Y4 West Midlands
Welcome to the 2018-19 Reading Gladiators challenges. Let the reading begin!
There are schools in this group:
- Just Imagine
- Bearwood Primary School
- Lodge Primary School
- St Matthew’s C of E Primary, Birmingham
- Percy Shurmer Academy
- Montgomery Primary
- Gilbertstone Primary School
- Glenmead Primary School
- Little Sutton Primary School
- Parkfield Community School
- Henley Green Primary School
- St George’s C of E Primary School, Birmingham
- Our Lady & St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School
- Mount Nod Primary School
- Frederick Bird Primary School
- Pegasus Primary School
- Oaklands Primary School
- Court Farm Primary School
Updates
-
The Kingdom of Erkenwald
Today we listened to the prologue as it was read by our teacher. As we listened, we drew what we thought the land of Erkenwald might look like on a map. We then talked about the importance of the Little Bear constellation and the Northern Lights representing the Sky Gods. This inspired us to create some pastel artwork to accompany our maps!
-
The Ice Garden vs The Real World
We worked in a relay to add the descriptive phrases we found for these two settings. We noticed the main differences were in the description of temperature, the level of detail and how it made us feel as readers. The words that came to mind for us when thinking about the ice garden itself later, were, ‘magical’, ‘frosty’, ‘adventure’,
‘glacial’ and ‘extraordinary’.Comments
8th Mar 2019, 12:32pm
Those are really interesting words to choose. It really is a magical place full of wonder. I certainly felt the change in temperature when we entered the ice garden and felt the need for an extra layer! -
The Ice Garden
This week, we were excited to start reading The Ice Garden. So far, we have found out all about Jess, who is allergic to the sun. In the photo you can see the still image we created, which shows Jess standing at a hospital window in her protective clothing, watching other ‘normal’ children playing outside. We felt sorry for Jess because we realised she must feel incredibly lonely.
Comments
28th Feb 2019, 2:16pm
It must be hard to have to watch but not be able to participate. Let us know what you think of the book, when you have read a bit more.4th Mar 2019, 3:46pmWe have really enjoyed reading further into The Ice Garden. We spotted a few examples of personification and discussed why this was used and what effect it has for readers like us. -
Friendship, Adventure and Magic! What could it mean?
Today we thought about the suggested themes of friendship, adventure and magic. We talked about what they meant to use and how we could represent this through images and words.
Comments
16th Feb 2019, 4:47pm Hello Frederick Bird Gladiators. Lovely to see your thoughts around those key words. I wonder how they will come together in the story? -
Submission by St Matthew’s C of E Primary, Birmingham
Behind the Staff-room door
St. Matthew's Reading Gladiators have all had a fabulous time reading and doing various activities to Lost Magic. They have done performances to their favourite poems, drawn text maps and even did video recordings and role play. We all love this book and had an amazing time reading and performing poetry together :)
Comments
15th Feb 2019, 2:04pm
Great use of graphics and emoji's to write your chosen poems. -
Submission by Henley Green Primary School
Henley Green Primary School – Our Favourite Poems
Comments
12th Feb 2019, 11:26am Thank you for taking the time to record your entry Henley Green. This poem was certainly a popular choice as you will see from the other entries! I hope you have seen Brian reading it too. -
Little Sutton Year 4 Gladiators
Here we are enjoying our success from the mini-challenge and reading our favourite poems from ‘Lost Magic’. Our particular favourite is ‘Cakes in the Staffroom’.
Comments
31st Jan 2019, 4:22pm Congratulation again to Little Sutton for your fabulous mini-challenge entry. I hope you are re-enacting 'Cakes in the Staffroom' on location and with accompanying artefacts! -
It’s all in the mind’s eye!
Today we talked about our favourite poems from Lost Magic, having started our reading at home. In our session today, we listened to some poems being read and sketched out what we were imaging as the reading continued! Even though we were drawing independently, many of our images looked the same. We decided that this showed how well the poets built a picture of what they were describing for us. They were also good at creating feelings in us such as fear of the snakes; particularly the python welcoming guests and crushing bones!
Comments
21st Jan 2019, 10:11pm Thank you for sharing your work with us. Interesting that your images were similar. I wonder if any of the details were different? Why might tht be?28th Jan 2019, 4:14pmWe spoke about this and thought the differences could be down to our different experiences, ideas and creativity! -
Submission by Parkfield Community School
Town is by the sea mini challenge
We created a picture to represent the physical and emotional feelings of being in the dark. We had to imagine what it would be like for father to work all day down in the coal mine.
Comments
11th Jan 2019, 10:05am Excellent use of symbols to represent the range of emotions. A picture can speak a thousand words can't it. -
Submission by Little Sutton Primary School
Town is by the Sea
The year four gladiators loved exploring the theme of darkness and how it made them feel! Here, some of the gladiators produced artwork at home to reflect and present their ideas.
Comments
11th Jan 2019, 9:57am Fantastic to see four different interpretations. I can imagine you had some interesting discussion about being alone in the dark and belonging in the dark. -
Submission by Frederick Bird Primary School
What on earth is a Wimbley Woo?
We worked to construct our own rhyming couplets, lines and stanzas and after that, had to work really hard as a team to mix them together to create a whole poem. It took some compromising and lots of cooperation, but we are very proud of the poem we created. We enjoyed reading it out loud together but did not all want to share our voices in a recording, so we thought we would help the reader imagine the scene by creating some illustrations!
Comments
14th Dec 2018, 4:02pm Great teamwork! I think there is one word we will all remember after reading Wed Wabbit and that's 'hue'. I hope you will use it in your own writing soon. -
Parkfield Community School Town Is By The Sea
We have been listening to ‘The Coal Miners Song’ by Jimmy Joe Lee and imagining what it would be like to be in a dark space. We tried moving around and doing a simple task in the dark. It was really hard!
Comments
13th Dec 2018, 5:28pm Being in the dark is tricky isn't it. I always feel really disorientated in the dark. -
Parkfield Community School Angelino Brown
We have been exploring all the different characters in this this story. We have also been thinking about why an angel like Angelino has entered the lives of Bert and Betty.
Comments
5th Dec 2018, 1:41pm Fantastic to see you Parkfield! It's the sign of a great reader to question what you read. Do let us know your thoughts as you read on. -
Henley Green Primary School – Year 4 Reading Gladiators
We are growing glorious Reading Gladiators in our garden!
Comments
19th Nov 2018, 3:56pm Glorious GREEN gladiators! How appropriate. Hello everyone, I hope you are still having fun and enjoying your reading. -
Bearwood visit Wimbley Land
Comments
23rd Nov 2018, 1:08am Hi Bearwood, thank you for sharing the map of Wimbley land with us. What a crazy place! Do you think you could speak in rhyme all day long? -
Wed Wabbit – It’s all about Fidge!
This week we read up to Chapter 4 and we discussed what sort of character Fidge is. We think she is a mix of lots of different qualities and emotions. For example, she is thoughtful but selfish. She has a good sense of humour but can also be serious. Finally, she is a caring sister but also gets annoyed a lot of the time by Minnie!
Comments
12th Nov 2018, 5:24pm Fidge seems to be like most of us, full of contradictions. You all look very comfortable on your bean bags. -
Submission by Frederick Bird Primary School
The Weird and Wonderful World of Frederick Bird Gladiators!
We discussed what we have imagined when reading, watching films and even dreaming! Our artwork has been inspired by some of these things and helped us to create a bizarre and exciting universe which appeared even more stranger when we linked each part together!
Comments
6th Nov 2018, 1:37pm Just Imagine comment: thank you for sharing your art work with us Frederick Bird. Your comment reminded us of a famous quotation from the artist Leonardo da Vinci, 'Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?' Do you agree with this? You might want to talk about it with your teacher. We really liked the use of back paper and the way you grouped the images together to make a unified piece of art.19th Nov 2018, 3:40pmThank you for your comment! We felt that it is harder to be imaginative when you are awake because there are lots of other things going on in your mind. Also, you compare things to real life examples, which can make them less creative. Whereas, when you are asleep, it's like going to another dimension where there are no rules and you don't have control! -
Bearwood Gladiators
Year 4 meeting Angelino Brown
Comments
10th Oct 2018, 4:11pm Hi Bearwood Gladiators. We are excited to hear what you think about Angelino Brown.24th Oct 2018, 11:18am What a lovely bunch of smiling faces - can anyone think of a collective noun for smiles? -
What is an angel?
Last week we spent some time looking at our beautiful first book and thinking about who might be on the front cover. Once we agreed it was an angel, we thought about what we imagine when we hear or read the word angel. This is some artwork we created from our thoughts. This week we are busy artists again as we think about the other characters we have met so far! Watch this space…
Comments
8th Oct 2018, 7:26pm Great use of colour and GLITTER!! I look forward to seeing your drawings of the other characters - some of whom turn out to be not quite what they first appear..8th Oct 2018, 9:27pm Hello Frederick Bird! Good to have you with us again. You have qute an array of different angels. We look forward to hearing more from you. Happy Reading! -
Our interpretation of an angel
Here at St Matthew’s we always see angels – it’s part of our logo. So it was a real pleasure to draw our own idea of an angel. Really loving this book.
Comments
2nd Oct 2018, 12:45pm Some budding artists there at St Matthew! Thank you for sharing your super drawings. -
Year 4 Enjoying Reading Gladiators
Meet our new Year 4 Reading Gladiators eager to start the book 🙂
Comments
1st Oct 2018, 6:14pm Hello St Matthews Reading Gladiators. We are excited to find out what you think of your new book. We hope you enjoy reading it. -
Let the challenge begin!
Hello to all Year 4 Reading Gladiators in the West Midlands. We are looking forward to hearing what you think about this year’s books. Be sure to post an update and tell us how you are getting on.
Comments