Life in Year 2 So Far….

school

Boo’s now been in Year 2 for half a term and the time has absolutely flown by. She settled really quickly with her new teachers and seems happy there.

One of the first things I noticed was the increased responsibility that they are encouraging. Many of the children have ‘jobs’ this year that they could put themselves forward for. Boo was desperate to be a classroom monitor and was fortunate to be selected as one. This means that she has exciting tasks such as checking there are no coats on the floor and that everywhere is tidy – seriously, she is thrilled by the idea of doing this! My girl does like things to be tidy!

There definitely seems to be a step up with their workload from last year to this year, which I imagine has something to do with it being a SATs year as well as the last year of Key Stage 1. From the little information that I manage to get from Boo each day, I get the impression that they have more Maths and Literacy, and they are streamed along with the other Year 2 class into three groups for these subjects as well as moved into smaller groups of 5 or 6 children for guided reading. Does that sound right, other Year 2 parents? I’m just putting it all together from the snippets of details I get! She has been absolutely buzzing about her art work this term so I know the details of the artists they have been studying and replicating, and she’s thoroughly enjoying practising her football skills in PE each week – both of these areas are definitely Daddy’s arenas!

Homework is now 40 minutes a week, with around twenty for Maths and twenty for other tasks such as preparing for a project. Boo’s school has scrapped spelling tests this year though she has a list of words that she needs to be comfortable spelling by year end, so we try a handful of those weekly. Then of course there is a reading book but Boo’s been off the reading scheme for several months now so is just reading for pleasure, meaning this one does not feel like homework.

We’ve had our first parents evening which was productive and reassuring. We know how Boo’s getting on in each subject, how she works with others and understand that they will be challenging her this year. I have definitely noticed that her Maths homework is becoming more challenging for her, and am told she’s very good at it, so they are clearly pushing that little bit more. It’s interesting to see her handling this as to be honest, she has not really had to try that hard before, as she is like a little sponge and thinks very quickly, too. The learning curve here that I see is not so much about what she’s working on, but more adjusting to the fact that her mind has got to work that bit harder than she’s used to and that she might not always know the answer straight away. I’ve seen it knock her confidence a little, so helping her through that is key, and fortunately, she is pretty resilient and does keep on trying.

I have heard some children at this point do use tutors, such as Fleet Tutors, as Year 2 is considered to be an important one, and then I think year 5 and 6 in preparation for yet more SATs, grammar school exams and then of course the move to a new school. Those things do seem so far away as I look at my 7 year old, but then I think, how are we already in Year 2?!

Year 2 is shaping up to be an interesting year, and it’s been good to see Boo enjoying it all so much. I hope your little ones are enjoying school at the moment? Would love to hear your Year 2 experiences so far.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post

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2 thoughts on “Life in Year 2 So Far….”

  1. Oh I’m reading this and thinking ‘yes, that’s exactly how I felt last year’
    I think there is a big step up into Year 2. Suddenly there’s less choosing time and more ‘real’ work-work.
    Your understanding of how the grouping works is similar to our school, too, although they don’t call it ‘streaming’ !
    Guided reading, I understand, is done with one of the teachers or TAs, and this is something my daughter really enjoys. She often brings the book home and finishes it independently – she can’t wait for the next session!
    It is lovely to see their enthusiasm come to the fore. Last year my daughter was buzzing learning about Andy Warhol & then taking her to a local exhibition where she saw the paintings was quite special!
    Sounds like she’s really enjoying school and it is good that the teachers have managed to identify that she can be stretched. It sounds like you’re doing a good job balancing the encouragement with the confidence building.
    Tutoring is the next thing that’s heading our way – like you say, I can’t believe I have a Year 4 child now. Where does the time go?!
    xx

    1. Good to know you felt the same, too. How fabulous to go to the Warhol exhibition, something like that really brings learning to life, doesn’t it? Time does fly, I don’t know where it goes! x

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