This Sunday marks the second week of Advent. We light the candle this Sunday to represent Preparation & Peace. We believe that both are fitting for this Sunday as we draw closer to the time we celebrate Christ’s birth. The wise men in the bible knew the scripture and took the necessary efforts to prepare and set out on their journey to worship the newborn King. The angels informed Mary and Joseph well ahead of time so they could prepare for what lied ahead of them. Today we must take the time to prepare our hearts our minds to lose sight of Christ
At Christmas, we celebrate the first coming of Christ. It was this newborn baby lying in a manger that came to this world as a lamb. Although he is the King of Kings he walked this earth, breathed the air and lived as we do now. Everywhere he went he brought peace to those who sought Him for those who rejected him they found no peace. We are now waiting for the second coming of Christ when He returns as the lion and will bring the first and final peace this world has ever known to all the nations. Be like the wise men and prepare your hearts and seek Him now..
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.
RE - this half term is all about Mary. This week we have stated to talk about the birth of Jesus and the journey that Mary and Joseph had to take. This week we have focused on Mary and how she must have felt when they arrived in Bethlehem and their was no room at the inn.
Fr Frank lead an Advent reflection for Year 1 on Wednesday where we thought about the different ways in which we can pray. The children were reminded that just like all our friends and family, God just wants us to talk to Him about our day, how we feel and what we are doing. It was a lovely experience for us all.
Science - our topic this half term is all about animals. This week we have been thinking about different animals within the same group and how they have similarities and differences.
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 the USA in particular this week.
Design - this week the children continued with their sewing work…their sea creatures are looking amazing! By the end of term each child will have made their animals with Mrs Veasey.
NATIVITY - our practices are going well! This has taken a bit of our time up this week and will be our main focus next week - in order to put on a nativity, we have to postpone other work. PLEASE continue to practice the song words at home! Many thanks.
Many congratulations to this week’s winners….
Golden Award - Loki for being a super role model in Year 1 - caring for others and showing love in all he does. You are a super star!
Writing Award - Hugo for super writing about Mary felt when she arrived in Bethlehem and there was no room at the inn.
Maths Award - Esmae for working hard to learn her number bonds to 10.
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.
18.12.23 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 started 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/
At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters.
Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.
This month’s online safety guide gives helpful advice about…
Disney+ This guide examines the hugely popular streaming service Disney+ for potential risks, giving advice on how to avoid them.
We hope you find these guides informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.
And finally…have a lovely weekend. Mrs Hollinghurst, Mrs Veasey and all the Year 1 team.
A few photos of our week……
Please check with the office if you think there should be photos of your child and there isn’t. Unfortunately when the forms were returned many parents did not tick the box giving us permission to put photos on the website - hence so few photos here as there are lots of children who I do not have photo permission for.
