Performance poetry and Stomp!

Our literacy topic at the moment is performance poetry. Last week we read and performed a poem called 'Fruit picking.' We worked in groups to establish a steady beat using percussion instruments to help, then we each performed a verse of the poem.

We also enjoyed taking part in the Stomp! workshop. A teacher from the music service came in and taught us all about rhythm and pace in music. We worked as a whole class, using unusual instruments such as trays, bins, tins and lids to create pieces of music.

Multicultural day!

Last week the whole school was involved in a multicultural day. Many different cultures were looked at across the school and in Beech class we learnt about Native Americans.

It was great fun! First we were all put into tribes where we came up with a name and a symbol to represent our group. We learnt about the symbolism of colours and pictures and then used these to design and make a head dress and paint each others faces. It was easy to see who belonged to each tribe!

Later we found out all about 'Gods eyes,' which the Native American people used to make as a symbol of good luck. We all had a go at making one of these. We also listened to some stories and enjoyed reading Brother Eagle, Sister Sky.

The Night Mail

We have been rapping today!
 We used the poem 'The Night Mail' by W H Auden to rehearse and recite the poem.
 We worked really hard to keep to the rhythm and beat.
 Mrs Prior banged the drum to help us. We all did a fantastic job.

 Do you know this poem?

STICKABILITY!

This term we are thinking about STICKABILITY.
When things get tough, we must not give up. They are the times when we should try extra hard and not let things beat us.

Maddi has been working on stickability recently and she wrote a letter to our class...

Dear Beech,
Stickability is important. I have a story about it (this is real by the way).
Everybody knows I cant swim. At school when we go swimming, I'm in the 'almost swimming' part of it but I didn't give up because I go swimming every Saturday. So once when I went I was quite confident. My dad and I had a lot of fun so when I was in the shallow en and my dad was having a shower, I swam to the deep end. It was deep alright!
My dad was happy and cross. He was happy because I didn't stop but he was angry because he couldn't see me. 
So now I can swim. Stickability pays off. 
From Maddi x

Roman Day

We had a great time yesterday during our Roman Day! We all dressed up in Roman clothes - some of us were soldiers, others were Roman goddesses and everyone looked fantastic! We began our day by carefully colouring in some Roman mosaics, then we finished our shields before going outside and getting into the Tortoise formation when we heard the command 'Testudo!" Later, we looked at some examples of Roman mosaics and designed our own. We all enjoyed marching outside wearing our helmets and shields, and having a 'battle' with Oak and Poplar classes. Next was the wax tablets. We melted wax and filled our frames with it on Monday so that they could set. Then we used our tablets to write our name and age using the Latin alphabet and Roman numerals. After lunch it was time to gather in the hall with Oak and Poplar classes to enjoy a Roman banquet! We tried many different types of food such as olives, dates, pitta bread, cheeses, raisins, celery and flamingo tongues (ham!!) We all had a great time travelling back to Roman times.

Our Roman Day

Celebrate and share day - maths

Last Wednesday we had lots of fun playing many different maths games together. We played games with cards, dice, route tiles, board games and some that were online. In the afternoon our parents were invited in to our class so that we could share our games with them and show them how we learn in maths. We hope the adults had just as much fun as we did!