Oak Class, Term 5, 2023-2024

English

Oak focused on poetry this term. They began with narrative poems and the different kinds of stories they can tell. They developed their poetic language as they reflected on ‘The Way Through the Woods’ by Rudyard Kipling, looking at narrative voice, rhythm, imagery and different kinds of rhyme: full, half and internal.

The class had fun with onomatopoeia, thinking about words that try to recreate the sound they are describing and reading poems aloud that have made-up words to describe sounds. They then wrote their own ‘sounds’ poems.

They then wrote ‘shape’ poems which made them think about the importance of how words are presented on a page and how presentation and punctuation can enhance the effect and message of a poem.

Next came the Japanese poetic form of Haiku, poems that traditionally focus on a brief moment in time and perhaps a sudden moment of enlightenment. The have just three lines and a total of seventeen syllables. These poems are often about nature and Oak class took to the forest for inspiration.

As part of the Olympic theme, Oak learned and performed ‘To be an Olympic Athlete …’ by Brian Moses.

Oak learned the poem ‘Bed in Summer’ by Robert Louis Stevenson, articulating so well the frustration of children being sent to bed on long, light summer evenings, or ‘by day’ as it seems to them.

Oak continued reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and enjoyed the original story and outrageously bad behaviour of the children who won Willy Wonka’s Golden Tickets. After analysing each child’s particular brand of obnoxiousness, they came to the same conclusion as the Oompa Loompas; that while the children were dreadful, the blame for their behaviour lay firmly with their parents.

In view of this, Oak took up their pens and honing their formal letter writing skills, wrote stern letters to the parents, pointing out the shortcomings in their parenting skills.

French

French Topic

The Olympic Games are a big sports party where athletes from all over the world come together to have fun and show their talents. There are many different sports like running, swimming, soccer, and even high jumping! Each athlete represents their country and tries to win medals: gold, silver, and bronze medals. The Olympic Games happen every four years, and each time, it’s in a different country. It’s like a big meeting of friends where everyone does their best, cheers each other on, and has fun together. The Olympic Games show us that sports are great for staying healthy and making friends!

We’ve read these books:

We also studied the values of the Olympic Games and discovered the origin of these games.

Spanish

This term, Oak class learned about numbers up to 39, focusing on their pronunciation and spelling skills. Then, we focused on the weather, discussing related vocabulary and the phrases used in Latin America and Spain, noting their differences and similarities. The spring weather this year allowed us to compare the two regions during that season in Spanish. Oak class became weather experts. Well done, Oak!

ICT

This term, Oak students discovered Tinkercad. They learned how to rotate shapes, size them, group them, duplicate, and align them. Once they mastered these basic skills, they designed a car with a driver, a boat, and other projects. These tasks required hard work, patience, and resilience, and the learners made themselves proud. Well done, Oak!

Robotics and Programming workshop

This term, the students discovered the Sim Lab on Tinkercad. Sim Lab allowed them to add gravity and materials to their 3D designs. When they hit play, objects moved based on their characteristics and the effects of gravity. The learners designed a marble run and added gravity to help the marble reach the desired target using counters.