Jenson wanted to let everyone at St Oswald’s know that he has a new member to the family
On Tuesday 24th November 2020 Year 2 learnt all about Scratch! Mrs Wood challenged us to think, plan, create and evaluate our own Scratch animation. This was part of our STEM computing challenge. We had a very busy and creative day! Miss McKeown, Mrs Wood and Mrs Pennock were all blown away with the independence and engagement in our learning!
As part of our learning “How do Christians prepare for Christmas?“ some children in Year 2 created their own advent wreath in RE. As a class we discussed the significance of an advent wreath and what each candle represented. Miss McKeown and Mrs Pennock were impressed with how independent and creative the children were as well as the discussions that children were having in class.
Year 2 have loved their morning of Children In Need, let’s see what the afternoon has in store!
On Tuesday 10th November Year 2 were working with Mr Hayton in the Nature Garden. We created a bug hotel for worms, hedgehogs, door mice and ants! This linked to our science learning of habitats. We had a fantastic afternoon outdoors!
On Friday 6th November year 2 practiced logging on to Oxford Reading Owls. During guided reading we read with our partner. We enjoyed reading about the Gingerbread Man, Granny and the scarf! We are excited about reading at home!
Year 2 had a busy day learning about Japan on Monday! We covered lots of skills in geography and art!
Alia has been learning many life skills since the lock down was announced. She has taken part in several activities including making hand sanitizers, slime, salt dough, baking, cooking. She has been on many walks along the beach and in different parks. We also bought a paddling pool during the lovely weather we have had and Alia had absolutely loved playing in the water!
She tried to fast during Ramdan. She would fast from sweets .. or from food for an hour.. she did a great job. She received a lovely present at Eid. The tandem pram she wanted for her dolls.
Alia is enjoying BBC Bitesize Daily Lessons and Oxford’s Reading Owls. We are trying to get her into TTRS.. she now seems to be interested as she found out there is a competition going on! We have some books from National Geographic’s ‘Little Kids Big Book of..’ series and she absolutely loves reading those.
On Saturdays she does her Arabic homework through an online platform. Her Arabic teacher has been very impressed so far.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays she has her Islamic education online classes and she is performing really well.
Alia and I are over the moon with her school report. She read it to us and the smile never left her face!
After reading what is required from her ‘next’.. we decided to work on her handwriting as recommended. She practiced a little bit this morning .. then came to me and said: “mammy, can I write long sentences?”. I told her that she could but the exercises are arranged in a way to help her build up to a full sentence .. she went away for a few minutes and came back .. “mammy, this is boring.. can I write a story? Please?”. Attached is Alia’s own writing.. no help at all from anyone. This is the original paper.. there were a few spelling and punctuation mistakes.. which we worked on together. Little did I know she was trying to prove that her writing has already improved!
I would also like to let you know that there was a national children khutbah competition organised by Newcastle Central Mosque. Khutbah is a speech about any topic in Islam. Alia won third place. She received a certificate and many other gifts. 
Daniel and Lucy had a big surprise tonight when they went to meet our new puppy! She is only 3 weeks old at the moment and will be coming to live with us on 25th July. We are all over the moon and very excited. We have lots of names lined up, we just have to agree on one! We wanted to share our exciting news with you.
Emily and her family have been set the task of doing something creative to commemorate VE Day. Here is their amazing poem:
Ode to Our Heroes
Hitler had ambitious plans
For German’s to have more living space,
He wanted to unite all German speakers,
And create his Aryan race.
He resented the Treaty of Versailles,
Because Germany accepted the blame,
He ignored it to increase the size of his army,
So that he could continue with his reign.
Britain and France turned a blind eye,
As they were recovering from the First World War,
Then Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia,
Which they continued to ignore.
Germany went on to take Poland,
As Hitler was feeling so smug,
Britain and France had to declare war,
To halt this brutal thug!
But there was no stopping Hitler,
He invaded Denmark and Norway,
His tactics were barbaric,
Causing Europe to dismay!
In 1940 he blitzed Great Britain,
By bombing major cities at night,
The British people blocked up all their windows,
So German pilots had no light.
Germany bombed Britain’s food ships,
In Hitlers pursuit of power,
Causing the British people to ration food,
Such as sugar, bacon and flour.
Children were sent to the countryside,
In an attempt to keep them safe,
Parents did not know who was taking care of them,
So they had to have a lot of faith!
The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour,
Then America joined the fight,
To help to put a stop to Hitler,
And end all this misery and strife.
Germany had conquered most of Europe,
Until the Allies planned D-Day,
They attacked Germany on Normandy beaches,
Which altered the state of play.
The Allies grew from strength to strength,
Making the German army retreat,
In 1945 they marched into Germany,
Hopeful that Hitler they would greet.
But when he knew he’d lost the war,
Hitler took his own life,
Many of his supporters followed him,
Including his future wife.
Seventy-five years have now gone by,
Since the Allies won the war,
Up to eighty-five million lost their lives,
But what was it all for?
I hope it has showed us how to respect,
Our neighbours, friends and foes,
To celebrate our differences,
And forget about our egos.
Thank you to all of the heroes,
Who fought for you and for me,
So that we could have a better life,
And live peacefully and trouble free.
By Emily Mordue (Aged 11) and her family.
