Term 6 Week 6

A Midsummer Night's Dream

This week, we began exploring one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream. We started by reading this beautifully illustrated retelling by Georgia Ellinas, with stunning illustrations by Jane Ray. The children were immediately captivated by the magical artwork and quickly became familiar with the main characters, including Puck, Oberon, Titania, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, Demetrius and Bottom.

We compared this beautifully illustrated retelling with a traditional storybook version of the play and discussed how the illustrations helped to bring the story to life. Many of the children commented that this version felt much more magical and helped them to imagine the enchanted forest and fairy kingdom.

We also watched a short video clip introducing the characters, which helped everyone understand the story before we continue exploring it next week.

A huge thank you to Reuben, who kindly brought in a complete collection of Shakespeare's plays in short story form for us to enjoy. The books have already been very popular, and the children have loved reading them during the week.

Mrs O has also created a fantastic display for our classroom, and the children's first reaction was simply, "It's magical!" We are looking forward to continuing our Shakespeare journey next week.

Poetry Performance at St Gabriel's

One of the highlights of our week was our visit to St Gabriel's School for their annual Poetry to Performance Day. Alongside pupils from other local schools, six children from Owls Class spent the day exploring the beautiful grounds, collecting ideas from nature and working together to write and perform a poem.

The day began with a peaceful walk around the lake and gardens, where the children used their senses to observe the sights, sounds and colours around them. They then worked together to collect vocabulary and ideas before creating a poem inspired by everything they had seen. After rehearsing their performance throughout the day, they confidently performed their poem to parents and the other schools in the afternoon.

One of the most exciting parts of the day was seeing our poem professionally published in a commemorative book for all the children to take home. It was wonderful to see their ideas transformed into a finished piece of writing, and they should all be incredibly proud of what they achieved.

Here is the poem they created together:

Nature's Wonder

Went on a walk,
And had a little talk.
Nature brings joy and wonder,
If you are silent, you can ponder.

As the glowing sun peeked through the trees,
The beautiful butterflies rustled through the leaves.

The dabbling ducks having a nice time out,
Dragonflies fluttering about,
The magical meandering river flowed,
Sparkling gently around the road.

The green grass swaying in the breeze,
And the leaves were jigging with glee in the trees,
The amazing acorns in the air,
With tiny, mysterious little bears.

Nature makes us feel calm and relaxed,
Sadly, people cut down trees with an axe.

Do not destroy,
Or we will be annoyed.
Let's come together and make a choice,
To preserve nature and rejoice.

As part of the day, each child also planted a sunflower seed to take home—a lovely reminder that, just like a tiny seed, an idea can grow into something wonderful with imagination, care and creativity.

A huge thank you to St Gabriel's School for organising such a memorable day and to the parents who came along to watch the performance. It was a fantastic experience that I know the children will remember for a long time.

As we come to the end of another busy week, I would like to thank all the children for their hard work, enthusiasm and positive attitude throughout the year. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow in confidence, develop new skills and support one another along the way.

Next week will be our final week together, and we have lots of exciting activities to look forward to as we celebrate another successful year in Owls Class. I can't wait to make a few more special memories with the children before they head off for a well-deserved summer holiday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Mirza