In Willow’s last newsletter entry you saw the first stages of our truss bridge building DT project at the end of last term. These bridges are now built and look fantastic! In this newsletter entry, we will look at 6 Maple’s final products.

The children demonstrated impressive collaboration and sharp problem-solving skills throughout the build. For instance, when one group noticed their bridge was wobbly due to a gap in the base, someone stepped in with expert advice: "Attach more sticks to the bottom of the base to make it more stable." Her suggestion worked perfectly; the reinforced bridge held firm under pressure.

The true test came during our weight trials. We were blown away to find that some of these structures could hold over 3kg without breaking! It is incredible to see what these young engineers could achieve showing such ambition and collaboration!

We have got straight back into our learning after the Christmas break, and we have been super busy. Excitingly in Geography, we have been learning all about the water cycle. It’s amazing to think that we may be using the same water that was around at the time of the dinosaurs! We made this cool experiment that shows us the stages of evaporation, condensation and precipitation. 

In Maths, we have been learning about area. It was so fun to work with shapes and access a new kind of maths. In English, we have been looking at the book – The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore by Gerald Durrell. We have been practising a lot of sentence types and using fronted adverbials. 

In art, we are sewing maps. We designed islands and thought about the kind of geographical features we might find including hills, mountains and rivers. We are sewing buttons, beads and layers of fabric to create an island.

Finally, in science we have been learning about electricity. We have practised putting components together and testing how to make a circuit. It has been so fun watching light bulbs light up!

Happy New Year from 3 Maple!  We’ve settled straight back into school and are trying our very best already.

In English, we have started writing diaries from the point-of-view of Mary Anning.  We have read the book, Stone Girl, Bone Girl, and have learnt lots about her interesting life.  In the first week of 2026, the children have been practising using subordinating conjunctions and commas to separate clauses.  In weeks two and three, they are going to learn how to use the conjunction ‘so’ in compound sentences, as well as how to separate their writing into paragraphs.

In Maths, we have started learning about multiplication and division.  So far, that means the children have put their knowledge of times tables to the test, alongside drawing arrays and groups to help them to figure out unfamiliar questions.  Please make sure you are using Times Tables Rockstars regularly at home, as short, frequent use is the best way to commit times table facts to memory.

In Science, we have been learning lots about nutrients.  The children have spent time matching nutrients to their function and finding out how we can get a good balance of nutrients in our diets.  

In Year 2, we have been learning about the weather in Geography. 

We have been curious about the weather in the UK and have looked at the many ways of describing this using words like sunny, foggy, icy, frosty, rainy and cloudy. We have also been looking at how the weather changes across the different seasons.

We also used a wind sock to measure how windy it is outside and a rain gauge to measure the amount of rainfall each day!