Welcome Back – Summer Term
I hope you all had a happy and healthy Easter break. The children have come back to school in fine form, ready to achieve and believe this summer term. We’re looking forward to sharing our learning journey with you over the coming weeks but in the meantime, a few reminders.
Reading fluency books
Every Friday, children who are reading chapter books will bring a new book home. We have 4 reading practice sessions a week in which we read the first 4 chapters. Please read chapters 5 and 6 at home and return the book by Wednesday the following week. Books are signed in and out and we can’t send new books home until the previous one has been returned. Although the books are a very valuable resource at our school, returning books mustn’t be a cause of worry or upset for your child, so please contact me directly if there are any issues.
I’ll continue to assign e-books weekly, including chapter books.
Reading records
Please return reading records to school by Wednesday. Make a note of what has been read and any areas you have focused on. This is a great way for us all to keep up to date and an often overlooked way of staying in regular contact! If you have any questions about this, please be in touch.
Library books
Our library day is Friday. Please return library books to school by Wednesday, ready to return to the library in exchange for a new one.
Times Tables Rock Stars
Thank you to everyone who has been playing Times Tables Rock Stars at home. It’s a really valuable resource and a fantastic way of keeping home learning fun. If you need any technical support, please be in touch.
PE days
Our PE days are still Tuesday and Friday. Uniform compliance is excellent in Year 2 – let’s keep it up!
Water bottles
Please make sure your child comes to school with a clean, labelled water bottle every day. Water bottles must go home every day.
If you need any additional support, you can email me on ajnash@spherefederation.org and I will get back to you within an appropriate timeframe.
Happy Easter!
On Wednesday, we went to church for our Easter service.
Reception and Key Stage 1 did a fantastic job of singing the Easter Chicken song we have been practising.
Some of Year 2 also read beautifully as well.
We hope everyone has a lovely Easter break.
Topic – Drop Down Morning
Last week in Year 2, we had a topic drop down morning. This is where we take some time away from our usual timetable to revisit some of our previous topic learning. We revisited history, geography and art.
We started the morning with our most recent topic;
Art
To refresh our memories, we transformed the classroom into an art gallery, adorning the walls with famous works by Leonarda da Vinci, Paul Klee and Barbara Hepworth. Children explored the ‘gallery’ in groups, discussing visual art elements including: colour, pattern, texture, shape, line and tone. There were some passionate opinions to be heard – future art critics, no doubt…
The children then played a game of Vocabulary Chase, practising their retrieval skills with a hint of competition.
Help at home by exploring art with your child. Can they use the visual elements of art to tell you what they like or dislike?
Geography
With art shrinking in the rear view mirror, we moved briskly to geography, starting with a matching task in groups. The children were challenged to match UK countries to their capital city and flag. Disagreements were navigated respectfully and compromises reached…
After a thrilling game of ‘Spot the Missing Sea’ (it will catch on in time, I’m sure), we revisited physical and human features. The children moved around the room, labelling physical and human features in a range of photographs. Super remembering skills were in endless supply!
Help at home by challenging your child to name the capital cities of the UK.
History
To round off our topic drown down morning, we returned to our topic; History – Heroes. We focused on the concept of inequality.
Inequality is being treated unfairly and not having the same chances in life as someone else.
The heroes in the spotlight were Leonora Cohen and Nelson Mandela. After revisiting some key information, the children were tasked with making connections between Cohen and Mandela. We focused on 4 main points:
- equal rights
- beliefs
- protest
- protected characteristics
Help at home by discussing protected characteristics. How many can your child remember?
If you’d like to know more about our current topic, Computing, we’d be delighted if you could join us today (Monday 18.03.24) at 14:30 for a topic review session. Please be prepared to join in!
Living and Learning – We’re All the Same and We’re All Different
In Living and Learning, we’ve been celebrating similarities and differences in ourselves and others.
I know we’re all the same and we’re all different.
This Living and Learning statement links to one of our British Values – Respect and Tolerance. “We are respectful” is one of our school rules and we discussed what this might look like in our school community and beyond.
We had a lot of fun recognising and celebrating our differences. Here are a few ways in which we noticed we’re different:
- physical appearance
- hobbies
- preferences
- families
We’re all unique and that’s ok!
We thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Elmer’ by David McKee and it led to a fascinating conversation. The children then decorated their own Elmers and no two were alike!
Here are some of the questions we tackled:
- What is different about Elmer and the other elephants?
- How might Elmer feel about being different from the other Elephants?
- Why might Elmer have decided to slip away while the other elephants were still asleep?
- Why did Elmer want to cover herself in the berry juice?
- Why did she want to look like the other elephants?
Help at home by reading Elmer and discussing these questions with your child.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Help at home by celebrating the differences which exist between your friends and family. Encourage your child to tell someone else what they really like about them and why.
World Book Day
World Book Day 2024 has been one to remember for Year 2! We’ve had a fun-filled day of celebration, raising the profile of books and reading.
The children arrived at school dressed to the nines as their favourite book characters, ready to share their books with the class. We started the day by sharing our books with one another and creating character profiles.
After a breathtaking costume parade in the hall, teachers swapped classes to read their favourite books. Year 2 were lucky to welcome Mrs Kendrew who read Tadpole’s Promise.
After playtime, we joined schools around the country for a special webinar with John Patrick Green, author and illustrator of the ‘Investigators’ series of graphic novels. The children enjoyed following along with John as he drew investigator Mango – the results were outstanding. We’ve got some future superstar illustrators in our midst!
Thanks to all our adults for your support in celebrating World Book Day. Raising the profile of books and reading for pleasure is hugely important and we can’t do it without your help.
Help at home by continuing to support us on our reading journey!
Times Tables
This week in Year 2, we’ve started learning our times tables. We’ve been focusing on 10s, 5s and 2s. The children have enjoyed using manipulatives to show me what they know.
When times are hard… use base ten!
Help at home by practising counting forwards and backwards in 10s, 5s and 2s. Login details for Times Tables Rock Stars accompany this week’s homework – use this in regular short bursts to consolidate times tables knowledge.
Non-fiction Navigators
We are very lucky at St James’ to have an expansive collection of books to enjoy. Every term, we receive several boxes of brilliant books from Leeds School Library Service. They are all carefully selected to support our curriculum.
In Year 2, we took the time to explore some of the non-fiction books that link to our current science unit – Living Things and Their Habitats.
In our reading skills sessions, we learnt how non-fiction books are structured in different ways. We learnt how to use the contents and index pages to navigate non-fiction books efficiently.
The children enjoyed using their new skills to learn more about the natural world. I was stunned by some of the facts the children shared with me. The oldest tree in the world is nearly 5,000 years old!
Help at home by exploring non-fiction books with your child. Can you use the contents and index pages to navigate to the information you’re looking for?
Safer Internet Day
Yesterday was Safer Internet Day. We had a jam-packed day of learning, all centred around staying safe on the internet. Here’s what we learnt…
I know that some things online may not be true.
An adventurous little chick goes exploring in the farmer’s house. Soon she discovers that the farmer’s computer is wonderful fun. She buys a frilly blouse, some bees and a motorbike. The farmer is very surprised when they arrive. Chick clicks away and a diamond watch, hundreds of handbags and squillions of shoes arrive at the farm. But she’s feeling rather lonely, so decides to find an online friend. Chick uploads her photo and spots a chicken just like her. After lots of chatting, they arrange to meet in the wood. But Chick’s new friend is really a hungry fox…
- Check who’s posted the information.
- Check the website. Is it a reliable source like the BBC?
- Check another website. Can we find the same information elsewhere online?
If you’re still not sure, speak to a trusted adult.
I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
- first and last name
- birthday
- home address
- photo
- school
Keeping something private means only sharing it with a few people you know and trust.
I know that people should treat others respectfully online.
The children enjoyed exploring and discussing ‘Troll Speaks’ in our reading lesson. It links to our Living and Learning statement for this week and was a fantastic platform for discussion around treating others respectfully online.
“It’s not safe to message strangers even if you think it’s funny.”
“It might be a joke to you, but it could hurt someone else’s feelings.”
“Always be kind to people. It’s never ok to be nasty.”
I know that we should have a balance between being online and offline.
We had a great discussion around all the ways in which the internet is amazing. It seems like you could live your whole life on the internet. The children identified some issues with spending too much time online:
- sore eyes from too much screen time
- not enough exercise
- harder to sleep
- don’t spend enough time with family
- harder to concentrate at school
Help at home by discussing the day’s learning with your child.
- What are the benefits of the internet?
- Do you have any internet safety ‘rules’ specific to your household?
- Are there any negative side-effects of spending too much time online?
- What is the balance between online and offline in your household?
- How do you seek help if something worries you online?
Give Rugby a Try
For the past 3 weeks, we’ve been really lucky to have Josh and Tom from the Leeds Rhinos Foundation visiting St James’ for our PE sessions.
The children have enjoyed learning the basics of rugby, putting their passing and try-scoring skills to the test.
This Thursday (08.02.24), the Leeds Rhinos Foundation are hosting a free rugby taster session in Wetherby. The session is open to children in Year 1 & 2, no matter their ability or experience. Sign up here.
Science – Plants (light and dark)
As we donned our science hats to start 2024, we turned our attention to plants and their requirements to survive and thrive.
Our enquiry question has been:
Do plants grow healthier in the light or dark?
The children have planned a comparative fair test to observe the results for themselves. They have made their predictions and are looking forward to seeing what happens!
We have chosen to plant cucumber seeds (the fantasy of a fruitful harvest proved irresistible) and will keep 2 plants in the sun and 2 plants in the cupboard. This morning, we gathered our equipment and – one (cu)cumbersome bag of compost and a few plant pots later – planted our seeds.
The children will be observing the plants and recording their progress… watch this space!
Help at home by discussing the investigation with your child:
- What was their prediction?
- Why did they make that prediction?
- How have we made sure our investigation is fair?
- How often will be observe the plants?
- What will we measure?