School Closure

All home learning will be updated on Google Classroom.

To access Google Classroom, please follow these steps:

1. Go to Google home page.
2. Click on ‘Sign In’ which is in the top right-hand corner.
3. Sign in with your email (see below for details)
4. Your password is halterworth (all lower case)
5. Click the 9 dots (arranged as a square) in the top right-hand corner
6. Scroll to the bottom and click ‘Classroom’.
7. On the left-hand side of the page, click on your class name (2AJ).
8. In the centre, at the top of the next page, click ‘Classwork’.
9. Then click on the week beginning, then the tasks.

 

Google Classroom login details – firstname.surname@halterworth.hants.sch.uk
(First full name)
Password – halterworth

 

I encourage you to join in with ‘PE with Joe Wicks’, live at 9am Monday – Friday. If you miss the workouts at 9am they will be saved on to his YouTube channel and can be viewed at any time. Joe also has lots of ‘5 minute move’ and ‘Active 8 minute’ workouts already saved on there, lots of which we have done in class. The link to his YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1

 

Twinkl is offering 1 month free subscription to parents and it has lots of great resources. The link to sign up is https://www.twinkl.co.uk/offer and the code is UKTWINKLHELPS

 

Spellings will still be set on spelling shed and the children have been set on ‘Automatic mode’ on their Times Tables Rock Stars account. Quizzes may also be set on Diagnostic Questions. Log on details are in the front of reading diaries but please email if there are any problems.

https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb

https://ttrockstars.com/

https://diagnosticquestions.com/Account/Login

Other useful websites:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

https://www.mymaths.co.uk
Username: halter
Password: square

https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/ (Free without a subscription during school closures)
Username: march20
Password: home

https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

https://www.ictgames.com

 

 

Any problems please email me at a.smith@halterworth.hants.sch.uk
Keep safe and well!

 

 

 

 

Florence, Fitness and Fractions

On Wednesday Year 2 were very excited to come in to school to find a cloth in the middle of the carpet. After investigating the objects hidden underneath, and thinking about what they might tell us, we decided the objects belonged to Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole!

 

We then learnt about their lives and why Nightingale and Seacole are such significant people.

 

 

 

Update of our bread experiment!

We can see very clearly here the importance of hand washing! The laptop keys have had a big clean since this experiment!

 

 

Exercise

This week in Science the children learnt why it is important to exercise. We looked at what happens to our body when we do different exercises and tested our pulse before and after.

2AJ have taken part in many Joe Wicks workouts in class this term, and from Monday 23rd Joe is going to be doing a live workout everyday at 9am on his YouTube channel. I encourage you all to take part while school is closed!

https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/pe-with-joe-1254.html

 

 

 

 

 

Healthy Eating

In Science this week, 2AJ were learning about healthy eating and what food can count towards your five a day. Before lunch the children had to guess what fruit and vegetables were hiding in the bags. Some were easier to guess than others!

After lunch (and after the tables and pencils were given a good clean!) the children had the opportunity to try 5 fruit and 5 vegetables. They recorded what they thought of each one. It was great to see the children trying all the different fruits and vegetables even if they did not like them!

The fruits and vegetables they tried were:

Blueberries, Papaya, Mango, Passion fruit and Coconut
Spinach, Sweet potato, Broccoli, Mushrooms and Carrots.

Don’t forget to check the home learning tab to see your healthy eating home learning task!

 

 

Why is it important to keep clean?

As part of our Healthy Living topic we have been looking at personal hygiene and the importance of being clean through washing our hands and cleaning our teeth.

On Wednesday Year two conducted two experiments. The first was to understand just how many germs are on things we touch every day in the classroom. Each table had a different task, then we put the slices of bread in sandwich bags and we will keep an eye on them to see which one grows the most mould. We made our predictions by colouring mould on pictures of bread slices in our books, and will write up the results next week! Hopefully this will encourage lots of hand washing with soap!

 

Following on from this, we then looked at our mouth hygiene and tested how clean our teeth were by chewing plaque disclosure tablets. The tablets turn our teeth red where there is new plaque and blue where there is old plaque. We then watched a video by a dentist (called Dr Jenkins!) on how to clean our teeth properly. We had a go at this in class which was very exciting. Remember when cleaning your teeth at home, you could use a timer so you know you have brushed for 2 minutes!

 

In PSHE this week the children were learning how to stay safe. One way to stay safe is to be able to tie shoelaces, so you don’t trip up! Here we are having a go, using string as not enough of our school shoes or trainers had laces!

Happy Half Term

Well done for all your hard work this half term! Here is our African dance we have been working so hard on…

 

Have a fun half term, see you in a week!

All About Africa

Year 2 have had a fabulous day, immersing themselves in all things Africa!
The day started with Kwame, who lead the workshops all day, teaching us about Ghana and Africa. He was impressed with our knowledge from recent Geography lessons! He then showed us some beautiful fabrics, with each print representing a different meaning. Kwame explained that in Ghana these fabrics are very precious and get worn at special occasions. They are so special people are even buried in them! We enjoyed choosing symbols and creating our own prints on cloth.

 

After break we moved into the hall and learnt how to play the Djembe drum. The children brilliantly copied the rhythm that Kwame showed them. They particularly enjoyed playing their drums to Kwame singing a song that we have got very familiar with in dance lessons this half term!

 

After lunch it was time to dance! Kwame taught us some dance moves which we enjoyed performing to African music. We will add some of these moves into our Waka Waka dance next lesson!

The day ended with storytelling and Q&As with Kwame! What a brilliant day!

Continent Codes

During Geography this week Year 2 used iPads to scan QR codes to find out interesting facts about each continent. Can you remember the names of the 7 continents? Can you point them out on this map?

 

When Science Meets Lego…

Last week Year 2 had a fabulous day learning Science and Computing through Lego! Following on from our learning about forces and friction before Christmas, we decided to put our knowledge to the test by building a Lego model and then programming it to move. We predicted what we thought would happen if the model was carrying a heavier load, moved on different surfaces or had different sized wheels. Using the iPads we then programmed the model to move and observed what happened. The children worked brilliantly together and helped each other problem solve. Here we are making our discoveries:

 

Breaking News…

During English, the children have been reading ‘The True Story of the Three Little Pigs’. They have been working hard to write a newspaper article for The Fairytale Times, reporting on the crime to wolf committed. Here are just a few…

 

 

Well done and thank you for working so hard this term, have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to seeing you back in the new year! 🙂

Gymnastics Festival

Half of year 2 enjoyed a morning at Starlight Gymnastics Club, experiencing trampolining, vault, spring boards, balance beams, obstacle courses and lots more…see photos below!