Foundation Unit
In Nursery, at Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire, the children have been learning about the letter’s ‘c’ and ‘k’. They were very excited to make their own chocolate cornflake cakes. In Mathematics, the children have been learning about time. They have thought about the clothes they would wear and how they would be different in the day compared to at night. They have also enjoyed learning about nocturnal animals. In Reception, we have worked on the number 10, counting forwards and backwards. We have also been looking at the number shape in the form of Numicon, 10 on a tens frame, making 10 with the pegboards and counting 10 dinosaurs. In our English lessons we have continued reading the story ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak. The children have thought about a time they have felt wild. They have produced some brilliant pieces of writing. We are so proud of the Foundation Unit and how well they performed on Monday in our assembly. We hope you are now feeling like Dinosaur experts yourselves.
Year 1 & Year 2
KS1 has been working hard this week in and out of class. In ‘Our World’ (Science) this week we have been looking at different parts of a plant. We are carrying out experiments, changing the colour of white carnations and gipsophilia using coloured water. We are hoping the coloured water will travel up the stem to change the colour of the petals. In History we have been studying the railway which passes through the village. Next week we hope to visit the signal box and have a look inside to see how it works. In Maths this week both classes have been learning about 3D shapes and their properties. Year 2 have been practising their Chipping Norton Festival entries in front of Year 1, to encourage the children to read aloud in front of an audience.
Year 3
The exciting news in Year 3 this week has been the discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance from the bottom of the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic. We have been following the progress of Endurance22 for many weeks, and were beginning to give up hope that it would be found, as time became of the essence and winter began to draw in. We were thrilled to see the discovery of the amazing boat, in incredible condition due to the calm, freezing conditions under the Antarctic Ice. It really has bought our geography lessons to life in the last few weeks as we were able to track the expedition’s progress live all the way from Cape Town. The discovery was incredibly on the 100th anniversary of Shackleton’s funeral. The ship will be left at the bottom of the sea as a protected historical sight. In maths, we have been confidently tackling the column method with multiplication and carrying. In English we have been writing letters to the Queen to celebrate her Platinum Year… we are going to post these and hopefully will get a formal reply from her Lady in Waiting!
Year 4
This week Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire Year 4 have been focusing on estimation and partitioning to multiply, in Maths. We have started an adventure on a Pirate Bed in English, and we are learning to identify and use paragraphs in a given story, and our own writing. In Design and Technology, we have started the design phase of our Mechanical posters project, incorporating ideas to include the mechanical movement we created last week and making sure we meet the criteria on the brief. Many of our seeds have started to sprout and we are enjoying watering them and watching them grow. The experiment is beginning to take shape as we can already see a variation in the amount of growth depending on the different growing conditions. The children looked fantastic in their Ukranian colours today and the array of cakes was amazing.
Year 5
The majority of Year 5 have been completing Levels 1 & 2 of their Bikeability training this week. They have been impressed with their cycling and listening skills and have all become more confident and aware riding on the roads. In science, we learned about the scientific symbols for drawing electrical circuits. The children were able to label circuit drawings correctly and draw their own circuits that included bulbs, buzzers and motors. They also used equipment to create their own simple circuit and then joined with a partner to create a more complex circuit. In English, we have been focusing on persuasive writing techniques and the children are looking forward to writing persuasive letters next week. In maths, we have been learning about the concept of volume and everyone enjoyed creating cuboids and cubes using cubic cm blocks and then calculating each shape’s volume.
Year 6
We’ve been carrying on with ratio and proportion this week – a useful skill when you want to increase recipe quantities for a big party! Year 6 have been out on their bikes this week, undertaking the very useful Bikeability training courses. These have taken place on the playground and on the road. Rehearsals are going well for our end of term play, we’ve got some great actors and singers in the class! This term’s art topic is wildlife themed and the class have been drawing feathers and will move on to birds next week.
Sports
Competitive sports resumed with Year 4 and Year 5 boys with a football tournament against Kitebrook. Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire teams performed very well winning two out of three games.