Sensational Semi-colons
This was our first lesson on how to use semi-colons in a list.
We had to place the semi-colons and commas correctly.
We worked in groups so that we could discuss our decisions and help each if needed.
Using ‘contributions tokens’ helps us to make sure that everyone is contributing equally to group discussions. (Ask us how this works.)
By the end of the lesson, most of us could change a sentence which just required commas for a list into one which needed semi-colons.
School council elections
Our school council elections will take place next Thursday 19 October.
In an assembly this week, our current school councillors told us what characteristics are needed to be an effective school councillor.
These included:
- use all the 8 Rs for learning
- be respectful
- help others
- be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)
- tell the truth
- be confident with your ideas
- accept the views of others even if you don’t agree
- be friendly and approachable
- make good choices in class and around school
Watch out for the whole school homework this week all about the election and democracy.
What an act of folly!
Y6 are taking part in yet another competition!
Fountains Abbey is hosting a ‘Design a Folly’ competition, the of winner of which will have their folly built in the grounds of the abbey itself.
Yesterday, we were visited by Chris Hinett, an architect who is working on the project. He helped us to mark out the size of the actual folly on the floor of our classroom so we could understand how big it would be when it was built.
We had to move all the tables and chairs it was so big!
Then, he taught us about scale and how our designs for the folly would have be drawn at a 1:20 scale. We learnt this in relation to how tall we were. Our actual height is a 1:1 scale and, if we drew ourselves as half the size, this would be 1:2.
We drew around ourselves (1:1 scale).
Then had a go at drawing us at 1:20.
Finally, we used our Maths skills (divide by 20) and Chris’s fancy ruler to check how close our drawings were. Our attempts were pretty close and Zack’s and Owen’s were pretty much spot on.
We finished the session by looking at some examples of follies and sharing our initial ideas before getting some ideas jotted down in our Arty Ideas books. We’ll be finalising our entries next week for them to be sent off over half term.
It’s our class assembly tomorrow
We hope you can join us for our class assembly at 2:40pm tomorrow (Wednesday 11th October).
The children are excited to show you some of our learning so far in Year 2.
Which of the 8 Rs for learning do you think is the most important?
In our Living and Learning session today, we’ve been reviewing how the 8 Rs for learning help us. In groups, we also ordered the 8 Rs according to which we thought were the most important. There was lots of discussion and differences of opinion.
‘I think being ready is important because then you are listening.’
‘I think resilience is important because you should try your best and never give up. Even if you get it wrong, it is still ok.’
‘You should take a safe risk and always try to do your learning even if it is hard.’
‘You need to be resourceful because if something is hard, you should find something in the room to help you.’
‘If you take a safe risk it means you have tried. It doesn’t matter if you get it wrong.’
It’s been great to see children using these 8 Rs during the school day.
Well done, Saahir for remembering to change our class calendar today without prompting.
Leah – you always respond in full sentences to show you have listened to the question.
Harpreet – you are always ready for learning with the correct equipment.
Billy – you show a confident attitude and take safe risks to further your learning.
Amrit M – you have shown resilience when using Mathletics at home to try to improve your score.
Amrit S – you have taken responsibility for your maths learning by doing extra practice at home.
James – you have been resourceful by independently using a hundred square to check your numbers are the right way round.
Tanvi – you have reflected about different methods to use for addition in maths.
We’re looking forward to seeing all your 8 Rs homework this week. Please join us to review this on Thursday at 2:40pm in the classroom.
Ask your child which of the 8 Rs they feel they have improved so far in Year 2 and which they might still need to work on. This guide for parents gives a few ideas to support this at home.
Allerton Grange PE
This afternoon, we made the short trip to Allerton Grange for our PE lesson. We were taught a range of sports by some Year 10 sports leaders. As always, we were fantastic ambassadors for our school and this was appreciated by the sports leaders and their teachers. Well done, Year 5!
Thanks to our class photographer for the afternoon: Farai.
Rugby
For the last four weeks, during our PE lessons, we’ve been learning all about rugby. Visitors from Leeds Beckett University and Roundhegians RUFC have taken over our PE lessons to teach us the skills needed to be rugby players. It was great fun and I know the children had a great time.
If your child is considering playing rugby outside of school, which I strongly encourage, there are a number of clubs in the local area. The closest to school is Roundhegians RUFC. Roundhegians are an established club that are well known in Yorkshire rugby for their thriving junior section. Training is on Sunday mornings and children of all abilities are welcome.
Exploring, and writing about, the Arctic!
Last week, we continued our Explorers topic by combining our topic and writing lessons.
In writing, we looked at some examples of reports and picked out the key features. Then, we discussed writing our own report about the Arctic (we’ll write this next week). We made a brief plan, splitting our report into four sections, and decided what we’d need to find out.
In our topic lessons, we began our research. First, we made notes about where the Arctic is and what it is (To be able to describe the physical features of an area). It was useful to practise our note taking and summary skills as we learnt all about the size, climate and physical make-up of the Arctic region.
In a different lesson, we read about two explorers who both claim to be the first person to explore the Arctic on foot (Who was the first person to explore the Arctic on foot?). We used our reading skills to find key information in each text, answered a range of questions and pretended to be roving reporters interviewing each person. We then had a debate about who we believed.
This week, we’ll continue our research by asking ‘What lives in the Arctic?’ and ‘What does the future hold for the Arctic region?’.
What is a continent?
As we continue with our geography based Explorers topic, Year 2 have today been thinking about where we live in the wider world.
- What is the name of the continent that we live in?
- How many continents are there in the world?
- Can you name them all?
- Which continent is missing from the map above?
We’ve also been learning about the features of a non-fiction book. Today, our challenge was to use the index of an atlas to find countries and check if they are in Europe or not. There was some great supportive partner work.
Finally, our geography skills were put to the test as we played a variation of the game Twister: Globe Trotting. Look at the brilliant flexibility and balance!
Sail away!
In class, we’ve been studying the famous explorer, Christopher Columbus. Having learnt where he travelled to and how his journeys were funded, we now wanted to explore how he and his crew travelled. Year 4 looked closely at the three ships that were used for Christopher Columbus’s first voyage. We then examined some images of those vessels used on that exploration.
How were they made? Where did everyone sleep? What happened to the ship in bad weather?
This led us to thinking about how to sketch a ship, focusing closely on the shape and the size.
We explored ideas and collected visual and other information to help us to develop our work. Using these resources, we set to work on sketching the outline of a ship. To begin with, we used whiteboards and pens to follow a tutorial online. Working alongside an artist, helped to get a starting point for our own drawings. Care, attention to detail, patience and determination were just some of the skills shown during this lesson.
I’m sure you will agree that this artwork is just superb and incredibly lifelike!
We will be displaying this work in our shared area.
Posted here are some examples by the proud artists!
When complete, the children were then able to carefully add colour.