This is a test post for the Writing category

This morning we started to research @maejemison and tomorrow we will start our biographies of her life! #smithdownwriters

So informative and so incredibly well presented

How AMAZING is this piece of work informing us about the consequences of palm oil! ? So informative and so incredibly well presented. #smithdowngeog #smithdownwriters

Remembrance Day

We have created some beautiful poems after reading Flanders Fields and used watercolours/charcoal/pencils to create some poppy artwork to mark Remembrance Day.

We have been busy learning about Diwali the festival of light. We have moulded dough into Diya lamps. Made marks to create Rangoli patterns and wrote our names in our cards we have decorated.

Today we have read I Like Trains!

We have printed trains with blocks and made marks to represent train track, trains and signals.

Using historical sources

We read some accounts of evacuation during WW2, comparing content and explaining what information and evidence each source provided.

Hansel and Gretel: Dual Narratives

We have thoroughly enjoyed reading Neil Gaiman’s version of Hansel and Gretel, so much so, it led us to writing our own dual narratives. We are so proud of the writing we have produced.

Hansel and Gretel mural display completed.

How fabulous is this wall? !

Asda

This morning we have had lots of fun playing in our Asda supermarket. We have been writing shopping lists and paying for our food with money.

Retelling Lila and the Secret of Rain

We retold the story in teams and performed the story to our friends.

Making maps

Today we made our own maps in preparation for our instruction texts. We had to think carefully about where the gold was hidden and then give our partner instructions to find it.

Noun or Verb?

We went on a noun hunt and then acted out verbs to help us to identify the difference between the two.

Making sandwiches for Anna and Crocodile

Anna and Crocodile are trying to make a sandwich. We wrote our first set of instructions and then made a sandwich to check we had included all the steps. We learned that a set of instructions needs a ‘What you need’ list and a Method.

Making sandwiches for Anna and Crocodile

Anna and Crocodile asked us for our help today. We thought about how to make a sandwich, created some plans, made some sandwiches and of course had to taste test them! Yum yum!

How to truly be a mischievous child

Year 3 had a great start to their first shared write of the year. We have been learning about imperative verbs, rhetorical questions, adverbs and how instructions are laid out. We put all the new skills we have been learning to the test and used them to create a set of instructions about how to be a mischievous child, based on our reading book ‘Seen and Not Heard’

Parents watch out! Your children came up with some very interesting ideas!

Using a combination of skills today…

In Year 6 today, we combined our learning from Geography and English by using our computer skills to present the information we have discovered into Google Sites to create our own web pages.

Explanation Texts

After researching mountain gorillas and adaptions of animals, we have just begun to write our own explanation texts. Keep an eye out for the finished pieces.

Palm Oil – Positives and Negatives

We simply had to share a few more pieces of work as we think they are truly fantastic! Detailed information which is extremely well presented. Great work Year 6!

I made my work soooo much better

I used fronted adverbials, conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions and personification.

Amazing Work on Renewable Energy Sources

In Geography, we have been finding out about renewable energy sources: why they are needed alongwith the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Amazing Writing

Wow. Look at this writing from reception children. How amazing!

Incredible writing from Year 6

We are simply blown away by the writing we have recently produced. Our Year 6 classes are so invested in world issues – saving habitats and animals in particular. Have a read of some of the letters we wrote to the Rwandan Government, asking them to help protect the magnificent mountain gorillas

An author has come to Smithdown!

Author of ‘The late crew’ Rob Ferguson came to visit our school today. Some of us were so excited to even get our books signed by a real life author! We even designed our own alien that we could use in our stories.  

What a great first attempt at a twisted narrative!

Solar Panel Persuasive Leaflets

After learning about renewable energy sources, we have just begun to produce our own persuasive / information leaflets about solar power.

Charles Darwin

In Science, Year 6 have been learning about Charles Darwin as part of their ‘Evolution and Inheritance’ unit. Look at this incredible writing they have produced!

English drama activity

Year 4 had a fun morning creating speech and acting it out. We loved being the villainous witch and sweet, little Jub. We used macaroni to add inverted commas to our speech.

English Role Play

Year 4 had a fun creative morning today. They loved playing the witch and Jub. We also used macaroni to add inverted commas into our speech that we had acted out.

Dual narrative openings.

We have just started work on writing our own dual narratives, based on the characters and events in Neil Gaiman’s Hansel and Gretel. Such powerful openings! We can’t wait to get writing more, they will be incredible to read.

Year 4 English

This week we are writing our own twisted tale narrative. We spent this morning exploring what a good one looks like, locating features and writing our own alternative ending.

Extra work at home!

Some incredible examples of extra work done at home. I have loved seeing how passionate we are about negative numbers, Olaudah Equiano and Roman numeral – keep it up, we love proudly displaying your work!

Celebrating differences

For our PSHE lesson we are celebrating differences. In previous weeks we have spoken about racism, bullying and rumours and now we are researching a range of countries and what their culture looks like.

Dual Narratives

We really enjoyed writing these dual narratives in Year 6, we used two characters from the book we read together in lessons. We hope you enjoy reading them.

Transatlantic slave trade

Today we looked at different pictures of artefacts in museums around the world and how they were used during the transatlantic slave trade. We discussed the life of an enslaved person and the hardships they faced.

Calligraphy with the Arabic alphabet

Today in our art lesson we looked at different examples of Arabic calligraphy and have had a go at our own.

Christmas card inserts

This week, the children have loved writing Christmas Card inserts to their families. They enjoyed practicing their early writing skills using the knowledge they have gained. This afternoon, they are excited to begin designing their cards…I am excited to see their creativity!

Conscience alley role play

We used role play to decide if the witch from our class text should give back the stolen happy endings. We thought of lots of reasons for and against.

Pre-writing task today

Before we begin writing our own diary extracts, we read and annotated a model text for language  and organisational features.

What could our new story be about?

We discovered some clues to our new story today! We made predictions and discussed if the clues reminded us of any other stories too.

Planning before we write

Working together to gather ideas before planning our own independent write, based on our novel Pea Boy.

We Won! Well, the suffragettes did!

Reaching the end of our unit, we learnt how the voting situation changed for women. Those courageous ladies achieved their aim and helped shape society today.

Biography writing in Year 6

We have been intrigued learning about Miep Gies and the role she played in helping to hide eight Jewish people in an annexe in Amsterdam during World War II but perhaps more importantly, how she was the one who found and kept safe Anne Frank’s diary.

Writing in Ms Siddiqui’s Group

These children have worked so hard today on their independent writing. Well done!

Year 4 English

We worked hard to plan and write a non-chronological report. We worked in groups to write a specific paragraph.

Newspaper report writing

After completing a narrative, we have now written newspaper reports based on events within the short animation we based our narrative on: Francis.