Summer 2017
Spring 2017
In our Learning Challenge this term the children will be asked ‘Will you ever see the water you drink again?’ We will look at the water cycle and discuss how rain water forms. The children will be given the chance to understand why water is a necessity.
In science we will study evolution and inheritance. The children will be able to find out if we have always looked like this a will discuss the characteristics that offspring have inherited from their parents. This will be liked to our art work where the children will be asked to produce detailed drawing of themselves.
We will also continue our app work from last term. The children have been asked to produce a mobile app worthy of today’s ever-changing market. They have already researched various apps and presented their findings. They will now develop their ideas for their own app before producing it for others to use.
Netball Team – Seven children from Year 6 attended a Netball competition at Bishop Barrington School. They had been practicing hard in their netball lessons with Lydia on a Monday afternoon. Now was the time to put everything they had learned into practice. Our team played fantastic, each player taking turns in different positions and everyone trying their hardest. We won our first two games with great sportsmanship and determination. We were winning out third game when unfortunately, the terrible weather meant we had to stop. The rain did not settle which meant we wouldn’t get out to finish the tournament. However, the points were gathered and it became apparent that we would have made it through to the finals without playing the last game. This was great news for us as we had worked extremely hard. We are now looking forward to our final at the end of April.
…The children took part in the final and again represent our school incredibly well. The team came third in overall so should be extremely proud of themselves.
Well done to Ruby O, Tilly B, Lucy B, Kate S, Michael B, Thomas S and Liam W.
Purple Mash – In our class we have been using purple mash. This is an educational website our school has recently signed up to. We were able to do an online writing project about how animals adapt to their surroundings. We are looking forward to exploring Purple Mash further and are hoping for many more opportunities to use it in our lessons.
Sportshall Athletics Festival – Our class took part in an indoor athletics festival at Bishop Auckland College. Working together as one big team, we participated in a variety of adapted athletic events. We worked hard and encouraged each other on in our individual and team events. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we were extremely proud to be told we had won against seven other teams.
Growing up and a healthy heart – Our school nurse visited us today and we explored the working of our hearts as well as the importance of healthy food and exercise. We also discussed some dangers of drugs, smoking and alcohol. Once we had finished this we had a talk about puberty and were told about the changes our bodies will go through as we grow up. We got the chance to ask questions and discuss the topic openly, in a safe environment.
School Improvement Planning – As a class we spent the afternoon with Mrs Gill, coming up with ideas on how we could improve lunchtimes in our school. Once we had gathered our thoughts together, we were able to discuss the practicalities of each suggestion before agreeing on which idea to start with. We then came up with a plan on how we could make it happen. We listed any resources that would need buying, took note of who we would need to be involved and discussed the steps that would need putting in place for it to happen effectively. We are hoping our first idea will be in place very soon…
Mobile Apps – To help us with producing our very own mobile app we have been exploring coding. Coding is what makes it possible for developers to create computer software, apps and websites. We took turns practicing our coding skills on different activities and received a certificate at the end.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – We are currently reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream in English. We have been learning more about Shakespeare and the language used in his plays. Each of us have had the opportunity to perform some Shakespearean monologues to the rest of the class.
Shapes – In our maths lesson we were bisecting shapes to work out angles and explore their properties.
Residential trip to Robin Wood – The start of 2017 was very exciting for our class as we were going on a residential trip! We turned up for our first day back with cases packed, ready for our three day adventure. A coach journey and a 45 minute hike later we were at Robin Wood Activity Centre. We did loads of activities in our groups such as climbing, the zip wire, piranha pool, giant swings and so much more. Our group leaders were fantastic and got to know our strengths and weaknesses. We taught them about the ‘Gem Powers’ we use in school. We used these a lot to help us in each of the different activities we participated in. We all learned a great deal from our time away and without a doubt we were challenged at times. Each of us stepped over the edge at some point during our visit, we learned to work better as a team and be more confident in our abilities. This trip will certainly stay in our memories for a long time to come and we are going to use our new confidence in school.
Autumn 2016
Our Learning Challenge this term is the topic of slavery. The children will be asked ‘Should the world be ashamed of slavery?’ We will look at how it affects people both past and present. Our art will be linked to the topic; once we have studied the sculptures of artist Henry Moore the children were able to depict their ideas of slavery in clay.
In science we will study the circulatory system. The children will learn about the blood, heart and lungs and considered how they all work together. At the end of this Learning Challenge the children will present their knowledge in groups to the rest of the class.
We will also tackle circuits in science. The children will be able to use symbols within diagrams and state which circuits will work effectively. They will then look more closely at variables and how they can adjust the brightness of the bulb in the circuit.
Japanese Language – This term Hannah Johnston has been into our class to teach us Japanese. We have been taught various words and phrases that could be used when communicating with our friends from Ogawara Minami Elementary School. This has been an enjoyable experience for the whole class and we have all learned a bit more about the language and how sentences can be formed.
Music – In this years Christmas carol concert we wanted to set up a percussion band to play during the songs. Mrs Hughes kindly came into our class and taught us how to use various percussion instruments and showed us how to fit the sounds into the beat of the music. After plenty of practice, a group of us were able to show off our new skills, to friends and family at the concert. We really enjoyed our music lessons with Mrs Hughes.
Dance – This last half term our class have been working with Ashley to learn some dances for the Christmas carol concert. We have had great fun learning the moves to ‘Camel Funk’, ‘Shepherds Hey’ and other songs. Each song is very different which has given us the opportunity to try out a variety of dance styles.
Netball – Year 6 have had the pleasure of Lydia coming into school to teach netball. Every Monday afternoon the children have gone outside, despite the weather being a bit chilly at times, and enjoyed learning new skills in the sport. They have been taught the rules, passes and positions they need to be able to enjoy a game. Many a match has been won and lost but the children have shown great sportsmanship throughout the half term and cheered each other along the way.
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Am I always right? – In RE we have been looking at different religions and what they have in common. Here we are comparing the rules of Christianity and Buddhism. We discussed whether of not they had any similar aspects before debating which set of rules we thought would be easiest to follow.
Flat Stan First Aid – A lady named Helen came in from Flat Stan First Aid and introduced us to the basics of first aid. She taught us about DRABC and demonstrated how to put someone in the recovery position. It was then our turn to do some role play; acting out various situations and working through the steps of DRABC on a dummy. We then discussed the different type of injuries we may come across and were given a demonstration on how to apply bandages. This was then practised on each other.
The whole session was great fun. It was extremely useful in teaching us how to keep ourselves safe and what to do in an emergency.
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The Watertower – In literacy we are looking at a book called ‘The Watertower’. It is a picture book which gives us the opportunity to draw our own conclusions as to what is happening in the story. The text is simple but the illustrations leave us intrigued and wondering what the author is trying to tell us. It is like solving a puzzle. We have had many in depth discussions about the characters and the plot to help us try and solve the mystery.
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright… – We were given ‘The Tyger’ poem by William Blake and challenged to learn as much of it as we could. Some of us were confident enough to recite all six verse alone. We also did it as a whole class where everyone joined in with the parts we knew. The poem flowed beautifully from beginning to end.
Human Circuit – Our science lessons have involved us learning about circuits. To help us get a better understanding as to whether or not a circuit would work we got in a circle and made one using our bodies. Most of us were the wires and others had the job of being a battery, bulb, buzzer or switch.
Fun in the Garden – One afternoon our class were given the opportunity to spend some time in our school garden. We had fun digging and preparing the flower beds ready for seeding whilst ensuring the areas were kept well maintained.
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Bear Hunt – In our literacy lesson we researched the pros and cons of bear hunting and decided whether or not we are for or against it. We made signs and had a rally on the playground before having a debate and putting forward our personal views to the rest of our class.
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Abstract Sculptures – We have been researching the English sculpture and artist, Henry Moore in our art lessons. We were given the opportunity to try our hands at making our own sculptures using clay before using Pixlr to transform some pictures of Henry Moore’s art.
Sticky Triangle – A group of us were involved in completing some challenges using matchsticks. We needed to predict the number of matchsticks used to produce various numbers of triangles. We recorded our finding and looked for patterns in our results.
Outdoor Multiplication – In our final maths lesson of the week we were able to go outside and challenge ourselves on the yard. Various signs with two, three and four digit numbers on had been spread out across the yard. In pairs we needed to pick two of the signs and multiply the numbers together. Once we had completed one challenge we then went and collected some more signs with larger numbers.
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Class Assembly – On Wednesday 5th October, our parents came into school to see our class assembly.
We shared what we had been learning in our lessons. Starting off with the topic of slavery and then going on to inform them about what we’ve learned of the Fighting Bradfords.
After we had we finished sharing our work we then performed ‘Living on a prayer’ by Bon Jovi.
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Bootcamp – Every week year 6 children are treated to a bootcamp session. These session are ran by a man called Andy but we call him ‘Sir’. We have do tasks such as obstacle courses, tug of war, sit ups, press ups and other physical activities. It is a military style session and we a treat just like a soldier. Although it is challenging we also find it fun. We always come away covered in mud and with a smile on our faces.
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The Reading Room – After a fabulous school production from The Reading Room our class took part in a workshop. We learned about William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. We were given a brief overview of the play and got the chance to act out some different parts. After the session we did a storyboard poster of Macbeth and had the chance to read the book for ourselves. We were very excited to learn more about different genres and it has encouraged us pick up a wider range of book.
Geocaching – Our class got the chance to bring technology into our maths lesson today. In small groups we were able to do some geocaching around the school using our GPS units. We walked around the school marking different points on the map. We then recorded the distances between those points and converted the measurements. This was a great way to reinforce our learning from the work we had done this week.
Converting measurements – Today we went back on the playground to practice our conversion skills. In pairs/small groups we measured anything and everything using metre rulers and tape measures. We wrote down the measurements in metres and converted these to centimetres and millimetres.
We challenged ourselves with some really big numbers and measured various sized objects so we had a range of results to practice with. One group even measured the full width of the field and playground whilst another measured the height of the lookout.
The lesson was extremely helpful in giving us a better understanding of how to convert metric measurements.
My Day as a Slave – ‘Today we took part in an interesting activity in which we had to be slaves. We were given numbers before slave-master Collings forced us to trudge around the fields chanting “oh, oh, oh, oh, we are slaves, we are slaves!”. When we were tired from all the walking we were sold to different members of staff for hardly any money. Nowhere near what we were worth!’ (Harry, Year 6)
We were made to count lego, sharpen pencils, pick up sticks, clean whiteboards, tidy bookshelves, staple letters, count floorboards and so much more. We were not treat well at all but this experience did help us get a better understanding of slavery and we are all eager to learn so much more about the topic.
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Algebra in the Playground – After a productive week in maths we were able to go on the playground to challenge ourselves and each other. Armed with a stick of chalk and algebra on our brain we worked in groups to make some tricky algebraic equations for the other groups to solve. This lesson was a great practical one to reinforce our learning.
Enterprise Day – Year 5 & 6 pupils were invited to attend an enterprise day at Staindrop School. This day involved working in groups to design our own fashion wear. We then needed to price our design and advertise it.
We split our group up into smaller groups with each one of us having a different job to do. We needed to use our Maths, English and Art skills to get the job done.
We also go a chance to make our design using plastic bags and sugar paper. The whole day was great fun and very informative. A lot was learned about marketing skills and fashion design.
The Bradford Brothers – We were invited to the Gala Theatre in Durham to learn about the Bradford Brothers and WW1. We were introduced to some of the people involved in the production before heading upstairs, where we learned about the war.
We were given the opportunity to try on some of the clothes worn by soldiers in the war and carry some of the gear. There were also some letters sent by soldiers which we got the chance to read. To help us understand how the soldiers must have felt we produced some freeze frames and discussed different situations in groups.
The afternoon was spent by us putting ourselves in the position of a soldier and writing letters to our loved ones at home. We then got to hang our letters onto a piece of barbed wire outside the theatre for others to see.
The whole day was interesting and opened our eyes to some of the things that went on during the war.
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