Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
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
Week 3, ending 23 September 2022
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
This has been another really busy week – in spite of us having an extra Bank Holiday. But we have been listening to music each morning, in the genre of ‘pop’! This has created a few laughs and a lot of leaning! (No, it’s Kylie Minogue, NOT Kylie Jenner!)
So we were launched straight into our educational visit to Eden Camp on Tuesday and I was really pleased by the attitude of Oak Tree Class, as they made their way around the huts, learning lots of facts about WW2. Members of the public congratulated the staff on the behaviour of our children.
(Photos to follow).
Lots of our Topic and English tasks have been centred on WW2 follow up work. The children had great fun writing both a formal and an informal postcard, where we had a lot of discussion about the language we might use for sending a postcard to Mr Cooke, compared to the language we might use for our ‘best mate’.
Another highlight had to be in our PE session with Sam, while continuing work on OAA and we played the game Hungry Caterpillars. I was really pleased to see how well the children worked in teams, encouraging each other, but how they could also work competitively and in a good-natured manner. Hopefully, I have managed to attach some images from this lesson. (Every day is a school day!)
This week, the children will be bringing home a bit of Maths homework, along with their usual spelling sheet. Please help the children get into the habit of returning homework each Wednesday.
I hope you have a super weekend,
Mrs Adrienne Amos