World Book Day themed menu 2023
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu for World Book Day on Thursday 02 March 2023. See the menu here.
Please contact the office, in the next few days, if your child would like a school dinner on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day).
Living and Learning: online safety and Safer Internet Day
Over the last two weeks, Year 2 have been learning about four main areas of online safety (plus lots of other online safety tips too).
- I know that there are sometimes age restrictions online.
- I know that passwords are important.
- I know that some things online may not be true.
- I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
We welcomed Dave from d:side last week to support this learning and this week was Safer Internet Day.
We thought about how and why we might use the internet. Here’s some of the class’ favourite things to do online.
We’ve had lots of discussions about staying safe online. Here the children are sorting websites into those we would trust (eg our school website, well known websites such as the BBC website) and those we wouldn’t trust (eg a pop up telling you that you have won something).
We learnt that the padlock next to the web address tells us this is a secure and trusted site.
This video reinforced key messages about not everything online is true (this could be people or information) and the importance of not sharing any of your personal information.
These texts all have important online safety messages and our daily poem this week is this online safety rhyme.
Throughout this learning, we reinforced the message that if the children were unsure or something didn’t feel right they should always Start Telling Other People and let a trust adult know.
We even got to meet Buddy (NSPCC mascot), who was visiting Year 5 and 6, and it was great that the children all remembered him from our recent Speak out Stay safe NSPCC assembly.
Help at home: here are the PEGI age ratings. Ask your child what they are for and why they are important.
Food technology!
Last Friday, Year 3 learnt how to make bruschetta in Food Technology.
They learnt lots of practical skills, such as how to chop ingredients safely, while also learning how to make an easy, tasty snack!
Check out our little chefs below!
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help
In Living and Learning, Year 3 have been learning about how to seek help. We discussed how it could be something smaller like asking for help during a lesson or something bigger like asking for help with friendships or family.
The children watched the NSPCC assembly where it highlighted children’s rights and gave the clear message of ‘Speak out, Stay safe’.
The children then identified who their own trusted adults are and the places and things that make them feel safe. See some examples below (posted with consent).
Help at home: Visit the Childline website, which has age-appropriate advice for children on topics such as bullying. It also has games and other interactive tools.
We are scientists
This half term, we have been learning all about materials and their properties.
Firstly, we identified and described lots of different materials all around us making sure we knew the difference between the object and the material.
For example, this is a table. The material it is made from is wood. Hard, smooth and opaque are some of its properties.
Here’s the vocabulary we have been learning and using in this topic.
Are all objects made out of the same material?
We thought about an object (spoons) that can be made out of different materials – wooden spoon, metal spoon and plastic spoon. We discussed the properties and uses of each spoon and why that material had been used. This made us think about other objects that can be made from different materials – chairs, clothes, bags, shoes and lots more!
Is all paper absorbent?
After an initial prediction, this comparative investigation involved dropping water onto different types of paper to see how much water was absorbed by the paper.
The children made some great observations reflecting back to their predictions.
Alongside this learning about materials, we are using our working scientifically skills to observe over time. Every week, we measure the temperature using a thermometer and record the weather and later in the year we will use this data to look for any patterns.
This deciduous tree is in our front playground and we are taking weekly photos to observe how the tree changes over time across the different seasons.
Help at home: ask your child how they think the tree will change and when those changes might happen.
Supertato continued
Literacy
We continued to read Supertato. We created wanted posters to try and help capture the Evil Pea. We thought of sentences to describe the Evil Pea.
He is green.
He is round.
He has a red cape.
He wears a black mask.
He is tiny.
Once again, the Evil Pea has been up to mischief! We’ve been super building traps in the construction area. The children came up with some fantastic ideas! 
Some of the children drew a picture of their traps.
Maths
We’ve been learning about weight. We used balance scales to compare the weight of different objects.
Art
We looked at some of Yayoi Kusama’s famous dot paintings. Yayoi is a Japanese artist who is sometimes called ‘the princess of polka dots’. Although she makes lots of different types of art – they have one thing in common, DOTS! In the creative area, we had fun creating our own dot paintings using cotton buds and bubble wrap.
Poetry Picnic
This week’s was called Mrs Bluebird. The children particularly liked being Mr Bee!
Outdoor learning
The wind didn’t stop us from having fun outside.
Early writing
A short presentation by Mrs Payne, one of our Sphere Federation Reception teachers has been emailed to you this week. The presentation explains how writing develops over the Reception year and has some ideas of things that you can try at home to support your child’s learning. If you have any questions about the presentation, please ask.
Reminders
- Parent-teacher meetings – Monday 06 & Tuesday 07 February
I look forward to chatting to you all in person next week. - A new e-book is assigned every Thursday. Please make sure your child reads this daily at home.
- Library books must be returned every Friday.
Finally, thank you to all of the parents and carers who came to the fiddly fingers stay & learn session today. It was lovely to see so many of you! We hope you all enjoyed it.
Geography: Coastal Erosion
In Geography, we have been analysing the impact of coastal erosion on seaside villages and towns. We used the website Digimaps to measure the severity of land loss.
We looked at 3 separate locations on the North East Yorkshire coastline (Great Cowden, Skipsea and Hornsea). We were able to study and compare 3 maps from the locations: 1890s, 1950s and 2022.
We compared the land loss at all 3 locations and discussed what impacts this had on the area. Some of these were:
- infrastructure being lost into the sea;
- house prices declining in the area;
- loss of habitat;
- reduction of tourism.
Finally, we compared the land loss to something we know – Moortown Park. Moortown park is around 200m in length and this is how much land was lost at Skipsea!
We are chefs!
Year 5 have become chefs this past week; they created a very delicious vegetable pasta bake. The children learnt how to cut up vegetables using the bridge and claw method. They EVEN washed up!
If your child wishes to take a paper copy of the recipe home, they are in the end of the day tray in their classroom. Some children have already made it!
Cross country finalists
Today, four Key Stage 2 pupils represented our school in the Leeds cross country final after qualifying in the North East Leeds competition.
Well done to all the children who gave 100% in their races of over 100 runners and with a tough hill at the end.
Special congratulations to our Year 6 runner who after finishing 1st in his heat went on to finish 1st in the Leeds final today! A fantastic acheievement! He will now qualify for the West Yorkshire cross country final.
Thank you to parents who transported and supported the children today.
Living and Learning: being safe
In Living and Learning and circle time we have been talking about hwo to stay safe. We have thought about when we might need to get help and how to get help.
The NSPCC Speak out Stay safe assembly gave a very clear message about being safe and in our weekly circle time, the children were all able to say how they would seek help (Start Telling Other People).
Help at home by reinforcing these important safety messages that were part of your homework last week.
The NSPCC has also developed an adapted version of their assembly for parents/carers to use at home with their children and some resources that can be used to enable further discussion whilst doing activities with your children.
You’ll also find online safety information for families of children with additional needs and disabilities.
Childline also have a website with age-appropriate advice for primary school children on topics such as bullying. It also has games and other interactive tools.