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OAK CLASS 2022.2023

We are made up of both Year 3 and Year 4 and are very lucky to have the same adults that we had last year. Our class teacher is Miss Chhibber and our TAs are Mrs Rose and Mrs King. We are also lucky enough to have Mrs Tickle who will take the children for Forest School. 

WB 03.07.23:

Another busy week in Oak Class. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the KS2 performance on Tuesday and the Year 4 children were brilliant on the Wednesday and Thursday performances too! In English, Year 3 listened to more of the story 'Harry's Mad', recapped fronted adverbials and then used this as we wrote a radio speech in role as Harry. We also all ended the week by planning and starting to write a story in the same style as 'Harry's Mad' based on their own unusual pet. In Maths, Year 3s completed their work with statistics by collecting their own data and presenting it in a table, and as pictograms and bar charts. In Exciting Writing, the children wrote a letter to a friend who is coming up to Oak next year, explaining our daily routines, rules and responsibilities and information about the teachers. In RE, we learned more about some Hindu symbols and their importance. Year 3 enjoyed our last session of athletics before Sports Day next week too!

WB 26.06.23

We have been a bit child-light in Oak Class this week as the Year 4s have been working really hard with Mr Greenham for most of the week to perfect the upcoming play! In English, we have continued to focus on Harry's Mad and linked this to our SPaG knowledge. We started the week by thinking about and creating an unusual pet, just like Madison. We then created and a short drama piece which we built on throughout the week to consolidate out understanding of speech. Using different colours, Year 3 worked hard to ensure they understood how to lay out direct speech correctly with a reporting clause and the correct punctuation. In Maths, we have been working on handling data - specifically pictograms and bar charts. We worked hard to interpret data as well as drawing our own charts. 

We enjoyed our first, whole-school transition session where Year 2 came up to Oak and Year 4 went up to Rowan. The new Oak Class spent some time getting to know their new room and the class rules. We then created 'all about me' shoes to tell Miss Chhibber our favourite colours, books, lessons and much more! In PE, Year 3 took part in some athletics races to practice for sports day, specifically relay races. Year 4 did a similar activity with Mrs Griffiths using hurdles. In our multiple Computing lessons, the children have been getting used to 'Scratch' and trying to code to create games. We worked hard to create various animations and games. The children are getting much more confident and are even starting to problem solve independently. It was really lovely to see the children share their games and help each other out.

WB 19.06.23:

Well done to Oak Class for completing their last assessments of the year - bring on the summer holidays! The children have completed assessments in reading, spelling, punctuation and grammar and maths to show off all that they have learnt this year.

In RE this week, we learned more about how most Hindus pray, either at the Mandir or at a home shrine. I also brought in some murtis from my home shrine for the children to explore. In French, both year groups looked closer at using determiners - Year 3 to count fruit and Year 4 to use 'some' with different vegetables. In Computing, children used the online website 'scratch' to explore coding, programming and problem solving. They thoroughly enjoyed this! In Exciting Writing, Miss Connor helped the children to think about balanced arguments, specifically whether or not plastic should be banned to save the environment. Oak were also lucky enough to have a PE session run by Riley, a volunteer student. They enjoyed practicing for our upcoming sports day and are ready and raring to go! We also helped Mrs Tickle prepare the wildlife garden for an upcoming project in Forest School. Finally, we finished our week with a creative session making a collage of the different layers of the rainforest. Year 4 helped to plan before heading out to practice the play but Year 3 certainly did not disappoint! Have a look at their gorgeous work! I felt extremely proud of them and I know they felt proud too.

WB 12.06.23

This week in English, we started to look at the text 'Harry's Mad' by Dick King-Smith. The children are really enjoying this classic text so far! We have looked at the front of the book and the blurb and discussed whether we thought we would enjoy the book and why. We also spoke about his characteristics and used the texts to support our views. We also started to think about the vocabulary that is used in the text as one of the main characters is American. Finally, we answered some comprehension questions based on the text. A big well done to all of Year 4 as they have now all completed their official multiplication check. They have worked so hard, and we are all very proud of them! In Maths, Year 3 have been accurately drawings and measuring, identifying parallel and perpendicular lines and recognising 2-D and 3-D shapes. Year 4 have been exploring different types of triangles and quadrilaterals, recognising lines of symmetry and completing symmetric figures.

In Art, we focused on tones, tints and shading. The children used water colours and mixed black and white into the primary colours. We used the colour wheel to also help us mix primary colours to create different tones. They discussed why this was important and how it could be used in our artwork. In RE, we started to look at the different deities in Hinduism. We found out that there are lots of different deities in Hinduism who represent different characteristics that Brahman has. We also looked at the main beliefs of Hindus and learnt more about the concepts of Dharma, Karma and Moksha. In forest school, Year 3 collected flowers to rub onto paper to create a drawing. We enjoyed a relaxing swimming lesson to help us cool down from the hot weather too. Year 4 have started in their preparation of the UKS2 play and have been allocated roles. Finally, we finished Friday afternoon with some exciting writing editing based on our healthy eating piece of work. 

WB 05.06.23:

It really feels like this year has flown by! This week in Maths, we started to look at angles and turns. Year 3 spent time recognising angles and comparing angles, whilst Year 4 identified angles such as acute and obtuse and then ordering and comparing angles. We thought about how we could remember the difference between acute and obtuse angles and estimated angles too. In English, the children showed their understanding of playscripts by writing their own playscript based on any story. They had to make sure they included all the key features we have learnt, especially laying out dialogue correctly. Then we moved onto consolidating our understanding of possessive and plural possessive apostrophes. In Science, Year 4 looked at classification keys and groups animals according to their characteristics. In RE we had our first lesson looking at Hinduism. We spent time learning where Hinduism was founded and located different locations on a map. In Topic we explored the habitat of the rainforest. We spoke about the animals that live in the upper and lower layers of the rainforest, and how different animals have adapted to live in the rainforest. In PE, we had our first lesson of athletics where we focused on running, throwing and jumping. On Wednesday, we had an Art and RE focus day. Each year group were given an enquiry question and a piece of artwork to be inspired by. Year 3 focused on a painting of the Golden Temple by August Schoefft and thought about what makes Sikhs unique. Year 4 looked at The Meenakshi Temple in Madura and what makes Hindus special. The children designed a piece of artwork inspired by the religion and art and painted it onto an umbrella. In music, we started to learn the notes for Frere Jacques on the recorder and practised singing too! Year 4 have almost completed their Multiplication screening and have done incredibly well - Mrs Rose, Mrs Donahue and I are so very proud of the work they have put in this year!

Weekly update - WB: 08.05.23

This week in Maths, we focused on money. We consolidated our understanding of converting between pounds and pence, Year 3 then spent time adding different amounts of money using known methods and calculating change. Year 4 compared different amounts of money and used their knowledge of four operations to help calculate with money. In pairs, the children's adding skills were tested as they were given a variety of coins and had to make £10. They were able to come to Miss C's change shop to get the extra change they needed by could only visit the shop once - accuracy was key! 3 pairs managed to correctly count all of their change, ask for the correct amount of extra money and reach the £10 target. In English we had a SPaG focus. We first consolidated our understanding of commas, specifically in lists, fronted adverbials and subordinate clauses. Then we moved onto consolidating our understanding of apostrophes, specifically for contractions, possession and plural possession. Then we ended the week with a focus on the homophones there, their and they're.

In Science, Year 4 worked on their classification skills by looking at different organisms. They had to sort the organisms into different groups e.g. can fly, cannot fly before we spoke about the importance of classifying for scientists. In PE, we started to look closer at the rules of rounders and hosted a few small games. We looked at resilience which is a key skill in team games as there is usually a winner and a loser. In Topic, the children researched and created their own fact files about The Amazon River, and they discussed the comparisons between The Amazon River and The River Nile. Our Sikhism learning focused on Vaisakhi and Bandi Chhor Divas - two important festivals - and learnt the stories behind the celebrations. The children were able to recall key events and compare the actions of the Gurus in both. 

Weekly update - WB 01.05.23

In this short week, Oak have been getting ready to celebrate the King's coronation. We enjoyed a small celebration with cakes and crisps on Friday afternoon, wrote acrostic poems about 'The Monarchy' in Exciting Writing and learned more about our new king through comprehension in English. In English this week we also wrote and edited a double page spread diary in the style of 'Expedition Diaries.' We thought carefully about the difference between proof-reading and editing. Using editing flaps, we chose some of our more boring sections and rewrote them. In Maths, Year 3 finished their work on Fractions while Year 4 continued their work on decimals. We looked at how to find both unit and non-unit fractions of a number by dividing by the denominator then multiplying by the numerator. Year 4 spoke about rounding and ordering decimals, linking to our understanding of place value. We linked this to our learning of fractions as we used tenths and hundredths as decimals points.

In Science, Year 3 continued to look at their beans that we planted to look at how the roots and shoots grow. We also conducted an experiment with celery to show how water is transported through the stem of a plant to the leaves.  Using blue and red food colouring, we saw how the stem has smaller tubes inside that help to transport the water to the rest of the plant. We had opportunity for sensory exploration with the celery. Surprisingly, some of the children really liked the taste! We saw at the end of the week how the dye had started to spread up to the top of the flower. In Forest School, Year 4 used their sketchbooks to complete drawings of different plants using sketching pencils. In RE, we learned more about the 10 gurus in Sikhism and also about the different parts of the Gurdwara. The children particularly enjoyed Bikeability this week and worked really hard to show off their skills. 

Weekly update - WB: 24.04.23

This week in Maths, Year 3 have been working really hard on Fractions again. They have been adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator, and then moved onto finding unit fractions of amounts. We completed some bonus work to really consolidate converting fractions to give them the same denominator which lots of the children struggled with. Year 4 have been really focused this week starting with decimals. It has been tricky to understand as it is the first time we have covered it but they have worked really hard! They started by recognising tenths and hundredths as fractions and decimals, then moved onto dividing 1 and 2 digit numbers by 10 and 100. We used place value charts to help with our understanding. In English, we have started a new text linked to our topic called The Expedition Diaries- Borneo Rainforest. We started the week by familiarising ourselves with the text before moving on to identifying key features of a diary, as we started to plan our double page spread diary. In partners, the children chose a country that the Amazon Rainforest is in to research- Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia or Peru. They then chose images and an animal or plant to write facts about.

In RE we started our lessons on Sikhism after filling in the KWL. The children learnt about where and how Sikhism was founded and recalled key events in Guru Nanak's life. In Topic, the children learnt about the different layers of the rainforest and the role each layer has. The children also discussed the weather conditions of each layer and which animals you would find. In Science, Year 3 started their unit on plants and learnt about the different roles of the different parts of a plant. Then they set up their own experiments looking at root shoots. We planted runner beans in jars (thanks to the donations!) with cotton wool inside. We will be able to watch as the roots and shoots start to grow. Year 4 also started their new unit on living things and their habitats by thinking about why animals are best suited to certain habitats.  In French, we all looked at food: Year 3 focusing on the story of ‘Le Chien très gourmand’ and Year 4 on fruit. Finally, the children really enjoyed our first rounders lesson, focusing on aim with throwing, catching and hitting. 

Weekly update- WB: 17.04.23

Our first week back has been as busy as ever! In English, we have been looking at 'Greta and the Giants' as part of our new topic 'Rainforests.' We learnt more about deforestation and the impact it has on the world before the children wrote a diary entry in character as Greta. In Maths, the children have continued their work on fractions as well as completing a weekly arithmetic test. Year 3 looked at equivalent fractions, and then moved on to finding fractions of an amount. Year 4 finished their work on fractions by converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and then adding and subtracting fractions from mixed numbers.

In PSHE we spoke about responsibilities and how we have a responsibility to keep ourselves safe, and how we do this. The children created a drama based on a scenario, thinking about how to make the right choices. In our first Topic lesson this term, we focused on the climate of rainforests. The children looked at a world map and identified different rainforests, spoke about the the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and how the location of the Equator impacts the weather of a rainforest. We have also finished our independent art projects with the theme of protests. The children really impressed me with their creativity, confidence and skills in creating their artwork and linking this to the skill of Art through Technology. In PE, we enjoyed games of bench ball inside which focused on hand-eye coordination - a skill we will be using in rounders this term. Finally, the children enjoyed a bonus forest school session this afternoon alongside Ash and Puddleducks.

Weekly update - WB 20.03.23

This week in Maths, Oak Class have been looking at fractions. We started by recapping what a fraction is and what the numerator and denominator mean. The children looked at finding fractions of a shape and Year 4 also looked at fractions of a number. We worked on finding fractions on a number line and how to find fractions of a shape with more equal sections that the denominator e.g. 1/3 of 12 squares. In English, we started to look at poetry and annotated poems in pairs to remind ourselves of some key poetic devices such as rhyme schemes and alliteration. We also used our writing skills to plan a diary entry pretending to be Howard Carter finding the tomb of Tutankhamun and to write instructions in DT. 

We have spent a lot of time this week preparing for our exciting Topic Day next week as well as practicing for the Easter service on Wednesday. In DT, we practiced making our bread designs using salt dough before writing ingredient lists and instructions. Next week, we will be making our bread and tasting it! We finished our RE topic 'What is the significance of Easter' by researching the questions we put in our KWL grids at the start of our unit. We will be starting Sikhism and Hinduism in the Summer Term. In Science, both year groups finished up experiments from British Science Week. Year 3 were testing the properties of different rocks to see if they were durable,  permeable and to test their density. Year 4 completed their experiment to see how far sound would travel. With one child up at the back corner of the field, the rest of the group moved backwards 10m at a time to see how far they had to go before the sound was not clear. Finally, we finished our unit in PE on badminton with some friendly rallies. The children became increasingly confident hitting and serving the shuttle and some pairs were able to have rallies of 4 or 5 shots. 

Weekly update - WB 13.06.23

We have enjoyed lots of wonderful Science activities this week as part of our British Science Week learning. We were fortunate enough to have visits from a range of different Scientists who spoke about lots from Physics to Aerospace. In Fantastic Fingerprints, Oak Class looked with a magnifying glass at their own fingerprints before creating prints using paint and chocolate powder. We learnt that everyone in the world has a different set of finger prints and a few rare people are born without prints at all! In Noisy Neighbors, we learnt more about sound and how it travels. We used metal hangers and string to investigate how different materials sound. We thought about how some materials sound hollow, whilst others sound higher pitched. The Year 4 children also found out more information about the vibrations of sound in their regular Science lessons. 

Weekly update - WB: 06.03.23

Well done to Oak Class this week who have worked hard to complete assessments in Reading, SPaG and Maths. The children showed great determination and resilience as they demonstrated all of the hard work that they have been doing so far this year.  This week we also celebrated International Women's Day by talking about the women that we find inspirational and why. We also discussed a few biased statements such as 'boys are better at Maths than girls' to think about whether our gender identity impacts what we are good at. In Exciting Writing, the children thought about what it would be like to be a monarch for the day. They had to include information about what they would do, what they would be responsible for and what they would change. In Science, Year 4 completed their new KWL grids about 'Sound' in preparation for British Science Week whilst Year 3 started to learn about different rocks. We spoke about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks before starting to test the properties of different rocks e.g. marble and chalk. In French, Year 3 learned how to correctly pronounce some basic colours while Year 4 continued to work on action verbs and directions in a game of Jacques a dit. Oak particularly enjoyed a music session using Boom Whackers to learn to read sheet music from 'Living River Nile' to prepare them for our upcoming recorder session. Finally in PE, we continued with our Badminton unit. This time, we focused on moving quickly to be in position to receive the shuttlecock before finishing with small group rallies. 

Weekly update - WB: 27.02.23

In Maths we introduced our new unit of work focusing on measurement with a specific focus on length. We started the week by accurately measuring objects in mm, cm and m. The Year 4 children also looked at km with the understanding that we use this to measure distance and couldn't really practice this first hand. Then we moved onto using our knowledge of converting to find equivalent lengths - Year 3 focused on mm to cm and cm to m while YR4 focused on m to km. Year 4 also started to work on perimeter, first thinking about perimeter using a square grid before we started to talk about measuring lengths to work out perimeter. In English, we continued our work with Discussion texts. This week the children planned their own discussion text based on a topic they believed they could write a balanced argument for. This was also linked to their street art and protest unit in Art. We had lots of interesting topics such as 'Should school trips be free for all?', 'Should we have a sports day every month?' and 'Should we do more reading in school?' After planning, the children spent two lessons writing their discussion texts ensuring they were including all of the key features we had discussed.

Oak worked especially hard this week as we spent a lot of our learning time planning and creating our World Book Day books. We neatly wrote up our factual information, planned each page to include which mechanisms were used and where before finally putting it all together. Mrs Rose and I were so impressed with how focused the children were and the quality of work created was amazing! In Science, the Year 3s completed their were introduced to their new unit - Rocks and Fossils. To finish the week, Oak enjoyed another badminton lesson. We practiced serving and working as well as holding the racket correctly. 

Weekly update - WB: 20.02.23

A very busy and practical week back for Oak Class. In Maths this week we have finished off the unit on multiplication and division. The children worked on division problems with and without remainders, using a mixture of 2 and 3-digit numbers divided by a 1-digit number. Year 3 also looked at scaling and working systematically to answer questions with multiple answers. Year 4 also consolidated their understanding of multiplying using grid method, and started to discuss column method multiplication. In English, we started our new unit on discursive texts. We worked on key features of a discursive text before identifying pros and cons of the arguments that we read. We recapped different SPaG features such as determiners, fronted adverbials, prefixes and expanded noun phrases. We ended the week with a debate around the question 'Should we still have zoos?'

In exciting news, we started making our DT books in preparation for World Book Day. The children wrote their non-fiction paragraphs on Monday and experimented with making levers and linkages on Thursday. We will continue this work next week and are looking forward to sharing our books at Bedtime Stories. In topic, we made our papier mache masks and started to paint them to match our designs this morning. Year 3 made magnetic games on Wednesday to demonstrate their understanding of how magnets move certain materials. We also enjoyed a visit from Reverend Howson to tell us lots about Lent and Ash Wednesday. Finally, we started our learning in PE about badminton. The children learned how to serve and practiced throwing, hitting and catching a shuttlecock. We also worked on footwork and how to move in order to hit the shuttlecock. 

Weekly update - WB 30.01.23

Another busy week in Oak Class! This week in Maths, Year 3 were recognising multiples of 10, applying their knowledge of division and moved on to some really difficult multiplication. They worked practically and then in their books to multiply two-digit numbers by a 1-digit number using a multiplication grid. Some of the children understood this concept really quickly as we had previously briefly covered it as a morning job and were therefore able to multiply 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. Very impressive for Year 3! Year 4 have had a jam-packed week, starting by dividing any number by 1 and itself. They then moved on to multiplying 3 single numbers using associative law, completed an end-of-unit assessment and started to look at factor pairs. Lots of mathematical thinking this week! In English, we started to look at our new unit 'Persuasive Texts.' We first started by finding the key features of a persuasive text before focusing deeper on paragraphs, imperative verbs and modifying nouns and rhetorical questions. Who doesn't love a good rhetorical question?

In French, Year 3 learned the song 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in French while Year 4 looked more at transport and how they come to school. In PSHE, we focused on emotions and mental health in support of Time to Talk Day. We enjoyed another music lesson this week where we focused on melody, tempo, pitch and duration. We also started to look at sheet music and the patterns we could spot. While Year 4 spent some time outside during forest school, Year 3 continued our work on magnets. We investigated which objects around the classroom were magnetic and spoke about the invisible magnetic field. We started to look at the north and south poles and why magnets attract or repel. We designed our Egyptian-style bread products in DT and started to think more about the idea of protesting in Art.

Weekly update - WB 23.01.23

This week in Maths, Oak have continued to work extremely hard to learn times tables and their division facts too. Year 3 have focused on multiplying an dividing by 8 before consolidating their learning of 2,4 and 8 times table and division facts. We have discussed the links between these tables and how we can work out difficult answers using the knowledge we already have. Year 4 have focused on the 7, 11 and 12 times tables with the matching division facts. Now that we have covered all of the times tables, Year 4 need to work especially hard to learn them off-by-heart and with quick recall. In English this week, Oak have worked on their narrative writing skills. While most children planned and wrote an alternative ending to Flat Stanley- The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery, some children even wrote a complete story based on a similar plot. Our focuses for this piece of writing were complex and compound sentence, direct speech and description. The final stories were really interesting to read and I was particularly impressed with the concentration shown by most children. 

For RE, we looked at how Easter is celebrated around the world. We looked at a variety of different countries which celebrated Easter and discussed which tradition we would most like to take part in and why. The children produced some lovely descriptive writing around the theme of Chinese New Year, thinking specifically about a lantern festival. Year 3 enjoyed forest school with Mrs Tickle this week where she involved them in some of the mechanics and technology behind the Lego League. Year 4 enjoyed double science, starting off our topic on electricity. We went on a hunt around the school to find as many devices which used electricity as we could. We also spoke about the dangers of electricity and how to stay safe around it. Our Geography this week looked at the journey of a river and the children produced an explanation about the upper, middle and lower course of a river. Computing focused on networks and connections, looking at how we can link our understanding of connections in real life to those online. Mrs Rose led a really interesting discussion about protesting during Art this week as the children will have to create an independent project protesting something they are passionate about. Finally, we continued our gymnastics work this week by looking at different types of jumps. We focused on rocket jumps, star jumps, crater jumps and tuck jumps. We also watched a video of Olympic level athletes completing gymnastic routines to show that men and women have to ensure their jumps and routines are clean and tight. 

Weekly update - WB 16.01.23

This week in Oak, we have continued to work on multiplication and division facts. Year 3 should now be confident with multiplying and dividing by 3 and 4 while Year 4 are increasing their fluency with the 3,6 and 9 times tables. We have been working on speeding up our recall of multiplication facts and Year 4 continue to practice decreasing their recall time to 6-seconds or less. In English, we continued our work on Flat Stanley - The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery and finished reading the story. The children really enjoyed the book and were so excited to keep reading each day! In our lessons we spent time looking at simple, compound and complex sentences and how we can use them in our writing, we wrote a detailed setting description using images of places in Egypt, we recapped our understanding of correctly punctuating direct speech between two characters from the book and then we ended with writing a book review of Flat Stanley.

In RE we looked at the significance of different Egyptian Gods and Goddesses and spoke about how they were similar or different to Anglo-Saxon gods. In DT we introduced our new unit which is Ancient Egyptian Bread. We spend the lesson researching about Ancient Egyptian bread ready for when we plan our own recipe. In Science, Year 3 started their new unit of Forces and Magnets. Our first lesson we looked at different actions which cause a push or pull. Then we moved onto friction. The children carried out an experiment using toy cars on different surfaces to see which surface would cause the most friction and why. In PE, we started our Gymnastics lessons. We focused on balances and different ways that we could balance with our bodies. The children also really enjoyed our topic lesson this week where we designed death masks based on Tutankhamun's. 

Weekly update - WB 09.01.23

The highlight of our week has definitely been our whole-school trip to Grafham Waters on Wednesday! The KS2 children enjoyed mountain biking, rock climbing and bush craft in their groups which proved a big hit. They worked so hard during the day, not only having fun, but also showing determination, team building and resilience. In Geography, we learned more about the features of a river before we start to look specifically at the Nile River in Egypt. YR3 French looked at classroom instructions while YR4 looked at different modes of transport. In double PSHE sessions this week, Oak discussed different stages of life and what it means to be 'grown up.' Oak developed their cardiovascular endurance this afternoon with some activities designed to increase their heartrates. We started the session by seeing how long we could run for without stopping. We then practiced techniques such as correct breathing strategies during exercise and other short burst activities to increase our cardiovascular endurance. The children then tried to beat their original time at the end of the session and they were all able to run for longer with correct breathing strategies and having warmed their hearts up.

In English this week, we have started our new book by S.Pennypacker called 'Flat Stanley - The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery.' We first predicted what we thought would happen in the story based on the front cover and the blurb. Then, we wrote character descriptions and created role on the walls based on two pictures of Flat Stanley from different points in the story. The children thought about both his appearance and his emotions, giving reasons for their ideas. Once we started reading the book, we also made a conscious alley, giving Stanley our opinions on whether he should go to Egypt or not. We have been left on a cliffhanger this week as we wait to find out what Sir Abu Shenti Hawara the Fourth will really ask Stanley to do. In Maths, we have been recapping and focusing on multiplication using arrays and repeated addition. YR3 consolidated their understanding of equal groups, arrays and the 2/5/10 times tables. YR4 focused on the 3 and 4 times tables with questions about division and number families also. 

Weekly update - WB 02.01.23

Happy New Year and welcome back! This week, Oak have enjoyed an immersive start to our new Ancient Egyptians topic. We started by having a very lengthy group conversation about what we already knew and what we wanted to find out during our topic lessons. We started by looking at where the Ancient Egyptians fit in history and which other time periods we have already studied. Oak were surprised that our topic spans over roughly 3033 years! We looked at some of the new language that we will be using in an Egyptian word search and learnt how to write using hieroglyphs. Oak also enjoyed playing a few games of 'hieroglyph hangman' at the end of the day.

We started our new term with growth mindset lessons to remind the children about how to be a positive learner. Year 3 were considering whether people are born to be good at something or if they have to work hard for it. We spoke about Usain Bolt as our example and thought about how his genetics helped him to be tall which is useful for a runner, but also that he worked incredibly hard with his training. Year 4 looked at 'doom' words and 'learning' words in relation to their mindset. We identified doom words like 'easy' and thought about how we could change it into a learning word e.g. This is easy now because I have worked hard to learn it.  We spent one lesson recapping addition, subtraction and place value before we move on to multiplication next week. The children are working so hard to learn their times tables already! Oak started their new RE and Science topics and completed KWL grids for these too. In Computing, we learnt about inputs, outputs and processes before the children designed their own device using this new terminology. Finally, we enjoyed a lovely Friday afternoon completing some art work for a competition run by Kimbolton Rotary Club based on 'Sunrise and Sunsets'. 

Weekly update - WB 12.12.22

This week in Maths, the children have been working on Christmas based Maths problems. They have worked hard to prove their knowledge of addition and subtraction to solve worded problems and tried a very tricky riddle-style booklet to find out which elf stole a Christmas pudding! In English, we finished our unit on classic poetry and completed some consolidation  Christmas spelling and grammar activities. 

We enjoyed a whole day of DT on Wednesday where we designed, made and evaluated our own Anglo-Saxon inspired purses. The children had already practiced using the back stitch and running stitch in previous lessons and were keen to apply them in their money holders. Once the children had selected their material and thread colours, they were challenged to create a design or embroidery on the front of their money holders. Some of the children even sewed their money holders inside out so they were able to flip them, giving the bag a clean and tidy finish. We really enjoyed watching the dress rehearsal of the Ash Class nativity and took part in a lovely Christingle celebration in school. Oak enjoyed a Christmas based French lesson too where we learnt lots of different vocabulary using the French dictionaries. In Geography, the children used their researching skills to find out more about Christmas island and found out information such as which continent it was in and what their national animal was. Finally, in Science, Year 3 wrote and completed and independent experiment with varying levels of success to find out what happens to shadows when a light source is closer or further away. Year 4 learned about the water cycle and created a wheel to explain the different stages.

Weekly update - 28.11.22

This week in English, Oak have been exploring the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson. We found out that he was born in Edinburgh in 1850. He suffered from poor health as a child which inspired lots of his bed-based poetry such as 'Land of Counterpane' and 'Land of Nod.' We started to plan our own illness-based poetry using rhyming couplets. The children used online rhyming dictionaries to help them create pairs to use in their poems. They then drafted a few lines for their poems with a partner. In Maths, Year 3 continued to work on subtraction. They used different methods such as partitioning and using number lines to make their calculations easier. They were also able to use their trusty column method to check their answers. Year 4 started their work on estimation. We started by rounding numbers to the nearest 10,100 or 1000 to give us increasingly accurate estimates. The children then checked their answers using column method.

In Geography, the children finished their PowerPoints on different continents. Their PowerPoints needed to include answers to specific questions e.g. Which hemisphere is it in? What is the total population? Which languages are spoken there? They then practiced their IT skills by adding pictures, transitions and changing the fonts on each slide. In RE, we used comprehension sheets to find out more about the history of Christingles in preparation for our Christingle service in a few weeks. We were also visited by GenR8 who held an interesting and interactive assembly based on advent. In Science, Year 3 completed some activities surrounding reflection and mirrors whilst the Year 4s completed experiments about changing states and practiced using thermometers. Year 3 completed two activities to demonstrate how smooth or rough materials affect reflection. Year 4 tried an experiment to find out the melting point of chocolate. In Art, the children also started to learn about perspective and how to create 3D looking pictures using a horizon line, disappearing point and perspective lines. 

Weekly update - WB: 21.11.22

This week Oak Class have been completing assessments in Maths, Reading and SPaG. The children have been working so hard and have made me feel really proud! They have demonstrated their hard work across three Maths papers, one Spelling paper, one Punctuation and Grammar paper and one Reading paper. It is really useful to see what the children are confident with and where we need to fine tune certain skills.

In Topic this week, we looked at compass points in relation to Anglo-Saxon maps. The children used their pre-existing knowledge of the 8 compass points to find locations and explore the relationship between two settlements. Some of the children also completed the challenge task to use a scale on a map. We had to measure the distances between settlements and use the scale to work out the distance in kilometers. In RE, the children drew their own interpretation of Jesus and thought about why they vision him a certain way. We thought about questions like 'how would my drawing be different if I grew up in a different country?' and 'how would my drawing be different if I were younger?' In Science, Year 3 continued their work on light and dark, experimenting with reflective materials. The children had to test a variety of classroom materials and evaluate which they thought would be best to make a reflective strip on a bookbag. Year 4 explored and drew different pinecones in forest school, including smaller and variations than the standard. In Art, we revisited at David Hockney's artwork and used detailed sketching to replicate one of his pieces of art. We then completed our sketches with water colours to mimic his use of colour. We enjoyed another PE session with Mrs Davis and continued our work on 'The Haka'. Finally, in Exciting Writing, the children wrote a set of instructions for how to complete a Maths test. I challenged the children to use their best, joined up handwriting and they certainly rose to the challenge!

Weekly update - WB: 14.11.22

This week in English, Oak finished writing their non-chronological reports on the Anglo-Saxons. The children wrote a second/third subheading, fun facts, a conclusion and a glossary before editing their writing. We also looked at some SPaG towards the end of the week with a focus on word families. The children had to match words to their root word and vice versa. For example: running, runner, ran all belong in the run word family. In Maths, we have spent time thinking about the different operations. We started the week with subtraction with exchange. The children grasped this concept really well and were able to work out questions using hundreds, thousands and even tens of thousands. We also used two sessions to focus on areas that needed improvement. We focused on learning the 3/4/8 times tables and the Year 4 children learnt how to multiply 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers using a grid and partitioning. 

In Science, Year 4 completed experiments to find out more about gases. We first started by sorting objects into solids, liquids and gases. Some of the objects were not as easy to sort as they had features of two categories. The Year 4s first tried to find out if gas has a mass. We first weighed an empty balloon before blowing it up and weighing it again. Although the mass stayed the same for most of the balloons, the children accepted that although we couldn't see a difference on our scales, there were still particles therefore there was a mass. We then tried to see if we could squash a bottle with air trapped inside it and why it was not possible. We also completed a scent hunt to see if smell travels through the air. I hid a tissue with lavender oil on it to see if the children could smell it. 

We have also continued with our DT project and learnt how to use a back stitch. In PSHE, we took part in a live lesson about Anti-Bullying week. The children discussed how they could reach out to someone for help if they were being bullied but also if they knew somebody else was being bullied. We had an impromptu PE session this week due to staff illness so the children chose 'The Floor is Lava' as our activity of choice. In Geography, the children have started to create PowerPoints about a continent and in French the Year 4 children learnt how to say where they lived. Finally, we had a lovely Children in Need celebration wearing our funky socks, eating cakes and making a giant Pudsey face!

Weekly update - WB: 07.11.22

Another busy week for Oak Class. We started the week off with our new PE unit Dance with Mrs Davis, the children learnt about what a movement phrase is and how it is a series of movements to form a dance. They also spent time learning The Haka. In Maths we have been carrying on with addition, but with a focus on carrying this week. The children have shown great focus and determination with using column method. In English we have been researching, planning and starting to write our Non-Chronological Reports all about the Anglo-Saxons. The children spent time deciding what they would like their subheadings to be and using books and laptops to research facts. In Topic the children created their own map of an Anglo-Saxon village from an aerial view, also including a key. On Tuesday, the Year 3 children started their new Science unit which is Light. We discussed what we already knew about Light and what we would like to learn in our unit this term. Then we moved onto identifying a range of different light sources and why light is so important. In French the Year 3s focused on counting to ten and we practiced this by singing a song. The Year 4s had Forest School with Mrs Tickle where they were dissecting pumpkins, harvesting the seeds and all round having Pumpkintastic fun! In RE we completed a KWL grid for our new unit 'Why is Jesus so important?' In Exciting Writing, we wrote our own autobiographies. In PSHE we spent time discussing our support networks and discussed healthy and unhealthy relationships, and what we should do if we see or find ourselves in an unhealthy relationship. Some of the Year 3s went on their sports event to Kimbolton Prep to play football, they did so well! Finally, we ended the week with our Remembrance Day Service where we paid our respect with a two minute silence.

Weekly update - WB 31.10.22

A shorter school week definitely does not mean a less busy week in Oak Class! In Maths this week, Oak have been recapping addition using a variety of different methods. We initially started with a recap of adding and subtracting 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s. The children needed some reminding of which unit will usually change during this. We then progressed to adding 3 and 4 digit numbers together using mainly column method but the children were able to show alternative methods to check their answers. To conclude the week, we applied our knowledge of addition to problem solving and reasoning questions. 

In English this week, we continued our work on spelling, punctuation and grammar. The children were re-tested on the first 32 Year 3 and 4 spelling rules to identify their individual gaps. Year 4 recapped using fronted adverbial phrases as we found this quite tricky before half-term and Year 3 looked at the prefixes auto-, anti- and super -. Then, we came together to learn more about prepositions of time, location and movement. 

We all completed our KWHL grids for our previous Science topics as we are now moving onto 'Light and Dark' (Year 3) and 'States of Matter' (Year 4). In RE, we worked in small groups to research the answers to questions about religion on a world scale. Some of the questions included which countries had the most Muslims, how many Christians there were roughly in the world and where Buddhism was founded. In our double PSHE this week, we looked at healthy relationships and what to do when a relationship is no longer healthy or if you have fallen out with a friend. We read a short story called 'Dares' to discuss healthy relationships and the children created short drama pieces to show how to positively resolve conflict. In Geography, we learned about latitude and longitude. Using a world map and different numbered eggs, the children had to correctly identify their coordinates using longitude, latitude and their compass points. In PE, we played a variety of games that needed the children to demonstrate good sportsmanship, teamwork, hand-eye coordination and balance. We also joined with the rest of the school on Thursday for a peaceful cosmic yoga session before taking part in team building activities with children from Ash and Rowan in our house colours. The children worked hard in their group to create the tallest freestanding tower using only spaghetti and bluetak. 

Weekly update - WB: 17.10.22

It has definitely been a very busy half term and the children have slowly been getting used to the increase in expectations in Year 3 and Year 4. With two sports trips this week, Oak have been enjoying time at Winhills competing in dodgeball, football and netball matches. 

In English this week, we have been focusing on SPaG. We have been both recapping previous learning and starting to look at the Year 3/4 requirements for punctuation and grammar specifically. Year 3 have recapped using capital letters for proper nouns, using commas for lists and deciding whether 'a' or 'an' is the appropriate determiner. We have then learnt about creating subordinate clauses using subordinating conjunctions. The children are trying to remember the list of conjunctions using the acronym ISAWAWABUB - if, since, as, when, although, while, after, because, until, before.  Year 3 have also focused on using apostrophes for contraction and possession. We briefly touched on plural possession but will cover this again soon. Year 4 have also recapped using capital letters for proper nouns, using commas for lists, deciding whether 'a' or 'an' is the appropriate determiner and using speech marks. We then recapped our previous learning of subordination and learned about fronted adverbial phrases using commas. The Year 4s found this quite tricky and needed support with working out which phrase was the fronted adverbial. We then concluded our English this week with a short quiz to see what we still needed support with. In Maths this week, we have been using a variety of activities to consolidate our previous learning. The children used Nrich activities and some partner games to consolidate their understanding of place value and multiplication. They were also set the challenge of 'The Case of the Missing Glue Sticks.' Oak had to work in pairs to solve clues which would eventually tell them who had stolen the missing glue sticks. 

In Exciting Writing this week, we tried a different technique to record our ideas. We used ipads to verbally retell a story so that we can edit them after half term. We used this technique to see if recording our ideas quickly would help us to tell a story in more detail as it takes a longer amount of time to write down our ideas. We will see if this was a good method to use for Oak once we have edited. Year 4 have concluded their Science unit on Animals Including Humans by cracking open the digusting eggs and recording a conclusion to our experiment. We also learned more about the digestive system with the help of a human body resource named 'Brian.' Both year groups enjoyed another French lesson this week also. Year 3 looked at different ways to say goodbye and Year 4 continued to practice counting to 100 in French using a video resource to help them. Oak spent time this week also showing us their homework projects. We found out lots of information about different important figures in Black History. We watched videos to support the research of some projects such as the musical performances of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Aaliyah. 

Have a restful half term!

Weekly update - WB 10.10.22: 

This week in English, the children have been planning and writing their own quests in the style of Marcia Williams with an Arthurian theme. The children had to think of a hero, a quest, two obstacles, a resolution and an ending. They then wrote their stories across two days and neatly published them on the third. The children worked really hard to include knightly language in their stories and worked to include a balance of proper nouns and pronouns to maintain flow.  In Maths this week, we revisited number lines. The children continued to practice working out the value of intervals and placing numbers accurately on a line without intervals too. This is something that the children previously found tricky and most of them reported that they felt more confident after we practiced again. 

In Science, Year 4 have been carefully observing hard boiled eggs in different liquids to watch how they decay. The results so far have been surprising as we expected the fizzy drinks like coke and fanta to decay the eggshell the most. However, quite disgustingly, the children found that it was indeed apple juice that had the biggest change on the eggshell as it stripped the outer layer and turned the inner layer of the shell brown! Year 3 have continued their work on animals and humans by looking at different types of diets. The children found it easier to sort animals that were clearly herbivores or carnivores but struggled with some of the harder omnivores. We also learnt more about the muscles and joints. The children learnt that there are three types of muscles (smooth, cardiac and skeletal) and found out how they were each different. 

We had a lovely DT session this week also where we learnt how to complete a running stitch in different material. The children concentrated to thread their needles (with varying success) and complete a running stitch on their practice cloth. We then tried to use the running stitch to attach two pieces of material to create a pocket. Joining material is important as we are going to be creating an Anglo-Saxon style money holder which needs to open and close in order to meet the design brief. In Art, the children practiced weaving with different material and worked in groups to create a carboard-based loom. In PSHE, we used circle time to discuss our special people and how our actions can affect them. We, of course, also enjoyed our Harvest Festival at the church this week and it was lovely to see so many parents at the church with us. As part of World Mental Health Day, we also completed some work focusing on how we can look after our mental health with positivity and relaxing activities. In Geography, we have dived deeper into key compass skills to look at the 8 compass points in relation to maps. Year 3 used the 8 points to answer questions about the oceans and continents whilst Year 4 looked at maps of England and the UK. We also had a lovely PE session with Rowan this afternoon where we completed circuits and tag rugby. (Blurry PE pictures courtesy of a Year 5 child 🤣)

Weekly update - WB 03.10.22:

This week in Oak class we have continued our work on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in English. The children are really enjoying this text and like learning about our topic across different subjects. We have been working on our descriptive writing and comprehension skills. Miss Chhibber set a 100-word challenge to see if we could summarise the story of Morgan Le Fay in 100 words or less. We also answered comprehension questions about Sir Lancelot's First Quest and discussed the importance of the Round Table before creating our own noble knights. In Maths, we finished our work on place value with some lessons on rounding to the nearest 10,100 and 1000. We reminded ourselves that if the unit we are looking at is 5 or above then we round up, and if it is 4 or below, we round down. We then completed some short arithmetic quizzes to identify gaps in our knowledge of the four operations. Based on our quizzes, Miss Chhibber mixed us into groups to focus on a key concept. Some children focused on adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator, some children focused on 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication and some focused on 4-digit and 4-digit addition using carrying. We will be starting our unit on addition and subtraction after half-term so these quizzes help to plan to fill the gaps. In Science, Year 4 learnt more about teeth and looked at what can cause gum disease or tooth decay. We spoke about the importance of brushing your teeth twice a day thoroughly and how our diets can impact our teeth. As a group, we wrote up a scientific enquiry to find out which drinks decay teeth the most. Next week, we will be setting up this experiment using boiled eggs and different liquids. In topic, we looked at the jobs and layout of an Anglo-Saxon village before creating our own versions on paper supported by a job description. In PSHE, we have been looking at friendships and how to resolve conflict. The children created storyboards to explore different ways to fix a friendship after a conflict. In French, Year 4 practiced counting to 100 in 10s and Year 3 practiced responding to the question 'comment ca va?' We were also fortunate to be visited by Wood Green who led a session about dog safety. 

Weekly update - WB 26.09.22

Another week of working our socks off in Oak! This week in English, the children started by creating a piece of drama between King Arthur and Sir Pellinore. We then spent the week learning how to use speech marks correctly and improving our direct speech with interesting reporting clauses.

In Maths, the children looked at number lines and practiced working out the value of intervals on different lines. This is always quite a tricky concept for children as it involves lots of steps to work out the final answer. We added this to our class cloud as a reminder to revisit again later. We also practiced counting in 10s, 25s, 50s, 100s and 1000s.

In Science this week, Year 3 continued their work on the body and learnt about the human skeleton and the names of different bones. We listened to the bone song to help us learn the names of the bones. We sorted animals into endoskeletons, exoskeletons and hydroskeletons. We had to think about which animals had skeletons inside of their body and which had skeletons outside of their body. We also looked at vertebrates with a backbone and invertebrates without.

On Monday, we celebrated European Day of Languages with a flag competition to see if we could match different countries in the EU to their national language. In PSHE we discussed how to be a good friend and created a drama pretending that an anxious new child had started our school. In RE we conducted a survey to find out what the most common religion was in our class before using Google Maps to find out what the most common religion in Cambridgeshire was based on the number of places of worship. In Geography we learnt about the equator and used atlases to locate where different countries were in relation to the equator.

Weekly Update - WB 19.09.22

What a busy few weeks we've had in Oak Class. In Maths, we have started our year focusing on place value. Children in year 3 have been looking at making and partitioning three-digit numbers whilst year 4 have been doing the same with 4 and 5 digit numbers. We started by looking at the value of each digit before adding and subtracting 1s, 10s, 100s, and 1000s. We also looked at flexible partitioning where we needed to exchange some of the unit. For example, partitioning 235 into 150, 80 and 5 instead of the usual hundreds, tens and ones.

In English, we have been looking at 'King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table' by Marcia Williams. We focused this week on pronouns, time connectives and interesting verbs. We watched part of the Disney classic 'The Sword in the Stone' and planned our own adventure for Arthur/Wart based on the story hill seen in the film.

This week in Science, Year 4 started to look at animal food chains and the purpose of our teeth. We looked at the different categories of teeth that we have and started to think about how they are similar or different to animal teeth.

Year 3 have continued their French lessons and practiced greeting each other and introducing themselves using je m'appelle... and asking Comment tu t’appelles. Year 4 looked at places that may be in a town such as une boulangerie and un musée. The children used this to describe their own town.

In Art, we looked at the artist Anni Albers who was a textile artist and created a piece of work based on her art. In PE, we continued to work on our fundamental skills of throwing, catching, finding a space and teamwork through miniature netball games. We focused on chest passes and bounce passes. In honour of International Sign Language day, we practiced the BSL alphabet and some basic greetings. We have focused a lot on handwriting these past few weeks and I am really proud to say that lots of the children are now making joins in their writing which is really impressive!