Week Beginning 24th April 2023
We have had another bumper week of learning and managed to get out of the classroom on lots of occasions to enhance our learning.
In maths we have been revising our angles knowledge and did some practical maths on the number of degrees in a circle and angles vocabulary using skipping ropes in the hall. We then went back to class to do a carousel of different angles themed tasks including, classifying, estimating, drawing and measuring angles. The children also accessed some games on the laptops, played a quick fire angles challenge similar to rock paper scissors and even got to use the interactive protractor on the white board. It was really good fun and the children did loads of work without realising it!!
We also ventured out of class to do a scavenger hunt in the playground, looking for facts about the life and works of Charles Dickens. The children had lots of facts to find and had to run around to locate the answers to the questions and use their VIPERS skills. It was the most energetic English lesson we've had for a while but it made the task memorable and will help them to retain the facts.
In our Art lessons this week we have started to learn about the Impressionist painter Claude Monet. We looked at the style of painting he produced and learnt that at the time, the term Impressionist was an insult as the artists weren't painting objects properly!! This artist is particularly famous for his painting of water scenes and we focused on the piece called The Thames Below Westminster, and using watercolours, the children tried to colour match the colours and technique the artist had used. They were very apprehensive about this task and lots of them were doubting themselves, but by the end of the task all the children were extremely proud of their efforts and they had impressed themselves. It just shows that with a bit of positive thinking and resilience a lot can be achieved.
Our new computing topic this half term is Vector Drawings, which are essentially, any image created with lines and shapes on a computer. The children will be using Google Draw to create a variety of images over the next few weeks and they are hoping to improve their skills as the weeks pass by. However, I was very impressed by what they produced in their first challenge which was to create a building - all those hours using Google Classrooms in Lockdown are paying off as they are very familiar with the tools and icons.
We had 2 exciting sporting experiences this week. Some of Oak Class took part in a football tournament at Evesham United and all the class thoroughly enjoyed the visitor from Worcestershire Cricket Club when he delivered a coaching session on Tuesday.
To end the week with some wellbeing, on Friday afternoon we went to Forest School for our half-termly visit and to soak up some of the benefits of being immersed in nature. We had a PSHE focus this time and thought about how important it was to take time out to reflect on the feelings we experience in the wonderful outdoors. The children shared some extremely insightful and profound thoughts and it was, as ever, a real privilege to spend some more relaxed time with your children without the pressures we all sometimes feel in the classroom. A perfect Friday afternoon in the bluebells and sunshine!
Next week will have a very Royal with a capital R feel about it as we build up to our Coronation celebration next Friday. I hope all the crown making sessions have started and we will be wowed by your royal headgear!! We will have a class Monarch for the week, chosen from willing volunteer's. I will be thinking up some Royal duties for them to carry out each day, so check out next week's blog to find out what our very own Oak King or Queen got up to!!
