Year 2 Class News

Platinum award

Posted on Sunday 08 September 2019 by Mrs Taylor

At the end of each year, schools are invited to apply for their School Games Mark. The School Games Mark rewards schools for their commitment to and development of competition, school sport and physical education.

We’re very proud to announce that our application has been verified and we have been awarded Platinum award.

Platinum award is open to schools who have achieved Gold award for the previous four years.

We have achieved this award due to encouraging a large number of children to participate in sporting activity; providing a variety of different sports; partaking in competitions; involving children in leadership activities and having many local links with external clubs and establishments.

Thank you to staff who have accompanied children to these events or run after-school clubs this year. Thank you also to Mrs Russell who provides excellent administration of our clubs and sporting events and competitions. Thank you as well to all parents/carers who have helped with transport and supported at our events this year.

Finally, well done to all pupils who have tried out a new physical activity either at an after-school club or as part of a competition or participation event and to those children who have represented our school so well this year.

Welcome back

Posted on Thursday 05 September 2019 by Mrs Freeman

It was great to see so many smiling faces today when the children returned to school following the summer break. The class quickly settled into Year 2 and followed all their new routines. All the adults were impressed by the ‘readiness to learn attitudes’ on display.

Image result for back to school

This afternoon, we thought about our upcoming new topic learning. Using some clues, the children were asked to predict what our new topic may be. Through some drama, the class observed all the clues and shared their ideas.

Below are some of the clues.

vines
huge feet
someone in a boat
a snake
strange beast
boy
crown
sailing boat

I wonder if there is some water?

I think that there are untamed animals.

The vines could be a forest.

The BFG has huge feet.

I think there are monsters.

The lesson was great fun and full of great predicting and interpreting skills.

Our new topic is based around…Image result for where the wild things are

There’s so much more in this book than just the reading. It’s a simple story with a few characters and a whole lot of imagination. It’s an amazing story to read out loud.

Where the Wild Things Are is a well known, classic children’s book. It works because of its simplicity, and its underlying charm, as well as the originality of its illustrations.

Our topic will be driven by design and technology culminating in the making of a sailboat. Also, there will be links to reading, writing and maths within our lessons. Vocabulary, linked to DT and the text, will become more familiar to the children as we move through our topic sessions.

Living and Learning

Posted on Sunday 01 September 2019 by Mrs Taylor

As we return to school, we begin our Living and Learning theme with a focus on manners: I can greet someone politely.

We’ll then continue by thinking about the ‘8 Rs for learning’. This theme is about promoting good learning behaviour for your child.

Each week, we’ll focus on two different ‘Rs’. We use an animal to symbolise each ‘R’, which might help your child remember all eight – can your child remember which animal matches the correct ‘R’?

You can support your child at home – we’ve listed a few ideas to help you below. Ask us if you’ve any questions or comments.

Download top tips for promoting the 8Rs for good learning behaviour.

I can show I am ready to learn.

Make sure your child is at school for a prompt start of 08:50.
Make sure your child has had plenty of sleep so they are alert and ready to learn at all times.
Encourage your child to ask lots of questions – that shows they want to learn!

I respond to feedback.

Ask your child if they remember their ‘stars’ and ‘steps’ in English and Maths.

I take a safe risk.

Talk about the difference between a safe and unsafe risk.  At school, we want your child to take a safe risk by having a go at answering, even if unsure; trying something new and attempting harder learning.

I take responsibility for my own learning.

Provide time and space at home so your child is able to organise themselves: their PE kit, reading book, homework, spellings and tables… Don’t organise everything for them!
Make a link between rights and responsibilities: your child has the right to a great education, but needs to be responsible for their own learning.

I am resourceful.

Encourage your child to be organised so they can play with a range of different toys.
Encourage your child to try new ways to solve a tricky problem.

I am resilient.

Encourage your child to keep going! Set a tricky challenge or puzzle for your child to do.
Encourage your child to think of different ways of doing things.
Don’t let your child win when they play a game – they need to experience losing, too!
Celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn – be happy that your child found some learning hard and encourage them to ‘bounce back’ and learn from the experience.

I remember.

Make sure they have time to learn spellings, number bonds and times tables – a little practice daily is best.
Play memory games:

Kim’s game: show them objects for 30 seconds… can they remember all the objects?
Can they build up the sequence, ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a bike.’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a bike and a cucumber.’ etc … Take turns!

I reflect about my learning.

Talk with your child about what they’ve learnt, asking questions about:

how they learnt
why they learnt it
when they’ll use their learning
how they would teach this to someone else
what learning might link with what they’ve learnt today etc

As well as covering the 8Rs for learning, pupils will also learn about their rights and responsibilities.

Finally, we end the half term learning about democracy (one of the British Values).  All children have the opportunity to experience democracy in our annual School Council elections.  More details to follow.

Our full Living and Learning long term plan is available on the health pages and you can keep up to date with our weekly Living and Learning statements on the parent noticeboard in the playground and also on the school calendar.

Author visit

Posted on Thursday 18 July 2019 by Mr Wilks

This morning Hayley, came in to class to tell us about her book Emma Bright and the super food fight.

As well as being a really fun and exciting story, it has lots of positive message about a healthy lifestyle.

Later in the session, we created our own superfood heroes on paper plates.

Superfood collage

Posted on Thursday 18 July 2019 by Mr Wilks

We’ve been looking at the paintings of Guiseppe Arcimboldo in art lessons this half-term. This links well with our food topic as Arcimboldo was famous for drawing different fruits and vegetables to create portraits.

Using these paintings as inspiration, we created our own collages using actual fruit and vegetables. First we designed our portraits and then we made them.

Finally, the children devoured their creations!

Living and Learning: Physical Health

Posted on Wednesday 17 July 2019 by Mrs Taylor

As well as our current learning about healthy food, we have been thinking about other aspects of health including physical health.

The Government Childhood Obesity Plan has set out the ambition for all children to achieve 60 minutes of physical activity every day – 30 active minutes in school and 30 active minutes out of school.

We considered different ways to achieve these recommendations.

Outside of school

At school

  • being active at playtime and lunchtime
  • skipping
  • playing in the MUGA
  • Wake up Shake up
  • Super Movers, GoNoodle, imoves active breaks in class
  • using the climbing wall
  • using the front playground

Picnic in the park

Posted on Tuesday 16 July 2019 by Mrs Taylor

Well done to all the children today for designing and preparing all the parts of their picnic.

We’ve used lots of food preparation skills over the last two days and it was great to enjoy our trip to the park as the finale to our food topic.

‘The food was delicious.’

‘I enjoyed the cooking but some of it was tricky.  It is hard to cut pieces the same size.’

‘The cooking was great fun.’

‘We got to play on the money bars, swings and skip.’

This learning has helped the children to understand what is needed for a healthy packed lunch based on the Eat Well Guide. We also have our Packed Lunch Guidance in case some of the children move to packed lunches in Year 3.

Hopefully you might get chance to enjoy another picnic in the park over the summer holidays (and get someone to make it for you!).

Picnic preparation

Posted on Monday 15 July 2019 by Mrs Taylor

Today, we started to get ready for our end of year picnic in the park by making our fruit bars.

First of all, we got ready for cooking by making sure long hair was tied back, removing any watches, cleaning the surfaces, rolling up our sleeves, putting on our aprons and washing our hands.

Here are some of the skills we used.

Mashing

Snipping

Measuring Mixing

Finally, there was no shortage of offers to help with the washing up! We’re looking forward to getting back in the kitchen tomorrow.

Testing out the fruit tuck shop

Posted on Monday 15 July 2019 by Mrs Taylor

Recently, Year 2 wrote some persuasive letters to see if they could try out tuck shop before they move to Year 3.  In Key Stage 2, children have the opportunity to visit the weekly tuck shop during Tuesday playtime.

We were very impressed by their persuasion and today they got to test it out for themselves. The children enjoyed the selection of fruits available and we hope they will become customers at the tuck shop in Year 3. Details of the tuck shop will be sent out when we return to school in September.

New school meal menu

Posted on Friday 12 July 2019 by Mrs Taylor

Our new autumn/spring school meal menu, starting in September, is now available on our Meals page. It continues to follow a three week cycle.

The menu has been created in liaison with Catering Leeds to ensure it meets the School Food Standards.  We have also incorporated feedback from our school cook, pupils and parents/carers. We will continue to offer meat free Monday on one out of the three weeks.

Pupils will continue to make their daily food choices at the start of the day to ensure they receive their first choice of main meal.

If you would like a paper copy of the menu, please ask at the office.