Shakepeare's monster!

This week we have been looking at the character of Caliban...the mysterious creature who lives on the deserted island that Miranda and Prospero have come to know as home. We looked at some of the things he said in the play - and how his mood changes throughout. We learned about the thousands of noises that the island makes and how Caliban feels about them. We also thought about how poor Caliban must have felt when these strangers arrived to take over his land!!!

 

We created freeze frames to show this - and also had a go at interpreting and acting out his famous lines "This island's mine!" Who do you think he was saying it too?

 

What do you think of our acting? Leave us a message below!

 

 

 

 

 

The wishing tree

We've had a very chilly forest Friday today!! Brrrrrrr!

In honour of Chinese New Year we made our own Wishing tree. There is a very famous, ancient banyan tree in Lam Tsuen in Hong Kong to which people travel at Chinese New Year and during other festivals to leave their own special wishes.
People would write and throw their wishes into the tree. It was believed that if the wish successfully hung onto one of the branches, the person’s wish would come true. The higher the branch the wish landed on, the more likely it would be for the person’s hopes to be fulfilled.
Sadly a few years ago, one of the branches on the tree broke, so, although people are now discouraged from throwing their wishes up into the trees, tourists and locals still make the journey to the small village every year to tie their wishes onto wooden beams, imitation trees or racks that surround the original wishing trees.
Although we would have loved to visit the original wishing trees, it was a bit too far on a Friday afternoon, so we decided to make our own!
What would you wish for? Leave us a comment and let us know?

We chose materials.

We decided whether to hang them on the branches or pin them on the trunks.



We used ribbons to tie on to the branches so they would flutter in the wind.

We added some instruments that made lovely, twinkly sounds.

We wrapped materials round the trunk.

We were proud of our work!

We managed to get really high in the trees....

by working together safely!

We wrote out our own wishes.

Some of us decided to say a prayer after hanging up our wishes.

It was tricky hanging them up!

We wished for some pretty grown up things!

Do you like our wishing trees?

恭喜发财 / 恭喜發財

 Happy Chinese New Year!!

We've been very busy learning about Chinese New Year. We read the story of the Zodiac Animals. We made New Year cards and designed posters advertising the events in Sunderland next week. Best of all, we prepared and made our own Chinese stir fry meal and shared it together as a group. We've all learned some new culinary skills today, maybe we can help make our dinner soon!

Allay them!

Can you believe we remember our Shakespeare Quote of the week?!

A Shakespearean storm!

"If by your art, my dearest father, you have put the wild water in this roar, allay them!"

 

 

This aft'rnoon hast been most wondrous as we has't hadst our v'ry first Shakespeare lesson.

 

What an amazing afternoon we had, learning all about Shakespeare himself! We then looked for clues about what his play the Tempest is all about and we discovered that the setting is a small island but there is also a huge storm happening. We don't know why yet, but we know who made it happen!

 

 

We took turns playing the different characters of Prospero and Miranda. They have very different opinions on the storm. We also pretended to be the sinking sailors on board the boat. We can't imagine how scared they would be!!

 

Below are some of our pictures from this afternoon.

Some of the words Shakespeare used are the same as ours!

I wonder what clue this gives to the setting?

How would you feel if you were on the sinking ship?

Would you be a damsel in distress?

Can you shout louder than thunder?

Would you cling on to your friends for dear life?

We can even read some real Shakespearean language!



Ask us what it means....

We were fascinated!!!!!



What a muddy bunch!

Being outside for Forest Friday is a lot of fun, we're always given a challenge to complete. These challenges involve teamwork, creative thinking and co-operation and are usually linked to another area of the curriculum such as maths, science or literacy.



We learn how to take risks safely and care for ourselves and each other.



We learn how to work as a team and share jobs to achieve a goal.



We learn how to stay dry when our teachers decide to pore water on us!

One of our favourite things about taking part is that we are allowed to be messy, to get messy and sometimes, to get other people messy too! This week was an extra messy week. After all of the snow had melted and all that rain had came down - it was up to Year 1 to find something to do with all that spare mud that was just lying around. Don't worry though. They had a plan!


We can use large equipment safely, as long as we know how to look after ourselves.



Some of us are still learning that its okay to get a bit muddy, and might need a bit of encouragement!

But it's okay, because we get our own back!

As the afternoon went on, we seemed to get dirtier and dirtier!

Some of us were certainly thrilled to see Miss Turner land in some mud!

Some of us went for a more organised mud-paint effect.

While some of us went for a "how much mud can I get on in one go" look!



Some of us were thrilled we got to mess up the teachers!

Whilst some of us tried to figure out how much mud was "too much mud".

And of course, we were disappointed when we were told that our ears were not an appropriate place to keep grass!

For some of us, the mud just wasn't enough! We wanted more mess!!!!!

 



One thing stays the same, our least favourite part of the day, every week however, is the dreaded face wash!!!