Ratios in art?
Yesterday, we combined our artistic and mathematical skills by using ratios to turn primary colours into secondary colours. We discovered that different ratios of blue to red created different purples; different ratios of red to yellow created different oranges; and different ratios of yellow to blue, of course, created different greens. Farai decided that, to make a ‘good’ orange, you needed more yellow than red.
Here we are in action…
…and our end product…
Great work, Y2.
Cooking in the new curriculum
Teachers have been busy learning about the different cooking skills we’ll be teaching your child this year!
Today we’ve made a tasty (and healthy) garden salad!
Budding actors and actresses
Friday was filled with drama and costume making as Years 1 and 2 set to work to create a performance in just one day! While half of the class worked on creating a scene, the other half were hard at work cutting, colouring and combing masks and props for the final performance. Then…we swapped.
The show took our audience through a number of paintings just like Katie (the main character of our class novels) and watched her lose a girl’s hoop, argue with monkeys, run from a tiger and dance with shapes – not to mention hiding from the gallery guard!
If you couldn’t make it, here are a few pictures from our main performance.
Sunflowers – by Year 2
We’ve got art fever in Year 2 with the start of Big Topic. We’re looking at a series of books based around a little girl called Katie. She visits the Art Gallery with her Grandma but always manages to get into mischief by journey right into the paintings!
Katie knocked over Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ in this weeks story but don’t panic – we’ve created our own (that’s just as good, if not better) to replace them.
Here’s how we created this whole class piece of art…
Martha even had a go at doing her own coloured version at home.
Yoga through the rainforest
Year 2 went on a journey through the rainforest on Wednesday but nobody left their yoga mat! We had great fun doing a rain dance as we got used to the rainforest’s humid climate and then climbed trees and met many animals before sailing down the Amazon and back home. Take a look at our fantastic poses.
What a great yoga class. Well done, Year 2!
A great start
Now that we’ve all settled into Year 2, it’s time to say welcome back to everybody and well done for such a great start to the year.
Already, we’ve been exploring our use of adjectives by working together to make sentences more interesting…
A dog walked down the street.
- Add an adjective – An angry dog walked down the narrow street.
- Choose a more interesting verb – A dog scurried down the street.
- Use a conjunction to add information – A dog walked down the street so he could get back home.
- Use an adverb – A dog walked hurriedly down the street.
- Of course, you could use all of these to really improve your writing.
An angry dog scurried hurriedly down the narrow street so he could get back home.
We’ve also got lots of facts to remember for our Where in the world? topic. Here are some things we need to know. Maybe you could test us at home…
- Seven continents – Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Australasia, Antarctica and Asia.
- Five oceans – Arctic, Indian, Atlantic, Southern, Pacific
- United Kingdom – England (London), Scotland (Edinburgh), Wales (Cardiff) and Northern Ireland (Belfast).
Keep up the hard work, Year 2.
Smile for miles on the St Gemma’s sponsored walk
One of our chosen school charities, St Gemma’s Hospice, is holding their first ever Happy Walk on Saturday 20 September. This is a good opportunity to support our school charity but also to take part in a great morning with your family while walking 3.5 or 5.5 miles around Roundhay Park. The event starts at 10am.
We’ll be co-ordinating registration for the event and registration forms are available now from the office.
Entrance for this event is £5 (children under 12 walk free) and each walker will get a free hot drink and cake. All participants are asked to raise sponsorship money. It is also a pram and wheelchair friendly route so the whole family really can get involved.
There will be an activity pack that children can take with them on the walk where they can look out for wildlife and take some tree rubbings. Before the walk starts there will also be a face painter, a chance to meet Olaf from Frozen, and time to make your own Happy Loom band to wear and keep.
St Gemma’s are also encouraging all walkers to wear what makes them Happy on the walk – whether that’s a silly hat, fluffy socks or a brightly coloured t-shirt.
We hope you are able to join in with the St Gemma’s Happy Walk.
New SEAL theme
As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on new beginnings.
‘I make someone feel welcome’ is the first SEAL statement to launch the theme.
New Beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting. This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.
During the theme, the key areas of learning are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.
Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.
New Beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong. Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.
Ready to learn
It’s the summer holidays and, in line with our homework policy, there is no formal homework set over the six-week break.
That doesn’t mean that your child won’t be learning! We learn all the time – and so do children, whether it’s through play, day-trips, independent reading, discussions at home…
And of course, you’ll be keen to support your child at home so the basic facts aren’t forgotten. Please think about key English and Maths knowledge that you can gently practise over the holidays:
- number bonds: knowing pairs of numbers that add to make ten, like 3+7=10 and therefore 10-7=3). When your child is secure with pairs that total ten, can they extend this knowledge to pairs which make 20 (13+7=20, for example) and 100 (such as 30+70=100) – make this fun by using some sweet treats or how about stringing ten loom bracelets on string and then hiding some and making the link with the ones that are left (how many are hidden if you can see three bracelets?)
- times tables: Year 2 children should have an emerging knowledge of the 2 times table and the 10 times table at least, and children who have just finished Year 4 should know all their times tables (up to 12 x 12) and the division facts, too (7×8=56 so 56÷7=8) – think about chanting some times tables or buying an app to practise just a few minutes every day to keep your child’s knowledge sharp!
- reading: lots of reading over the holidays will help your child in lots of different ways – visit the local library; take part in our Extreme Reading competition; if you’re going to a theme park or museum, read the leaflet and the website… there are loads of opportunities to build in reading as a daily activity!
- writing: reading will help your child’s spellings and writing style, so don’t force lots of writing, but do try to encourage some useful, purposeful writing – write some postcards to friends and relatives , or send some emails instead, and make lists for what to pack on holiday, or what to buy if planning a sleepover.
Check out this guide about supporting learning, useful whether it’s term-time of holiday time!
Finally, make sure you enjoy the summer break!
The end of a brilliant year!
Wow! What a fantastic year this has been. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Moortown and it’s due to the children in Year 2. We’ve learnt so much and everyone is leaving Year 2 as more enthusiastic, mature young learners. I’m particularly pleased with how our behaviour has improved and expect to see this good work continue in Year 3. Good luck everyone. Enjoy your Summer!
An Ode to Year 2
Never will your smile be fuller,
than when with Danny and Abdullah.
All great kids, but to name a few,
Pohnum, Nishaan and Matthew.
Always a smile with a great big gleam,
from Aleena, Pavan, Elias, Saleem.
Megan, Hibba and good old Stan,
will help you out where ever they can.
Noah, Owen, Zeewa and Nieve,
have grown so much before they leave.
Never will there be a sad face
when with Archie, Enya, Harry or Grace.
This class you’ll find are always ‘chippa’
Matteo, Umaimah, Edward and Pippa.
Try their best, they always can,
Nico, Brandon, Hibba and Sam.
Olly and Issy have learnt so much,
Year 2…
…do stay in touch
