All children at Oakwood strive to produce work that they are proud of.  Each week we celebrate a particular piece of work and display it in our dining hall for everyone to admire!

2023 - 2024

Cherry Class have been reading Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson. We then wrote persuasive letters to persuade the animals to help monkey find his Mum. Albert used a range of punctuation including question marks and exclamation marks and made good use of persuasive language – including threats! He also presented his work beautifully, using joined up handwriting.

This half term, Lime have been looking at how J K Rowling uses suspense in her Harry Potter books. Lime have also been working hard on adding fronted adverbials into their writing. Sophie used fronted adverbials, adjectives and similes to create her piece of suspense writing.

UKS2 read the book “The only way is Badger” on World Book Day. We then wrote a diary entry based on the story from the perspective (point of view) of one of the characters. Ellie chose to write as Bear.

Ellie maintained interest for the reader by using a range of punctuation, vocabulary and sentence starters.

In KS1 we read “The Proudest Blue” as part of our World Book Day celebrations. We loved the way the author described Asiya’s hijab and we collected our own adjectives to describe both Asiya and her hijab. Morgan tried his adjectives out in his sentences. He then used these to write a letter to Asiya, supporting and encouraging her to remain strong when people were being unkind.

In Willow we have been writing persuasive speeches. Bertie used emotive language to write an incredibly powerful speech about climate change. He used repetition and rhetorical questions to ensure his speech had impact.

We have been learning about space. We read the story “Whatever Next!” Quinn then chose to write her own book. She remembered to re-read her writing to check it made sense. She used a sound mat to help. Quinn also developed her fine motor skills helping to create a collaborative piece of art.

In Beech Class, we have been reading “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” The children have been working hard to generate adjectives to describe the pigeon which they used to create a character description.

We pretended that we were the pigeon and tried to convince the bus driver to let us drive the bus!

Hibah thought carefully about what the pigeon might say in order to persuade the bus driver, and has written this as speech. Hibah has worked hard to follow all of the steps to success within her character description. She has used adjectives, conjunctions and has challenged herself to use an expanded noun phrase.

In Poplar we have been learning how to write an informative leaflet. We started out unit with making inferences and posing questions about Finland. We used conjunctions to extend sentences and expanded noun phrases to enhance writing. Thomas used a chrome book to research essential information about Brazil. He organised his ideas and created a sub-heading for each part, and used rhetorical questions and alliteration to attract the readers.

Acorns 1 are learning Phase 3 phonic sounds which includes digraphs and trigraphs. We have been learning to use the digraphs in our writing. We are also learning about the United Kingdom. Alfie has practised his pencil grip and fine motor control when he made a Union Jack flag and he showed enthusiasm for writing when he chose to make a book during Active Learning.

UKS2 have been exploring the genre of diary writing. We noted that diaries tend to use an informal, chatty tone. We have read and analysed extracts from famous diaries. Paris has used relative clauses and relative pronouns to add detail. She has remembered to vary the length of her sentences to keep her reader interested as well as using rhetorical questions to talk to herself in an informal, chatty style.

Cherry have been reading The Last Noo-Noo. We thought about what questions we would ask Marlon the monster if we could meet him. We used lots of different question words and we checked that we'd spelt them correctly. We then took turns to sit in the hot seat as Marlon the Monster as the class asked questions. Lizzie has written out her questions using a variety of question words and accurate punctuation. She has presented her work neatly with clear ascenders and descenders. 

Cherry Class have been reading The Jolly Christmas Postman. We have been learning how to write letters. We wrote get well letters to Humpty Dumpty who is in hospital after falling off the wall again! Cassie used super adjectives in her letter as well as including conjunctions and questions (with question marks). Cassie made sure that she used capital letters for names.

In Lime Class we have been studying Roman myths. We read “The Taming of Venus” and imagined the emotions Venus went through. When writing our diary entries, we tried to use evidence gathered from the myth and use some strong emotive language. Cameron has written a fabulous diary entry and tried to include all of the steps to success.

In Ash we have been looking at features of non-fiction books. As a class, we each write a book about bats. This is Felix’s bat book. It is exceptional because it contains great writing, facts, page numbers and a diagram. Well done Felix for using the word “echolocation” in your writing.

In Willow we are developing our use of “show not tell.” The children learned to use clues that alluded to the fact the character is an old fisherman without saying those words. For example, they may highlight that his beard is grey and tangled or his skin is wrinkly. Rakshanti used lots of really powerful descriptions, similes and synonyms to create a wonderful description. Her spelling is impeccable, her punctuation is used purposefully and with control and her presentation is beautiful.

We have been learning about pets and read the story Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy. Charlie was able to count the words in his sentence and used his phonics to write a sentence independently.

Recently, Maple have been writing haikus, cinquains and shape poems. We used simile and onomatopoeia in our shape poems. Finlay’s work was chosen for his creative, powerful word choices.

Beech Class have been looking at a poem called ‘What is Autumn?’ and then wrote our own poems. Thomas has thought really carefully about the adjectives he has chosen in his Autumn poem to create a picture in the reader's mind of what he imagines about Autumn. He used all of his senses to support him in this, for example, thinking about how the leaves feel under his feet. When publishing his poem, Thomas took careful consideration when forming ascending and descending letters.

We started our poetry unit with recognising the features of haiku poems. We gathered suitable vocabulary and wrote haiku poems about some habitats. Next, we wrote haikus about volcanoes, which links to our geography lessons. After that we have learned about cinquain poems and wrote our own versions. Isla thought carefully about the number of words in each line as well as choosing powerful vocabulary. She also focused hard on her presentation.

In Acorns 1 we have been learning our phonemes and graphemes. We are using our phonics to help us start to write simple words. During Busy Fingers and Active Learning, we practise the skills we need for writing in lots of different ways. Dilan chose to complete a phonics challenge. He was able to independently use his phonics to sound out and write each word.

Rowan class have been learning to develop a character by exploring their thoughts and emotions. Our work was based upon the narrative poem ‘The Highway Man’ by Alfred Noyes. Aila used a series of rhetorical questions to give her reader an insight into her character’s mind. She used metaphors and an extended noun phrase to add detail.

Sycamore Class have been showing how descriptive they can be in their writing based on an image. Alice demonstrated the use of vivid language and descriptions of the five senses to create an atmosphere in her setting. She used fronted adverbials and rhetorical questions and presented her work clearly and neatly.

2022 - 2023

Sycamore Class have been reading The Pearl Diver by Julia Johnson. They then planned their own version of the story. Rakshanti used a range of sentence starters and figurative language to bring her story to life.

Lime Class read Michael Foreman’s War and Peas to identify the key features of a fable before planning and writing their own. Jacob has used fronted adverbials of time to tell the reader when events in his fable are happening and has edited his work to make sure his speech punctuation follows all the rules perfectly!

Beech class have been learning about narrative texts. We read the story ‘Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion’ and created comic strips to show the main events in the story. For her retelling of Little Red, Harriet thought carefully about the adjectives that she used to make her expanded noun phrases exciting. She also worked hard to make sure that each sentence started in a different way, to avoid repetition. Before publishing her favourite paragraph from her story, Harriet edited her whole story by responding to adult feedback.

This week we have started our new topic ‘Come Outside’ and we have been learning all about Spring. We have been thinking about some of the changes that happen in spring and went on a walk to look for signs of spring. Evie was particularly interested in our new topic and she chose to use her phonics knowledge to write about what she could see in the picture of spring. Evie worked hard to sound out each of the words, and then wrote the correct graphemes.

Lime class read Pie Corbett’s “Alien Landing” story before making their own version with a focus on descriptive language and speech. In her work, Gabriella worked hard to include simile, fronted adverbials and a range of speech verbs to make her retelling of the story come alive!

Rowan class have been learning to write a book review. First, we looked at how the experts write; we identified all the features of a good book review. Then we read the book “The Man who Walked Between the Towers.” Dylan planned his book review. Next he practised using conjunctions of cause and effect to help him add details to the points point that he made. Dylan then used his planning and the steps to success to write his own review. Finally, he worked with his partner to edit and improve his writing.

Ash class have been learning how to write for a range of purposes and have written a book review about the book How to Catch a Star. Finn thought carefully about what he liked or disliked about the book. He explained his reasons, giving examples. He talked about what he would change about the book. Finn also thought about who else might like the book. Finn carefully evaluated and redrafted his work to write a well-presented final draft.

Poplar Class have been writing a first person narrative based on the story ‘Leon and the Place Between’ by Grahame Baker-Smith. Sophia’s narrative is full of descriptive vocabulary describing the sight in the Place Between. She has used some excellent vocabulary detailing her thoughts and feelings as she fell into the darkness. Sophia has also included some excellent fronted adverbials and prepositional phrases to make her writing interesting for the reader.

Cherry used the poem “Into the Blue” to inspire our writing. We then used our geography learning to help us change the poem to be about Kenya. Izzy’s poem included simile, descriptive language and expanded noun phrases. Izzy remembered to use capital letters, commas, full stops and exclamation marks. She also concentrated carefully with her best hand writing.

Maple Class have written narratives inspired by the book “Cinnamon” by Neil Gaiman. This book is set in India and the main character is blind. Maple Class were challenged to include conjunctions, speech and emotive language in their pieces. Ishan’s work was chosen as he used challenging conjunctions throughout his piece. His word choices were imaginative and unique to his narrative. You can tell Ishan is a reader who writes!

Beech class have been learning how to write instructions. We have learned about bossy command verbs and sequencing verbs, and how to use these to write really clear instructions. Annie has edited and improved her writing by adding capital letters to start all of her sentences and full stops to finish them. When publishing her work, Annie focused really carefully on using her best handwriting.

Acorns have been looking at art by the artist Matisse. We created artwork based on L’ Escargot (The Snail).

We used non-fiction books to help us create our own books about snails. Freya used her learning about snails to create a non-fiction book.

Well done to all our writers!