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We are all overjoyed to finally receive our set of new reading books. Here we are, juggling with five books each – it was trickier than we thought to hold the books out and look at the camera at the same time! We shall enjoy reading them at home along with a library book that we choose from our Top 50 reads for Year 2. There are so many books to choose from!

Year 2 Wish list

In preparation for our May Day liturgy, we wrote prayers asking for help as we try to keep the peace in our own lives. Here are our beautiful Mary, Queen of Peace posters that we were very proud to show everyone in school. Thank you so much for contributing such wonderful plants for our floral display. We shall enjoy planting and caring for them and then watching them grow across the next few months.

We started May with the beautiful Crowning of Mary. Year 3 drew very careful pictures of the saints for our contribution “Mary, Queen of All Saints”. We talked about saints important to us, such St Adrians and St Albans of course, British and Irish patron saints, St Nicholas and St Francis. Several children in the class reminded us they are named for saints, too.

We celebrated class worship in the hall at the altar of Mary. They children sang Ave Maria, with the harmony very nicely.

The flowers and plants the children brought in looked beautiful and really made it feel like spring could be here. We will continue to mark the month of May with activities.

Last week, year 3 completed the daily mile like other children did. Here they are enjoying the feel-good effect of exercise and exertion.

We are continuing to explore the feelings and events of The Pentecost. The children were thinking and writing about what the disciples would have felt after the Holy Spirit passed over them. They are developing a clearer understanding of how to answer the big question “What’s the use of energy?”

Last week we explored what the experiences of Resurrection and Ascension may have been like for Jesus’ followers by “hot-seating. ” A disciple kindly came to visit us and we asked him and her questions about their emotions and reactions at the events. Here is one of the followers answering questions.

We saw a few pieces of RE homework today, where the children have thought deeply about the subject and used the symbols of the dove and the flame to illustrate their work. Well done and we look forward to seeing more next week.

The children are improving, daily, to say the time correctly. The challenge this week was to say the same time in different ways – eg 11.43am, 11.43 in the morning, 17 minutes to twelve in the morning, 17 minutes before 12 am. An interesting question discussed was – Is twelve o’clock at night am or pm?

We all continue to be intrigued by the mysterious illustrations in “The Mysteries of Harris Burdock”, experimenting with different words and phrases to write alternative titles and captions for chosen pictures.

It’s great to see the children, coatless, racing around on the field. Let’s hope this sunny weather continues. Have a lovely weekend.

We have kept ourselves very fit this week and enjoyed running the Golden Mile. We learned that if we run around the junior field eight times, we will have run a mile. Well done to all of the children who challenged themselves to keep running as far as they could. The children also enjoyed the wonderful new playground markings and each day, it is great to see them developi all kinds of fun and imaginative games to keep themselves active! Added to this, the children were very pleased to go to the swimming pool again this week and it was brilliant to see how any initial nerves from the first visit had disappeared and the children were super excited! What great resilience, everyone!

We have been learning about life cycles, so it has been wonderful this week to see chicks hatch out of their eggs and listen to their sweet tweetings. As part of this learning, the children have created slide presentations that show animal life cycles. The children have worked hard to learn how to insert images, shapes and text boxes and organise where they are on the page, so that the slide shows the life cycle clearly. It has been wonderful to see the children’s computing skills develop across the week. When they are next on the Googleclassroom, ask your child to show your their lifecycles, which can be found in the Year 2 Classwork section.

.. with a shout ! Year 3 – or Raven Tribe – marched enthusiastically into Celtic Harmony this morning. They had to shout their name to make sure they travelled safely back to the prehistoric times as they passed through the gates. And what a world of Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages awaited us! The setting is beautiful and peaceful, with artefacts galore and scenes and buildings recreated as they would have been in prehistoric times; and everything explained in detail and with good humour by our educator guide for the day, Fei.

Events which took place over nearly 100, 000 years were put into context by creating a timeline with objects. We then went into the woods and watched Fei do some flint knapping and then the children made their own “soap arrows”. They were also very excited to see Fei showing us a long and a shorter spear as well as a stone axe. Fei was very impressed by the class’s knowledge that obsidian is the sharpest stone known. The class’s understanding and knowledge of the period generally was impressive.

The children then helped Fei rebuild part a wattle fence which had come down. He was able to jump up and down on the fences built by Raven Tribe so their weaving must be good!

Lunch was outdoors and everyone ate heartily. After lunch the children became completely engrossed in making clay coil pots, which will be dry enough to take home on Friday or Monday. We were also treated to different (replica) prehistoric pots with their different features explained well by Fei.

Lastly, the children learnt about prehistoric farming and the hugely significant change from hunter-gathering to farming methods of getting food. They used stone querns to grind grain and then mixed flour with water to make Neolithic-style bread. There was definitely no danger of putting on weight from bread in the New Stone Age. The effort and time needed to make the flour are huge and the resulting amount of flour tiny. The children’s opinions are below, but this was my favourite part of the day, because of the amazing team-work and co-operation the children showed. The relatively small space was a hive of activity with every child happy engaged in the tasks, problem-solving, communicating and completely focused on carrying out what had been asked.

After these four highly enjoyable activities, we came back to the twenty-first century and walked back down the lane – just slightly slower than the first time- back to the coach and then school. I think everyone will be sleeping well tonight. Possibly including the fantastic, committed Mums who came to help. Thank you so much as without your commitment, learning like this wouldn’t be possible. The children were a credit to the school. It is really marvellous to be back to learning in as many different ways as possible.

When back at school, we reflected on what we had seen and done that day; and specifically what we enjoyed most. Maeve – “I liked the dough balls best. I liked making them and squashing them. They felt really squishy. ” Several other children agreed with this. Austin liked the weaving which “used all your strength”. Like many other children, Aiden enjoyed making the clay pots best of all. Jack B said, “Doing the pattern was really good.” Gabriel couldn’t choose one thing because he loved all the activities. Darragh said “It was really fun when you went in the roundhouse”. We agreed that what made the activities special was the fact that we did them in authentic locations. The roundhouse were the clay took place had a (small, raised and enclosed) fire so you really got an idea of what it was like to live stone-age style. Mrs Porter knew we’d returned from the trip because she could smell the smoky smell coming from the classroom! Some children, like Aidan, would’ve liked a go at other activities we saw evidence of, like the den-building.

We all enjoyed meeting Gerald, who is the resident pheasant, not a wild cockrel as originally thought. He is really very striking.

A great day was had by all; and everyone is looking forward to more enrichment days like this!

Today Year 3 learnt and recorded their learning about St George, as Friday was very busy with the Science workshop and Earth Day. We decided that St George must be very significant because so many countries have him as a patron saint, due to his huge courage in refusing to renounce his Christian faith when in the Roman army. That was the “real” St George. We also learnt about the story of St George and the dragon and considered the theory that dragons are not real and, instead the George represents good and the dragon evil with, of course good winning.

The children taught each other all about the different aspects of the stories of St George. They were put into groups and each group learnt about the same part of the story – eg the “real ” St George, or which countries have St George as a patron saint. They then returned to their normal tables and shared what they had learnt with the rest of the table. They class are very good at sharing learning by talking with each other.

This week, we have celebrated Earth Day, St George’s Day and attended swimming lessons for the first time as a class.

On Earth Day, the children had a fun science workshop and learned about the topic of Light and Dark. We had a great day and also set up one of our flower beds to make it bee and butterfly friendly. We have planted plants that will have lots of nectar for the insects to collect and created a watering station for the bees and butterflies. As part of our Christian mission to look after the earth, we will make every day Earth Day and care for our garden over the next term. As you pass the garden, please keep a look out for the plants growing and see if you can spot any insects arriving at their new feeding and drinking station.

The children were brilliant when we went for our first class swimming lesson this week. It was a wonderful trip as the coach journey was just as exciting as the swimming. Well done to all of you!

Please take a look at the Year 2 Quicklink to find out about this half term’s learning in RE.

The RE topic for the first four weeks of the summer term in year 3 is Pentecost. We will learn about the Ascension, how Jesus promised his disciples the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit was spread amongst His followers. We shall explore how the Holy Spirit inspires Christians, spreading energy; and how the Gifts of the Holy Spirit help Christians lead good lives and serve others.  A new way of living was established after Pentecost. Reflecting deeply and carefully about this topic will help children understand how their daily lives are influenced by the Holy Sprit and scripture.

These are the key words and themes of the topic: fire, warmth, wind, energy, power, gifts, Holy Spirit, Rosary, Glorious Mysteries, Pentecost

In Luke, 4: 18-19, we are reminded of how we should use the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve others and our community:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasises our share in this Pentecostal gift:

 “Those, who with God’s help, have welcomed Christ’s call and freely responded to it, are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world.  This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors.  All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.”

(CCC Prologue )

Prayer and Reflection

Father, pour out your Spirit

upon your people,

and grant us

a new vision of your glory,

a new faithfulness to your Word

and a new consecration to your service,

that your love may grow among us,

and your kingdom come:

through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

(Prayer of preparation for Vatican II)

Home Learning

Think about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

Wisdom – that is the gift to be sensible and not to jump to conclusions but be thoughtful.

Understanding – enables people to be compassionate and to take time to find out and be able to appreciate what is happening.

Counsel – means using wisdom and understanding to come to a good decision about something.

Fortitude  – there are times when everyone needs to be brave in standing up for what they believe to be right and holy.

Knowledge – without knowledge you cannot make right judgements or have an understanding. It takes practice to have true knowledge.

Piety  – this is about reverence and respect for God, for one another and for oneself.

Fear of the Lord – this gift enables people to recognise the awe and wonder of God and be amazed by the love and goodness of God.

R E Homework

Create a montage or picture to depict one, some or each of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Show, through words or pictures or both, how the gift is used by believers today to serve others. You may want to quote from the scripture we will be reading at school to show how people are inspired by the Holy Spirit to use and share these Gifts.

Matthew 28: 1-10, John 16: 5-7, 1 Corinthians 12: 4-8, 11, Acts 1: 6-11, Acts 2 1_18, 43

You could draw your ideas, or create a collage, or use another medium to represent your ideas. You could include symbols of the Pentecost on your piece of work – flame, wind, a dove, the colour red.

We look forward to seeing your individual pieces of learning, which are due in by Wednesday 11^th May.

The children should be very proud of the amazing Easter gardens that they brought in as part of their Easter Challenge. What a creative bunch you are! Click on the slide show to see all of our gardens.

During March, we have been busy using colours as a way to mark different events and also raise money for charity, as part of our journey with Jesus through Lent. Here we are in all our colourful glory.

Well done for all the hard work, fun and fundraising that the children have been involved with this term.. They have certainly earned a relaxing Easter holiday. Have a very happy and holy Easter together.

A gentle plug. Thank you very much for all the amazing books that have been bought for our class library. If you would like to order a book for the children’s library, our list can be found below. Thank you very, very much for your wonderful generosity! Year Two class library wishlist

Easter has been celebrated in many different ways this week. Year 3 have joined in the whole-school events, including the Stations of the Cross and celebration on Wednesday. Well done to Sophia and Pauric who were the Easter Art winners in year 3. The children loved seeing the chicks, which as well as being very cute are symbols of the New Life of Easter, represented by Jesus. We hope you like the Easter cards the children have brought home. In RE, throughout the week, the children have been reading the scripture and exploring the feelings of the different characters’ from their various points of view. Here are the children role-playing scenes from the Garden of Gethsemane. Can you see who is playing Jesus saying, “I left you for one hour and you could not stay awake…” and who are the soldiers coming to arrest Jesus; and who is playing Judas identifying Jesus to the soldiers? The children thoroughly enjoy role-play and are very good at showing emotions in a “tableau”. Today the children considered the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made, for love; and what they can do, for love. Tomorrow they will play the parts of journalists interviewing witnesses of the events all those years ago.

We have continued to explore ways to add and subtract money. The children have been very adept at applying calculating methods – such as using number bonds to 10/100, partitioning and compensating – to money. If you have any opportunity to use money over the holidays, that would be really useful, as would using analogue clocks to tell the time.

The children can take the beautiful new books home now. I’ll send home a spring-themed bookmark for everyone tomorrow, so they have something to mark the page they are on without needing to fold the page/put something thick inside the book etc.It’s also useful to remember that carrying the water bottles separately, out of bookbags, is a good insurance policy to not spilling water over the bag’s contents, including the lovely new books.

From what the children say, there are lots of exciting things planned this holiday, from foreign holidays, to seeing family to having a fun time at home and the local parks. Whatever you do, I wish you a very happy holiday and holy Easter.

Over the last ten weeks, we have been measuring the growth of our amaryllis bulbs, so we used Science week as an opportunity to review and compare each group’s plant. It has been very exciting to see these bulbs growing so quickly.

We are also very lucky to have had a mystery parcel arrive and inside we discovered five tiny caterpillars. We have been researching the life cycles of different animals this week and over the next few weeks, we will be watching animals grow in school, so watch this space so that we can tell you more!

The caterpillars are already starting to grow quickly and we are watching them carefully to see when they start to spin their cocoons.