On Friday 24th February as part of our World Book Day celebrations children from 7 classes spanning from Reception to Year 6 will be participating in dance workshops led by West End Schools and ‘bringing books to life’.

The classes were chosen as a reward in recognition to the best attendance in each of their year groups.

Each session will approximately 35 minutes with Reception using the book ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, KS1; ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ and KS2; ‘Alice Adventures in Wonderland’ as their sources for inspiration for their dances.

The children are very excited and cannot wait to take part.

Stuck for ideas or need a bit of help with how to create your costume….

How about dressing up as one of the children: Peter, Susan, Edmund or Lucy?

The children

The boys wore trousers and a shirt (a polo shirt would be fine) and a jumper whilst the girls dresses or skirts and cardigans or jumpers.

If you don’t fancy dressing up as one of the children how about an animal? Narnia is full of animals from a Unicorn to foxes or even why not dress up as Aslan?

Aslan

You don’t necessarily have to have a lion’s costume for this one – great if you do but you could wear a yellow/orange t-shirt and make a mask.

Aslan-Lion-maskDownload

Aslan-Mask-InstructionsDownload

If you fancy being a Unicorn for the day how about this for a costume idea?

The Unicorn

What to Wear: Two either go white, eg. white leggings and a white t-shirt/hoodie or go for a brightly coloured rainbow one with bright leggings or trousers even a tutu matched with a bright coloured top or hoodie.

You will also need to make a unicorn horn.

You will a hairband, card (cereal box card is perfect) to make the ears. For the unicorn’s horn some felt which you need to just roll and glue or sellotape and then some decorations.

If you want to make a mane and tail you could use long pieces of brightly coloured wool tied at one end.

We will soon be counting down to World Book Day as it’s not long now on 2nd March.

The theme this year is The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C S Lewis which links to our library. Most of you will know a little about the story and about Narnia even if you have not yet read the book itself as last year on your first visits to the new library you had extracts from the story read to you before climbing through the wardrobe. Some of you (some children) will be too young and are yet to discover this story or may have forgotten why it is that you climb in through the wardrobe every week to arrive in the library.

For those that are not familiar with the story it begins with four children playing hide and seek. One of the children decides to hide in an old wardrobe but unbeknown to her that the wardrobe hid a secret – the entrance into the magical land of Narnia.

Over the coming weeks keep visiting the blog as costume ideas will be added just in case you are short of ideas.

There are many characters to choose from such as one of the children: Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy or perhaps Mr Tumnus, the White Witch, a woodland animal or even Aslan.

We will also be talking about it during our weekly library sessions.

On Wednesday 16th and 17th November, forty children from UKS2 travelled to London on an amazing two day trip.

They explored the historic Tower of London where they met Beefeaters, Yeo Men and the Ravens. They ventured into the Bloody Tower and were fascinated by the instruments of torture that were used and marvelled at the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House.

After a hearty meal at the Hard Rock Cafe we watched the award-winning musical, The Lion King at The Lyceum Theatre. The children were mesmerised by the sets, the costumes and by the singing and dancing. It really was a memorable evening.

The following day we spent the day at Warner Bros. The Making of Harry Potter Studios. What an incredible day! The children were in awe at all the costumes and make-up. Loved visiting the all the different sets from Dumbledore’s office to Professor Snape’s potion class. We entered the Forbidden Forest with its giant spiders (sons and daughters of Aragon), pulled up mandrakes and even had the chance to ride a broomstick!

Take a look at some of the photos – more will be added!

Today, poet Tony Peek visited school. He made children laugh with his poetry and helped them write their own. Children in Years 2 and 4 loved it!

Families were invited to attend a session after school where Tony took requests from the children, performing their favourite ones. Afterwards they had a go at writing a poem.

Friday 7th October

Set in a prehistoric world of monsters, Twelve is a huntling who embarks on a quest with her dog to rescue a little girl, Seven from the creatures and to protect the seven clans.

Aisling will be virtually visiting some children in KS2 on Friday 7th October. She will be talking about her debut novel Fireborn: Twelve and the Frozen Forest, being a writer and will answer questions that the children may have.

As part of our National Poetry Day celebrations, poet Tony Peek will be visiting school and children in years 2 and 4 will have the opportunity to create their own poems in workshops led by Tony.

A Family Poetry Session will take place in the library from 3pm where families can enjoy reading and writing poems.

Books will be on sale at the end of school and at the family session priced at £5 each or two for £8.

For more information visit Tony’s website:

https://www.mrpeekspoetryplace.co.uk/

Daisy Chains by Daniel Wade

They never took
long to make,
nor did they lack
that tender sloppiness
which made the petals
melt pink in the palms,
like juiced hearts.
These were when
we ran our
fingers through the
wilting stems; supposed
they were her hair
or her hands.
These were when
we laboured those
shy hours away
in a shivering line
of blushes, making
a short-lived toy
of short-lived love.

Why not celebrate National Poetry Day by writing your own poem?