Good afternoon everyone,

This week in Year 2 we have been thinking about our gifts and talents and our attitudes towards ourselves, our friends and our learning after hearing the parable of the talents in assembly. We have discussed in our worship the ways in which we can share our gifts with others and not hide them in the ground away from anywhere they can be useful. We explored our feelings when people share their kindness and love and thought of ways we can try our best to really grow our own unique gifts and talents.

English - In English we have been busy writing our setting descriptions and I have been blown away by the level of detail and the quality of language that the children have used. We also began our new unit of writing by exploring clues and making predictions about what these clues might mean for the plot of our story…

Maths - In Maths we have been developing both our mental and written arithmetic when adding and subtracting. We have explored adding and subtracting 10s and adding and subtracting ones by both drawing tens and ones and by counting to the nearest ten then counting on the rest.

Science - We learned about the importance of hygiene. We discussed the ways we keep ourselves clean, why these are so important and what might happen if we don’t do these things. We also set up a hygiene investigation around handwashing to see what might happen to bread if we washed our hands with/without certain things.

RE - We created our own advent wreaths to help us explore and understand the important symbolism of these. We then wrote about each symbol.

Geography - We researched key physical features of a specific continent using fact sheets and atlases. A very fun, practical lesson!

PE - Our indoor PE sessions focused upon dribbling a basket ball and moving in and out of spaces and our outdoor PE focused on passing a ball whilst moving.

Art - We continued our sketching unit by looking at The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark.

We also spent some time practising for our Nativity.

Please continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.

Please practise the year 1 and year 2 common exception words sent home before half term. The children need to be able to read and write (spelling correctly) each one of these by the end of year 2.

Spelling

Mr W’s group - Y2 Common exception words (fourth set)

Mrs B’s group - Y1 Common exception words (fourth set)

There is also a handwriting practise sheet for each group’s spelling words.

Maths

Adding/subtracting 1s by drawing tens and ones booklet.

Reading

Advent comprehension activity.

Golden Award -

Writing Award -

Maths Award -

Year 2 PE lessons will take place on Wednesday and Friday. Please come to school in PE kit on these days.

Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle. 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 2 have green tops.

I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Bowdell and Miss Andrew and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson.

Party Invitations - I am afraid that Mrs Bowdell 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 creates fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.

School bags - 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.

29.11.23 - School Nurse drop ins in the school hall. The drop in is for any parent who might have an issue they wish to discuss, no appointment is necessary and they will be in the hall from 9am to 10am.

8.12.23 - follow up from the successful SEND afternoon and will focus on deciding what professional parents would like to hear from and areas that they need support in. Mrs Ormerod will speak about how to navigate the FYI directory and how APDR/ graduated response works in school. There will also be members of the Blackpool parent forum in attendance. We will also look at support around the cost of living. Church hall 2-3.10pm

18.12.23 Year 1 and 2 Nativity! There will be two performances at 10am and 2pm. 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.