Thursday 21st May
It is hard to believe that it is the last day before we go off for the final half-term this year. We have been working this week on writing some fantastic action stories in English, finding out all about the Dharmic views on reincarnation and completing some excellent design ideas for our own inventions as part of an Omnicom competition.
This week I wanted to share with you all the brilliant work the children have completed in our Computing lessons. This half-term we have been exploring stop-motion animation which has been new for quite a lot of us. We have found out the different features of stop-motion app and how to use these effectively when creating an animation. We have used the technique called 'Onion skinning' to be able to visually see our previous frame to help with a smooth transition to the next frame. In addition to this, we have explored the work of animators such as the creators of Wallace and Gromit who use similar techniques to create their fantastic animations. We took inspiration from their work and have began to plan our very own alien animations which we will be creating after half-term following the story boards we have made in our small groups. We can't wait to see all of the animations!
Have a lovely half-term everyone!
Mrs Thompson
Friday 15th May
It has been a super busy week in Oceania class this week and we have been working our socks off whether that be learning all about equivalent fractions in Maths, finding out all about how WWI ended in History or developing ideas for creating tension and powerful description within our English unit on writing action stories.
This week we had the lovely Katie in from Metro Bank in Gateshead. She came to complete a workshop with us all about what a bank is and how banking works. We found out all about bank vaults, ATM machines and even learnt what interest it. We had an opportunity to learn how to save to build interest up and we helped learn how to budget money so we could build savings up within an account. The children were so engaged in the session and left with lots of goodies from Metro Bank for their hard work.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone ready for our last week before May half-term.
Mrs Thompson
Friday 8th May
We made a return visit to Crawcrook Library on Thursday, where we were met by our local librarian Kyle. He had prepared an activity for us that involved unwrapping a selection of books within small groups, that we then had to rate, based on only the titles, covers and blurb: would definitely we take them home, maybe give them a go, or categorically give them a miss? Having discussed and made notes about each book, each group then shared their thoughts. The activity was engaging and produced a lot of interesting conversations - it's amazing how we can be influenced by just a title and some artwork, but then reading the blurb can change our minds. Kyle was very impressed by our responses.
Friday 1st May
We have had such a busy but exciting week this week in Oceania class. We have been learning all about fractions in Maths, visited the Glasshouse to watch the Royal Northern Sinfonia play a concert and we have explored what life was like at home in Britain during WWI in our History lesson.
This week I want to celebrate the incredible children in Oceania class who have been writing their own presentations on various topics. On Monday, we held a speak up showcase where the children delivered these presentations to teachers, parents, carers, siblings and even some of our school governors. The children spoke with such confidence about the topic they had chosen and you could truly feel how passionate they were about it. It takes so much confidence to stand up in front of others so all of the children should be incredibly proud for taking part. I had the privilege of being able to take some of our students to the Gateshead Council Chambers on Wednesday where they delivered their speech to other schools. Imogen presented the most wonderful speech all about Elephants in the chambers while the rest of the class watched her online back at school. We were all so proud of Imogen for standing up and speaking about something she is passionate about. Well done to all of Oceania for your hard work and effort.
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend everyone!
Mrs Thompson
Friday 24th April
Happy Friday everyone! It has been a lovely first week back with the children working so hard on a range of new topics as well as some of their longer projects which they started before the Easter holiday such as the Speak Up presentational talk unit. The children have been writing their own presentations all about things they are interested in such as Newcastle United FC, Minecraft and animals. We can't wait to hear them all on Monday night.
This week I wanted to share with you all our learning in DT where we have been started our new food technology unit all about creating a Spaghetti Bolognese. During our lesson this week, we explored the process of where food comes from in its journey from farm to fork. We looked at one of the main ingredients of a Spaghetti Bolognese which is minced meat. We found out that farmers have a number of legislation that they need to follow to ensure the lives of cows are fair and they are treated with care. These five freedoms, created by the RSPCA, are vital for farmer to follow. We made some informative posters all about these freedoms and discussed our thoughts about the process. We are very excited to find out more and make some Spaghetti Bolognese this term.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend, hopefully in the sun.
Mrs Thompson