Memories to be made...

Hello and welcome back to the Key Stage Two Blog!

Well, hello three day weekend! We didn't really have time to miss you but now you are back, you are very welcome!

The first full week at work really threw me - I kept getting my days muddled but in a good way, after all, there's no better feeling when you realise that you have one more day than you thought you had!

This week was definitely a week where we managed to pack an awful lot in didn't we? I think this week's Blog is a definite testimony to what we have been up to so, without any further delay, let's crack on!

Blue Peter Badges

The lovely Matilda in 6TH found me in the corridor this week with great news! She is now the proud owner of not one but two Blue Peter Badges!

Well, not only was I very impressed, I was also a little bit jealous. As a child, I had always wanted a Blue Peter Badge but alas, I did not have any specific skills to share with the team. For those who know me, my drawing certainly wouldn't have had an impact unless it was to do with laughing!

Brilliant job Matilda! What wonderful memories to cherish.

Battle of the Books

Mrs James, one of our excellent English teachers, came up to me in the Staffroom as she was buzzing from a lesson that she had just had with 5KD. "I'll email it you!" she promised and so she did! The following is written by her and the pictures were taken by our fabulous Miss Enever.

5KD spent their double English lesson with me this week engaged in a battle: A Battle of the Books!

We started with 32 books. These books were selected from 50 current top Upper Key Stage 2 books based on national book sales. Each pupil was randomly given a ‘contestant’ and each pupil had to spend five minutes looking at their contestant (book title, book cover, blurb, author profile, reviews and extract).

Then then joined another person and between the pair they had to decide which book would go through to the next battle.

32 books became 16….and then pairs joined to make a group of four. The four discussed the two books and decided which one should go through to the quarter finals. Then they joined another group to make a group of eight. It was sometimes hard to reach a decision between the two books, so at times we had to have a whole class vote after reading the blurb/extract.

The quarter finals, semi-finals and finals were ‘battled out’ as a whole class. Here are the results:

·WINNER:

Letters from the Lighthouse

·SECOND PRIZE:

Room Full of Chocolate

· JOINT THIRD POSITION:

Rooftoppers/Time Travelling with a Hamster

It was a brilliant 2 hours: the pupils were so enthusiastic about the books and I think Mr Baker (our school librarian) will be inundated with requests for some of the 32 books!

The winner (Letters from the Lighthouse) will be used in my 5KD English lessons over the next term. I can’t wait as it really is a fabulous book….and a worthy winner in today’s battle!

Motor Neurone Disease Association - the final assembly

As you will recall from a previous Blog, three girls in Year Five raised over £2190 with their recent fundraising efforts for the MND Association. On Monday, Willow's Mum along with Richard Sloan from the charity attended our assembly. The girls handed over their cheque for £2192 and in return, Richard presented the girls with certificates to acknowledge and thank the girls for their hard work. Mrs Scott, our Senior Finance Officer also attended the assembly and lead the presentations.

Well done girls, what a fabulous, fabulous thing to do. We are all incredibly proud of you!

Evolution - the return!

In last week's Blog, I showed you the amazing work that 6IW produced for their Science lesson with Mr Duffy. Well, this week it was the turn of 6NR and my word, I was equally impressed.

Not only did the children work hard on their projects but the quality of what they produced was incredible. I have a sneaky feeling that they had a lot of fun in the process...

Worth a Mention Children

Huge congratulations to this week's Worth a Mention Children.

Let's start with Year Six this week:

Now the turn of Year Five:

Well done everyone - you are all superstars - it's official!

It's going to be a hoot, hoot!

Well Year Six, it's not long now before we embark on our next adventure. Yes, that's right, our trip to Paulton's Park!

Please remember to get your permission forms and money in as soon as possible - the deadline is 9th May.

Miss Enever and Mr Palmer have been working hard on the organisation and arrangements for the day.

A letter will come out next week to give you a few more details of the day including our itinerary, what to bring, how you are getting home etc.

It's getting close isn't it?

Squeal!

Healthy Choices, Healthy Mind

Please remember that Dorchester Middle School is a Healthy School but some of the snacks that you are eating at break time are definitely not healthy!

As you may well remember from our recent Well-Being Week, a healthy, well balanced diet is a huge contributory factor to a healthy, well-balanced mind.

Let's look after our physical and mental health by thinking about what we eat.

Lecture over!

Neil Gaiman Style

Our Instruction Writing in Year Five continues and we are now at the point where we are going to write a set of instructions in the style of the incredible Neil Gaiman based on his book called Instructions.