Topic- computing
Our topic this half term is all about computing.
We’ve starting with ‘offline computing’ – learning all about algorithms.
We are going to be playing, and making, lots of online and offline games. As this is a computing topic, we’ll be using a range of technology including Blue-Bots and iPads.
Here is a lost of some of the vocabulary that will be taught in the coming weeks.
Big Walk and Wheel
Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2022 (the new name for Big Pedal), the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 21 March to 1 April. It’s free and we would love everyone to be involved.
What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event. Park and stride (parking your car further away from school, for example, Marks and Spencer car park and walking, scooting or biking the final part of the journey) also counts.
Why we are taking part
As a happy and healthy school, Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. Children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.
Plus there are some great prizes to be won every day if we get enough children taking part!
Useful resources
To help you prepare, Sustrans has developed a handy free guide packed with advice, games and challenges to help you have hassle-free cycle, walk or scoot to school.
Download your free family guide here.
World Book Day 2022
We had a fantastic day celebrating World Book Day by reading books, talking about our favourite authors and books and dressing up as characters from some of our favourite books.
After a morning of completing activities related to their favourite books, the children paired up across Year 1 and 2 to share their work. It was fantastic to see the collaboration, interaction and enthusiasm for books when the children worked together.
You can find more activities, videos, book recommendations and the brilliant World Book Day song on the World Book Day website.
Half term Dog’s Trust workshop
Rachael, from the Dog’s Trust in Leeds, visited all classes last week in our Staying Safe themed week.
She is holding a half term workshop next week and she would like us to share this with our families.
Contact Rachael, by email, if your child is interested in attending.
Living & Learning: Staying safe online
In Staying safe week, our visitor, Sarah from Go Wise Online, shared some great tips for staying safe online. The internet is a great resource but we need to stay safe when using it.
In class, we considered how the children use the internet and some of the online games that are popular. For each game, we checked the PEGI rating. Fortnite, for example, has a PEGI rating of 12 meaning the game is suitable for children age 12 and up.
To link with our current science learning, seasonal changes, we used iPads to find out answers to some of the questions we had.
When searching on the internet, we need to be aware what to do if something comes on the screen that makes us scared or sad. We also learnt about the padlock that can be found at the start of some web addresses (URL).
Discuss these questions with your child.
Here’s some pictures of our safe searches.
Finally, we watched some videos to give us some more advice about staying safe online. Watch them again and discuss the key safety messages with your child.
Fire Safety
This week, we were joined by four firefighters from Moortown Fire Station. They came in to educate us about fire safety. It was incredibly useful and we learnt lots about how to stay safe. We were also very lucky to see the fire engine and ask lots of questions.
We learnt what fires need to get started: the Triangle of Fire. Ask your child if they can remember what this means.
Abbey House Museum
Today, we had a great day at Abbey House Museum. We were all impressed with how well behaved, enthusiastic and engaged the children were. Today, was a wonderful opportunity to cement our learning from topic lessons. We learnt more about how shopping has changed and what life was like in Victorian Britain.
Living and Learning: Staying safe week – safety around dogs
The visitor from our current school charity, Dog’s Trust, taught us all about keeping safe around dogs. Again, the children were excellent listeners and asked some great questions.
There were five main things to remember. Ask your child to talk about these and to show the action that goes with each one.
1.When a dog is sleeping, we leave them alone.
2. When a dog is eating, we leave them alone.
3. Remember to be quiet around dogs.
4. Dogs don’t like hugs. They like gentle strokes.
5.We never take. We always swop.
Living and Learning: Staying safe week – road safety
We had a great morning with Harriet, our visitor from Leeds City Council’s road safety team, learning all about keeping safe while crossing the road. It was lovely to hear Harriet’s positive comments about the behaviour and listening from the class.
Here are the actions to help to remember the four steps of the green cross code.
Finally, when thinking about staying safe in a car, we looked at what height children need to be to not need a car seat. The height is 135cm so all the class should still be using these while travelling in a car.
Active maths
As we are starting to learn the two, five and ten times table, these Super Movers active songs are ones we use in class to help with our maths learning and for a brain break too.
