Island life

Dear friends and families,

This term has been all about islands! The children have been learning what it’s like to live on an island, their geographical features and the flora and fauna and biomes that exist on a variety of islands around the world. They have been expanding their geography skills learning about island formation, locating islands on a world map, learning all about rivers, the water cycle and mapping skills such as the points on a compass, using different symbols and a key to represent geographical features. To get a deeper understanding about island life and to develop their own interests, each child chose an island to learn about; they have been researching all about it and, using this information as inspiration, the children have been writing poems based on their island. They even got to design their own stamps for their island!

In literacy the class have been journeying across the seas to the sunny Caribbean! Using the beautiful poetry book A Caribbean Dozen, the children have been delving into the sights and sounds of Caribbean culture and landscapes and gaining a better understanding of these amazing countries far away.  The children have been reading and responding to poems from poets hailing from a wide range of countries; from The Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana. Take a look through the images where you will see some of the beautiful artwork they have created in response to the poems: For Forest, Dancing Poinciana and I Am the One. The unit involved a class journal for recording whole-class discussions and responses, and initial ideas for writing poems, and individual poetry journals for children to record their own thoughts and to work on their own poems. We looked at the different poetic devices used by poets to help bring poems to life and create imagery e.g. personification, similes, metaphors and finally, armed with all these new skills, the children composed their own poems based upon a physical (natural) feature on their chosen island such as a waterfall, cliff beach or cave. It was a great joy to work with the children throughout this unit and listen to their ideas and hear the fantastic grasp they have on the English language and their use of it to describe and bring their natural feature to life!

We ended the term with carnival celebrations, what a day full of fun and laughter! Sadly, we have said goodbye to our intern Lydia who has been helping us since January, we wish her the best on her next adventure. With that, we wish you all a wonderful and fun-filled holiday.

Erica and Anelda