WW1 Fantastic Free Writing!

 By Christopher and Cesar

Here are some excellent examples of writing from St. Clare's Class last week. Click on each picture to make it larger and easier to read.

Each of these children has put lots of effort into their writing and has achieved a wonderful outcome. Most of these pieces are from our 'free writing' session, in which the children in St. Clare's could write anything they wished to in response to the chapter of 'The Silver Donkey' called 'The Front'. I am sure you will agree that the work they produced is very impressive! Well done everyone!

 By Darcy

 By Finn

 By Jada

 By Jessica

 By Kenan

 By Justin

 By Jack G.

 By Blessie

By Amelie F.

Here are some excellent pieces of work from the previous week, when we were focusing on Wilfred Owen's famous World War One poem, 'Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori'.

A wonderful analysis of the techniques used by Owen, by Elizabeth:

Comic strips to show the meaning of some of the most powerful lines, by Harry and Daniella:

Trench Warfare- The Battle of the Somme

Source: Royal Irish Rifles

On Friday after play, when we returned to our classroom, it had turned into the Western Front at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

The platoon of St. Clare were met by Field Marshall Parrott and Lieutenant Cook who gave strict orders for their expectations of bravery and conduct on the battle field. Following a uniform inspection and orders for the men to face death as a glorious sacrifice for King and country, we entered the trenches. It was dark on the Western Front and the sounds of heavy artillery boomed around us. We had to crawl through the tunnels and trenches to keep our heads below the parapet, to avoid the enemy sniper fire.

Following a period of quiet reflection in the trenches and time for the men to write letters home, we heard the barrage end and knew it was time for us to go over the top.

Sadly, this was not the battle to end the war, as we had initially believed and the enemy had known we were coming. The barrage had not been as successful as we had thought and we suffered heavy casualties.

After participating in the Battle of the Somme for ourselves, we took some time to look at some real footage from the battle and learned about the tactics and errors of the Allied Forces. We compared the trenches and artillery of the Allies and Central Powers. We were lucky to have Abel from Year 6 to help Mrs Parrott to teach about the Battle of the Somme, as he is a real military expert!

Source: Honourable Artillery Company

 

On Friday afternoon, we were very fortunate to have a talk from Mr. Conlon, a real soldier! He told us about life in the modern army and about the importance of peace. He shared with us information about what his regiment did in World War One and showed us some photographs of his own army experiences.

Jack G's Coins from WW1

Thank you, Jack G, for bringing in some coins from your collection to show us on Friday. Jack had this genuine halfpenny from WW1 and a lovely set of commemorative coins from Australia, which were designed in remembrance of the Great War. Thanks, Jack!

Friendship Week!

Source: santabanta



Next week in school we will be celebrating our annual Friendship Week!


On Friday, the whole school will be participating in a special assembly to think about friendship at St. Anthony's.

Upper School will be performing a rendition of a famous song called 'Lean on Me' by Bill Withers. Your homework this week is to make sure that you have learned the lyrics to the song, ready to start rehearsing on Monday. You have a copy of the lyrics to bring home with you today, which is marked to show the sections you particularly need to know.

Source: Amazon.com

If you would like to hear the song to help you to learn the tune, you can find many videos (some with kareoke lyrics!) on Youtube; simply search Bill Withers 'Lean on Me'. Ask an adult at home to help you find the video, then perhaps you could perform your song to them! Have fun!

World War One Medals

Yesterday we had a fantastic day at Dulwich Picture Gallery. As part of our World War One topic, we looked at some medals awarded in WW1.

We were very lucky to work with Jo again to produce some beautiful medals of our own.

Firstly, we designed the symmetrical ribbons, using wax pastels and inks. We used this resist technique to make the ribbons look old and worn.

Next, we designed and made the tiles to print our medals.

Then, we applied the metallic printing ink.

We used the printing press to create our final images.

Finally, we added a picture of a soldier from WW1 to the centre of our medals.

Here are the completed medals up on display in our classroom:

Suffering in Silence, a poem by Kenan

Source: Mary Evans

Suffering in Silence

The soldiers slept through the night,

The bombs shoot down really bright.

"Gunshots," the soldiers say,

They want their enemies to pay.

The soldiers lost one-nil to the frogs,

But they really care about the dog.

The dog watched his friendly soldiers die,

And once a German stared at him,

Gave a look and said, "Look alive?"

The dog was shot and died,

The next day, the dog's soldier owner picked him up.

He cried, "Why?"

By Kenan

This poem was inspired by our study of Wilfred Owen's 'Dolce Et Decorum Est'.

Excellent Escher

As promised, here is a picture of our beautiful class collaborative artwork inspired by our visit to the M.C. Escher exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery. We are very proud of it!

World War One

This week we have all enjoyed beginning our new topic- we have started to learn about World War One. We have read the first three chapters of 'Silver Donkey', learned about how the war began, written newspaper articles about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and found out which countries were involved at the beginning of the war in 1914.

Yesterday, we found out all about the planes used in World War One. Then we designed and made our own planes. Can you remember some of the many jobs planes did in World War One?

Map Challenge Homework!

Source: clipartpanda

Your homework this week is to learn the countries of Europe. We will be testing you on Wednesday- so be prepared!

These games are great fun and will help you with your challenge:

Source: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/europe-puzzle.html

Source: http://lizardpoint.com/geography/europe-quiz.php

8:30am Tomorrow!

Remember, Madame Severine needs you to be in class at 8:30 sharp tomorrow morning, as you will be Skyping your French pen pals! Please come straight to class in the morning, don't go to the playground.

See you bright and early in the morning!

Firework Safety

This week I am sure you have been hearing lots of fireworks! Tomorrow is Bonfire Night.
I hope you all have a wonderful time watching fireworks, but follow these rules to make sure you stay safe.

Remember that fireworks are exciting and beautiful, but they can also be dangerous. We need to follow the Firework Code to make sure we enjoy fireworks safely. Click on the picture below to see the full Firework Code.

Source: bis.gov.uk