Topic Drop Down Morning
Today, we’ve had a busy morning re-visiting some learning from Year 1.
The children impressed us with their excellent recall of key facts about the Great Fire of London, as well as their strong knowledge of the continents, oceans, and the countries of the UK and their capital cities. We finished the morning by exploring artwork by George Seurat and Bridget Riley, where the children demonstrated excellent oracy skills as they thoughtfully discussed their likes and dislikes.
Living & Learning: health and prevention
Over the last two weeks, Year 2 have been learning about keeping our bodies healthy.
Firstly, we considered good hygiene. Most microbes do not harm us and some are actually very helpful. However, some microbes can harm us and these are called germs.
We can’t get rid of every single germ but we can think about how to keep them away and stop them from spreading.
Good handwashing is a key part of being hygienic. We reminded ourselves of how to wash our hands properly.
We already use an important technique to stop germs spreading by covering our mouth and nose with the inside of our elbow (the vampire technique).
We also discussed the importance of sleep in our weekly circle time.
All of the children could give a good example of why sleep is important from helping our memory to helping us grow.
This website provides more information about the importance of sleep for children.
Dental health is another key aspect of being healthy.
We thought about teeth-friendly food and drink, how to keep our teeth clean and to understand how our adults and dentists help to keep our teeth healthy.
- For children under 7 years, a pea-sized amount of toothpaste is recommended and brushing should be supervised.
- Children should be encouraged to spit out after brushing rather than rinsing with water, so that the fluoride remains on the teeth.
- It is recommended that water and plain milk are drunk.
- Children aged 5-7 years should visit their dentist for a regular check-up (every 6 months)
Help at home: sleep, dental health and good hygiene are all important aspects of keeping healthy. Discuss with your child which of these they want to improve and the steps to do this.
Maths: Equal groups
Today in our Maths learning, we explored the idea of equal and unequal groups.
We had lots of fun finding different ways to group 10, 15, and 20 cubes into equal groups.
Help at home: Build with small objects. Use cubes, Lego or coins to make different equal groups (for example: 20 in groups of 2, 4, or 5).
Living & Learning: drug education
A drug is a substance that changes the way the body or mind works.
In year 2, we have been learning about different things that go into our bodies and onto our skin and about keeping safe around household products and medicines.
Firstly, we considered things that are:
- good for our body – fruit and vegetables, clean air, soap and water, healthy foods
- not good for our body – some germs, cigarettes, vapes, sweets, fizzy drinks, berries from a bush, cleaning products
Medicines can be good for our body as they are used to treat people when they are ill and they can help protect people from becoming ill in the future (vaccinations).
Medicines can also be not good for our body for example, if we take too much medicine or if we have someone else’s medicine.
The children had a lot to share in this learning and were very clear about the message of keeping safe around these products.
We even helped Nothing (from our latest class novel) understand how to stay safe around things that might be harmful for our body and how to seek help if needed.
This learning will also be reinforced by a visit from D:side in our Staying Safe themed week in May.
Help at home: please discuss these key safety messages at home. Make sure your child is aware of possible dangers at home, such as medicines and household products, and how to seek help if they need it.
Try to fill in the missing words with your child.
You must never put something into your b_____ or onto your s_____ if you do not know what it is or if you don’t have p________ or c_______ from your adult.
Reading: World Book Day
World Book Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Today has been filled with lots of opportunities to read and talk about books.
We started the day with a whole school World Book day assembly.
Then, the children had chance to share the books they like to read.
Next, we did some paired reading with Year 5. The children thoroughly enjoyed sharing their books from home and reading to each other.
After that, we took part in a Once Upon a Time British Library workshop with Sarah. We retold the familiar story of the three little pigs using our voices, bodies and lots of great vocabulary. Then, using the four parts of a story (characters, setting, problem and solution), we created a new story.
This afternoon, we explored a book called Wild Book Day where lots of different book characters come to life together.
We used the Authorfy website to learn about a new author, Matty Long, who wrote Croaky. We followed instructions for how to illustrate the character of Croaky.
Finally, we reflected on the books we have read so far in Year 2 and voted for our favourite.
What a fantastic day we’ve had! Keep enjoying lots of books at home daily.
World Book Day Thursday 5th March
Tomorrow is World Book Day and we are looking forward to a day celebrating and enjoying reading.
As part of World Book Day, the children are invited to bring in a favourite book to share with the class. This maybe linked to the character they are dressed as or a different book.
We’re looking forward to a reading filled day!
Topic: Computing
This half term, our new topic is Computing! Here’s the key vocabulary we’ll be learning along the way.
Today, we had lots of fun working together to design our own games. We thought carefully about the commands we would need to create an algorithm that helps the player complete the game successfully.
Help at home: Can you think of any algorithms you do in your daily routine? For example brushing your teeth or getting ready for school.
English: Nothing
This half term, we’ve started reading Nothing by Mick Inkpen. We’re already thoroughly enjoying the story and are very eager to find out what happens to Nothing next.
We began by making predictions about what — or who — Nothing might be:
I think it’s because they’ve left nothing behind.
I think it’s the teddy bear’s name.
We also explored how Nothing might be feeling after being trapped in the attic for many years. The children suggested a wide range of emotions, including frightened, scared, lonely and apprehensive.
Today, we brought the story to life through role play, using a strategy called “thought tracking.” The children imagined they were Nothing’s inner thoughts and described how they would feel after finally escaping the attic. They used the sentence stem:
“I would feel… because…”
It was wonderful to see such thoughtful and imaginative responses as the children deepened their understanding of the character’s emotions.
Basketball half term holiday camps
There are the last remaining places available on these half term City of Leeds Basketball Club holiday camps held locally at Allerton High School.
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day
Today, it was Safer Internet Day and we spent the day focusing on these two key areas of online safety.
- I know that some things online may not be true (people and information).
- I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
We used some different texts to support this learning and our daily poem too.
We thought about some questions to ask Chicken Clicken and then did some hot seating. This helped us to think about Chicken Clickens feelings and actions.
This video also reinforced key messages about not everything online is true (this could be people or information) and the importance of not sharing any of your personal information.
We used our Living and Learning statement to think about the importance of always being respectful.
People should be respectful online because if you aren’t, others won’t be respectful to you.
It’s like bullying if you keep doing it.
It’s just like saying something mean in real life and we wouldn’t do that.
It can hurt other peoples’ feelings.
Dave from d:side visited last week to reinforce lots of internet safety messages. He was very impressed with the knowledge and understanding from the children.
Throughout this learning, we reinforced the message that if the children were unsure or something didn’t feel right they should always Start Telling Other People and let a trusted adult know.
Help at home: Can your child tell you the key messages from the texts we read?
Finally, our online safety section has further support available for parents.