Our Lady's School is a caring family, where, with Jesus in our hearts, we value everyone and encourage them to be the best that they can be.

Welcome to Class 2!

Hello! My name is Miss Watkinson and I am your class teacher.

We are joined in class by Mrs Holden. 

In Year 2 we hope to learn lots, have fun and grow together in God's love.

Book Bags

Reading book bags are expected to be in every day to take important letters home. We may also listen to your child read their home reading book on any day and record this in their reading record so this is needed in school daily. Two reading books will be sent home every Friday: a phonics book for your child to read aloud and a story book from the library that can be read to the child by an adult or, if able, read themselves.

It is important that children are read with daily at home and in school.

Children should read their phonics book every day, so that the book becomes familiar and your child becomes more confident reading it each time to build up their reading fluency.

Harder to Read and Spell flashcards

Children will be sent home with Harder to Read and Spell flashcards. Please practice reading these words, writing these words and spelling these words. Children will be tested on these at the end of each half term. 

P.E.

PE will be on a Tuesday and Wednesday each week. Children should come to school wearing their PE kit for outdoor sports. They do not need to bring their uniform on this day. 

Homework

Year 2 pupils will be set homework on Purple Mash.

- Reading should be daily (books changed on a Friday).

- Maths homework will be on a Wednesday.

- Harder to Read and Spell words will be sent at the beginning of each half term. 

Maths homework needs to be completed by the Wednesday of the following week. 

Purple Mash allows us to set homework, allows your child to send it back to us and allows us to provide feedback on their achievement.  

Any problems using this please let us know, as we are eager for children to continue their learning at home.

More information about what your child will learn in class can be seen on the curriculum page.

Useful Websites

We use websites such as Phonics Play, Topmarks and timestables.co.uk  as well as resources from Essential Letters and Sounds and Oxford Owl, to support children when teaching phonics and reading.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the curriculum your child is being taught, please contact school.

At Our Lady's we are always pleased to meet our parents, I will be available to talk to you any day before 8.45 and after school. If you would like me to ring you, please leave a message at the school office.

Many thanks for your ongoing support,

Miss Watkinson 

Autumn 1 - The Place Where I Live

In English, we explored the word 'journey' and thought about the journeys we had been on over summer.

We then used small world to predict the journey that would happen in our new class text, A River.

In maths, we have been busy using a wide range of resources to build 2-digit numbers as part of our 'Place Value' topic.

As part of our history learning about our school playground in the past, we welcomed a visitor into class - Mrs Shaw - who previously worked at our school for 35 years! Mrs Shaw talked to us about how our school playground looked different and the different games that children would play and why. We then enjoyed playing some of these games together. 

To start our art topic, we went out into our local area and have been completing observational line drawings of our church grounds which we will later create a monoprint from!

We then practised our printing skills before we will create a monoprint of our local area

As part of our PE learning, we have been learning to play playground games from the past including hopscotch and 'Queenie'. We have been applying the fundamental skills of hopping and throwing and catching. 

Our geography topic is Our Local Area. We went for a walk around our local area to identify human and physical features and things we could see from an aerial view on Google Earth.

As part of our science learning, we have been naming and identifying flowers that within our school grounds, based on our learning of an urban habitat. We then worked scientifically to predict which area of our school grounds would have the most daisies growing and why. Then, we completed an investigation to gather evidence and compare the evidence to our predictions. 

We ended our first RE topic with a lovely Celebration of the Word to celebrate us all being children of God and that God not only made the world, but made us too and is with us at every new beginning. You are a child of God.

In RE, we have been learning about the Sacrament of Baptism. We are learning about the signs and symbols within the different parts of baptism. We have learnt that the welcome in baptism is a symbol that the baby is welcomed into God's family and the water is a symbol that the baby has a new life with Jesus. 

Autumn 2 - Fighting Fit

Whilst exploring our new book as part of our English work, we role played being some of the characters on Grimloch Lane by inferring from the illustration how they might be feeling and what they might be thinking. We decided we wouldn't like to live on Grimloch Lane!

The fire service visited us this week to teach us how to stay safe in the event of a fire. You can see use here practicing the STOP, DROP and ROLL strategy to stay close to the ground. We also learnt to keep windows closed, call 999 and check the door handle is cold before opening a door. Is your fire alarm working? 

From the 10th-14th November we celebrated 'Kindness Week' in school. We wore odd socks to show we support anti-bullying and that it is good to have differences and not all be the same. We discussed how it feels to receive kindness and gave compliments to one another through a number of different activities. Both the person giving the compliment and the person receiving it had big smiles on their faces! We won't just be kind in kindness week but use this week as a reminder of how we have the power to make others feel good through our kindness and keep putting this into action. 

As part of our science learning about the basic needs of humans for survival, we first sorted a selection of foods. The children chose how to sort them. All the groups sorted them into 'healthy foods' and 'unhealthy foods'. We then learnt about the different food groups and why eating the right amounts of different types of food is important for humans.

We ended our RE topic on 'Signs and Symbols' in Baptism with a lovely Celebration of the Word. We thought about what we could ask the Holy Spirit, a gift received in baptism, to guide us with. Some of the children asked for help being kind, sharing, helping others and making the best choices they can. 

As part of our art topic, we are learning about a famous artist called Keith Haring. Keith Haring's paintings and sculptures are very recognisable due to their cartoon style, bright colours and bold outlines. We learnt to draw in the style of Keith Haring and then paint with careful control. We painted in both poster paint and watercolour paint to decide on the most suitable type of paint to match Keith Haring's style. 

We celebrated Red Wednesday in school on the 19h November to remember all of the people  around the world who are not treated kindly because of what they believe. We wore red clothing and tied red ribbons to our school fence to raise awareness of this day. We said a prayer to ask for them to be safe safe, go to school, play, and pray without fear.
We pray that people everywhere learn to be kind, even when others believe something different.