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!

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...!

Wonderful WW1 Work!

We have been working so hard in St. Clare's this half term to become experts on World War One. Here are just a few examples of some of the amazing work that has been produced in the last few weeks. Well done everyone!

These propaganda posters are inspired by the sinking of the Lusitania on 7th May 1915. Once we had learned about the Lusitania, we looked at some real propaganda posters inspired by the disaster, then created some of our own.

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:

World War One

Take a look at some of the beautiful artwork on these front covers. I can see that a huge amount of effort went into creating these fantastic covers- which will make anyone that picks up your project excited to read on!

In this week of Remembrance, we have been working hard learning more about The Great War. Yesterday, we looked in detail at Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. We analysed the techniques he used and then illustrated some of the lines to show what we understood them to mean.

Today, inspired by Wilfred Owen, we wrote a beautiful poem of remembrance as a class:

Your War, Our Fight

We were the living, we are the dead,

Below the crosses our bodies lie,

Upon the blood-red poppies, dropped shells from above,

In our dreams, they still reach for us.

Watching our brothers die, we struggled on,

Drowning for your freedom,

We thought we would be heroes and yet we perished,

Now we lie beneath the mud, on which we fought your war.

We loved, but love no more,

Families weep receiving tragic telegrams,

Those who loved us; love us more.

The poppies grow above our hearts, which hold the Lie they told us,

Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.

By, St. Clare’s Class

Thursday 10^th November 2016