The day I met...

Hyde Park received this exciting and mysterious letter at the end of last week. 

Wild Thing Publishing Co.

Read About It Road

London W2

Monday 17^th March 2014

 Dear Class,

Let me introduce myself; my name is Mr Wild E. Beast (you can call me Wil), and I specialise in publishing books on the Natural World.  I am especially interested in rare and magical beasts, about whom we know very little.

As a publisher, I wish all of my new releases to be ground breaking!  Therefore, I am writing from the Wild Thing Publishing Co. with a special request.  Our newest and most exciting title is to be called ‘Wild Things Around The World’.   I understand from my researchers that you have specialist knowledge in this field of learning. 

I would like a collection of approximately thirty (30) beasts, including detailed descriptions of appearance (supported by diagrams of course); information regarding habitats, diet and hunting habits; any important adaptations; explanations about how the beast lives and, most importantly, whether or not they are a danger to humanity.

Of course, with your expertise, I am certain that you will be able to give me even more information than that – these are merely the guidelines I set out for all of my contributing authors.

I very much look forward to receiving your completed collection by the end of April 2014.

Yours Faithfully,

Wild E. Beast.

As well as replying to Mr Beast, and starting to write the Wild Thing profiles he asked for, we started to think about how we could write in the style of other genres.

One idea was to write a recount about the time you met or discovered the Wild Thing you are going to write about.

For your blog this week, this is what I would like you to do!  (If you started this in class, you can either continue it on here, or choose a different text type!)

I look forward to reading your exciting, adventurous and imaginative blog entries!

I will be looking for correctly written sentences, interesting vocabulary and evidence of lots of thought!

I look forward to reading your blog posts - on paper or online -  by Friday 4th April (I am a bit late posting this week!)

Mrs Messa

'Stillness'

'Put 'stillness' sessions on school timetable

based on an article in the Telegraph by Graeme Paton, via Espresso News)

The head of a well-known boarding schoola school at which children stay during term time, instead of going home each day has said that children need more time during the day to be quiet and think about their lives.

According to Dr Seldon, the master of Wellington College in Berkshire, a couple of minutes spent away from all distractionssomething that takes a person's attention away from what they are doing – especially mobile phones and the internet – can help pupils to be happier and improve concentrationthe ability to pay close attention to something.

In his view the disappearance of old-fashioned religiousa word to describe something connected to [a] religion assemblies, which provided time for quiet prayer, has taken away an opportunity for children to think about issuesimportant topics or problems affecting themselves or the world around them.

Dr Seldon's answer has been to introduce daily two-minute 'stillness' sessionsperiods of time used for specific activities into his school's timetable.

During those two minutes, children can think in silence without being disturbed.  They are not allowed to work or communicate with others.

'Stillness' sessions are something Dr Seldon would like to see in all schools.  He believes today's children need daily 'quiet time' more than ever before because of the problems and interruptionsthings that get in the way of a person's ability to concentrate created by modern technology, as well as the pressurethe feeling of being forced to do something because it is expected of you to do well at school.

f these things are allowed to overwhelmbecome too much to deal with children, he fears they could become ill and unhappy.

This could have an effect on their families and friends, as well as their schoolwork. '

 

We have started to be ‘Mindful’ in our classes.  Do you think that this is what Dr Seldon is talking about?  Do you think it helps with your learning?  How and why could it help?

I look forward to reading your entries (on paper or online) by Wednesday 26th March!

Mrs Messa

 

 

In The News (from Espresso News)

Our brains 'read' emoticons like real faces

Scientists have found that we use the same part of our brains to recognise emoticons (the smiley icons you sometimes see in text messages) and real faces.

 

However, this is only true if the emoticon is read from left-to-right, as with all other words on a page.

This is because humans have learned to read the tiny pictures in a particular way.

• When are you more likely to use emoticons in your writing?
• Do you often use emoticons? Why / why not?
• Why is it important to make sure that what we say and write is always easy to understand?

Let me know what you think! 

Remember: a blog post should be a well thought out paragraph, including careful sentences! 

I look forward to seeing your entries (online or on paper) by Wednesday 19th March!

Wild Things!

What are the Wild Things like?

Tell me what you think.

 

I look forward to reading your responses (online or on paper) by Wednesday 12th March

 

Mrs Messa