Visiting Christ

We looked ahead this week to the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) and the motivating example of Jesus. He insists to his disciples, "Let us go!" Rather than enjoying an easier, quieter and more comfortable life, he travels to towns (near and far) preaching and healing.

In the same vein, we are encouraged to model our lives on this example. We must be courageous in stepping outside of our comfort zones - in our learning and relationships - to bring the Good News of Jesus to all we meet.

We have been challenging the children this week to reach out to make new friends, to take risks in learning and to embrace opportunities to try something new. Having the courage to go beyond our normal limits - taking healthy risks - is a quality we want to foster in our children.

B - 5th Ordinary

Netball News

Congratulations to our awesome Year 5 team, who represented St Joseph's last weekend at Rydes Hill's Netball Tournament. The team played against 7 local teams, from a mix of state and independent schools.

The girls played with excellent focus and teamwork, netting a total of 16 goals and being placed 5th overall.

Fantastic effort and achievement children - God bless you all!

Nursery Numbers

This week we have taken the opportunity to explore maths through play. From singing nursery rhymes to rotating puzzles, from matching shapes to measuring ourselves, from using mathematical language to having an understanding that mathematical concepts are everywhere! For example, the shapes of our food at lunchtimes, the amount of milk and cups we need at snack time and the shapes and numbers we can see in our natural environment. Numbers are wonderful!

Celebrating Life

Year 4 ended their RE unit of Community this week with a difficult topic for many. The last few weeks have been full of joy - identifying members of our communities who have similar traits to those of the apostles, and looking at the advice given to the Romans in St. Paul's letter (Romans 12: 8-1), reflecting on how we can use this guidance in our own lives.

This week had potential to be a more sombre occasion, looking at Funeral Rites. However, the children embraced this with enthusiasm and positive energy, really grasping the understanding that a funeral is an opportunity to celebrate the deceased's life on earth and their eternal salvation in heaven. They were amazed at the number of links we could make to other Sacraments and enjoyed seeing the Sacramental journey from Baptism, which they have been learning about since Reception.

Next week, the children will begin their new topic of Giving and Receiving, relating it to different parts of the Mass.

Material World

This term in Science, Year 1 have been exploring materials. After identifying the different materials around us, and what materials different objects are made out of, we started to think about the properties of different objects, linked to materials. In our Science lesson this week, the children were challenged to sort objects by different properties: bendy, shiny, soft, smooth and hard. This sparked great discussion about why objects are made from certain materials. The children quickly grasped the idea that a window is made from glass because it is transparent but also waterproof and fairly strong! A jumper is made from fabric because it is soft and therefore comfortable to wear.

Party Time!

This week, Year 5 put their party (planning) hats on when learning all about money in PSHE. The children engaged in conversations about how we can spend, track and prioritise money, as well as the impact it can have on our emotional and mental well-being. To end the day, all children adopted the role of a party planner to put their skills and knowledge of budgeting to the test!

Masterpiece

This week in Year 2 we have been learning about different still life artists such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Carvaggio and Cezanne. The children had a go at recreating Van Gogh's famous 'Sunflowers' painting using different mediums such as watercolours, pastels and crayons. They then used a pencil to draw their own still life object they had brought in from home. Focus was on shading to create light and dark effects.

IMG_4254.MOV

Good Signs!

At Sign Club this term the children of Year 3 and 4 have been working hard to learn some basic sign language to begin to communicate. We were delighted that they were able to join KS1 in watching a production of Bears Can’t Ski which featured lots of sign language!

The children were able to witness British Sign Language (BSL) from actors who use this as their main method of communicating and see how sign language is used in action! They even managed to spot some familiar signs, like orange and dad.

Inside our Insides

This term in Science, Year 6 have really got stuck into their topic all about the human body. In the build-up to this lesson, we explored different systems within the body with a focus on the circulatory system; the journey of a red blood cell; and a fascinating lesson last week where we looked at the different types of blood vessels in the body likening them to the 'highways of the circulatory system'. This week we looked closely at the components of our blood - what is contained in these 'vessels'- what it is made up of and what the different parts do. To understand this concept more clearly, we used different materials to represent the different aspects of our blood. We created our own blood using cheerios, rice, mini marshmallows and orange squash. We looked at the proportions of white blood cells, red blood cells, plasma and platelets and used a pie chart to show this. Can you guess which ingredients we used to represent which components? In our next lessons, we will explore conditions such as sickle cell anemia and conduct our own investigation on pulse rate. As part of our next PSHE unit we will explore the impact of drugs and alcohol on the body, using our knowledge from this Science unit to help us make links.

Pointillism in Year 3

Year 3 have been exploring their creative side, learning all about artist Georges Seurat and Pointillism. The children painted colour wheels to gain a greater understanding of the range of shades they could produce using just primary colours. Then they practised dots and experimented with a range of media including felt tips, pastels and paints.

For their final piece, the children chose an image of a London landmark to recreate using their Pointillism skills. It’s been wonderful to see how inspired the children have been, many going home and recreating more fantastic Pointillism pictures and bringing them into share.

Journeying with 2T

Our thanks to St Teresa's Class for a beautiful worship on the theme of journeys this morning. The children explained how the Christian life is a call to keep moving beyond our comfort zone, to respond to the needs of others (both near and far).

Police Rescue

This week the children in Reception had an exciting visitor...PC Curran! He came along to talk about road safety and how the police keep us safe. The children LOVED seeing the sirens flash and getting to make them work by pressing the horn. The children were also given the opportunity to try on some of the clothes a police officer might wear. They were surprised how heavy they were, and remembered they wear bright clothes so we can see them.