Living and Learning – d-side visit
Today, we enjoyed a visit from d-side Dave. During the session, we thought about what makes us special by looking at what’s the same and different about each of us. We then talked about what our bodies need to survive (food, water and air) and why it’s important to exercise.
Next, we looked at different parts of the body, including the lungs, heart, liver and stomach. We explored what each part does and used a prop to help us find where they are in our bodies.
To finish, we created a human car wash, where we each said something kind to a friend as they walked down the line. It was so lovely to hear such thoughtful words being shared with each other.
Help at home: Share something nice about each of your family members.
Year 2 skipping festival
Today, the day had finally come. It was the event we had been building up to after all our skipping practicing – the Year 2 Skipping Festival!
Jodi, Chris and Adele welcomed us and the other five schools to the event at Armley Leisure Centre. 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. Sadly, we weren’t the winning school but we were so pleased to have received so many awards.
The children have been so resilient, responsible with their practising, determined and have definitely believed in themselves (even when it has been hard learning new skills) and we are very proud of them all.
I enjoyed the skipping festival because we got to do more skipping and try new skills.
I enjoyed the skipping festival because I liked waiting to hear who had won the certificates.
I thought skipping was hard and sometimes I got stuck but that is ok.
I liked the skipping festival because at the start of the year I thought I couldn’t do the skipping but then I discovered that I could skip all along.
I liked it because I improved my skipping skills.
I liked the skills we learnt and my favourite is backwards hop and swop.
Maths – Time
We’ve been really busy learning how to tell the time! We’ve looked at which hand on a clock is the minute hand (the longer one) and which is the hour hand (the shorter one). We’re starting to recognise o’clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to and we’re even beginning to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes. We’ve been using clocks to practise telling the time in a hands-on way, which the children have really enjoyed. We’re so impressed with how well they’re picking up this new skill!
Help at home – please keep practising telling the time as much as you can using a clock with hands.
Year 2 skipping festival Thursday 11 June
Next week, we will be taking part in our skipping festival against other Year 2 classes.
All the children know their individual or group skill and we will be practising in our PE lessons before next week.
As we will be leaving straight after registration, the classroom will be open from 8:30am. Your child needs to come in their PE kit and have a packed lunch and water bottle.
If your child would like to buy a skipping rope to practise these skills at home, they are available in class for a subsidised cost of £3 per rope. We are subsidising the cost with the PE and Sport Premium as a way to encourage physical activity out of school.
Design and Technology – Textiles
This half term, our topic is DT – Textiles. We’ve revisited the design process and remembered that it’s a continuous cycle that designers use to improve their work until they are happy with the final product.
We have also been exploring our new vocabulary for this topic.
The children were very excited to discover that they will be sewing their own hand puppets! In our first practical lesson, we practised using a needle and thread to create an over stitch. We also talked about how to use a needle safely, as they can be sharp and how to handle equipment carefully.
Help at home: Practise sewing using an over stitch, you could also practise threading a needle and tying a knot.
Living and Learning: Staying safe
Year 2 have enjoyed a busy week learning all about staying safe. This themed week forms part of our Living and Learning curriculum.
Leeds City Council road safety team came to teach us all about road safety and we went for a walk outside of school to practise The Green Cross Code:
THINK
STOP
LOOK
LISTEN
Visitors from Leeds Health and Wellbeing Team came to talk to us about hand hygiene and how to stay safe by not spreading harmful bacteria to others.
In our session with BMMA (British Military Martial Arts) we learnt how to stay safe while carrying out the different moves.
We learnt lots from Dogs Trust for how to stay safe around dogs. The 3Cs – check, call and count were things to remember before approaching a dog and keeping still like a statue or curling up like a tortoise is a response to getting unwanted attention from a dog.
Catering Leeds delivered a ‘germ warfare’ session about keeping hygienic. Look at the difference when we washed our hands!
Other learning included safety when riding a bike or scooter by wearing a helmet to protect our brain, checking our brakes and wearing something bright.
Congratulations to Ivy who was one of our active travel safety competition winners – well done!
It’s been such an enjoyable week and the children have engaged with the learning really responsibly.
Help at home: with the weather forecast looking warmer for half term, ask your child for some top tips for staying safe in the sun.
PE Uniform Reminder
Today, we had a look at our school uniform policy, with a particular focus on what is appropriate to wear for PE. This served as a gentle reminder for the children, helping them to understand the expectations around PE kit.
We had some thoughtful discussions about why we have a uniform policy and why it is important to follow it. The children shared some lovely ideas, including how it helps to keep things fair as everyone is dressed in similar clothing.
As we approach the end of Year 2, we also talked about looking ahead to Year 3. If you are considering replacing any PE items (such as trainers), it would be helpful to check that new items meet the school’s uniform expectations.
Thank you for your continued support in helping us maintain a consistent and positive approach to school uniform.
Living and Learning: staying safe in the community
We had a visit from Sian and Matt, our PCSOs, to talk about their roles, their uniform, how to contact the police and how the police can help us.
We’re looking forward to more visitors next week to help us learn about staying safe in lots of different ways.
Help at home: does your child know their address if they were lost or they needed to share it in an emergency?
Living & Learning: physical health and fitness
Our latest Living and Learning sessions have been all about the importance of physical activity and how we need to keep active to keep our bodies and our minds healthy.
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, make us breathe harder and make us feel warmer.
We thought about how we manage to achieve our active 30 minutes during the school day.
Wake Up Shake Up
PE lessons
running, skipping and playing tig at playtimes
playing in the MUGA at lunchtime play
active counting in class
jogging around the playground for brain breaks
Then, we shared ideas as to how we achieve the 30 active minutes outside of school.
travelling to and from school in an active way
after-school physical activity clubs
practising gymnastics
dancing
playing football
going for a jog
going on a bike ride
swimming
martial arts
boxing
Help at home – try a new physical activity out of school. Use our physical activity guide for some ideas. Encourage your child to practise some skipping ready for our skipping festival (skipping ropes are available to buy from class for £3).
Maths: Division
This week in Maths, we’ve been working hard on developing our understanding of division. We’ve been using our knowledge of multiplication facts to help us solve division problems, making links between the two concepts.
Help at home:
To further support your child at home, please continue practising the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, as this will really help build their confidence and fluency. You can also support your child by creating simple, real-life division problems for them to solve in everyday situations.
Here are some suggestions to try:
- Sharing snacks:
“We have 10 biscuits and 2 people. How many biscuits will each person get?” - At dinner time:
“There are 15 chips and 3 people. Can you share them equally?” - Tidying toys:
“You have 20 LEGO pieces. Can you put them into groups of 5? How many groups will you make?” - Setting the table:
“We have 10 forks and 5 people. How many forks does each person get?” - Shopping or unpacking food:
“We bought 6 yoghurts for 3 days. How many can we have each day?” - Grouping objects:
Use small items like coins or buttons:
“Can you make groups of 2 from 12 coins? How many groups are there?”