Have a look at what we’ve been learning!
Killhope Lead Mining Museum
Year 3 and Year 4 have enjoyed their visit to Killhope Lead Mining Museum and the unveiling of the glassworks on the Weardale Tub which is now on view to the public in the museum. They enjoyed learning about the miners, their living conditions, the blacksmiths and seeing the technological advancement from the Washing Floor to the Jigger House.
Hockey Festival
On Wednesday, Year 4 attended a hockey festival at Parkside Academy. They took part in a range of activities to help them develop their hockey skills and played some mini games against teams from other schools. A big thank you to Kate Thompson
from the Durham Dales Hockey Club for helping to organise and run the event.
Boudicca Speeches
As part of English and their History topic of Romans, Year 4 have been writing a powerful emotive speech from the perspective of Queen Boudicca. They then filmed their speeches using green screen technology. Please click here to watch their videos.
World Water Day
To celebrate World Water Day and to recognise those who may not be as fortunate as we are, the whole school joined in with some water related games! Year 3 & 4 had to transport water from one bucket to another using a sponge. Team points were awarded to those who transported the most water. Afterwards we noticed that we’d spilled lots of water and considered how we could conserve water.
Teach Rex
This week lots of strange things have been happening around school after our Garden Gang found two buried eggs! We tried them in the incubator but they didn’t hatch. In assembly, children suggested to try them in a tank of water which did the trick! However, when we came to school on the Monday, whatever had hatched had disappeared! Over the week, we found a bone on the floor, a suspicious pile of what looked like poo, mess left in the corridors and in Year 5’s classroom and strange noises were heard following a power cut on Thursday!
On Friday, we finally got to meet the strange creature! He was a friendly tyrannosaurus rex called Jam! We had fun learning some facts about Jam and even got to do a bit of acting and vocabulary building! Have a look at the learning pages across the website to find out more!
Science Team Event
Today, it was our Science Team Event. Over the last few weeks, children have worked hard in their colour teams to come up to produce a product. Reception had to build a boat which would carry the most weight, Year 1 & 2 had to build the highest freestanding tower , Year 3 & 4 had to make a parachute to keep an egg from cracking when dropped from a height and Year 5 & 6 had to create a boat which would move the furthest distance across the water.
Well done to Red Team who were the winners of the event!
Red Team also went on to win the House Cup for this half term. Well done, everyone!
Cross Country
Everyone had a fantastic time during our cross country earlier. All children showed great sportsmanship and persevered, even when the going was tough! They even supported each other to cross the finishing line. Well done everyone!
Weardale Tub Project
Year 3 and 4 have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of Weardale this week and using what they have learnt to create a glass tile. The tiles will form a panel on the side of a model lead mining tub which will be placed in Killhope Lead Mining Museum. All those who have made a tile will visit the centre in July to see their work in its final form. A huge thank you to those leading the Weardale Tub Project for giving us this opportunity.
Christmas Fun
What a fun two weeks of term we’ve had. Last week we had our Christmas performances and Fair. This week, we’ve had a Christmas Jumper day, a lovely Christmas dinner and our Christmas parties. See some of our photos below.
Greek Pottery
As part of their History Topic about the ‘Ancient Greeks’, Year 4 designed and created their own version of Greek pottery. They used a technique called coiling to create the rounded shape using their fingers, as well as different tools, to smooth out the inside and outside of the pot. The children have also designed a picture to be painted on their pot, using the traditional orange and black to depict part of Ancient Greek life.
Food Chains
Year 4 Science lesson on food chains and habitats. The children had lots of different plants and animals to sort and create a specific habitats food chains, using the correct terminology, such as produce, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, predator and prey. They really enjoyed working within the small groups.
Forest School
Our school have been learning about global issues and the Year 4 focus was on poverty. The children wrote a non-chronological report of the different effect that poverty has on children and families, such as poor housing, no food and lack of education – the basic needs that every child should have. So children had more of an understand of living without the basic need of good shelter and housing, they went to our ‘Forest School’, where they were given limited resources and the environment to create their own shelter. The children had a wonderful time building and creating in the woodlands and also gain more empathy towards children who are less fortunate than themselves.
Article 27 of the UN Convention for children states that every child has to right to a standard of living good enough to meet their physical and social needs and support their development
Year 4 school trip to All About the Greek at the Palace Green Library
On Monday, Year 4 visited the Palace Green Library next to Durham Cathedral to learn about the Ancient Greeks. Using a map, they looked at where Ancient Greece was, as well as today’s modern Greece. The children began to learn about how the country was run. They took part in a performance of Greek tragedy, where some were able to dress up in different costumes. The boys played the female roles and the girls played the male roles. Year 4 also had the experience of handling real and replica artefacts from the time, becoming archaeologists and interpreting the different items. The children had a fantastic time and brought lots of knowledge back to the classroom and were quite enthusiastic about learning more about the Ancient Greeks.
Global Issues Week – Team Event
This week in school we are looking at different issues that affect the world. Year 4 have been investigating poverty and key issues such as homelessness. They have also worked together with Year 3 in their colour teams to make musical instruments out of recyclable materials. As a group, they had to design three different instruments which they could make using the materials provided. They then constructed them and wrote their own song based on a global issue of their choosing to make a performance. All had a fantastic go and results of the competition will be revealed on Friday in our Global Issues assembly.
