Year 6 2021

Welcome to the 2021 Reading Gladiators™ challenges. Let the reading begin!

There are schools in this group:

Updates

  • Submission by Weston On Trent Primary School

    The Skylarks’ War – artwork

    The Year 6 Reading Gladiators have put a lot of time into their piece of art. They chose to use a carriage to represent each of the main characters, and each carriage has golden illustrations linked to the character. For Rupert, there is a gun and uniform to show his time in the army, as well as a quill to represent the letters he sent. Lucy is also pictured waving him off. Clarry has a butterfly on her carriage, as well as books to show her interest in and love of learning, while Peter has plaster-cast to remind us of his broken leg, and a stethoscope for his later studies. Each quote is picked to show a bit of the character's personality (Rupert - rebellious, Clarry - frustrated, Peter - cantankerous). We loved the book and we are looking to forward to The Swallow's Flight.

    Our artwork has been shared with the whole school in assembly, and will be placed in the main corridor, just outside our classroom. Hopefully other children will want to read this amazing book.

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    Comments

    Caroline Bradley
    Caroline Bradley 6th Apr 2021, 11:15am
    Great work here Gladiators! Your interpretation through art is excellent. The small details reflecting different aspect of the main characters demonstrates a very good understanding. Sometimes it is easier to remember elements of a book with visual representation. I am also delighted to hear you have shared your work with the rest of the school. I am sure more children will pick up this excellent story - thanks to your advocacy. Look out for The Swallows' Flight which has recently been published to find out what happened to Clarry and Peter's families. https://justimagine.co.uk/review/the-swallows-flight/
  • Submission by Iver Village Junior School

    The Skylarks’ War

    The Iver Village Junior School, Year 6 Reading Gladiators have thoroughly enjoyed completing this challenge and have loved reading the book.

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    Comments

    Caroline Bradley
    Caroline Bradley 6th Apr 2021, 11:10am
    So glad you enjoyed The Skylarks' War and thank you for your entry. Look out for The Swallows' Flight , which has recently been published. https://justimagine.co.uk/review/the-swallows-flight/
  • Submission by East Hunsbury Primary School

    East Hunsbury Primary – The Skylarks’ War

    We have really enjoyed reading The Skylarks' War and meeting Clarry, Peter and Rupert. We have chosen our favourite parts and quotes to illustrate.

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    Comments

    Caroline Bradley
    Caroline Bradley 6th Apr 2021, 11:07am
    Thank you for these creative snap shots of the story - and thank you for submitting the slideshow too so I could get a closer look! You have selected some key moments from the plot a taster of the main characters and themes. I hope this display will inspire others to read The Skylarks' War. Look out for The Swallows' Flight which has recently been published. https://justimagine.co.uk/review/the-swallows-flight/
  • Submission by Knockhall Primary School

    Knockhall Primary In the Key of Code

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    Comments

    Caroline Bradley
    Caroline Bradley 6th Apr 2021, 10:53am
    Very clever stuff here Gladiators and a good representation of the book. I can see you have not only increased your computing knowledge but also picked up valuable messages from this book such as 'Think, like there is no box'!

  • Week 1: The Skylark’s War

    The Year 6 team had already read the first three chapters of their second book. Some had read more than this, which was ideal for our discussion about the main character of the book, Clarry. We thought of some adjectives to describe her and the reasons behind our choices, using evidence from the book itself. The second half of the session focused on Cornwall, the much loved location of Clarry and Peter’s summer holidays. The Year 6s looked at my own photo book about Cornwall from my own holidays and using the photographs, we came up with a list of descriptions of Cornwall, using a tree map of the five senses to guide us. This helped the children with their weekly challenge, which involved them writing recounts about Cornwall. The responses so far have been brilliant, with inspirational use of vocabulary and vivid descriptions. Their recounts have been a joy to read 🙂

  • Week 5: In the Key of Code

    Some of the children continued to gather images about computing, which were later used to create a digital poster for the mini challenge. Meanwhile, the other Reading Gladiators looked at different extracts from the book and made annotations around them highlighting the different code symbols and what they were used for. For this activity, the children used a glossary for computing science that could be found at the back of the book itself. The team worked brilliantly together. One of the highlights from the session was talking to one of the children who is studying computing science herself. Her knowledge and understanding in the field is incredible. Another highlight of the week was receiving a tweet from the author herself, Aimee Lucido, who was happy that her book had been featured as part of Reading Gladiators 🙂

  • Week 4: In the Key of Code

    The Year 6 team worked hard to create their own fairy tales about Emmy, taking inspiration from the ‘fairy tale’ chapters within the book. The children also started to gather various images and quotes in relation to computing in preparation for the mini challenge set by the RG team.

  • Week 3: In the Key of Code

    This update highlights the brilliant virtual discussion that the team had before they returned to Knockhall. In the lead up to our first session within the school itself, the children had a go at writing coded stories about the lock down.

  • Week 2: In the Key of Code

    In the lead up to their virtual session (hosted during the third lock down), the Year 6 team thought about the references to music made in the book. In particular, they focused on the classical piece of music, ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Inspired by this music as well as how the chapters were uniquely written, the children created their own coded stories. Their creativity in this task was stunning 🙂

  • Week 1: In the Key of Code

    Before being given their first book of the programme, the Year 6 Reading Gladiators wrote their first impressions about it, using only the front cover. Then, as well as reading the beginning part of the story, they chose either Wisconsin or California to write about and used their findings to create fact files about them.

  • Welcome to the 2021 Reading Gladiators Challenge

    We are so excited to finally launch Reading Gladiators 2020/2021. With new books and a new look on the website, you should be fully equipped to start your Reading Gladiators group. Your login will give you access to the guides. All the details you need are in the Running Your Reading Gladiators Group guide, including the mini-challenge dates for each title. We hope you enjoy the first title In the Key of Code and we look forward to meeting your groups online soon.