Welcome to Kestrels!
Our year 2 team currently consists of Mrs Lampshire, the class teacher, and Mrs Vye and Mrs Spight, our wonderful teaching assistants. In Kestrels class we are kind and considerate towards each other and take pride in our school and our surroundings. We value everyone and work together to make sure we all give our best whilst having fun as well! We have the same 3 rules throughout the school which makes it easy for us to follow. They are: ‘Keep safe’, ‘Use your values’ and ‘Be the best that you can be’. We aim to practise and live these rules every day.
Our Daily Routine
We start the day with a morning task to set us up for the day ahead, this usually focuses on a key skill in Maths or English. This is followed by our Maths lesson and then after break, we have English. Spelling is taught 3 times a week using ELS Essential Spellings which follows on from our ELS phonics scheme that is taught in reception and Year 1. Handwriting and whole class reading lessons are taught 3 times a week. After lunch, we dive into a range of different curriculum subjects including Science, Art, DT, Geography, History, Computing, PSHE, PE, RE and Music. We also make sure that no day goes by without sharing a story, here in Kestrels we love to read and enjoy sharing books together as well as reading individually
Key skills are important
In year 2, we build upon the letter formation that was learnt in earlier years, by learning how to join letters and understanding which letters we don’t join up. Good handwriting not only helps us to take pride in our work but can also be a useful muscle memory tool for learning spellings! Children are encouraged to take pride in their writing and presentation, not just in their English books, but across all topics, including Maths. In Kestrels, we use our ELS Essential Spellings lessons to explore spelling patterns and build on our phonics knowledge from Reception and Year 1. As the year progresses, we will begin to focus on becoming fluent in our multiplication facts. We will use Times Tables Rock Stars along with a variety of games and catchy tunes to practise our times tables, as we know just how important these are for our overall confidence and progress in Maths.
We believe in the power of a Growth mindset
Across the school, we aim to use the 5 R’s – Resilience, Reasoning, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness - and in Kestrels we continue to understand how they help us to use the power of a growth mindset. We recognise that making mistakes helps us to learn and that by using our resilience we can overcome challenges that come our way. If children get stuck, they use their growth mindset to try and solve the issue and do not give up – it’s not ‘I can’t do it!’, it’s ‘I can’t do it YET!’.
Our Year Ahead
In Year 2, we learn about the Great Fire of London and hope to have a visit from Shefford fire brigade in the Summer term. We also learn about royalty – learning about the lives of Kings and Queens. In Science, we will be learning about animals including humans, understanding the importance of exercise and nutrition on the human body. We will also learn about plants and what they need to grow, even having a chance to plant our own seeds and monitor their growth in the summer term.
How we keep our bodies and mind fit and healthy
In Kestrels we are very active! We have 2 hours of PE a week as well as a quick movement breaks during the day. Our PE days are Wednesdays and Thursdays. We will often be outside on the playground or field during mild weather, so we come to school in tracksuit bottoms and tops to ensure we stay warm, along with hats during the brighter summer days.
We keep our mind healthy through our weekly PSHE lessons and our mindfulness session straight after lunch every day. This could involve some mindful colouring or some reflective journaling whilst listening to some calming music, to help us to take time and slow down after a busy lunchtime.