Here comes the sun!

16th July 2021Daniel Harrison

We’ve had some lovely sunny weather to end the year here at Blythdale and this week the children have been preparing to say goodbye for the summer and celebrating all of their hard work over the year.

The children have started the week with phonics, working on their reading and spelling, and have continued to do their daily handwriting practice and one-to-one reading with staff. The children have read the story Leaf in class, about a polar bear that gets lost and ends up in a forest, to finish off our habitats topic. Using this as inspiration, they have revisited their computing skills to make up their own lost animal stories using an online storyboard creator.

Thinking about European foods, the children have been in the cookery room again this week, independently mixing up batter and cooking this to make sweet crepes, which they ate with fresh fruit and berries that they prepared. The children have also been on a visit to nearby Chase Farm park. They have been learning about using their left and right to tell direction, and have practiced their independence and road safety skills, taking it in turns to lead the group safely to and from the park.

As a reward to celebrate the children’s hard work this year 6B have also had a movie morning, a sports activity morning and have had some social time at the end of the week to play games together and talk with their friends.

All that is left to say is well done to all of 6B, you have worked so hard and grown up so much this year! Daniel, Catherine and Pauline wish you all the best for next year and hope you have a great summer!

Bird watch!

15th July 2021Chloe Downey

This week we have focused on bird homes around the area. We looked for birds within the school garden and thought about how their homes help keep them safe from predators and happy with lots of food to survive. We created our own birds nests made from the natural materials that we collected.

We made some bird feeders using pine cones, string, raisins, cheese, lard and seeds. Delicious! We look forward to spoiling our lovely birds with their treats!

Message from Northumberland Communities Together

14th July 2021Lee Wilkinson

Dear Parent/Carer,

We are writing to you with an exciting opportunity for children and young people this summer.

Thanks to the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) and funding we have received from the National Lottery we will be able to run a range of holiday programmes across the summer break.

The fully funded programmes mean children and young people of all ages will be able to take part in a range of enriching activities including sport, music, dance, drama, art, cooking, and gardening. The programme of events will also give them the opportunity to learn new skills and the chance to socialise with others and make new friends.

Those who attend will also receive a healthy meal as part of our commitment to ensure those who receive free school meals in term time continue to do so should they attend some of the activities taking place.

If you want to find out what is on offer in your area, please contact Northumberland Communities Together for more information.

Phone the Northumberland Communities Together Response Hub on 01670 620015 9am-6pm, 7 days a week or email: NCT@northumberland.gov.uk.

SMILE Through Sport Summer Activities

13th July 2021Lee Wilkinson
SMILE Through Sports programme for disabled children and their siblings is here! Looking for activities this summer they’ve got beach sessions, multi-sport sessions, outdoor adventure sessions and adapted cycling sessions in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and Durham.
Sessions are for disabled children and their siblings aged 10 years and over, as well as family sessions for the whole family.
Please find attached their Summer Programme posters for each area.
Bookings open tomorrow, Wednesday 14th July at 1pm. To book visit www.bookwhen.com/smilethroughsport
Please note for the beach sessions we are linking with Beach Access North East, who provide accessible beach wheelchairs.

Oh I do like to 6B beside the seaside!

9th July 2021Daniel Harrison

This week the children of 6B have moved on to focus their learning on the North American continent, thinking about southern habitats in the form of beaches, and the more northerly habitats of Canada and the arctic tundra.

The children have been in the cookery room making their own homemade burgers and fries in the style of the United states of America, practicing all of the safety skills they have learned to safely use peelers, knives, ovens and hobs. Further thinking about personal safety, the children have considered the risks they might have faced on our beach visit later in the week, and discussed ways in which they could reduce the chance of any harm by these risks. On Wednesday morning 6B went out to visit the beach, carrying out a beach-comb to find interesting objects and talking about some of the creatures that might live on beaches, before going on to create a nature inspired piece of artwork using all of their found materials. On their return to the classroom, the children looked through the photographs of the day and shared their favourite memories, before creating a memory board using the laptops and their favourite pictures of the day.

Moving further north in North America, the children created mobile food chains by linking together paper plate animals to show off their knowledge of Arctic habitats and the creatures that live there. In outdoor learning, the children have discovered what it’s like to be a fireman, trying on the uniform, carrying out a search and rescue operation in the garden and even seeing what it’s like to run through a burning building with the help of the smoke machine.
As well as this the children have done their usual speaking and listening activities, describing pictures for their friends to draw by using 2D shape vocabulary, phonics activities, reading and playing games to practice their social skills.

Amazing Amazon

8th July 2021Daniel Harrison

Continuing our journey around the world this week, 6B have been learning about the continent of South America and the Amazon rainforest. The children have looked at where South America is located in the world and have focused on finding out about rainforest habitats.

They have learned about different carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and worked in teams to fit the animals into food chains. The children have then described their food chains, using their ICT skills to record sentences onto the electronic storyboards, before writing their descriptions in their workbooks. The children have also thought about planning an Amazon safari, planning out routes to see different animals depending on the best times of the day to see each one and showing these times – at o’clock, half past and quarter past – on blank clock faces. As well as this they have thought about how to measure time using minutes and seconds, and taken part in a number of different jungle-related activities, estimating how long they expected each activity to take them to complete and then timing themselves with stopwatches.

The children have used different shades of green and brown paint with a range of objects and materials to print a rainforest scene and added different Amazon animals to it. They have used books and news reports to research the Amazon rainforest and have used this information to create a storyboard script to record their own news reports on the school cameras, with a particular focus on the damage being done to the rainforest by humans

Thinking about popular food from South American countries, 6B have cooked their own tortillas and safely chopped vegetables to make some tasty fajitas this week in the cookery room. As well as this the children have practised their reading and spelling in phonics and continued learning how to work together as a team through social games and activities.

A Bug’s Life!

8th July 2021Chloe Downey

This week we have been on a minibeast adventure! We visited Plessey Woods and explored the school garden to find minibeasts in their natural environment. We compared their similarities and differences using viewfinders to study their features.

We thought about the different microhabitats that minibeasts live in and used our knowledge to create fact files. We chose materials that would suit each insect and created comfy bug hotels.

Week 4 – The Rainforest

8th July 2021Beth Thompson

This week we have looked at rainforests as part of our habitats topic. We loved looking at the different types of animals and plants that live there. We even watched an orangutan documentary and drew pictures of them. We also learned about sloths and wrote our own sloth stories, describing them and writing about what they like to do.

Our favourite activity this week was a food taste test. Our jungle explorer friend sent us a package with different exotic fruits. We tried lots of new things that we had not even heard of and completed a taste test observation sheet, drawing what we liked and didn’t like.

We did lots of crafts this week too, including foot and hand painting as well as making our own rainforest shoe box. In maths we looked at estimation and number ordering, which we were all amazing at.

We talked about the importance of the rainforests and explored deforestation. Class 2 discussed why we need to look after the forests and what we can do to help. Well done.

Next week we will round up our habitats topic by explored ocean habitats. Have a happy, healthy weekend.