News
Year 2 started the week using their inference skills to describe the setting and location of a picture from the children’s book inspired by Hokusai called ‘The Great Wave’.
The picture showed an image of a boy called Noaki who was perched on a tree overlooking the sparkling, calm ocean. First, we talked about where the boy was and then we discussed different ways to describe the setting of the picture. Next, the children were asked to write their own ideas using full sentences and interesting adjectives. We thought about what questions we would like to ask the boy and we shared them on a class jam board.
We learnt about the Japanese artist Hokusai and the woodcut process. The children had a choice of 3 activities – hot-seating Hokusai, creating a fact file about Hokusai or a question and answer writing task. After we created freeze frames of key moments in ‘The Great Wave’ story.
Just before half term, the children learnt about the Japanese Tea Ceremony and they decorated their own tea bowls. This week we took that one step further, when we discussed Kinsugi which is the Japanese art of putting broken pieces of pottery back together. We ‘broke’ our tea bowls and fixed them again to make them even more beautiful with gold paint.
The children loved making carp kites when we celebrated Japanese Children’s Day and they were really proud of them.
All Year 2 children ‘graduated’ from our Paws b mindfulness curriculum this week! They all received a sticker and a certificate having completed all of the 12 Paws b lessons throughout this year. Many children even joined our sessions online during lockdown.
I am so proud of this cohort of children and delighted with the personal progress they have made. I hope they continue to use what they have learnt as they move onto Belmont or their next school.
Huge congratulations to everyone! Here are some of the words children chose to write to describe the Paws b course…
“Interesting, fabulous and great” Aristos
“Helpful and beautiful” Charlie
“Best lesson ever” Alex C
“Exhilarating, tranquil, ecstatic” Mishka
“I loved Paws b” Leah
“Amazing, fantastic, YUM FACTOR!” Zayn
“Pawsome, super, amazing” Ivanka
“Fun, happy and sad” Max G
“Lovely and calming” Charlotte
