Kings and Knights

We have made a fantastic start to our new topic; 'Kings and Knights'. We are already two parts in to the epic 'The Lady of Shalott' and have all been speculating about the curse that might be upon her. We rose to the challenge of writing the opening of the poem as prose. Can you remember the difference between poetry and prose? This week, we're looking forward to reading more and finding out what happens next!

To try to empathise with the Lady of Shalott, we each attempted our own mirror artwork and found it very tempting to look round at what was behind us! It was very frustrating and gave us a little insight into what her life must have been like. We wrote diary entries as the Lady and imagined how she must feel and what she might dream of.

We also had a go at weaving this week; the favourite pastime of the Lady. It was tricky at first, but we created some marvellous pieces with a little practice!

On Friday, we had a formal debate on the topic, 'The Lady of Shalott should leave the tower.'
Arguing 'for' were Delta Team (made up of Tiger and Panther houses) and 'against' were L.J. Masterminds (Lion and Jaguar houses). It was a tense and well-argued debate, with many interesting points and rebuttals. The opening statements set the debate off on an interesting path and we were soon in full flow. Following some very persuasive closing statements, the judges deliberated. It was a close call, but as a result of using better evidence from the poem, the winning team were the Delta Team. Well done! After our debate, we wrote letters of advice to the Lady of Shalott, full of the powerful arguments we had shared in the debate. Coming up soon we will be reading more of the poem and starting to learn about Edward the Confessor, Arthurian legends and much more...!

A Very Special Visitor

Yesterday, we had the privilege of meeting Ms Helen Hayes MP. Ms Hayes is the MP for our constituency. She met with the School Council, then spent a long time talking to Years 5 and 6. We asked all sorts of questions and she told us many interesting things about her life as an MP and about politics in general.

All of the adults were very impressed by the questions that were asked in this session. We could see how well-informed you all are about world events and about politics in the UK and beyond. Well done!

Some of the interesting questions raised were:
1. As an MP, you have a broader view of British politics. How do you think Brexit will affect the country?
2. How did the death of Jo Cox MP affect the Labour party?
3. As you argued to remain in the EU, do you ever feel scared of people with strong opinions about Brexit?
4. Do you think Donald Trump will be a good President of the United States?
5. What effect do you think the result of the presidential election will have on Britain?
6. How do your children feel about you being an MP?

We were all very impressed by your maturity in the question and answer session and by the level of discussions Ms Hayes MP was able to have with you.

After Ms Hayes MP had left, we were keen to write to her. Here are some excellent examples of the letters we have written to post to her:

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!

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!

Fabulous Fruit!

Today we had a day filled with fruit! We have been working as advertisers and poets to show the public just how wonderful fruit can be!

We started our project by investigating some adverts on television that are aimed at children. Take a look at some of them below:

Source: youtube

We discussed the techniques that were used in these adverts. We noticed that they all used:

• Humour
• Cartoons or popular characters
• Celebrities
• Special offers
• Bright, eye-catching colours
• Fun music
• Promises of improving your life (This will give you more energy! This drink will make you a better footballer!)

We then looked at some written adverts and noticed that they used many of the same techniques. We also learned about RHETORICAL QUESTIONS and IMPERATIVE VERBS. These were used in lots of adverts.

It was clear that many of the foods and drinks advertised for children were not healthy. We decided to use these successful techniques to make our own adverts, but for healthy foods.

Each of us chose a fruit to advertise. Here are some fantastic examples:

The Great Loom Band Debate!

Here it is... the podcast of our debate: 'Should Loom Bands be banned?'
Dan from Far Shoreline Productions came to interview us about Loom Bands and he put together this fantastic audio recording.

Click the picture below, or follow the link, to listen to the debate as a podcast. Can you hear yourself? What is your opinion- do you think Loom Bands should be banned?

When I was in Hong Kong this week I saw children there making Loom Band bracelets- it's a worldwide trend!

 

 http://podcast.lgfl.org.uk/channels/media/1408013623st-anthonys--loom-bands.mp3