Friday 31st March 2023
We have had a wonderful final week of term in North America class.
In English, we have been re-telling the Easter story from the perspective of one of the key characters. We used emotion graphs to help us to describe what our character felt at each point of the Holy Week.
We also finished our DT unit this week where we have been using our science knowledge of circuits to create Easter cards which actually light up! It has been a really tricky unit and Mrs Sanderson has been so impressed by the children’s resilience and sheer determination to ensure that their circuits worked.
Finally, it wouldn’t be Easter without our familiar Emmaville Easter egg competition. Pictures of the winning entries are included. Well done to Noah, Roo, James, Billytom and Roxi for their fantastic work; I hope you enjoy your prizes.
I’d like to thank you all for your hard work this term. I hope you have a lovely peaceful break with your families.
Look forward to seeing you all for the start of the new term.
Happy Easter!
Mrs McK
Friday 24th March 2023
We always love enrichment weeks at Emmaville, but this week’s ‘Enterprise Week’ was particularly fantastic probably to the many new and varied experiences the children took part in.
On Monday the children worked with Zoe from ‘As Creatives’ to find out all about Charles R Drew: an American surgeon and medical researcher most famous for his work in the field of blood transfusions. He saved so many lives during WWII. The children used their bodies to enact the process of taking plasma from blood and storing it.
On Tuesday the children worked on their ‘Enterprise Challenge’ where they worked with their friends to come up with a revolutionary product which they then pitched to their classmates in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style challenge using their oracy skills.
On Wednesday bridge building was on the menu. The children worked in teams, using their team working and growth mindset skills, to build a bridge that could hold a weight for at least a minute using only paper and tape.
Today the children have spent the day finding out all about the world of forensic science which has included taking fingerprints, exploring a murder scene to try and determine what has happened and using taking blood (not real blood!) samples. There was also a point where poor Mr Harrison was arrested for the crime!
I hope the photos give you a taste of what has been an excellent week.
Enjoy the weekend.
Mrs McK
Friday 17th March 2023
At last, it’s been warm enough, and dry enough, to get back out on our lovely school field to do PE this afternoon after what seems like an age since we were last out there. The children couldn’t be more deserving as they have been working incredibly hard this week on improving their reading comprehension skills and looking at using a PEE(Point, Evidence, Explain) approach when answering longer questions in their reading assessments – I’ve been so impressed with their progress.
In maths we’ve continued to look at solving problems with angles including angles in a quadrilateral, angles in a triangle, vertically opposite angles and angles on a straight line. It’s been lovely to listen to the children explaining their reasoning to their learning partner, and to the class, while finding missing angles.
In geography this week, the children have written some lovely postcards home whilst imagining they were in Greece after learning all about the geographical (both human and physical) similarities and differences of Greece and the UK.
Well done North America class. I hope the weather stays bright and that you all have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McK
Friday 10th March 2023
We had a lovely start to the week in North America class when Mel from the West End School’s Workshops arrived to deliver a dance workshop based on The Enormous Crocodile. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session. I’ve attached some images, but will also try to compress the video of the dance so that it will fit on our class page, and you can see the final performance which is really impressive.
In English this week we have been continuing to study the poem: The Highwayman by Alfred Noyse. The children have made a story map of the poem and have used their oracy skills to learn and perform it. Today the children debated as to who was responsible for the death of Bess – the landlord’s daughter. I’m always so impressed by their maturity when they respectfully disagree and challenge each other’s opinions.
We also began our exploration of the Egyptian artefacts which we have borrowed from the Tyne and Wear Museums this week. The children will be investigating the make up and purpose of the artefacts during our next history lesson.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McKenna
Friday 3rd February 2023
It was lovely to welcome the children back from their half term break refreshed and enthusiastic to begin some new units of learning this week. In Science, we began our unit on Electricity. I was so impressed with what the children had remembered from Year 4 about circuits and their component parts. We had fun testing circuits and discussing the energy model and then drawing circuits using the universally agreed signs for each component.
On Thursday, it was World Book Day; the children looked amazing in their outfits. It was obvious that a lot of careful consideration and effort had gone into their costumes. To celebrate world book day, we took part in an initiative run by a company called Potato Print where, as a whole class, we wrote our own book which we also illustrated. Potato Print will then turn our ideas and writing into a professionally published book, which will be able to be bought! More to follow about this in later posts.
We also received a wonderful box from the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums this week. The box is full of Ancient Egyptian artefacts. Thank you to Georgia and Ivy, who are super enthusiastic historians in the making, they came in at lunch time today to help me unpack the box and plan our next history lesson using the artefacts.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McK
Friday 17th February 2023
What a wonderful final week of the half-term we have had in North America Class. We began the week by creating Top Trump cards as part of our entry for the Gateshead Schools Sports Partnership competition where the focus was ‘Equality in Sport’. Well done to Ivy whose entry was chosen to represent our class.
Thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising day today in aid of the Children’s Heart Unit Fund (CHUF). CHUF supports children and families who receive treatment at the Children’s Heart Unit based at the Freeman Hospital and the many other hospitals providing care for cardiac patients throughout the North of England; it is a cause that is very close to our hearts - excuse the pun! The children looked lovely in their red outfits and had a fantastic day raising funds via quizzes, name the teddy, spot prizes and decorating biscuits. A special thanks to Nicholas, Rachel, Rose and Zoe for spending so much time organising events and providing prizes.
Well done to Zoe and Layla from our class who both won medals at todays Gateshead Primary Schools Swimming Gala. Zoe even managed to beat the previous record time for the 25 metre breast stroke!
Thank you for another lovely half-term North America Class. I look forward to hearing all about what you have been up to in the holidays when we return to school.
Mrs McK
Friday 10th February 2023
We’ve had a lovely week in North America this week. The week was topped off with a visit to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Hexham to see a performance of ‘Little Manfred’ – a play based on the book by Michael Morpurgo about two German refugees during World War II. We feel so fortunate that the children have the opportunity to experience so many different mediums to help them learn more about their current history topic.
On Tuesday, the children joined a digital workshop with over 200 other schools to celebrate Safer Internet Day and Children's Mental Health Week. The children were tasked with producing a magazine cover to publicise Safer Internet Day and Children's Mental Health Week using Adobe (a platform new to us). It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to show their digital creative flair and was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
In geography this week we continued to delve deeper into our topic of aquatic biomes by considering the issue of plastic pollution. We focussed on the current concerns of scientists that estimate that by 2050 there could be more plastic in our oceans than fish! The children discussed in groups what could be done to avoid this catastrophe and fed back to their classmates. It was such a privilege to watch the children polishing their oracy skills during the debate, and to witness how passionate the children feel about this issue.
Well done North America. I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McK
Friday 3rd February 2023
We have had a wonderful week in North America class. Our art this half term is inspired by water, something we have also been finding out lots about in our geography lessons while studying aquatic biomes. During our art lessons, we will be creating relief paintings – a process where we carve into a printing block that is then pressed onto paper to make a print. To inspire us, we have been studying the work of the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh and particularly the painting Starry Night. Last week we experimented with line and pattern while planning our sketches and this week we began the process of printing. We will go on to build up layers of colour. The children are really enjoying the process; keep your eyes peeled for pictures of the finished prints in the next two weeks.
In RE this half term, we are studying Christianity and considering the following question: is anything ever eternal? This week we read a variety of bible stories and highlighted references to love and eternity. We discussed how Christians believe Jesus portrayed love and how love and eternity are portrayed in the bible.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McK
Friday 20th January 2023
Another lovely, busy week in North America class.
In maths lessons we are becoming really skilled at finding common denominators to compare, order, add and subtract fractions.
In English we have begun innovating our model text based on the fantastic book by Berlie Doherty: Street Child. I can’t wait to read the final pieces of writing.
In history this week we have been considering what life was like for children born during the Victorian Era.
We’ve also spent some time this week celebrating World Religion Day. The day was celebrated throughout school and Year 6 were tasked with exploring the six big religions and the similarities they have, and comparing this to British values. After some fantastic exploration and debate in class, we agreed that, across all the major religions, a golden rule applies - people should treat others as they would wish to be treated.
We discussed how this aligned itself to British values and we felt that we must strive to have mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We discussed that it is accepting and respecting this that is important, and that this involves no one person, or group of people, thinking they are more important, deserving or better than anyone else. I was so impressed by the children’s maturity and passion during the lesson.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McK
Friday 13th January 2023
Happy New Year! We’ve kicked the year off in style at Emmaville with a week packed with extra-curricular activities alongside starting new units in some of our Year 6 curriculum.
On Monday, we began our unit on badminton in PE; it wasn’t long before the children’s muscle memory kicked in allowing them to successfully return the shuttlecock using forward and backword strokes.
On Tuesday, we were visited by one of our favourite authors and friend of Emmaville school: Adam Bushnell. Adam worked with the children to create Victorian ghost stories which linked to our unit on Victorian Britain in history. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session and the writing that followed was an absolute joy to read.
On Wednesday we welcomed the Gateshead Schools music workshop into Emmaville. Our spirits were high as we studied music through the decades and joined in with singing, dancing and playing instruments as well as finding out all about the fashions and events that inspired the music of each decade.
I hope you enjoy the photos below.
Mrs McK