Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 3, ending 22 September
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Niamh
Special Mention: Henry M
A special well done to these pupils!
Even the rainy weather has not been able to detract from our fabulous week in Oak Tree Class! Not only has this been the week for our first school visit in Y5, but we have also managed to excel ourselves in learning Place Value for Y5 AND worked tremendously hard to develop reading skills. I was truly impressed by the children’s progress in skimming and scanning during Wednesday’s lesson – these important skills will help each child become more proficient in locating valuable information in the future.
In PE, we devised fantastic gymnastic sequences in small groups and demonstrated each sequence to the class. This was a fine time to learn about how we can give each other ‘constructive criticism’ without being mean. I must say, the children were very complimentary to one another!
In Y5, we spend quite a lot of time at the start learning how to write neatly and legibly with a pen. Transferring neat handwriting skills from pencil to pen can be very tricky for lots of children, but gradually every child will have the chance to write with pen in all English and Humanities lessons in Year 5. (It is sometimes a good idea to ask Santa to bring a nice, blue handwriting pen (not biro, please) at Christmas…)
I shall try to put lots of Armley Mills photos on the class gallery – fingers crossed!
Homework this week is reviewing and demonstrating understanding of partitioning large numbers. This is a core skill in Y5 Place Value. There are also the usual weekly spellings.
(Next week for homework, the children will be asked to learn off by heart the first two verses of Charge of the Light Brigade - but I have sent a copy of the poem home this weekend, to allow them two weeks to learn it. It's quite a new skill to develop in Y5, so I am hoping that two weeks will be long enough.)
Our DT project this term relies on a whole host of long cardboard tubes (like kitchen roll and wrapping paper tubes). It would be great if you could scour the house for any of these and send them into school over the next two weeks.
Have a nice weekend,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 2, ending 15 September
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Noah
Special Mention: Violet
Well done to these pupils! :)
This week has been a really settled and happy week. It has been remarkable how mature the children have been since moving up to Y5 – this bodes well for a successful year. Well done, Oak Tree Class!
In Maths, we have been developing our knowledge and skills in Place Value, learning how to recognise numbers up to 1,000,000. In English, we have been writing a piece of narrative, where we have described images of Victorian street children, which builds nicely on from our class novel, Street Child. I have been very impressed by the vocabulary that so many of the children use – it is clear that many of them are avid readers!
In our topic session, we placed the Victorian period on a timeline. This skill of chronology is so important in primary school education. We also looked for evidence of Victorian features in pictures.
Just to remind you, we plan to go to Armley Mill next Friday and we hope that you will encourage your child to dress as a Victorian to help with the atmosphere! The children will require a packed lunch too. (This does not have to be Victorian styled, though!)
As well as the weekly spellings to find and learn, for homework this week the children will be doing a little bit of research in preparation for our visit - it would be great if you could please enable them to find a suitable device to do some internet research before Wednesday, when it is due to be handed in. Thank you in advance.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 1, ending 8 September 2023
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Welcome to Year 5!
It has been a very enjoyable week in Oak Tree Class and was lovely to meet so many of you in the Meet the Teacher sessions on Wednesday. I look forward to getting to know your child (and all of you!) over the coming academic year.
As well as a variety of ‘Getting to know you’ activities, we have spent some time recapping the writing and grammar skills learned in y4 and also revisited place value, addition and subtraction, as reminders for our work in the coming weeks. Also, we have started our Autumn Term topic, The Victorians, which I know the children are really excited about. (If you happen to have anything in your attics/lofts/storage boxes which might help to boost the children’s experience of the Victorians, then I would love to hear about it! You can email me at oak@ruffordparkprimary.org.uk)
Our PE days, as it already states on the website, are Mondays and Thursdays and in Y5, we continue to send homework out on Fridays and expect its return the following Wednesday. This week, it is simply a task to find and learn weekly spellings.
Each week, in Oak Tree Class, the children will hear a different genre of music as they enter the classroom in the mornings. This week it has been the turn of SKA. They have loved tapping their feet along to Madness and the Mighty, Mighty Boss Tones among others! I hope the children will talk about these themes over the year.
The children have settled superbly this week, I feel – this is a delightful group to be working with! But should you have any issues, please do not hesitate to contact me – either by email (using the address above) or by stopping by at the end of the day. (Mornings are always very busy, so this possibly isn’t the best chance to chat.)
I hope you have a lovely weekend!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
FINAL WEEK!!!!!
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Well done to these pupils:
Special mention – Olivia
Reader of the Week – Alisha
Oak Tree’s Reading Ambassador – Violet
And we have made it!!
The final week has continued in true ‘busy’ style – we have finished our Maths unit on Position and Direction and we have perfected a method for division (Some very brave pupils have also learned how to master Long Division – the Holy Grail of Maths in Y6!!!).
As well as this, we have celebrated the end of term in style!
Thanks to you all for your gifts and your support – have a super summer holiday.
On Tuesday we had an Assembly led by a local Librarian telling us about the Summer Reading challenge. This is run in libraries across the country to encourage children to visit libraries and continue to read throughout the 6-week break from school.
This year's Summer Reading Challenge theme is 'Ready, Set, Read!' and aims to keep children's minds and bodies active over the summer break. Children can read anything they like – stories, poetry, fact books, graphic novels or listen to audiobooks – it’s up to them! The books (physical or digital) can be borrowed from the library, and we recommend reading at least six books over the summer, with a Ready, Set, Read! reward for each of the six books they read. Once they have read their sixth book, they complete the challenge and will be awarded a certificate and medal. And best of all, it’s completely FREE!
Saturday 22nd July is Sign-up Saturday in Leeds, which is a dedicated time in libraries for joining the Summer Reading Challenge. There'll be a real buzz in our buildings on this day, as well as a range of self-serve activities, including a hunt for the Ready, Set, Read! characters among our bookshelves.
Summer Reading Challenge - find out more
All the best
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 6, ending 14 July
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog