Friday 18 March 2016

Powerful Poetry!

This week, St. Agnes Class showed off their poetic skills to create this marvellous poem! Inspired by reading 'The BFG', they worked together with Mrs Parrott and Ms Bibbon to write a spectacular poem:

The children offered ideas for lines for the poem and we wrote them on strips of paper. We made sure that we included some similes, alliteration, interesting adjectives and powerful verbs. Then, we made a ladder with the strips of paper and moved them around until we felt that it was in the correct order. Next, we went through the editing process, changing a few words to improve the rhythm of the poem and adding punctuation where necessary. Our final job was to come up with the perfect title for the poem. 

Here is our wonderful (if a little gruesome!) final poem- we are very proud of it!

Nether Nightmare

I was having a gruesome nightmare,
Scary snakes slithering slowly,
Crocodiles munching like scarab beetles crunching.

Creepers exploding as they drag you through the screaming portal,
Revolting vampires gobbling people's disgusting brains,
Fire-shooting ghosts floating like hot air balloons through Nether.

Will I ever wake up?

By St. Agnes' Class


Can you spot any similes the children have used? Can you see any alliteration? 

Here are some excellent examples of poems that children in St. Agnes wrote on their own after our shared poem:



In Year 5 this week, we have also been writing poetry. We spent some time analysing William Blake's 'The Tyger'.
Source: nassrgrads

The children were able to identify some complex ideas demonstrated in the poem- they discussed Blake's use of metaphors and the connotations of the words he used and why he might have chosen particular combinations. We looked at the rhyme scheme, which led to some impressive linguistic detective work- we realised that the pronunciation of some words in English must have changed since 1794, when the poem was written.

Inspired by Blake, we wrote our own poem about a dangerous animal- the wolf:


Wolf, Wolf, Stalking Death
(After William Blake)

Are you sure you are as frightening as a yeti?

Wicked wolf, eyes piercing through the dark like fireflies illuminating the void,
Its bold grey-coated fur shining in the obscured moonlight,
Creeping silently, covered in pearl white snow, invisible to others,
The blood-thirsty phantom looming through the night forest,
Ravenous beast stalking his fated prey.

The powerful hound dancing with the wind,
Panting with mighty breath, as warm as the logs on the burning fire.

Death-defying animal from the wild, rapidly dashing through the haunted dark forest,
Rattling the sound barrier with its desperate howl,
Its hopeless prey crying out, like a baby without its mum, to its pack,
The blood-curdling beast cloaks its prey,
As fierce as a hyena, the wolf takes a pounce and grabs on with his claws.

Are you as deadly as a Widow Spider? 

By St. Clare's Class

This Week's Top Writers!

This week has been filled with exciting events- we had a Science Day with a fun helicopter competition, the Middle School Easter Play, lots of trips, a visit from Ten Ten theatre company and Year 5's Fairtrade Snack Sale. We've all been very busy!

Here are some of the best pieces of writing, spotted by our Talent Finders this week:

Early Years:
 By Ismael

 By Joel, Aceline, Michael and Adriano

 Nursery

Reception

Key Stage One:

Our Writer of the Week... a huge improvement from Liam- what wonderful writing!
 By Liam, St. Francis (Year 1)

 By Cahal, Year 1

 St. Agnes (Year 2)

 St. Agnes (Year 2)

Annie, St. Agnes (Year 2)

Lower Key Stage Two:

 Janus, Year 4

Dominic, Year 3

Upper Key Stage Two:

Abel, St. Paul's (Year 6)

St. Clare's Class (Year 5)

Saturday 12 March 2016

This Week's Superstar Writers!

It has been a week packed full of fabulous writing at St. Anthony's!

Firstly, the Digital Writing Leaders would like to say a huge congratulations to Noah B. in St. Joseph's. Noah worked hard at home to create this wonderful piece of writing- we were blown away by how marvellous it is! What a superstar!

Noah B. in Reception

Early Years:

 Jaida, Nursery


Wealthy, Nursery

Key Stage One:
 Sofia, Year One

Lower Key Stage Two:
 Millie, Year Four

Year Four

Upper Key Stage Two:
 Bella, Year Five

 Isaac, Year Five

 Our 'Writer of the Week': Lily-Rose, Year Five! Well done Lily!

 Year Six

 Ellis, Year Six

Aisling, Year Six

Tuesday 8 March 2016

SCHOOL STORY: Miniature Max's Massive Mars Mission

Source: dribble.com

Year 6
Upon a high peak of a mountain stood an elf.  All alone.  You know, it is very lonely on top of a mountain, but the elf was used to that.  This was something he wanted to change.  He had always wanted to go to space, so he could look down on Earth and see who else was there.  In his dreams he dreamt of faraway galaxies and the hope of being surrounded by others and perhaps even finding a friend.  At that very moment he knew he had to turn his dreams into reality. 

As the day went on, the elf travelled further and further away from his mountain home in search of a way to get to space.  A sense of fear crept over him as he wandered further into the unknown…


Year 2
Max (the elf) was strolling along the dirty, wet, cobbled lane because he was trying to find an expert spaceman who would provide him with a rocket. Suddenly, as quick as a flash Jane the astronaut appeared out of nowhere.
Max was totally surprised.
 “Who are you?” he said, scared to ask the question.
Jane confidently replied,  “Have you not seen my brilliant spaceship, which can fly by itself?”
What will the future hold?.........

Nursery
Max couldn’t believe that he had finally found someone with a space ship.
“Can you take me to the moon?” he said
 Jane replied, “Of course I can, I’m an astronaut! Come and see my spaceship.”
 As they walked along the cobbled lane, they came closer and closer to the space ship.  Max cautiously pressed the button to open the spaceship door. Inside he found a white helmet, a drinking flask and white gloves ….

 Source: behance.net

Year 5
As he climbed carefully onto the gleaming silver polished floor of the spaceship, he grabbed the gloves frantically. However, Max instantly realised that the gloves were enormous, because he was just a miniscule elf! But that had never stopped him doing anything! As he pushed his tiny arm into the silky pearl white glove, something cold and furry dragged him head-first into its depths. 
Struggling and trembling, Max screamed for help. But no one could hear him because the spaceship had jerked into life. He could smell the burning grass below him and his teeth chattered as the ship vibrated around him. The deafening sounds became louder and louder until KABOOM! The ship launched into space and Max was violently thrown from his glove prison, landing with a splash in Jane’s drinking flask. 
Behind him, the furry creature was also thrown from the glove and clung to the rim of the flask…

Reception
Meanwhile, Jane was desperately trying to steer the spaceship back to her home planet of Jupiter. She wondered what had happened to Max. As she reached for the controls of the spaceship, she heard a strange bubbling sound coming out of her water flask. She looked inside and saw a tiny figure sinking deeper and deeper into the flask. It was Max! Jane reached her hand in to try and pull him out, but felt a sudden pain in her arm as the furry creature dug his claws into her skin.

Year 1
At this moment, as the creature dug its claws in deeper and deeper, Jane couldn’t reach the controls of the spaceship! The spaceship went out of control. It began vibrating violently and was spiraling towards Mars. Suddenly, the red button of the spaceship began to flash and beep. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Jane breathlessly called out to Max, “Help, the creature is attacking me!”
SMASH!
…the red dust of the planet started to sprinkle back to the uneven ground. All you could see was broken parts of the spaceship everywhere. Damaged aircraft pieces were spread all over the place and covered in red space dust.


Source: bestanimations
Nursery
The hairy creature tried to gobble Jane up!
“Go away or you will go straight to jail!” screamed Jane
Meanwhile Max was still trapped, when he heard Jane’s scream. Cold and wet, he saw a glimmer of light. It was a tiny hole in the flask….

Year 3
Max frantically swam towards the dark, black, narrow hole thinking he could get through it.  Suddenly his lungs started to burn as he was rapidly running out of air.  Without hesitation he desparately dug his miniature fingers into  the damp rubber of the rusty flask.  Suddenly something grabbed him.  It was Jane! 
“Quick Max! Use this magical wand” screamed Jane determinedly.
Max zapped the monster with his wand and watched amazed as the monster disintegrated instantly in a puff of smoke.
They were safe.


Wonderful Writing!

As well as the exciting Giant Egg writing this week, many children produced some other excellent pieces of work. Here are just a few wonderful examples:

Our WRITER OF THE WEEK, Rhiannon, wrote this marvellous story at home:




Some fantastic BFG-inspired writing from Year 2:



Year 5's excellent work, beginning sentences with subordinate clauses:

 Kenan

 Emily

 Rory

 Elizabeth

 Jack G

Gracie

Maria