1A Parts and wholes
Today, we introduced the concept of parts and wholes into our Number learning. We looked at photographs of fruit and vegetables and decided if it was the whole fruit or a part of it. Looking at pictures of carrots, we discussed how the parts could be cut in different places to make all kinds of different parts.
After that, we were given a tower of blocks and we used our imagination to pretend they were carrots. To begin with, we ‘cut’ them into two different parts. We used the STEM sentence “these two parts combine to make a whole” to help us in our learning. After that, Mrs Brown challenged us to see if we could ‘cut’ our ‘carrots’ into three, four or five different parts.
Later this week, we will learn how numbers can be split into parts too. We will also look at a part-whole model and begin to use it in our table learning activities.
Help at home: You could talk to your child about parts and wholes as you prepare food for meals and snacks e.g. This is a whole potato, how many parts did I cut it into to make roast potatoes? Even though this is small, this is a whole grape. How many parts did I cut it into?
When you discuss parts, you could also discuss whether or not they are equal parts or whether they are different sizes.
Living and learning : respect
I am respectful is one of our school rules. We watched this video and talked about the ways we can show respect and be respectful of others.
I can show respect by listening to others.
I can show respect by sharing and taking turns.
I can show respect by looking after my things.
It’s always worth listening to Winnie the Pooh’s messages too!
2C update
Thhe We’ve had another great week in the 2C classroom. We started off with a very rainy week which included lots of indoor play times, so we are very happy to see the sun shining this Friday!
Reading and writing
We have been enjoying a new book this week called ‘Vlad and the Great Fire of London’. This book is about a flea and his rat friend Boxton. In the book the pair tell a story of their own experience of the Great Fire of London. We’ve been interpreting what parts of the book mean. We have also been analysing the illustrations and discussing some of the vocabulary in the book. We’ve also been writing our own sentences about the Fire.
Maths
In Maths this week we have continued to look at place value. At the start of the week we looked at related facts e.g. if 4 + 4 = 8, then 40 + 40 = 80.
We have also started partitioning two digit numbers flexibly. For example if we know that 81 = 80 + 1, we also know that 81 = 70 + 11 and 81 = 60 + 21.
Science
We learnt about reptiles and amphibians this week in Science. The children know that they have some similarities but also some big differences. We sorted the animals into categories and researched some facts using books from our fantastic reading corner.
History
Our current Topic in History is the Great Fire of London. We have been learning about what exactly caused the fire this week and why it spread so fast.
Drop down morning
Today, we spent some of the morning recapping Topic learning from last year. This included discussing the oceans. continents and the countries that make up the UK. We also looked at shops from the past and compared them to shops in the present. Finally we each had a turn playing with the Beebots.
Quick message – Thank you to all of those that attended ‘Watch us while we work’ this week. It was great to see so many adults supporting their children and hopefully you’ve gone away with ideas on how you can help with learning at home.
Thanks, Miss Young 🙂
Living and learning : rights and responsibilities
Last week in our Living and Learning lessons, we were talking about what rights and responsibilities are.
We discussed how a right is an entitlement to have or do something and talked about the rights that we all have, such as the right to an education.
We also discussed that rights come with responsibilities too – and we matching some together.
We have the right to be listened to.
We have the responsibility to listen to others.
Help at home by asking your child if they can tell you some different rights and responsibilities.
Thank you
Thank you to all parents and carers who made it to the ‘Watch Us While We Work’ session this morning. The children really enjoyed having you in class and showing off some of what they have been learning.
We look forward to welcoming you again later in the year.
Connect Challenge
Thursday saw the whole school take part in the Connect Challenge in support of the Rob Burrow Foundation. This event was aimed at rasiing awareness of MND whilst also linking primary schools across Leeds. It promoted the idea of collaboration, physical education and friendship. We were the first school in Leeds to compete in which the children had to complete a challenge linked to the number 7. This was Rob Burrow’s shirt number when he played for the Rhinos. The children had 1 minute to complete 7 physical activities such as passing a rugby ball, hula hooping – all sorts of crazy activities! At the end of all the challenges, we filmed Lilly in year 6 throwing a rugby ball to her left. This will be incorporated into a video in which the next school receives the ball. It will eventually show all the primary schools taking part, linking together by passing the rugby ball. It was great fun and the children loved taking part in the challenge! 
Conker collecting for counting in 1,2B
We are loving collecting conkers in our class. There were audible gasps and squeals of excitement when we passed 100 today – we have 130!
It’s really helping us to see the importance of counting in 10s and counting 10s and 1s.
Help at home by collecting something and counting the 10s and 1s.
Reading as a historian
We are using a book to help us learn about the Great Fire of London – Vlad and the Great Fire of London. It is written from the point of view of a flea and a rat! We will be discussing and answering questions about the story and then writing sentences to show our understanding.
Was the Great Fire Of London actually ‘great?’
We are all well and truly on the Topic train now. This half term our Topic is all about History and in particular, The Great Fire Of London.
We started our History journey thinking about timelines. We looked at the timeline for the day which we have in our classrooms. Using this, we learnt how important it is for events to be plotted in chronological order.
In class we discussed similarities between houses now and houses in the past. We sorted some of their features into a Venn diagram.
After learning how long ago The Great Fire Of London happened, we began to unpick some of the events that occurred during that time and ordered them in our groups. We wondered why people call it the Great Fire Of London because it doesn’t sound very great! We learnt that the word ‘great’ can also mean big.
This week we have begun to learn about Samuel Pepys and why he is such an important historic figure.
Here are some facts that we have learnt so far:
- We know that The Great Fire Of London happened in 1666
- We know it started on the 2nd of September.
- We know the fire blazed for three days.
- We know that the fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane.
- We know it was Thomas Farrinar’s bakery.
- We know that the fire spread quickly because the houses had been built from wood. They had also been built very close together.
- We know that houses today have been built in a much safer way!
- We know that 87 churches were destroyed.
- We know that there were no telephones or a Fire Brigade back then so people could not have called 999 for help.
Help at home: Discuss the facts around The Great Fire Of London with your child. Can you find out any more interesting or unusual facts? You could visit your local library to find out more.
Collaborative learning in 1,2B
In one of hour history lessons this week, we worked with a partner to discuss how people might have felt and what they did during the Great Fire of London. Year 1s and 2s are often doing different learning, but today we worked with a partner from a different year group. It helps children to get to know everybody and builds our ‘class community’ feeling too.
