Author Archives: KW
Wire and plaster sculptures
The swimmer
Following our work on Henry Moore, we experimented with wire and plaster to create sculptures of people in a range of positions. Most of us chose to work on sports sculptures. We worked hard to think about body shapes and about how to make the sculpture balance and stand up.
The overhead strike.
Running for the try line.
The skater.
Converting the try.
Spitfire poems
Here are just a small selection of our poems written following topic work finding out about spitfire pilots.
Spitfire
Flying, Flying
Flying so high
The wings painting the clouds
When you get shot
it looks like an eagle
Falling
When the rain hits
I now know
It’s my last words.
JD
Spitfire flying
Flying high,
slicing the air with the tips of the wings.
As dusk rises,
the spitfire rises too.
Shocked and worried,
as no enemy is in sight,
the plane soars higher
to get a better view
But even higher,
The Meschermitt waits.
And waits.
And waits…
WS
Spitfire Battle
Propellers rotating with speed
Rolling to the other end
Wheels turning frantically
Then they’re up from the ground
And never to touch down again
Lifting up over the clouds,
Proceeding to the enemy,
Houses down below,
Take your last look now
As they’ll not be there tomorrow.
Then the enemy is spotted,
Deadly cargo dropped,
With bullets raining out,
Smoke trails in the air,
And an explosion that is seen every day.
JM
Some poems inspired by Coventry Blitz
As part of our topic work on the Second World War we have been writing poetry. Some of us chose to write about the Coventry Blitz in memory of the 75th anniversary of Moonlight Sonata. We tried to imagine how people might have felt during the shocking night of November 14th 1940.
Coventry Blitz
Just another day,
Everyone happy,
Working, playing,
Getting on with their ordinary lives in the city
Settling down for bed; wardens walking calmly down the street.
BANG!
Everyone confused; we are not a target.
BANG!
Then it became a reality.
This was real.
Air sirens, screaming, shouting,
Planes up high, flying all around,
Bombs, grenades, every kind of weapon,
Enemies watching over us.
Now we remember what they did for us,
To be alive today, they ended the terrible ongoing war.
We must now remember them for what they did for us.
Thank you
Thank you.
MC
Red Sky at night, Germans’ time to fly
Germans are coming,
Brits get ready.
They’re kitted up,
But they’re going down.
Germans drop lives,
Brits save lives,
Six days gone.
Cathedral long gone.
Germans wrecked our hope,
Brits stay positive,
Trying not to give up.
Churchill, help us!
JL
Our amazing light photography
We had a lot of fun tonight experimenting with light and dark to create light paintings. With a slow shutter speed (between 15 and 25 seconds) on the camera in a dark classroom, we painted pictures with glowsticks and torches. We gradually learned that the slower we moved the clearer the image. Well done everyone who had a go tonight! Hope you like seeing some examples of your work.
Primary Maths Challenge
If you are thinking about having a go at the Primary Maths Challenge, you may want to try out some of the questions and past papers on their site. They have an online paper you can try and some papers you can download. Even if you don’t fancy a go at the challenge, this is a good site to try out some ‘flexible maths thinking’ and enjoy some fun maths! Why not have a go?
Homework 6th November, 2015
Apart from the spelling homework this week, we are also practising our number facts (see target sent home). We are also all going to produce a design for our new school motto, Let your light shine. It would be great to see a range of designs using any artistic technique you like, including a computer if you want to use it.
Homework – Spelling
We are focusing this week on learning some key spellings of ‘wow’ words we might want to use in our writing about Coventry Blitz. We have found out some interesting things about where words come from.
The Parthenon is an ancient Greek temple.
We learned about the French origins of ancient (ancient) and that it is also linked originally to the Latin word meaning before (ante). Can you think of other words that use the prefix anti which is also linked to this word?
Conscience is another interesting word linked to 
science (the search for knowledge)! The con prefix means with and the second part of the word is from scion (knowledge). So, if you have a conscience, you do know (have understanding) of something (e.g. My conscience told me not to drop litter…). Conscious too means you are aware (you know what is happening) (e.g. I was conscious that I had dropped egg down my jumper but hoped nobody would notice!). If you are unconscious, you don’t know what is happening!
Desperate is also from a Latin word meaning out of hope (e.g. Bill clung desperately to the wreckage of his boat as the waves crashed about him). We talked about you can desperately want something to happen but maybe this is used in this way because you don’t think it is really that likely but really want it to happen! (e.g. I was desperate to see Coventry win the FA cup!)
We are also getting more confident at spelling -ous words and this week will be practising words like disastrous (from disaster), marvellous (from marvel, linked to another French word for wonder), mischievous , etc…
See what you can find out about the words below that we will investigate next week. Where do you think they come from (e.g. other words, maybe other languages, etc.)?
government secretary
recommend correspond
Can you also make sure you are really confident about when to use:
Where/were/wear
their/there/they’re
Spitfire Pilots
We had a great visit from Mrs Clayton who helped us to find out lots about what it was like to be a young child in the war and about spitfire pilots. We were lucky enough to see some real silk maps and her father’s machete and log book from when he was a pilot. We also found out that he flew one of the planes that took Douglas Bader’s spare legs to Germany when he was a prisoner of war!
We really enjoyed her stories about hiding in the cupboard under the stairs too when there was an air raid and how she was frightened when she saw light reflecting from mice eyes! We also liked hearing about how her dad flew his plane over their street and tipped his wings and their neighbours used to complain about him showing off!
Ordering fractions
We have been doing some good learning this week ordering fractions. One of the games we enjoyed was the laundry line game. If you want to have a go at it, you can play by clicking on the picture. When you get to the higher game levels, you will need to think about how to use equivalent fractions (by finding common denominators) to compare fractions. Have fun!