Y6 London

Welcome to the 2018-19 Reading Gladiators challenges. Let the reading begin!

There are schools in this group:

Updates

  • Francesca Stine Diamond Nines

    Now that we’ve finished reading the book, we worked in pairs and threes to rank different adjectives that could describe Francesca Stine. As you can see, we all agreed that she was monstrous and heartless, but were in some disagreement about whether she could be described as innovative, sinister or clever.

    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 13th Dec 2018, 5:33pm
    It's so interesting to see these. I always think that great discussion can come from the things we disagree on.
  • Submission by La Fontaine Academy

    La Fontaine Academy Strange Star Reading Theatre

    La Fontaine Reading Gladiators performing the reading theatre from week 3. We had a great discussion about the characters' personalities and motives and how they would talk to each other. They loved performing!

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    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 9th Dec 2018, 9:54pm
    Your enjoyment of completing this mini challenge was clear for all to hear! I think you have done an excellent job of using expression really thoughtfully to capture the personalities of the different characters. You have good fluency and great confidence. A thoroughly enjoyable listen.
    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 10th Dec 2018, 5:13pm
    Fantastic job, La Fontaine Reading Gladiators.
  • Submission by Lathom Junior School

    Reading Theatre Lathom Junior

    Here is our attempt at Reading Theatre! Apologies for the video of the floor - we wanted to focus on our voices so we decided not to show our faces. Due to school life being busy recently, we didn't have much time to prepare for this mini-challenge, but we were determined to enter it anyway! Enjoy!
    https://videocentralhd.lgfl.org.uk/Play.aspx?id=n7Q4Iqb14gchk3

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    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 9th Dec 2018, 9:49pm
    This is a great effort Lathom Gladiators. I'm glad you focused on your voices - that is the most important part of Reader's Theatre and anything else can be distracting. Your enthusiasm really shone through in your submission and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. Thank you for being so determined to take part.
    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 10th Dec 2018, 5:15pm
    Hello Lathom Gladiators. It's always really busy at this end of term, so we are delighted that you took the time to enter this challenge. It was a pleasure to listen to your submission.
  • Submission by St Matthias School

    St Matthias Readers

    St Matthias Yr6 gladiators mini-challenge for Strange Star

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    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 9th Dec 2018, 9:33pm
    A very accomplished Reader's Theatre St Matthius. You had good expression and fluency and sounded very confident. Well done.
    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 10th Dec 2018, 5:16pm
    Hello St Matthias Gladiators. You always impress us with your expressive reading and you have done so again with this Readers Theatre submission. Well done everyone.
    Jakera Kamali 13th Dec 2018, 3:44pm
    Thank you for the kind comments. We are impressed by all the entries from the other schools.
  • Submission by Hallsville Primary School

    Reader’s Theatre at Hallsville

    We had a brilliant time getting to grips with this chapter of Strange Star for our Reader's Theatre entry. We started by doing some drama and used the thought tracking technique so that we could get to grips with how the characters were feeling at certain points. This really helped us to think about how each character might be speaking. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

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    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 9th Dec 2018, 9:29pm
    This is a brilliant example of Reader's Theatre in action Hallsville. Your expression, fluency and confidence were so good that I felt I could be listening to a radio drama. Well done.
    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 10th Dec 2018, 5:17pm
    Wow! Hallsville Gladiators what a fantastic submission. It sounded very professional and accomplished.

  • St Matthias RG ‘lost in deep thoughts’

    We are loving this book so much! We are always taken by surprise by the unexpected events that are unfolding before us… At the moment we are discussing our thoughts on Francesca… We think she is very ambitious and extremely clever. But we think that because she is so clever she feels that she needs to prove herself in a ‘man’s world’. We predict that Francesca will be experimenting on Lizzie and use lightening! We think that there may be a chance that she is trying to find a way to bring Lizzie’s mum back from the dead.

    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 30th Nov 2018, 11:06am
    What interesting comments St Matthius - deep thinking indeed!

  • Documenting the Reading Journey

    We are racing through Strange Star at Hallsville this month and are captivated by the gripping characters and plot. Our reading journals have been fundamental in developing our understanding and many of us have been adding to them after the sessions at home. It has been fascinating to track certain characters and has generated a lot of discussion about how some of them develop as the story goes on. We can’t wait to find out how it ends and are currently very concerned for Lizzie after reading chapter 23!

    Comments

    Sam Keeley
    Sam Keeley 28th Nov 2018, 9:53am
    What insightful observations about the characters! Your reading journals are very impressive and it's great to hear how they have been supporting your understanding. Strange Star is certainly an unputtdownable read.
  • Submission by Lathom Junior School

    A Bittersweet Story

    We all worked together to create this picture called A Bittersweet Story. You can see the Black Horse and lots of dark colours, showing despair and Emmaline running towards Foxfire (who's surrounded by rainbow colours), representing hope. You can also see Emmaline's red ticket and Anna ill in bed amongst the skulls around the Black Horse's feet, as those contribute to the feeling of despair in the book. There isn't much detail in the background, because we noticed that a lot of the illustrations in the book used shading to create the background rather than detailed pictures.

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 6th Nov 2018, 1:37pm
    Just Imagine comment: thank you for sharing your artwork and explaining how you created it. We appreciated the thought that had gone into the composition. Did you use pencil? We wondered if you have ever experimented with smudgy charcoal and pastels? They are a bit messy!!
    Lydia Trapnell 6th Nov 2018, 5:08pm
    Wow! Good job! Lathom Junior School have some really talented artists! Lydia Trapnell (Reading Recovery Teacher, Filton Avenue, Bristol)
  • Submission by Scott Wilkie Primary School

    Bittersweet

    Scott Wilkie Primary School entry

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    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 6th Nov 2018, 2:37pm
    Just Imagine comment: This is a really striking image and we were fascinated by your description of the process. Thank you for sharing this moving depiction of the bittersweet theme with us.
    Lydia Trapnell 6th Nov 2018, 5:11pm
    A very poignant display that is very topical for Remembrance Sunday! It's wonderful you were all able to contribute with your beautiful poppies and you thought to include some artifacts from World War 2. Lydia Trapnell (Reading Recovery Teacher, Filton Avenue Primary School, Bristol)
  • Submission by St Paul with St Luke C of E Primary School

    Artwork and Book Reviews – The Secret Horses of Briar Hill

    Saint Paul with Saint Luke's students all said they enjoyed the book and were incredibly surprised with Thomas being The Horse Lord ("That was a massive plot twist!"). We discussed how we could mix art with a book review and the students decided to draw the horse and leave their reviews the items used to make a protective rainbow shield for Foxfire (the horse). One student stated as she was sketching her item, "That way, we know Foxfire is protected in our world." We're looking forward to the next book!

    Download the file

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 6th Nov 2018, 5:25pm
    Just Imagine comment: Thank you st Luke and St Paul for sharing your thoughts about the book. Combining your artwork with the book review is a good idea because it attracts attention. and then you want to stop to read what has been written. We hope this has encouraged other chidren in your class to pick up the book and read it.

  • Year 6 illustration by Yemi

    An image unpicking the themes and ideas at the story ‘The Secret Horses of Briar Hill’.

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 5th Nov 2018, 6:57pm
    Hello, Yemi. Thank you for sharing your beautiful illustration wth us. I think you are convying a lot of emotion through body language, especialy with the way the girl is hugging her knees.You have picked out a lot of the sad themes. What did you think about the ending of the story?
    Lydia Trapnell 6th Nov 2018, 5:05pm
    Hi Yemi! Really like how your fantastic artwork incorporates themes from the whole story! I'm going to show my Gladiators in their session tomorrow. Thank you. Lydia Trapnell (Reading Recovery Teacher, Filton Avenue, Bristol)

  • Year 6 illustration by Hamida Choudhury

    A brilliant illustration of the ‘bittersweet’ story of ‘The Secret Horse of Briar Hill’.

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 5th Nov 2018, 6:47pm
    Hello to Rosetta Gladiators and congratulations to Hamida on producing this superb response to the themes of Hope and Despair. I can see lots of details from the story.
    Lydia Trapnell 6th Nov 2018, 5:15pm
    Hi Hamida! Thanks for your beautiful illustration! I will share it with my Reading Gladiators in their session tomorrow. Lydia Trapnell (Reading Recovery Teacher, Filton Avenue Primary School, Bristol)

  • Symbolism and allegory

    Year 6 Gladiators at La Fontaine Academy had a great discussion today about symbolism and allegory – lots of ideas!

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 1st Nov 2018, 4:43pm
    Hello La Fontaine Gladiators. It sounds as though you had a fascinating discussion. I hope you enjoyed the book too.

  • Mini-Challenge

    At Lathom, we’ve been working on our artwork for the mini challenge. We’ve loved reading The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, and we’re looking forward to the next book!

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 18th Oct 2018, 5:24pm
    We are eagerly anticipating the submission of you mini-challenge. Lovely to se you working so well together as a group. We hope you enjoy Strange Star.

  • Emmaline’s Secret

    Hallsville’s Gladiators spent some of the first session yesterday trying to work out what type of character we think Emmaline is from the very first illustration of her. We can’t wait to read on at home to find out more about her secret…

    Comments

    Nicola Gamble
    Nicola Gamble 4th Oct 2018, 7:23pm
    This is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I am sure other schools will be inspired to do similar.

  • Let the challenge begin!

    Hello to all Year 6  Reading Gladiators in London  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.