6F's WW1 class poem (first stanza)

After reading and unpicking some WW1 poetry by Wilfred Owen, we used our knowledge of metaphor, alliteration and personification to shared-write the first stanza of a class poem about a WW1 battlefield. See what you think:

Lurking, the mist's malevolent hug
Conceals and chills their weary bodies.
Whipped and bitten by the wind;
Paralysed by the roar of relentless shells
They suffer.

6R's war poetry

In Year 6 we have been immersing ourselves in our topic for this term, the First World War. Having studied some images of battles and battlefields, and read and analysed a range of war poetry, 6R had a go at writing our own. Our first poem was created by taking ideas, words and phrases from different pairs of children and fitting these together: something of a patchwork poem! It is a descriptive poem about the battlefields post-war, in which we focussed on using personification effectively. Our second poem is more of a 'jigsaw' poem, about a battlefield before, during and after the war. The class was divided into groups, each of which wrote one stanza with a particular focus in terms of the effect on the reader. Can you work out what each group's aim was? In addition, we would love your ideas for titles!


Jet-black larks, once bringers of hope, swirl above the now-silent land.
Poppies of blood gaze mournfully at the tempestuous sky,
No longer filled with the poison of the conflict below.
They stand guard - sorrowfully, faithfully - where soldiers fell.
Bending in the whistling wind, the blood-red glow kisses the graves
Of Flanders: the final resting place of too many lost ones,
Paying its respects,
Weeping as quietly as a dead man's final breath,
To the fallen heroes.





A cloak of silence swathes the solitary field,

Desolate hearts fear for the future;

Fear the destruction about to be witnessed.

Guns are being loaded

To penetrate souls.

BANG! "To your positions!"

Squabbling soldiers heave themselves over the door to death

As ominous clouds unleash a crash of thunder

Over the squalid, squelching battlefield.

 

"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!"

Too late:

Soldiers writhe in agony,

Bitter froth spurts from their hanging mouths

As they utter their final, desperate words,

Engulfed in a misty, green sea.

 

Soldiers sent with a destiny of death

Is it sweet to die on strange soil?

Is it fitting to die in pain?

Innocent children sent to the slaughter

Men with mothers, wives and sons

Will never see the light of day again.

 

Crumpled, torn poppies litter

The obliterated field of despair.

Larks, once bringers of hope, circle the serene sky

Waiting, watching, for the next wave of death.

Blood filled, the poppies kiss the putrid mud,

Each torn stem holds an untold story

Of the Great War, in Flanders Fields.

Welcome back!

Welcome back to the Grove Academy! This half term's learning focus for our blog is writing, and our wonderful wordsmiths have already been producing some cracking compositions. We are really excited to share these with you over the next few weeks, and the children love receiving feedback so comments are very welcome. Before you submit one, please take a few seconds to read the blog rules below.

 

In Year 5, our theme for this half term is Victorians, and we will be writing diary entries, narratives and narrative poetry in this context. Meanwhile, Year 6 will be writing war poetry and narratives, focussing on creating atmospheric texts and character descriptions, all related to the First World War.

 

Keep checking back for regular updates!

The Year 5 and 6 Team

French Olympics

On Wednesday, a team of 12 Y5 children, along with teams from 4 other local primary schools, travelled to Bushey Meads to compete in the French Mini-Olympics. The children - Isabella, Zoe, Madison, Hamsy, Vamsi, Mel, Haya, Hilary, Ted, Connor, Pola and Kitty - spent the day participating in a variety of sports-based French activities, topped off with a very welcome ice cream (ordered in French of course!) The children demonstrated excellent team work and enthusiasm by the bucketload, and tried very hard to use their French. The secondary school teachers commented on their initiative and leadership skills, too; the children really did the school proud. Their efforts were rightly rewarded with silver medals, which the children treasure greatly. Bravo!

Visit from Katherine Rundell

We were extremely lucky to be visited recently by the author Katherine Rundell, who led a writing workshop for a group of Y5 children. You may remember that Y5 and Y6 took part in judging the Blue Peter Children's Book Award, which was won by Katherine with her book 'Rooftoppers'. Katherine was so impressed with our children's questions during a Skype Q&A that she asked to come and write with them! After a brief talk about being a writer and the inspiration for her books, Katherine led the children in creating a new character and plot for a story, and the group then wrote some description of their character and an effective first line. Hopefully the seeds have been sown for some stellar writing! We will all benefit greatly from the tips we received, such as taking your fourth idea for a description and ensuring your characters have three clear characteristics. Before we went home, the group had the honour of being the first children in the world to hear the first page of Katherine's new book! There was just time for a few autographs before the children went home, smiling and hopefully inspired.

Y5 visit to Guardian News and Media

Last week, all three Year 5 classes were lucky enough to visit the Guardian News and Media Education Centre in London, for a workshop based on the Victorians, our theme for this half term. The children spent the day in the Guardian newspaper office building, creating Victorian newspaper front pages following the real newspaper production process. A variety of resources such as books and real Victorian archive material were used to research news stories ranging from the marriage of Queen Victoria to the Great Stink in London, and the children worked in pairs to write their stories, before subediting their copy and adding headlines and pictures. The workshop was highly successful and all children were able to take home copies of their completed front pages. Education Centre staff were highly impressed and full of praise for the children’s behaviour, application to the task and standard of writing – which they said was better than that of many of the older children they work with! Our budding journalists were a real credit to the school and the day was a great introduction to our new theme.

Metaphors for us!

To help develop our use of figurative language, 5R came up with metaphors for ourselves. We then assembled these into a poem, which is below. What would your metaphor for yourself be?

 

I am the sun shining upon your heads

I am the aeroplane flying in the sky

I am bones fractured in many places

I am the waters swishing and swirling

I am the jumping bean jumping in your mouth

I am the fury of a thunderbolt crackling around the trees

I am the twinkling stars guiding you to your destiny

I am the tip of the fire scorching through the silhouetted trees

I am the tip of the iceberg freezing to death

I am the wave crashing into the sea

I am the heart of the sun burning

I am the volcano erupting into the air

I am the storm striking Earth

I am the current whooshing and swooshing you away

I am the whizzing pixels from inside the console

I am the multi-coloured rainbow flying in the sky

I am the bird flapping its wings

I am the cricket ball rolling to the wicket

I am the daisies that make a chain

I am the moon jumping on you

I am the sun with my hair waving behind me