Year 2 English Curriculum
(The objectives for Spoken Language are common across Key Stages 1 and 2)
- listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
- ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
- use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
- articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
- give well-structured descriptions, explanations & and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings.
- maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments
- use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
- speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English
- participate in discussions, presentations, performances, roleplay/improvisations and debates
- gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)
- consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
- select and use appropriate registers for effective communication
Word Reading
- continue to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent
- read accurately by blending the sounds in words that contain the graphemes taught so far, especially recognising alternative sounds for graphemes
- read accurately words of two or more syllables that contain the same graphemes as above
- read words containing common suffixes
- read further common exception words, noting unusual correspondence between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word
- read most words quickly and accurately,without overt sounding and blending , when they have been frequently encountered
- read aloud books closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge, sounding out unfamiliar words accurately, automatically and without undue hesitation
- re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading
- develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
- listening to, discussing and expressing views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
- discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related
- becoming increasingly familiar with and retelling a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales
- being introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways
- recognising simple recurring literary language in stories and poetry
- discussing and clarifying the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known vocabulary
- discussing their favourite words and phrases
- continuing to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, appreciating these and reciting some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear
- understand both the books that they can already read accurately and fluently and those that they listen to by:
- drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
- checking that the text makes sense to them as they read, and correcting inaccurate reading
- making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
- answering and asking questions
- predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
- participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say
- explain and discuss their understanding of books, poems and other material, both those that they listen to and those that they read for themselves
Spelling
- spell by:
- segmenting spoken words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling many correctly
- learning new ways of spelling phonemes for which 1 or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones
- learning to spell common exception words
- learning to spell more words with contracted forms
- learning the possessive apostrophe (singular)
- distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones
- add suffixes to spell longer words, including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly
- apply spelling rules and guidelines, as listed in English Appendix 1
- write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs, common exception words and punctuation taught so far
Handwriting and Presentation:
- form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another
- start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
- write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower-case letters
- use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters.
- Develop positive attitudes towards and stamina for writing by:
- writing narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional)
- writing about real events
- writing poetry
- writing for different purposes
- Consider what they are going to write before beginning by:
- planning or saying out loud what they are going to write about
- writing down ideas and/or key words, including new vocabulary
- encapsulating what they want to say, sentence by sentence
- make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their own writing by:
- evaluating their writing with the teacher and other pupils
- rereading to check that their writing makes sense and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly and consistently, including verbs in the continuous form
- proofreading to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation (for example, ends of sentences punctuated correctly)
- read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear
Vocabulary, grammar & punctuation
- develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
- learning how to use both familiar and new punctuation correctly (see English Appendix 2) , including full stops, capital letters, exclamation marks, question marks, commas for lists and apostrophes for contracted forms and the possessive (singular)
- Learn how to use:
- sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command
- expanded noun phrases to describe and specify
- the present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive form
- subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but)
- learning the grammar for year 2 in English Appendix 2
- some features of written Standard English
- use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2in discussing their writing and reading.