Yr2 Curriculum Update – 23/03/18
Working together to achieve success for every child
Welcome to our NINTH edition!
In each update, the Year 2 Team will bring you snapshots of what your children have been exploring and learning. You will see a variety of learning experiences exemplifying learning which is fun, exciting, challenging, innovative and/or creative. Enjoy!
Transdisciplinary Learning – It’s all connected!
Year 2 students are in full force learning all about….FORCES! Whether exploring with magnets, ramps, parachutes, etc., students have been gaining independence asking questions, making sensible hypotheses, conducting tests and reflecting on the results.
Students are also learning the importance of planning for research, our transdisciplinary skill, as they explore and experiment. Classes have worked together, reading books and analyzing plans, to co-create criteria for successful planning. They have chosen personal targets, which they are now trying to work towards when planning for experiments, planning their writing or planning their math problem-solving strategies.
As is the nature of inquiry-based learning, students use their Literacy skills within the Unit of Inquiry. They have been gathering information about forces from non-fiction texts in order to form questions and make reasonable hypotheses. This has required reading carefully, rereading and finding key information.
One of our key concepts is reflection, and our writing over the past few weeks has helped develop this understanding. Students have been trying to write to explain, for example reflecting on experiment results to write simple conclusions. Successful explanations include specific word choice and accurate information.
In Maths, students have been able to use measurement skills within their experiments, for example, measuring how far straw rockets fly, or how far blocks can slide along different surfaces. Students were truly delighted when they realized that math is connected to science. To highlight the of value Maths in our lives, we celebrated Maths Week and Pi Day by looking for examples of Maths in the real world.
The Arts have played a heavy role in our learning as well. We have been fortunate to take part in a month of dance lessons with Mrs. Tucker, who has helped students see that dance can tell a story, but that it also requires the use of forces with our own bodies. Students have also delved into the world of sculpting. As they have squeezed, pinched and twisted different materials, they have realized that they are using pushes and pulls to change the shapes of things.
How you can help at home
Well Done!
Congratulations to all of our students for confidently sharing their learning with parents at Student Led Conferences. For those parents who have not yet turned in reflection pages, please return them to your class teachers by next week. We value your feedback as we continue to tweak our school processes.
Key dates for the Diary
Tuesday 27th March Years 1 & 2 Sports Day (Please see the school newsletter for details)
*Kids should stay in school after the Sports Day, so they will still need lunches
Thursday 29th March Last school day before Term Break
