Year 2 English · Key Stage 1 · Reading – comprehension

Year 2 reading: favourite words and poems by heart

Year 2 children build a love of words. They notice the repeated phrases and patterns that turn up in stories and poems, work out what new words mean by linking them to words they already know, talk about words and phrases they like, and learn poems by heart. Reciting a poem with the right expression shows that a child understands it, and a growing vocabulary makes everything they read later easier to follow.

Favourite words and poems by heart, explained

Stories and poems have their own language. “Once upon a time” and “happily ever after” tell us what kind of story we are in. Traditional tales have lines that come back again and again, such as “Run, run, as fast as you can” or “Fee, fi, fo, fum”. The curriculum calls this simple recurring literary language. When children notice these patterns they can predict what comes next, join in as the tale is read, and begin to use them in their own storytelling and writing.

Learning new words happens mostly through reading and listening. In Year 2, teachers explain new words in the context of the sentence and link them to words children already know: “enormous means very, very big”. They act out words, draw them, swap them for a simpler word to see if the sentence still makes sense, and talk about words that have more than one meaning. Children are also encouraged to use the parts of words to work them out. If they know “happy”, the prefix “un” helps with “unhappy”, and “unlock”, “unfair” and “unkind” follow the same pattern.

Children are also invited to talk about their favourite words and phrases. This isn’t a test. A child might choose “shimmering” because it sounds like water, or “gobble” because it is funny to say. Explaining why they like a word encourages them to notice sounds, pictures and feelings in language, and many classrooms keep a display or a book of favourite words that grows through the year.

Poetry is the other half of this topic. The curriculum asks children to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, to appreciate them and to recite some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear. Teachers often start with short poems, chant them together with actions, then ask children to say a verse alone or in pairs. Which poems are chosen is up to the school, and may include both contemporary and classic poems. Learning by heart is not an exercise in memory for its own sake. To say a poem well, you need to understand what it is about, and decide where to pause, which words to stress and when your voice should go up, down, soft or loud.

A wide vocabulary is one of the most valuable things a child can carry forward. Children who know more words find it easier to understand what they read in every subject, and to say what they mean in speaking and writing. The best ways to build vocabulary at home are simple: talk, read aloud and notice interesting words together.

Words your child will hear

Literary language: The special wording used in stories and poems, such as “Once upon a time”.
Refrain: A line or phrase that comes back again and again in a story or poem.
Context: The words and sentences around a word that help you work out its meaning.
Prefix: A small group of letters added to the start of a word to change its meaning, such as un- in “unlock”.
Verse: A group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph in a story.
Recite: Say a poem aloud from memory.
Intonation: How your voice goes up and down to show meaning, such as rising at the end of a question.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 2, pupils should be taught to:

Develop pleasure in reading and vocabulary by recognising simple recurring literary language in stories and poetry
Develop vocabulary by discussing and clarifying the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known vocabulary
Develop pleasure in reading by discussing their favourite words and phrases
Develop pleasure in reading by continuing to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, appreciating these and reciting some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: working out a new word

Your child reads, “The kitten was timid and hid behind the sofa,” and asks what “timid” means. How can they work it out?

Read the whole sentence again and look for clues. What did the kitten do? It hid behind the sofa. That tells us something about how it was feeling.
Link to words they already know: “Hiding sounds like being shy or scared.” Try swapping in one: “The kitten was scared and hid behind the sofa.” It still makes sense, so “timid” is close to “shy” or “scared”.
Check whether a part of the word helps. Here nothing does, which is fine: not every word gives a clue. Another word where it does: “unhappy” is “un” plus “happy”, so it means not happy.
```
un + happy = unhappy
(not happy)
```
Confirm the meaning. “Timid” means shy and easily frightened. If the clues don’t settle it, ask an adult or look in a children’s dictionary.
Use it. Ask your child to say their own sentence with the word in it, such as “The timid boy didn’t want to speak in front of the class”, and add it to a favourite words list if they like it.

“Timid” means shy and easily frightened. It was worked out from the clue “hid behind the sofa”, by trying a known word in its place.

Common mistakes and how to help

Skipping words they don’t know and carrying on

Children want to keep the story going and fear that asking will slow them down or show they don’t know.

What helps: Make it normal to stop: “Ooh, a new word, let’s find out.” Show them the sentence clues and explain that skilled readers do this all the time.

Thinking a word has just one meaning

Children learn a word in one situation, such as “bark” of a dog, and are puzzled when they meet “the bark of a tree”.

What helps: Collect words with two meanings (bark, light, run, play, watch) and ask which meaning fits the sentence. The context tells you.

Reciting a poem fast and in a flat voice

Children focus on getting every word out from memory and want to finish quickly.

What helps: Ask what the poem is about, then mark where to pause and where to be loud or soft. Try it in different voices, such as whispering for a secret.

Believing any word starting with “un” has a prefix

Once children learn “un” means “not”, they apply it everywhere, so “uncle” becomes “not cle” or “under” becomes “not der”.

What helps: Ask them to check whether the rest of the word stands alone. “Unlock” leaves “lock”, but “uncle” leaves “cle”, which is not a word.

How to help at home

Start a favourite words jar. When your child likes a word they hear or read, write it on a scrap of paper and drop it in a jar. Pull one out at tea time and say what it means or use it in a sentence.
Learn one short poem together. Choose a short poem you both like. Learn one line a day, then say it with actions. Practise pausing at the right moments so the meaning comes across.
Say it another way. Pick a word from a story, such as “enormous” or “gloomy”, and challenge your child to find other words that mean nearly the same. Talk about which fits best.
Spot the repeated lines. While reading a traditional tale, wait for the repeated phrase and let your child say it with you. Ask what usually happens when it comes back.
Perform for an audience. Once a poem is learned, ask your child to recite it for grandparents, a row of teddies or the family at tea time. Performing for someone makes children think about their voice.

Builds on

Year 1: Enjoying stories, rhymes and poems
Year 1: Understanding what we read and hear
Year 1: Talking about books together

Leads on to

Years 3 and 4: Reading widely, myths and legends
Years 3 and 4: Performing poems and plays
Years 3 and 4: Inference, questioning and prediction
Years 3 and 4: Main ideas and non-fiction