This term Year 4 are looking at inventors in our topic, 'Cracking Contraptions'. On Friday we went to the Discovery Museum to learn a little bit more about the inventors that changed the world. We really enjoyed experimenting in the Science Maze and looking at all the different exhibits in the Museum. We had a fantatsic time and brought loads of information back to school with us,
as well as a few things from the gift shop!
Before Christmas Year 4 finished off the 'Wonderful World' topic in style, with a fantastic celebration assembly called 'The Wonder's Have Talent'. The competition saw each of the seven wonders battle to win the title of 'Most Wonderful Wonder', as well as having to impress the audience they also had to dazzle the judges, Emperor Caesar, Mumtaz Mahal, Emperor Qin and of course the always grumpy, Simon Cowell! The acts performed dances, songs and even death defying martial arts but in the end the judges and audience decided they could possibly choose and named them all winners! It really is a wonderful world!
Something very mysterious is happening in Year 4. We arrived in our class last Tuesday to find that someone had set up camp! After investigating the campsite and searching for clues we found some great evidence in a diary which told us it belonged to someone called Professor Langton. Year 4 are working very hard to solve the mystery of who this person is, all we know is that the professor has already visited all of the Wonders of The World and the diary suggests that they might be searching for something. We'll keep you updated on anymore of our findings but for now, here are some questions we are still pondering...
Can you help us with our investigation, have a look at the Professor's last diary entry and see if you can help Year 4 to find out more about the mysterious Professor Langton.
We have been learning all about the Seven Wonders of the World and have been looking at The Great Wall of China. As a special treat and to give us an insight into Chinese culture we were lucky enough to have Mrs Cowx teach us some Kung Fu moves. We all had to listen very carefully and learned that self discipline and concentration are the most important parts of becoming a master of Kung Fu. Mrs Cowx also made sure we understood that these moves were strictly non-contact, we're definetely going to leave that sort of thing to the professionals! A huge thank you to Mrs Cowx for giving Year 4 such a wonderful experience!
To help raise money for Children In Need St Peter's definetely showed our spots on Friday. We had a non-uniform day with a spotty theme and then had a very special visit from Pudsey and some of the children from Cardinal Hume school who did some aerobics with us. We all had a great time!
Year 4 enjoyed a toga party to celebrate the conclusion of their Rotten Romans topic. Everyone looked fantastic in their costumes, there were some very glamorous togas and frightening soldiers! We tried lots of different Roman food including some stuffed dormice (that looked suspiciously like chocolate 
mice!), peacocks tongue's (that resembled jelly beans), fresh fruit and ostrich (which tasted remarkably like chicken!). Some of us were even brave enough to try our first olive, which were met with mixed reviews, luckily none of us had to visit the vomitorium! We also made our very own laurel wreaths so all of us
could feel like Emperors for a day. We have really
enjoyed learning all about the Romans this half term.
We are really enjoying our 'Rotten Romans' topic this term and have been finding out lots of interesting facts about life in Roman times. This week our focus is on the Roman Army and we have been looking at the lives of the soldiers, their uniform, fitness regime and battle tactics! We made Roman shields and became a small century to re-create the famous Roman tortoise or 'testudo' to defend ourselves and our comrades from attack! Will we all survive Roman Army Bootcamp next week???
Well done to Miss Hudson our year 4 teacher who completed this year's Great North Run in aid of the Stroke Association.
We are very proud of her!
Please feel free to send in a contribution to this worthy cause if you would like to help.
Just how rotten were those Romans?
On Friday 24th June members of year 4 and 6 represented the school at the Gateshead Schools Athletics Festival held at Gateshead Stadium. All the children behaved impeccably and were fantastic ambassadors for St Peter's. We got into the semi finals and finals for several events and were hoarse shouting for our team members.
Well done to everyone for all their efforts and congratulations to Archie and Thierry for winning a medal!
Thanks also to all the parents who came along to support our team. It was much appreciated by us all!
Key Stage
2 had a fantastic time competing in the Tesco School Run at Saltwell Park. We had fantastic weather for it and enjoyed a energetic warm up before the race began. We were all thrilled to be running along side Olympic bronze medalist,Tasha Danvers . All of the children were fantastic and put in some truly brilliant performances, staff also joined in and tried to keep 
up! Well done to all the children for their 
amazing effort and a big thank you to all parents who accompanied us on our walk to the park 
and cheered us on!
Year 4 enjoyed some Tasty Tapas on Wednesday afternoon as part of our Viva Espana topic! We tried some manchego cheese, cured meats, tomato and basil and some bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Some very brave people even tried their first olive! We really enjoyed our afternoon and embraced the social side of eating tapas by enjoying conversation with our friends and a quiz on Spanish food. A huge thank you to Mrs Cowx for organising such a fantastic afternoon for year 4, or as the Spanish would say-muchos gracias
!
On Monday 
Year 4 went to the Dryden School as part of our partnership school programme. We had a fantastic time meeting the children at the school and made lots of new friends. We also had the opportunity to take part in a zoo lab where we encountered even more news friends in the shape of an African snail, a cockroach and a snake! We are looking forward to entertaining our new friends from the Dryden School when they come to visit us next term!
Year 4 have been working hard on our Tremendous Titanic topic and this week in Literacy we have created more fantastic recounts. We imagined that we were on the dock in Southampton on April 9th, 1912 about to board the Titanic and sail off to New York. Here is this week's winning recount.
My name is Wilbert, I am going on the Titanic to start a new life in America. I live in Southampton at the moment, it's a very dull and smelly place. I moved here because I had heard that the Titanic was going to be launched in Southampton. I feel really poor in Southampton but because of the Titanic I feel rich already!
![titanic[1].jpg](http://www.stpetersrcprimary.org/titanic%5B1%5D.jpg)
The Titanic is the best boat I have ever seen, it is just amazing. I am travelling in first class because I gambled for my ticket and won! I will be travelling to New York and there I will become the most famous person in America! I'm travelling alone, just in case someone might ruin this experience for me. I am travelling to live in a more exciting place. I am feeling a bit nervous because it is my first time on a big boat, but they say that this ship is unsinkable.
By Thierry Nkombo
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Just to remind parents and children that Year 4 will be putting on a bake sale full of delicious goodies on Friday morning to raise funds for Comic Relief and The Good Shepherd Appeal.
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The childre
n in dance club performed their fantastic routine, 'I Believe' at the Gateshead Schools Dance Festival yesterday. We were all very excited (and a little nervous) to perform on stage at The Sage and put on a truly amazing performance! We looked fantastic in our costumes, complete with face paint and glamorous hair dos!
![2984318-dc150311dance5_460_345[1].jpg](http://www.stpetersrcprimary.org/2984318-dc150311dance5_460_345%5B1%5D.jpg)
![2984308-dc150311dance3_242_345[1].jpg](http://www.stpetersrcprimary.org/2984308-dc150311dance3_242_345%5B1%5D.jpg)
Make sure you pick up a copy of this evening's Chronicle to see our picture in the paper! A massive congratulations to the children in Dance Club for bringing the house down yesterday, and a big thank you to parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles and friends who came to support us.
![2984305-dc150311dance6_460_345[1].jpg](http://www.stpetersrcprimary.org/2984305-dc150311dance6_460_345%5B1%5D.jpg)
Year 4 have been learning about how to write detailed recounts this week. We had a competition in class to write the most interesting recount about our day at the CLC, here is the winning entry!
Our Day at The CLC
On Tuesday the whole of Year 4 class went to the Gateshead CLC. The bus picked us up at ten past nine and everyone got on the bus. When we got on the bus I sat next to Benjamin and we talked about Club Penguin. The time it took to get to the CLC was about 10 minutes. "I was very excited to get to the CLC because we were going to learn about the Titanic," said Benjamin.
When we got to the CLC Mr Mullen was waiting for us inside. He gathered us up on the carpet and we watched some videos about the Titanic so we had an idea for the work we were going to do. "I was very excited and chuffed to bits becuase we were at the CLC!" said Jack.
Next Mr Mullen called us all to a computer to find a picture for our first slide. The next part was we needed to put some words onto our slides. The last part was recording our voices onto the film. "It is really exciting making films because it is fun!" said Katie.
It was really fun making the movies and Mr Mullen also said we could add music to our slides as well. For my music I used the sad emotion and used the harp instrument tool. Next Mr Mullen said we had to save our work and we could watch them back on our computers at school. "It was very fun making the movies and as a result I am looking forward to learning more about the Titanic," said Oscar.
Next we got on the bus and left the CLC. I sat next to Benjamin again but we didn't really talk much on they way home because we were both tired! "I was really hungry when we got back to school because it was lunch time!" said Nieve.
We really enjoyed our day at Gateshead CLC!
By Alfie Clark
![science_clipart[1].jpg](http://www.stpetersrcprimary.org/science_clipart%5B1%5D.jpg)
ind everyone that the Year 4 Science Fair is taking place tomorrow afternoon (Thursday 10th February) at 2pm in the school hall. Please come and meet the famous inventors we have been learning about this term and have a go at some of our exciting experiments!
As part of our Italy topic, we have been looking at Mount Vesuvius. We have been writing poetry about the volcano and looking at why volcanoes erupt. We made out own volcanoes and were very excited to see them erupt in class!
Year 4 have been working hard on our Cracking Contraptions topic. We have looked at some very famous inventors. One of our favourites is Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Bell was fascinated by sound and hearing so we have been learning all about how we hear sound and even had a go at making our own telephones!
Today in Eco Club we sold the vegetables that we planted in April. We sold lettuce, onions and potatoes and made £23.40 and we are going to put it to good use next year. Our carrots and cabbages are looking very healthy but will not be ready until the autumn. We look forward to seeing you early next term for another vegetable sale. Ella Crawley Year 4
All of our super fit juniors completed the Tesco Great School run today in the glorious sunshine at Saltwell Park!
We had a massive warm up with all of the other schools, then the race began. We set off in groups, boys then girls in each year group! It was exhausting but lots of fun!
Special Congratulations to Cameron, Connor and Ryan who came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the boys race and to Bridget who came first for the girls! Well done!!
Some of our children were interviewed for the news so make sure you look out for them!
On Tuesday 15th June we celebrated our whole school Green Day. Each child came to school dressed in something green and participated in a wide range of eco activities. We were so lucky to have two outside agencies in school. 'Twottodo' worked with the children making table top scarecrows, bugs and puppets. 'Zoo Lab' ran workshops for each class. The infants looked at how nature naturally recyles and the juniors learnt all about biodiversity. All the children took part in treasure hunts across both school yards. Everyone had so much fun! Please join us in the school hall
on Wednesday 16th June at 3.15pm to look at what your child made and to view photographs of the day.
As part of our creative curriculum the 'Rainforest Zoo Lab' visited our school. We had the opportunity to take a close look at a variety of animals like the great African Snail, a millipede, a red velvet snake, a stick insect, a flower tarantula and some black whistling cockroaches. We learned lots of new and interesting facts like did you know a cockroach can live up to 4 weeks without its head ! A snake never blinks ! A millipede can grow up to 750 legs and whatever a snail eats its poo will be the same colour as the food........nice!
We have been working very hard this week as a school. We have taken part in a variety of activities and have been looking very closely at the importance of living a healthy life.
This half term we are exploring the genre of stories with dilemmas. We have been reading the Anne Fine book 'The Angel of Nitshill Road'. It explores the topic of bullying and the feelings and emotions surrounding this. We are currently writing our own stories and have been using drama as a medium to improve our writing.
We have had a great time learning all about the 'Rotten Romans' in our creative curriculum. We have explored the Roman Invasion, the Celts and Boudicca's revolt, Roman artwork, Roman money, the life of a Roman and lots more.
We can't wait to explore the 'Vicious Vikings'.
On Wednesday 3rd March, we had the pleasure of being invited to the Dryden school to have the pleasure of visiting their cafe. We were treated like Kings and Queens.
We enjoyed a fantastic breakfast of toast and jam, cereal, fruit, tea, coffee, latte and lots more. We were given waiter and waitress service and the service was impeccable ! We had a fantastic time with our new friends and look forward to our next visit.
In Year 4 today, we have been giving each other massages ! Mrs Robson visited our school today to show us lots of different massage strokes.
We have learned the eye glasses stroke, the cat grip and the baker.
We had great fun ! Here are some of the words that we feel best described our first session ; relaxing, calming, peaceful, cosy and comfortable.
Mrs Robson will be visiting our school again soon to teach us a few more strokes, we can't wait !
Year 4 had a fantastic time at the Hancock Museum at the end of last term. Our day began with a workshop all about the skeleton. Mrs Brand was very proud of us as, She thinks we are so clever! We saw lots of different animal skeletons and were even able to touch some of them, although we had to do this very carefully as many of the skeletons were very fragile.
We then had the opportunity to explore the museum. We travelled through time looking at many prehistorc animals, travelling through the Roman era and even just managed to avoid a shark !
We had a fantastic day. It is certainly well worth a visit !
We were very lucky today. Sally Prue, author of James and the Alien Experiment, The Truth Slayer and Cold Tom and many more other exciting books, visited Years 4, 5 and 6.
She told us lots of funny and exciting stories about how she became a childrens author and we even had the opportunity to have our books signed by her.
Sally was very impressed by all of the children at St Peter's and has even asked if Year 4 could send her copies of the writing they have done during their literacy lesson. The missing chapter of 'James and the Alien Experiment'. We are so excited !
As you can see, winter is here and Year 4 have decided that we have to give our little feathered friends some help this winter. So as part of our creative curriculum, 'habitats', we have decided to observe the different kinds of birds in our environment.
We had great fun making bird cakes last week. It was a little messy but great ! We all have a diary to keep and a fact file to compile of all the different birds we see. We may need to visit the library, do some research on the computer or even take some photographs.
We are going to present our diary to our class on the last week of term. We can't wait !
We hope you enjoy working with us observing the beautiful birds in our own environment.
I
Year 4 are having great fun this term in music. They have begun to learn how to play the violin. We know the names of the different parts of the violin, the names of the strings and we are learning lots of new songs to play along with. We will keep you posted about any performances later on in the year.
On the 4th of October we celebrated the feast of St Francis. Year 4 celebrated in school by preparing a liturgy for the school and parents. The children were instrumental to the organising and preparation of the liturgy. they wrote their own prayers and psalms and even choreographed the dancing. They were brilliant. I was very proud of them !
Year 3 are enjoying learning all about the Egyptians this term.
They have made Tutankhamun masks for their display and have been working very hard making 3D and clay scarab beetles.
Our Year 3 celebrated their First Holy Communion on Sunday 8th June 2008. The weather was fine and the children were fantastic! Everyone remebered what the day was really about and the children delighted all their families, friends and visitors with the way they read, sang and danced. Well done to all of Year 3 especially Mrs Temple who prepared the children so well! Thanks also to Father Michael and Father Kefa for helping to make the day so special.
Year 3 are looking forward to working with Miss Savoury for the next few weeks. Miss Savoury is a Final Year student from Sunderland University, who will be working in Year 3 for five weeks. After her initial visit to school, she was impressed by the politeness and good behaviour of the children and she is working hard to match names to faces.
The children will be continuing to prepare for First Holy Communion by working through their "I Belong" books with Mrs. Temple. Time is passing quickly and it will soon be 8th June!
As mentioned on the website earlier last week, Years 2 & 3 had been invited to attend a 'Singalong morning' at the Dryden centre, organised by Mrs Porter and the music service.
There were 4 other schools involved and a great time was had by all!
This coming Friday, Year 2 and 3 are involved with a Sing - Along day at the Dryden Centre with lots of other schools from Gateshead. This year's theme is songs from home and abroad and we have been practising lots in school to be ready for the day.
It's been birthday week in year 3 with Jack W, Olivia and Darby all celebrating their 8th!
Mr Hearn finished his time with us this Wednesday and Y3 haven't managed to change his mind - he still wants to be a teacher!!
Year 3 are excited about and looking forward to the big Sing-a-long event on Friday. They are sure to do us proud as we can't stop them singing!
Mrs Temple
Year three have described their teacher Mrs Temple as simply the best! The children love their lessons and always leave school with huge smiles on their faces. Mrs Temple has been teaching at St Peter's for a number of years and is now an expert at creating a creative fun environment for her children. Year three are always completing exciting and interesting pieces of work and are very knowledgable in all areas of the curriculum. They are currently looking forward to making their first reconciliation this Saturday!
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