Football Skills with Jamie Knight
On Tuesday, we enjoyed an assembly from the freestyle footballer Jamie Knight and we had a workshop with him where he taught us how to do some of his football skills. Have a look at some of the fun we got up to!
L&L Identity: self-respect
This week, during our Living and Learning session we thought about how we are similar and different from each other.
There are things that are the same or different that are immediately obvious (physical features) as well as things you cannot see such as things you like doing. We worked with our partner to think of an example of each.
“We are the same because we have blue eyes and we both like playing football.”
“We are different because we have different coloured hair but we are the same because we both like gymnastics.”
We had a chat about how there are lots of things the same about us all but everyone is different too – nobody is exactly the same, everyone is unique. No-one is good at everything but everyone is good at something.
Help at home: Draw a picture of your friend, making sure you draw something that makes them special or unique. This could be a physical attribute or something they do. Bring your drawing in to share with us.
Forest School
The children have been enjoying their Forest School sessions on a Friday.
So far, they have enjoyed den building, peeling a stick and decorating using coloured wool and using flint and steel to start a fire on a cotton wool bud.
Help at home: Talk with your child about how to keep safe while at Forest School. For example listen to the adult instructions, only light fires with a flint under adult supervision.
Maths: Place Value
This half term, we’re focussing on Place Value in Maths. Numbers are very important so it is important we know everything we can about numbers 0-100. We have been using base ten, place value charts and part-part-whole models to recognise which number represents the ‘tens’ and which represents the ‘ones’. We’re now thinking about how a number can be partitioned flexibly and we’ve used base tens and part whole models to show this practically.
Help at home: draw a part whole model and partition numbers to 100. Use the stem sentence to consolidate the learning.
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.