Thursday 26th March 2020

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Maths
We have been looking at decimals in class.  Can you add these decimal numbers together using column addition?  Remember the decimal point NEVER moves!

English

 Read the first part of the poem ‘Skimbleshanks’.

  • How easy is it to read? 
  • What tricky words did you find? 
  • Can you practise reading so that you can find the rhythm of the poem? 


 Skimbleshanks – Part 1 by T S Eliot

There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
Saying "Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
We must find him or the train can't start." 
All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
They are searching high and low,
Saying "Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
Then the Night Mail just can't go."
At 11.42 then the signal's nearly due
And the passengers are frantic to a man - 
Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
He's been busy in the luggage van!
He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes 
And the signal goes "All Clear!" 
And we're off at last for the northern part 
Of the Northern Hemisphere!  

You may say that by and large it is Skimble 
who's in charge Of the Sleeping Car Express.
From the driver and the guards to the bagmen playing cards
He will supervise them all, more or less.
Down the corridor he paces and examines all the faces
Of the travellers in the First and the Third;
He establishes control by a regular patrol
And he'd know at once if anything occurred.
He will watch you without winking and he sees what you are thinking
And it's certain that he doesn't approve 
Of hilarity and riot, so the folk are very quiet
When Skimble is about and on the move. 
You can play no pranks with Skimbleshanks! 
He's a Cat that cannot be ignored; So nothing goes wrong on the Northern Mail 
When Skimbleshanks is aboard. 

By TS Eliot



 Listen to two performances of the poem (link below). Play the first part of each of these performances.  Follow the words as you do.  

Performance one
Performance two


What are some of the differences between the two performances? 
Which do you prefer? Why?  

 Are you still looking for something else to do? 😀
  • Try learning some of the first part of the poem off by heart.
  • Make a picture of Skimbleshanks at his railway station
  • Find out and read some more of TS Eliot’s Cat Poems. You might like to search for Macavity or Old Deuteronomy.


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