Author: Miss Young

This half term, KS1 have been learning all about plants and trees in Science. During the past two weeks, our focus has been on trees in particular. We know that deciduous trees loose their leaves but evergreen trees keep their leaves throughout all of the seasons.

We started off by sorting trees, based on their leaves into 2 groups.

We have also been on the field this week to find out what type of trees are growing. We found out that most of the trees are deciduous. The most common was a lime tree.

We also found one evergreen tree on the field and this was a pine tree. We know pine trees are often found in colder climates. Their waxy coating helps to protect the leaves from ice.

(Thank you parents for allowing our Science lesson to happen by sending children in with wellies this week.)

For the past two weeks, Year 2 have been learning all about apostrophes and how to use them. We have been learning to make and write contractions (where we push two words together, lose a letter or two and replace with an apostrophe). We’ve also been learning to show possession using apostrophes.

See some of our fantastic work!

Year 2 are currently learning all about fractions. We have learnt about half, quarter and thirds.

Each lesson we begin by recapping what each fraction represents.

Half means 2 equal parts.

Quarter means 4 equal parts.

Third means 3 equal parts.

We know equal is a very important word when discussing fractions. (Equal means the same amount). A shape for example, can be divided into several parts, but the parts may not be equal. See an example below.

We know that one half equals the same as two quarters.

We don’t just divide shapes into equal parts though. This can also be done with even numbers.

Help at home: by finding objects around the house (such as fruit, sweets or toys) and encourage your child to divide them into groups of 2, 3 or 4 and discuss.

This week, our whole-school Living and Learning statement is ‘I know the importance of personal hygiene, including handwashing.’

In KS1, we have been discussing lots of different ways that we can keep ourselves clean and healthy such as regularly having a shower or bath, cleaning our teeth using toothpaste and washing our hands.

In 2C, we conducted an experiment where we filled a bowl of water and sprinkled pepper on the surface. The surface of the water represented our hands and the pepper represented germs. We dipped one finger into the bowl each and saw that the pepper attached itself to our fingers when we did not have soap on them. We then dipped one finger into soap and then into the water and saw that the pepper moved away from our skin and onto the side of the bowl. This showed us just how powerful soap is and how important it is that we wash our hands regularly.

We identified lots of areas around school that are touched regularly by lots and lots of people. We know that these areas are ‘hotspots’ for germs, and if we touch them, it’s best to wash our hands afterwards.

This includes: doors, door handles, anything in the toilets and play equipment. It is important to wash our hands with soap so that we do not spread germs to others, or pick them up. Germs can be harmful and might make us poorly. We also identified places in the home that might be hotspots for germs, within the bathroom and kitchen.

 

Help at home: by identifying some ‘hotspots’ for germs within your home. Discuss the importance of handwashing and encourage children to follow the handwashing guide to ensure their hands are super clean!

How to wash your hands NHS song | NHS (youtube.com)

(Please note this is a YouTube video. Make sure you watch your child when using YouTube as adverts or unwanted videos may follow. Thank you.)

See our photographs from our egg rolling competition today. Thank you everybody for getting involved!

Well done Ella for rolling your Incredible Hulk egg the furthest, enjoy your prizes!

Have a wonderful Easter break everybody!

Our Living Learning statement this week is ‘I can talk about how I am feeling.’

During this session, KS1 identified and discussed different emotions. We discussed vocabulary linking to these emotions and how to recognise such feelings in ourselves and in others.

The children recognised that everybody experiences a range of different feelings and this is completely normal and okay. We can experience and recognise these through thoughts, facial expression and body language.

We talked about how we can deal with our emotions and manage them effectively.

In class, children watched a pixar animation where they were asked to spot different emotions and explain why they thought each character was feeling a certain way.

Help at home: by discussing feelings often with your children and find techniques that help children to understand and regulate these emotions.

This afternoon, the Year 2’s had a very important visitor in school. The visitor was from Leeds City council and spoke to the children about road safety.

First, the children spoke about different parts of a typical road: a road, kerb and pavement. The children then spoke about what type of traffic they might see on the road and path, and added  images to a map.

They were given scenarios both within a car and whilst walking or riding on the pavement, and discussed how to stay safe.

We know that we must wear a seatbelt whenever we are in a moving vehicle. We must never distract our driver to ensure the journey is safe.

We also know when we are crossing the road, we have to follow the rules: stop, look and listen.

Help at home: by talking to your child about road safety at home.

Our Topic this half term is computing. We are learning about what a computer is and the functions and abilities that computers have.

Each Topic, we learn different vocabulary.

In class, we are using Beebots. These are robots that have the appearance of a bee. They can move around when programmed with an algorithm. The children have experimented over the past few weeks, using the Beebots. They know how to get them to move in the way that they want (after lots of trial and error).

First we must press ‘CLEAR’ to ensure that the Beebot does not follow any prior instructions.

Then we command an algorithm into the Beebot and press ‘GO’.

We have also been designing our own games. We have practised working out the correct algorithms needed to complete our games. We’ve also set our peers challenges whereby they need to ‘debug’ an algorithm to complete our games. So far, we have planned and designed our games in our books.

We can’t wait for next week, where we can see our games come to life, using the Beebots!

 

This week’s whole school Living and Learning statement is, ‘I know that friends and family are important.’

Our in-class learning objective however, has been ‘I know when my friends are happy.’

This week, KS1 have been discussing how important it is to have relationships with people we can trust, whether that is friends or family. This is not only for our own happiness, but if something goes wrong it means we always have someone we can talk to. Somebody we can trust.

It is therefore important that we know when we are feeling happy and in turn, when others are feeling happy. This can give us the social skills we need to help ourselves and others.

‘There has never been a stronger focus on the health and wellbeing of our young children as there is today and we have an important and valuable part to play in this.’

In class, we watched a clip about Elmer the elephant, a story by David McKee. In the story, Elmer became sad as other Elephants did not understand her.

We used the words from the story and looked at Elmers’ body language, to recognise why she was feeling sad.

We then discussed how the other Elephants could help Elmer and make her happy again. Then we spoke about how this can link to our own lives and situations in school.

Finally, the children designed their own Elmer the Elephant, using ‘happy’ and vibrant colours.

This week, Year 2 have been learning how to divide.

‘Divide means to share into equally groups.’ 

We are focussing on dividing by 2, 5 and 10. We know that divide is in the same fact family as multiply. This means that there is a link between the numbers we use in each equation.

Today, 2C focussed on dividing by 5.

10 divided by 2 = 5

10 divided by 5 = 2

2 x 5 = 10

5 x 2 = 10

See some of our fantastic work below!