Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 7, ending 20 December (FINALLY!)
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Max
Special Mention: Elliot
A very well done to these children!
Christmas Classics have welcomed the children in each morning this week – top of the popularity scale seemed to be Chris de Burgh’s Class, A Spaceman Came Travelling.
The children did a brilliant job contributing to our UKS2 WW2 Christmas Presentation assembly, I think, and it was lovely to see such a big audience supporting them. A really special way to end a term-long topic.
Christmas cards, parties and activities have dominated our week, but we have also completed a short writing unit on the WW1 Christmas Truce of 1914. The children were given a choice of genre to write about it and really enjoyed a bit of freedom in their writing.
We did manage to hold an intra-school netball tournament, following our unit – we should find out the victors in Friday’s Celebration assembly.
And we also revealed to the children in Years 3 to 5 that our next production (at Eastertime) will be Bugsy Malone! We are super excited and have given out lots and lots of audition information sheets. Do encourage your child to get involved in this little venture - it's great fun!
Many thanks for your kind gifts and cards this Christmas Season – and I hope you all have a really lovely fun-filled holiday.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
FYI
Week 6, ending 13 December 2024
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Zaiione
Special Mention: Ted M
A super well done to these children!
Songs from popular musicals have been the background music to our early morning work and it was lovely to see how animated all the children were when they recognised a track from Oliver! Food Glorious Food!
Hopefully, I shall get a chance to speak with all the Y5s about the launch and auditions for our new Y3-5 production before the end of term. (Performance dates will be in the week commencing 24 March 2025).
We have been able to watch the KS1 Nativity show, which has been fantastic! It was so sweet to see the younger siblings of Oak Tree Class performing their hearts out!
Fractions continue to form the basis of Maths and hopefully we will finish this unit before the holidays.
Practices are happening for the World War II Christmas (on next Tuesday) so I hope you will be able to come along and hear all about the fascinating work we have done so far in Year 5. Please note: the Christmas Party for UKS2 is on Monday, so party clothing needs to be worn for the day and WW2 outfits/costumes (just like the ones worn for our Worth Valley Railway trip) need to be worn on Tuesday (for our Christmas Presentation). There will be no Monday PE for Oak Tree Class; instead we will be having double PE on Thursday afternoon for our Inter-house netball tournament.
Some children have already brought in their Secret Santa gifts – well done to those very organised families! We need to rest of the Secret Santa gifts in on Monday, 16 December too.
Hope to see you next week!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 5, ending 6 December
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Ted M
Special Mention: Ella
Very well done to these children!
Dance music has been the music genre this week each morning. Calvin Harris’ track featuring Dua Lipa gained the most attention, I think. But none of the children had heard of Calvin Harris – just Dua Lipa!
It has been assessment week across the school, so much of our morning timetable has been carrying out our tests. More information on how these have gone will come out soon.
After weeks of researching, planning, writing and editing, the children have nearly finished publishing their non chronological reports on The Role of Women during WW2. The work so far really is astonishing! I am so pleased with all their efforts. Hopefully, you will have a copy of their publications very shortly - you will then see the progress they have already made this year.
Fractions continues in Maths. This week, we have been trying to find ways in which we can compare two different fractions. This has been quite tricky to understand, but it is so useful when we move onto adding and subtracting fractions later in the term.
Our netball lessons have been great fun this week – including learning how to pass in differing ways and to score!
Homework this weekend will be to learn the words for our Christmas songs and to try their hardest to memorise and recite from memory the two WW2-themed poems we have been studying this term.
Finally, as part of our PSHE topic, where we are exploring ‘how we may put others’ needs before our own’, the children have voted to carry out our very own Secret Santa activity. Each child has drawn a child’s name out and needs to buy a gift for that child for around £4. Gifts should be brought into school by Monday 16th December (wrapped, please!) and we will have fun opening them on our last day of term. I personally think the challenge will be to keep this a secret! (But if this task is a challenge for you financially, as a family, I have asked the children to let me know so I can sort out enough gifts for everyone. This is not an issue at all.)
I hope you have a lovely weekend – Christmas shopping maybe?
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 4, ending 29/11/24
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Morgan
Special Mention: Sid
A super well done to these children!
This week, we have been listening to Northern Soul music as we have come into class each morning. Lots of ‘bopping’ while doing our early morning tasks!
This has been a quieter week in Oak Tree Class – but we are building up to Christmas now. I hope some of you are able to come along on the morning of 17 December to see ‘A WW2 Christmas’. I’m sure you will enjoy it!
In Maths, our work on fractions has moved onto looking at improper fractions and mixed numbers. The children’s efforts in these objectives have been brilliant! I have been really encouraged by their working knowledge of these aspects.
By far, the most exciting session for me this week was the use of Digimaps in our Topic session. We looked at the local map and at how Leeds contributed to the war effort during WW2, particularly finding out about the Avro factory, based at Leeds Aerodrome. Fascinating!
Many thanks for all your donations for the Christmas Fair – and for buying raffle tickets. Hope to see you there on Saturday afternoon (12 til 2pm).
Have a fun weekend!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 3, ending 22 November
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
No special awards this week, as we have a Training Day on Friday.
But all of the children in OAK have been Outstanding Workers in one way or another!
Rock-a-billy and Rock ‘n’ Roll music have greeted us in class each morning – Elvis was by far the most commented upon artist! Lots of children said that their parents/grandparents loved listening to Elvis Presley.
We have continued to draft non-chronological reports in English! I am looking forward to seeing each published piece next week.
Equivalent fractions have been the mainstay of maths this week – we shall be spending a little longer on this concept too, as it seems to be one that the children have found tricky. Any support you can give with this in homework would be welcomed. (Often, hearing it explained by someone else can work wonders!)
Our history skills have moved on tremendously thanks to our very own Living Museum. What an enjoyable and informative session we had – by seeing actual artefacts from the era of World War Two, it makes the whole topic come alive for the children. Many thanks to Noah’s mum, who came in and gave the exhibitors some helpful ‘Top Tips’ for presenting their precious exhibits. Mr Cooke gave us an extra assembly session this week, where he shared the story of his Grandad’s escape from a WW2 prisoner of war camp. The children were gripped by the story!
We spent Thursday morning doing some crafts with an RE theme – and then in the afternoon, we were invited to take part in a Question and Answer session, which included being able to ask people of faith about their religions. It was extremely eye-opening for us!
Finally, well done to those children who are remembering to read regularly at home! We have noticed a bit of a dip in this with some of our Y5 children and would just like to remind you of the importance of reading. In UKS2, the expectation is that children should still be reading at least 5 times a week (approx. 1 hour of reading combined!) and they can do this independently and fill in their own reading records or with an adult. We are always happy to provide your child with book recommendations and strongly encourage them to come and talk to us if they are not enjoying the books they have chosen.
The Reading Agency is a UK charity with a mission to empower people of all ages to read. Their research shows that:
- One in four children hasn't reached the expected level of reading by the age of 11. Many of these children will struggle to keep up at secondary school.
- Students are less able to learn other subjects if they do not develop sufficient reading skills by the middle of primary school.
- Only 35% of 10-year-olds in England report that they like reading 'very much'. This lags behind countries like Russia (46%), Ireland (46%), New Zealand (44%), and Australia (43%).
- Children who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gain higher results in maths, vocabulary and spelling tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly.
We greatly appreciate everything parents, carers and children do to support reading for pleasure already.
Have a great weekend – a long weekend!
Mrs Adrienne Amos