Year 2 Update Week 26
Monday 25th March – Green Book Week. The children will come to school dressed as a book character on Tuesday 26th March.
Transport Trip (see e-notice)
Monday 25th March – 2K
Wednesday 27th March – 2D
Thursday 28th March – 2F
Friday 29th March – PTA International Food Fair
Thursday 4th April – ESF Choral Concert
Friday 5th April – Ching Ming Festival.….no school
Wednesday 10th April – Easter Concert
Friday 12th April – Last day of school before Easter holidays, 12 pm finish
Five ways to Wellbeing Logo Competition
Please see this important message from the Student Council.
Thank you for all the great examples of Action that you are taking. Action in the PYP is when students are inspired through their learning and their experiences to make a difference to their lives or the community connected to real life issues and opportunities. We would like to celebrate our students taking action outside of school
Please could you email examples to me, tsuik4@beaconhill.edu.hk, and I will share through our newsletter.
There are different types of Action. Last time I gave a description of how ‘participation’ is a form of action, below is an description of how advocacy is a form of action.
There are different types of Action. We would like to start with a focus on Advocacy. See below for a definition and examples.
| Type of Action | Examples |
|
Advocacy Promoting an idea that you feel passionately about e.g. social, environmental or political |
Making people aware of an issue you feel passionately about Debating Sharing ideas with friends, classmates or family |
| PE Kit | Library Bags | |
| 2D | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday | Thursday |
| 2F | Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday | Thursday |
| 2K | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday | Wednesday |
Unit of Inquiry
This week the children began their new unit of inquiry. They unpacked the Central Idea, Communities create systems to meet the needs of people, by exploring what “communities” and “systems” mean. They identified the parts of different systems at home and school and extended their thinking further by thinking about the purposes of each of those parts.
2D started creating their own communities with transport systems connecting the different buildings and areas.
Maths
The children have begun their Maths unit on Measurement. Each class is looking at a different area of measurement in turn. This week, 2D have explored length, 2F explored mass and 2K have explored capacity. The children have been engaged in lots of hands-on tasks exploring these different areas of measurement. Scroll down to see ideas for support your child’s understanding of measurement at home.
2D were certainly smiling as they measured then compared the length of their smiles.
English
The English focus for this unit is writing to describe. There is not a set writing genre the children will be learning. Therefore, each class’ learning might look a little different. For example, this week 2F have been exploring onomatopoeia and using this to describe different modes of transport, whereas 2K have been focusing on their individual writing targets when writing about a topic of their choosing. 2D have been writing short narratives.
All classes have been inferring as a comprehension strategy. Inference is when we use our background knowledge, alongside clues from the text to understand that which is not explicitly stated.
As part of the Year 2 English curriculum at Beacon Hill School, the children are also regularly engaged in learning that promotes their understanding of how to apply phonics and handwriting skills to improve their reading and writing.
Fun Friends
We are now moving onto “R” for RELAX. In these sessions the children will discuss how the body sends us signals to indicate when we are hungry, thirsty, need a rest, etc. They will also share and learn relaxation techniques and strategies, such as Bubble Breathing. Find out more by using the username and password in your child’s Home School Diary to log into the Fun Friends online programme!
Central idea: Communities create systems to meet the needs of people.
Lines of in inquiry
- Features of transportation systems (form)
- How the different parts of a transportation system work (function)
- The needs that different transport systems meet (connection)
Next week the children will be going on their trips to Hong Kong Island. They will use a range of different transport to get there. This experiential learning will introduce the children to the features of the transportation system of Hong Kong. This will help them further inquire into how the different part of the transport system work.
Central Idea: Measurement involves comparing, ordering and sequencing objects and events.
Lines of inquiry:
- Ways different objects can be measured
- Different informal measuring tools for comparing
- Ways different objects can be measured using formal units
- Choosing the appropriate tool to measure
Over the next three weeks, the children will be inquiring into capacity, mass and length. They will be thinking about non-standard and standard units of measure, estimating and measuring accurately.
All of the Year 2 classes have also spent some time on the Daily 10. This is a useful way to check and support your child’s mental maths skills. Different levels can be set. Please see the link below: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10
Hit the Button is another fun game that practises a range of different mental maths, including multiplication facts. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Writing focus: Writing to describe
Next week the children will continue to use language in a range of ways to describe different topics.
Reading focus: Inferring
Next week the children will be looking more closely at how the clues from the text can help them infer and understand what the author does not explicitly tell them.
2D – Kyla Ho
2F – Ethan Yang
Support your child’s understanding of Measurement even further at home with the following ideas.
- Invite your child into the kitchen and have them help weighing and pouring out ingredients for baking.
- Let them weigh themselves and other objects on the family scales.
- Measure their height and help them measure the heights of other people in the family.
- Engage them in discussions around estimation, for example, “I think the chair is about 10 hands high. What do you think?” or “I think this milk bottle holds more liquid than this can of coke. How can we find out?”
- Let them play with measuring cups, jugs and spoons in the shower or bathtub.
