On Wednesday, we were fortunate to visit The British Library. We admired the beautiful building and felt very privileged to see some of their most precious books in the 'Treasures Collection'.
Source: www.bl.uk
We had a great workshop with Sheila and Rebecca; firstly, we collected nouns, adverbs and adjectives from the Treasures Collection.
Next, we were inspired by an animation of 'The Jabberwocky' to create a calligraphy presentation of one of our words.
Finally, we worked with a small group to use the words we collected to create a piece of performance art. Some groups wrote poems, others made short plays or told a story.
We are all very excited about Book Week- we hope
that you are too! Thank you for all of the Mystery Reader photos we have
received. You can see them in the hall; can you guess who they all
are?! If you would like to enter, but haven't yet done so, please bring
in your photograph on Monday!
We
hope that we will see lots of you at 8:30am every day next week in the
hall for 'Dads' Reading'. Bring a book and a male relative (although
ladies are very welcome too!); find a comfy place to sit and settle in
to start your day with a book!
On
Thursday, the whole school will be dressed up as our favourite book
characters! We'll have a special assembly to celebrate all of the
wonderful costumes and to read this year's school story. We will also
announce the winners of the 'Mystery Reader' competition!
During
the week, you will also have the chance to enjoy some Buddy Reading. Year 5 will be joining the Nursery, to pair up and read together! You will have the chance to read a story to a child from the Nursery and they might want to share some books with you too!
It's
nearly Book Week at St. Anthony's! We will be celebrating with another
fun photo competition. Last year's Extreme Reading was incredibly
exciting and we had some wonderful entries!
This year's challenge is called 'Mystery Readers'.
What you need to do:
1. Pick your favourite book.
2. Create a disguise and pick an interesting location for your photo. Remember you must be safe- ask an adult to help you and don't take any risks.
3. Cover your face with your favourite book. You might also try wearing a mask!
4. Ask an adult to take a photograph of you, with your face covered safely.
5. Print the photo.
6. Write your name on the back.
7. Hand it in to Mrs Parrott ASAP!
Some inspiration:
Source: davyhulme
Source: cheadleheath
Source: 123rf
Source: roebuck.herts
The
entries will be on display in the hall and the winners from each phase
group will be announced in assembly on World Book Day; Thursday 3rd
March.
Head over to the St. Anthony's Writes blog, to find out the details about a new and exciting comic competition at school. Lots of you are very talented graphic artists and comic creators, so I'm sure you won't want to miss this opportunity!
Click the picture above (designed by Luke in Year 6!) to go to the St. Anthony's Writes blog and find out more.
Our topic 'Kings and Knights' has been great fun; it culminated with our reenactment of The Battle of Hastings on Thursday! We have been learning about Edward the Confessor and last week we found out about what happened when he died without an heir. Learning about the Battle of Stamford Bridge was interesting and ended with Harold having to march his army back down 187 miles in a hurry, when he heard that William was attacking from the south.
On Thursday, we picked up the story with Harold's Saxon army arriving in Hastings exhausted from battle and two long marches, carrying all of their kit and weapons. They were clever and took the high ground and built a shield wall to protect themselves.
William's Norman army arrived and kept charging up the hill towards the shield wall for six hours. For six hours it looked like the Saxons were going to win.
At one point, a Norman soldier announced that William had died (he was wrong!). What did William shout to rally his troops?
But soon, a few foolish Saxon soldiers made a fatal decision. (What did we decide 'fatal' meant?) When the Normans were retreating from one of their unsuccessful charges, a few soldiers decided to chase them. This meant there was a gap in the shield wall and the Normans took their chance! They turned around and charged back. Their cavalry (what did this mean?) and archers were better trained than the Saxons and soon destroyed the Saxon army.
Finally, one of the archers took aim at Harold and (if we believe the Bayeux Tapestry) he was shot in the eye!
William was eventually crowned King!
After our reenactment of the battle, we used toy knights, which were kindly brought in by Finn, to act out the battle again.
Once the events of the battle were firmly set in our minds, we worked in our house teams to write a timeline of the battle.
We identified three main reasons for William's Normans winning the Battle of Hastings. What were the three reasons?
Watch this fantastic animation of the Bayeux Tapestry. It tells the story of the Battle of Hastings, using the Bayeux Tapestry. But remember, the tapestry is not really animated! It is a tapestry/ weaving- like the Lady of Shalott made in her tower!
This
week, we were incredibly lucky to have a special gift from The Dulwich
Picture Gallery. We visited the M.C. Escher exhibition
at the gallery last term and produced some beautiful artwork.
The
Dulwich Picture Gallery have very generously given us a stunning piece
of artwork, produced by our local community, which was inspired by the
M.C. Escher exhibition. It is a spectacular mosaic metamorphosis made
entirely from LEGO!
M.C. Escher, Day and Night, 1938 (Dulwich Picture Gallery)
We all love our new artwork at St. Anthony's and feel very lucky to have it in our school!
During
lunchtime on Wednesday, we put up some posters asking all of our
children to write the first word that came to mind when they looked at
the picture. Later that day, St. Clare's wrote sentences
to explain our reaction to, or inspired by, the Lego masterpiece!
Next
half term, we will hold a creative project inspired by our new artwork-
linking Writing, Maths and Art- alongside other subjects! Hooray!
This
week has been a strange one at St. Anthony's. On Wednesday night, tiny
doors appeared around the school out of nowhere and nobody could explain
why! A leading detective was onto the case straightaway, but he needed
your help in answering these questions: Who are these visitors? Where
did they come from? Why are they here?
After
reading a letter from Detective Petitie, you all set out to solve the
mysteries, and luckily you also wrote some excellent pieces of writing
explaining what had happened. You were a big help to him in finding
out what was going on.
We
have been very impressed by your super pieces of work, but the mystery
remains unsolved as of yet. What do YOU think goes on behind those tiny
doors?
Here
are some of the highlights of your fantastic writing, remember to click
on the pictures to make them larger and easier to read:
Year 1
Jonas, Year 1
Annabelle, Year 1
Amarachi, Year 1
Siena, Year 1
Aine and Misty, Year 3
Klara, Year 4
Alex, Year 5
Erhun, Year 5
Emily, Year 4
Bella and Mia, Year 5
Natalia, Year 6
Laudine, Reception
Jasper, Reception
We'll
add some more fabulous Tiny Door writing next week, when we receive
some more submissions! Check out our new display board between the Year 2
classrooms too, to see this work in real life, plus lots more!
