An Invitation and a Sneak Preview!

On Friday 9th December, you are invited to the world premiere of four wonderful silent movies, filmed in 1919 by the St. Clare's Film Company and inspired by World War One.

Here, we can see a few sneak preview shots of the filming in process. We do hope you will be able to join us at 9am for this special event!

P4C

Source: The Imperial War Museum

This week's P4C sparked another wonderful discussion. Our stimulus this week was a painting; The Menin Road, by Paul Nash. After playing some games, we looked closely at the painting before coming up with some questions to discuss.

The questions that each group put forward were:

1. Can people still have happiness in their lives during wartime?
2. What did war do to mankind?
3. Was the war as dreadful as it seems?
4. Should women have been allowed to fight in World War One?


We voted for question 4: 'Should women have been allowed to fight in World War One?' It was a fantastic discussion and led to many ideas being raised about gender, strength and equality. Well done, everyone!

Wonderful WW1 Work!

We have been working so hard in St. Clare's this half term to become experts on World War One. Here are just a few examples of some of the amazing work that has been produced in the last few weeks. Well done everyone!

These propaganda posters are inspired by the sinking of the Lusitania on 7th May 1915. Once we had learned about the Lusitania, we looked at some real propaganda posters inspired by the disaster, then created some of our own.

Our Friendship Sculptures

Here are some lovely examples of our completed Friendship Week sculptures. We each used newspaper and modrock to create little models of ourselves in various poses. Once they had dried, we wrote kind messages of friendship on the models of the friends in our class. Now we each have a model covered in lovely words about ourselves- to remind us of how marvellous our friends think we are!

Brake! Road Safety Awareness Week

Last week, we focused on the importance of Road Safety. We found out about the Brake! pledge and discussed how we can be safe not only when crossing roads, but also when travelling in a vehicle.

You can make the pledge here- and ask your parents and carers to sign the pledge too!

http://www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/pledge

We made these fantastic posters to show the difference between Brake's vision for the world, with quiet, unpolluted and safe roads, and the opposite- if current trends were to continue.

Writers and Collaboration: Part 1—Working with Illustrators

I’ve been involved in many different collaborations in my career as a writer. These projects have been among the most exciting, rewarding, and well received that I’ve ever worked on. This series of blogs will discuss collaborations and writers—how collaborations function, and the pros and cons of working together with others.

The first type of collaboration I’d like to discuss is working with visual artists who illustrate a book or poem. There is a collective product at the end of this sort of collaboration, but the author does not necessarily engage in much collaborative work. The writer could, if the artist is open to suggestions or ideas from the author. In some cases, though, the two artists work separately. Often the visual artist is interpreting or reacting to the work of the writer.

I’ve worked with visual artists who have illustrated some of my books of poetry. I collaborated with the fantastic artist Linda Touby, for instance, on my very first book, Glimmerings. I met Linda before she became a well-known painter whose work is displayed in U.S. embassies and many private collections. 

Linda Touby

I got to know Linda in a figure drawing classes at the venerable Art Students League in New York City in the mid-1970s. Linda was the star of that class, turning out gorgeous sketches of the nude models, and breaking all the rules that the instructors were setting for us.

For one thing, Linda never used shading or modeling to define shapes. She had such a command of line that she could suggest volumes just by the way she waltzed the tip of a pen around the page. I admired Linda’s work enormously, and I was thrilled when this skilled artist agreed to illustrate my poems.

There’s a lesson for writers here—you may think that your work is not up to the level of a potential collaborator, but you still might find that there is common ground for a joint project. Don’t be afraid to ask another artist or writer you admire to work together.

I was extremely lucky to work with longtime friend Ilse Gordon on my book Make It Last. Ilse’s lovely ink drawings created a unified look to the collection that in many ways defines the aesthetic of the book. 

Ilse is multitalented. Her work includes luscious oil paintings, as well as furnishings such as painted screens and tables that she tiles herself. 

The incredibly gifted artist Rachael Romero did the cover for my book A Preview of the Dream. I admired Rachael’s work from her woodblock postcards of artists and writers that were popular in bookstores in New York City in the 1980s. I got in touch with Rachael though the contact information on the back one of the cards.

Postcard of James Joyce © by Rachael Romero

At the time that Rachael did the woodblock print for the cover of my collection of poetry, she was making her living partly by sketching portraits of tourists on 6^th Avenue in Greenwich Village in New York City, usually on warm summer nights. When I wanted to discuss the project with her, I stood next to Rachael on the sidewalk as she created quick and insightful pastels of passerby who would stop to have their likenesses done.

Portraits © by Rachael Romero

This brings up another point about collaborations—you inevitably have to go outside your comfort zone in working with another artist. You might find yourself discussing your project standing on a corner under a streetlamp at ten o'clock at night. 

I once remarked to Rachael Romero that her work greatly resembled some of the political posters that I liked from the 1960s and 70s, produced by a group that signed itself the San Francisco Poster Brigade. “I was the San Francisco Poster Brigade,” she confided, not without a touch of pride.

Poster © by Rachael Romero as the San Franciso Poster Brigade

The style of Rachael’s that evokes the period of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930s—I love it!

Another artist I admired enormously whose work is on the cover of one of my books of poetry is Mona Caron. Mona is an amazing and accomplished mural painter whose artwork graces many buildings internationally, including the bikeway mural on the Safeway supermarket at the busy intersection of Market Street and Duboce Street in San Francisco.

Duboce Bikeway Mural © Mona Caron

I met Mona Caron at the dedication ceremony for one of her murals. Whenever I wanted to discuss our collaborative project, I had to find her at the site of the mural she was painting at the time and shout up to her while she was high on a scaffold above the street. 

Mona Caron painting

Mona did a fabulous cover for my book of love poems, The Number Before Infinity. We had multiple discussions about the artwork. Mona was concerned that in portraying a sensual woman, she might be objectifying the female figure. I think she found a way to evoke the eroticism of the love poems in the book while still depicting the female figure as powerful.

Interestingly, Mona elected to handwrite the type on the cover in black letters, in order to have it match the wind-swept hair of the woman in the illustration.

I’ve found these collaborations with visual artists so fascinating. I’ve gotten to work with painters and graphic artists whose work I was a huge fan of, and felt a deep affinity for. To see their work displayed in tandem with my own is humbling and gratifying. I feel that their artwork and interpretations of the poems add greatly to the reader’s experience.

Other recent posts about writing topics: 
How to Get Published
Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop
How Not to Become a Literary Dropout
Putting Together a Book Manuscript
Working with a Writing Mentor
How to Deliver Your Message
Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?
Why Write Poetry? 
Poetic Forms: Introduction; The Sonnet, The Sestina, The Ghazal, The Tanka
Praise and Lament
How to Be an American Writer

Who Wants to Win a $10 TpT Gift Card?

Tis the season to be thankful and give!!  Who wants to win a $10 TpT store gift card?!  

Head on over and enter on both Mrs. Renz Class IG and Mrs. Renz Class on FB.  

There's 3 ways to enter:

#1 “like this post” for 1 entry, 

#2 share this post on your feed/wall tagging Mrs. Renz class for 2 entries, 

#3 tag a friend for another entry!!  

That’s a total of 8 entries if you enter on both FB and IG :D  

One winner will be announced Nov 27th at 6pm PST (just in time for cyber Monday)  

Happy Holidays and Merry Shopping to you!!

PhotoPro Expo 2017 Kicks Off It's Best Photo Conference EVER At The BEST Black Friday PRICE Ever - ONLY $119.99!

Hi Gang, You’ve got yo check this out!

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I'm really going to get into trouble with the PHOTOPRO EXPO accounting team for pricing the show so low - so grab it while you can before they make me change it back to the regular price of $159 ;~) 

You really don't want to miss this year's show!

_______________________________________________________________

Hey Gang,

That's it for me today. Happy Turkey Day to everybody and I hope to see you soon.

Adios for now,

David

Stage actress Kismat Baig passed away after being shot in Lahore

Perfectly Clear BIG BUNDLE At Best Price Ever!

Hey Gang, I just had my good friends over at Perfectly Clear reach out to me and asked me to tell you about their latest SUPER DEAL.  For $99 this new deal even includes the "Kitchen Sink" - metaphorically speaking of course ;~)

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Christmas Windows Nativity Play

The main prop is a huge 9 pane window which has the letters for Christmas and there are images on the back side of each pane which represent the parts of the Christmas story.  

The younger kids act out the play (stage right with the manger scene) with the older ones reading the meanings on the windows (centre stage at the shop window) and narrators stage left (by tree).  

Non Speaking Roles:

Mary -

Joseph –

Donkey -

Angels –

Shepherds -

Magi/Kings -

Speaking Roles:

Child 1 –

Child 2 –

Narrator 1 -

Narrator 2 –

Narrator 3 (Lead) –

Narrator 4 (Bible Reader) –

Carols:

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Away in a Manger

While Shepherds Watched

Silent Night

We Three Kings

Joy to the World

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Windows/Scenes:

- C – Census - Angel visiting Mary and Joseph and then they were called for a census.

- H – Hard Journey - Jesus and Mary travelling on a donkey to Bethlehem

- R – no Room - Knocking on inn doors, no room at the inn

- I – In an Inn’s stable - Jesus was born in a stable

- S – Shepherds - Shepherds on a hillside visited by an angel and travel to visit Jesus

- T – Truth – the Shepherds knew the truth of peace on earth

- M – Magi - Wise men see a star in the East and follow it to Jesus to give him gifts

- A – Answer – Jesus was the answer to their search for meaning

- S – Saviour – Jesus is our Saviour

C	H	R
I	S	T
M	A	S

Props: Large Shop Window with 9 panes (print or draw pictures)/ Huge Bible for “reading” /  

Costumes for the nativity play actors / Manger and other scenery

Script:

SET: Centre Stage - “CHRISTMAS” Shop Window.    Stage right - Manger Scene is empty.  Stage left – four narrators are facing Christmas tree chatting quietly…… From stage right: two children walk along and stop to stare at the window.

(Child 1) What is this window?  Where are the toys? What is it selling for us girls and boys?

(Child 2) What are the letters? And who is that crowd?

(Child 1) Be quiet and listen, they’re speaking out loud.

(Narrator 1) How much do you love Christmas?

(Narrator 2) So much.  Two whole weeks off school!

(Narrator 3) No homework to get done.

(Narrator 4) And no one forcing us to get out of bed.

(N 2) Do you think anyone will come to church this Christmas?

(N1) Of course, it’s always full, sometimes there’s not enough room for everyone

(N3) I hope there’s enough room for my friends

(N4) Have they been before?

(N3) No, and I’ve made a special surprise for them, to tell them all about Christmas

(N2) Cool.

(N1) What is it?

(N3) It’s behind us and I’ll need your help, look……

SET: narrators all turn around and look shocked at all the people in the church

(N1) where did they all come from?

(N2) they must have snuck in when we weren’t looking.

(N4) sneaky, very sneaky!!

(N3) and look, my friends have arrived and they’ve seen the surprise.  Hi xx, Hi xx.

(Child 1) Hi, Happy Christmas

(Child 2) What’s this?         (pointing at shop window)

(N3) It’s a surprise, to help us explain what Christmas is all about.

(Child 1) Cool, can we help?

(N3) Of course.

(Child 2) Is it all about the presents?

(N1) No.  It’s MUCH better than that! 

(N4) It starts with Mary and Joseph, they lived in Nazareth, they were going to have a baby and ……

(N3) Wait, wait, wait!  We’re going to look at each letter in the window. 

(N1) Every letter of the word CHRISTMAS.

(N2) Let’s start with C then.

(N3) OK.  xx, pick up letter C and let’s see what’s on the other side.

Shows the scroll picture to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

(Child 2) What is it?

(N1) C for Census.  The Christmas story starts with a census, a count of all the people.

(N2) Everyone had to go back to the town, where they were born, to register their family.

(N3) And pay their taxes

(N4) The Bible says “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.”

Mary and Joseph hold hands stage left and very slowly start walking across the stage with Donkey

(N2) Mary and Joseph had to travel all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

(N3) That’s a very, very, very long way, almost as far away as Birmingham.

(N1) Could that be the letter H perhaps.  xx do you want to look?

(Child 1) Yes, it looks like a journey.

Show the picture (and it appears on the screen)

(Child 2) But would they really have walked as far as Birmingham?

(N2) Well they couldn’t get a train or a plane!

(N3) Exactly, there wasn’t any choice, they had to take the long hard journey. 

(N1) H for a HARD journey.  Mary was pregnant so she rode on a donkey.

(N4) The Bible says “Joseph left Nazareth, a town in Galilee. He went to the town of Bethlehem in Judea. This town was known as the town of David. Joseph went there because he was from the family of David.  Joseph registered with Mary because she was engaged to marry him.

(Child 2) I know a song about Bethlehem I think……

All sing “O little town of Bethlehem”

(Child 2) Let’s look at letter R; what is this one all about?

Show the picture to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

(N2) R stands for Room, there were no rooms left at any of the inns in Bethlehem.

(Child 1) No rooms in any of the inns?

(N3) No, no room at any of the inns

(N1) They were all full because everyone was there for the census, thousands of people

(N4) The Bible says “While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have the baby.  There were no rooms left in the inn.”

Mary and Joseph and donkey wonder around looking more and more worried and sad

(Child 1) But you said Mary was pregnant, she needed somewhere to sleep

(N1) Yes, she did, and she found somewhere.  The answer might be behind the letter I.

Child 1 Show the picture to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

Mary and Joseph sit by the manger and the donkey sits down near by

(N3) I stands for Inn, but really it was just an Inn’s Stable

(N2) Smelly!

(Child 2) And dirty!

(N1) But quiet and safe.  And that was where her baby boy was born!

(N3) They called him Jesus, it means “God saves”.

(N4) The Bible says “She gave birth to a son. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger”

Mary and Joseph place Jesus inside the manger.

(Child 1) Can we sing again? 

(N2) How about away in a manger

All sing “Away in a Manger”

(Child 2) That was a nice story about Jesus, thanks.  And that’s why we have presents?

(N3) Well yes, but that’s not the end of the story, there’s a lot more to come.  Let’s look at letter S.

Child 2 Show the picture to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

(Child 1) What is that picture all about?

(N2) S stands for Shepherds, they were the first to receive a message of great joy about Jesus.

Shepherds enter stage left and sit with sheep

(N1) Angels came to them in the fields and told them about a new king, Jesus.

Angels enter and stand around the shepherds

(N4) The Bible says “That night, some shepherds were in the fields nearby watching their sheep.  An angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord was shining around them, and suddenly they became very frightened.  The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, because I am bringing you some good news. It will be a joy to all the people.  Today your Saviour was born in David’s town. He is Christ, the Lord.  This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.””

All sing “While Shepherds Watched”

(Child 2) A Lord?  You never said anything about a Lord

(N3) Yes, a Lord or King that they had been expecting for hundreds of years.

(N2) That is the letter T. T stands for Truth told by the angels

Child 1 Show the picture to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

(Child 1) Why would a King be born in a stable?

(N1) Because he was a different sort of king, a king from God.  A king for everyone in the world, even the shepherds on the hillsides.  That’s why the angels told them first.

(N2) When the angels left, the shepherds hurried off the hills

(N3) They went into Bethlehem to find Jesus and give him thanks.

Shepherds walk across the stage to the stable and sit around the outside.  Angels go with them.

(N4) The Bible says “Then a very large group of angels from heaven joined the first angel. All the angels were praising God, saying: “Give glory to God in heaven and on earth let there be peace to the people who please God.””

(N1) Let’s sing Silent Night

All sing “Silent Night”

(Child 2) Is that the end now?

(Child 1) No, look, there are three more letters in the windows.

(N3) Yes, three more letters.  Shall we look at the letter M.

Child 2 picks up M and shows the picture to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

(Child 2) I know what they are, they are the three wise men.

(N1) Yes, or they might be called Magi.  M stands for Magi.

Kings/Wise Men enter stage left and start walking around pointing at stars in the distance

(N2) They brought gifts from afar and came to worship Jesus.

Kings put the presents at the manger and kneel down around the outside

(N4) The Bible says “After Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.  They asked, “Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east. We came to worship him.”  They saw the same star they had seen in the east. It went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was.  When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy.  They went to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshiped the child. They opened the gifts they brought for him. They gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

All sing “We Three Kings”

(Child 1) Is there anyone else who comes to visit?

(N3) No one that the Bible tells us.  But we have two more important things to tell you

(Child 2) Shall we look at letter A?

(N1) Go on then.

Child 2 picks up letter A and shows the picture (and it appears on the screen)

(Child 1) Why is there such a bright light on the stable?

(N2) The light shows that Jesus is a gift from God; He is the answer for the whole world.

(N3) The A stands for Answer

(N1) The answer is to follow everything Jesus tells us; to help the poor and heal the sick

(N4) The Bible says “A child will be born to us.  God will give a son to us.  He will be responsible for leading the people.”

(N3) And the last letter gives us the meaning of this whole story. 

(N2) The reason why we celebrate Christmas with presents and happiness and celebration.

(N4) The Bible says “His name will be Wonderful Counsellor, Powerful God, Prince of Peace.”

Child 1 picks up letter S and shows it to everyone (and it appears on the screen)

(N1) And Saviour, S is for Saviour. 

(N3) Jesus lived and died so that when we say sorry to him, we are forgiven.

(Child 1 and Child 2) Wow

(N2) It’s amazing good news isn’t it.

(N1) Let’s sing again, a song of Joy about Jesus and His amazing love for us

(N3) I know just the carol “Joy to the World”

All sing “Joy to the World”

Thanks, Prayers and Blessing

All sing “We wish you a Merry Christmas”

Democracy is the best revenge- slaps of Democracy

Democracy is the best revenge- slaps of Democracy

AZAAN in Israili parliment اسرائیل میں اذان پر پابندی

Silent Movie Rehearsals

 Source: pinterest

 

Our Silent Movies project is well underway! We have written our storylines, planned each scene and been on a location scout to take pictures of the settings for each scene.

Last week, we started rehearsals. We love Drama in St. Clare's!

Friendship Week Art Project

As part of Friendship Week, everyone in Upper School is contributing to a big art project. Each of us is going to make a little sculpture of ourselves, using newspaper and mod rock. Then, at the end of Friendship Week, we will each write kind and positive messages about each other on our little people!

Here's the first stage of our sculptures- aren't they looking fantastic?!

We'll post more photos at each stage of the project!

P4C

 Source: ijb

Friday's P4C session was fantastic! This week is Friendship Week at school, so every class in the school will be using the wonderful 'Something Else' as a stimulus for Philosophy.

Source: Book Trust

 

We started early, on Friday afternoon, to give us more time to hold our enquiry.

The questions that were suggested by the groups were:

1. Is it rude to say 'No!'?
2. Why are some people envious of others?
3. Are we all the same in some way?
4. Why is everyone different?

Source: Book Trust

After editing the questions and looking for assumptions, we held a vote to decide which question to discuss. The winning question was:

'Is it rude to say 'No!'?'

We had a great discussion. Most people seemed to agree that sometimes it can be rude to say no, but it depends how you say it. We talked about 'white lies' and when it might be ok to lie to protect someone's feelings. We also talked about when it might be important, or even essential, to say no.

Well done everyone!