On Thursday, we celebrated World Book Day. All of the children in KS2 took part in “The Great Big Footy and Booky Quiz” organised by the National Literacy Trust, which had both football and reading related rounds, presented by a wide range of professional football stars. Also, we had the pleasure of being visited by Nursery and Reception children, to share and talk about books together.
Then, in the afternoon, KS1 and KS2 took part in a “book tasting” afternoon where they visited different classrooms set up as book cafes. Each table in the classroom was set up with a different genre of books, including nonfiction, poetry, picture books and chapter books. During these sessions, the children had the chance to work together and “taste” a variety of books and discuss different elements. It was a lovely opportunity to work with different classes across school, and have the opportunity to explore books which they may not have done before. And, of course, what sort of café would it be if there wasn’t some sort of delicious treat involved… A big thank you to our lovely kitchen staff for providing some lovely cupcakes to enjoy at our book cafes.
Friday 2nd February 2024
A large part of our week this week was all about poetry and in particular performance poetry. We studied a wide range of poems before the children chose their favourite to learn and perform. We considered the words of Sarah Kay:
‘Spoken word poetry involves creating poetry that doesn’t just want to sit on the paper, that something about it demands it to be heard out loud or witnessed in person.’
The children spent some time practising saying their poem to their classmates while considering which parts of the poem that they needed to emphasise; vary the speed, tone or volume of. They also practised their facial expression and hand gestures to enhance their poem. It’s been an absolute joy to see their enthusiasm shine through and to watch them encouraging one another. Although only the top three will be entered into the Emmaville Performance Poetry Competition 2024, I felt that they all deserved to be viewed on here.
Well done to all of you and thank you for such a wonderful week.
Mrs McKenna and Mrs Evans
Friday 26th January 2021
On Monday, we celebrated World Religion Day throughout school. The aim of World Religion Day is to promote understanding and peace between all religions and to encourage people to learn about other faiths and their followers.
During our RE lesson this week, we considered the six major religions of the world and how the constant message in all of the religions is to treat other as you would want to be treated. We went on to look at where we see this in our British Values curriculum.
On Tuesday - Holocaust Memorial Day - we were very fortunate to be able to join 25,000 other young people in a live webcam hosted by the Holocaust Educational Trust. Natasha Kaplinsky OBE interviewed Holocaust survivor Hedi Argent MBE. It was an incredibly moving and special event; we all agreed that we felt incredibly privileged to be able to hear Hedi’s story and get an insight as to what life must have been like for a Jewish family in the lead up to, and during, WWII.
We were also very fortunate this week to have Brother Khadim from the Newcastle Central Mosque visit our school to share with us his life as a Muslim and a follower of Islam. During the assembly, Brother Khadim talked about many of the elements of the religion that we have been studying during our RE lessons; he was also fantastic at encouraging the children to ask questions and answering them.
We are planning a visit to the Newcastle Central Mosque during the summer term and are hoping that we will see Brother Khadim there and be able to increase our understanding of Islam.
We hope you have a lovely, restful weekend.
Mrs McKenna and Mrs Evans
Friday 19th January 2024
We’ve had a lovely busy week in North America class. On Wednesday, we had a visit from the Gateshead Music Service who treated us to a wonderful music workshop in which the children enjoyed an array of songs from around the world. The children not only sang along with the live music, but they also had lots of fun guessing the flags and accompanying the musicians on a variety of instruments.
In history this week, we considered what life must have been like for children living in poverty during Victorian times. The children studied the dangerous jobs and conditions that Victorian children worked in and created some art to show not only how they looked but how they must have felt.
Despite the cold conditions, we managed to get out to play a basketball tournament this afternoon. I am so impressed by how the children’s skills are improving.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McK
Well done North America class for starting the new year with such positivity – it has been a really enjoyable and productive week.
This week in Computing, we completed our unit on using iMovie to create a promotional video for our school. The children had to work as a team to video one of eight locations around school and use their persuasive language skills as well as their computing skills. There are some photos on here of the children at work; however, I can’t wait to merge the videos together to show you the finished product of all of their hard work.
We welcomed a new student this week: Mason who has had an excellent first week with us and has quickly become an absolute asset to our class. I have been so proud to watch the class being so welcoming to Mason.
I hope you all have a lovely restful weekend.
Mrs McK