On Tuesday morning, the Year 5 parents gathered in the warmth of the Junior Hall to watch the Year 5 assembly. This half of term the girls have been analysing poems in English and wanted to perform poetry for their assembly. Somehow, they managed to incorporate Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Tennyson, William Wordsworth, and John McCrae all into the first five minutes! They then took it in turns to recite the poem ‘Please Mrs Butler’ before making us all laugh by reading out some of their own verses they had written for homework. A few of the girls also shared what they enjoy about poetry:

I love poetry because there are lots of different styles. There are the ones that have a sad tone like war poems, or the funny poems that rhyme. I like how poetry can represent different moods. You can use it when you’re feeling sad, or you could even write a love poem. My favourite type of poems are the funny ones that rhyme and don’t really make much sense, like The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

Charlotte

I like poems because you can tell what the writer is feeling through their words and description. Most quotes you read in a poem come from sadness, anger, joy, or distress and they give you little thread about the poet’s life. Such as Alfred Tennyson who wrote his poem called ‘In Memoriam’ when he was grieving his friend.

Sara

What I like about poetry is that it’s unpredictable. Some poets, for example Shakespeare, change the themes of their poems as they go, like Romeo and Juliet changes from romance to tragedy and back again. Others, like John McCrae, stick to one theme like ‘In Flanders Fields’ the only theme is sadness. You never really know what the poem is about by just looking at the title. You can try to figure it out, which I enjoy doing when I’m stuck indoors.

Cecily

We then welcomed the parents upstairs for our Open Classroom which is an excellent opportunity for the girls to proudly showcase their work and for the parents to see how hard they have been working in all their different subjects. This was a lovely morning spent celebrating the girls’ achievements!

Miss Bartlett, Year 5 Class Teacher