Happy Holidays
Well done to all the children in Year 2 for a very hard working term. This was rounded off by an amazing nativity show.
We would like to wish all the children and their families a happy and healthy holiday. Thank you also for the very generous, unexpected gifts.
We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 06 January 2020.
Best wishes
from all the staff in Year 2
Where in the world am I?
This week, it has been the final week of our geography based, Where in the world am I?, topic.
Throughout this learning, the children have become more knowledgeable about where they live within the world.
We live in Moortown.
Moortown is in the city of Leeds.
Leeds is in the country of England.
England is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. The other countries are Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom is in the continent of Europe. The other six continents are Asia, North America, South America, Australasia, Antarctica and Africa.
While learning all these place names, this has given us lots of opportunities to practise using capital letters for proper nouns.
This topic has also allowed us to explore maps in atlases and also online mapping (including Google Maps).
Finally, the children had a go at creating their own maps to show a familiar daily route – their way to school.
Can your child describe their route, maybe referring to some local landmarks along the way, using some positional and directional vocabulary such as near, far, left, right and the compass points of north, east, south and west. Ask your child what the map key is needed for too.
Here are a few examples.
The children will be sharing some of this learning in our class assembly in the new year.
Painting Poinsettias
The Poinsettia plant is particularly well known for its red and green foliage and is widely used in Christmas floral displays.
Today, the children were given the opportunity to sketch
the plant. Using their observational skills, Year 2 produced some very accurate images. Next, with fine brushes and watercolour paints, the class added colour and detail to their artwork.
Below, are a selection of the finished pictures.
Skillful Cookery
Year 3 and 4 have exercised their baking skills this week by creating stained-glass-window cookies!
Our cookies were vegan and gluten-free so that everybody could enjoy them. We weighed out the butter, sugars and vanilla paste first.
After mixing this into a smooth batter, we added the flour, bi-carbonate of soda and baking powder.
While we waited for the dough to chill, we learned how to make hot chocolate safely so that we can have plenty over the chilly holidays.
Once the dough was cold enough to work with, we rolled it out and cut it into different shapes. If you cut a smaller shape out of the middle, you could add boiled sweets which then melt in the oven to create a sweetie window – very cool.
Cross country success
Following the recent Leeds North East Cross Country Festival at Cardinal Heenan, we are proud to announce that the following children have qualified for the Leeds final in February.
Year 3
Bridget (13th), Jake (5th) and Junior (20th)
Year 4
Billy (11th)
Well done to all the children who took part and good luck to our qualifiers.
Homework
Last week, for their homework, the children were asked to show what they know about something cultural or what they know about a specific festival.
Over the course of this term, some children in school have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been;
- the Muslim festival of Eid ul Adha
- the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwal
- the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
- the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians) of Christmas
- and the Chinese New Year festival, coming up.
We had some great examples of different cultures and festivals. Well done, Year 2.
Rugby at Allerton Grange
Last week, Y4 visited Allerton Grange to work with the sports leaders there. We took part in a range of activities designed to develop our skills in tag rugby before having a go at some tag rugby games. We really enjoyed the session and are going to try to re-create these activities at school so that we can continue to get better.
We practised passing the ball and moving:
We learned about passing the ball to each other and trying to intercept:
We tried to receive the ball in the air before the other person got it:
We tried to steal each others’ tags before they got to the other side:
We tried to get the ball to the try line with another team stopping us from getting through:
Takeover Day
Today, it was Takeover Day so the children took over Year 2!
Some children got to:
- do the warnings chart
- give out cool class tokens
- lead the
spelling test - say 321 and stop
- read a story
- take the lunch orders
- take the register
Takeover Day
Today, it was Takeover Day so the children took over Year 4!
Some people got to:
- do the warnings chart
- give out cool class tokens
- do the times tables test/ spelling test
- say 321 and stop
- serve lunches
- write certificates
- do the register
- lead guided reading group
And Betty and Amrit M wrote this class news post.
Maths and Science using Skittles
Today, the children have continued with some scientific enquiry learning. First of all, they were given a bag of Skittles with a question; can we collect any data about these sweets?
We could sort them into colours.
I think that we could count them.
After grouping the sweets, the children completed tally and bar charts to showcase the data collected.
Next, came the BIG QUESTION!
What do you predict will happen when we add water to the Skittles?
I think the Skittles will turn white.
The water will be brown.
The sweets might dissolve.
The colour will melt.
Using simple equipment, we arranged the Skittles around the edge of the plate and then poured warm water into the middle. We observed closely as some amazing changes happened. 
Well done Year 2!