100 Books by the End of Year 8

How many have you read....

Work for Tuesday 29th November

Hi team

Please see our Google Classroom for work to be completed in my absence today.

See you Wednesday.

Mr O

Dangerous Journey to the Arctic

Here is our planning Padlet for our very dangerous Arctic journey.

You may need to refer to this when containing your informative writing practice in class next lesson.

We depart on Thursday. My advice to you is to wear very thick socks and don't forget to bring gloves!

It is going to be cold brrrrrrrrrr!!!

Mr Snowdowd

Dr Odwood is in trouble! HELP!

Dear Y8 Travelling Companions

Disaster has struck! My wretched enemy, the dastardly explorer and thief Lord Pingerton Snatchly has found out my whereabouts. The Devil intends to track me and find out my destination. I think he knows that I am on the hunt for the much coveted ancient artifact the Egg of Mantumbi - this is the journey I was hoping you would accompany me on, to recover the prized golden egg. But I am not Playing around with him, he has lots of ground to cover before he can get me.

So I am hiding out. I cannot reveal my location in writing as Lord Snatchly will find me and follow me, but I know from your teacher that you are phenomenally clever students. So I have drafted this sketch that you must de-code to work out my location.

Once you have worked out where I am, email me and I will give you the next task whilst I try and escape from this hell hole.

You have 15 minutes. Use your devices, the internet and the clues in the picture (and email) to work out where I am.

Good luck my wonderful friends!

Jolly Hockey Sticks, Toodle Pip and Tally Ho!

Dr J. Odwood.

And the answer was.....

Were the class successful.....

Unlucky guys. This task was designed to get you working together as a class under pressure. You worked very well but a small number of people actually said the right answer but because not all of you were listening you pursued other (incorrect) lines of inquiry. All the clues pointed to the right answer but you got sidetracked on minor issues such as the symbols around the edge of the picture.

We will try another one of these critical thinking/team work puzzles next week. Let's hope you fare better next time!

In the comments please tell me a) how you thought you worked as a team b) how you contributed as an individual c) what the team can do differently next time d) what you can do differently next time.

Mr O'Dowd

Touching the void: non fiction analysis

"The closer you are to death, the more you realise you are alive."

Starter task: This quote is on the front cover of the book 'Touching the Void.' I think this quote means....

In class today I asked my students to explain this quote and what it means to them. Here are some of their replies. (In the comments section below!)

A video message from Dr J Odwood

Following his invitation to the class last week, Dr Odwood has sent the following message to 8H accepting them all as travel companions on his 'Dangerous Journey'.

Dr Odwood was very impressed with the letters of applications, video messages and blog entries. We will hopefully see him in class in the next few weeks as we prepare for departure.

The Dangerous Journey - personification

I asked my students to write five sentences to personify this mountain as part of our topic on 'The Dangerous Journey'. Here are some of the best:

The imposing Suila Grande in the Andes

'Its face cries waterfalls of avalanches' (Rebecca)
'It wears a white coat of snow' (Angus)
'The mountain has a cold heart who no one could love' (Toni)
'A cowardly bully that hides his face behind an icy white sheet' (Max)
'The mountain was a bully to the other mountain' (Mayyan)
'It covers its face with a layer of powder covering its true beauty' (Maram)
'She hid her molten core under her cold exterior away from the pain' (Fatma)
'The dangerous mountain fights off any humans who try to conquer her' (Emilia)
'The mountain is a backstabbing friend: friendly one day, trying to kill you the next' (Yusuf S)
'So lonely even the trees don't want to grow on him' (Giacomo)

An invitation to join me on a dangerous Journey

DIRECT FROM THE OFFICE OF DR. J ODWOOD

My Dearest, fearless Year 8 Explorers,

I write to you today with exciting news! I, Dr. Jeffrey Odwood, the noble and respected explorer, am about to set off on my next adventure into the unknown. For the first time ever, I seek willing volunteers to accompany me on this trip.

I cannot reveal the details to you just yet, my friends. The mission is highly secret and I would not want my mortal enemy Lord Pingerton Snatchly to catch wind of what I had planned. That pesky traitor is always trying to find out where I am going...

But the reason I write to you today is to invite you along on this incredible journey. I have heard many wonderful things about you and your class from your teacher, my cousin, Mr O'Dowd. He has regaled me with tales of your superb acting skills, your courageous speeches and your wonderful biscuit afternoons with stale muffins. 

So, you sound just like the kind of worthy explorers I would like to alongside me on this mission. It is not going to be easy, it certainly won't be pretty and at times it will be very, very dangerous. I need to make sure I am only taking the most spirited, the most committed and only the very dedicated among you. Therefore, I must insist on the following items from you to apply for a place on my mission:

>A letter of application, persuading me you are the right man/woman for the job.

>A short video outlining what assets you can bring to my team. You should email this to me or upload it on your blog.

>And finally, a short entry on your blog that Mr O'Dowd has told me all about, describing a dangerous journey you have been on in the past.

I wish you well my dears. You can help each other out with these tasks but you must each individually provide me with these items before 2.40pm. If you succeed, you are automatically accepted on the journey. Failure to meet these requirements means you do not have the necessary skills for the challenges that lay ahead in the next few weeks and you will, unfortunately, have to stay behind in class whilst the rest of us travel into the wonderful unknown between now and December!

Toodlepip and jolly hockey sticks.

Yours

Dr. J Odwood. 

(World-renowned explorer and definitely not just Mr O'Dowd pretending to be someone else) 

Using Drama to teach prose

The good, the bad and the ridiculous!

After quite a few weeks of working really hard on our study of Maggot Moon, including a reading comprehension and a transformational writing task, students asked (almost demanded!) that we do some drama.

They're a good bunch so I said yes.

after transforming a short section of prose into a brief script (no mean feat in itself) students then set about rehearsing and putting together a performance.

Today was the day of the performance and we had mixed results.

It was great to see lots of props and costumes, there was a real buzz around the class ahead of the performances.

I shouldn't have been surprised that practically all groups chose to portray a violent scene from the book, so we were treated to lots of really good 'bad' Mr Gunnels.

In contrast, we also had lots of very bad stage fighting. Fortunately all students survived: paper guns can be a real danger.

And the ridiculous, well some groups failed to hold it together. Perhaps it was the crazy costumes, or the awkward accents, perhaps it was just the fact we were doing Drama in English, but one or two groups suffered with the giggles.

Did the class get enough out of the task to warrant it's inclusion? They are currently writing a blogpost themselves to answer that very question. I'm looking forward to hearing their views.

My Favourite Maggot Moon Character

I Love Gramps!

I have to say I have a real soft spot for Gramps. Maybe it's because I am an adult reader of this book (not quite a granddad myself yet, but still much older than the target audience!) and he is the only positive older male role model in the book.

Why do I love Gramps? Well, the guy has got spirit for starters. he seems to inspire Standish in everything that he does. I also feel that the author creates sympathy for Standish by having his parents disappear, so Gramps is forced into a paternal role which he performs admirably.

But the real reason I love Gramps is for the killer twist when we learn he is dating Miss Phillips! Although I think some of my class were a bit grossed out at the thought of Gramps.....and Miss Phillips.... erm well, you get the picture, I thought it was really quite funny and portrayed an older character in a unique light.

So Gramps is my favourite characters? Who is yours? Let me know!

Mr O