This week we have been practising a poem to recite/read to other classes. Some of the students visited their brothers or sisters in other classes and recited /read the poem with the poster to show all the things the old woman ate. Here is the poem which is called "There was an old woman"

There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,

I don't know why she swallowed a fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,

How absurd! to swallow a bird,

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cat,

Imagine that! to swallow a cat,

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a dog,

What a hog! to swallow a dog,

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a goat,

Just opened her throat! to swallow a goat,

She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

















There was an old woman who swallowed a cow,

I don't know how she swallowed a cow!

She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,

She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a horse, 
She's dead, of course!

Discovering Shakespeare

Here are some posters we did in Art for a competition about Shakespeare. You might like to read some of his plays or watch them at the theatre.

6A

6B

6C

William Shakespeare died on 23rd April 1616. To honour this, UNESCO established 23 April as the International Day of the Book. Spain had adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582, but England was still using the Julian calendar. Shakespeare's death on 23 April 1616 (Julian) was equivalent to 3 May 1616 (Gregorian). This was 10 days after Miguel de Cervantes was buried and 11 days after he died.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Themes

Watch this video to understand more about the themes dealt with in 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Characters

Watch this video to understand more about the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: The Plot

Click on the picture to watch an amusing video about the plot of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'.

Valentines Day and William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, a special kind of poem, and lots of these were about love. One of these, sonnet 18, is often quoted on Valentine’s Day. Notice that the underlined words are no longer used in modern day English. 'Thee' and 'thou' both mean 'you'. 'Hath' is the same as 'has/have' and 'thy' means 'your'. 

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

by William Shakespeare, sonnet 18

Robert Louis Stevenson Biography

Here is a selection of the best biographies by my 6th year classes.....

Poems

If you want to learn a poem over the next few days then here are two short ones - you can choose the one you like best and recite it to me next week!

Bed in Summer
 by Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night  And dress by yellow candle-light.  In summer quite the other way,  I have to go to bed by day.  I have to go to bed and see  The birds still hopping on the tree,  Or hear the grown-up people's feet  Still going past me in the street.  And does it not seem hard to you,  When all the sky is clear and blue,  And I should like so much to play,  To have to go to bed by day?

From a Railway Carriage
 by Robert Louis Stevenson

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,  Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;  And charging along like troops in a battle  All through the meadows the horses and cattle:  All of the sights of the hill and the plain  Fly as thick as driving rain;  And ever again, in the wink of an eye,  Painted stations whistle by.  Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,  All by himself and gathering brambles;  Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;  And here is the green for stringing the daisies!  Here is a cart runaway in the road  Lumping along with man and load;  And here is a mill, and there is a river:  Each a glimpse and gone forever!

The Hound of the Baskervilles

This is a video of the story we're reading in my 5th year classes. In the holidays if you get bored you can watch it so that you understand the plot before we come back to school in January.

A Special Story

The other day Alba's Mum came to class to tell a special story. The children in 4A loved it and I've put some photos here so that you can see how amazing it was!

Gingerbread Man Minibooks

Here are some of the pages from one of the mini books we made about The Gingerbread Man story. All the 4th year children made one and I've selected the best to show you. Now they can read the story to their families!

There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly...

Here is the mural we did with the third years about the rhyme 'There was an old woman who swallowed a fly. Hope you like it and that you can remember all the rhyme because it's really long and it's easy to forget what comes next!

The Gingerbread Man

In the third and fourth year we read the traditional story about the Gingerbread Man. With the fourth years we designed this mural and a big-book so that students from other years can read the story if they haven't already. We also made mini-books where we copied the story inside so that we can read it to our families at home. I made some gingerbread men so that the children could try the spicy ginger flavour. Finally, we acted out a play with masks which the children really enjoyed!

Shakespeare's Sonnet (103)

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
 Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
 If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
 If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
 I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
 But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
 And in some perfumes is there more delight
 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
 That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
 I grant I never saw a goddess go;
 My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
 And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
 As any she belied with false compare.