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Building Writing Stamina
Writing Composition
Write about real events and for different purposes, developing stamina for sustained writing across genres beyond narrative (e.g., recounts, letters, instructions)
Characters' Viewpoints and Responses
Reading Comprehension
Identify and compare characters' points of view, recognise who is narrating a story, describe how characters respond to events and challenges, and compare characters' experiences across different stories or versions of the same story
Commas in lists
Grammar & Punctuation
Use commas to separate items in a list within a sentence (e.g., 'I bought apples, bananas, and oranges')
Defining Words
Vocabulary
Define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., 'a duck is a bird that swims'), making real-life connections between words and their use
Determiners and articles
Grammar & Punctuation
Use determiners (articles a/an/the and demonstratives this/that/these/those) correctly before nouns
Expanded noun phrases
Grammar & Punctuation
Use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify, adding adjectives and other modifiers before a noun (e.g., 'the blue butterfly', 'the old, creaky door')
Expressive and Sensory Language
Reading Comprehension
Recognise recurring literary language in stories and poetry, identify words and phrases that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses, and discuss favourite words and phrases
Four Types of Sentences
Grammar & Punctuation
Understand and use the four sentence types — statement, question, exclamation, and command — recognising how grammatical patterns indicate sentence function
Grammar Terms: Nouns, Verbs and Tense
Grammar & Punctuation
Use and understand Year 2 grammatical terminology in discussion: noun, noun phrase, statement, question, exclamation, command, compound, suffix, adjective, adverb, verb, tense (past/present), apostrophe, comma
Joining Letters
Handwriting & Transcription
Begin to join letters using diagonal and horizontal strokes, understanding which letter pairs are best left unjoined, forming letters of correct size relative to one another
Main Topic & Key Details
Reading Comprehension
Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph informational text, determine the focus of specific paragraphs, and explain how key details support the main idea
Monitoring Comprehension
English Thinking
Notice the difference between decoding words and actually understanding them — recognise when you've read the words but not grasped the meaning, and do something about it
Non-Fiction Text Features
Reading Comprehension
Recognise different non-fiction text structures and features (headings, contents, glossary, index), understanding how texts are organised to present information
Past, Present and Progressive Tense
Grammar & Punctuation
Use verbs to convey past and present tense correctly and consistently, including the progressive form (e.g., she is drumming, he was shouting), understanding how tense indicates time
Planning Ideas Before Writing
Writing Composition
Plan before writing by saying aloud or noting down what will be written, writing down ideas and key words, and encapsulating ideas sentence by sentence before composing
Pronouns
Grammar & Punctuation
Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns correctly (e.g., I/me/my, they/them/their, anyone/everything), replacing nouns to avoid repetition
Reading with Expression and Accuracy
Phonics & Word Reading
Read aloud with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression (prosody), re-reading familiar texts to build fluency and confidence, and using context to self-correct
Reciting Poetry
Speaking & Listening
Learn poems by heart and recite with appropriate intonation, adding visual displays to descriptions when appropriate, and producing complete sentences in spoken presentations
Retelling Stories with Structure
Reading Comprehension
Retell stories including key details in sequence, describe characters, settings, and major events using evidence from the text, and describe the overall structure of a story (beginning, middle, ending)
Revising and editing
Writing Composition
Proof-read own writing to check for errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation; evaluate and revise writing with teacher/peer support, re-reading to ensure meaning is clear and tense is consistent
Root Words & Inflections
Vocabulary
Identify frequently occurring root words and their inflectional forms (e.g., look/looks/looked/looking), using affixes as clues to word meaning and understanding how suffixes create nouns and adjectives
Spelling Contracted Forms
Spelling & Word Study
Spell contracted forms correctly by placing the apostrophe where letters are omitted (can't, didn't, I'll, it's, etc.)
Story Sequence and Central Message
Reading Comprehension
Discuss the sequence of events in narrative texts and how items of information are related in non-fiction, retelling stories including key details and demonstrating understanding of central message or lesson
Structured Opinion Writing
Writing Composition
Compose opinion pieces that introduce a topic, state a clear point of view, provide organised reasons linked with connecting words, and include a concluding statement or section