During geography week, while working at home, the children were given work to research the local area of South Shields. This included looking at different industries that have been present in South Shields at different time periods, looking at natural features of the area and famous people who came from our area. Some work completed handwritten, others have used internet images and their own drawings to make a PowerPoint. Here are some excellent examples that the children have shared:
Friday the 8th of May is the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War 2 in Europe.
To celebrate, the staff wanted to send a message to both celebrate this event and send a message to the children in the current situation, set to the classic song “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn.
Being at home hasn’t stopped Year 4 from working incredibly hard. They were given the task of researching different aspects of Ancient Egyptian history including their daily lives, their religious beliefs and the mummification process. Check out these fantastic examples of the posters and PowerPoints they produced! We are so proud of them!
There are a wealth of resources available online to continue to support all of our children with computing during school closures. Please use the following links to play online or download apps to your tablet/phones.
Simple step by step coding for children to create their own games – and suited for all ages. Free download from Apple Store or Google Play Store.
Tons of different coding opportunities that are designed to help children progress up to and over an hour of coding and debugging codes. Complete with a certificate at the end to show their achievement.
For Key Stage 2 (Year 3-6), use Scratch to create games using different levels of instructions and codes – from movements to sounds. Play different games made by users and see the codes that made them run.
Simply follow the link: https://scratch.mit.edu/ and create a free account by clicking Join Scratch in the top right.
Digital Escape Room
Using the ICTinSchool website to solve different puzzles and use critical thinking to help escape different types of rooms – from space stations to haunted houses.
I hope you are all keeping well. Just an update on the Musical activities that the children have been undertaking at Harton so far this year.
Each Year group has access to new music software called ‘Charanga’. There are hundreds of modern songs and each scheme enables children to use musical instruments to accompany their compositions.
In Year 3, the children have been learning how to play the Djembe drums. They have learned how to follow patterns, understand the connection between ‘tempo’ and ‘pulse’ and maintain a steady beat. They have been doing so well!
In Year 4, Mr Bird has been teaching the children how to play the keyboard. They have learned basic key notation and how to play some simple melodies. It is sounding great!
Year 5 children have been working with a teacher from South Tyneside’s Music Hub called Rhys. Two classes in Year 5 so far have been using the Ipads to create music on an app called ‘GarageBand’. The children are shown how to compose a simple beat pattern and then add in other instruments. They explore a different range of tempo and sequences and create a ‘layered’ piece of music that even the best DJ artists would be proud of!
Here are some examples of the music the children in Year 5 composed, using the app ‘GarageBand’
A selection of Year 6 children have had the opportunity to learn a brass instrument with Mr. Storey in a small group setting. They have learned basic notation, some more complex pieces of music and are beginning to learn how to read music.
Every Year group has Singing with Mr. Richardson where they practise songs for a concert which is performed for all parents. These sessions are vital for children to learn the correct pitch, tempo and harmonies required in each song.
We hope this gives an insight into all the wonderful music which is taking place as we continue to promote the Arts here at Harton.
To celebrate the work the Harton Primary Puzzlers put into their First Lego League project, the local Newspaper the Shields Gazette wrote an article about them.
Read about our success at the Regional competition below.
School children to compete in national Lego League competition with design of solar-powered tram for King Street
A team of primary school children from South Shields will put their skills to the test in the final of the national Lego League competition this weekend.
Pupils from Years 5 and 6 at Harton Primary School won the First Lego League competition at a regional tournament held at The Word in South Shields in December 2019.
Now Caitlin Kerr, Chloe Hill, Ruby Bird and Evie Wardale, Daniel Allen, Electra Myers, Daniel Jack and Sophie Mustafa – aka the Harton Primary Puzzlers – will travel to Bristol to represent the region in the finals.
The competition will take place at the University of West England (UWE) on Saturday, February 22 with the Puzzlers going up against more than 70 teams from around the country.
The Harton Primary Puzzlers are through to the national Lego League competition
This will be the second time the Year 6 students have made it this far, after successfully reaching the finals last year – but a first for Caitlin, Chloe, Ruby and Evie.
The international Lego League competition sees students research real-world problems such as food safety, recycling or energy. They then design and build a robot, using Lego Mindstorms technology, and compete on a table-top playing field.
The team took their inspiration from some of the issues facing their hometown for this year’s theme ‘city shapers’.
They designed an eco-friendly, solar-powered tram to travel down King Street and help tackle traffic congestion in the area.
The children reached out to a range of experts for advice and support, including Nexus, the solar panel company PowerRoll and South Tyneside Council.
They will now present their idea to a panel of judges at the finals, as well as completing other Lego tasks on the day.
Team coach and Year 5 teacher Lee Forster commented: “The children have worked really hard all year- giving up many of their playtimes to practise both the robot game and the presentation. It’s been great to see them so motivated and working together.”
Harton Primary headteacher, Karen Ratcliffe added: “This competition has given our pupils the opportunity to think like engineers and scientists and I am extremely proud of their achievements in winning the overall competition.”
Each class in year 4,5 and 6 has been designated a ‘Digital Leader’ who’s job it is to identify popular used apps within each class and help inform everyone – children, teachers and parents – of the guidelines or purposes of the apps being used.
Working in year groups, they completed a survey with each class to see which apps are used the most and asking the children what they think the minimum age each app. They then found out the correct answer and informed each class – as well as the parents using MarvellousMe.
Here is each year groups top 3 for Spring:
Year 4
App
Estimated Age
Actual Age limit
Roblox
Between 3+ and 13 years old
13 years old
TicTok
Between 10 and 14 years old
13 years old
WhatsApp
8 years old
16 years old
Year 5
App
Estimated Age
Actual Age limit
YouTube
6 years old
18 years old (13 with permission)
TicTok
Between 12 and 14 years old
13 years old
Roblox
Between 7 and 10 years old
13 years old
Year 6
App
Estimated Age
Actual Age limit
SnapChat
Between 11 and 16 years old
13 years old
Instagram
Between 12 and 17 years old
13 years old
Youtube
Between 10 and 18 years old
18 years old (13 with permission)
The Digital Leaders will be conducting these and other surveys throughout the year.
Junior Lego League have been thinking about different buildings and architecture around South Shields. We discussed the different features of buildings and chose some buildings that we liked . We sketched out the building and discussed the structure. We then used Lego to start to build our chosen building!
In the middle of our half term, the Harton Primary Puzzlers met at Newcastle Airport – excited for their trip to Bristol for the First Lego League England and Wales Final.
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On Saturday the 22nd of February, we set off the University of West England to the competition, setting up our information board at table 50 in the pit.
After the opening ceremony, we had to quickly change into our costumes to give deliver the best and last presentation on our idea for a solar powered tram to help boost interest in South Shields town centre. After than we had to run to the Robot Game table for our first of three attempts to score as many points as possible. Lets watch:
The day was full of interesting activities, on top of the usual Core Values, Robot Design discussion and practice tables for the robot game. The teams spoke to other teams, interviewed by the IET team and, of course, had lunch.
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With all our practices over, our last robot game was on table 1, with all the cameras on us. Below is the live stream of our last game (If time link doesn’t work, time is 4:42:20):
On the final tables we came 20th, out of 66 teams. But with teams with joint scores, we had the 13th highest score on the day! The Harton Primary Puzzlers worked their socks off, did themselves (and their teachers) proud, and had a great day!
We know the importance of staying safe online, steps to take if there’s an instance of cyberbullying, and awareness of age appropriate apps, games and websites. Mr Forster’s assembly highlighted this, and pupils took part in related activities throughout the day.
Our digital leaders visited classes to conduct a survey on app and internet usage, and the uses and appropriateness of online content.
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