Christ's Gifts

This week, we looked ahead to the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and the parable of the talents. We heard how the master of the house gives each servant talents (or money) in relation to their abilities. It's important to note here that the master of the house does not give each servant the same amount. It would seem that God made us intentionally different; there's no point comparing yourself to others!

We go on to hear how the first and second servants made use of the money they received. They took risks, make investments and said, "Yes" when opportunities arose. The third servant, however, falls short... After burying his money in a field (to keep it safe) the master of the house is furious, describing him as "wicked and lazy!"

One interpretation of this week's Gospel is that we are called to make use of the gifts and talents God has bestowed upon us. We are called to see how intentionally different God has made us, how uniquely gifted we are as individuals and to use the talents we have to build God's Kingdom. What we hope to find is that the more we practise using our gifts, the better we get at them and the more everybody around us benefits too.

A - 33rd Ordinary

Anti-bullying staff viral video .mov

Make a noise!

Check out of viral staff video in support of this year's Anti-Bullying Campaign - Make a noise about bullying! We hope this short, catchy clip will inspire and enthuse children to have the confidence to speak up, use their voice and make a noise about bullying.

Anti-Bullying Week 2023: Make A Noise About Bullying

Nursery, with a difference

It has been very busy in Nursery this week, we started with ‘odd socks day’ on Monday where we took part in Anti Bullying week. The children learnt about how we are all different but we can still all be friends. We read a story called, ‘We are all different’ and looked at differences some people have, such as being in a wheelchair, wearing a hearing aid and liking different fruits and toys. In addition to this, we ‘made some noise’ and played our instruments to ‘you’ve got a friend in me’ music piece. Then we found out about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light. The children listened to stories about Diwali, the meaning of the festival and learnt why diya lights are important for showing the way home. We had various crafts and games on offer to support this learning about different festivals in the world.

Reach for the stars!

Reception are currently loving developing their ideas and putting them into practice this week. One day, they walked into the classroom to see lots of stars on the ceiling. We posed the question...'How could we get these down?' They all had so many ideas such as: rockets, ladders, space hoppers, using a long stick or pole. After some thinking time, the children got making! Using junk modelling and craft materials they created all sorts of star catches. We taught them what perseverance is and told them all about our Persevering Parrot. All this star catching led us to read the story 'How to Catch a Star' by Oliver Jeffer.

Number wonder

Year 1 have been busy exploring numbers to 20 this week. Using their knowledge of numbers to 10, some children noticed that 'teen' numbers are very similar but they have two digits rather than one. Other children noticed that the extra digit was a 1 in front of the number, and some children even pushed themselves further to realise that the extra digit isn't just a one, it's a one representing a ten! Using this discovery, we then explored representing numbers to 20. First, we used skipping ropes and cones to be our tens and ones, and then we used dienes with the same idea. The children quickly grasped the concept that a ten is the same as ten ones, and that 14 can be one ten and four ones, but also 14 ones! Well done Year 1 for your exceptional mathematical knowledge this week!

Sharing the love...

This week Year 2 have been thinking about what makes a good friend as part of anti-bullying week. The children participated in some wonderful circle times and respectfully shared ideas and listened to others. It was wonderful to then spend time paying compliments to each other by writing one positive word about each and every person in the class.

Salut!

This week saw the first French lesson for Year 3. We began by discussing words the children might already be familiar with; most were confident saying ‘bonjour’ to one another. The lesson progressed to building on greetings, learning how to ask how someone is and being able to respond. The children worked in pairs, taking turns to greet each other. They were all so excited to begin learning a new language and their enthusiasm was wonderful to see. In the coming weeks they will build on these initial conversations so why not ask them what they can remember?

Bright sparks!

This week in our Science lesson, the children in Year 4 have been creating simple electrical circuits. We began by visualising what a circuit might look like by forming a human electrical circuit complete with lights, buzzers and motors. We then came into the classroom to see if we could turn a lamp on with just a set of electrical components and no instruction. Our teachers were amazed that most of the class completed the challenge within the 5 minute target! Finally, we used our newly acquired knowledge about circuits to predict if a set of circuits would work or not. Our next lesson will investigate which materials make good conductors or insulators. We will use our knowledge at the end of term for a festive DT project.

Getting to know you...

As part of anti-bullying and PSHE week, Year 5 had the opportunity to celebrate the children's cultures and promote the British value of tolerance. The children started the week by coming into school wearing clothes which they felt represented their culture, they then spent the afternoon giving presentations on these, teaching others about traditions and languages. It was wonderful to get to know the culture of our families in Year 5 . Thank you so much for sharing and the efforts that went into the presentations.

Festive Baking

This week Year 6 embarked on an exciting and festive themed DT project. We started our project by exploring seasonal produce with a focus on Christmas tastes from cloves to marzipan! All the children were then thrilled to learn that they would be making their own 3D gingerbread scene. Before we started, we taste-tested a variety of ginger products including ginger beer, root ginger, ginger cake and ginger biscuits as well as looking at dried, ground ginger. The children then planned a scene and the pieces they would need, baked them and spent the final day fixing them together to get them to stand up and adding decorations (as well as eating copious off cutts, icing and decorations!). Overall, when evaluating our project, we decided that icing solves lots of problems, patience was vital, working together and helping each other was imperative and that sometimes ambitious designs needed to be adjusted. Take a look at some of the photos from the process and some of the final designs - your tummy will be rumbling by the end!

Blackout

As part of our English unit based on the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, we asked the children to take an extract and create a blackout poem as a response to Joey's (the horse) first experience on the battlefield. A blackout poem conveys a message through purposefully picking out important and precise vocabulary to create a new message. The technique was first used by Austin Kleon in his Newspaper Blackout Poetry. Poems, sentences or phrases are created from the words of an existing text. Blackout poetry is a form of "found" poetry that allows the poet to use someone else's words to write a poem. Below are some of the incredible responses produced by Year 6; an absolute pleasure to read.

Full of gifts in 5F

Our thanks to St Francis Class for a stunning class worship this week. The children expertly showcased '5F's Got Talent' with witty presenters, very important judges and even more important talent!

The children delivered a very important message to us all as they reflected on the Bible story of the servent sharing his talents, showing us that we should celebrate and share our gifts and talents, not bury or hide them away.

We are blessed to have a wealth of talent in our community at St Joseph's!

Congratulations to all members of 5F for such a professional and inspiring assembly.

Gifted Witnesses

Congratulations to this week's host of witnesses, all of whom have used their gifts and talents wisely in order to build God's Kingdom here at St Joseph's.

What's on locally?

PLANT A TREE.pdf

KOOSA Kids Autumn Winter Holiday Clubs at St. Joseph's Primary, Guildford.pdf

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