Well this is it Owesome Oaks...we have reached the end of the school year.

I am so proud of each and every one of you (parents included) for adapting to this new way of learning. I have been delighted to receive you photos and messages each week, it has really kept me going whilst I have been at home.

This week the IXL champions spot has been calculated a little differently...I have looked back at our time with IXL and seen how many questions you have answered and how long you have spent in total over the weeks. The children with the highest scores are....

....drum roll please.....

Jude, Wendy and James! Together they have answered a massive 5,437 questions and have spent almost 34 hours on IXL, exercising their maths brains. I would like to say a huge well done to these three but also to all of you who logged on.

This week, there are two projects which have been worked on over the past few months. James has created a fab book which I have put onto the slideshow, it made me laugh! Also, Ed (and Mum!) have produced an excellent guide to trees of our forest. It really is a useful booklet, I am definitely printing one off to use at school. 

For those of you who are in Year 6 and moving to your next adventure, we will miss you but know that you are going forward to face new and exciting times ahead. Stay in touch with us at Ruardean! 

So that's all from me for now, have a fabulous Summer and I look forward to seeing you again FOR REAL very soon!

Mrs A 

Oaks, it our final week of the school year!

So this week I am setting you some challenges to get yourself ready to come back to school in September. I just know that you will do your absolute best! Click on the rainbow to find out more...

I am also including a link to the Wyldwood Arts projects. This is something new to me that I hope we can get more involved with next year. Many of their projects are about bringing communities together, in particular young people and some of our oldest community members. As their projects have been on hold, they have produced a newspaper called 'The Meeting Post'. Have a look at their website and at a copy of the newspaper. It has loads of ideas for things to do.

I hope that you will still continue to think about our local habitats and all you have discovered over the past few weeks. If you are interested in finding out more about what we are doing to our planet, then WWF has a theme of 'plastic pollution' this week. The link is under the rainbow.

Finally, as libraries begin to re open, it is a great time to check out The Summer Reading Challenge. Click on the website link to join the challenge.

Enjoy your last week and remember to send me your photos!

Mrs A 

Friday Time!  

If you took part in this week's sports day, the I hope you had fun. Mrs Rylatt is busy collecting all your photos and videos so keep checking on the Sports Day 2020 page to see what Ruardean has achieved!

Talking of achievements, I am so proud to say that our school has won the Hands on Art competition! We came first out of 14 schools in the Forest of Dean. I am even more proud to say that Harry actually achieved first place in the Junior section for his beautiful painting and that Isobel, Jess H, Kaiden and Lleneah got a special finalists mention. Well done to all of you who were selected, especially Harry and the other finalists. You can see all of the winning entries on the Rotary Club website link below. 

IXL champions this week are Heidi and Jude! You two have clocked up over 5 hours of maths and answered 521 questions! Well done to you both. 

James has completed his project on lizards, so if you want to find out more then click on the PowerPoint link below, good work James!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs A 

It's time for our virtual sports week!

I hope you have all had a chance to watch our wellie wanging video, you will find it by using the link under the speedy snail to our new Sports Day 2020 page of the website. Mrs Broddle is a legend! 

Now it is over to you. There is a list of events for you to try...don't forget to do some training first. As you can see from the little video of my training session I still need a lot more practice   Luckily Year 6 have made some 'how to' videos in case you want any help. 

There are also lots of other things to keep you busy this week, so have a look under the speedy snail to find out more. 

This week our whole school will be sharing their photos and videos of sports day, so make sure you remember to send them in to me.

Have a fun week everyone!

Mrs A 

Friday already 

I don't know about you but this week seems to have flown by! Thank you for those of you who sent me your hedgehog posters and information. Did you find out about ways to save the planet? Together we can make a difference! I hope you enjoy the slideshow.

Our IXL champions this week are Ed, James and Jude. Well done you three, you answered over 1000 questions and spent almost 6 hours practising your maths. A special mention to Jude who himself answered 546 questions and spent over 3 hours on IXL, awesome work Jude 

There are a couple of things in particular I would like to celebrate this week. Firstly, Beth has been awarded a Blue Peter badge for her poem 'The Beautiful Forest'. I am sure you remember that this was the poem that won her a prize in the Mitcheldean Poetry Competition back in 2017 when she was in Larches. Huge well done to you Beth! 

It also gives me great pleasure to tell you that Bertie from Larches entered a story into the Mitcheldean Story Writing Competition this year and has been awarded a Special Commendation by the judges! I am so proud of him as he was competing against children up to age 11. This is a quote from one of the judges...'It was a strong story in a very strong year and, if you know of any animators I think it has the makings of a brilliant animated or graphic story.'

It is an excellent story and so I wanted to share it with you. Well done Bertie, enjoy 'The Quest for the Coronavirus Vaccine'.

Have a nice weekend everyone, remember to check your emails on Monday...next week's activities will be a little different!

Mrs A 

Hello Oaks!

Welcome to week 10,

This week you are going to find out about how our environment can change and not always for the better. Animal's habitats are in danger but you can help!

Human beings are amazing things but sometimes we do not always make the best decisions for all life on Earth.

We are very lucky here in the Forest of Dean to have a group called The Foresters' Forest. Hopefully you have already heard of them and the great work they do in our local environment.

Find out about all this and more by checking out what lies beneath the cute hedgehog image above.

Have fun!

Mrs A 

It's that Friday feeling!

Hi everyone, I hope you have had another good week. We have had some pretty intense temperatures over the last couple of days...phew, sweltering at my computer. But it is all worth it when I see your fabulous photos being pinged my way. We also have a bit of ant action on a video by Izzy.

I really hope you all got to step into the wonderfully cool woodlands and measure a tree.  Perhaps also that you did a bit of forest bathing....ahhh that's better (mind calmed!)

This week the IXL champions are Jude, Skylar and Noah. Well done you three for answering a total of over 700 questions in almost 7 hours of maths practice. Awesome work! 

I hope you have a lovely weekend and I look forward to what next week brings 

Mrs A 

Here we are on week 9...and the weather's looking fine!

Hey, I am a poet and I didn't know it   I wish I had started every week like that now!

I hope you are all ok and enjoying some of the home learning activities each week. Here are a few more ideas that will give you a chance to get out into the forest habitat all around us. I want to set you the challenge of measuring a tree, all is explained in the Tree Explore pack. Please can you photograph your chosen tree and send me its measurements.

While you are in the forest you can try a bit of 'forest bathing' to calm your mind and soothe your soul...find out more on the pdf.

This week's science is all about food chains, find out who eats what (or who!).

We only have 8 more days left with IXL so please carry on the amazing work you have been doing, I wonder how many questions you will have answered by the end of the week?

If all of this is not enough then the BBC Bitesize Daily Lessons are still out there for you. Oh and I found a lovely couple of videos from one of my favourite people, David Attenborough, fascinating stuff about climate in different habitats. 

I am pretty sure with all that plus your reading and spelling practice you have enough to keep you busy this week.. 

Have fun!

Mrs A 

Friday celebration time!

Thank you to everyone who sent me Summer solstice art this week. You were very creative in your approach. I have decide to bring together Oaks and Larches in the gallery slideshow so you can see everyones work. I must though give a special mention to Heidi who has produced the most wonderful piece of art. It is truly stunning Heidi well done.

Oaks and Larches combined have now answered over 20,000 maths questions on IXL, that is incredible. But our IXL champions this weeks are Heidi, Zac and Wendy. This week their total efforts have answered over 1,000 questions and spent almost 7 hours practising. A real achievement, well done you three.

I hope you enjoy seeing what some of you have been up to this week, thank you for keeping in touch and sending me your photos. Thank you to James for sending me his branching keys diagram, it was excellent.

Enjoy your weekend,

Mrs A 

Here we are in week 8!

This week, we continue with our topic of living things and their habitats. There is a Powerpoint attached under the new sun icon with a focus on branching keys. These can be used to classify living things but you can have a bit of fun classifying sweets so please take a look.

You may be wondering why I have chosen a sun icon...? Well this weekend is a little bit special. Find out more by looking at the weekly sheet and clicking the link to the English Heritage website. I am really hoping to see some beautiful work produced this week, all the images you send me will contribute to our showcase gallery on Friday.

Enjoy your week everyone, I look forward to seeing what you have been doing.

Mrs A 

Friday Celebration Time!

Wow! What a week it has been, you have sent me so many fabulous wildlife photos, thank you so much to those of you who sent me your work this week. I have really enjoyed looking at your zoo designs and reading your animal facts. 

This week we have a special treat from James, he has been working on a project since we started learning at home. He found some newt eggs last autumn which he then hatched and looked after over winter to release this spring. So James has put together a slideshow for you all to share in his experience, it really is fantastic, well done James. 

The other news to celebrate is your IXL success! This week our champions are Skylar, Wendy and Jude, a huge well done to you three, altogether in just one week you have answered 875 questions and spent almost 5 hours on IXL. Together though we have achieved a massive 15,000 questions 

I hope you enjoy looking at all the fabulous things you have done this week.

Bye for now,

Mrs A 

It is time for Week 7!!

This week we begin our new topic,  living things and their habitats. This is a great topic to be doing at home as you can all get outside to see animals, find out where they live and what they need to survive. You will become wildlife experts as you observe carefully and document what you see, either by photograph or drawing.

If you look under the new beetle icon above you will find the weekly activity sheet and all the information you need to get started on this topic.

As always, I would like to see some photographs of what you have done this week. Or even a video...I have already grabbed my phone and filmed some wildlife, I just cannot believe what the bee can do with its head! Look below to find out...bonkers! Remember to be careful with any animal that can sting, they need their personal space just like we do.

Could you be the next David Attenborough or Steve Backshall?

Mrs A 

That's the end of my first week with you Oaks. Thank you for sending me your photos and for getting in touch. 

I am looking forward to next week!

Enjoy the slideshow of what some of you have been up to.

Big congratulations to Alaina, Zac and Chloe who have spent the most time on IXL this week, together they did over 8 hours of maths!  

Hello Oaks, welcome to week 6!

It is Mrs A here, Mr McQuire is busy in school for this term so I will be adding things to your class page every week.

You will find a weekly activity sheet under the red swirl and the links you need for the activities.

Remember to send me some photos of all the different things you have been doing so I can create a slideshow for the Friday Celebration, usual email oaks@ruardean.gloucs.sck.uk.

I am here working at home like you and do not get to see many people so thought I would make a video to say hello!

Bye for now and stay in touch,

Mrs A 

We are currently living in a very different way. There is no pressure to do too much: just do what you can, when you can.

Stay Safe and look after each other.

Hello everyone,

As we continue to stay safe by being at home, your initial home learning packs have plenty of ideas to keep you busy but these will need to be supplemented by the other activities I have been uploading. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on the class email:

oaks@ruardean.gloucs.sch.uk

Obviously, you will still need to read regularly and practise your numbers facts; I'm sure you will all be maths whizzes by the time you return to school with all of the practise!

PowerPoints and activities will be added below in the Homework ideas section.

SCHOOL TRIP!!!! Friday 3rd April (but you can do it anytime)

Today we are visiting The Natural History Museum!!! Obviously we can't actually go but luckily online there is a virtual tour. Follow the link below this message.

Have a virtual tour and then answer these questions:

What was the best thing you saw?

Would you like to go there in real life? Why?

Have you got any questions that you could investigate?

Email me your answers to oaks@ruardean.gloucs.sch.uk

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Oaks 2019/20!

We've been extremely busy. Have a look at what we've been doing this term:

We've been to Blists Hill and visited the schoolroom dressed as Victorian schools children.

We've been playing Times Table Rockstars. We even led an assembly to the rest of the school.

In RE we've looked at the Hajj and visited different stations