English Theme Reflection by Miss Lauren
Over the past half term we have had our English Theme Block throughout school. English learning encompasses many fundamental skills that serve as the cornerstone of education and life. Developing proficiency in the areas of reading, writing and speaking and listening is crucial for success in both school and their life. Through a wide range of creative activities, in and out of the classroom, this block was designed to highlight and enhance reading, spelling, listening, writing and speaking skills at Nadeen School.
Various members of the school staff worked together to design and deliver activities for primary students to complete throughout each week. Secondary students were given the challenge to undertake an English project to complete over the five week block. This was a student-led project and was designed to enhance their English skills and foster creativity outside of regular classroom activities. They had the opportunity to choose from a wide genre of literature to create something of their choice such as; a short story, host a podcast, craft a diorama or design an eye-catching costume.
Weeks One, Two and Three
Week One had a focus on writing. Primary Students were given a High Performance Learning (HPL) task to create a story in just six words. Students engaged well in this challenging task, using existing stories or creating their own and creating a story with six carefully chosen words.
“Rocket blasted, Reached Mars, Saw Alien.”
– An example of a six word story from a Year 3 student
Week Two had a focus on Reading. This was a fabulous week in which we shared our love of reading throughout Nadeen School. We had a variety of challenges for our primary students, which consisted of: Stop, Drop and Read. Students had to carry a book at all times, and at any time the teacher could shout ‘Stop, Drop and Read’ and all students had to pick up their book and read for five minutes.
During this week, we had a visit from Nada Al Fardan who is a local author and storyteller. She conducted engaging and immersive storytelling sessions for each year from Nursery to Year 6. The sessions enthralled our students with the magic of storytelling.
Throughout the week, students had the opportunity to visit our school book fair, to explore and purchase fantastic new books.
The end of this week culminated in ‘World Book Day’. All students and staff were invited to dress up as a character or representation of their favourite book. During this fantastic day, primary students had a challenge set by our librarian Ms Mayada to ‘Find the Thief’ by following written clues and unmasking 6 thieves around the playground. The winners were rewarded with a book token for the book fair. We finished this week with a fabulous whole school assembly, in which our Year 9 students lead the assembly explaining the importance of reading.
In week three we focused on speaking skills. All students were set a house challenge to create and film a speech on a given topic. Primary students were asked to explain ‘Why I Love Nadeen’ and Secondary Students were asked ‘Why is Reading Important’. Students submitted their videos and the House Captains selected a representative to perform their speech in front of the school in the Primary Assembly. The content of the speeches and the passion shown by the students was phenomenal and it was a truly tough decision for our Captains. The final four won points for their teams and spoke in the Primary Assembly and one overall winner was crowned and awarded bonus house points for their team. Our Secondary winners were invited to present their speeches at a Primary Assembly, they relished this opportunity and were fantastic role models to our younger students.
Weeks Four and Five
Week four was our performance week. Each year group had the challenge of recruiting a scene from the famous children’s book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen. The children loved this challenge and we had a host of interesting clips from a wide range of locations around our school. This was shared with all students as a complete video in the last week of term. All of the students were also set a home learning task to read their favourite book in a creative location. We had a wide variety of entries, from reading upside down at a park to reading in the bathtub. These were shared with all children during our English Assembly.
Week five was our final week of the English Theme block. This week staff read some of their favourite poems aloud to create a quiz for the students. Their voices were altered and the children loved the challenge of the ‘Masked Reader’. This week we were excited to host a wide range of parents who came into their children’s classes to read their favourite story. Thank you to all the parents who took part in this, it was a fantastic way to end our English Theme Block.
“I loved listening to my Daddy read in my class, he did lots of funny voices.”
– A Reception student following their father’s class reading
Secondary students brought in a wide range of finished English projects and they had the opportunity to share and celebrate their learning with their peers.
In the final week we finished with a special assembly sharing all of the fantastic learning in school and at home over the English Block. The enthusiasm and passion shown by all students throughout the half term was a key testament to the fabulous students at Nadeen School and their creativity in a range of different areas of English.
