Top tips for Year 2

[Nonie241419]

I'm moving from Year 6 to Year 2 this year. I've had a lot of experience in Year 3, but never taught in KS1. So can anyone give me their top tips, and advise about the kind of pitfalls I'm likely to walk into when I'm so used to KS2? I'm very excited about the move and I really want to do well.

[Happy36]

I guess you will have much more TA support in Year 2 than Year 6 (at my school there is none in Yr. 6 and 3/4 of a TA for each Year 2 class (if that makes sense - there are 3 TAs and 4 classes). So think about how you will want to use your TA and work efficiently together.

[Nonie241419]

Actually, I'll have less TA support. Last year, I had 3 children with statements, 2 with full time 1:1s, one with a part time 1:1 and I also had a class TA every morning and one afternoon!
This year, I will have one TA for two mornings and one afternoon (I'm part time).
How much independent recording can average/more able Year 2s do? My colleagues suggested that all recorded work should be done with an adult, but I can't see how we can get everything covered that way!

[toomuchicecream]

The year 1s I've just sent up could all write independently apart from the 2 with statements. The least able wrote better with adult support, but they could still do it (in their own way) without. You'll probably have a few who you have to get to read their writing back to you if you don't want to spend ages puzzling it out...

Otherwise I would expect an attention span on the carpet of 10-15 minutes to start with, and the ability to work independently for 15-30, depending on nature of task and if it's am or pm. However, I always have 1 adult not working with a group so they can roam the room, keeping the children on task and dealing with tricky issues like what to do if their pencil breaks or they finish a page in their book ????

[Nonie241419]

Thank you both

[chocfireguard]

I'm just moving from Year 2 to reception this year ! At the start of the year, I would expect that they can all write at least one simple sentence independently. The majority should be able to do more than this (say, a simple recount of a trip or retelling of a story, across 4-5 sentences). But I would be very surprised if they all need adult support! As you introduce conjunctions, their sentence structure can fall away, as they have more elements to include. Don't despair in the cold January months, it does get sorted! My last class were much better at non fiction than fiction to begin with, so I used lots of artefacts to encourage talk and imagination. At times I would give them their characters or the setting, to hone in their tendency to ramble. The first term I kept to very much sentence level work (openers, punctuation, clauses, conjunctions etc) before branching out! Good luck and enjoy it!

[OldRoan]

I've had a 1/2 split class for a few years - even the lower Y2 children should be able to write a bit independently, although they will need lots of prompting (and also lose focus incredibly quickly!).

The bits they need more adult help with are practical things - you might need to show them how to use a ruler to underline, for example. They shouldn't need an adult next to them whilst they do it, but you will probably need to show them slowly.

My highest ability Y1 children could easily write a page of high quality work (apostrophes, connectives, adjectives) when left to their own devices during an English lesson. It's a big range!