Spring 2 - Week 5
This week, we've been resilient and determined with our final round of mock SATs. Mrs McGrath is so proud of how we've demonstrated all of our learnt strategies in our tests and the incredible progress the children have made. Well done team!
We had a FANTASTIC visit from hilariously funny and wickedly talented, Luke Temple! He shared with us his journey of becoming an author, what it's like to create stories from initial thoughts and how long it ACTUALLY takes to write a book. We absolutely loved having him in school and - even better - he returned the next day with an opportunity to buy his books and have them signed!
In geography, we looked closer at deforestation - what it is and why it happens. We learnt that:
Deforestation happens for several major reasons, most of which are driven by human activity. Large areas of forest are cleared to make space for agriculture - especially cattle ranching, palm oil plantations, and soy production. Trees are also cut down for timber, paper and fuel. In many regions, expanding cities and infrastructure projects contribute to forest loss as well. Additionally, illegal logging and weak environmental regulations can accelerate the problem. All of these factors combine to reduce forest cover and disrupt ecosystems.
We then created an infograph gathering all our ideas and researched statistics to include.
Spring 2 - Week 4
This week, we've started our maths unit on equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages. We've began by understanding that percent means 'per 100' and identified percentages in in context. In writing, we completed our narrative unit and created our suspense-filled ending to The Water Tower. The children loved using for sentences for effect, mystery sentences, rhetorical questions and ellipsis to create that element of the unknown that drives suspense. In reading, we read a text about 'Earth Heroes' and how David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg and Lio DiCaprio are supporting the Earth and addressing climate change.
In geography, we looked closer at why the rainforests are important: they are the named the 'Lungs of our Earth', the rainforests is a habitat to many biodiverse plants and animals and holds many materials and medicines we use today. In DT, we looked at our project brief and talked about the key elements when creating bridges. We began collecting and measuring the resources and parts needed to assemble our bridges. We then glued the parts and tied the string to create the moving part. Take a look at our finished drawbridges!
Spring 2 - Week 3
This week, we've completed our decimals unit and worked hard to understand how to multiply and divide decimals and within context. In writing, we began our narrative writing based on The Water Tower. We're focusing solely on using dialogue to advance the action, informality of speech and writing with suspense. We've even added some funny jokes between our two main characters 'Bubba and Spike'! In reading, we read 'In The Shadows' - a piece filled with mystery and suspense - perfect for our writing too!
In geography, we looked closer at why the rainforests are important: they are the named the 'Lungs of our Earth', the rainforests is a habitat to many biodiverse plants and animals and holds many materials and medicines we use today. In DT, we looked at our project brief and talked about the key elements when creating bridges. We began collecting and measuring the resources and parts needed to assemble our bridges next week.
Spring 2 - Week 2
This week, we've moved on to our decimals unit in maths. This has secured our previous knowlegde of decimals and the place value of digits tenths, hundredths and thousandths. In writing, we began creating a setting description of Preston for our new book - The Water Tower! This worked as a stark contrast to our earlier setting description of Bear Island from The Last Bear. In reading, we read 'Flight' which saw a young girl grow wings throughout the night and what she did next!
In geography, we looked closer out our unit of tropical rainforests and learnt about the different layers of the rainforest. In science, we looked at adults and the eldery and clarified the stages of life. In DT, we began looking at different bridges and resarched famous bridges. This helped us to start to understand the mechanisms.
Spring 2 - Week 1 - Welcome back!
This week, we've worked really hard in algebra to form equations, solve 1 and 2 step problems and find values of pairs! These objectives proved tricky but we definitely persevered and were proud of our progress. In writing, we began our new unit on 'The Water Tower' - we really enjoyed this one! A few words to describe the book were: spooky, scary, and unusual. We read the book in two parts and the children were asking 'one more page, please!' We will completing our writing based around our new book. In reading, we delved into the 'Legend of the Loch Ness Monster'. We really enjoyed reading both sides of the theory: is Nessie real or not?
In geography, we began our new unit of learning on tropical rainforests. We began by identifying where they were located in the world, what type of climate it has compared this to temperate rainforests. In science, we continued our 'animals including humans' topic and began to look at the changes during puberty including bodily changes and hormonal changes.
Spring 1 - Week 6
This week, we've been working increbily hard on our practise SATs. We've shown resilience, determination and fantastic progress! Well done, team! In writing, we created a setting description of Bear Island from our book 'The Last Bear'. With a focus on rich vocabulary, explaining the finer details and a varied sentence structure, we created some wonderful pieces of writing.
In RE, we continued our learning on Christianity and this week looked closer at the different symbols that representations in Christianity. In art this week, we've completed our final piece on 'Henri Matisse' and created our inspiration piece using still-life inspiration. We then shared this with parents and held our very own 'art gallery' in the hall. We loved sharing our work with our parents and carers!
Spring 1 - Week 5
This week in writing, we've focused on collecting skills for our setting description of Bear Island. We began with collecting all of the vocabulary that we will be using, moving on to pracitising sentence types, Year 6 punctuation and how to use a range of sentence openers. In maths, we began our unit on algebra, looking at how to form expressions and substitution, showing a great resilience! In reading, we tackled a tricky text on 'the circulatory system'. This text included lots of scientific vocabulary but, while continuing to develop our inference skills and vocabulary breadth, we've also learnt about how the heart pumps blood around the body!
In RE, we continued our learning on Christianity and this week looked closer at different denominations and the way in which they celebrate. We looked closely at Methodist and how they use hymns and prayer to reflect on the death and resurrection of Christ, while Pentecostal Christians celebrate with lively and upbeat worship to celebrate Jesus' victory over death. In art this week, we've been learning all about how artists use paint to change colour values by creating tints, tones and shades!
We continued our sessions with Compass Go and this week we talked more about self-esteem. We thought carefully about what fills our self-esteem bucket (makes us feel good), what creates holes in our self-esteem bucket (makes us feel bad or upset) and what fixes our self-esteem bucket (what helps us feel happy after we've felt sad). We were all very reflective on things that help us repair our low-self esteem. We then talking about how we all have a brain bully that can increase our anxiety by developing negative thoughts. We talked about what to do when this happens: catch it, check it, change it.
Spring 1 - Week 4
This week, we've finished writing our non-chronological reports on polar bears - they look incredible! We've focused on the language and structure to support our audience understanding the information. In maths, we completed our ratio unit by looking at reasoning problems, recipes and proportion problems. We spoke carefully about how to tackle these tricky questions and thought about the information we know and the mathematical language that can help guide us with how to begin working these out and whether there are multiple steps. In reading, we focused on a character description on the Greek god 'Hades'. The vocabulary in this text was particularly challenging but we enjoyed unpicking the meanings: solemn, ebony and treacherous deeds. We thoroughly enjoy adding our favourite vocabulary to our new vocabulary books!
In art, we refined our sketching skills by imitating still life drawing using plants, flowers and fruits. We looked at the shadows created by objects and used a range of tones. In history, we looked closely at how England changed throughout the Viking period.
We're super proud of our non-chronological reports!
We've worked incredibly hard to refine information, use elevated language and effective structure.
Amazing still life drawings!
Incredibly detailed imitation sketching.
Spring 1 - Week 3
This week, we've started writing our non-chronological reports. We've been focusing on the purpose and audience, refining our writing to ensure our reader is presented with the information on polar bears clearly and effectively. This links with our quality text - The Last Bear. In maths, we learnt the multiplicative and additive relationships between ratios and how to use the symbol and ended the week with using and drawing scale factors. In reading, we focused on an information text 'Pets in Cold Weather'. We looked closely at this as it links closely to our writing text: thinking about the purpose, audience and structure of information.
Keep your eyes peeled on Class Dojo for our non-chronological reports; they are already looking AMAZING!
In RE, we've continued our learning with the reserruction story and why this story is important. In Art, we refined our shading techniques, looking at shadows and depth of tone. In PE, we continued both our gymnastics sequence of learning and yoga which we are loving! In science, we understood more about materials that conduct electricity and began looking at electrical circuits.
Spring 1 - Week 2
We kicked off week 2 with a trip to York to visit the Jorvik Centre! We learnt so much about life in the Viking period. Interestingly, the word 'Viking' was a verb and that ‘to viking’ meant to literally be pirate and to steal and raid from other lands and settlements. We learnt that Viking long boats are narrow and shallow so that they have the element of surprise when raiding! We discussed what the word invade means and, as the Viking's were raiding, they realised how fantastic the farmland was over in England. They were able to raid gold, jewels and items but could not raid a land; they decided to invade Eoforwic, and the famous Viking name Jorvík, from which the modern name "York" directly descends, with "Jorvík" meaning "wild boar bay" or "boar town".
In reading, we focused on 'Horror at Fang Rock'. We looked at inference skills such as understanding the weather references due to boots being 'caked with mud' and how words like 'trudging' explain how we're feeling and the type of movement. In writing, we began our research for our non-chronological report about polar bears from our focus book 'The Last Bear'. In maths, we continuted to master our metric measures and imperial measures!
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Wecome Back! Spring 1 - Week 1
A warm welcome back to a brand new term! We kicked off the week with our My Happy Mind assembly and discussing our New Years' Resolution. This week in maths, we've been focusing on metric measures and converting between measures! We're also continuing to master our Year 6 arithmetic skills and showing progress each week. In reading, we focused on the poem 'The Great Fire' - a poem describing the events of the great fire of London, 1666. This poem was jam-packed with high quality vocabulary such as: in the dead of night, inferno and the fire leaps greedily. In writing, we began looking our Spring unit with our next high quality text - The Last Bear. We delved deeper into understanding April, her relationship with her Dad and their journey to Svalbard.
In History, we began our Viking topic by looking closer at what life was like during this period. We also started our new 'yoga' unit in PE. In science, we looked closer at global warming and its affects on the planet. In RE, we continued to research and delve deeper into the 5 pillars of Islam and their meanings.
Welcome to Spring Term
Autumn 2 - Week 7
This week, we completed an assessed piece of writing based on Chapter 10 and 11 of our book 'The Haunting of Aveline Jones'. Our paragraphs are organised by the events: The Storm, The Panic, The Escape? The children absolutely loved using their setting description toolkits, hooks for suspsense, descriptive vocabulary and dialogue to advance the action. The children thoroughly enjoyed this piece of writing and gave 5 stars to The Haunting of Aveline Jones!
We had a fun, festive final week in school. We enjoyed the pantomime at the auditorium, celebrated with BBC Humberside and Santa on his bus and Christmas crafts, calendars and cards with our Rivers! A fantatsic week all around! We also welcomed parents into school for our Jolly Singing which was very jolly indeed! We even sang 'Last Christmas' twice just for fun.
Our Attendance Ambassador was chosen who is entrusted with supporting Mrs McGrath and other children with their attendance, taking attendance percentages and helping Mrs Melhuish with jobs and responsibilities! Well done! Another well done to our Attendance Winners for Spring 1 - fantastic efforts!
Santa and his elves paid us a visit!
We had a great time!
Incredible writing! Fabulous authorial choices.
A masterpiece in atmosphere development!
OH YES WE DID!
Oh no we didn't...
We had a wonderful time at the pantomime...
Autumn 2 - Week 6
This week, we've continued to tackle fractions in maths! We've looked at how to multiply fractions by integers, dividing fractions and multiplying fractions by fractions. There are lots of steps to remember but we're definintely on our way to mastering these! In writing, we've focused on how to advance action in speech, looking at setting descriptions of a storm and planned our next assessed piece of writing! We'll be rewriting the final two chapters of The Haunting of Aveline Jones. We''ll be writing 3 paragraphs: The Storm, The Panic and The Escape! We're already super excited to use all of our learning steps in this 'big write' such as: hooks for suspense, setting descriptions and dialogue. Keep your eyes peeled for the final pieces!
We took part in a virtual assembly hosted by 'The National Literacy Trust' and 'Premier League Stars'. The focus was 'Diversty - Greatness Comes From Everywhere'. We discussed how we celebrate each others' differences, diversity and inclusion and created a poem to showcase our discussions! In science, we focused on the movement and orbit of the Earth. We looked closely at how the Earth orbits the sun and how this creates seasons and can impact climates depending on their location on our planet. We also looked at how the ideas of the solar system and planets have changed over times, including through different periods of time and technology. We also had a lovely Christmas service at Old Clee Church! We had two budding young actors take part in the retelling of the birth of Jesus.
Thank you to Old Clee Church!
Carrying the baby Jesus!
Our Joseph!
Autumn 2 - Week 5
This week, we've tackled our next round of practise SATs! We've tried really hard this week, shown a great resilience and fabulous progress. Well done Team Major Oak! In reading, we focused on 'Escape From Elgin Minor'. This was a vocab-packed text with lots of metaphors such as 'The carcass of the ship lay smouldering in the distance'. We discussed how the authorial choice of these metaphors impact the reader. In writing, we read the next few chapters of Aveline Jones and we finally found out more about the story of The Lady in the Waves. This week, we've been looking at using inverted commas, dialogue that advances action and informal and formal characters. We've done lots of acting out of conversations and getting into the personality of each character to help us develop and master these skills.
In science, we focused more on the Solar System and planets. We looked at a scale model of different sizes to represent the planets. In computing, we continued work on our own websites, developing the style, theme and structure and layout of information. In geography, we visited the Andes Mountains and, through the lense of a Geographer, analysed the climate and physical features!
PE action shot!
Blink and you'll miss them!
PE action shot!
Fast as lightning!
PE action shot!
Relay sprints!
Autumn 2 - Week 4
This week in writing, we've focused on the differences in authorial choice which creates a chatty tone! We've compared and analysed two diary entries from Primrose Penberthy from our focus book 'The Haunting of Aveline Jones'. In the first diary entry, she is introducting herself and her life in a fun and chatty style. In the second, she has read a story regarding the infamous ghost of Malmouth - The Lady in the Waves - and now believes she's seeing her in her nightmares! Using these two diary entries as our inspiration, we then wrote a positive and negative diary entry, changing the tone and authorial choices. In reading, our text of the week was 'Chapter One', a spooky mystery in which Faye is replaced with a mirror image robot and never seen again...We absolutely loved the vocabulary in this text such as fear stalked the corridors and gasping last breaths of existence.
In DT, we became master chefs! We created burgers made out of ingredients that support the sustainability of our planet. We looked closely at ingredients and food that are seasonal and local so that our carbon footprint was low. With a focus on hygiene, we encouraged what hand washing and cleaning workspaces and untensils should look like. We emphasised safety and modelled safe ways to complete different cutting and chopping skills!
Autumn 2 - Week 3
This week has been a blast! In writing, we've put all of our efforts into creating and developing a spooky atmosphere. We used Chapter 3 and 4 in The Haunting of Aveline Jones as our inspiration; the part where Aveline spots a child's handprint on the window...The children did amazingly well at creating the spookiest of atmospheres while building suspense and mystery! In maths, we've been looking at how to add and subtract fractions with different denominators.
In reading, we travelled back in time to the discovery of Tutankahmun's tomb! We particularly enjoyed the vocabulary in this text such as: scoured, eyes wide with fear and to no avail. We were also invited to Cleethorpes Academy for a VIP art workshop! We showed some fantastic skills using paint and oil pastels to create tropical birds. We looked at how to create feathers, a mixture of colours and a variation of leaves. Thank you to Cleethorpes Academy!
Two out of many postcard winners!
Major Oak impressed the teachers at Clee Academy and Mrs McGrath!
Artist's hard at work!
Autumn 2 - Week 2
The writing buzz has been real this week! We've been collecting the skills we need to write a setting description of Malmouth - the setting description in our new book 'The Haunting of Aveline Jones'. Major Oak wrote some incredible pieces, focusing on the small details that make Malmouth the perfect spooky village. In Maths, we've been finding equivalent fractions and adding simple fractions using our knowledge of factors and multiples. In reading, we've used UFO Alert as our inspiration. Some of our favourite vocabulary phrases this week were: nerves are frayed; fear prowled our quiet streets and the anticipation of what may materialise is quite literally sky high!
In RE, we began our Islam unit, we focused on the morals and values of the Quran. In geography, we delved deeper into climates and created an infograph explaining the difference between climates in South America. In computing, we analysed a range of websites and looked at their designs to infer which type of audience would be using each website.
Autumn 2 - Week 1 - Welcome back after the half term break!
A fantastic first week back after the half term. We've started as we mean to go on by jumping straight back into our maths lessons and arithmetic focus. We have been focusing on fractions this week, looking at fractions on a number line and finding equivalent fractions. We've been using our knowledge of factors to find the simplified form. In Writing, we kicked off our half term by introducing our new book 'The Haunting of Aveline Jones' and wow - the children were very excited by this one! A spooky theme for our return to school after Halloween! In Reading, we linked our text to bonfire night and delved deeper into the story of Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot. We were particularly wowed by the vocabulary in this text. We also had the opportunity to work with Compass Go in a workshop surrounding well-being and how our actions can make us feel good.
We began our geography unit by looking closer at South America, its location and countries. In PE, we mastered a range of balances including partner work and balance using ours and each others strength. We welcomed Compass Go into school and took part in a workshop that helped us recognise ways to support our wellbeing.
Welcome to Autumn 2
Autumn 1 - Week 7
A fantastic final week to our first half term. We've been continuing to master our knowledge of long division, now introducing remainders. We've learnt how to use BODMAS and we continue on our arithmetic journey of trying to improve our score each week. In Writing, we completed our 'Wisp' unit by writing a diary entry as Idris. The children worked impressed Mrs McGrath with their efforts and focused on their use of vocabulary that mirrors Idris' personality while describing the turmoil of his emotions.
In Art, we completed our Kimmy Cantrell unit by creating sculptures that inspired us. The children showed great skill and focus while using their modelling tools. We then finished with a 'Walking Gallery' to show off our masterpieces! In PE, we finished our netball sequence of learning with an amazing tournament! Mrs McGrath was impressed with our teamwork and pace while adhering to the netball rules.
Autumn 1 - Week 6
This week, we've been continuing to master our knowledge of long multiplication and short division and how we can solve trickier reasoning problems with these methods. In writing, we've read the story 'Wisp: a Story of Hope' which follows a young boy named Idris, a refugee. We've discussd empathy and understanding, putting ourselves in Idris' shoes and thinking about what we're grateful for. We created an 'I Wish' poem from the perspective of Idris. In reading, we focused on 'The Adventures of Pinocchio', highlighting and broadening our vocabulary knowledge and impressions of Pinocchio as a character.
In science, we continued our learning of different forces and tested water resistance with a range of 3D shapes. We looked at how streamlined the designs of the 3D shapes were by timing how quickly or slowly they fell. In history, we learnt about law and order in the Anglo-Saxon period, which we thoroughly enjoyed! We looked further at the different ordeals and comepensation for injuries!
Autumn 1 - Week 5
This week, we have started writing our newspaper report based on the death of the Highway Man. We've been looking at how to write in a journalistic style, using direct and reported speech. In maths, we've learnt about the rules of divisibility, prime numbers and embedded our knowledge of factors and multiples. We're continuing to master our arithmetic each week with daily practise. In reading, we looked at a non-fiction text about different spiders - 'Arachnophobia!'. We're continuing to develop our inference skills and broadening our vocabulary understanding.
In PE, we continued to master our netball skills and we began looking at the different positions in a netball team including wing attack and wing defence. In science, we researched more into water resistance, planning an experiement to test this out. We continued our Anglo-Saxon journey in history, understanding more about where the tribes settled and created kingdoms. We delved deeper into the conflict between these settlements.
Autumn 1 - Week 4
This week, in maths, we mastered our knowledge of addition and subtraction while learning more about common factors and multiples. In writing, we collected our knowledge for newspaper writing of the Highway Man! In science, we created parachutes of different sizes to test out air resistance against surface area. In art, we used tools to develop our clay modelling skills such as: kneading, rolling a slab, scoring a slip and creating texture. In history, we researched and understood how the Anglo-Saxons changed Briton culture after they settled.
Autumn 1 - Week 3
This week, we have shown resilience and determination with our Year 6 assessments. I am very proud of the children for how they’ve tackled these! In Reading, we’ve looked at the text ‘Shark Attack’ and how, at first glance, the text title suggests predatory sharks attacking humans. Upon reading, our text is about how sharks are susceptible to extinction due to shark finning around the world. In Writing, we looked at the poem The Highway Man.
We read to understand, collected vocabulary to describe then created our own Naga-Uta poem with the syllabic rule of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. We again wanted to present these beautifully as we did our The Raven poems. In computing, we began designing and creating our own websites. We looked at the structure and layout, discussing what makes a website accessible to the user. In science, we developed our knowledge of air resistance and began to plan our own experiment in which we will create parachutes and test out air resistance against surface area.
Autumn 1 - Week 2
This week, we’ve been mastering our knowledge of place value: numbers to 1 million, numbers to 10 million, comparing numbers, digit values and powers of 10. We’re challenging ourselves to explain our understanding and reasoning carefully while renewing our previous learning. In writing, we focused on writing descriptively to sequence our poem, The Raven. We were poets and created our own poems. We took great pride in presenting them beautifully. They were masterpieces! We’ve been looking at The Fortune Teller in Reading lessons – a text which creates a mysterious atmosphere through authorial choice. We delved deeper into vocabulary meaning such as gnarly, drab and heady chaos.
In Art, we looked at Pablo Picasso, his inspirations and change in style across the periods. We then compared him with artist, Kimmy Cantrell. In outdoor PE, we began our netball sequence, looking at the form of shooting and aiming skills.
Autumn 1 - Week 1 - Welcome back!
The children have settled into Major Oak well, quickly adapting to their new classroom and embracing the daily routines with confidence. The children are now our Year 6 role models and we created our new class charter to ensure we start as we mean to go on. The children are already enjoying a variety of fun and engaging activities, exploring new learning opportunities with enthusiasm and curiosity. It has been wonderful to see their smiles and excitement as they embark on their Year 6 journey. Something we're really pushing forward and aiming high with is our handwriting. We're completing daily practise, focusing on our formation, size and cursive style.
Portals to the Past - A day in the life of an Anglo-Saxon!
We had a brilliant workshop this week with a visit from Portals to the Past. We learnt a lot of new information about life as an Anglo-Saxon, where they originated from and then settled in England. We explored their religion, jobs, crime and punishment and - possibly our favourite - weapons and warfare. We even played Anglo-Saxon games and saw some fierce competition!
Welcome to Autumn 1
Weekly Updates - Stay Informed!
Welcome to our Weekly Updates page!
Each week, we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest news, events, and highlights from Major Oak Class. Whether it’s a sneak peek into our upcoming lessons, important dates to remember, or special announcements, this is your go-to spot for everything happening in class.
We’re excited to share our learning journey with you and keep you connected every step of the way!
Be sure to check back regularly for the latest updates!