We have been travelling back to Anglo-Saxon times with the help of Michael Morpugo’s retelling of this classic saga…
There are many versions available online. Y4 were gripped by this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGJvfwaXPyA
Please be aware that this an often violent and gory story, although both versions I cite are judged suitable for KS2 children
You can also watch a BBC adaptation for KS2, here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/english-ks2-ks3-beowulf-index/zfbhpg8 This also includes activities for children.
Once you have enjoyed listening or reading Beowulf, you might enjoy this humourous retelling from the monster’s viewpoint. https://vimeo.com/295876694
Older children and dogs might like to write their own Beopoem. Look out for Busby’s next month. Here are examples and a template to help you: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2084/0507/files/Beopoem.pdf?15063953426360450638
We have been wondering about bees knees …
What is so great about them and the cat’s pyjamas, for that matter?
You can find out more about expressions that describe the best things, here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/favorite-things-fun-nicknames#:~:text=In%20earliest%20known%20use%2C%20the,bigness%20of%20a%20bee’s%20knee.%22&text=Celebrate%20your%20next%20victory%20by%20letting%20that%20cork%20fly.
One of us has been baking…
This tasty simnel cake uses an old recipe that is surprisingly foolproof.
One of us has been checking his emails…
but not in the way you might think.
Busby explains, ” Of course, I can’t actually read, but my highly sensitive nose and my keen sense of smell, enable me to sniff out and interpret messages left by the other dogs on my favourite route. I then leave an immediate reply. There’s no leaving things until later and then forgetting. So, it’s very efficient.”
I’ll be much more patient with you now that I can imagine you are checking your post, Busby.
By the way, just out of interest, how do you leave an ‘out of office’ reply? And can you block senders at all?
We have been enjoying the sound of Spring birdsong in the garden.
Bird numbers are dwindling so, even if one of us is a less welcoming than the other, we both think it is important to help birds in whatever way possible. The BirdCast initiative by Cornell Lab suggests dimming lights between 11pm and 6am each night and adding bird-friendly modifications to glass during the day, as you can see in the film below.
We have been thinking about rhythym…
and how they work together in poetry, dance and music.
When composer, Eric Whitacre set a poem by Robert Frost to music, he discovered that the poem was under copyright and could not be used. Rather than abandon the project, here’s what happened next (taken from Wikipedia):
Rather than giving up publishing the work, Whitacre asked poet and frequent collaborator Charles Anthony Silvestri (b. 1965) to write a new text which would correspond to the meter of the Frost poem and to the expressive details Whitacre had emphasized in the music.
The next day Silvestri offered the poem “Sleep”, taking up the theme of sleep from the last stanza of Frost’s poem. Whitacre has stated that he prefers the Silvestri text over the original.”
“Whitacre originally believed the Frost poem’s copyright would not expire until 2038; it in fact expired on 1 January 2019. Whitacre has stated that he does not plan to release the work with the original text. “
Busby says, ” Do we blame him? No we don’t!”
You can read the full article, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_(Whitacre)
Original photo by Debbie Smyth https://travelwithintent.com/2015/04/29/y-is-for-yah-boo-sucks/
Here are the two poems:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
This poem is in the public domain. (Phew!)
Sleep
by Charles Anthony Silvestri
The evening hangs beneath the moon
A silver thread on darkened dune
With closing eyes and resting head
I know that sleep is coming soon
Upon my pillow, safe in bed
A thousand pictures fill my head
I cannot sleep, my mind’s a-flight
And yet my limbs seem made of lead
If there are noises in the night
A frightening shadow, flickering light
Then I surrender unto sleep
Where clouds of dream give second sight
What dreams may come, both dark and deep
Of flying wings and soaring leap
As I surrender unto sleep,
As I surrender unto sleep.
And finally, to end on a humourous note, here is rythym being matched in an entirely different context…
Talking of which, happy 1st of May to all readers of this post! Did you know that in France a gift of lily of the valley on the first of May is meant to bring happiness? We are pretty sure a virtual gift is just as positive, if not as beautifully scented. Click here, for your gift! https://www.dromadaire.com/post/8597-pour-du-bonheur-toute-l-annee?cat_id=34
Thank you…
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