Lordswood Explorers Part 1

3LM had a fabulous local walk today, despite the awful weather.😱

Our Geographers were in small groups, observing and recording man-made and natural features of our local area. We also had a particular focus on identifying things that definitely should not be there. 

The children were impeccably behaved, energetic and very enthusiastic. They were also a little damp! But this did not stop them!

They were genuinely shocked at how much litter was around, ruining the aesthetics of the local environment and causing possible danger to animals and humans alike.

We talked about how we could encourage the local community or local council to help reduce rubbish and repair overgrown areas such as Goldcrest pond to encourage wildlife. We also discussed how positive intervention could help globally by recycling the plastic and cans we saw.

At a later date, children will be producing a short persuasive and emotive speech about the litter issue (and other issues) so watch this space!

Stripes or Spots

A big thank you to children, parents and friends for getting involved with our Stripes or Spots challenge yesterday. 259 of our children came to school without using a car, which is good news for our bodies, our planet and our learning!
      

Minstead: The Video (PG*)

(* Contains scenes of mild mud....)

After much hard work in the editing suite, Minstead: The Video (2014) is now available.

It stars Years 4 and 5 and is set in the glorious surroundings of the New Forest.

Although it was too late for the Oscars this year, we know you will enjoy it!

It's time to cycle...

Finally, the mornings are sunny and it's bright when we go home. It's a great time to give the car a rest and enjoy a peaceful bike ride to school!

Chris Stow and his team were back today to make sure all our bike's are in safe working condition. They also gave parent's advice on bike maintenance and they even brought a few freebies to 'bling' our bikes. The stage is set for the Big Pedal on Friday!

Oak-stead Art

The Oak-stead collective have been putting the cortical and sub cortical parts (creative bits) of their brains to good use and have come up with some inventive and interesting art installations.  Restricted to foraging for materials in the school grounds, I think they did a very good job.

Back in Time!

As Oakwood Junior School prepares to become part of Oakwood Primary School in January 2014, we've found these old photos of the building being constructed back in 1978.

The school opened as Oakwood Middle School on 1 September 1978.



As you can see, it all looks a bit bare - the trees and bushes on the site are not as mature as they are now!

There are also some photos from lessons - do you recognise anyone? If so, please get in touch: info@oakwoodlive.net.

(You can also go back to 1984, and have a look at the Junior School Prospectus!)

Year 3 Get Gardening

On Friday the children worked very hard on the gardens outside year 3. They have designed and planned where to plant and they have put in some wild flowers in the wild flower garden. It is really important that nobody walks on either garden so that the flowers have a chance to grow.



The Oakthorne children had a fantastic couple of days and will be able to use their skills in teamwork, designing and planning in the future!

Making Gardens in Year 5

For our 'Changes' hook day in Year 5, we designed and made fantastic miniature gardens. We look forward to seeing the gardens develop and grow. Look at the photos below to see our brilliant work!

Minstead Day 2

Breakfast!

Cereals, followed by beans on toast and/or homemade jam, with juice - A great start to Day 2 at Minstead 2013.

Having earned their Purple ‘Biodiversity’ and Yellow ‘Energy’ beads for their necklaces during day 1 at Minstead, Tuesday brought about the beginning of the childrens’ quests to earn the Blue (Water), Red (Reduce, Reuse Recycle) and Green (Food and farming) beads.

There were sheep to look after, and wool to transform into felt. Pond dipping and insect identification galore and MUD, MUD, MUD! There was even time to fit in a walk to the Minstead Church where Sherlock Holmes author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is buried and all before dinner!

After pasta bake and garlic bread with veg, and bananas and custard for pudding. The evening activities involved making Minstead inspired bandanas, clay faces and podcasting. The children also enjoyed the visit from Mr Taylor who popped in for dinner.

Here's our walking route from today - click the map to have a closer look!

oakwoodwoodywalk

2.9 miles / 4.6670976 km

Created 03.26.13 by Minstead

House UNICEF Quiz

Yesterday, the Houses gathered in the hall for a whole school quiz about the environment and global warming. This was to help us become global citizens and raise awareness of some of the articles we have been learning about, as we work towards UNICEF's Rights Respecting Schools Award.

A great time was had by all and many congratulations to Arcadia - our winners!

Mrs Latto will be giving house points to any children who can tell her which articles were linked to yesterday's quiz (hint: there was more than one!)

Let the sun shine!

The city council has now finished its project to install Solar Photovoltaic panels on our roof!

There are 42 panels, capable of generating 10kW of electricity, and they were busy working just a few minutes after the last connections were made!

You can click on this panoramic photo for a closer look!



The panels are linked to a live electronic display in the school which shows everyone:

• how much electrical power is currently being generated
• how many kWh of electricity has been generated since the panels were installed
• how many kg of carbon dioxide has been saved since the panels were installed.

As you can see, even on a bright spring day, we can generate 6.5kW of electricity, nearly two-thirds of the maximum, and we've already generated 371kWh of electricity. This is energy the school doesn't have to pay for, so our electricity bills will reduce, meaning we can spend more on resources for learning!

A big Thank You to José and the team at Solar Century for getting us up and running so efficiently!

Frosty Thursday at Minstead

Today at Minstead we rotated to our final chicken, muck moving or pond dipping activity.

In the afternoon, we explored more of the New Forest and made our seven special words using only natural materials. There words are: biodiversity, transport, rich world, poor world, energy, water, recycling and food and farming.

In the evening, we sat around a glowing bonfire, told jokes, sang songs and Chris told us a fascinating and magical story. We might even share it in assembly when we get back!

We can't believe we are going home tomorrow! This week has gone by so quickly, probably because we have been so busy and have been having such a brilliant time.



Please see today's photo gallery!

Outstanding Oakstead

Year 4 and 5 have taken part in many exciting acitivities during Oakstead week, including:

• Constructing love bugs using, pebbles, fabric or card.
• Designing candle holders using recycled glass jars and tissue paper.
• Constructing minibeasts with rolled up newspaper.
• Making wool pom pom minibeasts.
• Sketching trees and natural objects.
• We had a visit from Liberty's Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre where we met a number of interesting creatures!
• We visited Testwood Lakes where we completed 8 challenging Eco tasks. There was a "What can you compost?" game; we had to build a shelter to protect us from a thunderstorm and we each planted a mustard seed. Plus many more!
• Today we are creating posters to recount our trip to Testwood Lakes to show Year 3.
• We are also making bubble and squeak in the kitchen with Mrs Larder.
• In addition, we have two afternoons of TMC sport and team building games to look forward to.
• Tomorrow we hope to take part in an environmental debate!

What a busy week!

Chilly Tuesday at Minstead

Brrrr... hello from Minstead! We have enjoyed our first full day here and have lots to tell you about!

We started the day with a very hearty breakfast of cereal, apple juice, orange juice, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, bacon AND toast with jam! It was a great way to give the energy we would need for such a busy day!

Today we split into three smaller groups for the first part of the day. One group became Aquatic Adventurers and did some brilliant pond dipping, another group were Muckmovers and discovered how recycle and the final group were our Egglayers, who got to learn all about Minstead Study Centre's chickens and how to look after them - eggciting!

In the afternoon we we went on an artistic adventure in the woods. We created circle pictures and even built a fairy village.

Needless to say we were delighted to eat our delicious dinner of cottage pie and we even had some cake to celebrate a birthday!

Later on, we had two special visitors (thank you Mrs Worley and Mrs DiMaiolo) join us and we made scary clay heads and delicate candle holders to use with our bonfie on Thursday.

Magic, Muddy Monday at Minstead!

What a brilliant time we are having at Minstead and a fantastic start to our week!

After waving our enthusiastic goodbyes we arrived at Minstead Study Centre. When we had found our rooms and settled in, we journeyed into the New Forest.

 

We had a super time exploring the woods and took part in some great activities:

- We chose (or did they choose us?) our animal name badges and will work very hard this week to collect all the beads we can.

- We built dams across a stream.

- Our bodies were covered in leaves to make a cocoon.

- We explored a ford and got very wet!

- We listenened to music boxes through trees - try it yourself!

- We went on a night walk to meet Adam and Eve.

Our busy day concluded with listening to stories about where the Sun may have come from and singing around the campfire in the roundhouse.

We are all having a great time - even though it might be a little bit muddy!

 

Please take a look at our photo gallery!

Year 4 Iron Man Home Learning Project Exhibition

This half term, Year 4's Home Learning Project was based on our class novel, The Iron Man and also our topic, What's It Worth Planet Earth, linked to our work on the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Year 4 worked very hard on their homework and produced fabulous models, stories, instructions, diagrams and PowerPoints.

Year 3, parents, family and friends enjoyed the exhibition.

Look out for some of the Iron Men around the school!




Well Done Year 4!

From a caterpillar to a butterfly

Before half term Year 4 had the wonderful opportunity of learning all about the life cycle of a butterfly. They vividly watched the caterpillars change over time and wrote an explanation of what happens in the process. There were many new and technical words to learn too!

Have look at our amazing photos, it really was a fantastic experience!

Oakstead visit Beaulieu

A fun filled day was had by all 'Oakstead' children at the Beaulieu Tree House Study Centre. Pond dipping, Habitat games, tree identification and much much more in the beautiful forest on Beaulieu estate. All were exhausted and that includes the adults!

Oakstead

So far this week, the 'Bumblebees', 'Fireflies' and 'Dragonflies' have been researching and making minibeasts, cooking bubble & squeak, drawing wasps and playing team games. Can you spot the Queen Bee?

Iron Men (and women!)

Year 4 children amazed us a second year running with their incredible home learning projects, based on the novel: The Iron Man, by Ted Hughes.

Their mission was to build an 'iron man' made with old materials and packaging from home to create a wonderful piece of recyled art.

They put on a fabulous exhibition for their parents in the hall. You might recognise one or two characters used to inspire their creations!