1. A British soldier had the chance to kill Hitler in WW1
This story made my jaw drop, and led to a very interesting discussion about how the world might have been a better place if Henry Tandey had pulled the trigger. A wounded German was trying to retreat. Tandey's rifle was trained on him. The German looked round and their eyes met. Tandey thought the young German may have had a family. In sympathy, he let the man go. That man was Adolf Hitler. In World War Two, he became the most brutal dictator the world has ever known. What's more, Tandey found out who the German was in a phone call from the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. How must he have felt? It's a fascinating and mind blowing story. You can read my Guided Reading activity on it by following the link below.
The Soldier who spared Hitler's life
2. Roald Dahl was a WW2 fighter pilot
Prior to becoming the world's most famous children's author, Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot in the RAF. During our literacy lessons on biography, we looked at his auto-biography, 'Going Solo'. Our class were on the edge of their seats as he recounted the tale of a crash in the African desert which almost cost him his life. After getting lost and running out of fuel, his Gladiator plane crashed and Dahl was knocked unconscious. Waking up, he could smell aviation fuel and see flames. He dragged himself away from the plane before it exploded. Bullets and shrapnel miraculously avoided his body. It took hours before he was found, and the injuries he sustained ended his flying career. From this he eventually got into writing. Alongside the books for which he is best known, Dahl also wrote the screen plays for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and somewhat bizarrely, James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me. When he died in 1990, he was buried with some of his favourite things - chocolate, wine, pencils and a power saw!
More Dahl facts
3. Dick Turpin was not a dandy bravado
The legendary highwayman, Dick Turpin, was not the brave and courageous man that literature would have us believe. Instead, he was an ageing, pock-faced, plain looking man who lived in a cave and hunted in a gang. He wasn't one to take on stage coaches single handedly. He would often prey on the weak and vulnerable, such as elderly widows. His eventual capture, however, was a remarkable coincidence. He had moved to Yorkshire from Essex some years previously, and changed his name to John Palmer to evade capture for his gruesome crimes. In a bizarre twist of fate, his old school teacher, who now worked as a post master, recognised his handwriting on a letter to his father, and turned him in. The children loved this story, as well as the excellent Horrible Histories video of the tale, performed in the style of Adam Ant.
Horrible Histories: Dick Turpin
4. Edvard Munch's Scream is screaming out at open spaces
I've often wondered what the Scream is actually screaming at. Well now I know, thanks to our art topic on mood and emotions. The abstract piece of art, which has inspired some wonderful pieces from children in my class, is actually representing Munch's own agoraphobia. The skull shaped head represents his fear of death. The image recalls a specific event when he was walking across a bridge with friends and felt 'a tinge of melancholy'. The people he was with kept walking (visible to the left of the picture), the sky became a bloody red and he heard a piercing scream. The scream was his own.
This term is actually the first time I have taught art. In my NQT year last year, I was on PPA when my class had art. My only previous experience was an OFSTED inspected lesson during my training year, which was deemed as 'inadequate.' I've come a long way since then!
5. Witches don't use even numbers in spells
We've been doing Shakespeare in literacy. Macbeth. I wasn't looking forward to teaching it. But I loved it, and so did the kids. With battles, ghosts and murders, there's certainly a lot to keep the children interested. When looking at the poem of the Three Witches, we noticed these lines:
"Why doesn't she just say four times?" one of my children asked. Good question. Armed with tablets, I asked the children to find out the answer. The reason is that even numbers were considered inappropriate to magical spells. (It's just a shame that with Halloween coming up, I live at number 27)
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That's what I've learned this half term. Do I get a sticker?
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