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 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 - In English we have continued work on ‘A River’ by Marc Martin. We have been exploring the features of this text and our example text and identifying them, we have been discussing the writer’s choices and how these choices are purposeful, we have also explored vocabulary used in the texts and represented this through semantic mapping using thesauruses to help us.

Maths - In Maths we continue our work on addition and subtraction. This week we have focused upon two digit numbers. We applied our ‘make ten’ method to add 2 two-digit numbers and have been using tens and ones drawings to solve subtraction problems without an exchange.

Science - We have learned about the different food groups and how we can maintain a balanced diet. We learned about how protein, carbohydrates, dairy and fruit and vegetables helps our bodies and that it is okay to have sugary foods just so long as we do not have too many. We created our own healthy meal plate. We also checked our handwashing investigation.

RE - We looked at symbols of Advent and Christmas and distinguished between the two, discussing what they represent. We also looked at the story of the shepherds visit to Jesus and thought about what this means for us.

Geography - We learned about the problem of plastic and the pollution it causes. We discussed the importance of our oceans, how animals can be affected by plastic pollution and what we can do to help. We created our own posters to inform others.

PE - Due to increased Nativity practise and our faith commitments we have been unable to do PE this week.

Art - We learned about the artist Wassily Kandinsky and created concentric circle art.

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 (fifth set)

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

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

Maths

Subtracting two digit numbers by drawing tens and ones.

Writing

Correct the errors worksheet. Many of us do not check our writing when we finish so we are doing lots of checking activities to encourage this.

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.

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 just 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. 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.

Thursday 21.12.23 - Break up for Christmas at normal time.