Celebrate Yorkshire themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 16 January. 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 this half term
- Drug, alcohol and tobacco education (DATE)
- Keeping safe and managing risk
Here are the weekly Living and Learning statements, for this half term, to support this learning. There will also be some whole school homeworks on these themes.
- I don’t interrupt (with my mouth or my hand).
- I can make things better.
- I know what a drug is.
- I know how to seek help.
- I make safe choices, including online.
- I can assess my own risks.
Happy Holidays
Well done to all the children in Year 2 for a very hard working term. This was rounded off by an amazing nativity show.
We would like to wish all the children and their families a happy and healthy holiday. Thank you also for the very generous, unexpected gifts.
We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 06 January 2020.
Best wishes
from all the staff in Year 2
Where in the world am I?
This week, it has been the final week of our geography based, Where in the world am I?, topic.
Throughout this learning, the children have become more knowledgeable about where they live within the world.
We live in Moortown.
Moortown is in the city of Leeds.
Leeds is in the country of England.
England is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. The other countries are Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom is in the continent of Europe. The other six continents are Asia, North America, South America, Australasia, Antarctica and Africa.
While learning all these place names, this has given us lots of opportunities to practise using capital letters for proper nouns.
This topic has also allowed us to explore maps in atlases and also online mapping (including Google Maps).
Finally, the children had a go at creating their own maps to show a familiar daily route – their way to school.
Can your child describe their route, maybe referring to some local landmarks along the way, using some positional and directional vocabulary such as near, far, left, right and the compass points of north, east, south and west. Ask your child what the map key is needed for too.
Here are a few examples.
The children will be sharing some of this learning in our class assembly in the new year.
Painting Poinsettias
The Poinsettia plant is particularly well known for its red and green foliage and is widely used in Christmas floral displays.
Today, the children were given the opportunity to sketch
the plant. Using their observational skills, Year 2 produced some very accurate images. Next, with fine brushes and watercolour paints, the class added colour and detail to their artwork.
Below, are a selection of the finished pictures.
Homework
Last week, for their homework, the children were asked to show what they know about something cultural or what they know about a specific festival.
Over the course of this term, some children in school have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been;
- the Muslim festival of Eid ul Adha
- the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwal
- the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
- the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians) of Christmas
- and the Chinese New Year festival, coming up.
We had some great examples of different cultures and festivals. Well done, Year 2.
Takeover Day
Today, it was Takeover Day so the children took over Year 2!
Some children got to:
- do the warnings chart
- give out cool class tokens
- lead the
spelling test - say 321 and stop
- read a story
- take the lunch orders
- take the register
Maths and Science using Skittles
Today, the children have continued with some scientific enquiry learning. First of all, they were given a bag of Skittles with a question; can we collect any data about these sweets?
We could sort them into colours.
I think that we could count them.
After grouping the sweets, the children completed tally and bar charts to showcase the data collected.
Next, came the BIG QUESTION!
What do you predict will happen when we add water to the Skittles?
I think the Skittles will turn white.
The water will be brown.
The sweets might dissolve.
The colour will melt.
Using simple equipment, we arranged the Skittles around the edge of the plate and then poured warm water into the middle. We observed closely as some amazing changes happened. 
Well done Year 2!
Packed lunches
At Moortown Primary, our packed lunch guidance includes:
- information about the different food groups
- how to put together a healthy, balanced packed lunch
- links to recipes and ideas for healthy packed lunches
This week, our packed lunch guidance will be emailed to parents and carers and sent home to children who have a packed lunch in school.
Packed lunches should be in a secure named container. No sweets are allowed – instead, we encourage lots of fruit or vegetables. Water is available on all tables for children who choose a packed lunch. However, your child can bring their own drink in a non-breakable container – please avoid fizzy drinks.
Change4life provides lots of ideas for healthy packed lunches including suggested swaps.
As an alternative to packed lunches, school meals, including a vegetarian option, are a great choice and are prepared daily in our kitchen. Children are offered a choice of main courses and desserts and they select their main meal choice at the start of the day. Catering Leeds provides food which meets national Food Standards criteria. School meals can be combined with packed lunches.
Free school meals are available to all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. They are also available to some older children according to family income. It’s important to register for entitlement to free school meals, even if your child has a packed lunch or is in a younger class – this is so we can receive additional funding (called the pupil premium) which we can use to help your child. Please check if this is something you might be entitled to.
Living and Learning: Takeover Challenge Day
Takeover Challenge is a fun engagement project which sees schools and organisations across England opening their doors to children and young people to take over adult roles.
It puts children and young people in decision making positions and encourages schools and organisations to hear and act upon their views and ideas. Children and young people gain an insight into the adult world and schools and organisations benefit from a fresh perspective about their work.
