Friday 17th January
This week, we have been fascinated with the heart and how it functions. In science the children have learnt about the double circulatory system and how the heart is made up of four chambers- left atrium, right atrium, left ventricle and the right ventricle. The children drew their own diagram of the heart including the four chambers and valves to stop the blood from flowing backwards. With this understanding of how the heart beats faster during exercise, we measured our resting heart rate and compared it to our heart rates after twenty minutes of vigorous exercise. Over the next few weeks in PE, the children will be monitoring their heart rate after each fitness session and analysing the results.
Oceania class want to say a huge congratulations to Jayden F for achieving 2nd place in the most recent Times Tables Rockstars battle with an unbelievable 24,746 points, earned in just under 3 weeks. You should be really proud of yourself!
Monday 6th January 2020
During Geography this week, following on from our understanding of aquatic biomes, we learnt about the impact that human processes can have on freshwater sources. We learnt about how the African country of Ethiopia want to construct the Grand Ethiopian-Renaissance Dam (GERD). We had a debate in class to determine whether any further work on the dam would take place.
The whole class were separated into several different groups, some in favour of the dam – the Ethiopian government and the Ethiopian citizens and some were against the construction of the dam – the Egyptian government, the Egyptian farmers and a group of Egyptian citizens. Matilda and Imogen were the chairs of the board, they laid out the rules for the debate and helped to keep order throughout. Next time, we will choose two new members to be the Chairs of the board.
Eventually, as a class, we voted either for or against the construction of the dam. As a class, it was decided to cancel the work on the dam. All of the class had a fun time explaining why the dam should or shouldn’t be built. As this is a current issue, we will be keeping an eye out on the news for any updates on this dispute.
Friday 13th December
In Oceania class this week, after pretending to celebrate our 18th birthdays, we learnt about the process of a General Election. The children have been very interested in the running of our government since the Year 6 pupils visited The Houses of Parliament during their London residential earlier this year. After learning about our countries democratic society, the children learnt about the different political parties, constituencies and how candidates campaign through manifestos for each of their parties. The children each received a mock 'official polling card' and then were given time to read through each manifesto before casting their vote using a ballot paper. The children are already looking forward to turning 18 so that they can cast their vote officially.
Friday 29th November
This week, the Angels of the North concert that our Year 6 children have been preparing so hard for, finally arrived. We started early on Thursday morning at The Sage Gateshead, for a full day of rehearsals with about 300 other children from schools from around the North East. The weeks of practice clearly paid off, because the sound we all produced together was amazing, and by the evening performance, everyone had perfected a variety of dance moves as well as the songs.
Parents, family, friends and teachers who were there agreed that the children put on a fantastic show - they did us all proud.
Tuesday 12th November
Our Science this half-term is all about electricity. As a class, we looked back to when we were in Year 3 and 4 in which we built simple electrical circuits and even made our own Christmas decorations that either lit up, buzzed or span.This half term we will be building on this knowledge. By the end of this unit, we will be able to change components in electrical circuits and understanding how this affects the buzzer, bulb or motor. This week, we had great fun using our scientific understanding to predict if particular circuits would light up or not. Afterwards, we worked in groups, using the apparatus to test each of our predictions.
Wednesday 6th November
In our PE lessons this half term we have been focusing on dance. We have been thinking about our body movements and how to isolate parts of our body to create jerky movements. This week, we worked in small groups to choreograph our own dance to 4 bars of 8 beats. We had the challenge of performing parts in unison (altogether) and in cannon (repeating the same movement, one after another). Next week, we are going to look at the Charleston dance style, which we have previously learnt about during Information Station. This is a style of dance that originated in the city of Charleston, South Carolina but became increasingly popular between 1939 and 1945 during World War 2.
Wednesday 30th October 2019
This week, our Year 5 and 6 children were given the opportunity to take part in a new Home Office approved project. It is being led by Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuiness, and Northumbria Police in partnership with Barnardo’s and Operation Encompass. The project, named Operation Encompass: The Next Steps, aims to educate children and young people about healthy relationships.
The children spent the afternoon learning about friendships, relationships, emotions and empathy, and rules and expectations, so that they can live and work together safely.
The sessions were led by our School Safeguarding Liaison Officer: PC Nicola Joicey, who also held a drop-in session after school for parents.
We were so impressed by the children’s maturity during the sessions and their ability to articulate what respectful relationships and caring friendships look and feel like. We feel so fortunate to have such kind, caring and respectful children here in our school community.
Wednesday 16th October
This week Year 5/6 were very fortunate to have an afternoon of drama workshops ran by Carolyn from Bravo Performance. The children had a fantastic session and it was wonderful to see their confidence grow in just one short session. We certainly have a class of talented performers! In the workshop, the children learnt how to use different tones of voice and body language to express emotions in different scenarios. They thoroughly enjoyed their time playing a range of drama games to to build confidence and express their emotions. To conclude the session, they took part in a story-telling game, taking on the role of different characters through improvisation.
Friday 4th October
This week we have been working incredibly hard on improving our mental maths skills. Every lesson, we have been trying to beat our time and score using The Daily 10 Maths from Topmarks games. The children have loved challenging themselves and have been getting quicker and quicker each time. Why not practise by yourselves at home? We will be using this every lesson in all aspects of the curriculum.
Monday 30th September
I am so impressed with every single one of the children in Rio class today! We have been learning how to use a compass to navigate around our school grounds. For some of the children, it was the first time they had ever seen a compass before. By the end, they were all confident in naming the parts of a compass and remembering the steps to navigate using 8 point compass directions. Just remember 'Put red Fred in the shed'.
Wednesday 18th September
We have kick started our new topic 'Marvellous Maps' with a skill-packed day at Pow Hill Country Park and Derwent Reservoir. After furthering our mapwork skills in the classroom, by learning how to read Ordnance Survey maps, recognise the symbols and even find locations using a six figure grid reference, we thought it was time to adventure outside and apply these skills in our local environment.
Our day was split into two activities; geocaching around the country park, following the compass and solving all the geographical challenges and an enjoyable 5 mile walk around the reservoir, spotting specific wildlife and drawing field sketches. We learnt so much in just one day but we are exhausted, after all that walking!
Friday 6th September
Welcome back to a new school year! The children have amazed me with how quickly they have settled into school life, they work exceptional well as a team and I am very proud of the Year 6 children for setting such good examples and being a role model to our Year 5 children. We cannot wait to see what this academic year brings.
It felt like Christmas Day today, when Mr Purvis delivered three exciting parcels to our classroom door- almost 30 new books for the children to become lost in. These books are all part of our '50 Book Challenge' this year. Class Rio can't wait to share these with one another and go on adventures with each one of the characters.
Remember as our class quote says, 'A cover is not the book, so open it up and take a look.'