Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 3, ending 13 March
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Amelia
Special Mention: Princess
Well done to these children this week!
Soul Music has been the genre of the week; Dusty Springfield seemed to go down very well!
We have also completed mid-year assessments (in Reading, Writing, Maths and Punctuation & Grammar) across the school in our Assessment Week. I have been really proud of how easily the children have switched from taking assessments in the morning and working very hard on these, and then practising The Wizard of Oz and working equally as hard on this project! Well done, Oak Tree Class!
As well as continuing our PE unit on Outdoor Adventurous Activities, each week we are also building our stamina by taking part in a Weekly Mile activity. It’s always good to see how open to these new ventures my class is.
I look forward to seeing many of you in a couple of weeks at The Wizard of Oz productions – I know tickets are now available. Here’s a reminder of the dates and times:
Tuesday, 24 March – 1.30pm
Tuesday, 24 March – 6pm
Wednesday, 25 March – 6pm
It is expected that the performances will end around 7.30pm
(Please do remember that we need everyone from Y5 to attend and participate in every performance – each person has a very valuable role to play!)
We are already planning next year's trip for the current Year 5 - the dates are Wednesday 31st March - Friday 2nd April 2027. Further information about the trip will be sent to parents/carers in the Summer Term.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 2, ending 6 March
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Ella
Special Mention: Eva
A special well done to these children.
Gosh, it has been a busy week here at Rufford Park! The music genre that the children in Oak have been listening to has been ‘Legendary Bands’. The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones are among the tunes we have enjoyed.
In English, the children are continuing to build up writing skills – you may have heard something about our yeti adventure stories already! Character descriptions have been written and next week, we start to contemplate story ideas. In Maths, we are stretching our mathematical knowledge by learning about decimal numbers. Decimal Numbers form quite a large part of Y6 maths next year, so it is important that we give them a good go in Y5. Homework reflects this concept.
The Wizard of Oz rehearsals and prop making sessions continue – we have had two this week– not long to go now! So please do encourage your child to learn their words and song words (if they have not already done so) and you will be hearing very soon how to book your tickets for one of the three shows on offer (Tuesday, 24th March at 1.30 and 6pm and Wednesday, 25th at 6pm).
We were very lucky to visit Benton Park School on Tuesday to form an audience for a technical run through of High School Musical – we loved it! It is so helpful to watch a school show in the lead up to our own show.
Another treat for Oak Tree Class was a special PSHE workshop on Friends, delivered by a visiting teacher, Jane, who came from CORAM SCARF. This is the PSHE programme we follow at Rufford Park; in this session the children practised how to be assertive when friends try to put peer pressure on them.
World Book Day was a lot of fun, too. We took part in a BBC online lesson, where we participated in a quiz and listened/watched as a lot of well-known authors and footballers told us why they enjoy reading. Costumes for this year were fabulous! Well done to everyone! Our winner for the wooden spoon was Hannah - a superbly decorated spoon.
What a full and busy week we have had! I hope you all have a super weekend.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Spring Term, Week 1, ending 27 February
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Coral
Special Mention: Sophie R
Well done to these children!
Welcome back to school after half term. EMO tunes have been the music theme for this week and Avril Lavigne’s classic hit, Sk8er Boi, was by far the most popular. Tune!
This week has been super busy. We have started to develop knowledge of decimal numbers – by the end of Y5, the children need to know about tenths, hundredths and thousandths.
In other news, The Wizard of Oz rehearsals continue and we are all enjoying putting together the scenes and songs, as well as designing and making the scenery for our production. Hopefully, costumes are being collected together by family and friends - please do contact me if there is an issue regarding the clothing your child needs. Email me, as usual, at oak@ruffordparkprimary.org.uk. Could you please send your child’s costume into school on Friday 13th March? If it could be hung on a hanger and then covered by a plastic bag with your child’s name on it, that would be so helpful!
In our Art unit this term, we have been looking at American landscapes and the children spent an afternoon learning about (and presenting an artist study on) Ansel Adams. Hopefully, your child can tell you a little about him and his work.
Rivers was the theme for our topic lesson this week – a real geography skills session, where the children looked at maps and atlases, comparing a river in California and a local river, the Wharfe. I have challenged the children to learn the names of ten rivers this term, including five from Great Britain. Perhaps you could help them with this too?
I hope you have a lovely weekend,
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 6, ending 13 February
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Sophie RE
Special Mention: Millie G
Well done to these children this week!
Each morning, the children have heard tracks from the K-Pop world this week. (I managed to steer clear of Demon Hunters, but BTS was definitely the most popular band).
This week has been Internet Safety Week – and here is a link for you to follow and hopefully help to start a conversation with your children about this very important subject.
https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers
We have spent quite a lot of time in discussion about how important it is that we keep ourselves as safe online, as we do irl. (in real life!) We have also discussed the rise of AI in our lives; how it can have both pros and cons. Posters have been made.
Science has been learning more about the properties of materials – including an investigation into which material would keep my break time cup of tea the warmest! We also learned about the Water Cycle in our Topic session – which seems more science-y than geography really. But it does filter in nicely with work on rivers. There is an OPTIONAL homework task for the halfterm – create the water cycle in a shoe box. (Details should be in your child’s bag!)
Final published reports on a twin town have also been sent home – I hope you enjoy reading them!
Have a super half term – and have fun learning those Wizard of Oz lines, too.
Mrs Amos
Week 5, ending 6 February
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Teddie
Special Mention: Layne
Well done to these children this week!
Rap and Hip Hop have greeted the children each morning – don’t worry though, I have vetted each and every song to ensure a ‘clean’ version has been played!
Maths this week has been learning how to multiply fractions (and mixed numbers) by whole numbers. Homework is a simple way of doing this. This concept forms the basis of much fraction work in Y6, so do please encourage your child to explain what is happening to you. We have drawn a LOT of fraction diagrams this week to emphasise what happens when a fraction is mutiplied by a whole number (integer).
In English, we have been busy publishing our wonderful non-chronological texts about Leeds’ Twin Towns/Sister Cities. We have all learned so much about this! I have been very impressed by the presentation skills of the children – hopefully, we will photocopy the finished product and send it home so you can see for yourself.
In PE we continue learning Tag Rugby; in science, we have been explored electrical conductors and carried out some fun investigations involving circuits; and in French we have started to learn how to talk about our homes, in our new unit ‘Chez-Moi’.
Wizard of Oz rehearsals are going very well – we are in for a super show! The children have been asked to learn their words over half term, so we can then focus on acting skills, singing and dancing.
Have a super weekend.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos