We had an truly terrific World Book Day. The children came dressed in their pyjamas and ready to snuggle up with a book. In the morning Year Six were presented with 29 beautiful new books wrapped in brown paper with one a blurb to distinguish them by. They went to each table reading the description and noting down any books they liked the look of. Names were then picked out of a hat and each child had a chance to choose one of them. We then had a blissful half hour to read the openings of our newly discovered books: after which, the children wrote a mini review for their class mates. 

The "Which book am I?" game was a great chance for the children to use their detective skills to discover which book or character what stuck to their head using a post it note. 

After lunch, Year Six paired up with their reading buddies in Year 3. It was heart-warming to see them help support their peers and enjoy reading with them. This is something we are determined to do more of in the future. This class love nothing more than a competition so it would have been rude not to include a quiz as part of our World Book Day celebrations. The children split into teams and put their literary trivia knowledge to the test! We also had time to look at the books available to buy with the World Book Day vouchers to help us choose a new book. 

Orphans of the tide tableau

To prepare for writing our first drafts later this week, we created tableau of the crowd witnessing the whale on the rooftop. The children came up with a wide variety of responses to the scene and used these to decide on which character they wanted to write in role as and how they might have felt during this strange event. 

A letter from the House of Lords!

Year Six received some very exciting post from the House of Lords this week. A senior adviser had heard that we had been learning about how the suffragettes helped to create the democracy we live in and wrote to tell us more. The children were fascinated to see the real world implications of our classroom learning and it has inspired us to think about issues we might contact our MP about in future.

Orphans of the tide 

This term, Year 6 are reading Orphans of the tide by Struan Murray. The story starts when a whale is mysteriously washed up on a rooftop in the last city on earth with a boy inside. Ms Elsby-Arnold and Mrs Edgington thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns in this tale and can't wait to see what the children make of it. We will be writing our own narratives as though we were present at the opening of the story. 

Handball

Our latest PE unit has been handball. We have worked hard on strategising rather than "chasing the ball". This week we learnt some defensive strategies and thought about where it is most helpful for our players to be on the pitch. 

Retreat Day

We had a wonderful time on retreat last Thursday. It was a joy to spend time with Dan and Emily from Onelife Music reflecting on God's gift of creation. Our class focus was Mother Earth and we discussed all food, farmers and farming, the joy of mountains, beaches and walking through woodlands. It was lovely to hear about the places where the children most enjoy being in nature. We also reflected on our duty to care for the earth and how we can do this. 

"And David danced before the Lord with all his might"

Year Six used lifts, positioning and dynamics to improve their dancing. They particularly enjoyed creating their own Hakka style dances. 

"Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.”

Year 6 loved creating their own reggae music after learning about the history and origins of reggae.