Year 2 weekly newsletter 13.06.25

This week you have been busy exploring recounts in English, problem solving in maths and getting ready for your worship!

In English this week, you were presented with some exciting clues: an elephant, binoculars, a magnifying glass, a lunch bag, and pictures of animals. From these, you made brilliant predictions about what the story could be about. You then discovered the book was Class Two at the Zoo – and you absolutely loved it! The story follows a class visiting the zoo, only for a surprising twist when they get eaten by an anaconda. You were introduced to our example text, which was a recount of a zoo trip. To bring the story to life, you took part in role play, becoming different characters from the book. You also wrote fantastic sense poems, describing what it’s like to experience a zoo using all five senses.

In reading this week, you all had the chance to read to Mrs Chesters. She was incredibly proud of how fluently and accurately you read. It was wonderful to see your confidence shining through! She has encouraged you to keep practising those fluency skills at home as well to keep making fantastic progress.

In maths this week, you have been developing your problem-solving skills. You practised using the column method to confidently add and subtract numbers. You cleverly used your number facts with 1-digit numbers to help you tackle trickier 2-digit calculations. You also explored different number patterns and used a 100 square to support your addition strategies. It’s been brilliant to see how your confidence with numbers is growing!

In RE this week, we explored the world faith of Hinduism and focused on their places of worship. We discovered that many Hindus pray at a shrine in their own homes, but they also visit temples for special occasions and festivals. We examined the different items found on a Puja tray and discussed their meanings. A highlight of the lesson was when Lucas shared his experience of attending a Hindu celebration called the "rice feeding ceremony"—we all found it really fascinating!

In PSHE this week, we learned all about self-talk—the words we say to ourselves in our heads that no one else can hear. These are also called our thoughts. Just like Boris, we don’t only speak out loud; we also have a voice in our minds. We looked at the difference between speech bubbles (what we say out loud) and thought bubbles (what we think to ourselves).We were amazed to learn that we talk to ourselves at the rate of about 150–300 words a minute—around 50,000 words a day! That’s 12 words every 5 seconds or 5 words every 2 seconds.

In Science, we began our exciting new topic on plants. We started by recapping what we learned in Year One, including how to name different garden and wild plants, and how to tell the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees. To help us understand how plants grow, we set up our very own experiment by planting seeds. Over the next few weeks, we’ll observe how they grow and what they need to survive. We can’t wait to see what happens!

In our DT lesson this week, we explored the differences between manmade and natural structures. We went on a walk around the playground and school field, observing and listing everything we could find—from trees and snail shells to benches and fences. We discussed the purpose of each structure, thinking about how natural structures like a snail shell offer protection, while manmade ones like tables are made to help us work and learn.

For our main activity, we investigated how shape affects stability. Using play dough, we created a sphere, cube, and pyramid of the same size. We placed each shape on a piece of card and tested which ones rolled off and which stayed put. We then measured the height at which they toppled. This fun hands-on task helped us understand which shapes are more stable and why!

In Computing, you used an app called SPARK to explore how different instructions can lead to the same outcome. You discovered that by changing the number on a movement instruction, you could use fewer buttons to achieve the same result. You then followed a series of instructions to move your sprite to different areas on a photo, carefully thinking about direction and distance. It was a great way to develop your problem-solving and coding skills!

In PE with coach Sam you carried on learning different fundamental skills. You focused on hop, skip and jump this week. With Mrs Whittingham you focused on volleyball. We have been working on volleying to each other. We learnt how to position ourselves under the ball with our hands and arms in the right position to volley back to our partners. We then challenged ourselves to return the ball with more precision by aiming into hoops. We got more an more accurate as we went on and challenged ourselves with smaller hoops when we were ready.

We began our new unit in music. We brainstormed ideas about our social question – ‘How does music help us to look after our planet?’ We discussed: plants, the sun, water, trees, habitats, to name a few. These topics can be heard in songs, poems and film music.

A lot of our week has been focused on getting our worship together. I was immensely proud of you when you performed your worship to the school and your parents. Mrs Burns’ and Mrs Ward’s words couldn’t have been truer. The worship really reflected the beautiful relationships you have with each other. I couldn’t be any luckier to have a class like you. You shone so brightly as you said your words so confidently, sang so beautifully and spread the message of our courageous advocacy so clearly. I was beaming from ear to ear when watching you and I know that I am going to miss you so much next year.

Our homework for this week has been emailed out. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend after a busy week in school.

I will see you on Monday,

Miss Haynes