Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome back to the beginning of a new half term! On Friday we celebrated the Feast of All Saints Day in church with a whole school Mass. We thought about the Saints and how we can all be a Saint to someone by setting a good example as a role model and disciples of Jesus. Year 2 reflected well in Mass and I was proud of their focus and participation.

English - This week we finished writing up our stories based on ‘A River’, including writing a neat copy of our favourite paragraph for display.

Maths - We looked at number bonds to 100. We found this a little tricky at times but focused on counting on to the next multiple of ten and then counting on in tens to find the missing numbers. We also began to draw base ten to solve adding ten to a number.

Science - We explored the life cycle of a human being and how it differed from that of other animals.

RE - We heard about the story of Zechariah who received an announcement that he would have a very special son, John the Baptist. We wrote letters from Zechariah explaining why he was no longer able to speak.

History - We explored timelines as part of our new unit focused upon how schools have changed since 1900. We sequenced pictures on a timeline and discussed some of the differences we noticed.

PE - Our indoor PE sessions focused upon bouncing a ball skills and our outdoor PE focused on kicking a ball.

Computing - We began to learn about algorithms by exploring a game in Scratch.

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

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

As always, please continue to read. This is the most important way you can support your child!

Spelling

A new set of common exception words. All groups have 10 words this week as we feel it is important for all children to know their common exception words.

There is also a handwriting sheet.

Reading

A reading comprehension on the history of schools.

History

Children will write questions they would like to ask one of their grown ups about primary school when they were younger. They will then interview their grown up.

Maths

Adding ten worksheet.

Golden Award - Karson - For developing maturity in his learning. He is having a go and aiming high!

Writing Award - Carter - For working hard on his capital letters, full stops and handwriting.

Maths Award - Mabel - For listening well and showing focus.

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.

On Wednesday, we were lucky to be visited by our local fire fighters who came to talk to us about fire safety and the importance of making a fire plan at home. We hope you have received the leaflets sent home about this. Please make sure to get your smoke alarm checked!

Tuesday 26th November - Wild Animals VR experience in school. We ask parents for a small contribution towards this experience which can be paid over parent pay. For further information, please see this flyer.

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 Fortnite. This free guide provides expert insight into the risks associated with Fortnite, letting you know how to keep children safe while they play.

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.