Recall Fact Sheet
Click here to download the Year 1 Spring 1 Key Instant Recall Fact Sheet
Click here to download the Year 2Autumn 1 Key Instant Recall Fact Sheet
Click here to download the Year 2 Spring 1 Key Instant Recall Fact Sheet
Spotlight..
During your child’s time in Class 2 they will have the opportunity to do a class ‘Spotlight’. It encourages the children to do some independent home learning and gives them the chance to talk in front of an audience. It is a speaking and listening session for the whole class, giving the speaker time to share what they have found out and the listeners the chance to ask relevant questions. It is usually a favourite activity, which progresses though each class and culminates in a Year 6 ‘Spotlight’, presented to the whole school……by this time it has usually become a very impressive and interactive presentation, including the use of technology, competition and prizes!
Latest Class 2 Blog Posts
Authors visting Georgeham
We have been inspired by the wonderful Patrice Lawrence in class 3 and 4, and the hilarious Nick Toczek in class 2. With the help of the Appledoore book festival we've had the pleasure of [...]
Peace at last
These tired little faces are now tucked up in bed. Well done Year 2s, you have been fantastic this evening! A real highlight was during the talent show, when one child was a little nervous [...]
Year 2s arrive back to school!
We are definitely tired out after the long walk back from Putsborough. We had cheers of 'we can do it' as we climbed the huge hill! We arrived back to school to a delicious meal [...]
Class 2 – Habitats!
Our topic this term has been all about 'Our Amazing World'. Within this, we look at minibeasts and their habitats. Class 2's homework for half-term was to make thier own habitat for a minibeast of [...]
Tadpoles becoming froglets
Our Class 2 Tadpoles are growing nicely. They are slowly transforming (metamorphosing) and very soon will be developing their back legs! After this, will come the front legs, lungs, eardrums and skin over their external [...]