Poem of the week
We read a poem every week in KS1. We do this to increase our fluency and prosody. We have a big focus on oracy in KS1. At the moment, we are focussing on using our facial expressions and body language when reading our poem. This is particularly useful when reading this poem, which we all love!
Here are some of our ‘Funny faces’.
Living and Learning – Relationships and Sex Education
In Living and Learning, we have been thinking about the relationships we have with family and friends, and what makes for a good relationship.
We have also discussed how we keep ourselves safe, including the importance of knowing that ‘pants are private’. The children are familiar with this Pantosaurus song by the NSPCC.
Help at home by watching the video together and discussing any questions or thoughts that come up.
Maths-Fractions
Year 2 have been busy understanding fractions. Can you find a fraction of a number? For example: What is half of 12? We have focused on thirds and quarters too. Doing this practically helps us to understand the concept visually before moving onto a deeper, abstract process.
Help at home: Can you find a half/quarter/third of a number? Use your cutlery drawer, leaves from the garden, toy cars, pegs or teddies to help you ‘share out your number into equal parts.’
Living and learning / Design Technology (sewing)
Our Design Technology topic is making us use our living and learning skills – especially resilience! Sewing was a brand new skill for lots of children and it has been a tricky one to learn. There’s been a few tears, frustration and some annoyance…but we now are showing that we can keep going and are learning to sew.
It is brilliant to see the children concentrate so well and not give up. We have also reflected back to how we felt the first lesson when is was really hard.
Help at home by encouraging your child to build resilience and independence when learning a new skill. Tying shoelaces or using a knife and fork properly are great ones!
Living and Learning
This week we have been learning about families. Our Living and Learning objective in class has been to understand that families come in all shapes and sizes.
We discussed what a family is.
‘It is love.’ (AJ)
‘It is a government of people.’ (AT)
‘A group of people you love and trust.’ (HYB)
We also talked about how our family does not always live in the same house as us. Each of the children chose one family member and drew them. They also wrote down why that family member is special and what they do to look after us.
Help at home by discussing families you know, their structure and how all families look different.
Topic – Design Technology
This half-term, our new topic is Design Technology.
We have started by discussing the different stages involved in the process of creating a product: designing, making and evaluating.
We have also started practising our sewing skills – using wool for an overstitch.
During the term, we are going to be designing, making and evaluating puppets!
Help at home by practising doing some knotting, threading or sewing. Can you thread some pasta onto a piece of a string?
Class novel – Extra Yarn
We have been reading Extra Yarn by Mac Bennett. It links to our new Design and Technology topic and is also a story with a powerful message about kindness. We’ve been talking about the characters and describing them. We also wrote some sentences about them. We are not fans of the archduke!
Annabelle is brave, positive and kind. She did not care about the money when the archduke tried to buy it.
He is not sweet and definitely not good.
Help at home by describing the characters in books you read together. Who is your favourite? Who do you not like? Why?
Water Safety
Martin from the Canal and River Trust came to educate us about staying safe near water today. One of the main points he said was that swimming in a pool is best. Canals can be full of animal excretion that can lead to diseases.
Martin told us that we should never follow a friend into the water if they are struggling. Instead, we should call the emergency services to come. Whilst waiting for the fire brigade we could throw in a ball or an empty water bottle. These could help to keep our friend buoyant until help arrives. We might also look for a nearby life ring that we could throw into the water.
Even though you might be a strong swimmer you should always wear a life vest when participating in boating or water sports. If you bump your head and become unconscious, the life vest would save you from drowning.
The main message today was: ‘STAY AWAY FROM THE EDGE’ when near open water.
Have a very safe half term holiday!
Living and Learning : Staying Safe week in 1,2B
We’ve had a busy week learning all about how to stay safe. We’ve learned about saying safe online, at home, near the roads, near water, in the sun and out in the community. Buddy, from the NSPCC, taught us to ‘Speak out, stay safe.’
Help at home by helping your child learn to say their full name and address or telephone number.
Staying safe themed week – 1A
We have enjoyed learning all about staying safe this week. We have had visitors like fire fighters, police, water safety visitors and D-side.
We have also been learning lots about staying safe in class. We talked about being safe
- in ths sun
- online
- in school
- near traffic
- around dogs
We also discussed how each person’s body belongs to them and how to respect others.
Well done everybody for super listening and joining in all week!
Have a lovely, and safe half-term break!