Young Adults In Year 7.

Hello to our former pupils now in Year 7 ! Please complete our survey, you will find the link below.

Best wishes,

Mr Wright.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QK6P8N9

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare is considered by many to be the greatest playwright of all time, although many facts about his life remain shrouded in mystery. He lived during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I and coined hundreds of new words and phrases that we still use today.

His books can be quite challenging to read for grown-ups, never mind children! However, Andrew Matthews has rewritten a selection of his plays so that children can read and enjoy them. If you would like to read one of Shakespeare's plays, I have a selection in my office that you are welcome to borrow.

All I ask is that you have a really good go at reading one of the plays and post some information on my blog.

It can really help if you read a play in a small group so that you can help each other. You could find a quiet space in the playground or on the field to read at lunchtime perhaps.

Mr Wright.

Poetry Week - 29th September 2014.

I've been looking forward to poetry week since we started school in September! I love reading poems, and I shared a few with you last year. Do you remember the assembly on William Wordsworth and the Lake District? Have a look for an earlier blog.

On Monday I read one of my favourite poems,  "Night Mail" by W H Auden. I believe it was written  for a documentary about the GPO (General Post Office) - today we know the GPO as the Royal Mail.

I have added the youtube link below - please check with your parent or carer before watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmciuKsBOi0

Night Mail.

This is the Night Mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,

Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.

Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient's against her, but she's on time.

Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder,
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,

Snorting noisily, she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from bushes at her blank-faced coaches.

Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.

In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes.

W H Auden

Quiz Time!

Do you remember me talking about the poem during assembly? See how many questions you can answer!

• What border are they referring to?
• What is a postal order?
• What do you think beattock is?
• What is the relevance of the word "shovelling"?
• What causes the jug to gently shake?

Nessie - FACT or FICTION ?

Some time ago, during one of our assemblies on Scotland, we talked about the Loch Ness monster. Do you think the monster exists? Is it a myth? Tell me what you think!

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!