Living and Learning: STOP bullying
This week is anti-bullying week and Year 2 have been considering this across different areas of our learning.
In our reading lesson, we read through our school definition of bullying and considered words we weren’t sure of. We spotted the important message of STOP – several times on purpose.
We also used our inference skills, and our school definition, when looking at this photo to consider what might be happening and whether this is bullying?
‘We can see the children are hurting the feelings of the boy on the ground.’
‘We know the boy who is sitting down is unhappy and upset because of his face and his head is down.’
‘We don’t know if this is bullying as this is one time and bullying is when it happens several times on purpose.’
Thank you to all the families who supported Odd Socks Day. There were all different sizes, patterns and colours of socks on show and it was great that the children could express themselves and celebrate their individuality while raising awareness of bullying.
Andy Day, CBeebies star and his band, Andy and the Odd Socks, has again written a song for Odd Socks Day. This time it is called “Change”, based on this year’s theme Change Starts With Us.
Finally, we considered what to do if any children were bullied, again based on the STOP message – start telling other people.
All the children considered who they would tell if this was happening to them.
As noted in our new child friendly anti-bullying policy, the message is clear.
STOP bullying – bullying is wrong!
We’re a happy and healthy school.
Creating Characters
This half term, our focus in writing is description. This week and next, we’re learning about character descriptions. Today, we read some character descriptions and we even designed our own character to describe to someone else and see whether they could recreate it.
We realised that we had to:
- use comparisons
- use adjectives
- describe bit by bit
- go in a sensible order
Talk about your favourite characters at home and see whether you can take on the character description challenge too.
Living and Learning: 8Rs
Having reflected on all eight Rs for learning, Year 4 decided they learnt most about resilience this term in our tower building lesson.
As a team, we had to try and build the tallest tower but it kept getting knocked down. Despite our frustrations, we had to encourage each other to carry on and start again. We talked about situations that make us feel like this and strategies we had to help us to keep going.
At home, see if we can tell you what the 8Rs are and ways we can showing we’re using them in our learning.
World Mental Health Day
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, and Y6 did some research to find out more.
First, we learnt what makes efficient search terms. Challenge your child to explain! Take a look at this RIC:
For example, to find out the answer to this question: “What is the population of people living in Leeds, West Yorkshire, this year?” you would use much more efficient search terms. Ask your child what they would enter into the search engine.
Next, we focussed on being safe online by discussing bias (ie paid advertising vs factual content), quality of life (ie were these web pages contributing positively to our lives?) and protecting ourselves (ie not entering passwords/email addresses, avoiding pop ups). We researched some questions about World Mental Health Day using effective search terms, a variety of search engines and trusted websites.
Some important information we found out is that mental health can affect everyone. To look after yourself you need to:
- know you’re not alone
- understand it will pass
- talk about your worries
- keep active
- get enough sleep
Healthy Schools revalidation
We are proud to continue to be a happy and healthy school.
‘Congratulations on re-validating your Healthy Schools Status using the School Health Check tool, indicating that your school has self-evaluated whole school health. This demonstrates that your school is continuing to embed and improve provision against the four core areas of Healthy Schools.’
Health and Wellbeing service, Leeds City Council
Our re-validation was based on the four core areas of Healthy Schools –
- Personal Social Health Education (PSHE)
- Healthy Eating
- Physical Activity
- Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health
A visit will be arranged later this year to externally reassess this self-validation.
This status is valid for three years before re-validation is necessary (August 2019 – August 2022). During this period, a visit will be arranged to externally reassess your self-validation. Once the school has had a successful reassessment, you will then receive a Healthy Schools plaque and feedback report. In the meantime, we do recommend that you update the School Health Check on an annual basis.
Science and dance
Monday afternoon is when Year 2 become scientists. With the help of our materials monster, we’ve been busy learning lots about everyday materials.
This week, the children were provided with a selection of objects and they were asked to generate some questions of what they wanted to find out.
We decided to test whether we could change the shape of the objects by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching (one of the science objectives for Year 2).
Here are some of the working scientifically objectives we covered as well.
I can ask simple questions and recognise that they can be answered in different ways.
I can observe carefully, using simple equipment.
I can perform simple tests.
I can identify and classify.
I can use my observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions.
I can gather and record data to help in answering questions.
Following on from this learning, Year 2 used their bodies in dance to show some of these properties. Can you guess which of the poses show ‘stretch’, ‘bend’, ‘squash’ and ‘twist’?
Aldi Kit for Schools
Aldi’s Kit for Schools promotion is giving twenty primary schools the chance to win £20,000 to kick-start a health legacy for their school.
What’s more, every school who enters by completing their Aldi’s Kit for Schools poster will also receive an exclusive school sports kit! Help us collect stickers with every £30 you spend in store and fill up our school’s poster to give us a chance to win. Please bring your stickers to the school office before the promotion ends on the 3rd November. Thank you for your support.
Bike to School Week
This week, it is Bike to School Week. Bike to School Week is a week long event designed to showcase the benefits of cycling to school.
Have you been inspired by the current UCI Road World Championships to get on your bike? Could you make biking to school one of your active methods of travelling to school this week?
To link with Bike to School week, our Year 1 class will be completing their Balance, Pedal, Go bike training this week.
If you are wanting to explore the area further by bike, this West Yorkshire Cycle map can help to find recommended routes.
Finally, have you visited the local Brownlee Centre? Take a look at some of their Let’s Ride sessions.
Somebody swallowed Stanley
Somebody Swallowed Stanley is a brilliant picture book telling about the tale of Stanley – a jellyfish unlike other jellyfish, because he is a plastic bag – and what happens to him when creatures of the sea try to eat him. Some manage to spit him back out, but one of the creatures isn’t so lucky, until a brilliant young man comes along and saves the day. The book has provided a great link to our current materials science topic.
This week, we brought the story to life with a drama session led by Sam and his team from Leeds Playhouse. We enjoyed fun games and we became the characters from the story. It was great to see the creativity of the children and how they were taking ‘safe risks’ with their learning.
If your child enjoyed the session, Leeds Playhouse run drama classes for children on a Saturday (details will be coming home in book bags). They have asked us to pass on the following message.
If any of the young people who would like to join Playhouse Youth are from low income households they can apply for a bursary by contacting Ellie Manners (playhouseyouth@leedsplayhouse.org.uk).
Lexia
Today, the children have brought home information about Lexia and a reminder of their login and password.
Lexia is a computer based program that builds reading skills and complements your child’s learning in class.
Where possible, we encourage the children to access Lexia at home to support this learning. Your child will make much more progress if they can regularly use this programme at home on either a computer or tablet.
Children should aim to achieve Level 9 by the end of Year 2.
If you have any problems accessing Lexia at home, please let us know.
As always, thank you for your support in continuing learning at home.
