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Category Archives: Year 6
Memories of Coventry Blitz by Mongoose29
It was a very calm night. I could see the full moon out of the window. The children were in bed and I was playing cards with my co-workers. Half the time, we were called out to cities like London because we had to make sure no-one got hurt when the Germans were bombing. All of a sudden, the deafening sound of the air raid siren echoed around the city…
My friends rushed to their houses to put on their uniforms and I dashed upstairs. As quickly as possible, I put on my navy warden uniform and went to wake the children up. When they were safely in the shelter, I directed lots of people to there too. Then I saw a small German plane lit up in the spotlight…
The planes were dropping things but not bombs; they were dropping flares. They were lighting the city up. We all were crowded together in the small shelter. I felt like a mole under the ground with humans stomping above us and all you could smell was death and smoke. We all just sat there hoping the next bomb you heard didn’t come through the roof; luckily, none did. The whole entire city was in flames so the next wave of German bombers could see exactly where to go. The worst part about it was we were standing in water — some of it from people’s tears but most of it from the burst copper pipes. It was so hard to see; the only light was coming from my small lamp. Lots of people were bumping into each other and falling into the thick layer of water.
Happy to be alive, we all left the shelter. The first sounds I heard were crying and gasping: the whole city was falling apart. Dust covered everything and there was no colour; the water was flowing down the roads and the ancient cathedral was destroyed. Even the parts that still stood were boiling hot…
Posted in News, pupils, Topic (History and Geography), Year 6
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Memories of Moonlight Sonata by Marmoset29
The cold winter’s evening of the 14th November 1940 is one one would never forget. It was a full moon that night and, for a change, the sky was clear — there was no mist for miles around. If it hadn’t been for the bombing, it would have been a perfect night.
When our clock read 18:00, we could make out the gentle hum of the diesel-powered planes coming from the east. In reality, it was actually 19:00 but we had never got round to putting our clock forward and it looked like we never would. Anyway, I was in my fire-warden uniform, ready for any flares. Well, I was physically ready but inside I felt as timid as a new-born rabbit.
Minutes later, I was out there, on the streets I knew and loved. As a child, I had drawn, with chalk, all over them and once I had even scratched lopsided pictures into the pavement, some of which were still visible. Near tears, I reached for a hose — I would do everything in my power to prevent my home from obliterating into pieces…
Posted in pupils, Topic (History and Geography), Year 6
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Moonlight Sonata, 14th November 1940
Today, 77 years on, we remembered the night of the Coventry Blitz on 14th November 1940, ‘Moonlight Sonata’. We thought about what happened and had previously watched some interviews with people who were in Coventry on that night. We then wrote memories of the bombing today. We will be finishing these tomorrow, but it seems fitting to post a couple of very sensitive pieces of writing today in remembrance of that night.
Posted in pupils, Topic (History and Geography), Year 6
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Cartoon kid STRIKES BACK!!!! by Jeremy Strong
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Year 6
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Blue Planet II
Has anyone been watching any of the new Blue Planet II series? I’ve only caught one so far but it was amazing. Fish seem to be a lot more intelligent than we thought.. Some of the things they do are fascinating.
Apart from hearing more from the inspiring David Attenborough, this show also gives an incredible insight into sea-life of all kinds and reveals how they have adapted to their environments. It also, sadly, shows the effect that humans have had on the oceans and why we need to take global warming and water pollution seriously.
Posted in pupils, Science, Year 6
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What’s so good about Harry Potter?
Lucy M. Boston’s House at Green Knowe
If you do get interested in Lucy Boston’s stories (see previous post) and want to see if you can experience the magic yourself, you can still visit her house and feel like you are actually part of the stories. The 900-year-old house is just outside Cambridge in Hemingford Grey. The gardens are open every day and the house can be visited by making an appointment online.
Click on the picture of the house above to follow the link to the House at Green Knowe website.
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, Literacy, pupils, Year 6
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Lucy M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe
Although it doesn’t really feel like it, this is now quite an old story (originally published in 1954). If you like history, adventure and mystery and don’t mind a bit of a challenge, you might enjoy this book. You may not fully understand what is happening all the time but, even though they are mysterious, the stories seem like they could really have happened and you gradually find yourself more and more involved with the characters.
Toseland has an unusual childhood (as well as an unusual name!) and seems to be rather lonely: his mother is dead and his father and stepmother are abroad in Burma. He normally spends his holidays from boarding school with his head mistress (Miss Spudd!) and her aged father which is not a lot of fun. This holiday, he is rather excited because he is going to stay with his great-grandmother who, oddly, he has never met. When he arrives, he discovers her house is surrounded by flood-water and he has to be ferried there in a rowing boat by the elderly, but jolly, Mr Boggis (whose family seems to have been involved with the Oldknow family for hundreds of years). Mr Boggis suggests Great-Grandmother Oldknow will be very happy to meet him. He finally arrives to discover a strange old house with winding staircases, mirrors and ancient intriguing objects everywhere. Toseland, a highly imaginative boy, feels like he has arrived in a magical castle.
Great-Grandmother (Granny), who is very welcoming, encourages Tolly to explore the house and gardens as freely as he likes. She names him Tolly —a nickname adopted by all previous Toselands in his family— but, even so, she is always making mistakes with his name and thinking he is Toby. Mysteriously, Granny suggests that other children do sometimes visit the house so he may not be alone for long…
Soon after Tolly’s arrival, he is shown a large oil painting of his ancestors from the 17th century (three children and their mother and grandmother) which fascinates him. He discovers that the three children were called Toby, Alexander and Linnet. He notices that many of their belongings are still in the house and, because he is so observant, he even rediscovers some that have been lost for many years. Tolly loves hearing his granny’s stories about the house and, as the stories develop, he becomes more and more fascinated by his family’s past and even begins to imagine that the children in the painting could be his ‘brothers and sisters’…
This book was made into a popular TV series in the 1980s and can still be found on DVD. It also developed into a series of books which have been widely enjoyed. Lucy Boston was awarded a Carnegie medal for one of them: A Stranger at Green Knowe. The original books were also illustrated by her son, Peter, with intricate black and white drawings. They have more recently been republished in more modern designs and the first book (this one) and the second The River at Green Knowe can now be read in one volume.
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Year 6
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