Bethan Woollvin Webinar
This morning Year 1 and 2 had a very special online visitor. The author and illustrator Bethan Woollvin spoke to both classes about her work, how she creates her stories and what she likes about being an author and illustrator. We have been reading lots of her stories in class so we were very excited!
She read us the story Little Red and then gave us a tour of her studio including showing us some of her sketchbooks, it was very interesting! Bethan then showed us how to draw Little Red in a draw along session. We concentrated very hard and we were very proud of our drawings!
Finally, we got to ask Bethan some questions and hear her answers. We asked some terrific questions and we were very grateful for Bethan to give her time for such a wonderful webinar! Hopefully, it can inspire some new authors or illustrators in Year 1 and 2!
Skipping ropes
We continue to work with Skipping School as part of the Year 2 and Year 4 skipping festivals.
While you might be thinking about Christmas presents, we have skipping ropes available to purchase from school for a subsidised price of £3. These are available in two sizes and a range of colours.
Daily poem
We continue to read a variety of texts in class and this is our daily poem for this week, The north wind doth blow.
Ask your child to perform this for you – the signs we have learnt can help with this. We’ve had some great performances in class so far.
Living and Learning: mental health
This week, Year 2, with the help of some of the characters from the Beano, have been learning about a range of emotions.
Emotions are feelings. They can change all the time.
We all experience a whole range of emotions, from anger to happiness to fear.
Looking at someone’s face and their body language can help us to understand how others might be feeling.
How might Dennis be feeling? What clues tell you this?
We discussed why it is important to recognise and talk about our emotions and how to seek help with our feelings or if we notice a friend might need help.
Next week, we will be thinking about self care techniques that can help us to look after our own mental health. Mindfulness is one example of a self care technique. We do lots of mindfulness techniques in class – ask your child to share them with you. Also, look out for the wellbeing bingo for you to try at home.
Live webinar with author Alex Willmore
On Thursday, Year 1 and 2 met author Alex Willmore (virtually) in a live webinar. It was great for the children to be inspired by Alex’s storytelling, illustrations and the introduction of his new book ‘ I DID see a mammoth!’.
As well as enjoying Alex’s new book, all the children followed Alex’s live drawing to draw their own mammoth. Alex talked about how he became an author and gave the children tips of how to create their own stories.
Living and Learning: Anti-bullying Day and Odd Socks Day
Today has been a themed day all about anti-bullying as part of the national Anti-Bullying Week. We’ve also worn our odd socks to celebrate that we are all individual, unique and different.
First of all, we had to decide if these situations were bullying.
We discussed this in groups and after looking at our school definition of bullying, we decided that we didn’t know. This was just one incident and we didn’t know if it had happened several times.
We used drama to consider how children might feel if they were being bullied and how it would affect their mental health.
I feel sad because they are pointing and laughing at me.
I will say to the teacher that they are bullying me.
I feel upset because they are hurting my feelings.
I feel disappointed as they are leaving me out and being mean.
Our child friendly anti-bullying policy talks about an important message if you are being bullied – Start Telling Other People. The children all thought about who and how they could ask for help.
Ask your child about our two STOP acronyms: Several Times On Purpose and Start Telling Other People – one’s a definition of bullying and the other’s a solution.
Finally, we read the story, We are wonders by R J Palacio which shares the message that we are all wonders because of our differences and we should show respect to each other.
‘Look with kindness and you will always find wonder.’
Well done, Year 2, for some great discussions and understanding about this important topic today.
Junior leaders
Today, our new junior leaders met for the first time.
As part of the meeting, they reviewed our school definition of bullying and our child friendly anti-bullying policy prior to anti-bullying day next Monday.
They also reminded the class about Odd Socks Day, which is also on Monday, that celebrates our individuality.
Community week
What a fantastic week we have had learning about different communities, respecting ourselves and others and knowing everyone is different, special and unique.
Vocabulary
This week, during our themed community week, we have read lots books about respecting and celebrating everyone and different communities. In these books, we read some words which we wanted to explore and find out more about. We have used the iPads to find definitions of words on the online dictionary. We also used the online thesaurus to find synonyms and antonyms for each word. Ask your child what a synonym is and what an antonym is.
Living and Learning: Me and My Community week
We’ve enjoyed lots of learning about identity, diversity and community so far in our themed week.
What is a community?
- A group of people that live in a particular area
- A group of people who are similar in some way or have similar interests
Did you know our class is made up of lots of different ethnicities and look at all the languages we can speak. It’s been great to hear some of the children share these languages with the class.
When thinking about our own identity, this video gave us lots to discuss about what makes us, us?
There are lots of different aspects of our life that make us who we are. We are all UNIQUE.
Which members of the class do you think these might be?
We read and performed these identity themed poems. Ask your child to read them to you with prosody.
Our first visitors of the week were our local PCSOs. They told us about their role in the community to keep people safe and they also reminded us of some important safety advice for bonfire night.
Some of the class have been keeping active in our community on their journeys to school. Send your photos to school by Friday to be part of this competition.
We’re looking forward to more visitors and learning throughout the week and Identity Day on Friday.
