St Joseph's School - A Catholic Voluntary Academy

Class 2 2022/2023

Class Teacher: Mrs Robinson                 Teaching Assistant: Mrs Bell 

Class Newsletter - Summer Term 2023

Topic Homework - Summer term (2) 2023

Year 2 Reading Passport 

 

20 BOOKS TO READ

Over the summer, each class teacher has been compiling a list of 20 books to read by the end of the year. These books are a mix of different texts, authors and text types. These can be read by the children, or read to them depending on your child's reading stage. 

Children will be coming home with their own reading passport. This will show the 20 books for your child to read by the end of their class year. Over the year, the children will have the opportunity to read these books at home, and then you can sign the passport when the books have been read at home. All of the books that are on the passport are available from each class reading area, though you may have some copies at home. 

After a book has been read and signed by an adult, a stamp or a sticker will be added to the passport in class to show that that book has been read. Once your child has read all of their books for the year, they will receive a certificate, a prize and their name will go onto our school Wall of Fame display. 

We hope that this will help to encourage the children of St Joseph's to develop their love of reading for pleasure, and to help them to find new authors, text types and books that will spark their interest. 

Happy Reading!

What we have been up to so far.......

We LOVED our Bollywood Dance session yesterday. It was so much fun! We learned all about how to use different dance techniques to create a sequence and perform a dance for the rest of the school.

(I think ours was the best…)

Well done to the children who have beaten their score in Big Maths this week.

Super job guys

OUR WORLD, OUR FUTURE DRAMA WORKSHOP

We have had a brilliant drama workshop this afternoon with West End in Schools. We learnt all about how to be ‘Planet Protectors’ and how we can reduce carbon in our world.

We found out about fossil fuels, the carbon blanket, carbon sinks, renewable energy, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and plastic in the ocean. We learnt about how we can use more renewable energy to reduce the carbon which can help restore the balance of our world.

Ask at home about what they’ve learnt and they can teach you to be a planet protector as well.

Yesterday we started our new Maths topic- mass, capacity and temperature. We have been using the balancing scales to measure different objects around the classroom.
Today, we have been learning about measuring in grams. We have been holding different gram weights to see how heavy 1 gram, 2 grams, 10 grams, 100 grams, 200 grams and 500 grams is.
We have been learning how to read scales to see how heavy different objects are.

At home, you could use your kitchen scales to measure different objects and see how much they weigh- you could send in some pictures of your measuring that you’ve been doing.

Super Maths work Year 2 ⚖️

Basketball session 1

Yesterday, we started our new basketball sessions. We had a recap and a practise of dribbling and shooting before choosing teams and playing some team games to practise our skills.

Well done Year 2

Topic Homework - Summer Term (1) 2023

What we have been up to so far.....

Big Write - Summer Term (1) 2023

Wow!
We are all so proud of all of the class. Over the last few weeks, we have been writing a recount of our class trip to Eyam. This week, we have been putting all of our learning together for our Big Write… and what amazing Big Writes they are!

Here is a selection of our incredible writing. I’m so proud of what they’ve done- they really are incredible!
(Every single child has written more than a page- what an achievement!!)

Well done everyone!

Congratulations to the children who got 6 or more on their spelling test.

 

History - Summer Term (1) 2023

In history, we started our new topic Queen Elizabeth II. To begin with we learnt what a monarch is and who is in the British royal family. Then we created a timeline of previous British monarchs.
Talk at home about the current members of the British family and who they might see at the coronation next week.

Great start to our new topic Year 2

ICT - Summer Term (1) 2023
 
Yesterday we finished off our London’s burning topic by using ICT to draw shapes. We used PowerPoint to draw shapes to represent the cross on the door that would have happened during the time of the plague.
Some of us even had a go at using shape tools to draw a rat.

I wonder what else they could draw using shape tools at home…

Great work Year 2 

Topic Homework - Spring Term (2) 2023

Topic Homework - Spring Term (1) 2023

Topic Homework - Spring Term (1) 2023

What we have been up to so far........

RE - Spring Term (1) 2023

In year 2 we have been learning about Islam.

We have been finding out how Muslims prepare for prayer using Wudu. 

RSHE - Spring Term (1) 2023

This week in our RSHE lesson we have been learning about good and bad secrets. We know that good secrets bring happiness and excitement, and most importantly they have an end point. Bad secrets, however, can cause hurt or harm to ourselves or others, and they have no end point.

The children worked really well on reading the different scenarios and sorting whether they were good or bad secrets. 

Science - Spring Term (1) 2023

Today in Science with Miss Wilmot, we have been using a tally to record the class’s ideas of which material would be best to build a house. We have then been using this data to make our own predictions and to explain them further.

Ask at home which materials they chose for their prediction.

Well done to Miss Wilmot for her first lesson in class ☺️

Super Science everyone!

RE - Spring Term (1) 2023

This was our reflection lesson for our RE topic. We have been think by about how God’s word brings light to our lives through the Bible stories, and how we can spread that light to others.

Big Maths - Spring Term (1) 2023 

Congratulations to the children who have beaten their score in Big Maths.

Commando Joe - Spring Term (1) 2023

The class completed their Commando Joe Mission for the week. They had to find a way through the fire to save their valuables without getting caught by the flames.

Super job Year 2 

RSHE - Spring Term (1) 2023

We have started our new RSHE unit. We are learning about how to keep ourselves safe.

This week, we have looked at the differences between safe and unsafe and discussed different scenarios.

Over this unit, we will be learning about good and bad secrets, physical contact and safe touch and harmful substances.

Spellings - Spring Term (1) 2023

Congratulations to the children who scored 7 or more, out of 9, on their spelling test this week.

Super job

 

Spring Term (1) 2023

This week in ICT, we have been using the bee bots to travel through London to put out the fire. We had to program the code into the bee bot to see if we could get to the fire correctly.

Well done Year 2!

Liturgical Prayer - Spring Term (1) 2023

We’ve had a lovely first class Liturgical Prayer of 2023.

GATHER- we made the sign of the cross on our heads, mouths and hearts.

WORD- we passed round the Bible and listened to the story of Joseph and his jealous brothers.

RESPOND- we wrote a postcard as a class together to tell Mrs Kelly what we’ve Learnt from the story.

MISSION- we said a silent prayer to God about what we’ve learnt.

Thank you to the children who planned this for us, and decided on what they wanted us to do for each part of the liturgy.

Topic Homework - Autumn Term (2) 2022

What we have been up to so far.....

Autumn Term (2) 2022

Virtues to live by - Hope 

We had a lovely, reflective session on our Virtues to Live by this afternoon. Our Virtue this half term is Hope. We focused on having faith to bring hope. We read the Gospel story from Luke of Jesus healed the blind man as he had faith in God. We created an image showing how Jesus is the light of the world, thinking about how we need to always have faith in Him.

Christmas Panto

The class had a great time on Tuesday for our Christmas Panto of Cinderella.

CAFOD Advent assembly

This morning, as it’s the start of Advent, we have been a part of the CAFOD Advent Assembly. We listened to how Christmas is the time to bring joy and peace into the world and our hearts as we prepare for the birth of Jesus

CAFOD Catholic Social Teaching Workshop

This morning we have been incredibly lucky to have Anne from CAFOD come into class to deliver a Catholic Social Teaching workshop. Anne came to speak to us about the Pope Francis letter- Laudato Si. In this letter, Pope Francis talks about how we need to change to help make the world a better place.

As a class, we discussed some of the changes we could make in our own lives that would help- ask the children at home and see what ideas they might have had.

A great workshop and the children were very inspired to make some changes and make their promise. 

Recognise the events of Shabbat  

This week, the children have been using their creativity and teamwork to make some Havdalah candles, which are used at the end of Shabbat. We have been doing this as part of our Other Faith learning about Judaism. 

The class had great fun being creative and working together and we have some great finished models to display in class. Well done everyone.

Our trip to the Farm

Although it was an incredibly wet day, the class were all amazing. The farm staff were so impressed with the behaviour, enthusiasm and questions from our class. 

Throughout the day, each group had the chance to go on a farm tour where we met different animals- we even got to feed the piglets and some sheep. We met turkeys, cows, sheep, ducks, pigs, hens and goats.

Our other half of the day was spend on a scavenger hunt for different mini beasts, plants and objects around the farm garden. We also went on a nature walk to look for different types of trees by looking at their leaves. Finally, we got to walk through the old quarry garden which was beautiful (even in the rain). 

All in all, it was a fantastic day, and the children had the best day ever! Even with all the sogginess, they didn’t complain at all and had smiles on their faces all day. Definitely a trip to remember..

Congratulations to all the children who got 8 or more in their spellings this week. A super class effort, well done.

The Snail and the Whale

Over the last few weeks, our class have been using the story ‘The Snail and the Whale’ to write a postcard telling everyone about the adventure that the snail has been on.

Our focus has been on developing our vocabulary by using a range of interesting and exciting adjectives and verbs, using the conjunctions ‘and’ and ‘but’ to write compound sentences and to use exclamation sentences as well.

Here is a selection of the amazing Big Writes that the children have completed independently after our unit. 

Poppies

We have started our new English unit which will be Remembrance Day poetry. We talked about Remembrance Day, and how the poppies represent remembering the soldiers who have died.

We have each decorated our own poppy to begin our new unit.

Virtues

We have started learning about a new Virtue - Hope.

GATHER- We lit the candle, sat in a circle and made the sign of the cross.

WORD- We learned about ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ where Jesus spread the joy of God’s hope and love to others.

RESPOND- We talked about how to be peacemakers in our life like God would hope for us.

GO FORTH- We did some mindfulness colouring of a peace dove to bring peace to ourselves and others.

Class led Liturgy 

This liturgy was planned earlier this week by some children in class. They decided to follow our class RE learning on Baptism and to use this in their liturgy.

GATHER- We gathered together in a circle together and lit the candle.

WORD- We listened to the story of John the Baptist from our class Bible and found out about how he baptised the people in the River Jordan. After their baptism, God cleansed them of their past sins and they joined the family of God.

RESPOND- We talked about how we can show that we are a part of God’s family in our actions to others which would make God happy. 

GO FORTH- We are going to use the simple action of smiling more at people. This helps to bring happiness to all those around us. 

A huge thank you to the children who planned this lovely session for us.

Bonfire Night Artwork

We have had a great afternoon learning about Bonfire Night and creating some artwork to celebrate this. We found out about the story of Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder plot.

The children showed great perseverance, skill and creativity when creating their Bonfire Night artwork.

Well done Year 2

A huge congratulations to all the children who got 8 or more in their spellings this week.

Great work Year 2

Class newsletter - Autumn Term (1) 2022

Topic Homework - Autumn Term (1) 2022

What we have been up to so far.....

Autumn term (1) 2022 

We have been looking at our school Mission Statement. We have been learning about each of the statements, and how our job as a school is to help each child to reach their full potential.

We each drew a picture of ourselves, covered with the light of a Jesus Christ to represent ourselves fulfilling our school mission. 

Take ten to read

Today we took part in the #take10toread challenge.
We got to listen to the story ‘The Missing Piece’ by Jordan Stephens, and illustrated by Beth Suzanna.

It was lovely to hear the author reading his own story, and to hear how the illustrator was able to bring the story to life through her pictures.

RE

Our RE topic for the next few weeks is Beginnings.

We have been thinking about new beginnings and how we might feel nervous or scared, but also excited. We have used Nana’s trick from our story to help us to think of our own Magic Moments. Then, using the poem we can overcome our nervousness and fear about new beginnings.

Our Magic Moments jar is displayed on our RE table to remind us of this.

Handwriting 

We have had our first handwriting lesson of the year. This week, we have been focusing on the curly caterpillar letters which go round and back.

Every Tuesday we will be practising our handwriting and getting better and better at cursive handwriting. Each week, I will be choosing a handwriting star who I think has worked hard in our lessons, and really tried hard with their cursive handwriting.

Great start Year 2, keep up the fantastic work!

RE

This week, we have been learning about the creation story in our RE lessons. We found out how God created our wonderful world, and the steps that he took. We have recreated God’s work by creating our own class wonderful world.

COMMANDO JOE MISSION 1

We had a great first Mission of Y2. We used different skills from our RESPECT curriculum including self-awareness, teamwork and communication to complete our challenges. 

Big maths, beat that challenge  

Congratulations to all the children who have beaten their score on their Big Maths this week. Super effort... well done everyone

Remembering Queen Elizabeth II

This afternoon, we have continued with our remembrance of Queen Elizabeth II. We have found out more about her life, and completed some dot paintings of our Union Jack.

Remembering Queen Elizabeth II

This morning we have been remembering Queen Elizabeth II.
We watched a short video about her life and reign, and then we created a collage of Her Majesty, which we will be displaying in class.

Virtues to live by - RESPECT

This afternoon, we have been learning about the Virtues to Live By. Over the next few weeks the virtue we will be focusing on is Respect.

Today, we have learnt about what respect is, and how we can show respect to others in our lives. We have heard through the Word of God about Jesus’ Golden Rule of
‘Do unto others what you would have them do to you’ and decorated this rule in class.

Lovely, thoughtful work for our first Liturgical Prayer together. Well done Year 2

History 

We’ve had loads of fun this afternoon learning about our new topic focus of Pocahontas. We found out about her life, and how she is special. We were also introduced to our topic focus of ‘Everyone is equal, no exception’

We acted out and performed different parts of her life story to the rest of the class.
Even though it was a little bit scary, we all did a great job and enjoyed our topic learning.

Great job Year 2

Science 

 We’ve had great fun this morning for our first science lesson. We will be focusing our learning on the topic of plants this term. Today, we headed out on a scavenger hunt to see what we could find that was related to plants. We then stuck them down onto our scavenger hunt sheet.

English  

This morning we’ve been writing postcards!
We found out what a postcard is, and the purpose of a postcard and then we have all written a postcard to talk about what we’ve been up to in the holiday since.

We are all very proud of their writing, and their effort in class this morning. A great start to Year 2. Well done

 

Maths   

This morning, the class have completed their first Big Maths, Beat That challenge! They have a set amount of time to answer some different Maths questions. We will be completing these each week,and the challenge is for them to beat their highest score.

Dojos and class prizes are given for beating scores