Poetry

The children have been reading different poems about autumn. The children identified rhyming words and were happy to read their poems aloud.

Ordering Numbers

In Maths, we ordered numbers from smallest to biggest and then put them on a washing line to double check if we had put them in the right order.

Reading Buddies

The Year 2 children were visited by the Year 4 children, who read with them. It was lovely to see how they interacted with each other.

Baptism

Baptism is a sacrament in which we become part of God’s family. The children were happy to share photographs and special symbols of their special day. Many of them brought the outfits they wore on their baptism day. It was truly an exciting afternoon learning about baptism.

Rekenrek

We enjoyed using a rekenrek to help us understand what numbers are made up of. These are some of the things we found out: 

• that 8 is made of 5 + 3, so 3 + 5 makes 8
• that 8 is made of 4 + 4, so 4+ 4 makes 8
• that 8 + 2 make 10, so 10 is made of 8 + 2

A rekenrek is a counting frame used in maths. They are used to help children build a sense of number, by helping children to understand number composition. A rekenrek is a fantastic piece of maths equipment to show pupils how to compose and decompose numbers. This helps them build strategies for doing basic mental maths calculations which will help them with their life-long maths understanding.

Dictionary

In our English lesson we used dictionaries to help us understand the meaning of words we did not know. We spoke about words being arranged in alphabetical order and also sang the ‘A, B, C, D ‘nursery rhyme to help us remember the correct order of the alphabet.

Junior Monets

The children used all the skills and techniques of Monet to create their own Monet painting. They stuck to cool colours just like Monet did.

Mother Mary

As October is the month of Mary, we spent some quiet time in the chapel praying to Mother Mary. We spoke about Mary being the mother of God and how much she loved her son and about the graces one receives when you say the rosary at home. Catholic rosary beads are made up of a cross or crucifix, a medal and large beads. We recited the ‘Hail Mary’ together.

Atlas Work

In our geography lessons, we looked at atlases to identify the 7 continents and 5 oceans. We also identified the 4 countries that make up the United Kingdom.

Claude Monet

We used different brush strokes to create our own version of Monet’s famous ‘Water lilies’ painting. We were very impressed with our creative and artistic touch.

Pilgrims of Hope Pledge Day

We had a fabulous day celebrating our Pilgrims of Hope Pledge Day at STA. Our day started with a CAFOD workshop, which threw light on how fortunate we are to have an opportunity to study in a school since millions of children do not. We then went on a prayer walk around the school playground focussing on what we are ‘HOPEFUL’ for and remembering the fact that it requires just one person to make a change and it can be every one of us. We also made door stops to remind us that Jesus is the door and his door is always open.

Maths

In our Maths lesson, we formed numbers in different ways and explained to our partners how we made the numbers.

Zones of Regulation Day               

The children had an exciting day dressing up in colours of the four zones of regulation. They spoke about what each colour/zone stood for and shared that it was possible to be in more than one colour zone at any point in time. They then looked at various strategies that could bring them to a happy, calm and peaceful state. Each child chose three different strategies and shared what strategies they chose. The most common strategies were taking 3 deep breaths, speaking to an adult or using a fidget toy to calm them down.

Observing Plants and Trees

We started our science topic on ‘Plants’. As part of our lesson, we went around school, observed and made note of the different plants and trees we saw. It was both exciting and fun!

Planting Seeds

The children enjoyed planting seeds, in their science lessons,  as they continued to learn about what conditions are required for a seed to grow.

Homework Display

The Year 2 homework display is looking amazing, thanks to the fantastic artwork that most of the children have done. We have quite a few ‘Monets’ in our class and it was brilliant to see so many children using pointillism in their artwork. Keep up the fantastic start, Year 2!

Class Beatitudes

As a class, the children came up with beatitudes for their class so that they could be inspired to follow Jesus’ footsteps.

New Beginnings

We started our first day in Year 2 with class worship. We thanked God for keeping us safe during the summer holidays and  for bringing us all back safely to school.