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.
Maths: Grouping tens and ones
Today, we have been looking at making groups of tens and ones. The children were asked to describe a number by the number of
tens and ones the number is made from.
The class used different representations of the tens and ones which were not always in place value order.
The children needed to count the number of groups of 10 and then
the ones to find the total.
. Here there are 3 groups of ten and one 1 – 31
Using Base 10 is useful, as it gives children no option other than to count tens and ones, since they cannot split the ten apart.
misconception 46
Here the ones are pictured before the tens. Children need to still count the groups of ten first and then add on the ones.
Help at home by counting in tens. Try grouping objects into tens and ones. Can your child write the number correctly?
What numbers are represented below?
We love to read and rhyme!
This week we celebrated World Book Day!
Thank you to those who came and shared this day with us. The children thoroughly enjoyed becoming their favourite book character and engaging in some nursery rhyme activities.
We’ve also been enjoying our weekly forest school sessions. This week we found lots of mini-beasts. We counted how many snails we found and made comparisons between the length of our worms.
Quick question! How do we know the difference between a Snail and a Slug?
This week’s focus story has been ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ by Vivian French
What kind of vegetables did Grandpa grow in his garden?
Why couldn’t Oliver see the potatoes ?
Which vegetables would you like to try?
The children enjoyed being able to practice their chopping skills. We chopped up some fruit and vegetables to add texture and scent to our playdough.
Help at home: Would your child like to help you cut up some vegetables to make tea? What vegetables do you already know and what could we make with them. For example, we know that potatoes can be made into chips, mash and Jacket’s.
This week sound/s was: ‘H’ for helicopter
Rhyme of the week: I’m a little teapot
Have a super weekend everyone!
Miss Ward and Miss Harvey
Oracy
We have all been focussing on our prosody skills this week. Using the poem Good Hope by Benjamin Zephaniah, we have strived to use intonation, tone and volume, whilst ensuring we project our voice and make eye contact with our classmates. We have also discussed some of the issues Zephaniah may have faced and the key messages taken from the poem.
Well done everyone!
World Book Day
Thank you so much to all the grown ups who came to our special ‘World Book Day’ stay and learn. We hope you had a lovely time, we’ve had a brilliant day celebrating.
This morning we had a whole school costume parade, we showed off our wonderful World Book Day Costumes as we danced to the ‘World Book Day’ Song by Mc Grammar. Then the teacher’s all swapped classrooms, Mr. Kilner who usually teaches in Year 3/4 came to read us a story. We loved listening to him and we loved his different voices!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful support in celebrating World Book Day, you’ve certainly helped us to raise the profile of books and reading. Reception absolute LOVE story time!
Help at Home by sharing a story.
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!
The National Railway Museum
Wow! What a fantastic day we had at the National Railway Museum and the children were fantastic, an absolute credit to you and our school.
We enjoyed looking at the trains in the Great Hall, including the Mallard, the high-speed Japanese bullet train and the replica of Stephenson’s Rocket. We found The Flying Scotsman in the North Shed and an old sign for Wetherby Train Station, plus a sign for platform 9 3/4!
A big thank you to the parents and helpers who came with us and made our day out so special.
World Book Day
We have had an incredible day today, celebrating World Book Day.
The children arrived dressed in some fantastic costumes, many of which were homemade. They loved staying in character during the day, it has been very funny!
We have taken part in many activities; designing our own book cover, reading part of our favourite book, listening to other staff members read, reading quizzes, online draw along sessions and much more. It has been a real celebration of books and reading.
Thank you for all your continued support.
Update
What a busy week we have had in the Year 3/4 classroom.
We were lucky to have a visit from PCSO Louise who came in to talk to us about how to keep safe and to remind us about the importance of making right choices.
In writing this week, we have been writing a recount about Tarragon, the dragon slayer. What fantastic work the children have produced. We have thoroughly enjoyed using challenging vocabulary and strived to make our work stand out. Mr Kilner has been so impressed!
In PE, we have loved learning and performing yoga poses and sequences. We have learnt common poses like Warrior 1, Warrior 2 and Airplane. Calming breathing techniques and meditation have helped us to find a feeling of calm and we have left feeling ‘reborn’, ‘relaxed’ and ‘refreshed’.
Help at home – Ask your children about some of the vocabulary they have used this week in their writing. What word did they use to describe Tarragon/the dragon/Black Bull. Can they remember any other yoga poses? Are they able to teach family at home about how to perform them? Can they think of any ways PCSO Louise told us to stay safe?
Yoga
Year 1 have been enjoying learning some yoga with our expert ‘Mrs Bye’. The children have used breathing exercises and relaxation techniques to create a relaxed and calm environment. Perfecting a pose and improving their balance and flexibility has enabled each child (and adult) to really enjoy the moment.
