Welcome to Oak Class

Hello and welcome to Year Six, Oak class. Our teacher is Miss Giddings and our teaching assistant is Mr Clayton.

Year six is a very challenging year academically but also socially; with SATs and secondary school getting increasingly closer the children will feel the pressure. However, my aim is to make the year fun and memorable and ensure the children leave Newtown as well prepared for their next journey as possible. The children will have many fun opportunities this year with a residential trip to Braeside, the end of year production, other topic related excursions as well as organising and leading events within the school. Yes, it will be hard work, but it most definitely will be rewarding. All I ask is that the children try their best and show kindness to others. We are a team in Oak class, and I cannot wait to embark on this journey with the children and I am excited for the many enjoyable moments I know Year Six will bring!

Key things to remember:

• PE kit needs to be in school every day
• Children are expected to read daily and record this in the back of their learning destination book. Parents please listen to them as often as possible.
• Before reading in the evening, children must practise their weekly spellings (these are tested on a Friday)
• Maths homework will be set weekly and is linked to what the children are learning about in class.
• The learning destination book can be used for any additional home learning that your child wishes to do.

Day 2 Braeside

Another brilliant day!

Braeside

An amazing first day at Braeside

Foodies

As always, the children had a great time with Mrs Disney completing their foodies for term 5! They worked hard to make individual courting cupcakes and used the opportunity to learn all about places and people from Northumberland.

Art

This term, Oak class have been looking at Expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. As part of this, they have written some fantastic biographies, created beautiful double page spreads to show of their research, recreated his piece ‘double self-portrait’ using paint and created their own self-portrait in his style using pastels! From all this amazing work, the children are planning and creating their final piece in Kirchner’s style! We have thought a lot about how we can show emotion through our use of medium, colour and shape and planning carefully what we want our final piece to represent.

Science

As part of our light topic in science this term, the children enjoyed carrying out a practical experiment to explore how shadows are formed and how they change. We made predictions, planned out variables and completed the practical in small groups. In addition to this, the children also carried out experiments to test whether classroom objects were transparent, translucent or opaque and used this to develop their understanding as to how the light passes through these different materials

Post SATs Campfire

Oak class worked so had during SATs week to really show off the skills and knowledge they have gained over their KS2 school experience. All of the adults at Newtown were so proud of how they persevered and focused! To celebrate all their hard work, we enjoyed a campfire! Mr Marshall showed us how to be safe, we collected firewood and then he showed us (with ease!) how to light it. To make it even more fun, we got to enjoy s’mores! A great time was had by all.

Music at Newtown

This year we have been developing our music curriculum. Firstly, all children have been having weekly singing sessions with Sam Evans since the beginning of the year. Over the past couple of weeks, classes have started to use our new instruments – ukuleles and glockenspiels. It is always exciting when we get to learn a new skill! Not only are we learning how to play the musical instrument itself; we are also developing our selves as learners. We are needing to demonstrate determination, resilience, and teamwork to create a collaborative sound. The children will be sharing their musical masterpieces with the rest of the school in term 6.

In addition, we have had two other visitors this year. Earlier in the year we had a performance from the West of England Youth Orchestra. On Tuesday this week, years 4, 5 and 6 got to take part in Rock music workshops. During these sessions, the children learnt about key elements of music such as pulse and rhythm before getting to play a range of instruments. The children got to play bass guitar, electric guitar, drums, tambourines, and vocals. Using these instruments, the children were able to perform part of the song ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen. They made an amazing sound!

As always, Newtown were noticed for their fantastic behaviour! All the children behaved beautifully and showcased some real talent, impressing our guests. We hope to see Danny and Rhia again in the future!

Mrs Dowler

Wednesday 8th March Home Learning 

Pneumatic Systems

During Term 2, Oak class thoroughly enjoyed learning about and experimenting with pneumatic systems. We explored where we see these in everyday life, created our own simple pneumatic and hydraulic systems and then applied our learning to design, made and evaluated our own pneumatic moving monster mouths. The children worked fantastically on these and supported each other brilliantly. In writing, we developed and applied our narrative writing skills using two video prompts. The children produced some fantastic outcomes and were all proud and willing to share their writing with the class! We are looking forward to another exciting term.

Remembrance Day

In Oak Class, we read the book ‘Poppy Field’ by Michael Morpurgo to inspire a lovely discussion around WW1, Remembrance Day and who we can remember and honour during this time. We talked about why we mark this day every year and the children enjoyed finding out a little more about WW1 as well. They used these illustrations as the bases for their beautiful black and white drawings. We added bright red poppies to these using a different art style (paint, felt tips, paper…) to show the significance of the flower. Well done, Oak Class.

Term 1

Oak class have made a fantastic start to their learning this term. We have been finding out about Jesse Owens and why he, and others, are such significant figures in Black History. We have looked at the meaning of racism, how segregation affected people’s lives and the role of black soldiers during WW2. They have written and published their Jesse Owens biographies, demonstrating the key moments in his life. In class, we are currently reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. The children are thinking carefully about the feelings of the main character, Bruno, and are writing a diary in role as him. We are looking forward to publishing these.