Welcome to the Chocolate Room
What a day yesterday was! After finding the last golden ticket and meeting Mr Wonka, we – along with Charlie and the four awful brats – found ourselves outside the Chocolate Room.
The hall had been transformed and filled with contraptions from Mr Wonka’s imagination to make his most wonderful sweets and chocolate. We let our imaginations run wild as to what everything could be and what it might smell, taste, or even sound like.
We then went back and wrote all about our experiences in the chocolate room. The pieces of work and descriptions that came out were simply amazing. We can’t wait to see what other surprises await in Mr Wonka’s factory.
Living and Learning: I know how to make things better
The children all brought in some fantastic responses to the creative homework about making things better. We had posters about how to be a good friend, a game about making good choices, a guide to how to say sorry, and a game based on friendship.
Here are some of the pieces that we decided we liked as a class for their creative and presentation.
Living and Learning: I know what a drug is.
Our Living and Learning statement this week is ‘I know what a drug is’.
We thought about all the different types of drugs people may put into their bodies.
We noticed there were many types of drugs that can be helpful if people are ill. Everyone agreed that even these drugs, such as paracetamol and Calpol need to be taken in the correct amounts and with care.
There was lots of grown up discussion about why people may put other more harmful drugs into their bodies.
“If some drugs are illegal why do people take them? Erin
“If you take too much of something it will damage your body but a little bit might help it”. Cohen
Using a life sized body outline we began to think about how different types of drugs affect the different parts of the body-including the mind and how people feel.
We shall be continuing this important topic next week during our Living and Learning session.
Living and Learning: I know what a drug is.
Our Living and Learning statement this week is ‘I know what a drug is’.
We talked about what a drug is and then discussed lots of things that go into our bodies. They were added to the outline of a person and then as a class we chose one to discuss. We talked about injections and whether they make us feel good. We decided that injections given by a doctor or nurse don’t feel good but they are good for us because they stop us getting ill. In pairs, the children were given pictures of things that go into our body and had to discuss whether they are good or bad (harmful) for our bodies. We then discussed the answers as a class.
Living and Learning
Our Living and Learning theme this week: I know what a drug is.
In Years 5/6, we have been discussing different influences which could make us want to smoke or drink. We sorted images from various forms of media to recognise what a positive influence looks like and what a negative influence looks like.
We realised it isn’t just media that can influence us. After group discussion and an organising activity, we all agreed that friends could possibly be the biggest influence on the decisions we make.
We thought about why somebody would want to avoid smoking or drinking alcohol. Some of the suggestions were religion, health, money, against the law, and not wanting to get into trouble with parents.
We came up with different ways people could respond if they wanted to avoid smoking.
“It’s not good for me, I’m trying to be healthy.”
“I don’t like the taste or smell of smoke.”
“It’s against my personal belief.”
Then, we shared our thoughts by doing a conscience alley.
Thank you…
To the parents and children who came to our Marvellous Maths Stay and Play this afternoon.
The children did a great job of showing their maths skills in lots of different ways and it was lovely to catch up with our parent partners about learning both at school and at home.
EasyPeasy
You should have received a letter and information booklet introducing you to the new and FREE educational app called ‘EasyPeasy’.
‘EasyPeasy’ is going live this Saturday 26th January. If you have not opted out you will receive a text message inviting you to access the many educational game ideas that you can do at home.
Each week, you will receive a text message with a new game that you can play in any location with everyday items that you’ll already have at home. EasyPeasy is designed to support learning through play!
This week the activity will be ‘stepping stones (F2) or lunch time (F1)’. Let us know how you get on by commenting on the game. Look out for our comment with suggestions of how to adapt the game!
Snack-time learning!
In Foundation, we like to make sure our day is full of fun learning at every opportunity. This includes tidy-up times and snack times.
At snack time we often have a maths link. We take part in counting activities to see how many pieces of fruit have been handed out, work out which snack was most popular and what the difference is between them.
After visiting another school last week and ‘magpieing’ this fab idea, we had a go at writing Rocket Words on our banana skins for our friends to guess. The children loved ‘having a go’ at writing on such an unusual material and showing their friends what they know! A quick 2 minute activity that used both our reading and our writing skills 🙂
Parent Reminder
Please join us in the classroom tomorrow, for our Marvellous Maths Stay and Play, 3.15-3.45pm.
Our class novel
We have now begun our new big topic based around our class novel – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. From what we have read so far, we are all completely hooked by the odd characters and vivid descriptions. We are all eager to see what happens to Charlie and the other wicked children. During the topic we will: conduct science investigations, make collages, make chocolate bars and write all about Charlie’s adventures.
Of course, the book is written by the wonderful children’s author, Roald Dahl. It would be well worth a visit to Wetherby Library to choose more books written by Roald Dahl. You may even discover another children’s author whose work you enjoy.
Super Mathematicians
This week, year 2 are learning all about their times tables.
We have learnt how to work out our 2 times table, 5 times table and 10 times table.
Now, our challenge is to know these off by heart! Without thinking or working out the answer!
A game we enjoy playing to help us do this is Hit the Button. Click on the name of the game to play. It’s free and will help us with our learning!