Oak Week Beginning 16th October 2023

What a busy week!! We have had lots going on inside and out of class.

In English we have been using our end of the day book, (Wolf Road) and our knowledge gained about the Stone Age to learn about how to write a recount. We have looked at the features of this text type and used a decision based simulation game all about Mesolithic life as the basis for a recount about an event from history. The children had to decide what to do in each situation in order to help their family survive the winter. They then wrote about what it would be like for Mesolithic people to have to survive in challenging conditions.

In Topic we have been continuing to learn about the transitions humans made from hunter gatherers to farmers and how their day to day lives changed as a result. We also took an opportunity to make some stone age tools on Wednesday when some of the children made an axe out of paper mache. They did a great job, if sticky one, and felt a great sense of achievement when they overcame the challenges the task presented. All the children made a Mesolithic home collage and described what it would be like to live in.

Our Art lessons have gone back to basics where we are revising sketching skills to help the children to successfully use texture, tone and shading using different hardness pencils. They have completed a few exercises to practise these skills and then produced a final piece to demonstrate how they have improved their skills. They did this through a study of fish scales and used them as inspiration to show their newly gained techniques. Check out the gallery for some examples. 

We did some shared reading for our learning outside of the classroom this week. Each House Group met up in a different classroom and shared a variety of books. The older children read to the younger ones whilst those who can read, sat and read together. There was lots of book talk going on and each classroom had a lively buzz, all to help promote a love of reading; it was lovely to see the children engaged in books and sharing the excitement a book can bring.

One more week to go, or 4 days as Friday is a teacher training day; what a long, but fun filled half term it has been!