Living and Learning – I know what a drug is

Our Living and Learning statement this week is:

“A drug is a substance that changes the way the body or mind works.”

The children began by sharing what they already know about medicines.

Not all medicines help your health.

Medicines help you to recover when you are ill. To recover is to get better.

Drugs can change your attitude. They can make you angry and some drugs are illegal.

Some drugs can make your body stronger – some people use them to cheat in sports.

Some people need to get medicine every day.

We get medicine from the doctor.

You keep drugs safe by keeping them somewhere children can’t reach.

You can try and help yourself by eating healthily and exercising before taking medicine.

I was so impressed by the children’s previous knowledge of medicine!

Helping someone to feel better

We spent some time thinking about times when we were ill or felt unwell and the things that helped us to feel better.

• rest
• water
• medicine from the doctor
• warm drink
• eating healthy food
• plasters

There are lots of different types of medicine and they’re all useful for different things. Some of them go in the body and others on the body. Some can be bought at the shop by a responsible adult; others have to come from the doctor.

Who can help?

We thought about the people who can help us to stay healthy and well. The children demonstrated fantastic knowledge of people in their communities who can help.

• parents and family
• carers
• doctors
• trusted adults at school
• police
• paramedics
• air ambulance
• mountain rescue
• yourself – keep safe and protect yourself

If you feel unwell, it is important to talk to a trusted adult at home or school. Only a trusted adult should give you medicines.

Help at home by discussing the safety measures you have in place around medicine at home. Invite your child to demonstrate their learning by having a go at this task:

Thank You!

The Autumn term has surpassed my expectations in so many ways. Our Year 2 children have applied themselves in every aspect of their learning and have represented our class and school brilliantly.

They have embodied our school vision, helping to make our school a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.

Thank you for all your continued support. Wishing a merry Christmas to those who celebrate and a very happy New Year.

Help at home by enjoying a restful break… we’ve all earned it!

Topic – Pointillism

In topic this half term, we’re artists/artist historians.

We’ve been exploring the work of Georges Seurat, a French painter known for pointillism – painting lots of tiny dots and dashes to make up a larger image. When you look closely, it looks like a group of coloured dots, but as you move further away, the bigger picture becomes clearer.

One of Georges Seurat’s most famous works is A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. It’s 3 metres wide and took him 2 years to finish! We’ve really enjoyed discussing the painting, thinking about the visual and tactile elements of art. We’ve thought carefully about:

colour
space – distances or areas in a piece of art; usually used to describe areas or parts of an artwork where there are large blocks of colour or ‘gaps’
composition – the way that something has been deliberately ‘put together’

After some extensive discussion, we doffed our art-historian hats and settled in as artists…

The children used earbuds and paint to create their own pointillism art. I was impressed by the patience and perseverance on display.

Help at home by exploring the Art Bites YouTube channel with your child. Make sure to stay safe online.

Why not try some pointillism at home? All you’ll need is some paint and a few earbuds… and patience!

National Santa Dash

On Friday, all children took part in the National Santa Dash. This event was all about having some fun whilst being active.

We’ve decided to extend this event: we’ll be holding an Easter and Summer Dash, too! Our goal is to allow pupils to set some targets and improve on their personal bests through the year.

Here are some photos – enjoy!

Philosophy Friday – 06.12.24

Philosophy is thinking deeply.

Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.

We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.

This week’s question related to our living and learning statement:

This question sparked some interesting discussion and debate.

People might be sad if they don’t do the right thing to each other.

– Esme

Being kind to yourself is everyone’s responsibility

– Vincent

This links to respect and tolerance. You have to respect others and yourself to be kind.

– Woody

Our oracy focus this half term is:

Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child. Does this question link to any of our Christian values?

Science – Materials

In science, we’re learning about materials. We’ve been exploring a variety of everyday materials, including their properties and uses.

This week, we’ve learnt that some solid objects can change shape.

• stretch – to make something longer without ripping, breaking or tearing
• bend – to force something to curve
• squash – to crush or squeeze something
• twist  – to bend or curl something out of shape

We collected a variety of everyday objects ready to test. We worked like scientists by planning our investigation and making predictions.

We tested each object by stretching, bending, squashing and twisting.

We recorded our results and checked them against our predictions. The children were precise and meticulous, both in making their predictions and carrying out the test.

Help at home by asking your child how they’ve worked like a scientist during our materials unit? Challenge them to complete the vocabulary matching task below.

Philosophy Friday – 29.11.24

Philosophy is thinking deeply.

Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.

We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.

This week’s question related to our current topic:

This half-term, we’re artists. We’ll develop our art knowledge and skills.

This question sparked some interesting discussion and debate.

It doesn’t even have to be good. You can do anything you want as long as you had a good time doing it.

– Freddy

It’s always going to look nice to someone. I believe you should do whatever you want.

– Izabella

If every painting looked like something, it could be a bit boring. It could just be colours and shapes.

– Olly

It’s the colours that make a painting beautiful.

– Ellis

Our oracy focus this half term is:

Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child. Can you find any examples of art that don’t immediately jump out as resembling something?

Living and Learning – I can talk about my feelings

This week’s Living and Learning statement is:

We discussed a range of emotions and the importance of recognising and talking about them.

Emotions are feelings – they can change all the time. We all experience a whole range of emotions, from anger to happiness to fear. This is ok and normal.

Emotions and feelings are our mental health.

We talked about how we can read people’s faces and body language to help us understand how they might be feeling. The children had a go at showing what these emotions might look like.

Everyone has the right to ask for help. If you need help with your emotions, or you notice someone else might need help with their emotions, speak to a trusted adult.

Help at home by discussing this learning with your child. Encourage your child to talk about their feelings – do they know who to speak to at school if they need help with their emotions?

Why not try completing this emotions chart with your child to highlight how emotions can change over the course of a day or event?

Reading – Inference

In reading, we’ve been reading The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas and Helen Oxenbury.

It’s a comically inverted version of the classic fable and the children have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. We spent some time discussing the pig’s character:

We’ve been using the text as a vehicle to practise our inference skills. Inference is the skill of using clues to make a sensible guess about something we don’t know.

One of our favourite activities for practising inference is ‘hot seating’ in which characters, played by members of the class (or the teacher!), are interviewed by the rest of the group. It encourages children to embody a character, thinking deeply about themes and ideas, and exploring their behaviour. We had great fun pretending to be the big bad pig!

Help at home by trying a hot seat activity with your child’s current book. Can they embody a character and dramatise their behaviour?

PE – Gymnastics

This half term, our focus in PE is gymnastics.

We’ve been exploring movement – the different ways in which we can control our bodies and travel from one point to another. We’ve considered the height of our position and how it can change.

The children created and performed sequences, giving feedback to each other. I was astounded by the flexibility, balance and creativity on display!

Help at home by discussing movement with your child. How can we move in different ways? Perhaps you could explore the movements of some animals – how do they move their bodies differently to ours?