Rejoice: the Lord is nigh." As Christmas draws near, the Church emphasizes the joy which should be in our hearts over all that the birth of our Savior means for us. The great joy of Christians is to see the day drawing nigh when the Lord will come again in His glory to lead them into His kingdom. The oft-repeated Veni ("Come") of Advent is an echo not only of the prophets but also of the conclusion of the Apocalypse of St. John: "Come, Lord Jesus," the last words of the New Testament.
This Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday. The term Gaudete refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, "Rejoice". Rose vestments are worn to emphasize our joy that Christmas is near, and we also light the rose candle on our Advent wreath.
English - we have continued on with our RWI lessons. During these sessions we all focus on phonics, reading, spelling and sentence development. We have also been working on our pre-cursive handwriting in which we focus on how to write our letters, starting on the line. We have also been learning how to spelling because suing the rhyme….big elephants can always understand small elephants. As well as that we are focusing on the tricky words of ’said and ‘you’ - how to recognise them, read them and spell them.
Maths - this week we have continued to work on parts and wholes as our introduction to addition and subtraction. We have continued to use counters to support our work as well as our ten frames to show how a number can be represented and the different ways we can make a number. We call these facts Number Bonds. Our number bonds to ten are our main focus of learning at the moment as we try to learn these facts and commit them to memory. If we know these facts by heart AND can apply them, it saves us time with our other learning. These are facts you can practice at home. This week we have also focused on the language of word problems and relating this to our use of part part whole
RE - this half term is all about Mary. This week we have looked at the role of the shepherds and the message sent by God in telling the lowliest in society the news about Christ’s birth first.
Science - our topic this half term is all about animals. This week we have been thinking about wild animals and animals that we can keep as pets and the differences between the two.
Geography - our focus for this half term is all about the world around us, with a focus on continents. We continued this week with looking at the seven continents of the world and then focusing in on North America and Brazil in particular this week.
Art - this week the children have focused on Christmas Art - we hoped you loved their sewing projects!
NATIVITY - our practices are going well! This has taken a bit of our time up this week has had to be our main focus - in order to put on a nativity, we have to postpone other work. PLEASE continue to practice the song words at home! Many thanks.
Well done to this week’s winners….
Golden Award - Bea for demonstrating a love of learning across all subject areas - Bea is a keen learner and is able to share her knowledge and understanding with others.
Writing Award - Roman for showing this week what he is capable of in his own writing - lovely handwriting, full stops, capital letters, finger spaces and great ideas!
Maths Award - Noah for always being super keen in Fluent in Five Maths and sharing his knowledge and understanding with others.
PE will be on Monday and Friday so please send the children into class in the PE kits on those days. No earrings can be worn for PE so please ensure that they are taken out at home. PLEASE NOTE THAT PE LESSONS MAY BE A LITTLE DISRUPTED OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AS WE PREPARE FOR OUR NATIVITY!!
Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle this week. This will come home each night to be cleaned and re-filled. Please only use the school bottles and ensure your child brings theirs each day. Lost water bottles can be replaced at the school office, but I am afraid you will have to pay for those. Year 1 have white tops.
I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Veasey and Mrs Connolly and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson
Party Invitations - I am afraid that Mrs Veasey and I will not be able to give out party invitations in class. Please do not send your child into class with them for them to give out - it creates upset and fuss about something that takes place outside of school.Thank-you for your understanding with this matter.
Key Rings - please do not put key rings onto your child’s school bag, it create fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.
School bag - please continue to use the red book bag that your child was given in Reception, we don’t not have the room to store large bags. Many thanks for your help with this matter.
Homework Expectations - please see the Homework page for what I expect the children to do at home…..don’t worry, it’s mainly just reading!! Yr1 Homework — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School (squarespace.com)
CHRISTMAS CARDS - Although it is lovely to want to send a card to everyone in the class, it is not necessary. The children often leave them in school and they end up in the bin, it also takes up SO much time giving them out and staff kjust don’t have the time to dedicate to this each day. Instead can we ask that if you wish to send a card then just send in ONE for the whole class and a £1 donation to CAFOD. We feel this is a much better use of your hard-earned money and will help us support Catholic charities around the world. (Please don’t feel you have to send a card at all) Many thanks.
8.12.23 Year 1 and 2 Nativity! There will be two performances at 10am and 2pm. (Keep an eye out for any slight time changes.) Each child will be sent two tickets for each performance. These are free but we have to limit numbers as it is for two classes and we can only physically fit so many people safely in the hall at once. Many thanks for your understanding.
Work has continued at a pace on this year’s nativity! If you, or your child, are keen to listen to the songs and do a bit of extra practice then please follow the link below to Year 2’s homework page where Mr Whetnall has added all the songs! Hopefully the children will also have brought home a song sheet this weekend. We would really appreciate any help…..and sorry for the fact that you will wake up humming these songs!! Many thanks. Yr2 Homework — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School (squarespace.com)
Please be aware that Year 1’s role in the nativity is support Year 2 with singing, dancing and acting. Year 1 do not have any lines to learn, other that the song words. Every child is on stage at some point. Year 1 will get their chance to lead next year.
Catholic Life of our school..
The following resources are a great way of keeping you all informed of our current liturgy themes and of the weekly Gospel scripture, with some activities that the children can complete at home. We hope you find these resources useful and that they help you to support prayer and worship in your own homes.
https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/faithfulness?pid=MTA101634&v=74.6
http://www.tentenresources.co.uk/prayers-for-home/parent-newsletter/
And finally….as you will now know we will say goodbye to Mrs Veasey on Thursday 21st December after nearly 30 years of service at Our Lady’s as she begins her well deserved retirement. This is a really sad time for Year 1 as Mrs Veasey is much loved part of our class family and I know the children are very sorry to see her go - as am I. I know that all the Year 1 families will join me in wishing Mrs Veasey a very long and happy retirement. We will miss you Mrs Veasey!
This week we have welcomed Miss Simons to our class who will become our new teaching assistant in the new year. Miss Simons, you are very welcome in our class and we hope you will be very happy with us.
Wishing you a lovely weekend…..Mrs Hollinghurst, Mrs Veasey and all the Year 1 team.
A few photos of our sewing……
