Topic: Seas surrounding the UK and maps
We’re really enjoying our Geography topic. We’ve enjoyed using an atlas to locate and name the four seas surrounding the UK.
Help at home: Can your child name the four seas surrounding the UK? (Irish Sea, English Channel, Atlantic Ocean and North Sea)
We’ve also used Google Earth to help us understand what a map is and we’ve looked at some examples of maps to help us learn how to read a map key.
We looked at a map and used the key provided to answer the questions. We then added some of our own symbols to the key and thought about why maps are useful.
Help at home: Talk with your child about how maps are useful to help us to keep safe? What should you do if you were lost and you didn’t have a map? Here are some of the responses we talked about in class.
“They show you where to go to keep you safe. Like where the hospital or fire station is.”
“They help you if you are lost!”
“You could ask someone around you for help (if there is someone to ask).”
“You should stay where you are and your grown-ups will come and find you.”
RE – The Creation Story
This half term, we are reading, learning and thinking about The Creation Story (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog 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).
In our lessons so far, we have ordered the Creation Story and thought about the following questions:
We’ve also looked at two pieces of art by artists who used The Creation Story as inspiration. Thinking about the following questions together:
‘Breisheit’ (In The Beginning) by Jackie Olenick
‘Premordial chaos’ by Judy Racz
“It’s all the days of the story in one painting. I can see the sea, the sky and the land”
“I like how the colours are nice and bright”
“I can see the different days from the story in each picture”
We then created our own piece of art.
Help at home – Ask your child to retell The Creation Story to you. What do they think the story tells us about God?
Science
Over the next few weeks in Science we are learning about Animal needs for survival. Last week, we started by looking at mammals. We found out that a mammal is an animal with fur or hair on it’s body. We learnt that they have four basic needs for survival (air, water, shelter and food) and they are either a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. We then grouped images of mammals, based on different categories such as: dietary requirements or whether they inhabit land or sea.
Today, we learnt about birds. A bird has feathers, wings and beak. Most birds are insectivores, meaning they eat insects. Some are also omnivores. We looked at some images of birds and then went on a bird hunt around school and recorded our finding in a tally chart.
Help at home: create a bird feeder to hang in your garden or to bring into school. What birds can you spot (use the bird spotting survey to record your findings). Ask your child what key facts they know about birds.
Living and learning: rules
At the start of the new school year, the children have been reminded about rules and the importance of rules in our daily life.
Before focussing on our school rules, we started by thinking about…
Why do we have rules?
What rules can you think of?
What places have rules?
Who makes the rules?
Rules tells us what to do.
We need rules so we don’t hurt each other.
Rules help us to know what is right and what is wrong.
Rules help us to be happy and healthy.
In our school we have three school rules. Three, two, one, stop is one of the most important instructions the children will hear at school.
We concluded that following our school rules will make our school a happy, healthy and SAFE place to achieve and believe.
We also agreed our Living and Learning ground rules.
Welcome back
The children have settled really well in their first couple of days in Year 2 with lots of new routines to learn and an earlier start time of 8:45am.
Important days and dates
PE – Tuesday and Friday (however, we’ll be doing Forest School on a Friday for Autumn 1 instead of PE)
Forest School – Friday (Autumn 1)
Spelling test – Friday
Library – Friday
Water bottles
These should be brought to school daily and they will be brought home every day for refreshing and cleaning.
Milk
Please contact the office if your child would like to have milk in Year 2.
Homework/Spellings
Whole school homework is set every Friday (along with new spellings). Homework and spellings can also be accessed from the website.
Reading
Your child’s e-book or free reader book will be updated on a Friday. Daily reading, whether this is their e-book/free reader book, a book from home or the library, is key to making progress in reading and to develop fluency.
Numbots
We continue to use Numbots in Year 2 (using the same login as Year 1).
For spelling practice, reading and Numbots, little and often (10/15 minutes a day) is recommended.
Uniform
Please do check the uniform policy to ensure your child is wearing the correct items including for PE days. Earrings must be removed on PE days.
Finally, please do ask if there are any queries and keep checking back on class news to find out more about your child’s learning!
PE Days
Y2 PE is on Tuesday and Friday. Please send your child to school in their PE kit on these days.
Team bonding!
This morning, Years 2 and 3 (soon to be 3 and 4!!) joined together to complete a team challenge. This was to help them be ready to be in the same class together again next year.
Using their knowledge from our recent Design Technology topic, they had to plan, design and evaluate a tower made from spaghetti and marshmallows. It had to be a stable, strong structure.
Living and Learning: Health Week
This week has been Health Week! We’ve thought about all the different choices we can make to stay happy and healthy.
We started the week with Mindfulness Monday. We did some yoga and listened to some calming music.
Throughout the week, we’ve also completed a series of personal best challenges. We’ve skipped, jumped, ran and balanced to see if we could beat our best from before!
We also had Sports Day! A huge well done to the children for their confidence and supportive team spirit they displayed.
We ended the week with a special visit from d:side. We learned all about the different organs inside of our body and how they keep us healthy.
Help at home: ask your child what they’ve learned this week, and make a healthy choice at home this weekend!
Sports Day!
A massive thank you to everyone who came and supported yesterday at Sports Day.
We kicked off in the morning with EYFS and then carried on with years 1-6 in the afternoon.
A huge well done to all the children who took part and showed courage, resilience and lots of determination. The signs made in the classes looked fantastic as well.
Congratulations to the blue team who scored the highest amount of points!!!
DT: Making baby bears chair
Over the half term, we have been looking at what creates a stable structure. We found that a stable structure has a wide base, low height and a flat surface. First we tested 3 different shapes (cuboid, triangular prism and a cylinder). We found that the cylinder was the most stable and could hold the most weight. This is because it doesn’t have any corners. The children were set a challenge to plan and design a chair for Baby Bear from the story Goldilocks and the three bears.
Next, we made a plan by designing our chair thinking carefully about the chairs for baby bear will look like. How many legs will it have? What shape will the seat be? What will the back look like? What materials/resources will you need?
When we had made our chairs, we tested the stability by placing different weighted bears onto the chairs.
Well done Year 1 and 2. You worked well together to create your own chairs for baby bear.
Help at home:
What 3 things make a stable structure?
Would you do anything differently if you were to make the chair again?