A Festival of Colours in Year Three!

This week year three have been focusing on the Hindu festival of Holi. The children have learnt about the story of Prahlad and the battle of good vs evil.

To show off our learning, we spent the day making Holi masks, our own Rangoli designs and then used pastels to create good vs evil colour collages. Watch the video below to see some pictures of the day's various activities.

The children all thoroughly enjoyed the day and were extremely creative with their masks. A big thank you to all of the parents who came into lower school to have a look at the children's work. I know they all really appreciated it.

Lights,camera....script

Excitement  and speculation of who will be in with the chance of winning a much prized Oscar this year will soon be all over the newspapers and internet. However the film and TV industry wouldn't exist without the skills and imagination of people who can translate great characters and plot lines to the screen. Not often in the spotlight, it is the script writer who makes the first steps on that creative journey. Some year 6 pupils had the exciting opportunity of spending a day working with the reknown script writer, Nazrin Choudhury. She has won many awards for her script writing and although her name may be unfamiliar  to you, she has written episodes of many TV hits such as Waterloo Road, Eastenders, Coronation Street and Doctors.

Nazrin began the day by sharing the writing format used by scriptwriters and comparing it to the final film version. Throughout the busy day, Nazrin guided everyone through the process of devising interesting characters and then linking them together to form an exciting plotline. Scripts were then written to an incredibly tight deadline (just like in the real world).

Everyone had great fun performing selected scenes from their stories remembering to include stage directions for not only the actors but props and technical members of the film crew. Well done to Alex, Lauren, Reece and Liam who were great members of their script teams. A big thank you to Mr May for transporting the children back to school at the end of this exciting day.

Mrs Fieldgate

Picture perfect!

Have you ever puzzled over the purpose of all those dials and symbols on your camera? Well, some Year 5 pupils attended a Rushmoreable workshop where they learnt all about shutter speeds, F stops and depths of field.

Under the expert guidance of Debbie, a professional photographer, pupils used their new understanding of a camera to shoot illustrations for a picture book. Paying close attention to the story entitled, Generosity, plasticine  figures were modelled and placed on a  backdrop. Every scene was then photographed very carefully to produce a portfolio of pictures that will be incorporated in an infant storybook. The workshop was a real insight into the technical and very creative side of photography.

The Friday Blog

Year 6 pupils have been working hard on their authentic Ancient Greek vases to show the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. So far we've been researching different types of vase and have even begun papier mache-ing our own!

Year 5 have started the most spectacular event of the year...swimming! Every Tuesday pupils from Year 5 go to swim at Aldershot Pools. We interviewed a Year 5 pupil who said that it is awesome! Years 3 and 4...start looking forward to it!

Year 4 have been busy making soup and were even able to take some home! With the help of some very skilled teachers (and assistants!) they created Leek and Potato soup. We're sure they tasted great!

Some of the Year 6 boys recently told us in assembly that they would be relaunching the lunchtime games and that if people come regularly throughout the week, they may even be able to play with the parachute on a Friday. It's starting this week so be prepared for some fun!

The first handwriting awards were given today. You can win this by having neat handwriting not just in your handwriting books but in all books - even maths! This week the awards went to Shemikah and Billie (both in Year 6). In addition to a certificate they also got to choose a fabulous pen.

Teampoints were close this week. In fourth place were the green team (291 points), third place went to yellow team (296 points), second place were the red team (433 points) but in first place with an amazing 437 points were the blue team! Congratulations!

Well done to the boys who played in the football tournament this week - Archie, Chris, George, Bradley, George and Nathan - you did a great job!

On Tuesday 6C did their class assembly on Ancient Greece. Lucy led the show brilliantly and the two songs were both sung beautifully by the whole of 6C. We even had an appearance from the cast of Grease. A mixture of everything!

Until next week...

The Year 6 Bloggers

Grease is the word!

On Tuesday morning 6C put on a spectacular show with their take on the Ancient Greeks. Lucy, Shemikah and Ashma were excellent narrators who gave us all an insight into what the Ancient Greeks were like and how they lived. Also to take centre stage were Homer played by Kieron; Zeus and his wife Hera (Ryan and Nina) and a bit of Grease mania from Shannon and Alex. A big thank you to superb turn out of parents, it was great to see you all.

Magnificent Materials in Year 3

Happy new year and welcome back to Newport!

In year three, our topic for this half term is 'Can We Fix It?'. This is a really exciting topic in which the children will become scientists to investigate the properties of various materials as well as rocks and soils. The children will then be asked to redesign the school's linkway using what they have learnt from their science lessons.

This week the children have been investigating the different materials of properties around school and have planned and carried out a test on kitchen roll for absorbency. Everyone really concentrated on making sure our tests were fair and, as a result, we found out that 'Thirst Pockets' were best for absorbing spilt liquid.

Here are some pictures from both classes in year 3. 

Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

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Welcome back Newport!

WELCOME BACK NEWPORT!

Newport's back with a big bang full of new topics, new clubs and lots more. What more could you want? In each year there is a different topic to be enjoyed. Year 6 are looking at the Ancient Greeks, Year 5 are Hanging On to their Heads, Year 4 know It's Cold Out There and Year 3 are Investigating Materials!

During the first assembly of the term, the Curriculum Council and Mrs Ewing announced that there is going to be a new award for handwriting. This includes keeping to the same style, joining letters and making sure all our work is beautifully presented. Do you think you could win? The reward is a certificate and a beautiful handwriting pen. It comes in lots of styles so make sure you get your favourite!

On Thursday Mr Edmunds showed us how one old stamp could change someone's life. Lots of us learnt from it. It makes us remember the things we sometimes take for granted - beds, food shelter and more.

Thanks for reading. Look out for our next post very soon!

6M