A very addictive game

Multipopword is just like Blogger, except you are playig online against others. You have to drag your mouse over adjoining letters to create words, building up your score. You cannot stop at just one game...

Much Ado About Nothing

SATS are fast approaching, and one of the biggest concerns for pupils is the Shakespeare Paper. Y8s and Y9s are studying Much Ado About Nothing this year, so I thought I would collate a few sites that might be worth a look.
Firstly, the 2 key scenes- the first one is from Act 4 Scene 1 and covers lines 196-325.
You can find it here, at the BBC bitesize website.
The second key comes at the very end of the play, Act 5 Scene 4 (the whole scene). You can find it here, on the previous site.

The Bitesize site also contains an excellent summary of the play.

If you find it helpful to listen to information when you revise, you may like these podcasts. They contain actors from the Globe Theatre's production of Much Ado discussing how the character feel and act in the key scenes. You can download them as MP3 files or listen to them on the site.

The SparkNotes sites has some good summaries and discussions of key themes and ideas in the play.

Finally, set your video/sky+/other gizmo to record the revision programme on Much Ado on the 13 March, 4am-6am on BBC2.

Romeo and Juliet quiz

Click here for full screen version

Click here for full screen version

Adventure stories Y7- Tolkien stories

Some of my favourite adventure stories and poems.

I always say how fabulous Northern Lights trilogy by Philip Pullman is, simply because it's true. Over Christmas I re-read Northern Lights and the Subtle Knife, and I'm pleased to say that the film hasn't spoiled my love of them. I still see the characters in my head as I first saw them, not as the actors on the screen.

One film which I think is actually better than the books on which it is based it The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. If you want to quest for some background information, you could try doing the cyber hunt here. The Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien, who also wrote The Hobbit.

One site that explains the background to the books is the Tolkien Trail, which has allsorts of games, explaations and interesting information about the author and the books. This section has lots of fun games to play based on the books; you don't need any prevous knowledge so just dive in! You may want a tour to familiarise you with the creatures of Middle Earth or their Weapons and Items. Middle Earth is, of course, the place where Tolkien's stories are set.

One famous scene in The Hobbit is where Bilbo Baggins( uncle of Frodo from LOTR) wins the ring from Gollum in a riddle contest. Visit this website for the rest of the riddles. The answer to this one is in white Text below it, so highlight it with your mouse to find the answer!

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Time

What's your daemon?

The Golden Compass, the first in a trilogy of films based on Philip Pullman's exceptional Dark Material trilogies (Northern Lights, The Amber Spyglass and the Subtle Knife) has hit cinema screens. Although there have been criticisms levelled at the films, mainly for not being as critical of religion as the books, it appears that the mystical world which Lyra inhabits has been recreated flawlessly. One fantastic feature of the books is the daemon which each person has. Part soul, part conscience, part adviser and part friend, these animals are an intrinsic part of each persons' make up. When you are a child your daemon can change shape and form, reflecting the as yet unformed personality. On the website of the film you can do a quiz which helps you find out who or what your daemon is.



Mine is an ocelot. What's yours?

The site also has an Alethiometer to play with which will reveal some beautiful drawings to use as desktop wallpapers. I currently have the London one as mine.

Poe in pictures

If you like The Tell Tale Heart and Berenice, then you may want to get this book, a graphic novel adaptation of some of Edgar's most famous stories and poems. Here's what Michel Faber, writing in the Guardian, had to say about The Tell Tale Heart:

Slater also tackles "The Tell-Tale Heart", transplanting Poe's allegory of guilty conscience into a more morally ambiguous, post-Silence of the Lambs landscape. Annie, the female protagonist, is blind and works in a support centre for people who've recently lost their sight. She becomes convinced that a new arrival is supernaturally evil and must be killed. Annie's heightened sensitivity to touch and sound is rich in narrative potential which Slater only begins to exploit before allowing the story to lapse into predictability. Alice Duke's artwork - her first published comic - is superb and, unusually for this book, employs a subtle, luscious range of grey tones rather than stark black and white. A talent to watch.

Feed the world whilst feeding your brain

A fantastic way to help the world's hungry as well as enlarging your vocabulary is to visit the freerice.com website. This simple yet addictive website gives you a word and then 4 possible meanings. If you click on the correct definition it donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations to help end world hunger. The program operates at a level that's right for you. If you get the answers wrong, it makes the starting words easier and if you get them right, it makes them harder. I donated 400 grains of rice in one sitting I got so addicted. Give it a go and save the world!
Example
Does sever mean divide, inform, pay out or extrude?