Year 2 Parent Meeting September 2013

Aims of this Meeting Give information about Year 2 in terms of staff and the curriculum. Begin to talk about end of Key Stage assessment/SATs.

The Y2 Team Teachers and Teaching Assistants  Mr Kempton and Mrs Foley  Mrs Marshall, Mrs Simpson and Mrs Lochrane  Miss Rice and Mrs Hornibrook

Home-School Links Informal contact – after school. Formal meetings – 2 consultation meetings (first one in October) Letters will be put in PACT folders, check or website. Homework – no formal tasks, however there should be at least 15 minutes daily reading, plus everyday stories and games to be played at home. There will be informal ‘Weekend Challenges’ related to up coming work. Refer to year group newsletter for ideas and websites to support your child at home.

Y2 Autumn Topics Many People, One World and The Tower of London after half term. Food from Around the World: Food groups, different types of balanced diets and an investigation into what people need to keep healthy and how diets vary around the world. Harvest: How do different cultures and religions celebrate weddings and harvest time? ICT: Research, data and graphs. New beginnings: Communities, self awareness, managing feelings, understanding other’s feelings and making choices to solve problems.

Reading Children need to bring in their PACT folder every day including books and reading record. Staff will hear the children read these same books and comments will be written in the new ‘Reading Record and Phonics Log’ books. These comments are designed to give you an indication of what your child is doing well and what they need to improve on. Children will bring home 3-5 books which will be changed when they have read them all.

SATs Don’t panic!

SATs Three main components of the SATs: Numeracy – a level two test in which the children can use support materials or a completely unaided level three test. Reading – either a level two or level three reading comprehension test. Literacy – a bundle of tasks; a short ‘What am I?’ riddle piece, a longer ‘magic event’ story and a spelling test. We also use these pieces to assess handwriting and grammar.

SATs Numeracy For the level two test, number squares, unifix cubes and other aids can be used. The level three test is carried out unaided. As these are tests on ability in Numeracy only, all questions can be read out to the children if necessary. A good understanding of mathematical language is useful i.e. more than/less than, how many more.

SATs Reading Comprehension. Comprised of two sections: fiction and informational text. The level two test has more multiple choice answers and all questions are answerable by looking at the text above the question. The level three test has less multiple choice questions and some questions are only answerable with an understanding of the whole story.

SATs Literacy. A spelling test. A short ‘riddle’ style piece of 6 – 8 lines. A longer imaginative story, based upon a magical event/object.

Things to remember… Children can wear a white top, black shorts and sensible shoes for PE each week. No football kits please. We do like to celebrate birthdays, however due to allergies and our Healthy School status, please do not send in cakes or sweets. As an alternative, your child could bring in something for the class such as a book that can be shared. Please bring in a bottle of water, not juice or squash.