Oak Tree Class Blog
Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 6, ending 24 May.
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Luke
Special Mention: Eva
A special well done to these children!
The music hits of Male Legends have been playing as the children have arrived each morning. No prizes for guessing the most popular ‘legend’… Michael Jackson! Every child had heard of him, but it was clear that only a few had heard of Frank Sinatra.
At last, in our English lessons, we have completed publishing our Rufford Park Primary School leaflets and what delightful documents they have proved to be! The staff team from the Reception classes have chosen the most persuasive four to be included in the ‘New-to-School’ packs this July, but, because the standard of every one has been so impressive, Mr Cooke has said that ALL of the children’s leaflets will be available for parents (new and old!) to read in the school entrance way. We are incredibly proud of this work!
The winning leaflets are created by: Lillie A-H, Zara A, Finn B and Rumina D. Well done to you four!
In Maths, we have begun learning a unit all about Statistics – this will be continued after half term.
The city-state of Sparta was our main focus in our history session. Now that we have looked in detail at both Athens and Sparta, we will be able to compare and contrast both of these regions in our next topic lesson on Ancient Greece. In the first week back, we are lucky enough to have an educational visitor come to lead the pupils in Phase 4 – this will be all about Ancient Greek theatre and their myths. It should be a lot of fun!
We have had a lot of fun today on 'Make the Rules Day'. Thank you for supporting FORP in this event. Some children have also represented the school in the Brownlee Triathlon today - fantastic efforts all round, you guys! And we have held another 'Oak Tree's Got Talent' show this morning - I never stop smiling in these events. It never fails to amaze me how creative this class is! Thanks for the many ways you have supported and encouraged your child in this little venture; truly a highlight for many!
As it is half term, and the children have worked so hard for the past six weeks, there will be no other homework over the break, apart from regular reading. Please do remember to fill in the Reading Records, too.
Have a super week off!
See you all on Tuesday, 4 June.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 5, ending 17 May
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Daisyrose
Special Mention: Violet
A super week for these children especially!
‘Electronic’ music has greeted the children each morning this week. It is hard to say which artist has made the biggest impact, but I certainly enjoyed listening to tracks from Moby and Portishead.
We have spent a part of this week with all the children in Year 5, to give the Y6s space and time to complete their End of KS2 tests. Together, we have explore Greek Myths and have tried to complete our mini unit on Romero Britto. It has been nice to see the children reunited with their friends from Ash Class, but also to see how maturely they have settled down to their work, even with a change to the usual routine. I am really aware of how mature these young people have become this year – I am certain they shall make fine Y6 role models next year.
We have nearly completed our original song compositions in ukulele lessons – and, with that in mind, please add a date to your diary, as we hope to hold a Ukulele Gig for you on Monday 22 July, at around 9.15, when the children can demonstrate to you all they have learned in Music lessons this year. I really hope you can come along for this short concert (probably just 30 mins). We have set it at this time, as we thought you could possibly wait a little after ‘drop-off’ times – I am trying to sort coffee for you while you wait too. Watch this space for more information.
Have a lovely weekend.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 4, ending 10 May
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Week 4, ending 10 May.
Reader: Henry
Special Mention: Lilly W
Fantastic efforts from for these children this week!
It has been a short week, but a very busy one nonetheless! Reggae music has accompanied our Early Bird Maths, with Bob Marley being the out and out winner in popularity!
We have now completed our maths unit on area and perimeter, so the homework this weekend reflects this; in English, the first drafts of the fabulous Rufford Park Primary School leaflets have been finished and now await editing and publication; more has been learned about some ancient Greek traditions in topic sessions – that of the Olympics and in PE, we continue to further skills in cricket.
In a bid to improve the children’s reading skills for Year 6, I have been encouraging the children to read meanings ‘behind the words’ – inference skills.
Eg Alex had a frown on his face and was dragging his feet as he walked. From this sentence, we can tell that Alex was having a bit of a bad day; he was feeling unhappy or grumpy and did not want to go where he was heading.
While you are reading with your children for the rest of the year, it would be so helpful if you could ask questions that require the children to think a little bit more deeply about the text. I am sending home a Reading Wheel, which might help you with this. Please encourage your child to read five times per week and to fill in the reading record books too. I can see/hear such a difference in their reading aloud when they are reading often at home.
We welcomed Mrs Stuart into Oak Tree Class on Thursday afternoon – she will be teaching my Y5s on Thursdays each week as I have time out of class for planning and preparation. Hopefully, she will enjoy teaching this group of children as much as I do!
I hope you have a lovely weekend – I think the weather is supposed to be fab, so fingers crossed!
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 3, ending 3 May
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Destiny
Special Mention: Luke
A super week for these children!
We have enjoyed listening to ‘Power Ballads’ all week – a lot of confusion occurred around the name of Meatloaf though! Miss Sanderson and I enjoyed a trip down Memory Lane when listening to Seal on Thursday!
In Maths, we have moved from calculating the perimeter of shapes to calculating their area. This week’s homework is on the concept of perimeter, so any adult support would be gratefully received, I am sure. On the whole, the children have become very responsible about completing and handing in homework on time – this is a really great way to be prepared for life further up the school.
In English, our leaflets about Rufford Park are coming along nicely – it is interesting to hear how focused the children are on their ‘audience’ for this piece of work. This has been very motivating for them. I think our prospective parents are in for a treat! In our Grammar lesson, we tried to get to grips with using commas to help keep the writing clear. There was much hilarity at: Let’s eat Grandma and At the weekend, Mrs Amos enjoys baking her children and her cat.
(Commas, it seems, can save lives…)
Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!
See you back here on Tuesday.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos
Week 2, ending 26 April
Mrs Amos (a.amos) on: Oak Tree Class Blog
Reader: Corey
Special Mention: Callum
A special well done to these children!
We have all really enjoyed listening to ‘funk’ music at the start of our day – Play that Funky Music, by Wild Cherry definitely got the best reaction!
As you know, we start our week in Oak Tree Class with a ukulele lesson. This half term we are being composers, which is turning out to be quite a challenge but a really fun unit. Mr Jennings has encouraged the children to find 4 chords that they can play and put some simple lyrics and a melody to it. It is early days so far, but the children’s enthusiasm has been through the roof!
In Maths, we have finished our unit on decimals and percentages and have also furthered our arithmetic skills, looking especially at a method for short division. I am hoping that your child is keeping you up to date with their recent arithmetic scores – each time we take a new test, we aim to improve our score by at least 1 more! All tests (at present) are out of 32 and it is pleasing how many children are reaching the late-twenties or early-thirties in their scores.
In English, we have begun a brand new theme of leaflets. To give the children a different ‘audience’, they are writing persuasive leaflets about our fantastic school for prospective parent to RPPS. It is likely to take a couple more weeks, but we hope to share some fabulous writing with your (*and our Reception Team too!) at the end of it.
Cricket continues in PE, our Science unit is learning about Space and in PSHE, we have been looking at Stereotyping.
I hope you have a lovely weekend – homework this weekend is Spellings and a sheet on converting fractions to percentages.
Yours,
Mrs Adrienne Amos