- This topic has 29 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated December 29, 2023 by
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Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s lesson we began our work on Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, thinking about what we liked and disliked about the book and questioning why the author made the choices he did. The class came up with some fantastic interview questions that they would like to ask the author and did some hot-seating where the students put themselves in Said’s shoes, which we then compared to a real-life interview that Said gave. We then thought about putting ourselves in Varjak’s shoes, considering times we have felt the way he feels when he first enters the city. In response to this, the class wrote some beautiful descriptions from Varjak’s perspective of the city and all the weird and wonderful things he finds in it! Really wonderful and enthusiastic work today everyone, I loved hearing all your amazing ideas and thought your hot-seating was superb! Keep up the fantastic work and see you next week 🙂
Here is the video on genre that you should watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJO2iuMzMoM
Here is a list of genres: https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/kid-friendly-guide-to-new-reading-genres.html
Homework
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Varjak Paw Genre
I think Varjak Paw ‘s genre is non-fiction because there are street cats and pet one ones.Cats also stroll on streets and walls too.But it is also fiction because cats can’t talk to each other or speak to dogs.Another genre is adventure as Varjak explores the outside world for the first time.He discovers new things and adapts to the new world he’s came into. It is also mystery as you don’t always know what’s coming next and when he gets hurt.The genre is children as it is fantasy for 7-9 years.
Jenny
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s lesson we continued our work on Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, thinking about the notions of suspense, genre and theme. The class thought fantastically about the use of suspense throughout this novel, coming up with some excellent suspenseful passages of their own that played off the ‘fear of the unknown’. We also discussed the technique of dramatic irony and thought about how telling the story from an animal’s perspective shaped the narrative. Amazing and creative work today everyone I was so impressed by your suspenseful writing and all your incredible ideas. See you next week 🙂
Video on suspense we watched with all the techniques (i.e. foreshadowing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysvVeqBLMPo&t=52s
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s lesson we completed our work on Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, looking at analysing some passages from the book that focused on Varjak’s difference through the symbol of his amber eyes. We spoke about why Varjak finds it hard to fit into his family, thinking about how he is related to Jalal Paw in more ways than one, and the class then came up with some symbols. We spoke about responding to the book creatively and the students came up with their own incredible missing posters for Varjak from the perspective of his parents. Finally we reflected on some of the key ideas, themes and emotions that the class had taken from the book, thinking about the moral of the story. Everyone did brilliantly today, I was really impressed by the students’ work on symbolism which can be a tricky concept and which they all worked with wonderfully- well done everyone! See you next week 🙂
Symbolism video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vwek28P9Gk
Homework
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This is a beautiful poster Jenny, well done! I love that you’ve added the prize for finding him (11 tins of caviar!) and have included some amazing illustrations that light up the poster and really catch the reader’s eye, mapping onto your description of Varjak beautifully. Also I thought it was very in character to have the mum say he was last seen bullying his sister, this gives us such a great insight into how cruel his family are to him. The “warning!” bit is fantastic too, showing how scared they all are of the outside and how they have assumed Varjak will be totally changed by his adventure. Really creative work, well done 🙂
Spelling:
*Aggressive
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Summary for Lesson 4
In today’s lesson we started looking at a new book: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. In this lesson, we considered characterisation in the book, as it is a very character-driven narrative, and we looked at using our inference skills to analyse characters and find quotations to back up our argument. We also considered how Lewis develops his characters through key plot points, such as Edmund’s betrayal of his family. The PowerPoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the re-telling of the story assigned for homework. The PowerPoint contains the discussions of our favourite characters, an exercise on thought-tracking Edmund, with the students playing the devil and the angel on his shoulder, and also our character profiles. Wonderful work today everyone well done for all your amazing ideas and your enthusiastic response to the book. It was great to see you all, see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 5
In today’s lesson we completed our work on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe considering ideas of symbolism, themes and the underlying message of the book. The PowerPoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the newspaper articles assigned for homework. The PowerPoint contains lots of thoughts about the use of idioms in the book, the symbolic importance of Aslan’s death and resurrection, the themes of sacrifice and betrayal in the book, ideas around the climax and story arc of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and language analysis through VIPERS questions. Lovely work today everyone, well done for all your amazing contributions and ideas. It’s been really good working with you all on this Christmas course, you should be super proud of your work! Have fun writing your newspaper articles everyone, and remember to choose whose side you are on and to adjust your tone accordingly. Well done guys, I will see you soon 🙂
Homework
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Dear Beth,
This is my reading homework. I hope you have a really Happy Christmas today.
Thank you,
Charlotte
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