Year 2/3 Class Newsletter
Autumn 2 – Are you afraid of the dark?
Dates for your diary:
P.E will be every Thursday. Please ensure children have weather appropriate kit for these sessions.
Holy Mass in Church – 01st November.
Parent Consultations – 6th and 7th November.
The final session of swimming will be on Friday 17th November.
Remembrance Day Liturgy – 10th November.
Class Mass @ 9am – 21st November.
St Augustine’s at night @ 5:30pm – 6:30pm Thursday 14th December
Whole Mass, Carols and last day of term – 19th December.
First day of Spring Term – 03rd January.
Numeracy:
This term emphasis will be placed on children’s understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Children will use manipulatives including cubes, dienes, place value counters and bead strings to support their understanding of the following objectives:
- Mentally adding and subtracting two and three-digit numbers.
- Adding and subtracting three-digit numbers using the formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction.
- To recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 (year 2) multiplication tables and 3, 4 and 8 multiplication tables.
- Write and calculate mathematical statements for multiplication and division using the multiplication tables they know, including for two-digit numbers times one-digit numbers.
- Show that multiplication of two numbers can be done in any order.
Literacy:
This term learning will be centred on the story book ‘The owl who was afraid of the dark’ by Jill Tomlinson. Children will begin by reading through a selection of information texts to identify their key features, including: titles, sub-headings, diagrams and more. Children will also focus on the following objectives: using the contracted form of words, selecting between the use of ‘a’ or ‘an’ and using conjunctions to extend a sentence. This will support children as they work towards writing an information text.
Supporting children’s developing reading skills,this term children will be focusing on making predictions about what might happen next, based on what has been read so far.
Science:
Complementing the learning in literacy, this term’s Science topic will be ‘Light’. Children will learn to:
- Understand how the number of hours of daylight changes throughout the year.
- Recognise and understand what a light source is.
- Understand the terms transparent, translucent or opaque and sort objects based on these properties.
- Understand that shadows are formed when light is blocked.
Art and Design:
Inspired by our class story ‘The owl who was afraid of the dark’, children will be developing their painting skills, using dark and light colours. Children will explore colour mixing using water paints, and how adding water affects the shade of a colour, before creating silhouette paintings. They will also be working with others to create papermache models of the sun and the moon.
R.E:
This term children will be completing their topic about Baptism. They will be learning about the order of service during the Sacrament of Baptism, including the importance of the commitment and promises made at baptism. For the second part of the term, children will learn about Advent, focusing on the idea of ‘visitors’. Children will learn about the story of the Annunciation and the Visitation, as well as the importance of the visit from the Shepherds and the Wise Men once Jesus was born.
Supporting your child at home:
Continue to read with your child at least three times a week. This continues to be important, as the development of accurate word-reading will support children’s developing comprehension. To complement this, you might want to question your child about what they have read e.gWhat do you think (word) means? How do you think (character) felt when …?
In year 2 it is expected that children learn the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and for year 3 the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. It would be beneficial for your child to practise both the multiplication and division facts throughout the year and in preparation for weekly times tables tests which will begin this term.
Continue to support your child learning their weekly spellings.
This term homework will continue to be a series of mini projects. Children can complete as many tasks as possible but it is expected they complete at least one a week, with three red tasks completed by the end of the half term. Tasks are levelled, with green requiring the least amount of time to complete and red the most.
If, at any point in the year, you wish to arrange an appointment to speak to me about your child, I am contactable by e-mail at or catch me at the end of the day to arrange a mutually convenient time.