It’s hard to believe that this is the last blog of the academic year 2018 to 2019 – time goes so quickly! However, 5B have had a lovely final week spending time off-timetable.

On Tuesday, we had our summer trip. In the morning, we returned to Saltwell Park in Gateshead to play in the playground. Once we were worn out there, we went for a ride on the Thomas the Tank Engine train that goes through the park. It was really good fun waving at the other people and taking in the scenery – the train also provided a welcome cooling breeze!

After that, we headed to La Famiglia on Whickham View for a delicious Italian meal. Actually, it was more like a feast with how much food we ate! We had garlic bread and chunky chips to start then the children chose pizza or pasta for their main course and we finished off with ice-cream. Boy, were we full up – we practically had to roll onto the bus to get back to school! The staff there made us all feel enormously welcome and they were great with all the children. We felt like a group of VIPs!

It was a great day and a lovely final trip to end our year together.

Everyone on the 5B Team would like to say a big thank you for your support throughout this year and hope you all have a very happy summer break!

Last week we invited parents, carers, family and friends to come and watch our wonderful shadow dancing. We chose our favourite tracks from “The Greatest Showman” and Richard chose Thomas the Tank Engine theme tune to move to. The moves looked so effective behind the screen and everyone was very impressed. It was also Richard’s 10th birthday so we incorporated it into the afternoon and finished with a delicious caterpillar cake.

Babs, Lindsay, Jess and Ann

You may remember that some time ago we organised a tuck shop and raised a lot of money. Some of that money was to be used to develop the shed in the adventure playground into a lovely space/outside classroom. Over the past few weeks we have swept, scrubbed, papered and painted both the inside and the outside. We  have had carpet tiles put down and are busy furnishing it. We are so pleased with how well the children have worked on it and how well they have worked together. We are looking forward to unveiling it next week.

Babs, Lindsay, Ann and Jess.

Over the past few weeks we have been learning all about the life cycle of a butterfly. We have watched our caterpillars grow and turn into chrysalides/pupas and then magically become butterflies. Our clever children  have even learnt the word “metamorphosis” and know what it means. Yesterday we decided it was such a beautiful day that we should set them free. We found a Buddleia bush/tree which butterflies love and opened up the net home. Some stayed a while and some couldn’t wait to feed on the flowers. We could even see them feeding close up.

The whole cycle has been amazing to watch and we have all learnt so much about these incredible creatures (including the adults)

Babs, Jess, Ann and Lindsay

Today we went out on the last trip of this school year and what a way to end our year! We had the most fantastic visit to Adventure Valley near Durham. It was non stop action from start to finish. We started quite leisurely by visiting the animals and just avoided the spitting llama!

From here we went right down to the bottom of the park to explore Forty Towers Play Fort and the Pirate Galleon. We also managed to fit in a turn on the Zip Wire. This was more tricky and scarier than it looked but we’re such a brave lot that most of us had a go.

After this we stopped by the Go Karts and pedalled as hard as we could round the track. It was super hard work and also the sun was very warm indeed. We certainly needed some food and drink and so headed up to the café where we had our picnic and also pizza and chips.

We all loved the super big soft play which had everything but we left the best until last when we visited the Wild West Play barn. We have never laughed so much as when we were having a shoot out in the Cannon Saloon.

A most brilliant day and well worth a visit if you fancy going in the holidays.

Babs, Jess, Lindsay and Ann

Toy Story 4 has landed and we’ve been introduced to Forky! We’ve Googled him and now know a little bit more about him which is good because this week Richard’s Nana very kindly bought in a pack of creative materials so we could each make our own Forky. We worked together as a whole class to each complete a Forky. It was such a lovely activity to do and brilliant for our fine motor skills, communication, social as well as our creative skills. Each child took home their Forky and because we had lots of materials left we gave a pack to next door so they could make one too. Thank you so much to the generosity of Richard’s Nana.

Babs, Jess, Lindsay and Ann

After much planning,  the Art Exhibition finally arrived at Hadrian School and what an exhibition. We’ve been to the Baltic and other venues many times but we can honestly say our Exhibition totally blew them out of the water. It was truly stunning, both the exhibits and the way they were exhibited.

As you know, we’ve been working on our pieces for some time and finally they all came together and what a display they made. Family, friends and visitors came to the opening on Tuesday Evening and had a wonderful evening looking at all of the different, varied pieces of art. We were very proud of our display and delighted that some people had a go at making a foil Giacometti inspired sculpture.

We have visited the Exhibition with the children several times this week which the children have loved, particularly the videos in the Dance Studio. We are truly a talented school but we knew that already!

Babs, Lindsay, Jess and Ann