Week Ending 22/12/16

Due to a technical issue we apologise for the delay in this post:

Christmas Mubarak! Joyeux Noel! Sheng Dan Kuai Le! Mele Kalikimaka! Nollick Ghennal! Blithe Yule! Feliz Navidad! Nadolig Llawen! С Рождеством! In other words...Merry Christmas!

You may have noticed that we have been inspired by our show Children Around The World and all the different ways that "Merry Christmas" is said. Our teachers have been telling us how well we have been doing and the hard work that we have been putting in has come to fruition. We hope that you have enjoyed the show and we appreciate all your clapping and cheering!

When we haven't been rehearsing our show or performing our show we have been spending the week discovering more about Christmas: making a blueprint for a toy factory for Santa, designing toys that can be made in the new factory as well as learning about Christmas traditions and the ways how storytellers have been telling stories with the Christmas message of forgiveness and tolerance.

We have been learning about the fantastic Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol. We have been learning about Ebenezer Scrooge and his decent into loneliness and his ultimate redemption from that when he is visited by four ghosts: his old business partner Jacob Marley, The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. We've been enjoying this story and if we've been very good this year Santa may be giving us our own copy! If you have time over the Christmas break to watch a version of Scrooge our teachers tell us that the best version is the one below with the wonderful Alastair Sim:

We also saw how Charlie Brown and friends tried to put on a show of their own in A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you would like to see how they do, please watch the video below:

And this is the wonderful jazz score from the film by Vince Guaraldi:

Finally, we learnt about The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. In this animation we saw how you don't need to use dialogue to tell a compelling story. A young boy wakes up one morning to discover the fields outside of his bedroom window are covered with snow (an occurrence which is far rarer in Britain than here). In his excitement he runs outside and starts to build a snowman who magically comes to life! If you would like to watch, please see the video below:

Mr Ieuan and Mr Chris would just like to say how much we have enjoyed this term and the fantastic children that we have. It is a pleasure to teach such a diverse and intelligent class and we look forward to the new year. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!