Another Super Week!

We have had another great week in St. Clare's Class!

On Wednesday, we visited the LifeBus. We had an interesting lesson and learned lots more about our bodies and the importance and dangers associated with how we treat them. We learned about drugs, smoking and alcohol and how they can be harmful to us. To end the session, we spent some time considering how to make the right choices and how to say 'No,' when we need to. It was a fascinating session and we came away with a greater knowledge about how to stay safe and well.

On Thursday, we had a fantastic trip to the Dulwich Picture Gallery. We worked with Jo, a professional artist, in the workshop to design and make our own World War One medals.

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.

On Friday, after our marvellous performance in our assembly, we neared the end of our class novel; The Silver Donkey, and wrote some fantastic pieces to show how we think the book will end.

We also enjoyed analysing a poem about conscription and discussing the emotions involved for those left behind in the Great War.

In the afternoon, after another excellent P4C session, we spent some time writing Christmas letters and cards to our Post Pals. They have been posted off this weekend, so we hope that they will arrive soon to put smiles on the faces of some children who will be in hospital, or very unwell, over Christmas.

Next week, we have a very busy festive week!

Monday: Your last swimming session- don't forget your kit!
Tuesday: All of Upper School will be going to St. Thomas More for the Advent mass.
Wednesday: Christmas lunch!
Thursday: We will be watching the Key Stage 1 Nativity Play and we'll write our list to go up for the class Christmas party (food and drink!)
Friday: In the afternoon, we will be heading to church again for the Christmas Carol Concert.

The following week:
Monday: Our class Christmas Party!
Tuesday: CARE awards assembly, possibly Toy Day and the last day of term! School will close at 2pm.

Zarafa

Source: IMDB

Today, as part of our Black History Month celebrations, we visited Dulwich Picture House Cinema to watch a wonderful film.

Source: wikipedia

First, we had a fascinating talk about the history of Africa, then we began to watch the beautiful animated film, 'Zarafa'.

 Source: homemcr

Can you remember where the main settings of the film were?

 Source: wikipedia

 

Source: The Guardian

What can you tell me about the true story that the film was based on?

A Fabulous Trip!

The photos have arrived! Last week, Years 5 and 6 went on a fantastic trip to the Southbank, where we had the opportunity to broadcast with BBC Radio 3! What an opportunity!

We each had different jobs, such as; producer, presenter, newsreader or sound engineer.

We also had the chance to visit a wonderful art exhibition called, 'We Are All Human'. The artwork was spectacular- all created by people who were in prison. We heard their fascinating tales, heard the stories behind their artwork and had the opportunity to ask them questions.

It was a fantastic day!

A Fantastic Trip!

 Yesterday, we had another wonderful morning at Dulwich Picture Gallery- special thanks to Stephanie's mum, who helped us out at very short notice! We spent the morning in the Art Skills room with Jo, creating some beautiful artwork inspired by the gallery's current special exhibition by Winifred Knights. Jo showed us some of Knights' detailed landscape paintings. We were interested to hear that Knights had grown up in Streatham and had attended JAGS- a school near ours!

We began by creating an ink wash, to build the background of our images. Using diluted ink, water and salt, we developed textured and interesting backgrounds. We dried the ink using paper towels and hair dryers, then looked at the abstract shapes that had been left on the paper. Like clouds in the sky, we were able to see pictures and shapes in the patterns on the paper.

Using a range of tools; pencils, dipping pens, skewers and thick twigs, we then used black ink to build on our pieces. We were challenged to create very detailed, intricate landscapes, using the shapes created by our background inkwash as starting points. It was tricky, but great fun, to develop a landscape made up of tiny details and pictures.

Here are some lovely pieces of art, during the process:

One World!

We have been so busy in St. Clare's in the last few weeks! It has been a very fun time- with lots of special activities. With our 'One World' theme at school, we have had many celebratory events- we enjoyed our 'Walk for Africa' in Dulwich Park, which has raised £2555 in sponsorship money so far for the children's home in Zambia that we support each year. If you haven't brought in your sponsorship money yet, please do so as soon as possible!

We also had a fabulous dance workshop. We learned some yoga and some Indian dance- along with lots of exciting stories! We sang most of the music ourselves, so learned some new words and sounds too.

Last Friday was a very exciting day for us- we saw our French penpals again! The children and teachers from St. Vaast arrived at 9:15am and once they had settled in, we all had a very British breakfast in the hall, with scones (with cream and jam!), fruit and juice.

After breakfast, we headed out to show our penpals our local area. We walked to Dulwich Park, through the park and then through the gardens of Dulwich Picture Gallery. Our penpals were excited to see the red London telephone box and were interested to hear how the design of its roof came about!

Source: dulwichonview

We visited the courtyard at Christ's Chapel of God's Gift and saw the war memorial and statue of Edward Alleyn.

Then we walked through Dulwich Village and showed them the post office, restaurants and bakery.

On returning to school we played some games in the playground, including a hotly-contested football match! The children from St. Vaast were very excited by our Action Station and Trim Trail.

After some playtime, we had a lovely British lunch of fish and chips. We helped our penpals to ask the kitchen staff for their lunch in English and say 'please' and 'thank you'. They did brilliantly!

After lunch, the weather had turned very British... it was pouring with rain! Our penpals joined us in our classrooms for wet play and enjoyed drawing pictures and playing board games with their English friends.

Next, we all went to the Small Hall, where our penpals presented us with some beautiful gifts that they had made us. At 2:30, we joined the whole school for a special 'One World' assembly. Every class performed or showed something they had made from the country they have been studying. We performed our Japanese Yosakoi dance and St. John's sang a beautiful Indian song.

To end the assembly, Year 5 from St. Anthony's and their penpals from St. Vaast all stood up together to sing a popular current French song which is raising money for UNICEF- 'On ecrit sur les murs'. It was a moving and wonderful performance and a lovely way to end our day together.

We will post some pictures from our day together next week.

Also, we would like to invite you all, with your parents, carers and families to a special presentation of photographs from our trip to France on Thursday 7th July at 8:30am in the hall.

For homework this week, you are writing your final letter to your French penpal. Remember to decorate it and make it look wonderful- this is your last chance to write to them this year, as they are near to their summer holidays now!

Our Visit to the Embassy!

Source: wikipedia

On Thursday, we had the honour of visiting the Embassy of Japan in London's Piccadilly.

We had a wonderful afternoon learning about Japan and meeting some of the members of staff from the Embassy.

Firstly, we looked at the manga exhibition on display at the Embassy, as we will be beginning our own manga projects soon.

Source: http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/event/manga/2014/manga_jiman_14.html

 

Then we were taken through to the spectacular ballroom, where we met Miss Soni. Miss Soni taught us lots of interesting facts about Japan.

After the presentation, we split into two groups. Each group took part in two activities: Japanese calligraphy and Yosakoi dance.

The calligraphy class was fascinating and we had to follow very strict rules. It was important to sit with the correct posture and hold the brush in the correct way. We learned a number of Japanese characters, including those for river, mountain and life.

Our teacher from the Embassy was very impressed by our efforts and said that we were the best behaved class they had had at the Embassy- well done, everyone!

The Yosakoi dance workshop was led by Miss Soni, who had performed in the Japanese national Yosakoi finals with her team in Japan.

We each wore a special 'happi' coat and held two 'naruko' (wooden clappers).

It was great fun to learn all of the moves and poses! It certainly helped us to learn our Japanese numbers, too!