Merry Christmas everybody

A splash at Christmas

As it is Christmas and the last swimming lesson for 3/4S and 3/4M the children were treated to a very fun lesson. They were given balls, giant floats and the slide was switched on! It was a great chance to use some of the skills they have learned over the last two terms.





By Mr Sherwin

Later Years Christmas pictures

Some of the Later Years followed up the skills they have learnt earlier in ICT to produce Christmas pictures.

Christmas Carols

Below are a few pictures and videos from today's fantastic Nativity and carol singing.

Christmas carols

We all went over to the church for our Christmas carol concert this afternoon. It was great.



By Mr Sherwin

Our medieval feast

After our assembly we had our feast.,In it their were servants,lords and ladys, the king and the queen.The people to entertain the king and queen where the jester's who where really funny. Most of them where standing on there heads and doing hand stands. The lords and ladys where introduced to the king and queen. After they done that everybody sat down while the servants came around giving snacks and mince pies. Every body was having fun and joining in.


by Megan

Our topic assembly

Today we had our school play. We did the play about our topic and we each had a part each and I am sure we enjoyed it. Our Topic was about knights and castles and liquids and solids. We all were reading out loud and good but some in our practices were fast, not clear and low. The teachers and the children couldn't hear. But when we done the real assembly, we done it fine and Mr.Condon said to all of us at the end that he realy liked it and enjoyed it. Some of us were wearing our costumes and our hats. Our hats we made were for the feast as well. Some of us did not wear the hats and saved them for the feast. I enjoyed it and I am sure the other children and the audience enjoyed it.


from
Lucia

World Time Zones

This week the Later Years Primary have been investigating world time zones. We looked at countries on our 'Around the world trip' and calculated what time it would be in relation to various times set in London.

Around The World Budget Sheets

Whilst undertaking our 'around the world trip' the Later Years children have been keeping a budget sheet. The children were given a budget of £5000 and needed to log costs of travel, accommodation and activities undertaken such as visiting tourist attractions.

The budget sheet produced lots of learning and presented many challenges such as:

• Researching the lowest cost of travel and accommodation.
• Converting currencies
  
• Finding out which airliners flew where
• Discovering some places required a Visa
• Discovering a destinations tourist attractions and their costs.
  
• Finding locations
• How do you get to the Galapagos Islands?

Photos of our 'Around the World trip'

The Later Years Primary are coming to the end of their 'Around the World' project. Last week we had a special topic assembly to show off our learning. Recently in ICT we have been placing ourselves in pictures around the world. The results look fantastic - check out where we have been!

Mathletics - Hall of fame

Congratulations to those children who recently managed to make it onto the Mathletics Hall of Fame. Below are the scores of some children I spotted on the UK and World leader boards. A special congratulations goes to James in the Later Years Primary who has already achieved all of his initial gold bars!

Well done to all the Later Years Primary for brilliant work and effort at Mathletics - Keep up the good work!

PTFA Christmas disco

Some photos of the disco last Friday. It was a great night!

Moving with Year 2

This afternoon I was invited into Year 2 to look at their amazing Design Technology work, making vehicles. They had been developing their team skills as well as their making skills. Well done all!

During RE, Y5/6P wrote out their Christmas wish lists. The children were then given the task of writing a Christmas list for a child in one of the poorer areas of a country visited during our 'Round the World' topic. This gave the class much food for thought.

Some items from class lists
Nintendo wii
Games for PSP
Arsenal shirt
money
football boots
hamster
sweets
Some wishes for a street child
Enough to eat
A home
A family
Water
Clothes
Somewhere safe to sleep
love


Having completed the lists, the class were asked to write down their thoughts.

"I looked the the lists and felt sad"
"I looked at both lists and I feel embarrassed"
"I have looked at both lists and it makes me feel guilty"
"I have looked at the lists and it makes me feel unhappy"


Christmas is not about presents, it is about the love and joy we spread. We are annoyed when we don't get what we want but we never think about what we need. People who live on the street have one wish and that wish is to be like us. Our families are all we really need; simple donations may help a family have a meal at Christmas. The gift of love from God is greater than any present in the world. A gift to a greedy person means nothing, but a gift to a grateful person means the world. God sent his child to earth to rescue us and where the child was born there wasn't a feast or presents but there was love.
Leigh.

The greatest gifts are: Holy Spirit, forgiveness, friendship and families together. At Christmas they don't have Jesus but they have santas and reindeers. I heard a poem related to this-
Where is life? Lost in living
Where is knowledge? Lost in information.
Where is wisdom? Lost in knowledge.
Where is Jesus? Lost in Christmas.
People on the street have only one wish; that wish is to be more like us. May everyone less fortunate be happier... and they still have hope and Jesus in their hearts.
Kevin

My thoughts about Christmas, I would like everyone to be happy and not to have killing and for everyone to get a present. I would like lonely people not to be lonely. I would like everyone to be friends.
Mateusz.

I think everyone needs a home and family. If I saw a shooting star, I would wish for everyone to be happy and have somewhere to spend Christmas...

Care for the people
Have fun with each other
Remember
In every country there's hope
Stars shine
Together we are united
Make peolpe happy
All nations rejoice in Jesus
Sadness, nowhere to be seen.
James

Going for Gold

At St Joseph's we love singing and last July we were awarded the SingUp Silver Award. As we are so good at singing we thought that this year we'd Go for Gold! This means that over the next year or so, we will be encouraging singing as a learning tool- we might sing for fun, sing to learn something, sing to energize our bodies, sing to help us remember facts or sing to accompany a special moment in the school's life. Hopefully at the end of the year, we will have acheived our Gold SingUp Award.
We the teachers, are especially interested in any singing ideas that you (parents, children and the wider community of St Joseph's) might have. Either come in and chat with us, or post a reply to this entry.
And if you haven't checked out the SingUp website, then why not have a go? Find it on www.SingUp .org
Have fun singing!

Usain Bolt challenges

Recently the Later Years Primary has been studying Jamaica as part of their 'Around the world project'. We looked at Usain Bolt, three times Gold medalist and world record holder over 100 & 200m. Usain Bolt can run the 100m in a world record time of 9.58 seconds. In maths we took this measurement and wondered what we could do in the time Bolt can run the hundred metres (ten seconds). The children needed to each undertake a maths challenge and a challenge of their choice.



Some examples of the challenges undertaken were:

• How many even numbers can you write down in ten seconds

• How many multiples of 8 can you jot down in ten seconds

• How many sit ups can you do in ten seconds

• How many times can you bounce a ball on a cricket bat in ten seconds

• How many smarties can you move with a straw in ten seconds.

These results were collected and then displayed as frequency tables and graphs. We had lots of fun undertaking the challenges.

Magic Potions

This week in the Middle Primary Years(3/4),the children spent a whole day learning all about solids, liquids and gases and how these states can change. The theme was wizards, witches and scientists, and all 3 classes investigated and experiemented all day long. I was especially impressed with the way in which learners were challenging each other to answer scientific questioning, work well together in teams and wanted to find out more about concepts like reversible and irriversible changes and evaporation and condensation.

I'll be adding some photos next week!!

Mr. Condon

Poilce Safety

Today we had Alison and Anna the community police officers in our school assembly. We learned about stranger dangers, and how strangers have loads of tricks in thier minds. They told us what to do if a stranger tried to hurt or attack us. We should yell and run to a place where we feel safe then tell a teacher or a parent what happened. So if someone tries to touch you in a uncomfortable way, YELL and RUN AWAY


By Jaylene, Amber and Joe

Jamaican cuisine

This week the Later Years Primary have been looking at Jamaica as part of their 'Around the World' project. Today we were treated to some delicious Jamaican cuisine, brought in by Amber and Yasmin. We all enjoyed tasting the Jerk chicken with rice and peas.

Our Brazilian Football name

If you played for Brazil, What would your name be?

During the Later Years 'Around the world' project study of Brazil, we looked at Brazilian football and the life of Edison Arantes do Nascimento (Pelé). Many Brazilian players are known by a nickname. Kaka's real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, or Ronaldinho whose real name is Ronaldo de Assís Moreira. We found out our Brazilian football name using this website.

Going for Gold

As we have seen in previous blogs the children in the Later Years primary have made a fantastic start to Mathletics. Many children are now receiving bronze and silver certificates for their achievements.


We have decided to launch a challenge to see who will be the first children in each Later Years Maths group to reach the Gold Award. We will be giving prizes to the first three children in each Maths Group. Good Luck!!

Weighing up

Today Mr Sherwins numeracy group have been using scales to weigh objects to find precise weights.


By Mr Sherwin

Our assembly this morning

Today in our assembly we watched apart of the ten Commandments with Moses,we started watching it on Monday and we watched the other part today. We have more to watch and we watched it when Mosis went back to Egypt and asked his brother and said let his people free. But Moses brother would not let his people free. Everyone was excited because we were going to watch it when Mr.Condon switched it off every body was sad because they wanted to watch more.





By Lucia and Megan.

All about our Mezuahs

Mr Sherwins class made there own Mezuahs,we made it with green carboard first we wrote part of the shema on one side, on the back we decorated it with a nice pattern and colourd them in then Mr Sherwin rolled it up then tied it in yellow string. After we were all excited that they were made,a shema is a prayer that the jewish people say it in there mind when they touched it and put them on there gates and doors, they make Jewish happier.


By Lucia and Megan.

Galapagos problem solving

On Friday some Later Years pupils were given the challenge of trying to calculate the perimeter of the Galapagos Islands. The best solutions involved using string or paper to gradually mark off the distance around the islands and then using the map scale to convert into Kilometres.

Aboriginal Art

The Later Years (Yr 5 & 6) have been studying Aboriginal Art as part of their around the world project in Australia. The children created their own Aboriginal style painting, choosing an animal that best represented their personalities. Whilst painting they explored various mark making, producing some stunning work.

Galapagos

Dear Reader,

I am Ailis a year six pupil at St.Joesph's school. I am writing to ask you 'Do you like wildlife?' If you do you won't want it to die out, well if things in the Galapagos Islands carry on, their unique animals might die.

There are many beautiful animals in Galapagos, some can't be found anywhere else.Unfortunately some of these are being killed in different ways like poaching, pollution, foreign animals (cats, dogs, rats) killing and taking food or some animals have even had their habitat invaded.Who would want to destroy the magnificent views and wildlife? Some thing has to be done.

In Galapagos animals such as Penguins, Iguanas and Giant turtles can't be found anywhere else so it would be a shame if they went extinct. So, here are some ideas to prevent this:

We could advertise reasons not to litter because it could effect the wildlife.

The prices could be raised for trips to Galapagos to stop over tourism.

Cameras could be installed to make sure the animals are in no danger of being poach.

All these things were discussed in our class, we all thought carefully about what could be done.

Galapagos Islands is a very beautiful place not to be ruined do you agree?

Yours Faithfully Ailis

Galapagos

Dear Reader,
I am Jaylene, a later year student from St. Joseph primary school. I am concerned about Galapagos Islands. It is a very unique place. It has animals and plants that are found no where else in the world. They have little pollution and the views are beautiful.

The Galapagos Islands are now getting polluted with people bringing other animals who have started to live there. Because of this it will scare the native animals away. People are killing the giant tortoises. Do people have sense? In my opinion we should stop this madness.

To stop all these things we should protest. If anyone hunts the animals they should get a longer Jail sentence or bigger fine. We should educate people about the Galapagos Islands, its beauty and how it should not be polluted. Teach them about the different animals and why it is so important.
Please do what you can to help


Yours Sincerely,

Jaylene Manmohan

Learning french

Today we have been learning french and we have been learning numbers up to 31 and learning how to say our name ,our birthday and to sing happy birthday. Mr.Sherwin has been saying stuff in french and we answer something back in french,in the regester we've been saying good morning,our lunch hot dinners or pack lunch and good afternoon in french.Its nice to learn a new langueage and nice to learn french.So far we have been learning body parts and feelings are french is getting better and we are getting better at our french.

from
Lucia and Megan

Bushtucker Challenge

Bugs make a regular appearance on "I'm a celebrity - Get me out of here". They have featured in some stomach-turning Bushtucker Challenges - celebrities have even been forced to eat them alive! Actually, many insects are high in protein and low in cholesterol, and are a valuable source of nutrients in parts of Australia, Asia and Africa.

The later Years as part of their 'Around the world project' study of Australia have looked into eating bugs. The children used their scientific knowledge and practised their numeracy skills to devise a nutritionally balanced insect-and-rice menu for a day in the jungle.

Mathletic stars

The Later Years Primary have been making excellent progress in their Mathletics challenges. Some children made it onto the the UK top 100 Students. A few even made the outstanding achievement of making it into the world top 100 students. We also managed to get one of our classes into the top 50 UK classes. Well done!!!

Below are a selection of some of the achievers I managed to spot on the leader boards

Do you Didgeridoo?

This week the Later Years Primary have been studying Australia as part of their 'Around the world project'. Today during lunch play, they were treated to some Didgeridoo playing from Steve, Ms Coelho's husband. Some children were also lucky enough to have the chance to have a go themselves. The children discovered lots about how didgeridoos are made and how to create the different sounds.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE'S LETTER

On the 12th November Joe T recieved a letter from Queen Elizabeth. It will be shown on Mondays celebration assembly. Her Lady-in-waiting (her personal assistant) wrote the letter in Her Majestys words and the Queen also sent me some leaflets about herself, her Corgi's and Dorgies and Buckingham Palace.
I was very proud about getting a letter from the Queen and very excited to write to her again!

our litracy lessons in middle year

In our litracy lessons we are studdying playscripts and we've been reading the scrips and proforming it out in our class,we all enjoy learning playscrips in litracy we've been doing Humpty Dumpty,Jack and Jill and Little Red Ridding Hood. We have been trying to improve more than we can normaly do and its good for our reading excises, writning excisecs and our listenig sklis.

By Megan and Lucia

Kabaddi

In PE the Later years have been playing the Indian game Kabaddi as part of their 'Around the world' project.

steel pan

I brought in a steel pan for my presentation of our around the world homework project. For my project I did Trinidad and Tobago. I played the steel pan in front of my class.

By Jaylene

Going to Mass

Today we went to mass and we were learning our recponces and listening to Father Joy telling us storys how much jesus loves us,cares for us and looks after us.Father Joy was happy to be there with us in the mass and happy to tell us the story's he gave us the holy bread and gave the adults the holy wine,we learnt more about church and what we have to say in mass. Before we came into the mass and went back out we bowed to the alter and done the sign of the cross with the holy water.

By Megan and Lucia

New bloggers in Mr Sherwin's class

Hello we are Megan and Lucia we are now bloggers from Mr.Sherwins class we are excited about being the blogers,we would like to tell you about our learnig in middle primary.

Honey Pomelo

Today I brought in a Chinese fruit called Honey Pomelo that I'd found out about in my project on Taiwan! It's like a giant orange and tastes a bit like a grape fruit. The Honey Pomelo has thick peel and is very hard to get open! I showed my class (Y5/6C) how to open it in a special way. After I finished opening it, I told the class the Taiwanese people called the now peeled peel a hat. So I wore it on my head! Then, me and Sophie, took the bowl of cut up Honey Pomelo round all three later year classes for us all to taste. It taste very very Gert Lush! If you would like to try some you can get them in Lidl or the Chinese Super Market in Eastville.

by Ailis and Sophie

Challenges are back!

St Joseph's Challenges

It's back with a new look

There are loads of new School Challenges this term with prizes to be won. Closing date: Friday 4th December.

And it's crammed with loads of new web challenges. Good luck!

Great start to Mathletics

It is great to see so many Later Years children (Year 5& 6) undertaking Mathletics during the school holidays. Looking at the children's results so far, they have made a fantastic start. Some of our pupils have even made it onto the Mathletics UK top 100 students. Well done!!!

The Launch of Mathletics

Last week saw the exciting Launch of Mathletics across the Later Years Primary. Mathletics is a fantastic online Maths resource which sets tasks and provides help for children's learning in Maths.


One of the most exciting things about Mathletics is the fact that the children can undertake in Mathletics live, a place where children can compete at Maths with friends and children from around the world.



Whilst playing Mathletics the children can receive points for good results and in return can achieve certificates. The website also allows the teacher to set ability levels and monitor results.
With it being online, in means that it allows the children to access it where ever they have the Internet, making it brilliant for home learning.

Investigating Forces

Year 5 spent some time last week investigating forces. The focus of the lesson was accuate measuring. The children showed great team work and enjoyed the tasks set.

Kho Kho

Last week the Later Years Primary were in India as part of their 'Around the World' project. On Friday we played the Indian game Kho Kho, which was lots of fun.

More thoughts on Ethiopia from Sarah in Mrs Patton's class.
Ethiopia
A scorched, barren land with extremely poor and terrified people. Lost, abandoned souls sing their hymns and hang on to their faith through the blistering heat of the sun. Decorated bodies, singing beautifully on a parched, deserted road. Petrified, people gather in a small, arid room waiting anxiously for their cries and pleas to be answered. An abandoned straw house, left to wither. Inside, filthy, broken pots lying unused and undisturbed. A jagged knife sits beside old fruits that have been left to rot. An innocent child starves and dehydrates slowly. (Sarah M)


Hunger
Hunger
Hunger
Swollen bellies
Silent tears
Yearning for food
Carries on forever
The pain of years
Will it ever heal?
Suffering, dying, sickness and fear
It's a dreadful, endless cycle.
Children left with no love anywhere
Hearts filled with pain and despair.
Sarah M.

These are more poems on Ethiopia that were read out in the Assembly.

Ethiopia

Loveless children everywhere,

Homeless people in despair,

as time fly,

People die of thirst and food.

Poor Blank open eyes,

Glancing for food that they can find,

no home, no education anything to believe,

rags, no riches

No help, no hope

by

Lakshmi

Ethiopia

Poor blank open eyes

looking and peering for anything

they can find

Their love has gone

all you can hear is cries

As tomorrow the next day dies

They have rags we have clothes

they need more we need less

Ethiopia we pray the best

you've got our love

you got our care

you got us everywhere

will try to help without a doubt

By

Leanne

Mr.Conlons class assembly

This morning Mr. Conlon's class done an assembly. But unfortunately Mr. Conlon was ill, but they still done very well.

Here is some poems that we wrote based on Ethiopia:

Tired, dusty faces

Dry, hot places

Tears and screams

No water no streams

Thin pale bones

There only tools sticks and stones

A bundle of helpless children hoping for food

No riches just rags

No water no food

Just hunger Just thirst

There dying they need a nurse

Hard floor no comfort

Just pain which hurts

Young boys Young girls

Have fear in their eyes

They want it to be over

and restart their lives.

By Will Brain

Our thoughts on pictures taken in Ethiopia

This week Y5/6B wrote some fantastic sentences for the pictures above.

The murky hands of death, reaching out.

Gloomy, no colour, starved.

Hope, crushed by death.

The roads are ending, death has been revealed.

The poor child, in poverty and illness, laying there, stuck, to the dusty ground.

Suffering from hunger, deaths hands encroach on his weak body.

The baby is crying, sadly to her poor mother, the mother is trying to make her upset baby comfortable in his starvation.

The body, disintergrating until there was no more of the woman there once was.

Sad, upset, what can they do? Can they live,will they die? Not enough food, not enough drink, someone help them!

As thin as a stick the hungry child lays on the dusty blanket.

Sukkah

This week the Later Years Primary have been in Israel as part of their 'Around the world' project. The children learnt about the Jewish festival Sukkot and made their own Sukkah from a net of a cuboid. They decorated the Sukkah making mini salt dough fruit and tissue paper flowers.

Jewish cuisine - Hamantaschen

Today the Later Years (Year 5 & 6) were treated to some Hamantaschen cooked by Mrs Bell. The children loved it so much many of them asked for the recipe to try and make it at home.

Nobles, townsfolk and villagers

On Wednesday, the rest of Middle Primary went to Caerphilly Castle and the Winding House Museum. They took part in workshops where they were medieval detectives and were taken back in time into a knight's court. They got ready for a feast for the Lord of the Castle and his nobles. We learned about the different punishments of that time - gruesome! Everyone had a good time learning about the times and trying on chain mail, hats, cloaks as well as trying their hand at writing like monks on parchment.
Meanwhile at school, we all made shields with our chosen coats of arms on and learned about how important these were for recognising who the knights were.

The great feast

The children learned about the differences between noble people, towns people and peasants by dressing up and preparing for a feast in


the great hall
By Mr Sherwin

Knights and castles

Today half of Moddle primary are on a trip to Caerphilly castle to learn about the way of life in medieval times.



By Mr Sherwin

Looking at forces

Last week in Science the Later years classes (Yr 5/6) began looking at forces. The children were given the challenge of building the highest structure possible, using a limited number of straws and a metre of tape. The structure also needed to support the weight of a cup of water. The children had fun working together to build their structures and learnt that different shapes were able to withstand different forces.

More Legoland photos

Legoland

On Friday the Later Years Primary (Yr 5/6) went to Legoland Winsor, as part of our 'Around The World project'. We had fun exploring miniland - 35 million pieces of Lego used to create many different scenes from across the world. There we spent time trying to spot different tourist attractions.





As part of the trip we attended a lego workshop on robot control. The children were asked to program a robot to perform various tasks.










We also had a fantastic time on many of the Park's rides and attractions. Some children even managed to attend a driving school and passed their driving licence!



More photos of the day coming soon

Good stuff!!!

Great to hear about the new bloggers. I look forward to reading your posts about great learning in St. Joes!

Mr. Condon

NEW BLOGGER

Today, Joe T has decided to become a blogger for the school blog and join the blogger team.

The Blogger's presently are : Joe YR6, Sebastian YR6, Jaylene YR6 and Amber YR6!

Joe will try to sniff out stories and sucsessful learning throughout the school and post it on the Blog and so will the other bloggers!

Sports Star

Congratulations to Christian in the Later Year Primary (Y5/6) who has been selected to attend the Gifted & Talented sessions this year at the University of the West of England (UWE).

Last June Christian attended Sports Sessions along with 220 other pupils from across Bristol, after being nominated by St Josephs for excelling at Sports. From the 220 pupils, only 30 have been selected as being the best from the Bristol area and therefore invited to take part in the sessions at the University. Well done Chris!

Descriptions of Greece

Leon in the Later Years Primary has been working hard to improve his writing. Below are some examples of his fantastic descriptions.




Standing there, I could see a stunning ancient Greek temple. The sun shone down onto the tall stone pillars, creating huge dark shadows. Tourists were like tiny ants gathering on its golden steps.






Peering over the edge of a cliff, I can see a beautiful view below. The shinning sea, was as blue as the sky above. The land below looked like clay models. I can just make out there is a wreck of an old battered boat left on the beach shore.

Ict

Today Middle S has been researching castles. Using the internet, children were surfing, copying and pasting information about the different parts of castles.


I was very impressed how quickly the children were able to find the right information.


By Mr Sherwin

Our creation psalms

Today we have listened to some psalms about creation and have written some of our own.

Here is Niamh's psalm:
Great and powerful God, thank you for the beginning of the world. Thank you for my special life. I can speak, I can walk, I can do anything at all. Thank you for the trees, the sun, the moon, stars and planets. Thank you for the animals. Thank you for the colour in the world.

Well done Niamh




By Mr Sherwin

Peace Day Prayers

Today was Peace Day, and the later years (Year 5&6) moved on to Greece as part of their Around the World project. The children looked at the symbol of the Olive branch. In Greek tradition, olive branches represent peace. The plant was considered sacred to the ancient goddess of wisdom, Athena. An Olive wreath was also given to the winners of the Ancient Olympic Games.

The motif of an olive branch can also represent "hope for peace" and even a peace offering from one person to another, as in the phrase "extend an olive branch"


Below are some of our Peace Day prayers

St. Joseph's Cycles with Sustrans!

Our Virtual School

Early on in Year 5, it was clear that Liam Maslowski was an ICT star. He continued to develop, producing fantastic work such as designs for my classroom and in his animations. I set Liam the challenge of creating the whole school on Google sketchup. Liam who left the school in July and now attends Downend school, worked on this task for several months during his spare time. Last week he returned to St Joseph's with his finished designs. His work and attention to detail is incredible!! He has set an example of what can be achieved through determination and hard work. Well done Liam and all the very best in your new school.

Vatican art

Whilst studying Italy this week, the Later Years group (5&6) looked the Vatican City and explored the Art work of the Sistine Chapel. In a competition, the children were given several paintings and were asked to guess the bible stories that they represented. In a later round of the competition they were given clues such as bible readings. Finally they were given the title of the paintings to match up to the pictures. The activity sparked lots of discussions about what the paintings were about.

Supporting Sustrans

Jack Underhill and Leigh Smith went beside Morrisons, where sustrans got a crystal trophey and a Award signed by the Queen. Then the Lord Lietutenant of Bristol turned up and shook their hands. Next,the photographer came and took their photographs for the Evening Post.

Leigh quoted "I enjoyed it, it was really fun!"
Jack also said "I enjoyed riding my bike to Morrisons".


If you would like to find out more then click on the link below.
http://www.sustrans.org/

Leanining Tower of PASTA!

During our Italian week Year 5/6 (Later Years) had the challenge of building the Leaning Tower of Pasta! (D.T) It was great fun, But it was harder than it sounds!

Comments from the children

Joe T: It was very fun and I got tempted to eat it, but luckily I didn't!

Kelsey F: It was fun and exciting, but very messy!

Daniel A: It was fun, but in the end our's fell over, I guess thats why they call it the leaning tower of pisa.

French breakfast

This week the later years classes have arrived in France for their project 'Around The World'. To kick off this learning on France, the children were treated to a French breakfast. Many of the children dressed up in French costume. For breakfast we ate croissants and baguettes, whilst listening to French music. The children needed to use their best French to pay and order their food. Géniale!!!

Around The World Project

The Later years classes have begun their topic for the term -Around The World.

We will be discovering more about different countries around the world, whilst undertaking lots of exciting learning.


The journey has begun......

FRENCH BREAKFAST

Today the Y5/6 classes all had a french breakfast with french food we even got given a little menu and some play money. Mrs marsh said a prayer before we bagan to eat but the part of the prayer was because it was in french!

In the end it turned out like a great bite to eat.

French Breakfast

This morning the y5/6 classes had a french breakfast. We had to use play money eurous to buy the food we had croissants,bread,chocolate bits bread and drinks. The breakfast was delicous, mrs marsh bagan us with a french prayer we had to say every thing in french.



IT WAS FUN

A leaver's prayer

Mrs. Patton shared with me this beautiful prayer written by Peter -

Dear God,

Make us strong to stand up for what's right and make us the person inside.
Let us show the talents that we have.
Guide us through the journal of life, let us choose the right path and not to follow to dark path.
Make our future life be bright, each and everyday.
Amen.

Well done Peter.

I hope you are all having a happy and restful break.

Home learning

A few years ago, myself and a few other G&T coordinators from across Bristol produced a booklet as a source of guidance for teachers. It was intended to be used by them to give parents ideas about how to work with their children at home to further promote and support their abilities and interests. I thought it would be useful to show this again and place it on the school blog, particularly now with it being the summer holidays. Options are available to increase the size of the booklet or print.


How to Support Your Interested

Goodbye

It was an emotional day as we said Goodbye to our Year 6 children. They have had a fantastic year and showed great team work. We also say Goodbye to Mr Tilmouth who is also sadly leaving the school. We wish him well in the future and thank him for all his hard work.

All the best and good luck in your new school!

Y5/6C Banksy Style graffiti

Earlier in the school year, Year 5 & 6 looked at the work of Banksy in their Art Attack project. The class created stencils, which eventually this week we got round to spraying. The results look fantastic! If you are interested in Banksy be sure to check out his work at the Bristol Museum, which closes on 31st August and is free to enter.

Cheetahs

Year 3/4 have had another great PowerPoint presentation for their Safari homework project. The children had to make their own project on a Safari animal of their choice. Hannah in Mrs. Mantle's class did her's on Cheetahs.

Year 6 Performance

Year 6 this week produced two fantastic performances of their play Frankie and me. The audience was treated to some brilliant acting and superb singing. Congratulations and Well done Year 6 for all your hard work. Many thanks to everyone who helped.


















And here is another chance to see the animation in the play starring many of the teaching staff.

GoAnimate.com: Year6 performance


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Year 1 Assembly and open morning

Today Year 1 shared their assembly with the rest of the school and lots of parents. The children have worked really hard this term on their seaside topic and really enjoyed sharing it with everyone.

After the assembly parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters and friends stayed and had the opportunity to look at the children's books. This was a great success and the children really enjoyed it. Thank you to everybody that made the effort to come in the rain and make the event so brilliant. A big thank you to Miss Geach for her hard work not only this term but all year! Well done year 1!

Miss Wright

We sang our way to a national award!

We are proud to say we are the first school in Bristol to gain a silver SingUp award. As a result of this we featured in an article on Saturday 18th July Evening Post. Click on the link to see the article. Well done everyone and particularly Mrs Marsh for all your hard work.

Safari project

If you want to find things out about then watch my presentation.

In our Year 3/4 Safari topic we have been learning about different African animals as a homework project. I did a Zebra.

Thank you, Lauren H.

Year 5 animation

After creating a Manga animation, Year 5 coninued to explore animation using the website Goanimate. The children have worked hard scanning in artwork, creating soundeffects and storyboarding ideas. Using their Manga artwork, the children produced their own superhero stories. Below are a few examples.



GoAnimate.com: super hero movie 3 by big boy bling 32 By Will


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

GoAnimate.com: love at first sight dun dun dun!(leigh'n' anna) by wonderwomen


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

GoAnimate.com: superhero movie by yan1234


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Year 3/4 go on Safari!

Yesterday, Year 3/4 went ot Longleat Safari park. It was a trip planned in with our Safari topic.



Cory in my class has written this for the Blog

'Yesterday all Y3/4 classes went to Longleat Safari Park. We saw lots of animals. Fist we saw the Tapiers, they had very long noses. We saw lots of Giraffes and Zebras. On our way through the Safari we saw some very rare Stags. We don't think they were part of the Safari Park. It was very fun and even though we couldn't go and see all of the animals, it was really worth it!'

Cory 3/4 T

FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS

On Wednesday 15 July 2009 St.Joseph's Fencing Club took part in the Bristol Primary Schools' Fencing Championship. Other schools that took part were Oldbury Court Primary and Bannerman Road Primary.
Our school had two teams:
Team A-Sebastian, George, Keegan and Orian.
Team B-Liam, Jack, Alana and Aaron.
Each team played two matches up two 45 points.We all played really well and enjoyed ourselves.

THE RESULTS:
Bannerman Road-GOLD+TROPHY FOR A YEAR
St.Jo's Team A-SILVER
St.Jo's Team B-BRONZE
Olbury Court-BRONZE

In the end it turned out to be a great day and we were all proud of ourselves.

Fencing Competion

A report from Mrs. Smaka -

St Jo's did really well, they came 2nd and joint 3rd so got silver and bronze medals. Bannerman Road got Gold and the trophy for a year. Oldbury Court - joint 3rd

Team A: Sebastian, George, Keegan and Orian - SILVER
Team B: Liam, Jack, Alana and Aaron - Joint BRONZE

Well done to all invloved!!!!!!

Aaron Blue tit bird eggs!

Aarons Grandad has given him eight blue tit eggs. Aaron has been looking after these eggs for 13 days. Unfortunatly they died ever scince his Grandad found them.

A day at the seaside!

Today year 1 ventured to Weston- Super - Mare as part of their seaside topic. We had a wonderful day and all the children behaved incredibly. Mr Condon took us on a tour of old Weston and we saw the old pier. Then we had lunch on the beach and then made sand sculptures using materials we had collected on our walk. We all had a fantastic but tiring day. A big thank you to the parents for helping - we couldn't have done it without you!

Creating Top Trumps cards

A few weeks ago Year 6 was given a homework task of creating their own Top trump cards. They came back with some stunning designs. Some of the cards are so good, they look like they are professionally made!

Tennis problem solving

Following Wimbledon Year 5&6 have been solving various tennis related problems.


For example how many rectangles can you see on a tennis court?






We solved problems related to the world's fastest servers at tennis. Sam discovered that if Andy Roddick was able to serve a tennis ball from York to Aberdeen, it would take one hour 58 minutes for the ball to reach its destination. Estella calculated that a ball from Venus Williams travelling from Glasgow to Sheffield would take one hour 53 minutes.

Year 5 Manga animation

Year 5 have been exploring Manga Art and have created their own Manga characters. We have begun to look at animation and produced this short video.

Wanted!

Year 2 have been making wanted posters for their pirate posters. Some of them look very scary!
By Mr Sherwin

Nice Semi Marathon

Following a brilliant Sports Day earlier in the week, yesterday we were joined by Mr Terry who told us about his race. As a result of his run in the Nice Semi Marathon we have managed to raise £240 and a further £500 was donated by HSBC to our charity For-Ethiopia. A big thank you to Mr Terry and everyone who donated. Also well done to those members of Year 5&6 who helped with the running of the sponsorship.

Polyominoes

Recently in Maths Year5&6 have been investigating Polyominoes. The children had fun exploring the different shapes and particularly enjoyed playing Tetris.

Years 5 and 6 have been studying the poem 'The Wrong Flowers' by Brenda Cook. We looked at differences and how people are treated because of them. In the poem, Brenda Cook looked back over her life and we saw how life changed for her over time. Below are some of the poems we wrote about changes in our lives.

I am me

When I was small
I used to feel like I was living inside a tree
I had so many things to do
I had things to see, things to climb.
I could trust anything and anyone.
So many ambitions
So many dreams
But then someone cut down that tree and I began to age.

I began to get older.
More worried about things.
Words hurt me more than they did before.
I had new friends than I did before.
I had a new dream to be a mechanic.
I wanted to be small again on that tree.
But now I have a new tree.
But I know that someone will cut it down, eventually.

When I grow up and I am tall,
I’ll be that tree I use to climb.
I’ll fulfil my dreams and have a laugh.
But the best bit is I’ll get to be
ME.
By Morgan

Before, Now, Later
Entering my new school,
Nervously stepping in to class
Confusingly looking around
Trying to find something I liked.

Looking up, straight at my teacher
Taking an unsteady step,
Finding an empty space
Sitting at a table in the front.

Now I am confident, happy
Chatty and having many friends
Going along with the daily routine
Finding that I am enjoying myself.

Never afraid to speak up.
Fitting in with the rest.
Playing the friendly games.
Enjoying every day of the year.

Looking towards my future
Sometimes I'm scared to move on
Trying to make time go slower
Hoping I'll make the right choices.

Maybe I'll be famous in the future
I'm not afraid to say
I'll be happy whatever happens
I'll be myself every day.
Justyna

Growing Up
When I was young,
I could be anyone I wanted.
I wanted to be big.
I was always shy.
I thought I was invincible.
I always cried
I ran many times but was still slow.
I always imagined things
That never existed.

Now I'm more confident
I don't mess around.
I'm more sensible,
I'm very neat.
I'm not shy anymore.
I'm really tall.
I try to listen
I do my best.

In the future
I might be taller,
I could be busy.
I might be rich.
I could be poor.
I don't know what I'll be, but-
I AM OK.
Alan

Me
When I was young
I was free
I danced and danced
I was confident
I was young then.

Now...
I'm settled
Now...
I'm much, much happier
Now...
I meet new people
But that's now.

The future...
I could expect more in the future
Life has more surprises
I never know what I could do
And where I will be
So I guess it's up to God where
He will take me.
Peter

Me
In my early years,
When I was able to fly
When I was faster than formula one
When I was Superman
When I could beat all Olympic records
When my imagination was more powerful than a king
When I was indestructible
When I was living in my own world
I never thought about the past or the future.

These days I've forgotten the way to the stars
I haven't got any fuel in my rockets.
I cannot fly - I lost my wings.
I have to work
And dream of the past.

I hope the future will be a happy one
Fun and enjoyable for everyone.
Dorian

When I was Little
When I was little, playing kiss chase with the boys,
Changing in the same room, Singing in the toilets
Stripping off my clothes in public; without a care.
'Never again' I say now.

Food covered my face and hands.
Singing, shouting and screaming in shops.
Licking toes and biting nails.
'Never again' I say now.

'Mummy, pour teddy some juice' and 'Dolly's crying mummy'
One day I was a mermaid
Next day an explorer!
Elly Pelly always at my side.
But no one else can ever see her.
My dad would push me on the swing,
And my mum would tickle me and play.
'Never again' I say now.

My nan would feed me and cut my food-
'Choo Choo.'
I needed help to use the potty
And my nappy would be sticky.
You'd never get a chance to give me a kiss or cuddle-
I'd be off like lightning.
'Never again' I say now.
Ailis

Me
Whaen I was young, I always had a dream.
When I was young, my imagination was wild.
When I was young, I was very small.
When I was young, I liked trains.

Now I'm a better and smarter person,
I'm not afraid to speak up.
I've got courage.
I'm serious and sensible.

In the future
I'd like to be a graphic designer.
I don't know what I can be, but
I'll always be me and
I AM OK.
James.