Great British Puddings!

The Cotswolds.

In our assemblies recently we talked about the Cotswolds, an area of outstanding beauty in central England.

The Cotswolds lie mainly within the counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, but extend into parts of Wiltshire, North East Somerset, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire.

Have you been to the Cotswolds? Did you notice the local stone that was used for houses and churches? The small towns and villages are predominantly built of the underlying Cotswold stone (a yellow oolitic limestone). This limestone is rich in fossils, particularly of fossilised sea urchins.

The yellow oolitic limestone used to build houses etc is very attractive.

 

A group of people meet in the Cotswolds every Friday night to celebrate traditional British Puddings.

Were you lucky enough to sample one of the puddings in assembly? Children in Key Stage Two voted chocolate sponge as their favourite. The children in Key Stage One and Downing Street class voted syrup sponge and sticky toffee pudding as their joint favourites!

My favourite pudding is jam roly poly with lashings of custard.

 

Why do you think jam roly poly is also known as "dead man's arm"?

What is your favourite pudding?

Have a look at the map of the UK near Year Five. Can you spot the counties that form the Cotswolds? There is a clue on the board to help you!

 

Macbeth

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare.

It is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to become powerful.

The play is believed to have been written between 1603 and 1607, and is most commonly dated 1606. The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre in central London.

Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, and tells the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland.

Would you like to read Macbeth with me?

As Shakespeare's words are very difficult to read for children, I am reading an abridged version of the story, written in a way that children can understand. I have a few spare copies in school, so if you don't have one of your own at home, you can borrow one of mine!

We are reading the version by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross that looks like this:

We will start reading on Friday. If you have a copy of the book, have a close look at the cast list on pages 4 and 5, and read the short rhyme on page 6.

 

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did when I first read MACBETH !

The Magician's Nephew

Ok book bloggers, I imagine that you have all finished reading "The Magician's Nephew" by now! Did you enjoy the story?

Can you give me a synopsis of the story in no more than fifty words?

Have a look at the photograph below, what part of the story does it remind you of?

Tell me about your favourite part of the story!

William Wordsworth And The Lake District

Hello to everyone logging in to my blog at home! I hope you enjoyed the poem and daffodil shaking this week!

William Wordsworth is one of our greatest poets (in my opinion) and he wrote my favourite poem, called "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" over one hundred years ago.

Wordsworth was inspired to write the poem when he was living in a cottage in the Lake District. Do you remember our assembly on the Lake District? Test yourself!

(1) What part of England is the Lake District in? (north, north west, east. south west etc)
(2) Which county is it in?
(3) William Wordsworth was what kind of poet?
(4) Can you name the highest mountain in England, which is located in the Lake District?
(5) Do you remember the name of the deepest lake and longest lake in England?
(6) What word do they use for mountain in that part of England?

Read the first two verses of Wordsworth's poem and tell me what you think.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.