Trip Advisor Reviews and Formal Responses

28th March 2025S Graham

In Oaks this week we began by writing negative reviews of either a restaurant, theme park or activity centre. We wrote these in the style of reviews on websites such as Trip Advisor and thoroughly enjoyed bringing out our dark side!

We then changed roles in our following piece and wrote a formal response to our complaint in the role of the manager of the restaurant, theme park or activity centre. We really enjoyed exploring and using formal language. Some of the children used some truly outstanding word choices and we completely convincing in their roles.

 

Mr Graham

Making Guacamole

28th October 2024Mrs Storey

Today, Elms made some guacamole as part of our D.T learning around cooking and nutrition. The children used lots of different preparation skills such as cutting, slicing, peeling, mashing and spooning. They put their learning into practise by discussing food safety and also how the guacamole could be eaten as part of a balanced diet. The activity also linked to our learning about Mexico.

Oaks and Birches visit to the OpenZone

2nd February 2024S Graham

Oaks and Birches visited the OpenZone at the Word this week to  take part in a Lego coding activity.

We needed to build a range of different things before adding code to make them move or dance (see our video linked below). The children enjoyed experimenting with coding and adding more complex instructions, evaluating what went right…or wrong and made improvements.

Afterwards we visited the library and enjoyed the Lego exhibit currently on show.

Performing Play Scripts

30th January 2024Mrs Storey

Sycamores have been learning all about the conventions of play scripts.  To support their understanding, they worked in groups to perform a play script using the different stage directions and character names.  The children knew the parts they needed to read and used fantastic expression and actions when following the stage directions.

Earth and Space Exploration at the Great North Museum

12th January 2024Mrs Storey

Sycamores enjoyed a fantastic visit to the Great North Museum with Chestnuts to consolidate our Science learning from last half term. At the museum, we visited the planetarium, used the Ancient Greek activity packs as a pre-teaching task for Summer term, explored the different galleries and took part in a workshop all about the Moon. The children really impressed us with what they had remembered from their Earth and Space Science topic and could explain why we have night and day.  Sycamores were absolutely amazing and were fantastic ambassadors for our school. We were extremely proud of them all.

Time in French

16th November 2023Mrs Storey

As part of our French lessons, Sycamores have been learning how to tell the time.  We first recapped the times in English using small clocks before discussing the language for hour in French.  The children became more and more confident in speaking the time in French before we began to write the time in sentences.  Great work Sycamores!

The Highwayman in Oaks

1st November 2023S Graham

This week in Oaks we have been exploring a well-known narrative poem: The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, which was written in 1906 but is based a lot earlier.

We looked at the story within the poem, compared parts, summarised events and even gave our opinions and thoughts at different moments.

We had a great time learning the poem and performing parts of it in small groups. We thought about our volume, tone and pace to make it more interesting. We even recording our performances which can be listened to below using our QR codes.

We were extremely proud of all hard work and really enjoyed learning and performing it.

Mr Graham

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

 

 

Freeze Framing Harry Potter

29th September 2023Mrs Storey

In Sycamores, we are reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.  This week, we have been learning all about diary writing.  The children used freeze framing for four key scenes to infer the character’s thoughts and feelings at different parts of the chapter.  They really focussed on the facial expressions and gestures to show how the characters were at that moment.  The rest of the class were a great audience whilst each group performed their freeze frames and could guess who each of the characters were from their expression.  Great work Sycamores!

 

Blood Flow Investigation in Science

27th September 2023S Graham

In Science this week, Oaks planned and carried out an investigation to measure how restricted or blocked arteries affected blood flow.

We used 4 cups, each with a different sized hole to represent the size of a blood vessel. We measured how long it would take 100ml of liquid to empty in each cup. We recorded out work in small groups and did it 3 times with each cup so we could work out the average.

At the end of the session, we compared our results with our predictions and discussed what this showed us and proved.

The children had a great time working in small groups and work tremendously hard to involve everyone at each stage of the experiment.

 

Parachuting Away

22nd September 2023Mrs Storey

In Science, we are learning all about forces.  This week, Sycamores were investigating if size or material created more air resistance when dropping a parachute.  We decided in groups whether to test size or material and then created 3 parachutes; changing the variable of size or material each time.  We then dropped the parachute from the same height each time to ensure a fair test.  We timed how long it took the parachute to fall to the ground.  We did this 3 times for each parachute and then found an average to have more accurate results.  Sycamores concluded that the larger the surface area, the greater the air resistance and so the slower the parachute.  From the materials that we tested, we found that the card and the bin bag created the greatest amount of air resistance.