gt - issue 5 feb 13
DESCRIPTION
The second issue of the newspaper produced by the children.TRANSCRIPT
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Written by the children for the whole school community
GORSELAND TIMES the best newspaper in the world!!
For the first time, an issue of The Gorseland Times contains an article for every
class, which is something we would like to continue each half term. The long-term plan
is to combine the articles into a yearbook for each class, which the children take with
them as they join a new teacher until they have a full record of their learning in Year
6. We are hoping this will be a great memory aid for their learning.
The first half of the Spring Term was short (only 29 school days) but there were
several highlights. For many people, the snow was an exciting time. The sight of a
variety of snow sculptures around the school made me wonder whether they came to
life at night and had a party. This term’s learning has featured pets in school (p.6-8),
burning buildings (p.10-12), a Mission to Mars (p.28) and more sporting success (p.30-
32).
We hope you enjoy reading the articles about the children written by the children.
Inside this ISSUE:
Page Page
2 Upcoming Events 15 Mr Guite’s Class
3 Learning in Nursery 16 Mrs Cracknell’s Class
4 Mrs Fitzgerald’s Class 17 Mrs Harris’ and Mrs Taylor’s Class
5 Mrs Jarvis’ Class 18 Mrs Aldous’ Class
6 Mrs Florey’s and Mrs Bailie’s Class 20 Mr Woodward’s Class
8 Mrs Doorly’s Class 21 Mr Trinder’s Class
9 Miss Stanley’s Class 22 Mr Sampson’s Class
10 Mrs Adelson’s Class 24 Miss Downey’s Class
12 Mrs Slattery’s and Mrs Waller’s Class 26 Learning Heroes Come to Life in Y6
13 Mrs Wallace’s and Miss North’s Class 28 Key Stage 2 on the Red Planet
14 Mrs Bowskill’s & Mrs Hardwicke’s Class 30 Athletics County Final
32 Basketball Tournament
ISSUE 5
February 2013
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Upcoming Events This year Gorseland are holding Red Nose Day and World Book Day on the same day. The date of this event will be Friday the 15th of March, although World Book Day is still the 7th we are just not holding it on this date. You, yes you, could be a hero. By simply giving some money to the school, that will then go to the Red Nose Day Fund. Did you know that if everyone in Britain gave £1 to the Red Nose Day Fund (Comic Relief) it would be a total of around £60,000,000? The money goes around the world, to help children and adults who are suffering, from deathly diseases. The theme of the Red Noses this year is… Dinosaurs!
World Book Day is about YOUR favourite books and book characters. This year’s theme is… humorous books, so you can come as a funny book character. Every year everyone gets a book token; this token represents a free book. Some books have been shortened to encourage the reader to read the full length, and some are the original length. To find out more please visit:
http://www.worldbookday.com/
By Sydney & Holly (6B)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Learning in Nursery
Introduction Nursery is a fun and easy way for the smaller children to learn and play. The children
are always eager to learn whatever the activity they are going to do. They have been
up to lots of fun activities such as doing going on a bear
hunt and learning about Chinese New Year.
‘We’re Going On a Bear Hunt’ One of their most recent activities was ‘We’re Going on
a Bear Hunt’. The children read the book, and then acted
it out in their PE lessons. When we asked the class what
their favourite part was, most of them said, “THE BEAR BIT!!!”
Learning Letters and Numbers As well as playing, the children have fun with chicken, ladybird and Mr Hand helping
them to learn their numbers and letters. “I like learning letters” said Cameron.
Although they have their puppets, they also have a giant abacus
to help them count numbers and counting how many people
come to nursery each day. Zion said, “Counting numbers with the
abacus is fun!”
Chinese New Year Earlier this year, Nursery celebrated Chinese New Year of the
Snake. The children did lots of different activities including
creating snakes, Chinese cooking, role-play and making music
with a variety of instruments.
The snow In January when the snow finally came to us, the nursery children had fun out in their
playhouse as well as making snowy pictures in the warmth of their classroom. They
had an enthusiastic time exploring ice.
Conclusion As you can see nursery have been busy learning lots and
having fun over the last term. They are hoping to do many
more activities to extend their learning of numbers and
letters.
By Tash 6B, Grace and Jake (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
MRS FITZGERALD’S CLASS
On the 25th of February 2013, we interviewed Mrs Fitzgerald’s
reception class to find out what they had been getting up to last term.
We had the privilege of finding out that the children had great fun
learning about the wonderful Chinese New year, treacherous polar
bears, and exciting emperor penguins. You could tell they had fun,
because they were ecstatic when answering the questions.
We found out that, when they were researching, it was challenging to
retrieve information. They are going to Jimmy’s Farm on Thursday the
7th of March, so they were pumped up for that.
Their Main Topic
Their main topic was Chinese New Year. Some of the children found it
quite challenging to research this information. Also baking and eating
biscuits helped them learn too! Although their main focus was on this
subject, they also had fun learning other subjects, too!
Habits of Mind
Reception has been enjoying their writing, but they think they could do
better, and because of this, they are using the Habit of Minds:
persisting, thinking about how you learn, and being accurate and
precise. They are very proud of themselves!
Summary
Ultimately, it sounds like these reception kids were fanatical about
their learning last term, and they will enjoy their lives at Gorseland.
By Luke and Jasmine, 6A
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mrs Jarvis’ Class Mrs Jarvis`s class have been learning about
Chinese New Year, the Arctic and addition
sums. The highlights of their term were
cooking Chinese food and then eating it,
making colourful Chinese dragons, learning
their phonics (how to pronounce words), and
learning about polar bears. They have also
made some bird food to hang in their
gardens. What do you know about the Arctic,
Chinese New Year and sums? Mrs Jarvis would like the children to
remember: phonics, how to listen carefully,
how to help when tidying up and general
number work. All of the children have
enjoyed these lessons.
Last term, Reception 1 was reading lots of
books in class and at the library, such as:
Arctic Animals, Alien School, Haunted House,
Super Worm, and Dogs like Drawing. As they
did with their topics, the children had a good
time reading these books together. What
books have you read this term?
Surprisingly, it started to snow, and that also
links in with their topic, so they got a feel of
what it was like in the Arctic (but not as cold
as they thought it would be though!). Here
are some photos showing what they have
learnt.
Mrs Jarvis’s class making their bird food to
hang in their garden at home or in school.
Mrs Jarvis’s class have had a lot of fun making
their bird food I hope the birds enjoyed eating
it as much as the children have enjoyed
making them.
This is one of the snow pictures they took
when the played in the snow.
By Jasmine (6B) and Henry (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mrs Florey and Mrs Bailie’s Class (1A)
What have they been learning about?
Last half term, the Year 1 classes learnt about pets and farm animals.
While learning about pets, they held a Pet Morning, where the children
brought their pet in (if they owned one) for the morning. The parents who
owned the pets came too, so they could look after them. It was a fun and
eventful morning for the children to get to know other people’s pets.
These are two of the most interesting pets brought in for 1A to find out
about- a bearded dragon and a tortoise.
The children read some animal themed books as a class. Two of the
favourites were ‘Farmer Duck’ and ‘Lazy Ozzie’. There are many more
besides these two as well.
Some children told us which facts they thought were the most interesting.
They learnt a lot about cows and how they are milked as well as how
chickens lay their eggs in the winter and sit on them to keep them warm.
Also they learnt lots about names of baby animals- for instance; a baby pig
is called a piglet.
Although the children enjoy learning, it’s sometimes quite hard. The
children mostly thought that writing was the hardest thing to do, but
drawing pictures of animals was quite tricky for them too.
However, ALL the children strongly agreed that Year 1 was not harder
than Reception, although Mrs Bailie commented, ‘Sometimes the children
The Gorseland Times February 2013
don’t realise how hard they work!’ We here at The Gorseland Times agree
with Mrs Bailie; take a look at these fantastic pieces of homework about
the children’s pets!
On the left is Sophie’s homework
about her pet dog Truffle!
The piece of homework on the right is
by Zak, about his dog George!
Mrs Florey and Mrs Bailie’s class worked extremely hard last half term!
Let’s hope they continue the good work!
By Maddy and Liam (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mrs Doorly’s Class (1B)
Mrs Doorly’s class had an exciting term when they learned about animals, maths
and did lots of cooking.
Pets Morning
The whole of year 1 participated in a fun yet interesting
activity called Pets Morning. They could bring their own
pets in to show everyone their furry friends! There were loads of
pets including: a slow tortoise, a gerbil, four dogs, guinea pigs (one of
which was called Smasher), cats, rabbits and a bearded dragon called
Stacey.
Maths
The enthusiastic year ones have been practising their number bonds to 10. They
also had been learning their 2, 5 and 10 times table. Some of the children find
this particular task challenging but they persevered in the same way they did for
their skipping.
Cooking
Mrs Doorly’s class are probably going to be future chefs, as they have been
doing a lot of delicious cooking and baking. They have
cooked vegetable soup, animal biscuits and of
course pancakes (food for the gods). But
obviously the best bit was the eating!
Story Time
In story time, Mrs Doorly would read books to her class. Because the topic was
animals, she read animal stories. The stories included Little Ba, Animal, Floss,
Little Red Hen, Emma’s Lamb and not forgetting Farmer Duck. They also acted
these wonderful stories out.
By Sam, Dan and Safie (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Miss Stanley’s Class
Each week Mrs Fitzgerald’s Class
and Miss Stanley’s Class partner up
and share activities. When they
shared fact leaflets, the reception
children had made some wonderful leaflets about
penguins, which taught Year 2 about they care for
their young.
Year 2 have been learning about
fire; they have been reading ‘Tiger
Child’ by Joanna Troughton. They
went on to make face leaflets comparing tigers and
cats. The children shared the part
they were most proud of and
tried to remember one fact.
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Introduction
Mrs Adelson’s class have been learning a lot last term. Here are some of
the things they told us:
They have been learning about electricity; one of the children learnt
not to play with wires.
Some of the children talked about materials, castles and the Fire of
London.
They found some learning hard like: how to halve; changing quickly for
P.E.; handwriting and Big Maths Beat That.
Fire of London
Their favourite things they have done was making little houses and burning
them down to remake the Fire of London in miniature size. Here are some
pictures of burning their houses down.
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Dragon Stories
2C have been reading lots of books like Tiger Child, Bubble Blowing Dragon
and Dragon Machine. You can really see how much they like their dragon
stories. Here is one of the dragon stories they have written:
They had a busy term last half term especially writing dragon stories, art,
model making, burning London houses, electricity, maths and learning the 5
times table. By Ollie (6A) and Yan (6B)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mrs Slattery and Mrs Waller’s Class Earlier this week we visited Mrs
Slattery and Mrs Waller’s class to
talk to them about what they had
been doing last term. They had
been learning about the great fire
of London and electricity. We are
going to write about their best
moments and what they enjoyed
throughout the term.
Most of the children enjoyed
learning about the great fire of
London because they enjoyed
burning the paper house and
writing a diary of Samuel Peeps.
Other children enjoyed electricity
more because they had to find out
how to make circuits and how to
build them. However, they found
this challenging because there
were so many choices on how to
build the circuit. Also women came
in and showed them a DVD about
electricity. The children were
really glad that now they know how
to keep safe with electricity. Mrs
Waller wants the children to
remember how to keep safe
around electricity and wants the
children to stay safe.
Next, we asked what their
favourite lesson was. They replied:
“Our favourite lesson was making
the stir fry for Chinese new year.”
The highlight of the term for the
children was when they made a
London street out of paper and
material and then burnt them.
They watched a small flame
gradually get bigger. They thought
it was fantastic.
The children found year one easier
and year two harder because of
the English, Maths and they have
to practise their times tables a lot
more. They found this challenging.
The habits of mind that they used
were respecting others in what
you do, thinking flexibly,
persevering even when it is tough
and taking responsible risks.
By Alice, Molly (6B) and Daisy (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
This term SSC1 have had a lot of fun doing exciting
activities. This is what they have done:
What were you learning about this term? They have
worked really hard to build an aeroplane. The result was
perfection!!! Also they’ve been listening to the story of the
naughty bus. The story was about a bus that was up to
mischief and they decided to test this. They found a little toy bus, put it
on a table, told it to “stay still, naughty bus” and left it on the table
overnight. When they came back the next day, the naughty bus had
disappeared. They searched the school and do you know
where they found the naughty bus? Well, they found him in
Mo’s jelly!!! Naughty bus! You can find the book of Naughty
Bus if you ask Mrs Ling. This book sounds a lot of fun!
This term they have had a lot of fun but some things they
found challenging. Most of them found catching a ball in P.E challenging .
Lately they have been working independently and they have found that
more difficult than working in a group, in a pair or with a helper.
The highlight of the term so far for SSC1 is their parents coming in for
Valentine’s Day. They made heart designed biscuits which they ate soon
after. Yum Yum! SSC1 also made love bug lollies and they tasted
scrumptious.
By the sounds of things they have had lots and lots of
pleasurable learning activities.
By Alice (6B) and Eddie (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
The Snowman and the Snow Dog
Lighthouses
Measuring the background
for the timeline.
Mrs Bowskill’s and Mrs Hardwicke’s Class
When we were asked to write a newspaper article
about a particular class it promised to be an exciting
project due to the unknown class and anonymous
questions. Visiting Mrs Bowskill’s room, we were
enthusiastic about completing this task.
Firstly, we asked the question: What were you
learning last term? They replied that they had been studying The Snowman and The
Snow Dog film by researching the years between the first film and the sequel.
Although their main focus was on the latest film, they looked at how Raymond Briggs
would get to your emotions, without sound. Another book they had read was The
Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage, a topic that included a
timeline. Their general attention centred on journeys.
The class agreed that they found a recent lesson in doubling
challenging as well as space week, which they enjoyed taking part
in.
Their highlight appeared to be an adventure into modelling.
Sticking true to their subject they built fantastic 3D lighthouses,
capturing their height and famed red and white stripes. Another
emphasis was placed upon some target rockets to show what they
had achieved.
Their teachers had decided that they wanted them to remember
capital letters and full stops, something that we all have to remember
when writing. They were also asked to follow instructions carefully.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch and Cat were both favourites as topics for last term
while the P.E lesson involving frames and mats took top place for the favourite
lesson. Another enjoyed lesson, as the children described, was swimming.
We really enjoyed speaking to SSC2 and loved writing this article.
By Amy, Ellie and George (6A).
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mr Guite’s Class (3A)
French
In French I most enjoy writing in French. We also play bingo it’s the
same in English but you have to say it in French.
For Christmas we had to draw a snow man and number the colours
mine had ear muffs.
It was fun when we drew a rainbow and wrote the colours in French.
When we first went, Mrs Cook put on the board Bonjour la classe.
By Holly (3A)
Teeth TEETH
HEALTHY TEETH
How do you have clean teeth?To have clean teeth you should go to the dentist at least 1 time in 6 months. You should also not eat many sugary foods and definitely brush your teeth twice a day, morning and night .
Teeth brushBrush your teeth gently , and change your brush at least once in 3 months. Brush in a circular direction, softly , not leaving all the plaque behind.
What to eat ?Eat food with not much sugar in it , but you can eat some now and then . Chocolate, ice cream , lollies , milkshakes and sweeties have sugar in them.
PARTS OF YOUR TEETH
These teeth are your molars . They are at the back of your mouth. They help you grind your food .
These are your canines . They are very sharp , as they help you tear your food . They are in the middle of your molars and incisors .
These are your incisors .They help you slice your food. They are at the front of your mouth.
This is your enamel .It is the hardest part of your body .
These are your roots. They hold the tooth into the gum.
These are your nerves .The blood gets carried through them to your tooth.
By Asmee (3A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mrs Cracknell’s Class (3B)
We recently done a class assembly about forgiveness. We acted out
the story of The Prodigal Son, William acted the part of the son. We
sang a song by Kelly Clarkson called ‘I Forgive You’. 3B had to
practise several times in class. I had two pieces to say, one was a lot
shorter than the other. William had the most to say!
By Evie Gilbert – 3B
Before half term we had an art lesson where we were learning how
to sketch. We practised sketching by listening to different speeds of
music and letting the pencil do the work. When we had learnt how
to sketch we listened to a poem called ‘The Hippocrump’. Next we
were able to design our own Hippocrump from the description, we
did this in our sketchbooks. After that we drew them on a piece of
paper and then were able to paint them whatever colours we
wanted to.
Zack Weir- 3B
On Shrove Tuesday we all got to make a pancake. We worked in a
group of six. The ingredients we used were flour, eggs and milk,
some oil for the pan and lemon and sugar as a topping. Everyone
had a turn to mix the batter. We had to tidy up after ourselves and
do the washing up too! Mrs Cook helped us to pour the mixture
carefully into the pan and we watched it cook. We used a spatula to
flip our pancakes. The best bit was eating them!
By Jainie Prior- 3B
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Art
From the beginning of the year until now, 4B have
studied three topics. Their favourite topic was
Ancient Egyptians. They decorated
some paper to make it look like real Egyptian work. These were
beautifully coloured and designed. Here are some pictures to show
you how wonderful they really are and how hard they worked.
Books
This year, 4B have read three books. This is what they are:
The Lion the Witch and
the Wardrobe
The Scarab’s Secret
Sky Sisters
PE
In PE they were playing bench ball. It is their most favourite sport they have done so
far and are very good at communicating with each other when play. Their teachers
have said that when playing bench ball, the class work well in a team.
Assembly
This class have had their first year 4 assembly and in it was lots of humour. They
got into groups of four and had to be either Horrid Henry Family or The
Simpsons Family. If you were there, you would have heard lots of laughter in the
main hall. The class worked very hard on this assembly and used many things to
make it interesting. Haven’t they worked hard this term and what a wonderful
class they are? If any of you teachers have them in year 5 you will always have a
smile on your face as they are amazing with team work, art and many other
things.
By Yasmin and Tom (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mrs Aldous’ Class (4A)
PE
This term we have learnt how to play football. Mrs Aldous class have been doing
skills and matches. We liked about doing the penalties against the goalie.
Archer and James
We have been doing football in P.E. It is our second week doing football because
of the horrible conditions outside we have not been able to get outside to do it!
We really want to do football more often. Oh when will the weather be better!?
By Ethan
To my astonishment this term we were doing football which is my favourite
sport. First we did football skills it was very marvellous because we all worked
as a team and at the end of P.E we did a penalty shoot-out just
for fun!
By Elliot and Tom
In class 4A we have been learning about Ancient
Egypt. Mrs Aldous has been reading the Scarab’s
Secret, which is based in Ancient Egypt. It’s about a
scarab beetle that met a prince. When we finished
the book we had to write the prince’s diary in our own
way.
We got to make our own Egyptian stories. I did my
story about a scarab beetle called Pepi who lived in
the famous sphinx and Caitlyn’s story was about a
hand stealing the treasure in the tomb. We have enjoyed leaning about Ancient
Egypt.
By Blythe and Caitlyn
The Gorseland Times February 2013
C.L.I.C and Big Maths Beat That
Over this half term we have really enjoyed doing our C.L.I.C tests. Mostly all of
us have moved up a level so that means we practise every chance that we have.
A C.L.I.C test is a test where you have hard maths questions. You have
questions like 71x17. Once you get used to the hard questions they get easier
and easier.
Also over this half term we have enjoyed doing Big Maths Beat That. Big Maths
Beat That is a mental maths test where you have 42 questions to answer in a
minute. A few people can answer all 42 questions in a minute. It is very hard to
get all 42 but we try our best to get 42 questions right.
Alix and Olivia
Art
In art we have been doing hieroglyphics we learnt how to do our name in
hieroglyphics. We liked doing it because we found out how to do different
writing especially Egyptian’s writing. It was a lot of fun to do it.
Georgia and Abigail
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mr Woodward’s Class (5A)
Class 5A have been learning many things but their two main topics are Space and Victorians.
Victorians In their first term, they learnt about Victorians; how they dress, eat, sleep and live.
Their school trip was to Christchurch Mansion and they played loads of games and
activities with the Christchurch employees. They said that they really enjoyed their
trip but some just enjoyed the ride. From the trip, they learned to appreciate how
lucky they are compared to the poor children in Victorian times.
Y5 had a special Victorian day when this man came in to talk to them about Victorians
they all dressed up in a costume and they had Victorian foods. Lots of them had fun
and they all enjoyed it.
Space In their second term they learnt about space as their topic so they made a painting of
space and they made a class assembly about space in it was information about
different planets so how hot they were or what the terrain is like on the planet.
Freedom Y5 find being older better because they have more
opportunities to do things like swimming, activity
week, competitions and many more things.
Habits of Mind Year 5 have persisted in their topic work when they could not find the right
answer to the questions they were given about space. They also persisted in
their non-chronological report because they had a limited amount of time to
find the facts for their report. In science week, the year 5s used what they knew
already to help them with the challenging activities. Overall, Year 5 have used
most of the Habits of Mind to make sure they can learn all that they can in their
lessons.
By Bryony (6B) and Laurie (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Introduction
5B had been learning countless things last half term because there are so many things that
should be reported! We went to their class and asked the whole class about what they did
and asked how they felt about their feelings were against that subject. Many people found
all the subjects fun since Mr Trinder makes them enjoyable!
5B’s Main Topic
Mr Trinder’s class had been doing a topic about Space. Ben said that he knew nothing
about space, but then after science week, he knows lots! Many children said that their
favourite part in science week was when they all went into the Astrodome!
What they found challenging
Federico reported that the swimming tests he had to do was hard and some other people
said that their newspaper writing about aliens was hard because they had to understand
the mystery carefully, so they could write it in their own words. They also found PopArt
challenging because they had to be precise on their drawings.
Habits of Mind they used
When we went to their class to ask what Habits of Mind they used, they said: Managing
Impulsivity, Being Accurate and Precise, Persevering, Using what you know in new
situations, Thinking Flexibly, Asking Questions and Posing Problems.
Their favourite lessons and is being in a higher year better or worse?
Many people said a variety of things! These lessons included Maths, P.E., art, science and
ICT. The year fives enjoys their learning very much. We also asked them whether they found
being in a higher year better or worse; they all said BETTER!
Trips
The year fives went on a trip to the forest when it was snowing as a part of their suspense
writing. Here are some photos:
By Rahul and Olivia (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Mr Sampson’s Class (6A)
Last half term, 6A were learning about heroes. In our heroes topic
we have been writing a biography of a learning hero that inspires
us. We have also been drawing the hero that inspires us and we
used a variety of pastels and paint. We have also been doing a lot
of measuring in maths and we even made a scaled down drawing of
the classroom! We had lots of fun!
Some people found measuring the classroom quite tricky because you had to be very accurate and precise. If you even made one little mistake on scaling down the classroom, you may have had to start all over again!
Recently we have been reading a small but brilliant book called Clockwork. Although most of us vaguely remember the story, we do recommend it to you.
The highlight of year 6 was hard for me to choose because we have done many amazing things. But I think the highlight of last half term was doing the portraits and biographies and working on our animated adventures. In animated adventures we had to create a story using Microsoft PowerPoint and use animation styles, sound, textboxes and the animated adventures resources area. We are still working on them and we are all really pleased with them.
In our PE lessons we have been creating a dance routine in groups of 4 or 5. After deciding and practicing what to do in the dance routine we then performed to the class and on a video camera. The theme of our dance was about the solar system and many of us made shapes of meteors. If the dancers of that routine don’t mind then you can watch their performance.
Despite doing Maths and English we have also been doing other lessons such as French. In French we have recently been doing a
The Gorseland Times February 2013
speaking and listening test with our French teacher, Mrs Jablonski. This was to judge how well we can speak to other people in French. It was nerve-wracking, but fun!
Recently we have been asking Year 6 what their favourite lesson was and why and we have been getting great responses. Here are some quotes:
Laura: My favourite lesson is English because I love imaginative story writing.
Thomas: My favourite lesson is ICT because I like making animated adventures and stories.
Rohan: I love a variety of lessons but my favourite has to be maths because I like the problems and challenges.
Grace: My favourite lesson is music because I like playing musical instruments and listening to the great tunes.
We went round the class to find out if the people in Year 6 found being in Year 6 better or harder. The majority of the people thought that Year 6 was better because it challenges you further and you have more freedom.
Last half term we have been using a variety of habits of minds but we were mostly using the habits “persisting” and “being accurate and precise.” One example of using these two habits is when we were making a scaled down drawing of the classroom. We had to be very accurate and persistent.
Year 6 has had a busy half term but next half term we are hoping it is going to be even busier.
By Rohan and Laura (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Miss Downey’s Class (6B)
Miss Downey’s class, 6B,
have been doing lots of
projects over the last
term. This article will tell
you about various clubs,
lessons and other things
they have done.
6B were studying heroes
last term. In their
assembly, they included
information about heroes
that had been famous for
a range of things. Also in
their assembly, they
included a hero from a
story, Krindlekrax, they
had read and, Matthew,
the class register
challenge hero was also
involved.
The class really enjoyed
doing the assembly. They
also really enjoyed
Science Week.
Science Week was a big
challenge for the Year 6’s.
“It was challenging and
fun and something
different to what has
been done before,” says a
Year 6 girl.
As well as the general
challenges that came
with Science Week, the
Year 6’s also had to help
the younger children in
their group. Even though
it was tough, many
people thought it was
great and would jump at
the chance to do it again.
Several people in Year 6
take part in Change 4 Life,
The Gorseland Times February 2013
a club that gets Year 4
children and Year 6
children learning
together. St. Helen’s
school are new to Change
4 life, and 2 teachers will
be visiting Gorseland to
see how it is run here.
This puts a lot of pressure
on the Change 4 Life Year
6’s, as people from
outside the School will be
observing them.
The children feel that
now they are in a higher
year they have more
responsibility. Someone
even said that at some
clubs Mr Weatherby just
sits back and lets us do all
the work!
One of the biggest
changes for children in
Year 6 is getting ready for
High School. For them, it
is only months away. “I
feel worried about all the
homework!” says Tash.
Zoe says, “I’m excited
about all the
opportunities we will
have.” Over the next few
days, the Year 6’s will find
out which High School
they will be going to.
Miss Downey, the teacher
of 6B, says that the thing
she wants her class to
remember the most from
Year 6 is, “Give it
everything you’ve got and
be prepared to make
sacrifices like our learning
heroes.”
By Grace and Matthew
(6B)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Learning Heroes Come To Life In Year 6
In Year 6 we have been making portraits and writing biographies of learning
heroes and people who are a great inspiration to others. First, we had to do
some homework where we had to think of a learning hero, find interesting
things about their life and put them into a timeline.
A couple of weeks later, we went step-by-step through the process of how to
draw a good portrait. The steps were:
How do you create a realistic portrait of a learning hero?
Part 1: How do you draw portraits? Part 2: How do you mix the colour you need? How do you use a brush to bring the portrait to life? Part 3: Draw the outline Part 4: How do you bring the outline to life with colour?
Detailed hair with a mix of colours
Clear facial effects
Neat
Clearly Visible
Don't rush
Shading to show shadowy areas
Look carefully at the photo
Stroke the paint on to show the direction of the features. NO SCRUBBING
So next time you would like to draw a portrait maybe you would like to use these steps. We got to choose if we wanted to work in partners or individually, also whether we wanted to trace or draw it free hand. Most people chose to trace. We also got to decide whether to use paint or pastels. With our partners or by ourselves we drew the outline of our learning hero. After everyone had finished their
outline we all started to make the pictures come to life by using colours.
Once we had finished we had to cut out a white background to go in the frame
with our portrait and biography. We then started to write the biographies by
using the homework we had done a couple of weeks before.
When we had finished all of that, we had to put the portraits and biographies
into a clean frame here are some comments from a few people:
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Rahul: I found it awesome because it was a very good experience since we will
probably never get to do it again.
Ellie: I found it really challenging and fun but it was really annoying when the
background went wrong.
Bryony: I really enjoyed the art because we hadn’t done anything like this
before.
Lewis: It was ok but I thought it was going to be better.
Holly: I thought it was really fun and I enjoyed working with Ellie and I think our
portrait was really good once we had finished.
Jack: I thought at the start that I was definitely not going to finish but I
persevered and at the end I came out with a good David Beckham portrait
By Holly, Zoe and Jack (6A)
This year’s learning heroes portraits and biographies will be published on the
website soon. In the meantime, you could look at last year’s learning heroes
here.
Martin Luther-King
By Holly and Ellie
David Beckham
By Jack
Mae Jemison
By Zoe
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Key Stage Two on the Red Planet
Have you seen these posters? If you’re in Year 4, 5 or 6 you’ll know what it’s all about,
but if you’re not sure what this is, then read on!
Years 4, 5 and 6 were all jumbled up into six different classrooms, each named after a
different constellation- Draco, Pegasus, Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Perseus and Canis
Major. These might not mean much to you, but the stars in the constellations are most
important. Each group was named after a star, and in the Stars we had six questions
to answer:
Monday was a very controlled, relaxed day, but very interesting all the same. People
were very excited to find out who would be in their group, as no two people from the
same class were in the same group! Laura in class 6A says that, ‘Learning about food
chains was probably the best part of the day, because you got to find out how the
The Gorseland Times February 2013
cycle works.’ Once we had found out all the required information, we had to choose
how to present it. The only way we couldn’t show our information was with a
PowerPoint Presentation.
On Tuesday morning, 15 groups were scheduled for building GeoDomes and the other 15
were scheduled to make K’Nex structures. The idea was that after lunch the groups
would swap around, but the GeoDomes overran! Ellie, 6A, gives her opinion on Tuesday;
“It was really hard but really fun! I’m glad we could have the whole day to finish the
GeoDome rather than just the morning.” Grace, 6B, who was doing K’Nex, says, “It was
challenging but great fun!”
In order to give the groups a chance to experience everything, Wednesday was partly
K’Nex and Geodomes, and also generating electricity. Grace, 6A, thinks that it was good
to have Wednesday as another structure day.
Thursday was packed with things to do- the pressure to finish things was climbing,
and there wasn’t much patience left. A visitor from BT, Mr Shultz, helped us with
Communication. We had to find out how cordless phones, cord phones, email, television,
IPods and iPads worked, and how they got forecast information and news.
By Friday, everyone was getting worked up about the big presentation that afternoon.
Absolutely everything had to be finished by 2:45, including a NEW project- HOW ARE WE
GOING TO GET THERE? It was pressurizing and exhausting, but overall it was a
fantastic week!
Reported By Maddy Wheeler, 6A
Click on the logo below to visit the Mission to Mars page
The Gorseland Times February 2013
On the 5th of February Gorseland’s athletics
team competed in the county finals in
Stowmarket.
It began with a bad start because the coach
driver turned up late with only 10 minutes
to get there. When they eventually got there
they were greeted by a sarcastic clap.
After a quick warm up, the competition
began. The first event was the girl’s
obstacle relay. This involves going over
steps, hurdles, jumping off a bounce board
then running all the way back and tagging
the next athlete on the back.
While the girls were doing the obstacle
relay, the boys were focusing on their field
events. In the field events they could
participate in vertical jump, standing long
jump, standing triple jump, chest push and
speed bounce.
The boys and the girls did exactly the same
races: the obstacle relay, the over and
under relay, 1x1 relay, 2x2 relay and the 6-
lap parlauf. All of the activities were timed
events, which was how they scored the
points.
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Finally it came to that moment: The results
were announced. The man said “in 4th
place is Gorseland Primary School.” Some
of us were happy, some of us were not.
The competition was over. All of the
athletes went back to school and told
everyone where they came. Although we
came 4th, the school was still happy with
their efforts.
By Joe & Louis (6A)
The Gorseland Times February 2013
On the 24th of January 2013, Gorseland Primary school took part in a 5
a side basketball tournament at Kesgrave high school.
9 teams took part, and they were divided into two different pools,
pool A and pool B. Gorsland were in pool B along with 3 other
schools. Gorseland managed to ease past Bucklesham with a 20 – 0
victory. Gorseland went on to win their next match 14-0! Then finally,
Nacton managed to stop them, drawing 4 – 4, but there was a bit of a
controversial moment when Gorseland thought they scored, but
unfortunately the referee didn’t count it.
8 people from Gorseland took part in the basketball Tournament they
were Matt G, Dan, Charlie, Safie, Lewis, Bryony, Natasha and
Matthew They all worked really hard. Then it came to the finals and
yet again Cedarwood were the team who we met in the final. After a
feisty encounter, Team Gorseland managed to take the win once
again! By crushing Cedarwood 6 - 0.
By Matt and Charlie (6A)
This victory has taken the basketball team towards the County finals on 21st March.
The Gorseland Times February 2013
Thank you for reading The
The next issue will be about
the second half of the
Spring Term 2013.
Would you like to contribute
an article?
Speak to Mr Sampson, Miss Downey or Mr Weatherby.
Email: