Sculpture

During our Art unit this half term, we have been focusing on a painting by Henri Rousseau titled 'Surprise'. With a focus on developing our skills in sculpture work, we explored various sculptures from around the world evaluating our thoughts about them. Using Rosseau's painting as a stimulus we each created a sculpture inspired by his work. First we made an example using playdough, following this we made a structure from tin foil and lolly sticks. Finally we applied modroc and painted our completed work. 

Trust Leavers Liturgical Prayer

Today two children from Year 6 attended the Trust to represent our school celebrating our time coming to an end at St Augustine's. It was lovely to come together to share this special event, which was streamed live to our classes back at school.

Tennis

This week we started our new unit in P.E of Tennis, our first lesson consisted of developing or skill of tapping, bouncing and catching the ball.

Clay Sculptures

In today's Art lesson we designed a clay sculpture based on an aspect of the painting 'Surprise' by Henri Rousseau. Focusing on the tiger or plants, we sketched a design and then used clay to mould it into shape using various techniques. This model will then been used to help us create our final sculpture out of mod-roc.

Cricket

Following our cricket tournament before half term, this afternoon those who represented the school shared the rules of the game with the remainder of the class. We split ourselves into 2 groups to play against each other. We helped and supported out team and developed our communication skills to score more wickets.

Triple Jump

This week in athletics, we focused on the trip jump. To start our lesson we explored the three components to the jump and developed our skills in each of them. Following this, we then put them together and added a 5 step run up to see just how far we could jump.

Pizza Party

As we finished our SATs this morning, we were rewarded with a day of fun for all of our hard work! Our day included lots of fresh air, chats about our upcoming residential to London and ended with a film and pizza party! 

King's Coronation Celebrations

As a school, we came together to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III taking place tomorrow. Dressed in red, white and blue, we had a day fit for royalty including: an afternoon tea, art work around school and an assembly led by Year 1/2 and Year 2. Our PTA were kind enough to donate pin badges, cakes and flags for us all to remember this important day.

Changing Variables

Today we built upon or previous knowledge from last lesson on variables and applied it to enhancing an existing game on Scratch. We started by predicting the outcome of a changing block, then made our own decisions on where to make changes and set them. 

Dance

Today we started our new unit in PE, which is Dance. Our dance teacher explained our focus over the next few weeks is 'mining' linking to our History unit on the Felling Colliery disaster. In today's lesson we were given the name and description of various mining jobs carried out by children including a trapper, hurrier, getter and thruster. From the description we worked in pairs to create various movements. Once we were happy with or movements we put them to music for 3 counts of 8.

Ukulele

Today we started our music unit with our music specialist Mr Parkin. In this lesson we recapped our knowledge of how to hold the ukulele and placement of fingers. We checked our understanding of frets and strings to play various chords including C, D, E, G, F, and A minor.  Using some of these ‘magic chords’, we were then able to play them alongside a tune to create the famous song ‘Someone You Love’ by Lewis Capaldi.  

Playground Structures

Over the past half term we have been designing, making and evaluating our own playground. We were set a design criteria that it had to be fun, have something which moves, somewhere to hide and something to climb. We have worked well in groups to create some amazing structures.

Easter Egg Competition

To celebrate Easter we took part in our annual decorate an egg competition Once again it was an amazing success, everyone made such a great effort. Congratulations to our class winners and well done to everyone who took part.

Stations of the Cross

As we come to the end of Lent, today we took part in a streaming of the Stations of the Cross from the Bishop Wilkinson's Trust. Various schools attended and we were proud of the 3 children from our class who led station 7. It was lovely to share this special time with other schools and reflect of the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

Cricket

Today was our final lesson with our cricket coach. Over the past 5 weeks we have have enjoyed leaning and developing our skills we have been taught in catching and batting. For this lesson we applied all of these skills to play a game of 4 bat down. We showed great sportsmanship throughout encouraging our team mates.

Palm Sunday Class Liturgical Prayer

This afternoon we took part in our class liturgical prayer to celebrate Palm Sunday and we were lucky enough to be joined by our grown ups! During the liturgical prayer we heard the story of the important role the donkey played in carrying Jesus into Jerusalem. We linked this to how we are all important to God and thought about what makes us special. 

Jesus: The Bread of Life

This afternoon, we read an extract from John’s Gospel, where Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life when talking to his disciples.  We discussed the meaning of the ’Bread of Life’ as we made our own bread buns.  We thought about how we need Jesus in our lives and with him, we will never go hungry or thirsty.                                                                                              

WWI Vocabulary

Today we started our new unit in Literacy based around the text 'War Game'. Our purpose of the unit is to write a diary entry from the perspective of a soldier. To begin our unit we explored a range of images and paintings of WWI and talked about what we could infer from them. Following this, we were given a range of artefacts from WWI and tasked to match it to a name and description using the images we had talked about earlier in the lesson to support us. 

History of Trade

In today’s lesson we looked at the history of trade, how it has changed overtime and the impact it has had. We explored the scale of trade through the ages, looking at local, national and global scales of trading. In small groups, we were given a period of time: the Stone Age, the 17^th Century or the 21^st Century. Using the information sheet and images given, we discussed in our groups, the key features of trade during this time and considered what conditions caused this. Following on from this, we shared our findings with the rest of the class.

Library Visit for World Book Day

Today we visited the library to celebrate World Book Day. The librarian shared some funny animal poems from her favourite poetry book and challenged use to get creative. As a class we picked to create an acrostic poem about an orangutan, we have recently adopted one for our class. Working together we wrote a great poem all about the species. Following this, we worked in groups to draw an unusual animal. They all turned out rather strange!  

World Book Day

In school we celebrated World Book Day by having a pyjama day. We came to school in our comfy clothing, along with a soft toy and favourite book. During the day we took part in a range of activities including a book quiz and designing a book cover from a choice of imaginary book blurbs. The highlight was definitely our cosy reading session, where our grown ups were welcomed into school to share a story and have juice and biscuits.

Cricket

For our new unit in P.E. we are lucky enough to have a coach teach us from Durham Cricket Club for the next half term. In our first lesson we explored skills within catching, focusing on balance and position of our hands. To end the lesson we put these skills into place when playing a round robin game. We are looking forward to the next few weeks.

Haiku

Today we started our new unit of poetry, where we are focusing on haiku poems. As a class we discussed and explored the features of haiku poems then we were tasked with sorting a range of poems into those that were haiku and those which were not. Once sorted, we gave reasons as to why we believed some were not a haiku poem.

Reading Challenge Reward

As our reading challenge came to an end this week we earnt our reward of hot chocolate a hot chocolate and a story with another class. We were paired up with Year 2 and loved reading to them some of their favourite stories. The hot chocolate and biscuits went down well too!

Netball

In our final lesson of Netball, we put in place all of the skills gained over the passed six weeks. We recapped pass skills, the importance of spacing and looked also at developing our shooting action. Putting these together we played a mini game of netball, working together using our communication skills and supporting others. It is safe to say we are little sad this unit has ended but looking forward to what is coming next!

Children's Mental Health Week

All this week in school we have celebrated Children's Mental Health Week by taking part in a range of activities. As the theme was 'Let's Connect' we each decorated a piece of card to show ways we are all connected, we then linked them together to show a visual representation of this connection. Each day we also took part in a Taskmaster activity trying to solve their daily clue and to end the week we came into school dressed in a way to 'express ourselves'. It has been a great week to help us understand the importance of mental health.

Reading Challenge Reward 2

As we came to the end of the second week of our whole school reading challenge, today we received the prize of  a visit to our local library. Whilst here, the librarians red us some snippets from their favourite children's book and each time we had to decide which one we preferred. It was a great game and made us think about different ways we can think about when selecting books to read.  

Victoria Tunnel

This morning, as part of out WWII History unit, we visited the Victoria Tunnel. During the trip we found out about what life was like during the war and how it impacted children's lives. Following this we explored the history and function of the Victoria Tunnel, finding out about it's interesting past and what it was used for. It was interesting to find out about the air raid shelter and the conditions people were exposed to when in the tunnel. We are looking forward to applying or learning to our next lesson!

Safer Internet Day

To celebrate 'Safer Internet Day' we talked as a class about the positives and negatives of the internet and what we use it for day-to-day. We explored various ways of how to keep ourselves safe, how to spot 'red flags' and what to do next. It is important we understand how to stay safe online as we use it so frequently and although it an amazing tool there are dangers that come along with it. To end the lesson we made a 'chatterbox', on each part it had a suggestion of how to stay safe online and we were tasked with why this was a good idea.

Digital Art

As part of our art unit, 'Can you use emojis to create art?' we have been studying the work of an artist named Yung Jake. Over the past few weeks we have explored his art and how it is created. Today we were able to begin exploring making our own art work inspired by Yung Jake using emojis to create a larger image. We are looking forward to developing our digital art skills to create our final piece of art.

Netball

This week we built upon our previous learning of chest passes and spatial awareness and used this to support us in our lesson. In groups we focused on a defender finding a suitable space to receive the ball from a team play whilst an attacker tried to intercept.

Bird Beak Investigation

As part of our enquiry question ‘How do we evolve over time?’ unit in Science we talked about the scientist Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. To explore his findings, linked with his study on the Galapagos Islands, where he noticed finches had variations of beak shapes and had adapted to different types of food available on the island, we investigated which type of "beak" was the most successful for picking up each type of "food".

Balance

In gymnastics, we focused on balance and how a good balance can be created. We explored how to vary balances through the use of levels and tried to hold them for 5 seconds. We then moved on to partner balances using counter balance (push) and counter tension (pull) to support one another in using our weight to create and hold various positions. It was a little trickier than we thought!

Nissan Car Plant

Today we were lucky enough to spend the day at the training centre at the Nissan Car Plant. During the trip we found out about Nissan and it's history, cultural links with Japan and information about the plant. The day allowed us to develop our team working skills, as we were set a challenge to create a number of Lego cars using a system similar to that of the plant. We focused on how we can better and more effectively. In the afternoon we were able to walk around the training facility and met 'Woody' the robot, who turned out to be an amazing artist! To end the day we took part in 'hands on corner' where we completed a range of activities including using an impact drill and hammer. It was an amazing day and we even got to bring a goody bag home!

Books of the Bible

In today's lesson we focused on the books contained within the Bible. After listening to some songs to help us, we were challenged to remember the names of as many as possible. We discussed why some were easier to remember than others. Following this we were given a range of names and tasked to sort them into those found in the Old Testament and those in the New Testament. For those we found tricky, we were able to use the Bible to locate and sort them into the correct heading.

World War II Timeline

To start our enquiry question based on our new enquiry question What lessons were learnt from the devastation of WWII? We looked the build up to the war, the reasons for it and significant individual involved. We then moved on to looking at some of the key events that occurred during the war, the chronology of them and their impact. Working in groups we then placed each event on our timeline thinking about the time period between each event.

Inherited Characteristics

To help us begin to answer our new enquiry question , 'How do we evolve over time?' we explored genetics and genes. After discussing cells, DNA and genes, we looked at various cross breads of dogs to understand how characteristics are inherited by offspring. We then compared these to acquired characteristics to understand the difference between the two. To end the lesson we were tasked with creating offspring of a Mr Man and Little Miss, listing the characteristics they had inherited and from who.

Data Packages

In Computing today,  we developed our understanding of computer systems and networks building upon our knowledge of IP addresses. In this lesson we focused on how information is sent and received through the network of the internet. We explored data packages and their function within the transfer of information such as text, video, images and audio. In groups we created our own data package and acted how the way in which it is sent to the recipient through the information in the header of the package.

Automata Model

Today we completed making our automata mechanical model shop display window for a shop of our choice. Using glue guns, we placed our cams and followers to ensure they would create the movement needed for the model and added our finishing touches of our foreground and background. We all picked various themes and look great displayed in our classroom.

Christmas Special Friend Time

This afternoon we spent some time with our special friends to exchange presents and share our excitement for Christmas. It was lovely to spend this time together talking about how we are all looking forward to the special day.

OS Map Treasure Hunt

Today we deepened our map skills knowledge when looking at grid references on an OS map. We used our geographical vocabulary to explain the location of various places in London by reading the Easting and Northing to make a four-figure grid reference, we then moved on to creating a six-figure reference. Once confident with this skill, we were tasked to complete an OS grid reference treasure hunt. Collecting letters from each clue about London, we then had to rearrange the letters to find the slogon.

UKS2 Advent Liturgical Prayer

This morning our phase led the final Advent liturgical prayer in school. This week focused on the candle of love and how Joseph supported Mary in processing the news of her important role given to her from God. We spoke of how we all have a gift to bring to the world and ways in which  we can help others. It was lovely to have our parents back in school to share our Advent preparations.

Santa Dash

This afternoon we took part in our class 'Santa Dash' arranged by the PTA. We have been sponsored by friends and family to run around our school field in our Santa hats to raise money for our school. We had great fun and felt very festive wearing our Santa hats and were even rewarded with a certificate, candy cane and selection box. Thank you again to our PTA for arranging this for us, we loved it!

Be Internet Legends Day

Today we celebrated 'Be Internet Legends Day' by taking part in an online workshop reminding us how to stay safe online. We found out about the importance of taking a break from screen time to help our wellbeing. We were introduced to the Be Internet Legends motto:

-Sharp

-Alert

-Secure

-Kind

-Brave

By following these rules we can keep ourselves safe online.

Tesco Christmas Window

We were lucky enough to be asked by Tesco Trinity Square Gateshead to help with their Christmas window this year. Tasked with creating a Christmas image we all got to work! We are so proud to see them displayed in the window, spreading Christmas joy and cheer.

Colour Wheels

Today we investigated the colour of light and Isaac Newton's 'theory of colour'. We explored what happens to light as it is placed in front of a prism, following this, we found colour within a ray of light has a different wavelength. To investigate further, we created our own colour wheel making observations and linking these to Newton's theory.

Measuring and Cutting

Over the past few lessons in DT, we have been carefully measuring and cutting wood using saws, to start our project on automata systems. Our design criteria is to create a shop display with three moving parts, we are working in pairs to plan a theme and design for our display. Keep an eye on our blog over the coming weeks to see how they turn out.

Discovery Museum - Light Workshop

This afternoon we visited the Discovery Museum to take part in a workshop linked to our Science unit on light. We first discussed various sources of light and then found out more about our main source of light, the sun. We also took part in various investigations including exploring light refraction, creating shadows and even made our own camera obscura. It was interesting linking our learning from school to aspects we found out about during the workshop. 

Advent Adventure Outdoor Afternoon

This afternoon we took part in an Advent Adventure Outdoor Afternoon as we are now in the season of Advent. To start the afternoon (and to warm ourselves up) we took part in a relay race collecting various pictures to create the nativity scene. Once we were warmed up we then were each given a star to decorate, which symbolised the star the wise men followed to find baby Jesus. Once these were complete, as a class, we took part in a walking prayer. Around the field were various stations showing key events of the birth of Jesus. At each station we lit a candle, listened to the word and shared a prayer. To end the after (and, again, to warm ourselves up) we toasted marshmallows and made smores! 

Judaism Visit

Today we had a visit from Deanna Vandervelde, a member of the local Jewish community. As we have been celebrating inter-faith week in school, she was able to tell us more about her faith and traditions. It was great to share our knowledge with her and find out more about the religion. We event got to try on and share some of the objects and artefacts used by the Jewish community.

Parliament Workshop

Today, all of the Year 6 children were lucky enough to have a visit from Vanessa, who works in politics. She has worked for two Prime Ministers and took part in five general elections. During her workshop, she told us about how the Government is ran and linked it to our own school council. She explained about the Palace of Westminster, House of Commons and Hose of Lords. It was interesting to find out about the role of Parliament, how important it is and the impact it has on own lives. During the session we were split into groups and asked to create a new law, once each group had decided on their law we debated how and if they would work. We soon found out it isn't an easy job!

Rosh Hashanah

This week we have been deepening our understanding of the Jewish faith. To begin our lesson we recapped what we already knew about the religion and then went on to learn about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year celebration. We found out how the community celebrate this time, it's meaning and traditions; along with making links to our our new year celebrations. Whilst creating our own Rosh Hashanah card, we tasted a traditional treat eaten during this time, apples and honey, which symbolise a sweet year ahead.

Light Reflection Investigation

Today we explored and investigated how light travelling from a light source reflects to our eyes. We recapped our previous understanding of how light travels in straight lines and bounces off a surface to change the direction of the ray of light. We discussed the impact the surface and colour of the object has on the reflection of the light. Using a torch, we created a beam of light and pointed the beam at a drawn target pinned to the wall. Using a mirror, we were tasked with reflecting the beam so that it hit the target. Finally, we then tried different angles of the torchlight reflecting off the mirror to hit the target and explored using more than one mirror

It's Coming Home!

This afternoon we were lucky enough to watch England's first match as part of the World Cup in Qatar. To support the team we came to school in red, white and blue and cheered the squad on, in what was an amazing match. During the game some of us made flags, completed cross words and researched the countries that are taking part. With a final score of 6-2 we were all so proud of the team and are looking forward to following them all the way to the final (fingers crossed).

Passing Skills

As we continue our unit of hockey in PE, today's lesson focused on passing skills using a push pass. In pairs we developed our understanding of using a 'step through' method as we pass to give more power. We also tried to focus on the direction of the ball as we passed it to our partner by being given two cones to send the ball between.

Safety Works

Yesterday Year 6 visited Safety Works to learn all safety across different environments. Fire Safety Officers, Lifeguards, Police Officers, Metro Travel Safety Officers and staff from the local authority provided them with detailed insights into safety in their area of expertise. The children were provided with an opportunity to contribute, ask questions and even act out different scenarios across the these environments. 

Anti-bullying Workshop

Today marked the start of Anti-bullying Week across the country and we were lucky enough to take part in a workshop all about our emotions and the various types of bullying that can take place. During the session we used drama to express various emotions and looked at scenarios showing verbal, physical and cyber bullying. From these we then shared ways in which these situations could be made better. We thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and are looking forward to other activities planned for the rest of the week.

Remembrance Art

Today we explored the importance of art during difficult times and how symbols can be use to remember. We linked the symbol of the poppy from Armistice and the rainbow from the COVID-19 pandemic to create a joint symbol to show our thanks to all of those who served and sacrificed during those difficult times.

Remembrance Liturgical Prayer

This afternoon we all came together as a school to reflect on our Remembrance Week. To end the week Year 6 led a liturgical prayer signifying the importance of remembrance along with who and why we remember. The hall was decorated with art work made by the whole school from Nursery to Year 6 and looked beautiful.

Celebrating 150 Years of John McCrae

Today we took part in a webinar with schools across the UK and Canada to celebrate the life of John McCrae who served as a doctor in WWI and famously wrote the poem In Flanders Fields. During the online event,we took part in a range of activities including writing our own poem inspired by John McCrae, designing a poppy of remembrance and creating a 'wordle' linked to the theme of poppies. It was a great event to be a part of, linking up with so many schools and sharing our thoughts and ideas.