Author: Mrs Taylor

This half term our Living and Learning lessons are based around the MindMate learning themes of emotions and friendships.

Our first lesson was based around strong emotions and exploring and describing how it feels to be sad/unhappy.

We thought about how others might express feelings of unhappiness and if they did feel unhappy, to practise asking, and listening to, others about what makes them unhappy.

We reinforced that everyone feels sad or unhappy at times and that’s natural.

In our circle time on the same theme, the children suggested some things to do if they were feeling sad.

Would it help if…

• you talked to a friend or a trusted adult
• you wrote down how you felt
• you played with a friend or brother or sister
• you read a book
• you went for a walk
• you did some exercise

As part of this lesson, we did two of the mindfulness exercises taken from this website.

This week, we started our Living and Learning lesson by working together to match emotions to the pictures and explaining the choices.

We recognised that facial expressions can give a big clue as to how someone is feeling.

This video of two friends shows lots of characteristics of a good friendship and a healthy relationship. Friends do have fall outs and we talked about what to say to someone who is feeling upset because they have fallen out with a friend, being teased or is feeling left out.

This was done by putting themselves in their shoes.

Help at home – ask your child to practise what they might say to someone who is being teased or feeling left out.

Over the last two weeks, Year 2 have been learning about four main areas of online safety (plus lots of other online safety tips too).

• I know that there are sometimes age restrictions online.
• I know that passwords are important.
• I know that some things online may not be true.
• I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.

We welcomed Dave from d:side last week to support this learning and this week was Safer Internet Day.

We thought about how and why we might use the internet. Here’s some of the class’ favourite things to do online.

We’ve had lots of discussions about staying safe online. Here the children are sorting websites into those we would trust (eg our school website, well known websites such as the BBC website) and those we wouldn’t trust (eg a pop up telling you that you have won something).

We learnt that the padlock next to the web address tells us this is a secure and trusted site.

This video reinforced key messages about not everything online is true (this could be people or information) and the importance of not sharing any of your personal information.

These texts all have important online safety messages and our daily poem this week is this online safety rhyme.

Throughout this learning, we reinforced the message that if the children were unsure or something didn’t feel right they should always Start Telling Other People and let a trust adult know.

We even got to meet Buddy (NSPCC mascot), who was visiting Year 5 and 6, and it was great that the children all remembered him from our recent Speak out Stay safe NSPCC assembly.

Help at home: here are the PEGI age ratings. Ask your child what they are for and why they are important.

This half term, we have been learning all about materials and their properties.

Firstly, we identified and described lots of different materials all around us making sure we knew the difference between the object and the material.

For example, this is a table. The material it is made from is wood. Hard, smooth and opaque are some of its properties.

Here’s the vocabulary we have been learning and using in this topic.

Are all objects made out of the same material?

We thought about an object (spoons) that can be made out of different materials – wooden spoon, metal spoon and plastic spoon. We discussed the properties and uses of each spoon and why that material had been used. This made us think about other objects that can be made from different materials – chairs, clothes, bags, shoes and lots more!

Is all paper absorbent?

After an initial prediction, this comparative investigation involved dropping water onto different types of paper to see how much water was absorbed by the paper.

The children made some great observations reflecting back to their predictions.

Alongside this learning about materials, we are using our working scientifically skills to observe over time. Every week, we measure the temperature using a thermometer and record the weather and later in the year we will use this data to look for any patterns.

This deciduous tree is in our front playground and we are taking weekly photos to observe how the tree changes over time across the different seasons.

Help at home: ask your child how they think the tree will change and when those changes might happen.

In our Living and Learning lessons, we have been thinking about being safe in a variety of situations.

Here we are sorting some activities, that all have an element of risk, depending on whether they pose a low or high risk. There were some different opinions and the children were able to justify the decisions they had made.

We also played this hazard identification game to spot and learn about potential risks when at home.

The wires are going across the carpet. Someone might trip up over them.

The candles are burning close to the curtains so they might catch fire.

There’s a hot drink near the edge of the table. Someone might knock it off and it would burn them.

Our reading fluency text this week also has a being safe theme.

The NSPCC Speak out Stay safe assembly gave a very clear message about being safe and in our weekly circle time, the children were all able to say how they would seek help (Start Telling Other People).

Help at home by reinforcing these important safety messages ready for your homework this week.

The NSPCC has also developed an adapted version of their assembly for parents/carers to use at home with their children and some resources that can be used to enable further discussion whilst doing activities with your children.

You’ll also find online safety information for families of children with additional needs and disabilities.

Childline also have a website with age-appropriate advice for primary school children on topics such as bullying. It also has games and other interactive tools.

A HUGE well done to all the children this afternoon for performing so well in their second class assembly of the year. Thank you for coming to share this with them.

We are very proud of their confidence to speak in front of such a big audience and for taking responsibility to learn their lines and the songs and poems.

There’s a class reward for them tomorrow!

We look forward to welcoming you to our second class assembly next Wednesday.

The children are looking forward to sharing their learning.

The assembly starts at 2:40pm. We hope to see you there!

In our latest Living and Learning lessons, we’ve been learning about safety around medicines and household products.

We considered:

What are medicines?

What do they look like?

How are they used?

Why do people use them?

The children had lots to share about their experiences of taking different medicines and what they are used for.

Using different scenarios, we thought about what would be the best things to help. Sometimes a hug, some water, rest, a tissue or sleep can be enough to help someone feel better and medicine might not be needed.

Then, we considered safety rules at home and how to keep themselves and others safe.

We sorted the following safety rules depending on whether they were true or false or if it depends on the situation.

In some more scenarios, we thought about why the situation was unsafe and what the character could do to prevent a danger.

We shouldn’t take someone else’s medicine. It is just for them.

Medicine should only be given by adults.

These might be tablets so they shouldn’t touch them.

They should tell an adult they have found them.

Help at home: please reinforce this key safety message at home. Make sure your child is aware of possible dangers at home, such as medicines and household products, and how to seek help if they need it.