Year 5 lessons

Taekwondo comes to Shire Oak!

Our school is very multi-cultural and year 4 council thought it would be a good idea to do a sport from another country.

Taekwondo is about training the brain and the body at the same time and learning how to focus and concentrate. Taekwondo is fromKoreaand the word taekwondo means the art of kicking and punching.

On Tuesday the twenty first of February 2012 a taekwondo teacher called Carl came to year 5 to take part in year 5’s P.E.

First we did a basic warm up which included push-ups, sit ups and squat thrusts. Then we

learned how to do a basic kicking move. To do this we used special kicking equipment to kick at. Finally we showed respect to Carl by a special bow.

The monkey who wanted to fly!

Year 1 have made their first film!

Working together in ICT lessons, they planned a story, made sets and models, directed, animated, filmed and recorded.

They are really proud of their film. Click the link to see what they've been up to!

http://www.shireoakcofeprimaryschool.co.uk/media/videos/monkey.wmv

New bigger and better library

We just had our new library fixed in. It is really clean and tidy and educational. It helps you with your reading and also your computer skills. Classes come to the library at least once a week to change their books . You are allowed to get 2 books in the library. It has loads of wonderful books to read like Beast Quest, Horrid Henry and Captain Underpants.

BAT FOUND IN YEAR 4!

BAT FOUND IN YEAR 4 CLASSROOM

Vic and Joy found a bat in the year 4 classroom while learning about active and passive verbs in their literacy lesson. “There’s a massive beetle!” Vic shouted. Mr Marshall took lots of pictures and then everyone realised it was a bat on the blinds.

As soon as Vic said to Mr Marshall that there was a bat in the classroom, everybody screamed. Tom and Kayleigh had to move to the back table because the bat was right near them. Mr Hinchliffe hurried off to find Miss Craven the caretaker – and bat catcher – and Y4 had to go for a walk around the school. Miss Craven caught the bat gently in a net and took it outside. The bat had flown into the classroom by mistake.

Mr Marshall said the bat was more scared of the children than they were of it. Year 4 had never had a bat in the classroom before.

Granny's Underground Garden

On Monday 23rd and Monday 30th January, Luke and Carry from Alive and Kicking came into our class. We were very pleased and we will tell you about it.
        First we randomly saw some people coming in with a big case. They thought it was heavy but it really wasn't. They let some children see what was inside and then showed us all. Then they took us to the Hall and we started the adventure.
       They chose two people to be Reece and Charlie who were two of the main characters. Lots of us took turns to play the main parts, wear scarves and act out different parts of the story.
       The story was about Granny's Underground Garden. Granny lived in a town called Worslow. It was a very weird place, very old with a legend about the mean old Baron who had once lived in the castle, now Granny's house. Granny told Reece and Charlotte the story of the baron, then she disappeared! The story continued with the children meeting the Ferrish People and setting off on a journey to rescue granny from the Worzlum.
      The best parts were when the Worzlum came in, when Charlotte and Reece went through the maze of petrified people and when we had to crawl along the floor so the Worzlum couldn't see us.
       We enjoyed Granny's Underground Garden because it linked in to the work we've been doing in class and we had great fun joining in with the story.

Governor visit to assembly & library

I had a fantastic time at the Chinese New Year Assembly today.  I was really impressed with the quality of all your work and particularly with the lantern, poems and especially the reception dragon!  I also liked joining in with your singing and afterwards went to work with a lovely song in my head.

I really enjoyed our governors meeting tonight which we held in your wonderful new library.  Ms Devane says that you are using this much more than the old library and I'm looking forward to coming in to see you making use of all the books in there.

Rainforest Poems

Year 3 have been working on poems about rainforest animals and lots of children finished and illustrated them this afternoon. We've been working hard to use effective words and I was SO pleased with the poems.

I can only put a few here, but you'll be able to see the rest, with illustrations, on the walls at school.

Jaguar

A quick flash going past in the night,

Jaguar running through the rainforest,

Glaring at opponents while tearing into its meal,

Brow rising for prey.

A jaguar runs, fast as lightning,

Roaming jaguar through the dark.

                                             by Jacob

In the forest

In the forest a creature slices through flesh using its scalpel sharp beak,

In the forest a creature focuses on prey, as beady luminous eyes gaze out of the emerald leaves,

In the forest, a creature's great wings blot out the sun, cloaking the forest with jet black shadow,

In the forest a squawking sound striking fear amongst the other animals,

In the forest a harpy eagle glides.

                                              by Ethan

Homework Assembly

On Wednesday we had a long and successful homework celebration assembly. Children had completed their projects in all sorts of ways - there were model DNA molecules, computer presentations, posters, booklets and photo diaries - to name but a few! Some children had worked completely independently and others had worked with family or friends to interpret the homework task.

We were delighted to see so much creativity and perseverance - well done to all!

Winter Festival of Fire

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night for the Winter Festival of Fire. This year the theme was 'Discovering Shire Oak' and it was a lovely mix of crafts, storytelling, eating and drinking, trails and music. The Y6 children are now campaigning for Spring and Summer festivals too!

Year 4 teach Shire Oak to Clicksafe

On Monday, Year 4 performed a play for the whole school. We performed a play about Cyberbullying and how to be safe online. The play was called Click Safe and we showed examples of cyberbullying and how you could stop it from happening. 

We practised it all day ( except for a break for our Djembe lesson at 11.30.) Sarah from KonFlux came to do a ‘Play in a day ‘ with us. First we did some games like Zap, Zip, Boing to practise listening and concentration, then we chose who was going to do which lines in the play, then we practised. When it came to the real performance, we all remembered our lines and said them perfectly. Years 1,2,3,5 and 6 came to watch our play and we all felt very nervous.

We enjoyed the day- which helped us with our listening skills  and  we hope we can do another sometime. 

Shire Oak at Leeds Town Hall

Today I am feeling extremely proud of the 30 children from Year 5 and Year 6 who took part in a fantastic concert last night. Together with Leeds College of Music Chorus, Jazz Band and the Saturday Music School they joined Mbawula, the South African township band for an amazing evening of songs in African languages and English.

Despite the late night and the lengthy afternoon rehearsal the children performed with skill and gusto and clearly enjoyed the experience. This was the culmination of several Friday music lessons with Joyce the singer and staff from Leeds College of Music. We look forward to receiving and sharing the recording of the event.

One of our parents, who works in theatre herself, emailed me to say:

Jane – I just have to let you know what a brilliant night it was at the Town Hall last night.  The standard of all of the performers just blew me away – it’s by far the best thing I’ve seen in a long time, and I’ve seen my fair share of both theatre, dance and music as I’m sure you can appreciate!   The dedication and professionalism of the Shire Oak kids was incredible and you should be extremely proud... I can’t stop singing the songs…..loved it.

Shire Oak Governors

As usual the Governing Body has a busy schedule for the coming year. As well as keeping a close eye on standards and pupils' progress we will also be reviewing the social, moral, cultural and spiritual aspects of school life; developing a new Single Equalities Scheme to ensure that all children and families are fully included in the life of the school; and reviewing how well the school does in relation to keeping children safe.

We currently have a vacancy for a parent governor and parents will be asked shortly to nominate themselves or another parent to fill this vacancy. I do hope that parents will consider standing as a parent governor. It can be a very rewarding role, offering real insights into the work of the school and an opportunity to make a difference to the development of the school in the future.

If any parent is interested then please feel free to contact me (by email to JaniePS@aol.com) or have a chat with one of the current parent governors to find out what the roll involves.

Freya for Mayor!

Freya in our class is standing to be the Children's Mayor for the Day. She has already been shortlisted and is now one of the final 10 candidates. Her manifesto and poster are on Leeds Learning Network and anyone with an LLN login can have a look and vote for their three favourite candidates. Of course, we want them all to put Freya first!

FREYA FOR MAYOR!!! VOTE NOW!!!

https://portal.leedslearning.net/collaborate/mayorfortheday

Vote for Freya! Mayor for the Day Candidate

Freya in our class is standing to be the Children's Mayor for the Day. She has already been shortlisted and is now one of the final 10 candidates. Her manifesto and poster are on Leeds Learning Network and anyone with an LLN login can have a look and vote for their three favourite candidates. Of course, we want them all to put Freya first!

FREYA FOR MAYOR!!! VOTE NOW!!!

https://portal.leedslearning.net/collaborate/mayorfortheday

Roald Dahl books

I was putting up a display of photos of our fantastic Dahlicious Dress Up Day and I started wondering about everyone's favourite Roald Dahl books.

I think my favourite is George's Marvellous Medicine, although Esio Trot is a close second.

I'm putting up a graph of our favourite Roald Dahl books; let me know yours if you want to be included.

Tea and Coffee morning

It was lovely to see so many parents and carers this morning in the playground for a drink and a chat before school. Now that you know who some of us are, do let us know if you would be interested in helping out with future FOSOPS events.

A great start to a new term

It has been so lovely to see all the children arriving at school today eager to share their news and see their friends and teachers again. They all look very smart in their school uniforms and have been working very hard in their classrooms as they get to know their new teachers and support staff.

As well as the children who are starting this week in our Reception class, we have been joined by several new children in KS2 so we are now very close to capacity. They seem to be settling in very well already.

Cool Planet Homework Comic

This is a comic I drew for my 'Cool Planet' homework project last term.

We have a new prospectus.

The 2011 prospectus is now available here. Let us know if there is any other information you would want to see in a prospectus - particularly if you can't find it anywhere else on our website.

Crazy Athletics

Today Y3 went to TASC to do Crazy Athletics with some other Y3s from other schools. We did high jump, long jump, ladder relay race, push shot, speed bounce and bat and ball race. We all loved it and had a brilliant time. The teachers there were really great and we learned a lot. Ruell, Ellis, Mair, Vic and Shanice.

Stump Cross Caverns

                Stump cross caverns

On Thursday 10^th March 2011 year 3 and 4 went to Stump Cross Caverns. We went there because our topic was Rock and Roll. We saw stalagmites, stalactites, columns and curtains. When we went down the steps it felt scary, slippery, and cold. In the caves we saw a sleeping cat which was made out of limestone and that was our most favourite thing in the cave. We also saw something called a wedding cake what was made out of limestone.

 By Cameron and CAI

CokeCano

CokeCano

Materials                        Ingredients

Funnel                            Mentos

(Rolled up paper)           2 litres of Coke

Instructions

Firstly insert the funnel, made from rolled up paper, into the coke bottle, then open the mentos into the funnel and on the count of three tip them all into the coke quickly. Now stand back otherwise you’ll get drenched in foamy coke!

The science

The mentos have tiny holes in them full of air and the coke fills them up, forcing the mentos out the top of the bottle and causing an eruption.

We did this on the field in the middle of the Science assembly!

Why?

To show science in a way that people would enjoy, as opposed to being boring.

We did this in October 2010 and everyone in the class had great fun doing this experiment!

Water Cycle

Water cycle

Our class learnt about the water cycle last term. There are 3 stages: evaporation, condensation and precipitation.

The first stage is called evaporation. It is the scientific word for when liquid water changes into a gas, water vapour. This is because the water gets so hot that its molecules break down and move around freely. As it is hot, it rises (the top surface only).

The second one is called condensation. This word means when the water vapour cools in the high atmosphere and turns back into a liquid (clouds).

The last stage is precipitation. It is when the cloud becomes too heavy with liquid, making it rain and fall in to the sea, rivers, lakes or onto the Earth. If the rain falls on land, it seeps downwards to form groundwater. This means that the whole cycle starts again or that the water is filtered into clean drinking water.

Amazon had great fun doing different activities like pretending to be molecules and doing exciting homework on it. Georgia made a brilliant model of a typical water cycle with some recycled cardboard shoe box and tissue rolls.

Coke Floats - an experiment

Diet Coke In Water Experiment

Year Six did an experiment in the classroom before Christmas to find out whether Diet Coke floats or not, while comparing it with Coca Cola. We made videos as a class in groups and added humour to make it more fun to watch. Floating the cans in the same amount of water led us to the fact that Diet Coke floated and Coca Cola sinks.

This proves that sugar, which is in Coca Cola, must be heavier than the sweeteners in Diet coke. Due to this difference, only Diet Coke floats.

Year 1 Caterpillar Poems

Year 1 have been writing caterpillar poems and then sharing them on the computer by making their own storyboards.

Trio Toys - Music in Keystage 1

We had fun following on from last half terms topic on 'Toys', exploring wind instruments with Trio Wind Ensemble. They took us on a magical musical journey, through time and around the world, using the theme of toys as a way to discover things about wind instruments. Everyone enjoyed themselves! It's great to add breadth to our curriculum by involving the expertise of outside agencies.

Pancake Day

Pancake day was on the 8^th of March 2011 after school. We were holding a pancake sale for everyone to come to. Everyone got to choose their favourite flavour, there were chocolate, strawberry, banana, sugar and golden syrup. The pancakes cost 50p each. The pancakes were delicious and everyone agreed with it. Mostly everyone from school came and even teachers and parents wanted a taste of our fantastic pancakes. We would like to thank everyone that helped out make the pancakes.                                        

Reading and Writing across the curriculum

This week we have been celebrating reading and writing week. We have been using our literacy skills across the curiculum.

On Thursday we dressed up as people from books that we enjoy reading.  We had brilliant fun guessing who our friends had come as. We also had Jamie Jones-Buchanan (one of the Leeds Rhinos) in our school to tell us about why he likes writing and reading.

Throughout the week different classes have been to the Headingly library. At the library we read books, wrote stories, and took a quiz about what we could find in the libary.

Today the illustrater and writer Stephen Waterhouse came in to do a work shop with some of the classes. He told us about his paintings and how they get into books. 

Everyone enjoyed it and I can't wait to do something like this again!!!

Freya (:

School Council Chairs' Meeting

Today Lewys, Freya and Miss Ware met to discuss the new school prospectus. Ms Devane has asked the School Council to write a letter telling people about our school.

We are planning a meeting for tomorrow at 2:30pm in which we will 'brainstorm' all our ideas for our letter. We are looking forward to Janie Percy-Smith, our Chair of Governors joining us.

We'll keep you updated with how we are getting on!

School Council Meeting 7.1.11

Today's meeting was well attended. Lewys chaired the meeting and Georgia took the minutes.

After the Christmas break it was a good chance to raise issues that we want to discuss over the next few weeks.

• Freya would like the school council to discuss how effective the golden time system is.
• Toby would like the school council to review the new football system.
• Erica wanted to discuss how we could improve the ICT facilities.
• Toby suggested that the school council could do an assembly to give examples of good ways to keep the school rules and help with conflicts between friends.

Golden Time

Ms Devane and the teachers discussed golden time at a staff meeting and decided that the school would trial doing golden time activities in each class rather than across the school. This means that teachers can allocate golden time daily or weekly, or fortnightly to fit it in better with their timetables. Children from each class had lots of ideas about how to make this work best, such as offering a wide range of activities, making sure there are opportunities to go outside (weather permitting) and encouraging the children to suggest weekly golden time activities. The school council  will discuss this further after the new golden time system has been running a few weeks.

Internet Use

Several older children wanted to know why they can't access all the same websites at school as they can at home, for example some free online computer games. Lewys explained that Leeds Learning Network is designed to stop children being able to see websites that could be unsuitable for them and this is important.

We're going to try to blog every week so logon again soon to find out what's happening.

Happy Christmas!

Thank you for joining us at our Carol Service this morning. We have now enjoyed all our parties, performed our plays, sang our carols and danced at the disco. We have one more day to work and learn together and then we break up for the holidays. We wish you, your families and all your loved ones a safe and happy Christmas.

Winter Festival of Fire

I’m really pleased that so many people were able to join us yesterday for the Winter Festival of Fire. Although it was quite chilly, it was a beautiful evening, with just a dusting of snow. There were some lovely items created, including charcoal pictures, dragon’s eyes, lavender bags, glass lanterns, necklaces and tinsel sparklers. Children played quoits and mankala and warm refreshments and home-made cakes were snaffled up along with the marshmallows and crumpets that were being toasted around our fire. As the darkness fell the paper bag lanterns glowed and Chinese lanterns were launched whilst a band of talented musicians braved frozen fingers to play and sing for us. The money raised, an impressive nearly £250,  will be used to provide waterproof clothes and tools for working outside. Thank you very much for your support for the event and for outdoor learning and I think this is something that will become a cherished annual Shire Oak event.