Admin EditHomework Monday 26th April
The priority is to finish you Mexico leaflets. Bring them in as soon as you are done.
The actitviy below is optional.
Due Thursday 6th May
Read the two stories below. Both the stories show how the sparrow and the nightingale realise that they have skills and talents, and that this makes them feel good about themselves. Write a paragraph about a time when you have done something special and made you feel that it is ‘Good to be me!’
The Sparrow
Sparrow is feeling low. It seems that all the birds are better than he is. He looks at
Peacock and thinks about how drab his own feathers are in comparison with Peacock’s
beautiful tail. He looks at Eagle and thinks about how pathetic his small wings are in
comparison with Eagle’s strong and elegant wings. He listens to the nightingale and tries to
sing but realises how tuneless his song is in comparisons with Nightingale’s beautiful song.
Disaster comes to the forest when a wicked spirit creeps into the forest and steals Wren’s
only chick from her nest. The spirit takes the little chick and hides it in his lair in the highest
clouds. Wren is devastated. The other animals try to help. They each set off in turn, but
come back unsuccessful. They can’t fly so high without tiring. At last Eagle agrees to go.
Everyone is hopeful, but he comes back unsuccessful. He almost reaches the spirit’s lair
but is too exhausted and has to return to earth before he gets there.
Sparrow hasn’t volunteered to help but a little voice inside him tells him he has something
to offer. Eagle says he will have one last go but he doesn’t think it will be any good.
Sparrow hides himself in the feathers on Eagle’s back. When Eagle tires, Sparrow leaves
the Eagle’s back and flies the last little bit to rescue the baby wren.
He returns to earth with Eagle and the baby wren. When asked what he wants as a reward
he says: ‘You have already given me everything that I could ever want. You have shown me
that it is Good to be me!’
The Nightingale
Nightingale loves singing but she doesn’t believe in herself. She hears all the other animals
and birds singing during the day and thinks that they are more tuneful than she is. She
doesn’t have the confidence to sing during the day because she thinks that all the other
animals will laugh at her singing. It is only at night, when she thinks that nobody is listening,
that she sings.
In the palace, there live the king, the queen and the princess, their young daughter. The
princess wakes one night and hears the nightingale. She thinks this is the most beautiful
sound she has ever heard. The princess falls ill and says that the only thing that will cure
her is to hear that beautiful singing again. The animals take it in turn to sing for the princess
but each time she becomes a little more ill. The nightingale doesn’t dare to come forward.
Everyone is weeping. A voice inside gives her strength. She comes forward even though all
the other animals are laughing at her.
She opens her beak to sing. The princess hears her and starts to feel better immediately.
When the king offers the nightingale anything in his kingdom she says: ‘You have already
given me everything that I could ever want. You have shown me that it is Good to be me!’
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