A couple of memories from Croft Farm

Who enjoyed raft building at Croft Farm?

Tom and the Trolls in Year 5

There's something about Mary

Today actor Simon Firth from Gripping Yarns visited Year 5 to tell us the story of Tom and the Trolls, a story to make us think about friendships and bullying in our lives. After Tom accidentally spoiled the game they were playing, the trolls isolated and teased Tom until he received help from an unexpected source that helped him turn things around.

Fun Run

Well done to everyone who completed the 6km Fun Run this afternoon. We hope to raise lots of money for Comic Relief. Here’s a picture of Amelia’s flamingos Larry and Barry recuperating in Mounts after the race:

Mask-making Activity in Mounts

Last week as part of our international day based around Sierra Leone, the children took part in a mask-making activity. Here are some of the completed masks that Mounts made:

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And the prizes go to:

Care: Fin M and Amelia

Creativity: Cameron and Skye

Colour: Luke and Jessica

Your next challenge is that you will have to find a way to share your prize with your fellow prize-winner!

Sierra Leone Day

Hopefully today has given everyone lots to think about, particularly similarities and differences between life in Berkhamsted and life in a town like Makeni in Sierra Leone.

Remember how for us the Paper Bag Game is just a ‘game’, but for some people they have to  take on repetitive, low-paid jobs just to survive. Nobody in Bridgewater said they had to walk some distance to the nearest tap.

Here are some bags Amelia made at lunchtime, using the techniques we learnt in the Paper Bag game. She can fit a bag inside a bag, inside another bag, inside a bag, etc.  Mr Heritage has some dolls from Ukraine just like that!

Some advice from Moneybury about how to spot a Witch in Tudor and Stuart times….

Late last year for Anti-Bullying Week we learned about how old ladies were picked upon and singled out unfairly as witches just because they were different from their neighbours. Here is some advice from Aaron, Alex, Amelie, Anna, Darren, Elise, Freddie, Harriet & Thibaud in Moneybury about how to spot a witch in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries:

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Cake and Booksale

Well done to everyone involved in today’s cake and book sale. A grand total of £85.60 was raised for charity. Thanks to Georgia, Phoebe and Penny for coming up with the original idea – the books turned out to be a very successful idea.

Berkhamsted Games Logo Competition

If you visit the Berkhamsted Games page, the eleven finalists for the logo competition have been announced.

You have until midnight on Friday 27th April to place your vote: http://berkhamstedgames2012.co.uk/?page_id=130

Here are the rules on the website about the internet vote:

Take your time to look through all of the designs and then follow the link on the gallery page to submit your vote.  To vote, simply give us the number of your favourite design, your name and the email address you are using (it is fine to use a parent’s email address if you don’t have one of your own, but you must ask their permission first).

Don’t forget to order your Olympic values wristbands by 18th April: http://berkhamstedgames2012.co.uk/?page_id=743

Olivia Wins an Excellence Prize

A huge well done to Olivia, who was awarded with a special prize for Excellence for her Plasticine sculpture which she entered into the ‘Get Set’ Art Competition earlier this term. Here’s a reminder of her work, which was inspired by the Olympic and Paralympic values:

Berkhamsted Games 2012

There’s exciting developments going on in the town in preparation for the Berkhamsted Games on Thursday 5th July 2012.

Berkhamsted Games 2012, will be held at Bridgewater Middle School on Thursday 5 July 2012, just three days before the London 2012 official torch relay passes through our region.  Its focus will be all the sporting events in the middle of the programme, but the Opening and Closing ceremonies will be showcase for the Get Set work that our children have covered in school to learn about Olympic and Paralympic nations and values.

Starting on 4^th July, Head Teachers and children will take part in a torch relay covering all 10 schools participating in the event.  The torch will set off from Potten End First School and will travel through each school, passing from Head Teacher to Head Teacher, before ending at the host venue, Bridgewater Middle School on 5 July.

Learn more about the Berkhamsted Games on the official website:

http://berkhamstedgames2012.co.uk/

There’s a competition to design a logo for the games that will appear on all the promotional materials and even the competitors’ t shirts. Entries must be in by Friday March 30th (last day of term).

Make sure you read the rules before entering the competition (there’s lots of things you are not allowed to use): http://berkhamstedgames2012.co.uk/?page_id=233

In Year 5 at Bridgewater  we will be representing the African nation of Senegal, where a boy called Hamadou lives. We raise money each year to help pay for his schooling, so he can share in some of the opportunities that we all have through our education. What do you already know about Senegal? What can you find out?

What do people think about the Berkhamsted Games? Do leave a comment.

Sierra Leone Day: the dance workshop….

“Mirror, Mirror, Mirror…. Don’t I look so good?”  

Can you still remember the dance steps?  Here is Usifu working with us as part of his dance workshop earlier this month. A big thank you to Usifu for inspiring us and teaching us so well. Can you believe this was after only thirty minutes practice?

Sierra Leone Day 1 February 2012

On the 1st February we hosted an International Day in Year 5 learning about Sierra Leone, where we have a partner school in the city of Makeni. Usifu Jalloh visited Bridgewater Middle School and worked with each class to teach us a dance routine and he told us a story from his country. Here are some thank you letters Mounts wrote afterwards.

Read more thank you letters at : http://snack.to/fz9qzay8 (additional letters were added 13/2/12)

To view this flipping book you need to have Flash Player 9 or newer installed and JavaScript enabled. Flipsnack is a flash video player that allows you to create stylish flipping books out of your PDF document.

Even more Olympic art entries

Even more art inspired by the Olympic values:

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Olympic Projects

With Olympic fever mounting – we will be hosting an Olympics for all the schools in the town later this year – some more art competition entries inspired by Olympic ideals have arrived in class:

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Olympic Art Projects

Can you match the artwork to the Olmpic ideal?

RESPECT

COURAGE

FRIENDSHIP

EXCELLENCE

DETERMINATION

 

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Busy First Half Term

Last week we took stock of our learning in PSHE and thought about all the things we had learnt in our first few weeks at our new school.

Here are some of Bea’s thoughts:

A big hello to St Veronica’s Community School in Uganda!

The sign at the entrance to St Veronica's Community School

The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted that we have had a visit to our class blog from Uganda. We’d like to extend a big welcome to our Berkhamsted blog especially to the children of St Veronica’s School in the Kibaale District in western Uganda  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibaale_District

Mr Heritage hosted a visit from Mr John Kasaija, the school’s Director, to High Wycombe early in 2009 and travelled to Uganda in May of that year to see St Veronica’s for himself: many of the children at the school are orphans (which means that their parents have died); the children do not have Smartboards and all the technology that we take for granted in our classrooms; many of the classrooms were mud huts, open to the elements; there was no electricity on the site, nor even running water. Travel across the area was difficult and could be impossible after heavy rains.  Mr Heritage spent a lot of time travelling the area on the backs of motorbike taxis (the Boda Boda), as there are very few cars in the Kyebando sub-county (an area about the size of Dacorum Borough). The children in the area speak Runyoro ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runyoro) but their school lessons are in English. They learn a very similar curriculum to children in England.

Storm damaged hut classroom

St Veronica’s buildings are very exposed to the elements. When it rained, a lot of the displays and work got wet, but the sun would come out and dry everything off again. Recently serious damage has been done to the school by heavy storms, which means children have had to attend lessons in wrecked classrooms.  This has made it important that solid, permanent classrooms are constructed on the site.

More details will follow about the recent building projects taking place in  St Veronica’s school soon.

Election Fever Mounts…

The ballot box comes to Mounts this week, when elections take place for School Council representatives and Eco reps. Those wishing to stand for election need to be thinking about their speeches this weekend ready for the PSHE lesson on Monday.