What a lovely day for our egg and spoon race challenge. It looks like the children had lots of fun!
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Look what came in the post! Maisy, thank you for taking the time to write us a lovely letter. It is good to know lots of you are working hard, taking part in our challenges and learning lots of new thing too. We hope you are all staying safe and we can’t wait to see you all again soon.
We were delighted to see children from across the school take part in our Easter/Spring themed scavenger hunt as part of the daily challenged.
Today, we have been busy completing our space themed craft. They have definitely shown how creative they are with these amazing creations!
Over the past year we have been trying hard to improve the School Library which was in need of a little TLC. In September we were lucky enough to be selected to take part in Puffin World of Stories to help us improve our school Library space.
What is Puffin World of Stories?
Puffin World of Stories is jointly delivered by the National Literacy Trust, an independent literacy charity, and Puffin, the UK’s leading children’s publisher. Puffin World of Stories has provided us with training for staff and resources to help us champion reading for pleasure and creativity in our school.
As well as giving us lots of tips and advice, Puffin World of Stories has sent us a whopping 300 Free books for our school library!
The delivery arrived in school and I cant wait to see these wonderful books added to our shelves soon for the children to enjoy. If you look carefully below you might spot a sneaky peak at some of our new books…
There are a wealth of resources available online to continue to support all of our children with their reading during school closures. Please use the following links.
Oxford Owl
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/
Create your own free account and you can browse a wide range of their books in ebook and audiobook version. You can select books by your child’s age range. This is also a reading scheme we use in school.
Collins Big Cat e-books and worksheets
https://collins.co.uk/pages/big-cat-ebooks
This gives a parent login and then you can browse their available ebooks and there are related printable worksheets linked to most books. This is also a reading scheme we use in school.
Audible
https://stories.audible.com/start-listen
The amazon company – audible are now providing free audiobooks for the duration of the school closures. All stories are free to stream on desktop computers, laptops, phones or tablets.
BorrowBox
This is an app which can be downloaded onto a phone or tablet and used if you have a library membership where you can access a wide range of ebooks and audiobooks.
Year 1 loved reading the Storm Whale as part of English. They used role play to explore how the main character, Noi, might be feeling in the story, we have fantastic actors in Year 1!
The children also wrote instructions on how to play snakes and ladders, then had a go at playing the game.
At Harton Primary school the children are not the only ones who LOVE reading! We all do…so we thought we would put the children to the test and see if they can identify us by our favourite books!
Why not have a go for yourself? How well do you know us?
On Monday 16th March, Y1M visited The Word. The children were very excited to explore the library because they just LOVE reading!
When we arrived, we got to go into the story room. Jolene our Librarian read us a brilliant story called “Silly Billy” by Anthony Browne.
This story is about a little boy has so many worries he can’t sleep at night. At first he feels really silly for being worried but when he talks to his Grandmother she makes him feel better. She tells Billy that everyone has worries and gives him some worry dolls to share his worries with. Telling the worry dolls his worries helps Billy to sleep at night.
After reading the story the class designed and named their own worry dolls and thought about any worries they might have.
Before leaving the library we also had a chance to explore the shelves… we loved looking at all the new books and some of the children became members, borrowing books to take home.
Hi everyone,
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.
