Science: waterproof or absorbent?
In our Science lessons, we’ve been exploring everyday materials such as wood, metal, plastic and fabric. This week, we’ve thought about paper and the ability to soak up water.
We performed a simple test, pouring some water onto different types of paper. If the paper soaked up water, this means that it is absorbent. If the paper didn’t soak up water, it was waterproof.
We found out that kitchen roll is absorbent, which is why it is good for cleaning up mess! We also found out that the greaseproof paper was waterproof, which is why it is good for cooking.
We talked about the wrapping paper being waterproof. However, Miss Kay had brought in three different types of wrapping paper to share. We found out that not all wrapping paper is waterproof!
PE: meeting a footballer!
In PE this week, we met a footballer named Bex Rayner.
She told us all about herself and how she started out as a footballer. She also gave a live demonstration of her skills – one of our lucky Year 2 children had a go at copying!
Then, we completed a circuit of different exercises that Bex does to help her stay healthy and active.
Wake up Shake up!
Today, Wake up Shake up happened indoors! Check us out in action…
Geography: the streets around our school
Today, we went on a local walk around Wetherby to survey some areas. We considered the amount of litter, bins, traffic, plants and trees and we talked about how safe we feel in our environment. We noticed that most places with lots of litter did not have many bins. When we returned to class, we discussed which areas we liked the most and why.
Help at home: wrap up warm and go on a walk around Wetherby. Have a look at what you can see. Talk about your favourite places.
Reading: non-fiction
Today, in our Reading lesson, we read a non-fiction text about the Chinese New Year celebrations happening this upcoming Sunday.
A non-fiction text is a text that contains facts and information. A fiction text is a story that is made up. We then decided to search in an atlas, another type of non-fiction book, to locate where China is and which continent it is in. We used the indexes at the back of the book to help us find out.
Help at home: ask your child what an index in a book is. Search for any non-fiction books at home together. Do they all have an index at the back?
Living and Learning: drug education
Recently, in our Living and Learning sessions, we’ve been thinking about drug education.
‘Some drugs can be harmful’.
‘Some drugs can help us get better when we are unwell’.
We’ve been developing our understanding of the drugs that can help us get better. Usually, they are called medicines and we would receive them from a doctor or a chemist. Even though they are drugs to make us feel better, we know we must be safe and let an adult help. There are also some medicines which we don’t need from a doctor, such as sleep or rest.
‘They should go to the doctor to get some eardrops’.
‘A trusted adult should help them take the eardrops’.
‘They should have some Calpol from an adult and go to the doctor if it gets worse’.
‘They need to rest’.
‘They won’t need to go to the doctor but they can put a plaster on it’.
‘Wash their hands’.
Writing: nouns and adjectives
In our English lesson today, we recapped our knowledge of nouns and adjectives to write about the illustrations in our new class novel Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers.
A noun is a thing, place or person.
An adjective gives information about the noun.
We wrote about these two illustrations. See some of our exciting sentences and expanded noun phrases below!
Help at home: do you have a book that contains some beautiful illustrations? Use nouns and adjectives to describe the characters or places that you can see in your book. You could write them in your homework books and bring them in to show me!
Topic
Happy New Year! As you may already know, our new Topic is all about Geography. We are learning about ‘The streets around our school’.
Today, we learned about human and physical features of the environment. A human feature is something man-made, built by a human. A physical feature is a natural part of our world. We went on a walk around the school grounds to look.
Some human features.
A physical feature.
We found some plants and discussed if they would be a human or physical feature.
‘They might be a human feature because a person would have had to plant it.’
‘It is part of nature so it could be a physical feature.’
Our learning also links to our RE topic – how can we look after our planet? We spent some time today discussing our favourite features of the school and whether they were physical or human features.
Help at home: look out for and discuss human and physical features on your way to school. Talk about which features you like and why.
Topic – Geography
This half term our topic is Geography. We’re all excited to become Geographers. Geographers are a type of scientist who studies the Earth. Geographers study the land (the physical features of the Earth) and the people who live within it (the human features).
This week, we’ve started by looking at an aerial map of our school, naming the four countries that make up the UK and their capital cities and listing some human and physical features in our environment.
We have enjoyed watching a video to help us to remember the 4 countries that make up the UK and their capital cities. (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.)
We have also start to look at our Geography vocabulary, which you can see below.
Challenge: Can your child name the 4 countries that make up the UK and name their capital city?
Merry Christmas
During your Christmas break we hope you can:
- Spend time with the people you care about.
- Do the things that you enjoy.
- Watch your favourite program.
- Make somebody laugh and smile.
- Do something nice for somebody else.
- Visit your favourite place.
- Play with your toys
and finally have a wonderful Christmas and see you all in 2023!
