KS2 Blog 29^th January 2021

This hasn’t been the start to 2021 that we thought we would have; however, I have been blown away by the positivity and hard work of everyone in KS2 and your families. You have made me smile each day even though most you have not been in Hub.

Our Monday Teams call has become the highlight of my week, logging in and seeing your smiling faces on the call makes me happy. I am also really impressed with how you are all using the technology to communicate with each other in your own time. The one thing I really love about working in Nercwys is how much of a community our class is.

The engagement of everyone on the Google Classroom has been amazing and you should all be proud of the Blended Learning you are doing at home. Through our Google Classroom I am sure you are being introduced to Mr Hodby, our associate teacher from Chester, and his music and PE lessons. We are working as a team to keep in contact, set work and give you feedback.

Our topic is Chocolate, which I’m finding has been very popular. I wonder why? Over the past few weeks we have looked at Fairtrade and answered the question of ‘How many chocolate bars are there?’ through creating a class database. It seems there are lots of chocolate bars, looking at all your submissions made me very peckish.

Although, my highlight of the half term so far is the Willy Wonka portraits that were sent to me. You were all thoroughly creative and I can see how you’ve used bright colours to match the ‘Pop Art’ theme. I have added some examples of these to the blog for everyone to see.

Again, well done everyone! Keep up the hard work! Next week we’ve got a science experiment and some taste testing. It should be fun.

Mrs F 😊

KS2 Blog Week Begining 23/11/20

This week, KS2 extended their knowledge with regards to their current topic, ‘The Titanic”, by

gathering evidence on who was to blame for sinking the ship. We have had a very interesting debate and children were coming up with fantastic arguments to back up their opinions. Then, they created a diamond ranking diagram on what they thought was the most and least important reasons that contributed to the loss of so many lives on the ship.

During Maths, KS2 furthered their data skills by reading, interpreting and creating bar charts, line graphs and pie charts. We have also looked at different types of tables (including timetables) and discussed why they are important in our life.

In RE, the children started their Taith Adfent. Mrs Gillet has read the “Refuge” story and then the children reflected on the story and its meaning. They have also been looking at the Ten Commandments and sorted them from most to least important using diamond ranking.

In PE, the children continue to enjoy Cricket sessions with Chris. This week they have been consolidating their throwing and catching techniques and practiced batting. At the end of the session children played a quick game and demonstrated excellent teamwork skills.

In English, the Juniors have been working on improving their vocabulary to make writing more interesting. Children have explored thesauruses to search for synonyms and have created a big mind map of words that they could use while writing newspaper articles next week. Following the session on synonyms, they then moved on to plan their newspaper article step by step. They remembered to use alliteration and word plays to write a headline and were very creative with their word choices.

In Art, the Juniors have explored different watercolour painting techniques and then applied them to create the Titanic paintings. They were all very impressive and the children were very proud of the outcomes. The artwork is now proudly displayed in our classroom!

Key Stage 2 Blog Week Begining 02/11/20

Key Stage 2 have had a wonderful first week back after the half term holiday. They have continued to work hard in all areas and are proud to be happy and caring citizens.

In topic this week, Key stages 2 have become detectives! They explored various primary and secondary sources to find facts about the Titanic. It was lovely to see their enthusiasm towards our new topic and fantastic engagement with the task!

In literacy, following on from our Titanic fact finding work in topic, we started the week looking at different articles and newspaper reports to develop our understanding of the features in magazine articles and what makes them effective to the reader. Next week we will apply this knowledge to plan our own articles about the Titanic disaster. 

In maths, the children have been developing their understanding about money. They wer all given a budget and could spend it on items in “Nercwys Corner Shop”. Using their addition and subtraction skills, the children had to look for items they could buy without going over the budget and then work out their change.

In RE, the children have demonstrated an excellent awareness of Remembrance Day and the sacrifice that soldiers have made during the wars. They have worked very hard with Mrs Gillet and Miss McKeown and created some outstanding acrostic poems, which are proudly displayed in our classroom

Well done Key Stage 2, you are truly amazing and a huge credit to the school!

Key Stage 2 Blog Week Beginining 12/10/20

Another fantastic week in the Juniors classroom, our children continue to shine and be a better version of themselves!

In Literacy, we were developing our knowledge of cinquain poems. Firstly, we started by looking at the structure and the features of the poems and decided on the theme: AUTUMN. Then, we have collected a number of words that we associate with autumn and added a list of adjectives, phrases and synonyms. Ideas were endless. Next week we will be writing our own cinquain poems!

In Maths, we have been learning about Multiplication. We were using different methods to multiply larger numbers and the children have been fabulous, all with amazing attitudes towards their work. The children have been using a high level of mathematical language which has continued to develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills. Next week, we will be looking at division.

In Welsh, we continue to work on our Manylion Personnol and this week we have been challenging ourselves with extending sentences.  

In PE, children are continuing to develop their hockey skills. This week focus was on passing. Children were working in pairs and then in teams to develop passing skills and at the end of the lesson they were able demonstrate them confidentially in the game. 

In Science, we were looking at a food labelling traffic light system and food nutrition values. After analysing variety of food packaging, children were able to discuss ingredients lists, allergy information and nutritional values, which will help them make healthier and more informed choices in the future.

Following the food labelling lesson, we then moved on to “IRONic breakfast” investigation, where we were looking at the amount of iron in different types of cereals. Children were amazed to find out that breakfast cereals contain real iron and we were able to see it by using the magnets!

In our topic Good to be me, we are currently looking at the benefits of exercise and how the exercise affects the heart rate. Using the Heart Rate app we are measuring our heart rate undertaking different physical activities such as walking, jogging and sprinting. After collecting all the data, we will create bar charts to show the results.

A wonderful week of learning! Well done Juniors.