Author: Miss Ward

This week, the children enjoyed their very first Year 2 food technology lesson. They made their very own delicious fruit smoothies!  Before we got started, we talked about the ingredients we would need, the skills we would use such as measuring and mixing and how to safely cut our fruit using the claw grip and bridge hold. We also discussed the importance of washing our hands and using equipment safely.

The children then got stuck in, carefully chopping their fruit, measuring their ingredients and blending everything together to create their own tasty smoothies. The best part was getting to try their creations!

We were delighted that everyone loved their smoothies, with lots of children describing them as delicious and saying they couldn’t wait to make them again at home. What a fantastic start to our food technology learning!

Help at home:

Here is the recipe for you to recreate your own smoothie at home.

Year 2 visited church this week to celebrate Harvest Festival. The children proudly shared a harvest poem with actions that they had been practising in class. During the service, they learnt about the importance of celebrating harvest, giving thanks for what we have and remembering those who are less fortunate. The children also brought in food donations to support the food banks in Wetherby and Seacroft, showing kindness and generosity towards those in our local community. We are very proud of their thoughtful contributions!

This week in our Living and Learning lesson, we focused on our statement, I know rights come with responsibilities. We talked about what the words rights and responsibilities mean and thought about the rights and responsibilities we have in school. We then compared these with the ones we have at home and in our community.

We remembered that responsibility is one of our 8 R’s for learning and talked about how being responsible helps us to become successful learners. We also explored how having rights and taking responsibility helps us to understand and respect individual liberty, which is one of our British Values. During partner talk, the children enjoyed sharing their thoughts, listening to each other and building on their ideas.

‘I am responsible for making sure my bedroom is tidy’ – Eli

‘I help Grandad look after my dog’ – Ella

‘I have the right to learn lots of things in school ‘ – Charlie

‘We tidy our trays away after we have eaten lunch’ – Louie

Help at home: rights and responsibilities hunt- Ask your child to talk with someone at home about one right they have and the responsibility that comes with it. For example, I have the right to have my own belongings, so I have the responsibility to look after them.

 

 

This term we are focussing on multi-skills, to support building on our fundamental movement skills. This week we have been working on throwing and catching. Our learning objective for this lesson was to be able to catch an object thrown by someone else.

We started this individually, throwing and catching bibs in the air – this was our butterfly. To make this more challenging for the children they were then asked if they could throw the bib into the air and count their claps before catching it. We introduced more challenges such as touching our heads, shoulders, knees and toes before than practicing in pairs.

Next week, we will be looking at adapting the game by introducing other resources, using different sized balls and seeing if they can come up with their own scoring system, such as allowing the ball to bounce once before they can catch it.

Help at home:  Practice catching the butterfly at home. A tea towel or small item of clothing would work in the same way. You could challenge yourself further by seeing how many claps you can do before you need to catch the butterfly.

This half term in Science we are going to be learning about what animals need for survival. This week we introduced some key vocabulary that we are going to recap on each week.

The children have been focussing on mammals this week and identifying that mammals have hair and fur on their bodies. During our group activity the children were able to classify a selection of animals into categories such as reptiles, insects, birds and mammals. A few of the children questioned their choices but, through peer discussion and reasoning they were able to select the correct one.

Well done Year 2 for a great first Science lesson!

This term in Science, we have been learning about how living things grow and change. We have explored the different stages of life, from being a baby all the way to becoming an adult. We also compared how animals and other living things grow and develop too.

This week, we focused on the human life cycle. We learned how humans change through each stage of life and practised describing the journey from infancy to adulthood. We discussed some things that might change and that some things can stay the same. It has been exciting to discover how all living things grow and develop in their own unique ways!

Help at Home: Can you recall the four main stages of a human lifecycle?

 

The children have enjoyed reading and exploring the story Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. The book tells the story of Annabelle, a young girl who discovers a magical box of colourful yarn that never runs out. She uses the yarn to knit jumpers for people, animals and objects around her.

The story was used as inspiration for the children’s independent writing. They created their own narratives, drawing on the characters from the story and using the imaginative ideas found in Extra Yarn. The children wrote some fantastic sentences and showed a growing understanding of how to use possessive apostrophes accurately in their writing.

They’re beginning to give their characters distinctive voices and are developing confidence in writing character interactions. The children’s creativity and enthusiasm for storytelling has been evident throughout the week and they should be very proud of their work.

 

Help at home:

A simple way to practise possessive apostrophes at home is choosing everyday objects around the house and asking your child who they belong to. You could challenge your child further by asking them to write a full sentence using a possessive apostrophe.

e.g.  Dad’s car is outside.

During Safety Week, the children explored lots of important ways to stay safe in everyday situations. We discussed how to keep safe at home, around animals, in the sun, on the roads and especially near open water. We were also lucky to welcome some special visitors into school. PCSO Louise spoke to the children about staying safe near roads and highlighted the importance of always wearing a seatbelt when travelling in a car.

We also took part in a Zoom call with Claire from the Canal and River Trust, where we learned about the dangers of being near open water such as canals, rivers and ponds. The children enjoyed spotting potential hazards in different pictures and discussing how to stay safe in these environments.

Can you spot any more dangers in the picture below?

The children came up with some fantastic responses throughout the week and showed a great understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe.

In our session about feelings first, today’s focus feeling was -grateful. We explored different scenarios to understand what grateful looks like in everyday life and discussed related words such as contented, happy, and appreciative. We thought about the kinds of things that might make us feel grateful and how this feeling connects to being peaceful, which is our Christian value this half term.

After a quiet moment of reflecting and connecting, we each wrote a list of five things we are grateful for. We also talked about how, when we are feeling a little down, using positive self-talk and thinking about what we are grateful for can be really helpful and give us a boost of happiness.

Ava -‘ I am grateful for school because some children don’t get to go to school and learn. I love learning!’

C-‘ I am grateful for my new black bike and helmet.’

Thomas-‘ I am grateful because I went to mission out at the weekend.’

Ada-‘ I am grateful for all my family.’

This week in our Living and Learning topic, the children took part in the NSPCC assembly, which focused on the importance of speaking out and staying safe. They discussed what it means to use their voice when something worries them and learned that children have the right to be heard. We also explored different scenarios to help the children recognise when they might need support and who they can talk to. The children learned that Buddy is represented as a speech bubble, reminding us all that children have the right to speak out.

Here is a link for you to watch this with your child at home NSPCC Buddy