Being Healthy themed week 10 July
Our next whole school themed week, based around Being Healthy, will be taking place from Monday 10th July. This is the second of two themed weeks in the year.
Living and learning: body image
Our latest Living and Learning sessions have been focussed on body image and we started this learning by thinking about what is special about our own identity and how we can describe our own identity in terms of our physical appearance.
We also thought of other ways we might be different, on the inside as well as the outside. For example, we don’t all have the same personality and characteristics and we have different interests and hobbies.
We agreed that being different is a good thing and it should be celebrated as it would be boring if we were all the same!
I am different because I have a different family to others.
I am different because I have a different skin and hair colour to my friend.
I am different because I like dogs but my friend is allergic to them.
Moortown Lego Legends
This week, we had a presentation from six members of the class, also known as Moortown Lego Legends, to share their project they have been working on for the last four months. The class had lots of questions to ask them.
They have worked together as a team on a great Lego and coding project, putting into practice some of their programming skills learnt earlier this year in our computing topic, while also learning about sustainable energy sources.
Well done to all the children involved and thank you to the parents for supporting them in this learning out of school.
Lotherton Hall Trip
On Wednesday, Year 2 enjoyed a day out of school to Lotherton Hall. It was jam-packed day of sunshine, smiles and wildlife!
As part of our science learning this half term, we enjoyed a workshop called ‘who eats who’. In the workshop we looked at lots of science vocabulary: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, prey, predator and producer.
The Year 2 children were brilliant at identifying skulls from different animals by looking at the size, teeth and features.
Before we left, we enjoyed time climbing and enjoying the park grounds and playgrounds.
Help at home by discussing your child’s biological knowledge. This links well with this week’s Talk Time homework.
Design and technology: food
This week, Year 2 have been using their design and technology food preparation skills to make our latest recipe, fruit bars.
After the cooking, we carried out the evaluation of the product and we enjoyed the tasting all together.
I liked the fruit bars because you could really taste the coconut and honey but next time I would change the apricots more dates or raisins.
I liked it because it was really crunchy. I would change it next time by adding blackberries.
I didn’t like the bars because of the seeds. Next time, I would leave the seeds out.
I liked the bars because it was sweet from the honey.
I really liked it because I could all the ingredients. Next time, I would take the seeds out and I would replace them with watermelon.
I liked the fruit bars as I liked the apricots but I would eliminate the seeds and replace them with dried berries.
It was so good that I want another one.
Help at home: Ask your child/children what food preparation skills they have used in this learning and can they demonstrate these at home.
Living and Learning: relationships
For the last few weeks, our Living and Learning lessons and circle times have been all about happy and healthy relationships between our friends, peers and families.
Here we thought about different words that we associate with families and we read some texts about how not all families are the same and that is ok. The children enjoyed sharing special members of their family.
The Great big book of families by Mary Hoffman
We have already learnt about consent in terms of permission seeking when online but here we thought about it when we are with others. We practised showing how we give and don’t give consent and how we can also change our mind if we want to.
Finally, you will have seen the children have brought home the NSPCC Pants Underwear rule. We revisit this important learning every year.
Help at home: read the NSPCC pants underwear rule with your child/children and think about how this keeps you safe. This parent guide is available too.
Super skippers
Today, the day had finally come. It was the event we had been building up to after all our skipping practising – the Year 2 Skipping Festival!
Jodi, Chris and Katie welcomed us and the other four schools to the event at Leeds Trinity University. First of all, there was a skipping warm up for everyone before the individual skippers did their events. The children were so encouraging and supportive to their class mates and every child tried their best and performed amazingly well.
Next, it was time for the group events. The children worked so well together in their teams and once again, we were so proud of what they have achieved. Even in the last few days, we have seen some of the children mastering these new skills.
Finally, it was time for the results. The tension was mounting.
We were so pleased to have received so many awards and to hear that we were the winning school made all the hard work and preparation worth while. What an achievement!
The children have been so resilient, determined and have definitely believed in themselves (even when it has been hard learning new skills) and we are very proud of them all.
Magnificent Maths!
We have started this half term learning about statistics and measures. Last week, Year 2 learned how to recognise, create and interpret tally charts, block diagrams and pictograms.
For the next two weeks, we are learning how to measure mass and capacity. We will also be looking carefully at reading scales in grams (g) , kilograms (kg) , millilitres (ml) and litres (l).
Help at home by looking at different scales. Can you weigh items and say how much the mass is in g or kg?
Living and Learning:physical activity
Our latest Living and Learning sessions have been all about the importance of exercise and how we need to keep active to keep our bodies and our minds healthy.
We thought about all the things we had done since waking up. Then, we checked which ones were active.
Practised gymnastics
Wake up Shake up
Walking to school
Playing tig with friends at playtime
Classroom skipping brain break
Pull ups
The NHS guidance states that children and young people should ‘aim for an average of at least 60 minutes (30 minutes in school and 30 minutes out of school) of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity a day across the week’. We know that the exercise we need to do to achieve this, should increase our heart rate.
We thought about how we manage to achieve our 30 minutes during the school day.
- Daily WUSU
- 2 weekly PE sessions
- Playtimes
- Lunchtime play
- Go Noodle, Supermovers and active counting in class
- Jogging around the playground for brain breaks
- After school clubs
Help at home – try a new physical activity out of school – maybe a local Junior park run, local cricket lessons or tennis lessons. Practice some skipping ready for our skipping festival.
We are biologists
This half-term, we’re biologists, learning specifically about plants.
Here’s a list of key words that we’ve been learning as part of our topic.
seed: the part of a plant which can grow into a new plant
bulbs: the round underground part of a plant that contains food for the plant (eg onion bulb, daffodil bulb, tulip bulb)
basic needs: the things that a plant needs to live
temperature: a measurement of how hot or cold something is
growth: an increase in size
healthy: feeling well and happy
germinate: when a seed begins to grow into a plant
seedling: a young plant grown from a seed
Throughout this learning, we have been carrying two investigations.
How do bulbs grow? What do plants need to help them grow?
We put some onion bulbs in different conditions and observed the changes over time.
Ask your child to explain what had happened.
What do seeds need to germinate?
After observing and comparing different seeds, we planted seeds in different locations (and therefore different conditions). All the plants were given water.
Week 1
After one week, this is what had happened. The seeds had germinated in two out of the three locations. Even though the seedlings had started to grow in the cupboard and the classroom, they looked different and we observed these differences.
After two weeks, we were surprised to see that the seeds in the fridge had started to germinate. There were only small seedlings and they looked pale and not very healthy. The seedlings in the classroom on the window sill were definitely looking the healthiest with lots of dark green leaves.
We’ve also noticed a change in the tree in the front playground. How has it changed?
Help at home this week, the children have taken home their own planted sunflower seed to look after. Read the instructions to help the plant to grow as best as it can. We’d love to see how the plants are getting on!