English Corner!

World Book Day- Thursday 5th March

'Sharing Stories' was the theme of World Book Day this year and we all had a great day doing just that! With everyone dressed in their pyjamas and onesies, all classes visited the the 'story snug' throughout the course of the day where hot chocolates and biscuits were drunk and eaten whilst listening to class teachers sharing a story. 

Classes then shared stories within their year group, created book recommendations and reflected on their favourite stories to share. A lovely day was had by all.

100 Reads Challenge!

The 100 Reads Challenge is once again up and running for this academic year and we are looking forward to seeing the children either continuing with their phase's challenge or starting a new one! We would just like to put out a few reminders for how the challenge operates:

• Year 5/6: Due to the lengthier nature of the reading books in this challenge, we are sticking with the 'ultimate goal' as being to read 50 books.
• As well as continuing to make a note of the 100 reads books in the back of their reading records (with Year 6 recording them centrally in class), there is also a 100 reads sticker chart within each class. The children will independently add a sticker to the chart every time they read a 100 reads book. 

• Certificates will continue to be given to anyone who reaches the next multiple of 5 (Year 5/6) or multiple of 10 (Year 3/4) milestones at the end of each term. 

• Year 3 / 4: 25, 50 and 75 books read… 'end of challenge' prize at 100.
• Year 5 / 6: 15 and 35 books read…'end of challenge' prize at 50.

The 100 reads book lists for both phases introduces the children to a varied and broad range of books and we have been really pleased to see so many of the children take on the challenge and improve their reading diet as a result.

Year 5/ 6 Author Visit- Helen Lipscombe- 04.10.19

Last Friday, Year 5 and 6 were treated to a visit from the author Helen Lipscombe. She came to speak to us about her very first published book, ‘Peril en Pointe’. The book is centered around ‘Milly’ a ballerina, who after performing in one of the world’s largest ballet competitions, discovers that her mum has vanished. She is then invited to join a mysterious ballet school, which turns out to be more than just a ballet school; it’s a school for spies!

Helen had us all gripped when it came to finding out about her journey as an author. She grew up in Wales and confessed that whilst she had a love for ballet, she wasn’t very good at it! We were able to ask her lots of questions and she revealed who her inspirations for writing were and how she came up with different ideas for the book.

Some of us then bought a copy and had the book signed. It was a really interesting afternoon and it made a lot of us feel that writing a novel is more achievable than you think!

We would like to thank Alistair from ‘Books on the Hill’ in Clevedon who organised the event.  

Thursday 25^th October - Poetry Day/ James Carter visit

Wow! What a day!

The whole of Backwell Juniors were immersed in poetry for the day today and we had a special visitor to inspire our writing!

James Carter, a crtitically- acclaimed poet, joined us for the day and a lot of fun was had by all! The day started with a whole school assembly where James introduced us to Steve his melodica and his trusty guitar too! We then heard many of James’ poems which was accompanied by these brilliant instruments!

Each class then worked with James to write different styles of poetry from Haikus to list poems. We thought carefully about our word choices and the final poems were absolutely fantastic!

Read more of James' poetry here: http://www.jamescarterpoet.co.uk/index.html 

Sharing a Story Day - A World of Stories!

We have had a lovely day of sharing books, listening to Stories from our mystery readers and learning a story off by heart to perform in an assembly!! We spent the day in with our buddies and had lots of fun a giggles learning some wonderful and strange stories from around the world. 

Thank you to all the parents who came in to read stories to the children they absolutely loved it! 

Our theme for Poetry day this year is RHYMECRAFT based on the popular computer game MINECRAFT! 

Pupils will be exploring the world of Minecraft in their lessons and creating poems to share with the school in a Poetry Slam, at the end of the day! 

Feeling Inspired?

We will also be launching a competition at the end of the day where pupils can write their own Minecraft poem at home! Deadline is February 9th (At school) or February 16th if you send off the form from home! See the website for more details! 

https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/competitions/rhymecraft/ 

Alternatively, if you don't fancy writing about Minecraft, there are also competition form entries for writing poems for Mothers day. Deadline is February 9th (At school) or February 16th if you send off the form from home. 

See Mrs Jones or Mrs Barnard for a Poetry Competition form!

English Evening!

Thank you to all who came to the English Evening! It was great to see so many of you so enthusiastic about SPaG, Reading and Writing! For those of you who were unable to make it, please find the documents shared in the meeting below. 

Thanks!

English Team!

'Space Jackers' Writing Competition Winners 

Suspense filled the hall in last Friday's celebration assembly when the winner and runners-up of the 'SpaceJackers' writing competition were announced!

Miss Yardley and Mrs Barnard were seriously impressed by all the writing entries, but were blown away by the story written by James Sharpe in 5B. Well done James!

Congratulations to the following runners up too...

Year 3: Kitty Stuart-Hunt

Year 4: Jasmine Coupe

Year 5: Isabelle Buxton-Smith

Year 6: Jake Macdonald

Thank you to everyone who entered and look out for upcoming competitions in the future.

Mrs Barnard

Huw Powell- Author Visit- Friday 13th January

The pupils at BJS were treated to an hour of inspiration this morning, in the form of an author visit from Huw Powell!

Huw came to speak to us about writing his 'Space Jackers' series and there was a real buzz in the school hall from start to finish. 

The Space Jackers books are based on an army of Space Pirates and Huw asked for our ideas about what one might look like. 'Captain Barbara Pig Man' was created, wearing some very interesting items of clothing!

We had a fantastic morning, with the chance for pupils to buy and have one of his books signed. The creativity carried on into the classroom, with space pirate stories being written in many classes.

Thank you for a fantastic morning Huw!

Mrs Barnard