Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 5, ending 19 May
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Well done to these pupils from Oak Class!
Reader of the Week: Charlie
Special mention Pupil: Joseph
Wow! Wow! Wow! What a fantastic week we have had in Oak Tree Class! We definitely did some Maths and English – all going very well at this point in the term – but the highlight has totally been our ‘Day of Art’ on Wednesday. Mr Laughton came to Rufford Park Primary and helped the children learn much more about birds and their feathers, as well as instructing the children to create amazing images of birds. The children made detailed sketches from actual feathers first, then they used chalk pastels and created impressive bird images on black card.
After Mr Laughton had demonstrated strategies for drawing a bird (a kingfisher), Oak Tree pupils spent much of the afternoon drawing a detailed sketch of a bird of their choice. These results were stunning. I was so proud of how well they interacted with our visitor (he said he thought they were very well behaved and a ‘fun’ class!) and was impressed with how much they had learned from the morning’s activities.
In Science, due to our topic on the circulatory system, we identified all the components of blood and had a go at making it! Such fun! Quite gross, but we loved it. Your child should now know all about the components of blood AND be able to tell you about how our blood becomes oxygenated (now our favourite scientific word!).
PE has also been splendid this week – more athletics (this time we worked on Throwing) and we had yet another super Dance session with Alex on a Friday afternoon. Again, another visiting teacher who seems to enjoy working with Oak Tree Class.
Homework is Spellings and Maths again. The Maths is all about Area, which we have been working on for the past couple of weeks.
Have a lovely weekend – let’s hope the sun shines.
Surely it is nearly Summer?!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 4, ending 12 May
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Well done to these pupils this week!
Reader of the Week: Oliver
Special Mention Pupil: Kadie
Reggae music has started our mornings off all week – Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ was by far the most popular!
In Maths, it has been wonderful to see how focussed the children have been when learning about calculating the Perimeter of 2D-shapes. They have really tried hard to grasp some of the trickiest concepts (like missing lengths) and have displayed an encouraging ‘Have-a-go’ attitude to all tasks.
In English sessions, we have been delving further into the story of Syms, in Darwin’s Dragons. This story is becoming more and more exciting – and gradually more pupils are confidently reading from the class novel in Guided Reading Sessions. Well done to those guys!
Despite the rain, we have done brilliantly in the Mini Marathon (I say ‘we’, but I really mean ‘they’!!). Each child has completed at least one mile – some much more than that. I have been impressed with the resilience and effort that some children have employed in this venture – especially those who haven’t traditionally loved PE sessions. Each child has really tried to push themselves – thus improving their fitness level, too. I have also seen this determination in our Athletics lesson on Jumping. The children practised a standing long jump and then investigated if they could jump further by incorporating a little run up. Everyone seemed quite exhausted at the end of it, but they were all happy that they had improved their jumping skills considerably. Well done, Oak Tree Pupils!
Have a super weekend – back to school on Monday for a much-anticipated Ukulele lesson with Mr Jennings.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 3, ending 5 May
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Well done to these pupils!
Reader of the Week: Tilly
Special mention Pupil: Melissa
Powerful ballads have started our mornings off all week – Whitney H being the firm favourite amongst Oak Tree Class, I believe!
In this week’s assembly, we were told that Mr Cooke and Mr Spence have signed us up to a Mini Marathon over the next two weeks. Please don’t be surprised if you are told that PE kit is allowed to be worn on another day, as Oak Tree Class is very keen to do the Weekly Mile. Usually, our PE sessions are on Tuesdays and Fridays, but a Weekly Mile session may also be introduced for Oak Tree Class on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Taking part in the Mini Marathon has been very much enjoyed this week – and everyone wants to participate even more next week. This is very encouraging.
In Maths, we have finally concluded Fractions, Decimals and Percentages for Y5 – yahoo! Onto Area and Perimeter next week. Also, we have finished writing Healthy Lunchbox leaflets for our Y2 pupils, so next week we shall be exploring more about our class novel, Darwin’s Dragons. The story has been exciting so far.
Wildlife drawing forms the main part of our Art sessions this term and I have been so impressed with the sketches and drawings (of feathers and birds) I have seen already. It would be really useful if you could encourage the children to look out local birdlife and observe and recognise details of the plumage.
Have a super long weekend!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Summer Week 2, ending 28 April
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
What an effective week we have had! Our class music theme has been ‘funk music’ and it has certainly set us all up for full and funky lessons!
Well done to these pupils!
Reader of the Week: Esmay
Special mention Pupil: Aleah
Our tricky Maths unit on Fractions, Decimals and Percentages is gradually coming to a close – just a few more sessions left. This week we have been looking at how Percentages relate to Fractions and to Decimals. It would be really helpful if you could help your child recall these simple conversions:
½ = 0.5 = 50%
1/10 = 0.1 = 10%
1/5 = 0.2 = 20%
¼ = 0.25 = 75%
¾ = 0.75 = 75% and any other related facts.
In our English lessons, we have been researching for and designing a special leaflet about Healthy Packed Lunches, which we plan to share/give to a Y2 child next week. It is at the end of Y2 that parents/children choose whether to continue with school dinners or move onto packed lunches, so the children’s leaflets will help the younger pupils consider healthy options…we hope!
In History, we looked at the interesting life of Charles Darwin, which links nicely with our new class story, Darwin’s Dragons, which we started reading last week. In Science, we considered how the heart works. Our Athletics session was a very high energy session, as we looked at strategies to help us when running longer distances. The children worked brilliantly in this lesson - on possibly the hottest day of the week! :)
Our ukulele lessons continued – we are looking at and working on playing the ’12 bar blues’ Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire is turning out to be a firm favourite!
Have a lovely long weekend!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Summer 1, wk 1, ending 21 April
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Welcome back to school, after a lovely two weeks off. I hope you had some fab family time.
Well done to these pupils!
Reader of the Week: Archie
Special mention Pupil: Ted
The children have returned to school in a really sensible manner – and we have spent some time discussing how this is the final term before they move up to Year 6. We have been talking about the qualities of a Quality Y6 child and decided that everyone is well on track to be a mature, reliable, and hardworking student in Y6!
In English lessons, we have focused on three specific skills: retrieval, deduction and inference. These are the main skills that demonstrate a clear understanding of texts read. No longer are pupils expected to retrieve simple facts when they read. Instead, they are asked to ‘explain thoughts’, ‘show how you know’ and ‘give an opinion’. These would be helpful strategies/questions for parents to employ and encourage when hearing your child read. Please remember that at Rufford Park, we do encourage children to read to an adult at least three times each week. Even in Year 5!
In Maths, we have looked at how we are expected to round decimals numbers – to the nearest who number and to a certain number of decimal places.
Our French vocabulary on the Weather is increasing each week and in science, we explored the how micro-organisms can be both harmful AND helpful in our daily lives.
Homework continues in the Summer Term – once again, spellings and maths revision. If you know that your child still struggles with certain times tables (7s and 8s seem to be the pesky ones for Oak Tree pupils!), please spend some time (in the car, on the bus or even at the supermarket!).
Have a great weekend!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos