OAK CLASS

Welcome to Oak Class

With 30 children, Mrs Ireton, Miss Trayte, Mrs Glasby and Mrs Featherstone all working hard in class, Oak is a wonderful place to be! Together we stay safe and love to learn. This year will be the best yet and include lots of mastery, exploration, art and outdoor learning. 

Please see our Welcome PP and Phase 1 introductory video for important information.

In English this week we continued to use 'Stone Age Boy', a story which follows a boy who falls down a hole and wakes up to find himself in the Stone Age! Having looked at some of the word types in the text – including adjectives, alliteration and similes – this week we moved on to retelling the story using Talk for Writing. The children 'drew' the story and learnt it, then we innovated the ending to include some exciting and very interesting endings! Children will be able to proudly share these with you next week once they are complete.   

Our topic this half term is The Stone Age. We have had another wonderful week learning about cave paintings, which the Stone Age people are known for. Together we looked at the hunter gatherer themes and the animals people recorded all over caves. The children have immersed themselves in this learning and will create a cave in class next to paint in! 

In Maths this year we will be using the Mastery approach to learning. This means children will be using Concrete, Pictoral and Abstract methods and strategies, as well as explaining and giving reasons for their answers. As we started our Maths assessments last week, this week was a one off multiplication and division week. Children were encouraged to work together and explain their choices and answers, and work practically in order to 'prove' their methods. 

In PE this week children thoroughly enjoyed continuing with football skills, in particular dribbling and passing. They were also overjoyed to get back to Mumbery with their friends and explore the outdoors. For the time being we will continue to do this every Monday so please remind children to that they will be coming to school dressed in their kits and staying in it for the day.

Notices

Reading

The children are expected to read at home at least 5 times a week, this can be a book from home or their school reading book. Parents and children should record in their Reading Records to show this, these are then collected in on a Friday and house points and a Star Reader of the week is awarded. 

The children are also encouraged to use the Reading Den (ourreadingden.com) where they can review any books they have read, these are then added to their own personal bookshelf! All children have now received a copy of their username and password.

PE

This term Oak class will have PE on Monday afternoon. Children are to come in to school wearing their school uniform and will wear it all day. 

Homework

Spellings will be set every Friday for a test the following Friday. Your child was given a group name for the group of spellings they will be learning, the spellings for this week are:

Panthers: race, ice, cell, city, fancy, face, space, bicycle, circle, spicy  

Lions: straight, campaign, contain, brain, faint, waist, claim, praise, complaint, afraid

Tigers: immature, impossible, imperfect, immovable, important, immeasurable, immortal, impatient, impolite, improper 

Maths homework will be set every Friday to be completed by the following Thursday. This week it is times tables or number bonds on https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

Times Tables

In Phase 1, all children will be learning their times tables. It is a national requirement that all children know their times tables by the end of Year 4. Year 4s will now have a national test in June where they will be tested on their times table knowledge.

The children will be working their way through each times table in order to reach ‘Reasoning Rainbow’ where they will be able to apply their times table knowledge to word problems. The times table tests are ordered as follows:

• Bronze: 2s, 5s, 10s, Mixed
• Silver: 3s, 6s, Mixed
• Gold: 4s, 8s, Mixed
• Platinum: 7s, 9s, Mixed
• Diamond: 11s, 12s, Mixed
• Elite: All Mixed
• Reasoning Rainbow

Each week the children will have a 2 minute timed test on the times table they are on, they must answer all questions correctly in order to move up to the next times table the following week. The tests include both multiplication and division to ensure they fully consolidate their times table (e.g. 3x6=18 and 18÷3=6). Once they have passed each times table test on each stage they will receive a certificate for their achievements.

Please do support your children in practising their times tables at home. Here are some links which will support you with this.

• BBC Super Movers Times Table Songs - https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/scottish-times-table-collection/zdnhjhv
• Times Table Games  and Worksheets- https://www.timestables.co.uk/
• Mixed Times Tables (similar format to end of Year 4 Test) - https://play.edshed.com/mtc  

Thank you from everyone in the Oak team,

                      Mrs Ireton              Miss Trayte               Mrs Glasby           Mrs Featherstone

Useful Links

Mathletics 

Education City 

Top Marks Games

BBC Bitesize KS2

Our Reading Den