A - 3rd Advent

Preparing for Christ

Looking ahead to the 3rd Sunday of Advent, we hear Jesus' reassuring confirmation that John was indeed the man sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. It is a Sunday of joy - half way through the Advent season - marked by the colour "rose". Despite ending up in prison (and eventually being beheaded) John's calling is a model to us all: we must prepare ourselves and our communities to see Jesus face to face.

Advent is such a visual season in our community: calendars, trees, markets, lights and presents. All of these traditions are great fun and can help us achieve the important sense of joy that this weekend encourages. However, there are also important spiritual traditions that we can use to help prepare children for Christmas too: Jesse trees, giving mangers, crib scenes and Advent wreaths. These preparations are a beautiful complement to the season, helping us to keep Jesus in our sights, just like John.

Exploring Mars

This week, Year 5 have been taking part in an exciting DT project to build a prototype Mars Rover. We have looked at current models of Mars Rovers and the instruments that they contain and designed our own versions. The children have learnt about the significance of exploring Mars and what its past may hold for the future. The prototype Mars Rovers are being built out of wood with pneumatic systems for lifting. Year 5 has been able to learn how to use a saw and drill safely, in order to create these prototypes.

Christmas Traditions

This week Reception have been learning about Christmas around the world! The children loved learning about how the weather is different in Australia and Father Christmas would wear shorts and a t-shirt to deliver the presents. We also learned that in Poland they eat 12 different foods on Christmas Eve, as well as scatter dried grass on the table to remember that Jesus was born in a stable. The children loved the idea of adding an extra chair to their dinner table to welcome anyone who had nowhere to go on Christmas Day. What traditions do you have at home?

Lunchtime!

Year 3 enjoyed an exciting day of sandwich making for their first DT unit of the year. We began the day tasting a variety of different fillings and breads. Having been quite sceptical about some of the offerings initially, the children were adventurous enough to try them all, and have now found a love for some new tastes and flavours. We were very impressed with the children's willingness to try everything!

We then went on to plan and make our sandwiches. The children used various skills, including chopping, grating, slicing, and spreading. Some of the children had clearly done this before, and had some serious sandwich-making skills!

All of the children successfully made their sandwiches and enjoyed eating them even more, so if you're feeling peckish over the Christmas holidays, you know who to turn to at lunchtime!

Festive Programming

This week, Year 4 were using a text-based code to create a repetition in shapes. We were using the coding language ‘Logo’ on a programme called ‘Turtle Academy’. It was really exciting to see how our instructions created shapes all over our page. We started by creating numbers and letters, then we moved on to creating shapes. We even learnt to code ‘procedures’ which allowed us to just write a word and shapes were created! In the afternoon, we were using ‘repeat’, ‘procedures’ and colour changing codes to create wrapping paper, perfect for the festive season!

Looking after Monty

Year 2's writing focus this week is based around an old John Lewis advert about Monty the penguin. The children watched the advert a few times and answered some comprehension questions about it. This gave them the opportunity to explore different characters' feelings and actions. It has allowed great writing opportunities such as using past and present tense, adjectives and verbs. Children were asked what they would do if they had their very own Monty like the boy in the advert. Then, to their amazement, each child was given their very own (laminated) Monty to look after. Monty had to go everywhere with them in order for them to write a recount about his adventures! Each Monty is named so that it can be returned to its rightful Year 2 pupil if he wanders off.

The Story of Guildford

In Geography this week we explored two very different places. We first learnt about the story of Guildford; how this town came to be and why many people chose to settle here. In the photos you will see how Mrs Baston brought the story to life and showing us that the golden sands covered by chalky rocks are actually the remains of marine plankton and shells, which prove that Guildford was once the bottom of an Ice Age sea!

We then heard the fascinating story of the city of San Francisco, and how it evolved through the ages. For many years it was home to mammoths, mastodon and sabre tooth cats. We heard of Native American settlers creating communities, Spanish explorers, the discovery of gold and the devastating earthquake that led to the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. We even got to see some of the holiday snaps from our teachers' travels! With all this information, we compared and contrasted these two places thinking about population, wildlife, time zones, invaders and the differences between our climates and seasons.

Thank you from FISCH!

In response to our fundraising activities last term, the staff and children at FISCH (Future for Iringa Street Children) have made this fantastic video to help explain how school uniforms are designed and made - incredible! Well done and thank you to everyone who helped to raise over £1,000 for FISCH.

gofischFuture for Iringa Street Children, Tanzania, Africa & UK. A charity to give a hope and future to vulnerable children and street kids in desperate poverty.

FISCH Uniform provision feedback film.mp4

Chromebook Champs

Year 1 classes have each had a Computing day this week where we are learning lots of the skills needed for digital writing on Chromebooks. This is the first time that we have used the Chromebooks since starting at St Joseph's so there is a lot to learn!

We have been learning how to login to a Chromebook using our Google credentials, create a Google Docs document, re-name it to something more appropriate (and so that it is ours!), and create a document all about us, including pictures taken on the Chromebook using the camera, and those found on the internet.

We learnt so many other things about Chromebooks over the course of the day, too, including 'simple' things like how to type a space, what a mousepad is and that they are not touch screens!

Lighting up Year 4

Today in DT, Year 4 were designing festive light up signs. To help better understand how it would work, they created a circuit and housed a bulb in a paper cube - lighting it up. Check out Reggie's awesome effort...

Local Events...

Night of Light.pdf

KOOSA Kids Christmas Holiday Club at St. Joseph's Primary School, Guildford.pdf

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