A Fabulous Final Week!

Thank you, St. Clare's, for giving me such a wonderful last week before I leave for maternity leave! We worked hard this week and we were so happy to welcome the fantastic Mrs Bennett into our St. Clare's team. I know you're going to make her very welcome.

We've been continuing with our Kings and Knights topic this week. Mrs Bennett worked with you to create these spectacular crowns. We were so impressed by how different they all were!

You made some super fact files about Edward the Confessor. You'll be learning lots more about him and his interesting life in the next few weeks, including a fabulous trip to Westminster Abbey. It's one of my favourite trips in Year 5- you're going to love it! I can't wait to hear all about it.

We read Part III of 'The Lady of Shalott' this week, in which we met the dashing Sir Lancelot. We worked together to write this fantastic description of the knight:

Here are just a few examples of some of the excellent writing from St. Clare's this week (click on the pictures to make them larger and easier to read):

On Wednesday, we showed Mrs Bennett how fantastic you are at poetry. Inspired by the moment that the Lady of Shalott looks out of the window and triggers her curse, we wrote this very dramatic poem. Can you spot some similes? Metaphors? Alliteration? Onomatopoeia? Can you find all the references to the poem we were inspired by, The Lady of Shalott?

The Curse

Dark clouds cloaked the sky like velvet,

Lightning tore through the coal,

She heard thunder crash upon the tower,

The air was filled with a deafening sound,

Rain lashed upon her trembling soul.

Crash! The mirror shattered into a million pieces,

Splinters flew like shooting stars,

A hurricane of glass and the web flew out of the casement.

A foreboding feeling enveloped her,

A scream of despair.

By St. Clare’s Class

Wednesday 11th January 2017

We also enjoyed our last P4C lesson together this week. Our stimulus was this beautiful short animation:

The questions we came up with were:
1. Can old things be as good as new? Why?
2. Should all people be treated the same? Why?
3. Can you still have happiness, even when you are unfortunate? Why?
4. How can we make life better?
5. What would the world be like if rubbish took over?

We voted to discuss question 3; Can you still have happiness, even when you are unfortunate? Why?
Our discussion included homelessness, the value of money, fairness, happiness and even communism! I shall miss our Philosophy discussions!

P4C

This week for P4C, we used an alternative storybook for our stimulus. We all know the story of the Three Little Pigs, but this week we read, 'The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig! It was a very funny story and made us think slightly differently about the story we were all expecting.

We were also very excited, because we completed the numbers warm-up game for the first time! Hooray!

The questions that we chose to vote on were:
1. Is it ever too late to change your ways? Why?
2. Do you need someone else to change you? Why?
3. Is life good, even if there is bad? Why?
4. What would life be like if everything was opposite?
5. What would the world be like if everyone was rude to each other?

The question we voted to discuss was, 'What would life be like if everything was opposite?'
We had a fantastic discussion, although it did get a little surreal at times! We covered topics such as identity, gender and war in a long and detailed enquiry. Well done team!

P4C

 Source: YouTube, Edward Monkton

This week, our P4C session was definitely our best discussion yet. We watched a fantastic video; 'The Pig of Happiness' as our stimulus and had a very grown up discussion. We talked about what happiness is and whether you would miss it if you had never had it. We wondered whether, in a world without happiness, you could feel sadness. Different children explained their ideas using images of scales, or comparisons to light and dark. Without having seen the light, would you know if it was dark? Without ever being happy, could you be sad? Do you need to have experienced the opposite to be able to understand it? Some children have even started to make links between previous P4C sessions, drawing on ideas from past discussions we have had. Wow!

Here are the questions we came up with this week:

1. Can everyone have happiness in their lives?
2. What would the world be like without happiness?
3. Can happiness mentally disturb you? (This group explained that they were wondering whether too much happiness can be bad for you.)
4. How and why does happiness spread?

The question we voted to discuss was: 'What would the world be like without happiness?'

At the end of our discussion this week, everyone in the class offered an interesting and insightful final thought. Well done everyone!

P4C

Source: The Imperial War Museum

This week's P4C sparked another wonderful discussion. Our stimulus this week was a painting; The Menin Road, by Paul Nash. After playing some games, we looked closely at the painting before coming up with some questions to discuss.

The questions that each group put forward were:

1. Can people still have happiness in their lives during wartime?
2. What did war do to mankind?
3. Was the war as dreadful as it seems?
4. Should women have been allowed to fight in World War One?


We voted for question 4: 'Should women have been allowed to fight in World War One?' It was a fantastic discussion and led to many ideas being raised about gender, strength and equality. Well done, everyone!

P4C

 Source: ijb

Friday's P4C session was fantastic! This week is Friendship Week at school, so every class in the school will be using the wonderful 'Something Else' as a stimulus for Philosophy.

Source: Book Trust

 

We started early, on Friday afternoon, to give us more time to hold our enquiry.

The questions that were suggested by the groups were:

1. Is it rude to say 'No!'?
2. Why are some people envious of others?
3. Are we all the same in some way?
4. Why is everyone different?

Source: Book Trust

After editing the questions and looking for assumptions, we held a vote to decide which question to discuss. The winning question was:

'Is it rude to say 'No!'?'

We had a great discussion. Most people seemed to agree that sometimes it can be rude to say no, but it depends how you say it. We talked about 'white lies' and when it might be ok to lie to protect someone's feelings. We also talked about when it might be important, or even essential, to say no.

Well done everyone!

P4C

Source: Michael Foreman, Amazon

This week, we had another super philosophy lesson. Tying in with our new WW1 topic, our stimulus this week was the wonderful picture book by Michael Foreman, 'War and Peas'.

Source: Michael Foreman, Booktopia

We enjoyed the story, which gave us lots to think about, and we loved the fabulous illustrations!

Here are some of the questions the groups wrote:

1. Why do some people keep everything for themselves when there are others that need more?
2. Why are some people greedy?
3. Is money important?

And many more... it was a very interesting stimulus!

Source: Michael Foreman, Amazon

The question we voted to discuss was, 'Is money important?'

We had a great discussion and lots of topics were raised. St. Clare's are becoming very good at listening to each other before offering opinions- I especially like to hear sentences that begin with; "Building on what X said..." or "I agree/disagree with X because..." or "I think X is right, but maybe she could think about..."

Well done, team!

P4C

Source: clipartpanda

Yesterday, we had another fantastic P4C lesson. St. Clare's are getting very good at listening to each other carefully and building their opinions based on what others have said.

Our stimulus this week was this poem by Edgar Albert Guest:

It Couldn’t Be Done

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done

      But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

      On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

      That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;

      At least no one ever has done it;”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat

      And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

      Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

      That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

      There are thousands to prophesy failure,

There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

      The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

      Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing

      That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

By Edgar Albert Guest

The enquiry questions each group came up with were:

1. Is anything impossible? 

2. Why don't some people always believe in others?

3. Why do some people think some things are impossible?

4. Why do some people think that you can't do something if they can't do it?

5. Why do some people make assumptions?

We spent some time looking for any assumptions or generalisations in the questions and edited them before voting.

The question that the class voted to discuss was:

4. Why do some people think that you can't do something if they can't do it?

  

We had a very interesting and grown up discussion, well done!

Philosophy!

Today we completed our first full P4C enquiry of the year. It was fabulous! We played lots of fun games to get warmed up and get our brains ready for debate, then we looked at our stimulus. Our stimulus (see above) inspired the groups to ask these questions.

1. Why do some people think that skin tones matter so much?
2. Why do some people get left out?
3. Why is life difficult for some people?
4. Why do some people travel?
5. Why do some people think they are better than others?

After looking at the assumptions in the questions, we had an omnivote.

We voted to discuss QUESTION 5. The discussion was very mature and everyone participated brilliantly. Well done, team!

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!