Tuesday 25 November 2014

Drama: Beowulf and critiques


This morning we performed the Beowulf play scripts we had written and used a peer assessment sheet to critique the acting.








The most common criticisms were not speaking clearly and actors not moving as much as they could have done. We were all careful to be constructive in our criticisms though so as to help everyone to improve in a positive way.





Wednesday 19 November 2014

Wednesday 19th November 2014: Electrical circuits

This afternoon we had a look at electricity and used batteries and cables to light a bulb.


We talked about conductivity. Metal conducts electricity but plastic doesn't. The metal clips have to be attached to the metal on the battery pack to allow the electricity to pass through. We also talked about the positive and negative points on the battery. 



Mrs Andrew added a switch to the circuit to show how the light will go off if the circuit is broken and everyone had a go at adding one.



We looked at the science assessment sheet and ticked off what we have achieved.






Monday 17 November 2014

Monday November 17th 2014: Playscripts

Today we have been looking at playscripts. We had a look at 'Hey Diddle Diddle' and marked the different features of the text. 


Then we took different parts and acted out the play.







Later on this week we'll be writing our own scripts!



Friday 14 November 2014

Friday November 14th 2014: Alice in Wonderland

We started today designing our own superheroes!




Afterwards the whole school watched a performance of Alice in Wonderland.


Alice fell down the rabbit hole and she shrank....and then grew as tall as a giant.


She met a white rabbit...


and created a pool from her tears.
 


She met a mouse who challenged her to the caucus race...



Alice does a lot of crying! She went to the white rabbit's house... and grew.... again!

Once she had returned to her normal size she wandered along and met a caterpillar sitting on a mushroom.


Then she bumped into the Duchess.


She and the mad hatter had a tea party together. It's always tea time with him!




Someone was painting white roses to make them red...



... otherwise the Queen would chop off his head!


The mock turtle was very sad.


He showed Alice the Lobster Quadrille (which was a dance).

Alice went to court and the Queen had to decide whether she should lose her head.




Alice returned home but if she said she believed in magic she could return again.


What a great performance - we all really enjoyed it!

















Thursday 13 November 2014

Thursday November 13th 2014: Leaflets about West Stow

Today after all our tests we worked in pairs to write spidergrams about what we remembered from yesterday.






Wednesday 12 November 2014

Wednesday November 12th 2014: Walking in the footsteps of Anglo Saxons at West Stow

Today Class 3 visited The Anglo Saxon village at West Stow near Bury St Edmunds. This is a site of national importance. The Romans left Britain in 410AD and in 420AD the settlement at West Stow was established. The Anglo Saxons came from Denmark, Holland and Germany by boat and they used their boat building skills to make their houses using oak and other materials they found locally. The settlers at West Stow grew crops, raised animals and made clothes, pottery and knives.

The team at West Stow have used archaeological evidence and experimental archaeology to test out ideas to find out whether they would have worked for the Anglo Saxons. For example, it was thought that houses were built without walls or floors like the Sunken House at the village. However, once the Sunken House had been built the archaeologists realised that this was not a good way to build and that the houses probably had walls and wooden floors with a pit underneath like the other dwellings. The floor probably had a pit underneath to preserve the wood.

We also heard that stories like the one we have read about Beowulf were very important to the Anglo Saxons.

After we had learnt lots about the Anglo Saxons from the curator, Joe, we went to investigate the village.


We went to try our hand at weaving in the Weaving House...





We investigated the Sunken House. We didn't like the sandy floor and lack of windows and thought that animals and rats might get inside and cause problems. Nearby we saw the forge where steel was made.


Here is the Great Hall where stories would have been told...



We acted out the story of Beowulf while we were there.


This house had a fire in it to preserve the thatch. We noticed that none of the houses had chimneys and there were very few windows. There were latches on the doors with a very unusual key that fitted all the locks in the village! Joe showed us how the Anglo Saxons would have started a fire using flints and a steel.



We had a look at the pigs and their sty.






Once we had looked around the village we had lunch.


Then we went into the museum and had a look at the artifacts and tried on some clothes. They were a bit itchy!







We also tried on a helmet like the one found at Sutton Hoo!


Afterwards we told everyone about our favourite thing at West Stow. The most popular experience was going into the smoky house with the real fire!


We all had a great day and enjoyed the fantastic weather- thanks to Mrs Ferro and Mrs Molden for helping us out.