Living and Learning: drug education
A drug is a substance that changes the way the body or mind works.
In year 2, we have been learning about different things that go into our bodies and onto our skin and about keeping safe around household products and medicines.
Firstly, we considered what should go on and in our bodies and also what shouldn’t go in our bodies.
Our second lesson focused on medicines; what they look like, how they are used and why people use them. We talked about how some medicines are used to treat people when they are ill as well as how some medicines can help protect people from becoming ill in the future such as vaccinations.
We thought about the people that can help us stay well and who might help us if we are ill.
The children had a lot to share in this learning and were very clear about the message of keeping safe around these products.
This learning was also reinforced by a visit from D:side. Dave’s session helped the children to understand
- How to keep our bodies clean and healthy.
- Reasons for choosing a healthy lifestyle and the negative impact a lack of personal hygiene / sleep / activity can have on physical and mental wellbeing.
- How to identify internal parts of the body and their position and function to help with a healthy lifestyle.
Help at home: talk about products and medicines that are at home and how and why they are kept safe.
We are editors!
Yesterday, we wrote ‘The next adventures of the Naughty Bus’ and the story writing was brilliant. We included adjectives to add more information about nouns in the story and conjunctions to add more detail to our sentences.
Today, Year 2 have done some excellent editing. We edited a piece of writing together, did some paired editing and then we independently edited. All the children were responsible and respectful whilst listening and giving feedback to their partner. Well done for being fantastic editors Year 2!
Help at home by asking your child to edit some writing you have written with some simple mistakes in. Can they correct missing full stops, capital letters and commas or up level a sentence with an adjective or conjunction?
We are biologists!
At the start of this half term, we planted some daisy seeds as part of our science learning. We looked at what a plant would need to grow and how we look after it. We had to be very careful with the seeds as they were very small. First, we scooped some compost into our pot and pressed it down. Then, we put two seeds on top of the compost. Finally, we added some more compost on top and watered it. We will keep track of our seeds throughout the rest of Year 1.
Our seeds on 12/01/24. Our seeds on 25/01/24 (some little seedlings starting to show.)
Help at home by looking out for new plants growing in the park or in the garden. What parts of the plant can you see?
History – We are the Celts!
In our History lessons, we have been learning all about the Iron Age.
The Iron Age came before the Romans and the Celts, who lived in Britain at the time, led a very quiet life. They were farmers and lived in small tribes until…
43AD when the Romans invaded.
When the Romans invaded, the Celts had a choice:
Give in to the Roman rule which meant having to pay taxes but they got to stay on their land.
or
Resist and rebel against this and possibly end up dying.
It might sound like an easy decision but it wasn’t! As a class, we thought of all the reasons for and against and then had a class debate. We tried our best to be respectful by using sentence starters like, “I see what you’re saying but…” and “That’s a good point but I disagree because…“.
Here’s some pictures of us!
Help at home by having a respectful debate about what you might have for dinner! “I think we should have pesto pasta with chicken because it has protein and carbohydrates…”
Living and Learning – I know some drugs that are harmful and how to stay safe.
Over the last 2 weeks, we have had a focus on drugs, how they can be harmful and how we can be safe around them.
Drugs can come in all different shapes and sizes but they all do change the way the body or mind works.
We had a focus on medicines like Calpol and household items like cleaning products. We discussed when we might need to take or use medicines and how we might use these items.
We decided that:
- We should only take medicine if we are unwell and need it.
- We should always ask an adult before we go near a medicine or cleaning product as they can be dangerous if not used correctly.
- Even adults need to read the instructions on the medicine or cleaning product.
- These items should be kept out of reach of young children.
For example, dishwasher tablets could look really like a sweet to a baby and they might put it in their mouth! Help at home by asking your child to help you keep these products in a safe place.
Living and Learning – I know that some drugs are harmful.
Over the last two weeks, we’ve learnt about drugs.
Help at home by discussing which are helpful and which are not.
We also welcomed local celebrity d:side Dave who taught us about the different types, including which are legal or not, and how to be safe when taking medicinal drugs.
Lots of our learning has focused on assessing risk.
We discussed several scenarios, such as learning a new skill, attending a job interview or drinking energy drinks, and wrote down the potential risks, likelihood of harm, safety measures and potential pay-offs.
As usual, Y6 were thoughtful, mature and engaged with this lesson.
Science: An experiment fit for a king!
Year 5 have planned and conducted an experiment fit for a king. They received a very special message from the King with a problem he was facing.
With this message in mind, Year 5 used the enquiry question ‘Which material is the best insulator of heat?’ A thermal insulator is a material that does not let heat pass through it easily or quickly.
Our scientific enquiry type was ‘comparative and fair testing’. 
The children used three materials: fabric, bubble wrap and foil. They wrapped these around their beakers and used scientific equipment to measure the temperature of their ‘tea’. Year 5 recorded their results into their tables.
Next week, the children will analyse their results and see if they have any anomalous results (a result that does not fit in with the pattern of other results).
Help at home: Discuss the independent (what is changed), dependent (what is measured) and control (what is kept the same) variables in this experiment.
Living and Learning
Last week, our Living and Learning statement was ‘I know that some drugs can be harmful’. On Friday, Dave from d:side came to talk to us about how we can care for our bodies. The children impressed him with their amazing answers!
Strawberries are healthy.
You should brush your teeth in the morning and before bed.
Yoghurts have milk in. Milk is good for your teeth and bones.
You can have chocolate as a treat.
Guess who?
Last Friday, we had another go at drawing our faces. We looked carefully at our facial features. Can you spot your child’s self-portrait?
James and the Giant Peach
Last week, we were reading at an extract from James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.
We practised the skill of inference through ‘hot-seating’.
Hot-seating is where one child becomes a character and then the rest of the class asks the person questions about their behaviour, background, motivations or feelings.
The child then has to answer the questions in character!
Help at home by hot-seating with your child when reading their guided reading book!
