Week beginning 27th March 2023
I can’t believe another term is over - it’s so true what they say, time really does fly when you’re having fun! This week I would really like to celebrate all of the amazing phonics work the children have been working on since they started with us in September. I always feel so privileged to begin the children’s reading journey with them - it is a joy to see them learning to read words and developing their phonics knowledge. I am so proud of how hard all of the children have been working in their phonics sessions - I know Fred the Frog is very impressed too! Well done Gateshead class - keep up the amazing work.
We hope you all have a wonderful Easter - hopefully the sunshine will make an appearance. Have lots of fun and we'll see you all in two weeks!
Week beginning 20th March 2023
This week our Enrichment Week was all about business and careers. In reception we enjoyed learning about lots of different jobs and careers. Some wonderful visitors came to share information and stories about their job and showed lots of different equipment or uniform they may need for their job. We enjoyed learning all about being in the Royal Navy, working as patisserie chef, a plumber and a police officer. The children showed amazing listening and oracy skills during the sessions when focussing on our visitor and asking questions. We would like to say a huge thank you to our visitors - you were all amazing and the children thoroughly enjoyed their experiences with you.
Have a fabulous weekend before our final week of the term.
Week beginning 13th March 2023
As part of our Friday jobs we took part in a carousel of three science based activities. Our activities included bridge making with play dough and spaghetti, a big bad wolf strong materials investigation and a floating and sinking activity. Throughout the morning we used a range of skills including prediction, experimenting, problem solving and inquiry. It was a brilliant morning where the class was filled with amazing moments of awe and wonder - such a delight to see!
Have a lovely Mother's Day weekend everyone.
Week beginning 6th March 2023
Another fun filled week in reception with lots of busy phonics, 'Three Little Pigs' work in English and a fabulous dance and drama workshop on Wednesday. We have also continued to work really hard in our maths sessions and this week it was wonderful to share some of this work with your grown ups during our maths workshop. Mrs McKenna, one of our year six teachers and school maths co-ordinator, loved coming to join us to see all of the great work the children have been doing in their mastery maths sessions. It was lovely that so many adults could come and join us for this session - we really do appreciate all of your input in supporting your children at home. We hope you enjoyed the session and have lots of fun with your new maths games at home.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Week beginning 27th February 2023
Welcome back everyone - I hope you all had a lovely half term break. For this half term one of our PE focusses is yoga. This week we thoroughly enjoyed our session which was based on the story of the three little pigs. The children did a great job of listening to the instructions and demonstrating the yoga poses. At the end of our lesson we enjoyed a relaxing, mindfulness session which focussed on our breathing and visualisations. An amazing start to your yoga journey Gateshead - well done!
Week beginning 13th February 2023
As we reach the end of the half term I would like to celebrate a week of love and kindness in Gateshead class. We started with so much love on Tuesday for Valentines Day - we enjoyed lots of crafts and heart themed activites. This led onto a fantastic charity day on Friday. The children in year six were responsible for organising a charity event. They decided to support the charity 'Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF)' at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. This is an amazing charity which is very close to my heart as it has helped so many children in our school community as well as my own son, Matthew. The children wore their red clothes, learnt lots about the charity and discussed ways to keep our heart healthy. A lovely way to end our half term. In our class Demre and her family have also worked tirelessly to collect donations to purchase items for all those affected by the earthquake in Turkey. Many members of Demre's daddies family all live in Adana in Turkey, which has been hugely affected by the tragic earthquake. It is wonderful that so many parents from Emmaville have been so generous donating to both CHUF and the people of Turkey, I know Demre's parents are extremely grateful too. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.
Have a wonderful half term everyone.
Week beginning 6th February 2023
This week draws an end to our 'Wolf' unit of work in English. We have enjoyed learning two main texts - Peter and the Wolf and Mr Wolf's Pancakes. We have practised some hot seating techniques using the five w's as question starters. In our writing slots we have used adjectives to describe a wolf, started our sentence writing, innovated and drawn our own story maps and created wolf fact files. The children have been introduced to lots of new vocabulary and have enjoyed lots of wolfie art! I bet you are all wolf experts now Gateshead!
Have a restful weekend ready for our final week of the half term.
Week beginning 30th January 2023
This week in maths we have been working on identifying pairs. We have learnt that, in a pair, there are two objects which are the same - we then set to work identifying pairs of wellies, picture cards, toys and other objects. When matching associated items together we developed our Oracy skills by explaining our reasons for putting them together. We also began to look at how, once we had our pairs, it was quicker to count in 2s rather than counting each object individually.
Brilliant maths work this week Gateshead - well done!
Week beginning 23rd January 2022
On Thursday afternoon Gateshead class enjoyed a visit from Maria who works for Gateshead Library Service. She told us two interactive stories, shared information about joining the library and gave us a book to take home. Lots of grown ups came to join us for the session and Maria talked to them about how important it is to share books and stories with their children on a daily basis. Thanks for coming to join us - we hope you had lots of fun and enjoyed story time with your child.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Week beginning 16th January 2023
On Friday we were lucky enough to take part in two sessions from visiting author, Adam Bushnell.
In our morning session, Adam told the story of Stone Soup and the children enjoyed joining in with actions and funny voices! The children then had to create a scary monster mask to scare the wolf in the story away.
In the afternoon session, Adam told the story of the Lambton Worm. The children then had to draw their own dragon, similar to the one that featured in the story.
We also got to meet Adam's tortoise, Jet and have a look at a real shield, sword, helmet and armour! We had a brilliant day and Adam was very complimentary of the children's behaviour and attitude - well done Gateshead! Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Week beginning 9th January 2023
Happy New Year everyone and welcome back to our Spring term. It sounds like everyone had a fun and relaxing Christmas - the children arrived at school on Monday with a smile on their face and full of excitement to be back.
This half term our PSHE topic is 'Dreams and Goals'. In this weeks session we watched Jigsaw Jennie try to build a tower of blocks. Although the tower kept falling over she didn’t give up. We discussed how each time the tower fell her brain was growing a bit stronger. After a few attempts and lots of perseverance and determination Jennie successfully built her tower. This led to a lovely discussion about not giving up, learning from our mistakes and having a growth mindset. We then listened to the story ‘Giraffes can’t dance’ and noticed that, when Gerald the Giraffe used his growth mindset, he was able to dance with the other animals. We will continue to develop a ‘Growth Mindset’ approach over the coming weeks which will continue throughout the year.
A great start to our new Jigsaw topic everyone - well done!