Oak Class - Autumn Term 1 

We’ve had a fantastic first term in Oak class. Our new year 4s have settled well. We have established our routines and good learning behaviours, and thought about how Oak class fit together just like the pieces of a jigsaw. Our term 1 topic is ‘Where in the World’, which has included looking at fantasy worlds in English, as well as learning about our own world in geography and science.

In English, we have been reading ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and wrote our own setting descriptions for an amazing room in the chocolate factory. We then moved on to debating and discussing issues that might affect our world, such as whether children should wear school uniform. On National Poetry Day, we had a wonderful morning reading and sharing poems, as well as writing poems of our own about our treasures. Our poetry recital was very enjoyable, with lots of confident performances.

         

Our geography work has been all about Europe this term. We started out looking at the whole of Europe, then zoomed in on the Mediterranean, and more specifically Barcelona. We looked at human and physical features and discussed big questions such as ‘Why do so many tourists go to Barcelona?’ and ‘Why can’t the city get any bigger?’ We’ve also thought about some of the problems the Mediterranean faces, especially following the heatwaves this summer. Our art has also linked to Barcelona this term as we have been finding out about the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. Oak class would like to go on a school trip to visit the famous Gaudi buildings such as the Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately, we had to settle for a virtual tour!

In maths, we have been working on our understanding of place value, partitioning, rounding and comparing numbers. We have learnt about Roman numerals, then moved on to addition and subtraction.   

     

Our science work has focused on living things this term, looking at how living things are grouped and comparing the life cycles of different animal groups including reptiles, amphibians and mammals.

In RE, Oak have explored the question of how God can be holy and loving. They thought about the qualities that God has for Christians, and the qualities their God would have, if they could build their own God. Oak can now use some BIG words to describe God – omniscient and omnipresent!

For PE this term, we have been enjoying some batting and fielding games – cricket and rounders. Rounders was a particular hit, with lots of children developing their skills and learning the complicated rules. Daily boost is an important part of our day, and this term we have run the daily mile, tried yoga and pilates, and made up our own challenge on the trim trail equipment called ‘toxic waste.’

       

Oak class have enjoyed starting to learn the guitar in music this term, and will be continuing this after the break.

Wow – what a busy start to the year! Roll on term 2 and all the excitement that brings.