Good afternoon everyone,
This Sunday marks the third week of Advent. We light the pink candle this Sunday to represent joy. The joy candle is also known as the Shepherd’s Candle and it reminds of us the angels who appeared to the unexpecting shepherds to deliver them the good news of Jesus’ birth. These shepherds were not anything special in their town and the fact that God chose to tell them about the birth of His son reminds us that we are all important and special to God. This week we think about the joy we feel when Jesus was born and how it changed all of our lives. We, too, will aim to be joyful and joymakers - dedicating this week’s advent promise to how we can bring joy to others.
English - This week we continued our work on non-chronological reports. We have been looking at a non-fiction text all about dangerous creatures that you might find living in shallow water habitats, especially shipwrecks. We learned that non-chronological reports are written in the present tense as though it is happening now. We also learned about the difference between fact and opinion. We sorted examples of each carefully and then wrote our own facts and opinions about these dangerous creatures. Finally, we wrote sections of a non-chronological report about one of the dangerous creatures we have been studying.
Maths - We have been focusing on subtraction of a single digit number. We learned that sometimes when we have to subtract that we need to cross a tens barrier. We learned 2 methods to help us to solve this - partitioning to jump back to the previous ten and then jumping back the rest of the way; and exchanging a ten for ten ones using base ten and drawings.
Science - This week we explored healthy eating. We designed our own healthy and balanced meal plate, including protein, carbohydrates, dairy, fruit and vegetables and also a small treat! We learned why each part of this plate is important for our bodies.
RE - This week we listened to the story of the visit of the shepherds, ready for work on this next week. We also created our own advent candle pictures and used these to write our own advent promises.
Geography - We explored climate zones. We learned that climate zones follow a pattern from the equator outwards both up to the north pole and down to the south pole. We learned that places near the equator are warmer and places near the north and south pole are colder. We then used maps to identify places within these climate zones.
PE - Our PE sessions this week have been used to practise for our Nativity performance.
Nativity - We are now able to perform our nativity with only minimal adult direction!
Computing - We learned about decomposition. This is when we see what a program does and think about what instructions were given to complete these actions. We decomposed a Scratch game and then thought about instructions we might use to create other actions in the game.
Art - We used geometric and organic shapes to create collages.
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 will also be sending home times tables to practise shortly.
Other Tasks
Spelling
Mr Whetnall’s group - practise the various /ir/ sound words.
Mrs Bowdell’s group - practise the /ir/, /ur/ and /er/ sound words.
Reading
Christmas trees comprehension worksheet.
Maths
Subtracting 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 - George - for being a conscientious and respectful learner.
Writing Award - Archer - for working so hard on his handwriting.
Writing Award - Alicia - for a great non-chronological report about deadly sea creatures.
Maths Award - Cameron - for working hard on his subtraction independently.
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. You should have now received your 4 tickets (2 per show) if your child was in school this week.
On Tuesday 20th December we will be having a Christmas own clothes day in school. Donations can be paid through ParentPay.
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.
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.
With Christmas nearly here and perhaps with presents including new technology or related games being received, we thought we’d share some helpful advice in setting up appropriate parental controls. Parental controls can help to protect your child from seeing something that they shouldn’t – although it is important to emphasise that no system is effective all of the time so it is important to engage with your child and talk to them about their online life regularly.
We hope you find this Newsletter informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.
Finally…
Dear families of Our Lady's
You may be aware from recent news reports that there is a rise in Strep A. Whilst Strep A can be very mild in children and adults or even be present without symptoms there are strains of the infection that can be serious so we are all asked to be aware. If you or your child has symptoms sore throat/ swollen tonsils then if this becomes more severe then it is advised to seek advise.
Please find below the guidance shared by the school nurse team.
BLACKPOOL TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Cases of Strep A are on the rise, as a result, we are sending this awareness letter.
Strep A is a bacterial infection of the throat and is common in school aged children and teens.
If not treated with appropriate medication the infection can have serious complications.
Symptoms of Strep A are severe sore throat, fever, headache, swollen tonsils, swollen glands in the neck and stomach ache.
Strep A is highly contagious, if you are showing any signs, please keep them off school and contact your GP. We would like to stop any spread of this as quickly as possible.
Please refer to
UKHSA update on scarlet fever and invasive Group A strep - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell and Mrs Gibbons
