Otley All Saints CE Primary School Blog

As part of her Learning Log work on Tudors, Erin wrote a script for King Henry VIII and then we brought hime to life!

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Recently, my Mum sent me a short video all about a penguin who wanted to fly. In year 4, We loved this video so much that we decided to write about it. I gave the children the difficult job of trying to draw a picture of the setting using words. They all did this brilliantly. Here are two which deserve a special mention:

Andrew wrote:

In the icy lands of Antarctica stood penguins in groups, squeaking and squawking. There were also some seagulls. The snow covered mountains stared at the black and white penguins. The winds blew across their delicate fur. As the penguins walk, the snow crunches like someone is eating coco pops.

An alone penguin stared endlessly at the boasting seaguls with his water-filled eyes…

 And Miriam wrote:

In the snow-covered wasteland, the cold clouds stretched across the freezing Antarctica. The snow capped jagged mountains towered through the clouds. The huge noise of the seagulls pierced the silence. The floating ice bergs looked so glamorous in their bed of water. The obnoxious waves lapped loudly as they crashed against the rocks.

One day, a young penguin was all alone. he looked at the inquisitive joyous seaguls, piercing the air.

What I really like about these pieces of writing is the way both children have tried to stretch their vocabulary and skills to the limit, constantly looking for better words to use.

Well done to everyone in Year 4 for making 5 fantastic penguin books and for reading them so nicely to the younger children in Reception and Key Stage 1.

Here is one of our finished books. Don’t they look professional?

Today in Year 4, we went outside in the snow to try and build a snowman. We were to be disappointed however, as we soon realised that this was entirely the wrong snow for snowmen – as it has been so cold over the last week or so, the snow has all turned into a dry powder and isn’t ’sticky’ enough to hold together.

So we had to think laterally (or rather horizontally!) and make a sunbathing snowman instead. Here he is:

We then went back inside and had a look at some pages from the book (and some clips of the film) The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.

We were thinking about what it would be like to build a magical snowman. Here is what Joseph wrote about building his snowman:

Proudly, I stood back and admired my piece of art. It was beautiful, it was amazing, it was the best snowman ever! Everything about it was great. From its coal eyes to its large tree trunk legs. Its big stone smile made me feel warm inside.

Later he continued:

That night I couldn’t get to sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about my wonderful snowman. Every time I was just drifting, his big coal eyes would flutter into my mind like birds.

I loved this piece of writing by Jospeh and I hope you have enjoyed reading it too.

In honour of the beautiful snowy day we have had in Otley, our day has had a snow theme today.  We created snow and sun diamond poems and then this afternoon we created some snowflakes of our own using this website.

Here is Scarlet’s poem:

And here is our snow shower:

We hope you like them!

Here are some other links to snowflake generators:

http://www.zefrank.com/snowflake/

http://www.myoats.com/create.aspx

http://www.flurrious.com/

Well, the explorers had a surprise for Year 2 on Friday morning. Their spaceship had returned the previous night and not surprisingly they decided to pack up and leave quickly. In their haste two books, which have been intriguing Year 2, were left behind.

Year 2 took on the challenge of writing either a story of the planet long ago or a diary page to record what has happened this week.
Here are just a few extracts of the writing.

Willow
Millions and millions of years ago there were books buried under the ground. Noone knew what was inside them.
Her story finished:-
From that day on they heard a squawk sometimes.

William
On the unknown planet 1000 years ago people used to go up the twisted dragon’s tail to get some gold.

Harry H
One sunny morning a hundred years ago there was a bird that lived in a nest with seven chicks in a rock cave. There was gold underneath.

Charlotte R
When I got into school I saw a strange letter. I picked it up then I read it.

Rhys
On Monday morning we came to school. When we came into the classroom I saw a strange thing. It was on the Smartboard. It was a good picture but when I saw it I was a bit scared. But I had my friend to keep me company.

Rifka
On Monday morning we came to school and we found a letter on the table. So we read it. It was from two explorers called Tilly and Tom. They gave us a picture of where they were. It was a strange place and we found a really peculiar plant. But just then we noticed some gold on the wall. I thought it was real gold. On the next day Tilly and Tom had sent us another letter.
So we went on the trip again. This time we found some gardeners. They told us about some other really peculiar plants. But on Friday Tilly and Tom sent us a CD. We had to find two books. One with an old leaf on and one which was a diary.

Lottie
It was a cold day and I hung my coat up and I saw a letter on the table. It was from some people called Tilly and Tom. They had a spaceship. They fell asleep and when they woke up their spaceship was nowhere to be seen. When we looked on the Smartboard we saw a curly thing that was a long way up. Then we saw a bird that was strange. It had a little baaby and the mummy bird was giving the baby some purply blue food.

Charlotte J
It was a rainy day when I came to school on Monday and we didn’t expect to play out but we did. After we played out we found this unusual piece of paper. The teacher put the computer on and it came on as a funny planet. We climbed this strange plant. We went a bit further and found a creeping bird. After that we went back down the plant. We found some gardeners. They spoke a different language but Mrs Mayo had a thing in her pocket (to translate) so that was ok. We went a bit further along the path. It was bumpy. We found three scientists. They told us about a plant that was called the ice-skating plant. They also told us about the snow plant. We rushed back and to to school in time for assembly.

Lily
It was a normal wet Monday and I had just hung my coat up on the peg when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a letter. At first I just thought it was a piece of scrap paper but the more I glanced at it I knew it was a proper letter and that’s when the adventure really began. When I had read the letter I knew it was from two explorers called Tilly and Tom. Before I could read any more I knew I was on a mysterious planet. The first thing I saw was a curly wurly plant and I though it was a funny helter skelter with no sides. When I saw the helterskelter-like plant I went up it straightaway. On the way up I just caught a glimpse of some gold shining out. Just as I stepped on the helterskelter-like plant it really shook.

Everyone in Year 2 wants to see if we can join Tilly and Tom, the explorers on another adventure. So fingers crossed….

 

A very bad day.

A recount as told by several members of Year 4

In the beginning, the annoying buzz of my alarm clock pierced the morning air. I was late! I had no idea that this day would go from bad to worse!

Several minutes later, I put my bread into the toaster and slurped my coffee down as quick as possible. When the toast was ready, I scoffed it down and looked out of the window.I saw the sparkling droplets dance down my window and onto the floor. If this was anything like I thought it was going to be, today would be a day I couldn’t handle.

I realised the weather was horrendous, but I knew I had to get to work.Eventually I was in town. Suddenly, a gigantic gust of wind started. I quickly put up my black umbrella but it was so windy that it turned inside-out. As loud as I could, I shouted for a taxi. A few minutes later, a taxi arrived and picked me up. I gladly rushed into the taxi and set off to work.

In the middle of my journey, I had to get out because a big flood came. Now I had to walk which was worse. It was a big flood and there was a long way to go!While I was walking, the water kept getting deeper and deeper and I was getting wetter and wetter!

Eventually, I got to work. I was so relieved! Just at that moment, I noticed a ‘closed’ sign on the door, so then I had to return all the way home again. The minute I got home, I collapsed straight onto my bed and hoped I would never have another day like this in my life!

Sometimes in the mornings, I ask the children to write about odd little things, just to get our writing flowing. One morning this week I aksed them to write about ‘the world’s first hiccough (hiccup!)

I was eating my tea and I felt a rumble in my tummy. It seemed like it was a volcano’s lava filling up nside me. I ate my last doughnut. A gas taste was now in my mouth. It came, the thing, I don’t know what it was but it was weird! It sounded like this ‘hiccup’! Everyone laughed – even me!

Erin

And at that moment, I felt a bit strange because gas was building up in my body and something was going to explode. unexpectedly, a weird sort of noise came out of my mouth, like ‘hiccup’! I was like a volcano exploding. What was it?

Anonymous!

The world’s first hiccough sounded like the most quiet burp in history. People around me stared as if I was a maniac! It was an unexpected sound coming from deep within me. I never knew I could make such a phenomenal sound! “Help!” I thought. Nobody in the whole wide world had experienced this…

Scarlet

Could you describe the world’s first hiccough?! Leave one in the comments and I’ll give/send you a sticker!

Today, in response to a request from the explorers, Year 2 climbed up to find out about living things at the top of the plant. Once up there they found a most unusual bird with a chick in its nest and yet another amazing plant.

Fortunately three scientists (Rifka, Alex C and Lily) could help with information about the bird, so Year 2 could produce a fact sheet for the explorers. Have a look what they wrote.

Lottie
There is grass around the nest to keep the chicks comfortable. There are lots of eggs in the nest with baby birds in.

Mya noticed
greeny, blue wings; sharp claws to grab things; flaps its wings to fly; the bird is getting worms for the chicks to eat

Noel wrote
The bird looks like a kind of black seagull eagle bird. The nest looks like it is made out of curly sticks or other birds’ big claws. The chick looks only two or three weeks old. Every time the mother or father bird gets some food they both blink when they give it to the chick. The nest is in a strange kind of mountain.

Willow noticed
curved beak to tear its food: feathers that are dark red for the chicks to see them: tallons for picking up food

Christopher C wrote
The bird looks like a parrot with sharp teeth. The bird has got four more eggs and they need to hatch. The nest is on top of a rock. The eggs are oval shaped.

Rifka presented her work this way:

We left a message asking the explorers about some books or maps we had spotted. I wonder what they are.

Year 2 have received another communication from the explorers stranded on the unknown planet, advising them to speak to two gardeners who live there. The two gardeners (Noel and Ellie) were very informative and revealed more about the strange plant-life – ice plants and ice-skater plants amongst others. Surprisingly they also told of gold found when they were digging in the gardens and more worryingly about people trying to steal the plants.
So Year 2 thought very hard about whether they should carry on their mission and wrote to the explorers to tell them what they had decided.

Alex C wrote
I feel excited. I want to find out what that twirly thing is. I know that some people want to go home because they might get attacked. But I will stay with you. Good luck.

Christopher C wrote
I feel a bit scared because the gardeners said if they see people too near the flowers they would arrest them. I am going home but other people want to stay because they want to do more exploring. Sorry I can’t stay. My mum and dad don’t want to lose me.

Joshua wrote
I feel excited because the gardeners told me about the gold. When we were moving closer to the gold I saw a bit of the sea. The edge looked steep. When you go closer there are little stones falling down into the sea.

Daniel wrote
I feel excited. I want to stay on the planet because I want to meet more people. I’m going to find the ice-skater plant that the gardeners told me about. I want to find out what the gold is because it’s cool.

Lottie wrote
I feel nervous. I want to stay because I want to get some of the gold because I want to make jewellery with it. Other people don’t want to stay because they are scared if they would be pushed in the water…. Hope you get out soon.

Alex B wrote
I feel brave because I like the curly wurly plant with spikes. I want to carry on this mission because you need to explore! The two gardeners said there are ice-skater plants and lots of other weird plants. I will not give up! Where are you? I am looking forward to seeing you. Yours sincerely

Alfie wrote
I feel curious. I want to stay because I want to find out what is at the top of the ladder. Some people want to go home but I will stay. Good luck.

Jack wrote
I feel that I want to stay because it is fun. I find it very interesting with all the different plants and the gold things. Do you like this planet?

Lily wrote
I feel curious because I would like to explore what is at the top of the helterskelter-like plant. I have decided to stay but I can see why some other people may not want to. We think the gold things are really gold. I hope to meet you soon.

Willow and Sam-Luigi are keen to find out about the books under the soil. I’m sure we will discover more soon.

This morning a letter was found in the Year 2 classroom asking them for help. Two explorers had set off to find out about new plant and animal species on other planets. A malfunction in their spaceship caused them to land in an unknown place and they were stranded. Year 2 have tried to help by looking closely at a picture of this place and, so that they can remember exactly what is there, they have written down detailed descriptions. It might be crucial to helping the explorers return to Earth.

Ellie A curved dragon’s tail which leads us to a place.
Amelia shadows on the wall like a fingertip
Harry H There is a stream slithering down the wall
Charlotte J The weed thing could be hard seaweed wrapped around a snake’s body.
Joshua A mysterious shadow moves.
Alex B It looks like a trap surrounded by rocks.
Jack There has got to be something getting closer but we don’t know what it is.
Charlotte J The music sounds like rattling skeleton bones.

Millie
I can see a golden reflection of the sun making a trail on the tree…… The third tree is dripping with golden treasure.

Noel
The rocky trees were dried out over the years… The black tall mountain is blocking the sun for (to make) unusual shadows. The light yellow looks like lots of flashing dragonflies.

Lily
a rushing stream….a spiky, curled helter-skelter….a base of a mountain blocking the light….lots of black shadows with nothing to cast them….

We do feel brave enough to climb up to find out what’s at the top, but we’re keeping in mind that the explorers warned us to be careful.