The Big Colour

Today we had a fantastic day exploring artist techniques through the works of Kandinsky. This morning was about exploring. We learnt about gradient, exploring with lines, using colour, blending primary colours, the use of shapes, and how colours can represent sounds and vice versa. We listened to a variety of music genres and thought about how this impacted our designs.

DT-Tinkercad
Mr T, a Technology and Design teacher came to school to give us a lesson in using Tinkercad. He showed us many of the useful features of the app. The children got creative with their designs. We will try to use this app to design a shop front for our Heritage project. Watch this space'!

Science - Experimenting with levers.

We experimented with moving the fulcrum to see what impact this would have on the effort needed to lift the object (load). 

Science - experimenting the effects of water resistance.

We discovered that changing the shape of an object can change the speed at which it falls through water. We then discussed designs of machinery and objects to make them create less resistance and therefore travel at a greater speed.

Heritage Action Zone Project.

Following on from our recent trip to Oswestry we were visited last Friday by Sam from HAZ. She came to school to tell us about a challenge which she would like us to take part in against some other schools in the area. We have been tasked with designing and planning the use of an empty shop in Oswestry town centre. The children will work in teams to put forward a bid for funding from the local council. In a dragons den-style competition we will put forward our proposals. We have until January to work on our ideas. 

Geography and History - Trip to Oswestry Hillfort and Town Centre.

We recently visited Oswestry town centre and Iron Age Hillfort as part of our Geography and History topics. Sam from Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) in Oswestry gave us a tour of the town and pointed out some of the heritage of the town. We started with a tour of the castle followed by the park and Llwyd Mansion. After a lunch stop in the Guildhall we then had a tour pf the hillfort in the afternoon with archaeologist Alison MacDonald. It was a fantastic trip and despite the fog at the top of the hillfort we all came away from there having learnt a lot.

Geography - Using atlases and reading maps

This half term the children have been looking at a variety of maps. This week we focused on Ordnance Survey maps and atlases. We looked at OS map symbols and what we could learn from maps of our local area. We then compared this to atlases. We discussed the range of maps in an atlases which show everything from population density, rivers, capital cities, airports and land use. The pupils loved carrying out an atlas quiz. They then used IPADS to scan the QR code to the OS kids website.

Maths - using concrete items and taking Maths outside.

Just some of the ways in which we challenge ourselves in Maths.

Oak Class extracurricular achievements
Some of the pupils have today received certificates for participating in events outside school with other local schools in Shropshire. The children have returned to school each time with a smile on their face and a story to tell of their recent successes. It is fantastic to see them challenging themselves and working together to bring home these achievements. Well done to all of you. 
The events include:

Cross country

New Age Curling

Girls Football

Inspiring younger readers

We absolutely love the opportunity to share our favourite stories to the younger children in school.Here are some pictures of Oak class reading to Chestnut. The pupils love pairing up and settling down with a good read. There are many laughs,giggles, character voices and good listening ears. What a fantastic experience.

Welcoming Ian Bland, poet.

It was absolutely fantastic to welcome Ian to school last Friday. We were treated to a whole school assembly with Ian where we chanted and recited with him to some of his really fun poems about school. Oak class were then lucky enough to have the afternoon with Ian all to ourselves. We listened to his "Who am I?" and "What am I?" poems. We recognised the AA,BB,CC rhyme and then used this model to create our own. The range of poem themes was really diverse and really demonstrated the pupils' creativity. Ian then selected all the poems to be read out in an assembly to the parents at the end of the day. Here are some of the examples of the well-thought out poems we produced.

Science - Forces

This week in Science we explored the impact of air resistance on a falling object. The pupils were tasked with the design and creation of a parachute which could support an egg to the ground....without it cracking. Pupils worked in teams to discuss design concepts, and predict the rate at which their model would fall. They then worked together with a range of materials to produce their parachutes. The children had an eggciting time as they cracked on with their designs. Out of 4 very different designs being tested only 1 egg survived the fall. The pupils then went back to the drawing board to consider the flaws in their designs and how they would adapt their parachute next time. They came to the conclusion that a bigger parachute and better supportive egg holder would be how they would overcome the chalenge in the future. Eggcelent work all round.

European Day of Languages

On Monday 26th September we celebrated European Day of Languages in style. We had a fantastic European menu cooked by our chef Margaret. This was followed by a Greek taster in the afternoon. Deborah from The Meze restaurant in Ellesmere was kind enough to come and teach us Greek, as well as give us tasters of some Greek dips and treats. We had a fantastic opportunity and hope to learn more Greek in the future. Efharisto Deborah = Thank you Deborah.

Lifeline

The Year 6s were fortunate enough to be invited to attend the annual Lifeline event run by The Rotary Club in Oswestry. The event featured scenarios presented by Police, Fire Service, St John's Ambulance, British Transport Police and Coastguard representatives, but also sessions on bullying, internet dangers, farm safety, cycling safety and road safety delivered by members of the Club. The Y6s did Cockshutt proud by being placed 2nd overall for their efforts on the day. Well done Y6 :)

Science- Forces

This term our Science topic is 'Forces'. Here we are using newton measures and scales to draw comparisons while weighing various objects.