Computing – designing, making and playing our own games
Our computing topic has been a absolute hit this half term. We have learnt about algorithms and de-bugging, alongside online safety. We made our own games and tested them using the Blue-Bot robots. Some of the algorithms to complete the games we very long and had to be de-bugged (fixed) to make them work! It was great fun though, and very satisfying.
Using FE File Explorer on the iPads has also enabled children to learn how to take and save their own pictures into our class folders.
Living and learning : First Aid (treating a burn)
We have been talking about basic first aid this week. Children know they should ask for a first aider if they are hurt. We have also talked about burns this week, and how to treat them, following advice from the British Red Cross.
Living and learning : First aid (calling the emergency services)
We have been learning about the emergency services in our Living and Learning lessons. We talked about how to call 999 in an emergency.
Help at home by making sure your child knows their address.
Science – microbes and amazement!
We have been working scientifically in science this half term and also learning about microbes, linked to preventing illness and cleanliness.
We used pepper in a test today to represent microbes.
We filled a dish with water. We put a stick in the water. It got wet!
We then added pepper to the water and dipped the stick in. The pepper stuck (like microbes do to our hands when we touch anything).
We finally rubbed washing up liquid on the stick. When we dipped it in the water again, the pepper moved away like magic! There was a gasp from everyone! This shows us that microbes (that sometimes make us ill) do not like soap and that is why we use it to wash our hands.
Why not give it a try at home?
Reading with prosody
We have started talking about prosody in our reading practice sessions.
Prosody is the rhythmic and intonational aspect of speech that manifests as expressive reading. It comprises timing, phrasing and intonation, and helps to convey meaning and add ‘life’ to reading.
It is basically reading with expression.
We have been reading and talking about Owl Babies and trying to add prosody when reading certain sections. Ask your child to read this page with prosody.
Living and learning : Health and Prevention
Our Science and Living and Learning lessons have been all about microbes, handwashing, health and preventing illness this week.
We have talked about how microbes can be harmful but also how some can be good for us. We made microbes out of modelling clay deciding whether they were virus, fungi and bacteria.
Washing our hands is really important. All the children could all talk about this, with our experiences of Covid-19!
Y2 grammar and spelling – contractions
We have (or should I say we’ve) been learning all about contractions in Year 2. There is a super video here showing how they work. We also made some of our own by chopping out and screwing up unwanted letters to make the apostrophe.
Maths fluency – new app
The children have been using a new app we have on the iPads called White Rose 1 minute maths (it’s free to download).
This is a fantastic app to use alongside Numbots in order to support your child with their maths fluency – knowing number facts instantly.
A huge thank you!
Last half term, we set the children a maths challenge in which they had to learn some number facts or some multiplication tables. We asked the children to collect sponsors and see how much money we could raise for our school charity (Leeds Autism Services) and our school. You have absolutely gone above and beyond what we anticipated. The total so far that we’ve raised is £2318.15! This is just amazing and we can’t thank you enough – you are a very generous school community. This huge total will be split between the charity and school. Keep an eye out for more fundraising this half term, but again, thank you so much.
World Book Day in 1A
1A had a wonderful time on World Book Day.
We all enjoyed sharing our favourite stories and what we liked about them. We also talked about the characters we came dressed as.
