Good afternoon everyone,
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 not to lose sight of Christ.
We had a visit from Fr Frank to join us for worship on Tuesday. He brought us a lovely candle as an Advent gift and spoke to us about the importance of light. He explained that our lights were ignited by Jesus’ candle at our baptism and that it is our job to smile, be kind and be loving in order to fuel our light to shine brighter.
When we light our second candle we will be thinking about peace and preparation. Our preparation helps us get our minds and souls ready for Jesus’ birth and our peace helps us to be positive beacons of light for others. We will also be thinking about how we can be peaceful people and use this gift of peace to help our friends and family to find their peace.
English - This week we finished our Historical narratives. I have been very impressed by the detail that the children have put into this. We have now begun to learn about non-chronological reports using our key text Into The Deep, along with a selection of other non-chronological reports. We have identified features that are important for this type of non-fiction text, have written questions we would like to find the answers to and have used Into The Deep to try and answer these.
Maths - We have been rounding to the nearest 10 with numbers to 100 (and some of us managed this with numbers to 1000!). We have been using our rounding skills to help us to add one digit numbers where we have to cross a ten barrier. We have been learning that we can partition the number we are adding to make 10 and then add the rest. As well as this, we have been adding using base ten drawing.
Science - This week we explored the importance of exercise to keep humans healthy. We discussed the different types of exercises we can do, how they affect our bodies in different ways and what could happen if we don’t exercise. We created poster to explain the importance of exercise to others.
RE - This week we have been looking at the story of The Annunciation. Early in the week we listened to and retold the story as a diary entry from Mary’s perspective. We then explored the significance of the story and what this tells us about Jesus. We also wrote our first Advent promise.
Geography - We explored a key issue of our Planet Earth focus - plastic polllution. We learned what this is, how it is caused, what effect it can have on different living thing and some of the things we can do to stop it from happening. We created posters to persuade others to use plastics more sensibly.
PE - Our PE sessions this week have been used to practise for our Nativity performance.
Nativity - We got into the hall and began our rehearsals. The children are doing great so far!
Computing - We learned about abstraction in programming. This is when we strip away anything that isn’t important and focus only on the important parts to create and debug algorithms. We then used abstraction to make plan perspective maps of our classroom.
Please continue to practise the Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words - both reading and spelling!
Please also continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
We have sent home the words your child will be saying in our Nativity. We ask that the children practise these at home until they can recite them without reading their sheet. Please continue to leave them in their school bags so we can take opportunities to practise at school.
We have also sent home song lyrics for our Nativity songs. You can access the tracks to play at home by going to the homework page of the Year 2 site.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the various /ow/ sound words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /ow/ and /oa/ sound words.
Reading
Beaches comprehension worksheet.
Maths
Adding ones (crossing tens) worksheet
As always, the MOST important way that you can support your child is by reading regularly! Please do this as regularly as possible over the break!
Golden Award - Matilda - for being a great role model and a beacon of calmness at all times in Year 2.
Writing Award - Priya - for her great ideas and vocabulary in her historical narrative.
Maths Award - Frazer - for great partner work to solve tricky problems.
Discipleship Award -
The Wednesday Word is now available online, rather than the paper copies we used to send home pre-covid. Please click this link to access this week’s gospel.
Year 1 and Year 2’s Christmas Nativity performance will take place on Wednesday 14th December at both 9.30am and 2.00pm. Due to space limitations in the hall, each parent will get 2 tickets for each performance. We hope you enjoy the performance.
After our Nativity performances, the PTA will providing refreshments (non-alcoholic [sorry!] mulled wine and mince pies) in the dining hall for a small fee. The PTA will also be selling raffle tickets at each performance - there will be some fantastic prizes on offer and all funds raised will go towards PTA funds.
Finally, here is a letter about our Advent liturgies which will be taking place every Tuesday at 8.20 in the school hall until Christmas.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
