Friday 29 January 2016

Our Crest Crazy Classroom!


We were so inspired by our visit to the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey, that we have been designing and making our own crests ever since! As part of our work learning about Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, we designed and made our own banners to show our heraldry (we had the House of Dulwich and the House of Clare amongst others!) to hang in our classroom.

 We worked in teams to design and make them from tissue paper.

Next, we planned and created our textile heraldic crests. Following some research on existing crests, we looked at common features before drawing our own designs. Next, we selected our fabrics and cut the pieces out carefully.
Finally, we used our sewing skills to complete our crests.

Our third crest project was for homework. We have been learning about our diocese in R.E. with Mrs Hopkins, so we combined our learning from different areas of the curriculum to create a new crest for Southwark Diocese. We had to consider which images or symbols would best represent the diocese.

Here are the marvellous results:

HOORAY!!!


Fabulous news just in! We have been shortlisted for the finals of the UK Blog Awards!

All of your hard work (and all of the voting!) has paid off- well done!

We are officially one of the top ten education blogs in the UK. You should all be very proud of yourselves- I am very proud of you!

Sunday 24 January 2016

Voting closes TOMORROW!


http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2016/my-entry/st-clares-class-blog

Voting for St. Clare's Class Blog in the UK Blog Awards closes TOMORROW! We need one last push to give us the best chance of getting into the finals. 

Please vote today and tomorrow- ask all of your friends and family to do the same!

Click on the picture or link below to vote for us- wouldn't it be marvellous if we won?! You will need to do this with an adult at home, as you will need an email address.

We would love to be recognised as one of the best education blogs in the UK!


Friday 22 January 2016

A Day in Camelot!


Today, we have spent much of our day in Camelot! We created our own knights and wrote letters from King Arthur, to explain why they had been chosen to join the Knights of the Round Table and to tell them about the quest they needed to go on.
 By Darcy

 By D

By Jack N.

Some of us wrote such fabulous letters that we were crowned ourselves!



Later in the morning, we read the fourth and final part of 'The Lady of Shalott'- it was a tragic but powerful ending. Mrs Parrott was blown away by our poetry analysis- we identified that the song she sang linked to the funeral songs she heard in Part One. We decided that her white robes had lots of connotations (our new favourite word!)- they made us think of purity, innocence, religious robes, an angel or Jesus- because he was also an innocent person who was killed. We also made a connection to the Bible by noticing that when she died the skies turned black and there was a storm, just like Good Friday. We thought that the darkening skies were definitely a clue that something bad was coming.

The Lady of Shalott, Waterhouse. Source: wikipedia

Then, we looked closely at the structure of Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott'. We counted the lines in each verse and noticed the rhyme patterns and repeated phrases. Next, Mrs Parrott challenged us to identify how many syllables or beats were in each line.

We found that the general pattern was:

8
8   The first four lines rhyme.
8
8
7   Ending in 'Camelot'
8
8   The next three lines rhyme.
8
6   Usually, 'The Lady of Shalott'

We used this structure to work together to write our own verse for the poem:




The tower beneath a clouded coat,
In the mirror she spied a boat,
She ran down to the willow’d moat,
Upon the prow, her name she wrote,
She floated to tower’d Camelot.
With her dying breaths she started to sing,
Her mournful song, heard by the King,
She died without a knight or ring;
The Lady of Shalott.

By St. Clare’s Class
   

Finally, we had a try at writing our own verses-
 it was a very tricky challenge! 


 By Francis

 By Elizabeth

 By Mina

By Finn

Tuesday 19 January 2016

A New Blog!

http://stanthonyswrites.blogspot.co.uk/

St. Anthony's has a new blog! We will be using this exciting new blog to share the very best writing from children throughout the school. There will be lots of exciting writing, competitions and activities there for you to enjoy! Make sure you take a look and leave a comment. St. Clare's, you are experienced bloggers- now it's your time to support those who are new to it- leave them comments, share your top tips and even submit some of your wonderful writing yourselves.
Source: animationpanda

Here's a post from the editors of 'St. Anthony's Writes':

Do you like writing? When you sit down to write an essay, letter, diary entry- whatever it may be- what is your first reaction? Do you enjoy yourself, or silently groan? Maybe you think you can't do it, or maybe you just get bored.

Whatever it is, our Digital Writing Team are aiming to change that.

Through fun events and competitions, we will work to change your writing experiences for the better. It could be anything from a story, to a poem, to a comic strip, or even a joke- we want to hear from you! You can submit writing that you have done at school, or at home.

Every week, we will update our blog with our favourite samples of writing from St. Anthony's. With the help of our Talent Finders, we will find the best of your work, giving you the chance to have it displayed on the blog for the world to see!

So get informed, get inspired and get involved- because the reality is, everyone can pick up a pen and write! 

A Wonderful Trip!

 Source: wikipedia
Yesterday, we had a fantastic day at Westminster Abbey. We felt very privileged to see areas of the Abbey, including the tomb of Edward the Confessor, that ordinary visitors do not get the opportunity to see! We truly were VIPs for the day!
 Source: wikipedia
Everyone was awestruck by the absolute beauty of the Abbey. We learned about the architecture and how it is designed to draw your eyes up- to remind people that they are there to look to God. Most importantly, we learned about the history of Westminster Abbey.

 Source: the tablet

Our excellent guides taught us so much about Edward  the Confessor; his life (including a fascinating story about a very special ring), his work and his family.

 Source: kingholiday.wordpress


We saw where Edward the Confessor was originally buried, then the tomb where he was moved to when the Abbey was rebuilt.

Source: The Tablet 
It was fantastic to view the Coronation Chair in real life- following our research last week!
Source: Britannica

A stand-out moment for many of us was the opportunity to sit in the choir's seats. We had seen them on television at Christmas and the Royal Wedding!
Source: Britannica

We took some time to reflect on the religious nature of the building and we said a special prayer and lit a candle for our own intentions, after viewing the grave of the unknown warrior. At 12pm, all of the visitors to the Abbey are asked to stand still and listen to a short prayer and reflection from the Reverend. We were thrilled that he welcomed us personally in his sermon!

Source: essentialhotels.com

Towards the end of our visit, we visited Henry VII's chapel, also known as the Lady Chapel. It was an astonishing sight; filled with flags and armour, under the most beautiful ceiling most of us had ever seen! We were so impressed, that on our return to school we worked in groups to design and make some Heraldic flags of our own!

Source: overseasattractions.com

What was the highlight of the day for you?

Sunday 17 January 2016

An Exciting Day Tomorrow!

Source: visitlondon.com

We are off on an adventure tomorrow! We will be heading up to Central London to visit Westminster Abbey. At this historic building, we will be learning about Edward the Confessor by taking a special guided tour.

REMEMBER!
You will need a healthy PACKED LUNCH, a drink and a WARM COAT. It will be cold tomorrow and the Abbey is a very old building!

Monday 11 January 2016

Kings, Knights and the Lady of Shalott!



Last week, we began our new topic- we have started our adventure in Camelot!



We read the first two parts of Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' and considered what the Lady's life is like. Here is some marvellous writing from St. Clare's last week (remember to click on the pictures to make them larger and easier to read):

 By Francis

 By Harry

 By Amelie F.

 By Amelie M.

By Rory

We even did some drawing, using a mirror to look behind us. We wanted to see how it must feel for the Lady of Shalott...
There are many more adventures to come this week!

Saturday 9 January 2016

VOTE FOR US!

http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2016/my-entry/st-clares-class-blog

Our blog has been entered into the UK Blog Awards! Hooray!!

Click on the picture or link below to vote for us- wouldn't it be marvellous if we won?! You will need to do this with an adult at home, as you will need an email address. YOU CAN VOTE ONCE EVERY DAY IN JANUARY! Ask your family members to vote for us too!

We would love to be recognised as one of the best education blogs in the UK!

http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2016/my-entry/st-clares-class-blog

Thursday 7 January 2016

A Fabulous Philosophy Session!

Source: amazon.co.uk 
 
This afternoon we had a fantastic Philosophy lesson. Today's stimulus was the beautifully illustrated 'How to Live Forever' by Colin Thompson. It was an intriguing story and every group generated some excellent enquiry questions inspired by the book.


We discussed the questions and decided whether they made any assumptions. Can you remember any that we spotted today?

The question we voted to discuss was, 'Why do some people want to live forever?'

It was a lively and constructive discussion, with lots of interesting ideas raised. We soon began discussing the pros and cons of living forever, then some children questioned whether, if you did live forever, it would be better to be frozen at 10 years old or get progressively older.

What were your final thoughts from today's P4C enquiry?

Perhaps you could continue the conversation with someone at home!

New Year, New Books!


To welcome us back to school this week, we revealed a fantastic selection of new books! Everyone was very excited!

This week, Mrs Parrott and Mrs Cook have been selecting children who have been working exceptionally hard, or those who are being particularly kind or well-behaved, to have the opportunity to choose a book.

Are you reading one of our new books? Would you recommend it? Why?

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Highlights of 2015!


As we begin a new year, we look back at our achievements in 2015. Here are just a few of our favourite moments:

In January, we met Doctor Who for the first time and designed fabulous ink maps of new worlds for him to explore in his TARDIS:


We also worked with Mrs Herrera on this fascinating experiment, to make our own clouds!

In February, we made our Barbie Weeping Angels, as part of our Doctor Who topic:


We then began our adventure into Epic Citadel and made wonderful Animoto film trailers:


By Darcy

In March, we celebrated World Book Day with costumes and Extreme Reading:


We performed our marvellous Easter play, 'The Selfish Giant':

And, we designed and built our own Anglo Saxon model village:

In April, we began to learn about the Titanic:

We wrote this incredible poem as a class, inspired by 'Kaspar, Prince of Cats':
Shock
What's wrong?
Could it be true?
Shock hits me like lightning,
Falling off a cliff,
A thought as deep as the sea.
Heart pounding,
Jaw dropping,
Stomach churning,
Throat burning,
Brain bursting.
My blood freezes,
Unstoppable pain,
Attacks me like a tiger.
Surrounded by darkness.
By St. George's Class, 2015

And, we used pedal power to make scrumptious smoothies:
In May, we made some enormous underwater artwork:
Held our own General Election (won by the Vision Party, after campaigning and a Question Time debate):
And went on an awesome adventure in Central London, to visit the various settings of 'Kaspar Prince of Cats'. We had a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Opera House, went to Simpsons on the Strand, visited the Savoy Hotel and went for a walk in Kaspar's favourite Victoria Embankment Gardens:






In June, we began to learn about the fascinating country of Togo. We had an African adventure at the Horniman Museum:

Did some delicious cooking with Mrs Cook and Mrs Herrera:

And created some beautiful artwork in the style of Togolese artist Joseph Amedokpo and lanterns with designs inspired by the landscape in Togo:


In July and August, we ended our school year with a trip to the new East Dulwich Picturehouse, which has been built on the original site of our school:

We had a very special visit from Monsieur Davi, a Togolese teacher, who came to tell us all about life in Togo:
And we spent some time playing our favourite maths games:






In September, we began Year 5 and loved learning about inventors and inventions. We read the wonderful 'The Templeton Twins Have an Idea' and learned about famous inventors throughout history.

We wrote persuasive letters:
We went on a fantastic trip to the Horniman Museum:

And had an incredibly successful first Cross Country competition, winning all of the medals for Year 5!


In October, we continued to learn about inventors- and became inventors ourselves!
We 'wore it pink' to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Care:
We wrote a marvellous poem about being kidnapped, inspired by the Templeton Twins:


And had a great time visiting the M.C. Escher exhibition and permanent collection at Dulwich Picture Gallery:
In November, we began to learn about World War One:


We started our 'free writing' project and learned about Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce Et Decorum Est':

We were very fortunate to visit the Dulwich Picture Gallery again, to design and make some WW1 medals:
In December, we visited the Imperial War Museum:
Our trip inspired some more marvellous free writing:
We enjoyed reading and writing about 'The Silver Donkey' by Sonya Hartnett, and even made some silver donkeys of our own:

We ended the year by celebrating the end of the war, with an Armistice Day party, with dancing, speeches and toasts with "champagne"!


Finally, Christmas arrived in St. Clare's!









What a wonderful year! These are just a few of our many highlights of 2015.

We are now looking ahead to 2016 and our new topic, 'Kings and Knights...and the Lady of Shallot'...