One of the things I struggle with as a home ed mom is balancing knowing what ‘level’ my children are at with deciding how much I actually ‘care’ about what level they are at. I tend to trust that they know what they’re doing, and that I’m exposing them to enough of life that they’ll learn and pick things up as we go along.

That said, in a climate where there are always threats of ‘registering’ or of outside influences wanting to have a say on how we raise and educate our children, and equally being uncertain how our family’s future – home ed and otherwise – is going to pan out, I do like to know that if she did have to go to school suddenly Ameli wouldn’t be massively behind other children in her age group.

I have no intention of turning our home education into a home school but there is something comforting in having an idea of how deep to look into things. I generally have no idea how much information to give Ameli when we’re looking at a specific topic, and I find this guide – slash – syllabus really useful for gauging at least the baseline of what she is capable of knowing at her age.

Click here to print the chart below: Year 2 Targets

English
Reading
Reads fluenty
Reading Comprehension
Listen to, discus and give opinions on stories, non-fiction text and poetry
Check: Does reading make sense?
Does reading make sense?
Retell traditional and fairy stories with details
Sequence the events in a story
Recite poems by heart
Writing and Spelling
Explore Graphemes: (written forms of sounds)
Explore Homophones: (words that sound the same but have different meanings)
Explore contracted words (they’re, we’ve etc)
Learn about possessive apostraphe
Learn about suffixes
Hand writing
Practice lower case letters (check for similar size and spacing between words)
Writing – Composition
Write a range of stories, non-fiction and poetry
Learn to plan what will be written first
Encourage the use of more detailed descriptions in writing
Writing – Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
Learn to make compound words
Learn to use adverbs by adding -ly
Joining sentences together with words like if, when, because etc
Change tenses
Punctuation
Maths
Number – Number and place value
Learn to count in jumps of 2,3, 5, and 10
Learn to forwards and backwards
Understand that a two digit number is made up of tens and ones
Estimate where numbers might appear on a blank number line
Compare and order numbers up to 100. Use ><=
Identify odd and even numbers confidently
Read and write up to 100 in numerals and words
Number – addition and subtraction
Sole addition and subtraction problems using measure (length, capacity, weight, time), quantities (money) and numbers both mentally and with written calculations
Subtraction and addition up to 100
Using mental maths to add and subtract: two and one digit numbers
: two digit number and multiple of ten
: two two digit numbers
: add three single digits
Understand that addition can be carried out in any order, but not subtraction
Number – multiplication and division
2 times table
5 times table
10 times table
Number – fractions
Learn 1/3,1/4, 2/4, 3/4 of a shape, length or set, writing and solving calculations
Recognise equivalent fractions like 2/4 is the same as 1/2
Order fractions on a number line
Measurement
Learn to choose the correct units to estimate and measure mass, temperature, height or length
Learn to compare sizes using symbols > < and =
Tell time to the nearest 5 mins and make draw on a clock face
How many minutes are there in an hour, and hours in a day
Investigate combinations of coins or notes to make a given amount
Solve money problems including giving change
Geometry – Shape
Describe the number of sides and lines of symmetry for different 2D and 3D shapes
Sort 2D and 3D shapes depending on their properties
Investigate the faces of 3D shapes
Geometry – Position and Direction
Learn the link between angles and rotations such as right angle turns and three-quarter turns
Statistics
Record, organise and interpret information using tallies, pictograms, block graphs and tables
Science
Work Scientifically
Classifying living things, materials or objects and group them accordingly
Observe how things change over time and look for patterns, making simple measurements to gather and record data
Living things and their habitat
Learn about differences between living things, things that have died and things that have never been alive
Learn about a variety of plant and animal habitats, finding out how things are suited to their habitats
Learn about food chains
Animals, Including Humans
Recognise that animals and humans have babies
Understand the basic needs of animals and humans in order to grow strong and healthy
Learn about the importance of exercise
Learn about healthy eating
Learn about good hygiene
Plants
Investigate and describe how plants need light, water and temperature to be healthy
Observe how bulbs and seeds change over time
Uses of everyday materials
investigate how solids can change shape (i.e. melting)
Learn about developer of new materials and products they have helped to create
Art and Design
Digital Media
Record artistic inspirations using a digital camera and video recording
Use simple graphic packages to create images by changing line shape colour and texture
Printing
Investigate the effects of printing with a range of different materials such as potatoes, sponges or pine cones – anything that makes patterns
Experiment with rollers, printing palettes and printing blocks
Go on a pattern walk to investigate different patterns around you, take rubbings with wax crayons
Use different papers and fabrics to achieve different finishes
3D Sculpture
Use clay and other malleable materials to see how they can be joined together
Painting
See what effects different brush sizes create
Colour match objects
Learn about different paint types and the effects they can achieve
Know the primary and secondary colours
Look at textures when items such as sand, glue and glitter are added to paint
Textiles
Cut and shape different types of material with control and accuracy
Learn basic sewing (running stitch, over stitch, cross stitch, back stitch)
Investigate dying fabrics and weaving using twigs, pipe cleaners, ribbons etc
Collage
Create collages from magazines etc – use different textured effects like overlapping, tearing, crumpling etc
Drawing
Use pencils, charcoal, crayons, pastels, rubbers, felt tips, chalk to draw
Use darker or lighter shades to depict tone
Make observational drawings
Evaluation
Evaluate own and other’s work critically, looking for ways to improve
Computing
E-Safety
Learn how to keep safe online
Learn what personal information is and how to keep this information safe
Learn about being respectful online
How do we use technology in our lives?
Is everything we see on the internet true?
Data
Learn about fonts, colours and sizes used in presenting data
Gather data in different ways (use a microphone, take pictures, create a chart etc)
Explore branching databases
Programming
Introduce programming with floor robots
Use software such as Logo or Scratch for basic programming
Design and Technology
Design
Come up with ideas and create models or plans to explain ideas
Make
Select materials and ingredients, measure, mark out, cut and shape materials to make something new
Evaluate
Evaluate own and other’s work
Technical Knowledge
Explore how to stiffen, strengthen and make structures stable
Learn how to use sliders, levers, axles and wheels
Cooking and Nutrition
Work with food
Investigate what makes a healthy and balanced diet
Learn about where food comes from
Geography
Location Knowledge
Learn to name, locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans
Place Knowledge
Look at the difference between an area of the UK and an area of a non-EU country
Human and Physical Geography
Difference between natural and man-made features of the land
Study the physical features of a specific place both in terms of physical (natural) features and human features (villages, towns, houses etc)
Geographical Skills and Fieldwork
Use aerial photograph and mamps to locate physcial and human features using map symbols
Create maps, construct basic symbol keys
History
No specific targets
Music
Experiment with using voices to create effects, sing in tune and with expression
Learn how sounds can be organised, composing pieces with a beginning, middle and end
Represent sounds with symbols, create different moods with music
Physcial Education
Games
Take part in competitive games
Work on improving co-ordination and controlling bodies
Recognise the changes in the body before, during and after exercise and discuss these changes
Dance
Work on exploring, remembering, repeating and linking different movements for expressive dance
Compose and perform dance phrases
Learn about warming up and cooling down
Gymnastics
Lift, move and position gym equipment safely
Remember, repeat and link up combinations of gym actions
Athletics
Practice control and co-ordination with a range of equipment
Outdoor and Adventurous Activities
Follow routes, find different places in a set time

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What Your Child *Should* Know By The End Of Year 2

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