Year 2 - 2nd half of Summer term

Year 2 - 2nd half of Summer term

We began our Summer 2 term with our Annual WWF Week.  Each Year 2 class learnt about an endangered animal. This year we focussed on the Asian elephant, jaguar, blue whale and gorilla. The children wrote a persuasive piece arguing the case for adopting their animal and the Eco Committee shared their writing at a whole school virtual assembly. Each class then voted for the animal they wanted to adopt. The animal with the most votes and that has now been adopted by our school is the jaguar!

Two weeks later was Book Week! Our chosen book was ‘So Much’ by Trish Cooke and we did lots of fun activities around the story from planning a party, acting out the story and writing in the style of the author. We also held a ‘Reading Rocks’ competition and each class were challenged to redesign their book corners to celebrate reading for pleasure! Saturn children shared their favourite books, Jupiter had a caterpillar reading race, Mercury created a reading sanctuary with lights and special effects and Venus class won the competition with their space themed corner. They are looking forward to being treated to a special storytime extravaganza as a reward for their efforts.

At the end of June we held our Healthy Living Week. We were very fortunate to have a dance workshop led by Don Rae, where the children moved, grooved and danced along to some fun music. As well as dancing with our feet, we pedalled and scooted round, and around, and around the playground for the whole school ‘Wheelie Race’ organised by the PTA. Luckily the sun shone for Sports Day 2021 and the children were thrilled to participate in their team races. They demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and were brilliant team players, cheering for all their friends and wishing them good luck. As well as exercising, we discussed the importance of a healthy diet and as lots of our children love a snack, we taste-tested some delicious dips, made a fresh, chunky salsa and finally designed our very own recipe for a new scrumptious healthy dip!

Given the current restrictions, travel abroad is tricky at the moment, so to celebrate all the amazing things Great Britain has to offer, we decided to have a staycation! So off to Cornwall we went! The train departed at exactly 09:15, the children had their tickets at the ready, bags packed and were looking forward to exploring the Cornish coast!

First off we took a little sightseeing trip around Cornwall and looked at where the county was situated in the United Kingdom. We learnt some Cornish sayings and found out about some traditional foods from Cornwall. Next up, we discovered David Hosking and his bright, vibrant paintings of the little Cornish villages and towns. We took a closer look at some of his works and the children zoomed in on his paintings, recreating a tiny section in detail with a variety of mediums. They used oil pastels, water colours, coloured pencils and sketching techniques. After lunch we visited a delightful cafe and sampled some afternoon tea. The children made themselves some Cornish cream tea... jam first and then cream, before heading out to the ‘beach’ to catch some rays!  Finally, we enjoyed a little traditional puppet show entertainment before catch the train home in time to see our parents. Exhaustingly good fun!

Near the end of the term we participated in Kingston’s Virtual Music Big Sing Event! Each class from 7 primary schools across Kingston participated over Google Meet and followed Esther Jones who led the event. All of the children put on a great show, sang out loud and the sounds of ‘Sweet Chariot’ could be heard around the whole school (and probably the neighbouring streets!) as every child in Year 1 and 2 participated at the same time.

This half term in Science we have been learning about trees and flowering plants.  We spent time looking closely and naming the plants on our school grounds.  We enjoyed measuring the lengths of the leaves too! There were some green-fingered (and slightly muddy) children in Year 2 they planted their own individual bean and chose where in the classroom would be the best position for it to catch lots of sunlight. They watered it daily and observed it’s growth weekly as it started to germinate and sprout. The children took home their plants and we wonder how many might produce some delicious tasty beans for them to eat. 

What better way to end the year, than with an ice cold treat! The sound of music filled the children’s classrooms and they were surprised by a visit from the ice cream van! We think they all truly deserved a special something after what has been a challenging year, and it certainly seemed that they enjoyed it from the smiles on all their faces!

The children have all met their Y3 teacher and visited their new classroom and even though there are a range of emotions just now, we know they will settle quickly into their new school.    Thank you for all your support, hard work and kind words over the year.  We will miss the children lots, the Juniors are very lucky to have our lovely Year 2 children joining them after the summer holiday.  

We hope you all have a safe, relaxing and sunny time!

Best wishes, Year 2 Team