Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Blog
Weekly Update-9/10/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Oak Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, our writing has been solely focused on our WW2 evacuee diary entries which have been using our Keighley Worth Valley Rail trip as the inspiration for them. The children have work unbelievably hard on these pieces, making sure to get all the writing features that we are looking for in each one. We have also been reading different children’s pieces, identifying what we like about them and something that could be improved upon, encouraging the children to magpie things that they hear from other examples to use within their own and editing them continuously to make them as good as they can be. It’s been so enjoyable to read them and celebrate all the fantastic writing that is being shown off and I know that the children are so keen for them to be displayed in the corridor for others to enjoy.
In maths, the focus this week has been on rounding to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000 and understanding what the rules of rounding are, which columns need to be looked at, how it will affect the number that they are working with and why it is useful in real life situations.
This week, the children also brought in their wonderful school council posters and each one showed these to the class and explained why they would be the ideal candidate for the school councillor role in Oak Tree. The children then voted anonymously and we counted up the votes for each child. Our winner this year was Lydia, who I think will make a great addition to the school council team. But well done to all the other children who made posters and presented to the class.
In history, we have been looking at the roles of women in WW2. The children were absolutely fascinated with this during the lesson and it created lots of fantastic discussions as a class.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update - 2/10/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Oak Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, in writing, the children have started their diary writing unit of work. They have been looking at a variety of WW2 evacuee diary entries and identifying examples of different features used within them. The children have also been getting into the role of an evacuee and focusing on the thoughts and feelings of these children during this difficult time. We have then started to plan our diary entries, using our WW2 trip as our inspiration, along with all the different facts that the children have been learning about in relation to WW2.
In maths, we have been focusing on using number lines to 1 million, comparing and ordering numbers to 100,000 and to 1,000,000. The children have all been working really hard during these lessons and it’s great to hear the super mathematical vocabulary being used confidently to explain their thinking and to justify their answers.
In reading, we have focused on a mixture of retrieval and inference skills to answer comprehension questions related to the fifth chapter of Goodnight, Mister Tom. We have also proceeded to read the sixth and seventh chapters, which the children are really enjoying and always create great discussions amongst the class where lots of different opinions are shared.
In history, the children have been learning about propaganda and how it was used to persuade people in Britain to use rations. The children were able to look at a range of propaganda posters and discuss what the purpose of them were and then they created their own posters using their own slogans and images that would persuade people in Britain to use rations and to understand the benefits of doing so.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update-24/9/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Oak Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
We had a fantastic day on Wednesday on our trip to the Worth Valley Railway to experience what it would have been like in 1939 for the children who were evacuated to the countryside. Here are all of Year 5 looking the part! More photos will be following soon.
Throughout the rest of the week, we have written, edited and published our 500-word stories, which were completed independently as a cold write. These have been written for the BBC 500-word story competition and it is up to the children whether they want their stories to be submitted. The link has been left below if you would like to see more about it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/500-words/articles/zctk7v4
In reading, we have continued to read the next chapter of Goodnight Mister Tom and have had some really good discussions about the themes of the story so far, which characters we like and why, which ones we don't like and why, and how it would have felt being an evacuee at the time. The children also completed a comprehension task which was based on a letter written by an evacuee. We focused on vocabulary, retrieval and inference skills.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update-18/9/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Oak Tree Blog
Hello everyone.
This week, the children were able to meet an author who had come in to speak about his books, the process of writing, the ideas that he works with and how he became an author in the first place. This author was Tom Palmer and the children really enjoyed their morning with him and asked lots of good questions when they had the opportunity to do so.
In maths, the children have been focusing on reading and writing numbers to 100,000 and then to 1,000,000, as well as solving lots of different word problems relating to numbers that go up to 1,000,000. We have also just started working with powers of 10 as well. This was a challenging lesson for some children, but it was fantastic to see how resilient the children were and the progress that they made throughout that lesson.
In writing, the children have been focusing on understanding and using fronted adverbials, we have been reading examples of BBC 500-word stories from previous finalists and identifying features that appear within them that the children will be aiming got include within their own story. The children have then started to plan out their 500-word stories, with them thinking about their basic plot outline and description of their main characters and settings.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update-11/9/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Oak Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
It’s been a very busy week, but the children have been absolute superstars throughout it. We have continued reading Goodnight Mister Tom and focusing in on using dictionaries to identify the meaning of challenging vocabulary that appears in the text and using retrieval and inference skills to answer increasingly complex comprehension questions. We have also started reading our story time book, which is Ratburger by David Walliams and it's lovely to see the children giggling and enjoying all the funny parts in the book.
In our writing, we have been focusing on simple, compound and complex sentences, creating exciting expanded noun phrases and using inverted commas for speech. We have also focused on understanding what determiners are, the different types of determiners and identifying them within different sentences.
In maths, we have continued with our place value unit and have focused on numbers to 1000, 10,000 and 100,000. Although some of the children have found it challenging, they have all shown great resilience throughout the lessons.
We have also continued with our history unit on WW2 with the focus being on the outbreak of the war, why it started and which countries were involved. The children were fascinated with the lesson, asked lots of great questions and we had lots of stimulating discussions about it.
The children also had their first ukulele lesson, which they all really enjoyed as well.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update 4/9/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Oak Tree Blog