Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 1, ending 4 November
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Welcome back after the half term holiday!
Oak Tree Class seems to have hit the ground running this past week, continuing with excellent work on writing non-chronological reports as if we have had no break! The children’s reports (our exciting double-page spreads!) are shaping up nicely and I am really looking forward to them being completed next week. Hopefully, we shall have the published pieces displayed in school soon and you should be able to pop in and see them for yourselves. The children have been really proud of their efforts.
In Maths, we have been looking at factors and multiples (including common factors and common multiples) and although these are quite tricky concepts to grasp, the children have been managing very well – some pupils have really impressed me by reaching the extensions in lessons.
We started an energetic badminton unit in PE. It was lovely to see so many children achieving the key objective AND having fun.
A geography lesson seems to have been our ‘biggest hit’ this past week, as it gave the children the opportunity to use the atlases. Much hard work could be seen as we looked at the many countries that were involved in WW2. Well done to those families who have managed to bake from the WW2 Ration Book. Your photos are fab!
Blues music has filled the air each morning; I am looking forward to hearing some (carefully chosen!) punk music next week!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 7, ending 21 October
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
We have reached the end of the first half term and now we get a week off! Woop woop! The children in Oak Tree Class certainly do deserve a week off, after all the splendid work they have done over the past seven weeks.
This week has been no different to all the others – lots of work but lots of fun too.
Britpop has been our soundtrack, featuring Oasis, Blur, the Charlatans and others – for some, this has been a brand new style, so it’s been good to see their musical horizons expanding, as well as their other skills in the curriculum.
By far, our favourite session this past week has been the practical food tasting lesson for DT. On Monday, the children were encouraged to try four seasonal, locally grown foods: kale, beetroot, swede and butternut squash. I was delighted to see how many children were willing to ‘have a taste’ of vegetables they had never seen (or even hear of!) before. Some even asked for seconds! This DT session was a really important one, as it gave the children a greater variety of choice from which they can plan their own healthy, seasonal meal next half term.
We have furthered our knowledge of the developing role of women during WW2, and linked a little bit of this in a Code-Breaking maths lesson, too. Our PE units on Handball and O.A.A have finished this week and we are looking forward to Badminton and Gymnastics next half term.
Thank you for all the photos you are emailing (oak@ruffordparkprimary.org.uk) of the children and their Rationed Food items/baking. They truly do look yummy! Keep this up, if you can over half term – and I shall print out and display all the photos in November, when we return to school.
There are lots of exciting things to look forward to before Christmas, in our next half term, too. Thank you to everyone for making me feel so welcome at Rufford Park this term.
Have a super week!
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 6, ending 14 October 2022
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Another week of fantastic work in Oak Tree Class, where, amongst other things, we have been considering the features of non-chronological reports. This is in preparation for writing our own non-chron reports about the Role of Women during World War 2. (Some children have been encouraged to spend some time over the weekend looking at aspects of this topic if they would like to. It’s a huge topic to research in one week!)
Female legendary singers have been the backing tracks to our Early Morning Maths work – it is very evident that Tina Turner’s Proud Mary was the hit of the week! :) But the children have heard from Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Madonna and Aretha Franklin, too.
Two class members, who had brought in ‘artefacts’ from WW2, led our Class Assembly on Thursday. It was super to hear about Olivia’s Great Granny Junie, who had told her all she remembered about Rationing after the war and also to see the watch and badges that George had brought in. These were also from the Second World War – mementoes from his Grandad Henry’s time in the war. (See photo above).
Over the past week, we have been learning off-by-heart, the popular poem ‘On The Ning Nang Nong’, by Spike Milligan and we performed it in the Key Stage 2 assembly on Wednesday morning. I was so proud of them all, as it is a very tricky poem to perform. (And I’m also grateful to mums, dads, Grandparents who have been assisting with the memorising of the nonsense poem!). I am hoping to attach the video this week…(every day is a school day!).
Homework continues to be a spelling activity (word search) and I am encouraging the children to have a go at another Rationing Cooking task. I am really enjoying seeing the photos of all your baked goods - hope they are as yummy as they look!
Have a fun-filled weekend.
Mrs Adrienne Amos
*Edit: no joy with uploading video yet! Will keep trying.
Week 5, ending 7 October
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
The music of Boybands has welcomed us into class each morning (with Busted being my favourite!) and spurred us on to complete some impressive work all week.
We have finished our unit on Place Value in Maths, but a little more work on Rounding Numbers to the nearest 10 and 100 is still required, as these are very tricky concepts. Any extra work Mums, Dads, Grandparents can do on this would truly help to consolidate the classroom learning we have done.
Our Problem Solving session in Maths today (Friday) was a big help though, as we tried to create 4-Digit Numbers in teams. (See picture above of the Winning Team!)
Our diary entries are finished and edited and will now be published – look out next week for copies of this work. I am very proud of all they have achieved in Writing so far in Year 5.
Science was fun, creating spectrums through a prism; we also learned much about WW2 Rationing in our topic session. Some children were horrified to find out that a) there were very little sweets and chocolate around for children during the war b) fruit and vegetables were NOT rationed and c) they couldn’t just go out ‘and grab a burger’!
No Maths homework this weekend, as it would be great if the children could look through the WW2 Recipe Booklet (sent home on Monday) and try to create something World War-y. Please send pics to me at oak@ruffordparkprimary.org.uk
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 4, ending 30th September 2022
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Well, the end of September has just arrived – how fast did that month go?! Autumn is a beautiful month though and half term is only three weeks away. :)
This week, Oak Tree Class has started each day with our usual Early Bird Maths tasks, listening to a series of classical music, which has been very calming…working with Mozart could be the way forward!
We have almost finished our Place Value Unit in Maths and we have continued with diary writing in English. Our Topic lesson on WW2 evacuees was a highlight this week – it was good to see and hear pupils showing empathy when learning about the experiences of British children during the war (and appreciating all that we have right now). This session should truly help writing a diary entry from an evacuee’s perspective next week.
Our mini Handball games in PE were a huge success and once again, we enjoyed furthering our O.A.A skills with Sam on Thursday, in a new game called Treasure. It is so good to see how the children’s problem solving and strategizing skills are developing week by week.
Once again, Maths and Spelling homework is being sent home this weekend (red folders!) – due back on Wednesday. Thanks for your support in these areas.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Adrienne Amos