Mrs O'Neill
Mrs Martin & Mrs Thorne
DT - Making Ancient Egyptian Shadufs
This week, we have been developing our design skills to build a fully functioning shaduf. Did you know shadufs are still used to collect water in many areas of the world today? After exploring traditional Egyptian irrigation methods, our challenge was to design and construct a working ‘shaduf’ to lift water out of the river Nile. After discussing the different parts of a shaduf, we worked on creating a prototype using straws. However, we soon realised this wasn't strong enough, so after more discussion and evaluation we decided to make one with wood. We have designed, planned, measured, sawed, used a hot glue gun and woven to build our shadufs and we really enjoyed testing how much water we could collect with our finished pieces. We are really pleased with all of our hard work.
DT - Making Healthy Sandwiches
This week, we have enjoyed creating our own healthy sandwiches in DT. After tasting some different fillings and breads, we selected which fillings we would use in our own sandwiches and wrote down the steps we would need to follow. After working hard on creating our masterpieces, we then enjoyed eating our creations and discussing what flavours had worked well together in our sandwiches and what we would change if we were to make them again.
Our visit to Stratford-upon-Avon
This week, we had a brilliant time visiting Stratford-upon-Avon to learn more about Shakespeare and his plays. During our time there, we took part in a workshop where we learnt more about Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' led by Oscar, an RSC actor. After warming up with some different games to get us into character, we enjoyed sharing our knowledge of Shakespeare and his plays. After learning how Shakespeare writes his plays and exploring different character's lines, we then read and performed the play as a class. In the afternoon, we visited Shakespeare's schoolroom and got taught by Master Jenkins (Shakespeare's schoolmaster). We then enjoyed exploring the schoolroom by using quills, dressing up in character and getting to play games that Shakespeare would have played. We worked so hard throughout the day and should be very proud of all of our achievements
Christingle Service
After working hard to make our Christingles, we really enjoyed visiting the Church for a special service in which we lit the Christingles, shared our knowledge of what each part symbolises and sang beautifully.
Academic Year 2021 - 2022
Fishbourne Roman Palace
This week, we had fun visiting Fishbourne Roman Palace and learning more about Roman life. After listening to a film all about the history of the palace, we explored the gardens where we spotted lots of different herbs and plants. Inside, we had fun dressing up as rich and poor Romans and getting involved in Roman games, writing and cooking.
Stone Age Bread
This week, we have dived into learning all about the Stone Age! We began by making stone age bread and after working hard on grinding our own wheat grains and adding our different ingredients in to the mix, we enjoyed tasting our creation.
Korky Paul Visit
This week, we enjoyed a very exciting visit from Korky Paul! We really enjoyed hearing him read Winnie the Witch, hearing about all of his ideas for his books and watching him draw a piece of art for our class.
Academic year 2020 - 2021
Welcome to Ash Class and a safe return to school.
We have tried to maintain most things as they were pre-lockdown to ease our way back in to full time school again. However, frequent handwashing and sanitizing, desk cleaning and social distancing are now the norm.
We bring the minimum amount of things from home, to help keep adults and children safe, and to reduce the crowding in the cloakroom space. On P.E. days, we come ready, with school shoes to change into after outdoor games.
Homework is sent out on Monday, and should be returned on the Friday of the same week completed, this includes spellings for tests on the Friday.
We are looking forward to a great year of learning through practical and fun activities.
Well, all of a sudden we find ourselves at the end of the year, and what an odd year it has been. A good term from September to December, all beit in our class bubble, split play times and lunchtimes and coming and going. But we rose to that challenge, made the most of the space on the playground and learnt much about the Stoneage and fossils.
Then came January and we were back at home, well some of us were in school. It didn't stop us learning, though. We kept in contact through Teams with work and group reading, and the class story, Over Sea, Under Stone.
Back to school in March, and bubbles again. Yes, we have missed some opportunities, but we also gained some experiences. We had an in school Japan day, learning about their day, and how the children deliver the food, clean up afterwards, and the long school day they have. We looked after beetroot plants in science, and found out a bit about Georgia o' Keeffe.
Academic Year 2019 - 2020
End of the school year...
Well it's July and the end of the school year, and what a year it has been in many different ways. If you have come to an abrupt halt with being an in-schooler, and need something to occupy your time at home, or if you are a home schooler whoe wants something to do, take a look at the children's pages and try one of our challenges. Bring it back in September to share.
Meanwhile, enjoy the summer break, rest, refresh and return safe in September.
Summer Term 2020
Well, we are all back to school, but not as we would normally be. Following a warm and sunny holiday, the first week back was the same. What a shame we can't get out and enjoy the countryside as much as we would like. But staying close to home and away from other people really is the sensible thing to do.
But there is so much you can do in your garden. Look more closely at the plants you have. What colours are they? What shapes can you see in the leaves? What wildlife is there? Don't forget all those minibieasts that lurk under stones. Try painting from a different point of view, or taking photos close up.
We have been finding out about William Shakespeare and St George in virtual school. Both icons of England. Look out for the flags around Woodcote. How many can you spot?
April 2020
Well, what an odd end to the Spring Term!. Just a handful of children to wish Happy Easter to and see you after the holidays. Our IT skills and knowledge have been stretched with the use of TEAMs but we continue to rise to the challenge. Learning continues with the support of parents, on-line resources and a genuine desire to find out new things. Over the holiday we will rest, recuperate and be ready to start afresh in two weeks time. For ideas on how to fill the time safely, see the home learning side of our pages.
Enjoy the break, stay safe and happy.
Events so far...
In February we enjoyed a visit to both the Oxford History of Science Museum, and the Oxford Natural History Museum.
At the History Science Museum, we learned about the travels of Christopher Columbus, and the new resources that he brought back from the New World. Turkey, butternut squash and cocoa all found favour with us, but the idea of slaves did not go down very well.
As part of our learning we looked at different objects that sailors of that time would have used on their boats to travel and survive.
This instrument was used to measure the height of the sun!
At the Natural History Museum, we investigated the world of insects, choosing our favourite coloured butterfly from the many in the display cabinet, and looking at how camouflage supports survival in different habitats.
Visit to the War Memorial to lay our poppy wreath and remember those who lost their lives in the wars before our life time.
Pudsey visited the classroom for Children in Need day, where many of us wore yellow and "crazt hair".
This week we have been working our science topic of Heatlhy Mind, Healthy Body. We have found out about why a good balanced diet is essential for both our bodies and our minds, why sleep is essential, and why looking after our teeth is so important.
We have been lucky enough to have a dentist visit the class, and bring some gruesome pictures of badly looked after teeth. We were all shocked at what we saw, so hopefully, more tooth brushing will take place in the coming weeks. We have set up an experiment involving eggs, squash, water, milk, coke and fruit juice. We are looking forward to seeing the results!
We have talked about screen time, and a good bedtime routine, and talked about some of the side effects of poor sleep.
We made leek and potato soup during the week. Everyone tried it, but not all of us liked it.
March 2018
Welcome to the Spring Term, 2018.
