Good afternoon everyone,
After a tumultuous year, there is comfort to be found when we pause to read, pray, and reflect over the course of the Advent season in which believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth.
The first Sunday of Advent gives us the opportunity to center our thoughts on hope. It's a beautiful chance to remember the hope God offers to our lost and dying world, and that He's given us through Jesus.
As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ arrival as a gift to all humanity; let’s stir up in our hearts and homes a sense of anticipation. Over this Advent, we pray that hope would rise up in our spirits in a tangible and life-giving way.
English - In English we have continued our learning on The Night Gardener. We have explored an example text and thought about setting descriptions. We have explored vocabulary and poetry and have identified features of a ‘zoom in’ setting narrative.
Maths - In Maths we have been exploring easy (no exchange) and tricky (exchange) subtraction with a focus upon both drawing tens and ones and counting back to the previous ten to support mental maths. We have sometimes found this tricky so have decided to continue our focus upon it to allow us to further develop our skills.
Science - This week we explored the importance of hygiene for keeping us happy and healthy. We discussed a range of different ways we can keep ourselves clean and the reasons for doing so.
RE - We created our own Advent wreath and discussed and explained the meaning of symbols on the wreath.
History - We drew comparisons between schools in the 1900s and 1960s using venn diagrams. We then used this information to compare modern, 1960s and 1900s schools.
PE - Our indoor PE sessions focused upon dribbling a basket ball and moving in and out of spaces and our outdoor PE focused on high and low passing and dribbling a football.
Computing - We used games to help us understand how blocks are used in coding.
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
All groups - 10 common exception and revision words.
There is also a handwriting practise sheet for each group’s spelling words.
Maths
Subtracting ones with or without an exchange by drawing tens and ones.
RE/Writing
We are doing our own Jesse Tree in class where we learn 25 stories of the Bible which link to Jesus’s family tree. Please look at this week’s stories and try to write a sentence or 2 to summarise each one.
Golden Award - Esmae W - For being a proactive and focused learner, who always aims high.
Writing Award - Lili - For her focus and reflective learning.
Maths Award - Davern - For some super subtraction work.
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.
Friday 6th December - Christmas Fair. 3.30-5.30. More details to follow on this.
Tuesday 10th December - Year 1 and 2 Nativity! There will be two performances at 9.30am and 2pm. (Keep an eye out for any slight time changes.) Each child has been sent home TONIGHT with 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.
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…
What Parents & Educators Need to Know about Snapchat. This free guide brings you up to date with the risks associated with Snapchat, and lets you know how best to safeguard young people who use the app.
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. Thank you.
Click the logo above for our school collective worship scheme’s monthly newsletter.
We hope this season of Advent brings renewed hope to you all,
Mr Whetnall, Mrs Bowdell, Mrs Gilheaney and Miss Murray
