19 November 2021
Living and Learning is the focus of this week’s Talk Time.
I know how to STOP bullying.
As it’s Anti-Bullying Week, we’ve placed a strong emphasis on what bullying is and how to stop it. In fact, ‘STOP’ is an acronym that provides a clear definition of bullying:
Several Times On Purpose
An example of bullying would be someone saying on multiple occasions that you can’t join in with their game. On the other hand, getting upset/angry in the heat of the moment or accidentally bumping into someone wouldn’t be considered bullying. As part of your discussions, can your child identify examples of what bullying does and doesn’t look like?
Our school ethos statement is that our school is a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe. School will not be a happy and healthy place if we don’t know how to stop bullying.
‘STOP’ not only tells us what bullying is, but also how to make it stop:
Start Telling Other People.
Ask your child what ‘STOP’ means – encourage them to remember both: Several Times On Purpose and Start Telling Other People.
This week’s Remember 2s (R2s) are actions to take if you see, or are the victim of, an unpleasant behaviour:
- Challenge the behaviour with that person. It may well have been accidental or something not intended to be hurtful.
- Tell that person that you don’t like that behaviour and that you want it to stop.
- If the behaviour occurs again, let a trusted adult know so they can explore the situation.
We love Nursery Rhymes!
We’ve been using lots of nursery rhymes to help us with our learning this week. We’ve been selling currant buns in our baker’s shop, jumping in and out of pools like little frogs, printing beautiful twinkling stars and following a recipe to make our own currant bun playdough. The children have really enjoyed learning new rhymes and singing (and acting out) old favourites, too. Today, we experimented with some wibbly-wobbly jelly on a plate and talked about its properties. We also went on a hunt to discover which parts of our school are magnetic and which are not! The children had great fun placing their magnets against a variety of surfaces and materials and they came to the conclusion that wood and plastic are not magnetic but lots of metals are.
Dates for your diary:
Please may we have all star costumes for the Christmas production in Nursery by Friday, 26th November. All items should be clearly named.
Many thanks and have a lovely weekend.
PE
This week, I got the pleasure of teaching PE, and what a fabulous lesson we had. The children were so excited when they saw the big apparatus!
Before the lesson started, we had a discussion about keeping safe when on the apparatus. The children had to remember 3 key safety tips:
- When landing, always bend your knees.
- Do not climb past the blue bibs.
- Only jump-off where there’s a mat.
To finish the lesson and to help us with our upper body strength, we had some fun swinging on the ropes.
We like to move and groove!
Reception love to dance! They always ask, “Can we do the Superheroes and Monster Moves videos?”
Check out our amazing dance moves!
Monster Moves
Superheroes Unite
You could click on the links and join in the fun at home.
Art trip to Leeds Art Gallery
Wow! What a fantastic visit to Leeds Art Gallery. First, we got onto the coach. A lot of the children hadn’t experienced a coach before so they were very excited. We talked about how to keep safe on a coach – especially wearing seatbelts safely.
Leeds Art Gallery
Today, we travelled into Leeds city centre to pay a visit to the art gallery. This visit enriched the children’s current art learning experiences.
Throughout the afternoon, the classes took part in two workshops. They studied pieces of abstract art by looking closely at the shapes, lines, colours, spaces and patterns. Then, the children were asked to recreate the shapes using their bodies.
I loved seeing all the different pictures.
I wonder how the artists got their ideas?
I never used to enjoy art because I can’t draw. Now, I am loving it!
Ask your child about this trip. Can they remember the meaning of abstract art?
Keeping safe on our school trip to Leeds Art Gallery
Today, we went on our Topic trip to Leeds Art Gallery. Before we left school we spoke to the children about how to keep safe while we are on the trip.
Why do we wear yellow/orange jackets? “They are bright colours so we will get noticed if we get lost,” said Emily. “So we can see and find each other and we don’t get mixed up with other people that aren’t from our school,” said Shae.
How can we keep safe when we are on our trip? “Stay together and with your partner and teacher,” said Ethan. “We need to ask before we go anywhere like the toilet,” said Emily. “We need to keep our jackets on,” said Leo. “We need to stop at the road,” said Willow.
Living and Learning – Anti-bullying Week
We kicked off our Anti-Bullying Week with ODD SOCKS DAY . Lots of children chose to wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique in Anti-Bullying Week.
This week’s theme is One Kind Word. Being kind to one another and using kind words is a simple but effective way to make other people feel happier.
Our reading fluency this week talks about our school definition of bullying and how we start to tackle it.
During our Living and Learning session, we read the story Kind by Axel Scheffler. The book talked about lots of ways we could all be kind. Afterwards the children worked in pairs to think of ways they could spread the One Kind Word message.
“…smiling, hug, share.”
“Pay them a compliment, give them a hug.”
“Ask if they want to play with you.”
Scientists in the making
Our science topic this half term is ‘Working Scientifically’. The vocabulary we are learning is below. Help at home by using some of the words in conversation at home so your child becomes familiar with them. There are also lots of science experiments here you could try.
Last week, we observed closely. We looked at how coloured water is absorbed by tissue and can mix to make a new colour!
Odd Socks Day!
Today, we kicked off Anti-Bullying week by coming to school wearing odd socks. This morning, we had a long discussion about bullying and what is it.
I asked the children, “What is Bullying?”
We had some fantastic answers…
“When you hurt someone.”
“When you are unkind.”
“When you hit or kick someone.”
We then talked about kindness and what that is.
Many children said…
“Being helpful.”
“Sharing your toys.”
“Letting friends join in.”
For the rest of the week, we’ll be reflecting on how we can be kind and helpful to our friends.
