Investigating Sydney, Australia!

Year Two have been learning lots of facts about Sydney in Australia. They have discovered new information about the city, the people, different animals, weather and have compared this to their own local area of Harold Hill. 

"Harold Hill has lots of green in it. I think these are all the parks and fields." Jennifer

"We have lots of things the same- buildings, shops and cars" Peter

The children enjoyed looking at graphs and data to find out which place was the warmest, which had the most people, which was bigger and which was the oldest. They also looked at Google Earth to try and locate Sydney and their school and looked at how they visually differed.

"Sydney has a lot more blue, which is the sea and there's a lot of grey- you can see it is a big city with lots of houses and buildings' Adefolawemi

"On Google Earth, I found the school and even found Miss Hammond's car!" Sophie

Here are some facts the children wrote down about Sydney:

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the widest bridge in the world

It is the 12th most expensive city

There is a tall structure called the Sydney Tower

The Harbour Bridge is known by the locals as "The Coat Hanger" due to its distinct shape

English, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Greek and Vietnamese are the main languages spoken in Sydney.

Cricket is the most popular summer sport in Sydney

There are lots of different animals, such as, Koala, Kangaroo, Australian Dingo, Wombat, Quoll, Tasmanian Devil, Green Tree Frog, Frilled Neck Lizard.

 

Year One- A super exciting upcoming event!!

Bedtime Stories!

We would like to invite you and your child to join us for ‘Bedtime Stories’ on Friday 8^th December.

This will be an exciting evening event for the children in Nursery, Reception and Year One to experience. 

The children will arrive at school in their cozy pajamas and dressing gowns, along with their favourite teddy and head down to their classroom. 

They will meet their friends for a hot chocolate and cookies, before they settle down on the carpet for some Christmas themed bedtime stories. 

Any questions please see your child’s class teacher. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Yours faithfully,

The Early Years and Year One Team

Year 2 Ponder: "Can you judge people by how they look?"

The children in Year 2 were faced with a difficult task this week when they were asked to place various photos of people into one of two categories:

1. Those who they deemed to be nicer people
OR
2. Those who they deemed to be not so nice people

The children quickly shot into action and worked as a group to complete the task. They pondered over their decisions and spoke to their group about their choices justifying their reasons.

"He has a bruise on his face so I think he's not so nice"
"She looks nice because she's smiling and is wearing a suit"
"Her clothes are all scruffy, is she hiding something in her bag?"

They then circulated the class to see if everybody else had similar views and spoke about any discrepancies. At  the end of the task, the teacher brought the class back together to then ask the big question...

Can you judge people on how they look?

To which all of children said no of course not... not realising that in fact, that is exactly what they had collectively just done. This was a huge learning curve for the children, realising how easy it can be to form opinions, both positive and negative, on others without knowing anything about them and without even realising you're doing it.

This led to a brilliant discussion about how we should treat others and how we would like to be treated. We spoke about how we can't assume people are 'good' or 'bad' based on appearances and how this links to how we treat others at School. We also spoke about 'stranger danger' due to assumptions being made that if someone looks "smart and smiley" they must be a good person.

"It made me think that just because someone might look nice and friendly that doesn't always mean they are and that if someone wears messy clothes it doesn't mean they're a bad person." Blake

"How you look is the outside, but it is what you're like inside that matters" Jersey

We ended the afternoon speaking about bullying and defined what is it and what it is not.
We spoke about the various forms of bullying and nominated class anti-bullying ambassadors to keep an eye out for any unkind behaviour.

"Bullying is when something happens more than once like if someone kept saying nasty things to you not just a one time argument" Moyin

However, as expected in Year 2, there is yet to be any cases of such a thing as they are all so kind and polite!

What a lovely bunch of children we have!

 

Broadford Remember

This morning, in aid of Remembrance Day, we took our assemble outside. Each class took it in turns to plant their poppies in the field at the front of the school to remember all the people who sacrificed their lives in the wars. Children stood around the poppies in silence to show their respect. Sophia then read a poem out aloud to mark the occassion.

Year 2 Fire Station Fun!

On Monday, the children in Year Two went to visit the local fire station for a tour and to hear about what the job entails. The children were very impressed by the fire station quarters but shocked to learn that the fire chief stays at the station all day and night! The children found out that the firemen need to do exercise for an hour each day and they use their own gym. They need to be fit and healthy so they can jump down the pole and help save people.



 "In our job, we need to help people escape from fires, help with traffic accidents, people who are stuck somewhere, animals which are stuck or need lifting, help with flooding and assistance with chemical related accidents" Fire Chief.

"There is an alarm that goes off all over the station to let the firemen know that someone needs help" Freddie L

"The firemen jump down the pole because they need to act quick and the stairs take too long" Aaliyah

"The firemen told us how to check our smoke alarms at home" Freddie S

"We saw how the firemen practise for traffic accidents. They had a real car inside their station and they make sure they can cut them open to help save the people trapped inside" Klaidi

All of the children had a chance to use the water hose!
"It was so strong it pushed me back! That would hurt if it got you" Harry L

"My favourite part was getting to sit inside the fire engine!" Alfie

"We got to use the hoses and the fireman showed us how to make it spray in different ways" Roberto

"The fireman told us about the pack he wears on his back. It helps him breathe in a burning building. It is electric and they plug it in to charge like a phone. It has bluetooth!" Sophie

The children had a great time exploring different aspects of the job- using the hose, looking around the fire engine and learning about fire safety. The children talked about what to do when they hear a smoke alarm go off. Here are some of the facts the children learned about how to keep safe at home-

It is important and essential to test alarms every month to make sure they are all in good working order. 
Do not try to replace the battery on a 10 year long-lasting smoke alarm. Dispose of the device and replace it. 
Never disconnect or take the batteries out of your alarms. 
If your smoke alarms beep on a regular basis, change the battery immediately.
   http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/SmokeAlarms.asp

 

When we got back to School we linked our learning to our recent History topic and reminded ourselves of how lucky we are to have such a great fire service - something that wasn't available in 1666 during the Great Fire of London.

Fun Times with Daisy the Dinosaur!

Fun Times with Daisy the Dinosaur!

Following on from our previous learning, the children were eager to complete the computer program Daisy the Dinosaur.

They had to say a set of commands that included directional language to ensure that their dinosaur made it safely to the other side. Fun times were had by all!

"I can move Daisy!" - Rebeca

"I can make her roll and grow!" - Carla

Partition Power!

Partition Power!

It has been a busy week of applying our knowledge to find out the value of the digits in our partitioning work. Following on from last weeks learning, the children have been working super hard to build upon the skills that they have learnt so far. 

The children have been using their skills to match the numerals to the written word, to represent the numbers using concrete objects and pictures and to read and write the written number word.

They extended their learning further, when they were able to play against a partner, swapping out their ones for tens in a race to be the first to get to 100!

"There are five 10's in 50". - Ava

"You can partition a three digit number into hundreds, tens and units" - Thomas