Dear Parents,
Welcome back to Term 2, it is wonderful to be together again at school with the students. School life and routines are definitely up and running. The Year 2 students are doing a great job at working hard and we look forward to watching them grow and develop. Please see a few reminders below in regards to home reading and we have included some prompting questions you may want to use throughout the year. This term students will bring home 4 books to read over the week on a Monday and then return the books on a Friday, along with their diary.
We are excited to introduce some special additions to the Year 2 community. Each class has their own class pet, which will be part of students’ daily lives and will be able to come home with them too. We hope writing about the class pet and their adventures at home will help students enjoy the writing process even more. Please see the letter inside the writing book for further information. All students will eventually have a turn to take the pet home.
Over the coming weeks, in English, the Year 2 students will be reading and analysing the structure of a narrative and begin writing stories of their own. Show and Tell continues to be an important part of developing students’ oral language, so this will continue each term.
In Maths, we will be working on multiplication, identifying visual representations of groups of objects and using skip counting to find the totals. Students will continue to work on developing their ability to add and subtract using mental computation skills.
In Inquiry, the students will be investigating ‘Our Australian Story’ and how things have changed over time. How family beliefs and traditions differ amongst families. They will learn more about the First Nations People, their culture and the significance behind some of their sacred sites.
In Religion, students will learn about the meaning of Easter and the resurrection, the life of St Catherine of Siena and St George Preca. They will also reflect on the importance of being spirit filled people, who aim to reconcile with others and be living examples of Jesus in their community.
Take care and we looking forward to the term ahead.
The Year 2 Teachers
Useful tips to support HOME READING.
When helping your child read at home, several strategies may be used to assist in working out unknown words.
- Tell your child to look at the picture.
- Tell your child to look for chunks in the word, such as it in sit, all in small or and and ing in standing.
- Ask your child to get their mouth ready to say the word by shaping their mouth for the beginning letter.
- Ask your child if the word looks like a word they already know. Does it look like it should?
- Ask your child to go on and read to the end of the sentence. Often by reading the other words in context, they will be able to figure out the unknown word.
- If your child says the wrong word while reading, ask questions like:
Does it make sense?
Does it sound right?
Does it look right?
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Comprehension Questions for Fiction and Non-Fiction
| FICTION | |
| What is the problem in the story? | Tell me about the author’s style. |
| What prediction can you make about the outcome? | Find a simile. Why is it used? |
| What similar experiences have you had? | Could this story have happened in another setting? |
| What evidence can you use to see if the prediction was correct? | Why is the setting important? |
| What evidence does the author give to tell you about the character? | Find the part in the story where the problem is resolved. |
| What do you think the character will do based on their personality? | Judge this text. Tell me why you think this is so? |
| What connections can you make to other books? | What would you say to someone who disagreed with you about that? |
| How does the character feel? Find evidence in the text. | What was the important event in the story? |
| How did the character’s perspective change as the story unfolded? | Why was that event significant in this story? |
| What might have changed the character’s behaviour? | What did the author do to make the book interesting/funny etc? |
| How did the situation change how the character felt? | You may not have had the same experiences as this character, but how can you understand them anyway? |
| Why did the character make that choice? | What things can you infer about this character? |
| What did the author want you to learn? | Using your inference about the character, what do you think the character will do in this situation? |
| What caused the problem? Why did that happen? | How does the author build suspense throughout the story? |
| How can you tell this book is fiction? | (Fantasy) How did the author use symbols or magic in this story? |
| Why is this illustration included? | |
| NON-FICTION | |
| What do you already know about this topic? | What else would you have included if you were the author? |
| What new ideas have you learned? | What does the illustration mean? |
| How did what you learned add to your knowledge? | Find the facts and opinions. |
| What connections can you make to other books? | Do you agree with the author’s point of view? Why/why not? Support your answer |
| Have you changed your mind after reading this book? | Judge this text. Explain your judgement. |
| What did the author want you to learn or know? | What did the author do to make this text interesting? |
| What caused the problem? Why did that happen? | How would you group or organise the information? |
| How can you tell this book is non-fiction? | How can what you have read in the past help you understand the people and cultures in this text? |
| What are the different sections in the book? | How are they organised for you to easily find out information? |
| Why did the author organise the book this way? | How does this book give you new information? |
| How well do you think the author used illustrations and graphics? How did this help you as a reader? | What kind of books do you like to read? Support your answer with examples of parts of the book. |
Copy of class pet information letter.
Dear Families,
We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our class pet. It has been a part of our classroom community and will now be a part of your home for the weekend. I’m sure that she/he would love to visit and experience new things with your family.
Every weekend he/she will go home with a student in our class and it will be his or her responsibility to take care of her. The pet can participate in all of the things that your child does over the weekend.
Using one or two pages in ‘Class Pet Weekend Journal”, students write a short summary then illustrate, or photograph what your child and pet did for fun. This is to be no more than two pages long. This journal will be passed along each weekend so that every student has a turn to care and share with her. Please be aware that this is to be written by the students, NOT parents.
Every Monday, the student who took the pet home will be given the opportunity to share what transpired over the weekend.
Kind regards,
Classroom Teacher
Please remember to return the pet and the journal each Monday.
Thank you and happy adventures!
