Funky Fractions!

Year 5 have been learning about about fractions. We were set some challenging problem solving activities. Here is one for you to solve.

Can you find two ways of cutting a doughnut into 1/8s with only 3 cuts of a knife?

Here are year 5 trying to solve the problem.



If you solve the problem, come to 5LD to claim your sweet or sticker. If you're stuck come to us for the solution. Who will be the first to solve the problem???

By Conor and Amie.

OJS School Council get campaigning!

Last Thursday OJS School Council made themselves heard!

During our last school council meeting, we learnt how pupil voice needs to be heard, not just in schools, but also in our city.

Southampton Youth Parliament have four new candidates who want to represent the views and opinions of children living in OUR area.

We split into four groups and researched each of the four candidates; Nathan King wants to lower the voting age to 16, Miriam Hall hopes to organise more gigs and shows for young people, Grace McPherson plans to give children rewards for excellent achievement, whilst Danielle Townsend has strong views on child abuse.

We presented each of our four campaigns to year 6, who used this information to vote for their candidate interactively using the 'MiVote' system.

Who do you think should be the next candidate to join Southampton Youth Parliament?

Year 6 and the school coucil have had their say....now have yours!

Shadowy Science

Year 3 have been learning about light and shadow as part of their science topic.

We took advantage of the sunny weather on Monday and investigated how shadows are formed and what happens to them over the course of the day.

We learned:

• light travels in a straight line
• shadows change direction over the course of the day - this is because the sun appears to move position in the sky
• the sun appears to move position (but really stays still) because the Earth spins
• shadows are formed when opaque objects block the light

Oakthorne Day 2

While our friends were enjoying their second day at Fairthorne Manor, Oakthorne group had some adventures of their own!

We travelled across Southampton to Woodmill Activity Centre. We had a fantastic time learning archery, rock climbing and tackling the low ropes course.

We learned lots about teamwork, safety and above all, conquering some of our fears!

Marvellous Marking Stickers!!

Today the 'L' Factor committee returned to the topic of marking.

Firstly we discussed what had happened since our very first committee when we talked about how well we thought the marking helped us with our learning. The good news was that the majority of committee members felt that lots of things had improved in that time. In particular the majority of children felt that they were given more time to reflect on, and respond to, marking comments.

To help all children become even more reflective when considering the recorded outcomes of their work, the committee spent the afternoon designing both self and peer assessment stickers that all children at Oakwood can use. As you can see from the following photos they did a great job!!



The stickers have been scanned into the computer and committee members will be delivering a master set to every class later in the week. We look forward to seeing how different classes make use of them.

Well done to every member for another great committee afternoon.

French Food Fun!

While some of our classmates have been having fun at Fairthorne Manor, Oakthorne children have been having a lot of (messy!) fun at school!

We had a special French themed day today, and some of us even dressed up for the occasion!



We started with some music, followed by a special French breakfast of hot chocolate and croissants.



Then, we read a story called "Je m'habille et... je te croque!". See if you can work out from our painted picture what the story is about...



We finished our day with a busy time in the kitchen, making crêpes We learned how to weigh ingredients, how to crack an egg, how to sieve flour and best of all for practising at home....how to wash up!!



We then ate our pancakes with the toppings of our choice! Quelle journée!

Year 4 Home Learning Project Exhibition - The Iron Man

Year 4 had an amazing afternoon displaying their home learning projects to parents and family yesterday. The standard of work was overall outstanding with alot of effort put in!

A huge thank you to all parents and family who attended yesterday. Again another excellent exhibition year 4, keep it up!

Y3 Brutal Beasts and Beastly Battles Exhibition

This afternoon, visitors were invited to an exhibition of the Year 3 Home Learning Projects. The children worked very hard to produce high quality projects based on a mythical creature of their choice. We had some amazing models of the creatures, some storyboards, factfiles and stories.

Year 6 Victorians support Barnados!

On the last day of half term year 6 celebrated and shared all the work we had produced throughout our Victorian topic!



Whilst reading our class novel 'Street Child' by Berlie Doherty, we learnt about 'ragged schools' and how a very kind man, called Dr. Barnados, donated money to enable children to attend school. We decided that our end of topic exhibition would also provide a fantastic opportunity to raise money for Barnados.

Dedicated Victorian maids, chimney sweeps, street sweepers, shoe-makers and factory workers all worked together to make Victorian bookmarks, greeting cards, designer mirrors, gift boxes and portraits to sell at the exhibition.

Some cheeky street urchins ran Victorian games to raise an extra shilling, whilst other servants slaved in the kitchen to produce scones and Victorian gingerbread to sell at 'Ye Olde Oakwood' tea rooms. The cakes and biscuits were sold out within the hour and anybody who visited the tea room will tell you how popular it was!

To kickstart this fantastic afternoon, year 6 demonstrated their storytelling talents by performing 'The Chimney Sweep' by Wes Magee. Parents and friends were then able to see examples of our cross-curricular English and History work, such as; persuasive writing, balanced arguments, playscripts and our 'innovated' chimney sweep poems. Visitors could also witness our travels back in time at Milestones.

Our cross-curricular art links displayed the difference between rich and poor living standards and showed what Victorian families actually looked like. We also made some super Victorian cameoes!

Some pupils enjoyed telling parents how we need to look after our money carefully! This is a result of our financial capability lessons, in which we looked at ways we spend money, what is necessary and unnecessary spending, as well as how we might need to control our money in the future!

We had a very successful afternoon and raised £175 for Barnardos. We are looking forward to presenting them with this cheque soon in assembly! A huge thank you to everyone who helped support us!

There we are Thursday!

Yet another fun packed day here at Minstead. Its been a day of amazing discoveries, flickering flames, more fabulous Oakwood story telling and a case of 'scary chicken love'!

The group pond dipping this morning unearthed some incredibly rare freshwater creatures which included a Diving Beetle larva, Water Scorpion and a Greater Water Boatman. We learnt this from Nicky, a visitor to the centre. She informed us that we were incredibly lucky to have discovered these creatures, as they would only live in places where the water and air quality were extremely clean. She told us they were indicators of just how unpolluted the local area at Minstead was.

After dinner we all got together to re-tell their very own special Minstead story called 'Once Upon a Minstead'. We rehearsed many times ready for our performance tomorrow. Don't worry the Minstead group will also perform their story in assembly after half term. Excellent work!

We ended the day with a deep, dark walk to the blazing bonfire. We thoroughly enjoyed singing songs from school around the campfire and listening to creepy stories. Let's hope visitors to your door in the night have feet!!!

Just before we go - ask Miss Hutchinson if chickens like 'lime green wellies'?

Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.