Please remember to bring in your YELLOW items for class 2 to sell on their stall! Don’t forget that there will be a Guess the sweeties in the jar competition and our Big Writing will be published in a yellow book- selling for £1 each! Every child in Class 2 will be represented and would make a lovely Christmas present for relatives! Signed copies will be available but at extra cost (the authors are very fussy!) 
Please support us!
Come and see how proud we are of our Eco-flag status! Always following our 3R’s REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE! Now it’s flying with pride on our handmade flagpole! Video to follow!
Well! We’ve had a very busy afternoon in Class 2- I thought we would start our outdoor diwali activities today as the weather doesn’t look promising for tomorrow!
We researched Rangoli designs on Espresso and looked at what makes them special! Tom noticed that they were symmetrical designs! Well done Tom!)
We think we have brightened up the outdoor area!:-)
Week beginning: 24.11.08
Well done to all the children for writing brilliant descriptive writing about light and dark! (Thanks also, to you at home who are talking and planning with your child, it really does help!)
Please come in and read them at the end of the day!
(Hoping to get some on the blog too!)
This week we are reading Christmas and poetry about other festivals, (see back of this sheet), and so our ‘Talk for Writing’ is …about Light!
Now that they have experienced Bonfire nights and Christmas lights have been ‘switched on’ in some towns and villages this seems an ideal topic! J
Please discuss the poems with your child. Point out that even before there was Christmas there were festivals of light in mid winter. Discuss different types of lights at Christmas, Xmas tree lights, lights in streets, lights on outside of houses. Why do you think these lights are important? At school they are going to write a poem/descriptive writing about Christmas, preferably starting with Christmas lights. Think and talk about ideas and evocative phrases describing the lights and how they make us feel, e.g. excited, expectant, hopeful. Some people might feel left out, (e.g. Muslims, Hindus, Jews, discuss why) or some people might feel sad, (someone loved is far away, or has passed away, etc).
Talk about their feelings.
We were playing our Sharks game today on the computer! What a clever bunch we are! We are learning about Place Value. Please play and don’t sink the boat! Remember children…look before you click!
http://www.ictgames.com/sharkNumbers_v2.html
In Class 2 we have some very talented writers!! There work today has been fantastic!! We will find time to put some of the shorter pieces of writing on here! Watch this space!:-) Well done children- you have been working very hard!
Well…Miss Honey is really looking forward to our Book Character Day as she loves reading and learning! She hopes her class are too! She’s quite afraid that Ms. Trunchbull will make an appearance so we have to be brave and remember not to answer her back! (Remember, don’t wear pig-tails!)
Day and Night Poems
In the day
Waking early, birds are singing.
Cars are driving. People laughing,
People calling. Milkman bringing
Milk. Out to play.
In the night
Tucked in bed. Snuggle down.
Warm and cosy. Owls are calling.
Sudden cry. Police car squalling
Past. Flashing light.
Crescent Moon
The crescent moon
Sails like a small boat
Sharp at both ends.
As I sit in my small boat
I only see the shining stars
And the dark blue sky.
Traditional Chinese
Night Lights
There is no need to light a night-light
On a light night like tonight;
For a night-light’s light’s a slight light
When the moonlight’s white and bright.
Anon
Diwa (The Lamp)
A song for Divali
Light the lamp now.
make bright
the falling night
wrapped in the leaves
of autumn.
Gone is the day.
Kindle the flame
to burn
in the dark.
Let it show
the way.
Lit is the lamp
of the moon.
Brilliant the stars.
Make them shine.
Let them unite.
Let there be light.
Ann Bonner
Diwali
Diwali lamps are twinkling, twinkling
In the sky and in our homes and hearts.
We welcome all with cheery greetings
And sweets and patterned rangoli art.
Lakshmi flies upon her owl tonight;
Incense curls, our future’s sparkling bright.
Debjani Chatterjee
Diwali
Winter stalks us
like a leopard in the mountains
scenting prey.
It grows dark,
bare trees stick black bars
across the moon’s silver eye.
I will light my lamp for you
Lakshmi
drive away the darkness.
Welcome you into my home
Lakshmi
beckon you from every window
With light that blazes
out like flames
across the sombre sky.
Certain houses
crouch in shadow, do not hear
your gentle voice.
Will not feel
your gentle heartbeat
bring prosperity and fortune.
Darkness hunts them
like a leopard in the mountains
stalking prey.
David Harmer
Light the Festive Candles
(For Hanukkah)
Light the first of eight tonight -
the farthest candle to the right.
Light the first and second too,
when tomorrow’s day is through.
Then light three, and then light four -
every dusk one candle more
Till all eight burn bright and high,
honouring a day gone by
When the temple was restored,
rescued from the Syrian Lord,
And an eight-day feast proclaimed -
The Festival of Lights – well named
To celebrate the joyous day
when we regained the right to pray
to our one God in our own way.
Aileen Fisher
Fireworks
They rise like sudden fiery flowers
That burst upon the night,
Then fall to earth in burning showers
Of crimson, blue and white.
Like buds too wonderful to name,
Each miracle unfolds,
And Catherine-wheels begin to flame
Like whirling marigolds.
Rockets and roman candles make
An orchard of the sky,
Whence magic trees their petals shake
Upon each gazing eye.
James Reeves
The New Year
I am the little New Year, ho, ho!
Here I come tripping it over the snow.
Shaking my bells with a merry din -
So open your doors and let me in!
Presents I bring for each and all -
Big folks, little folks, short and tall;
Each one from me a treasure may win -
So open your doors and let me in!
Some shall have silver and some shall have gold,
Some shall have new clothes and some shall have old;
Some shall have brass and some shall have tin -
So open your doors and let me in!
Some shall have water and some shall have milk,
Some shall have satin and some shall have silk!
But each from me a present may win -
So open your doors and let me in!
Anon
Little tree
little tree
little silent tree
you are so little
you are like a flower
who found you in the green forest
and where you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly
i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don’t be afraid
look the spangles
that sleep all year the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,
put up your little arms
and i’ll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy
then when you’re quite dressed
you’ll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they’ll stare!
oh but you’ll be very proud
and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we’ll dance and sing
‘Noel Noel’
by e.e. cummings
Christmas Tree
Star over all
Eye of the night
Stand on my tree
Magical sight
Green under frost
Green under snow
Green under tinsel
Glitter and glow
Appled with baubles
Silver and gold
Spangled with fire
Warm over cold
Laurence Smith
Christmas Lights
Bulbs strung along
Our porch roof
Pour clear
Colours through the
Cold black air;
But our neighbours
Have a spruce, like
A huge shadow,
Full of deep blue
Mysterious stars.
Valerie Worth
What is Christmas?
Christmas is a lighted island
In the sea of winter darkness.
Christmas is the reindeer clatter
On the roof of the rustling house.
Christmas is the spiced kitchen
Spreading through the waiting days.
Christmas is the tongue teased
And the tummy truly tested.
Christmas is the warm hug
That wraps me in my family’s love.
John Corben
This week we are reading Light and Dark poems to link with our new Science and RE topics.
This week’s Big Writing task is think and talk about dark images and words, both positive and negative. What images does the dark make you think about? How can we write these ideas down? How can we include descriptive language to make our ideas interesting and imaginative? Make a list of words that you could use. Play around with word order, say ideas aloud and listen to their effect and write these down if you need to taking a new line for each idea. The poem does not need to rhyme.
We have been reading lots of these poems in school.
I will try and put some of these on our blog this week.
