Summer writing challenge - and reading!

Here is the Summer Writing Challenge Prompt Sheet.

And here is the link to Oxford Owl e-book collection.

Happy writing and reading!

Alpacas

An alpaca is a tamed species of South American camelid (even toed types of animals like the camel). They live in places like southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador and northern Chile. An alpaca mainly resembles a small llama.  There are two breeds of alpacas, Suri and the Huacaya. Surian alpacas look more like llamas while the Huacayan alpacas are more like sheep (fluffy). Most alpacas do not like being grabbed. Some alpacas tolerate being stroked or petted anywhere on their bodies, although many do not like their feet, lower legs, and especially their abdomen touched or handled. Alpacas make a variety of sounds. When they are in danger, they make a high-pitched, shrieking whine. Some breeds are known to make a "wark" noise when excited. Strange dogs – and even cats – can trigger this reaction. To signal friendly or submissive behavior, alpacas "cluck," or "click". Individuals vary, but most alpacas generally make a humming sound. Hums are often comfort noises, letting the other alpacas know they are present and content. The humming can take on many inflections and meanings. When males fight, they scream a warbling, bird-like cry, presumably intended to terrify the opponent. Alpacas require much less food than most animals of their size. They generally eat hay or grasses, but can eat some other plants (e.g. some leaves), and will normally try to chew on almost anything (e.g. empty bottle).
Alpacas are not widely known in France, but they are very popular in Japan. Right now, there is a trend in Japan called "Alpacasso" or "Alpakasso" depending on the brand. They are adorable but they cost a lot of money, though in eBay, they sell it at a cheaper price. Most people also like drawing alpacas, but they usually don't follow biological appearances. Here is an example:

Do You Really Want More… V.I.P School News! MINI!

Homo Playgroundiens Found In Primary

This Week's Reading Rocks Winners In Primary!

Year 9 Students Interrogate Other People To Prepare Themselve On Next Thursday's French Exam.

Clara Rozenn and Claudia Made a Cubed Square!

Back With More School News on Monday!

See You Next Week!

Were You Waiting For More School News? Here Is V.I.P News School News!

Football in Primary Sports Day: Goal! 










Sprinting & Hurdles Primary Sports Day!

Today In FS The Serious Building Work Begins!

More Cue In Refreshments!

Basketball Time In Sports Day!

Enjoying Hockey At Sports Day!

We'll be back for more school news sooner or later!

V.I.P News Comes Back With More School News!

Year Seven's Group Work at St Sernin History Trip

Year 1 Enjoying Netball on Sports Week

Year 8 Look at Splitting Light and How Fliters Work

Geography Enquiry in Year 2. Using Photos to find out about Brazil.

See you later back with more V.I.P School News!

Anansi goes to lunch

After the other Anansi stories on our blog, here's another Anansi story:

What do you think the story means for us? Some of us talked about what this story might mean. Then we wrote down some of our ideas:

Back With More V.I.P News School News!

Y2 find out how to program the Bee Bots to go round a taped course

Summer term has arrived in secondary!

Having fun Multiplying  with Cuisenaire rods in Year 2

Foundation Stage impress Primary with their gymnastics and dance on Wednesday!

My trip to the Museum

On Friday morning I went to the natural history museum in Toulouse. It was so much fun!

Did you know?                                                     

The Latin name of an Indian elephant was invented by George Cuvier? It’s Elepha indicus.

We went to the crystal hall and I chose a caterpillar crystal (I called it that because it looked like it was a caterpillar crawling up the wall and trying to escape! K)

Then we went to the skeletons.

We had to choose a skeleton in our group. My group was: Sara, Vega, Tobias, and me. We chose the skeleton of a turtle because it was simple to draw.

Then we went to the treasure section.
I chose some  weapons made in Africa.
The weapons I chose in the treasure were two spears and a sword.

The Trip to the Muséum De Toulouse

On Friday, it was the day of our school trip so we started getting ready like:

• Going to the toilet
• Putting our sketch books in our bags
• Taking out unneeded things
• Lining up to get lunch from Mrs Baldwin 
• Getting in partners
• Mr Gregg reminding us about our groups

Then we got to the bus, it was HUGE! Inside, it was narrow because of the size of the seats. Near the middle, there were two tables. The first ones got to sit there, and Pablo and I were one of them, lucky us! J

     When we got to the institution, we saw the elephant in the main bit of the museum. It was really MASSIVE. Everyone started crowding around so the last ones had to sit down and start drawing the elephants great big HIDE! (Including me) L 

     Next, we went it the gem gallery. They were so beautiful! It took me a while to choose a jewel though… Finally, I settled on an Autunite and wrote a haiku about it:

A lime-green beauty

Glowing neon in the dark

A star in the night

     Later, we went to an area with skeletons in glass cabinets. My group chose the carcass of an Axis (kind of deer) though we didn't know that until we identified the skeleton with a weird machine thingy near us.

    After that, we arrived to a part of building with many stuffed wildlife. We were supposed to choose a creature of our choice and sketch it. I chose a Genet (Je – net). It looked like a cross between a cat and a weasel or a ferret. I also wrote a haiku about it:

Slick amber fur

Tails swishing From side to side

Genets on the move

   Later, we had a toilet break. The ones who didn’t need to go watched a documentary in a room with a big screen. It was about scientists releasing brown bears to the wild.

    Afterwards, we exited the museum (with our bags of course!) and walked to the Jardin De Plantes. Most of us ran to get a bench. There was also a crazy looking white cockerel as well, what Miss Whittaker calls ‘fancy chickens’!

   When we’d finished lunch, we went in a line and set off for the playground. There were already a lot of children but most of them were leaving anyway. There were a couple of fierce children but that was the only bad thing that happened that day. We got to the bus after that because it was                                                                   Golden-time!

Our Wonderful Natural History Trip!

On Friday we started our trip on the bus and went to the Museum. In the entrance, there was a VAST elephant we had to sketch. And by the way I was in the group with Rozenn’s mum. We were:

Pablo (me) Fernando, Elie and Maria. In the sketch the elephant bit, we all had to sketch in different corners. First of all I sketched the back bit, but I thought it was hard and a bit disgusting. LLLL

So I decided to do the front part. I found that the elephant was named by… GORGES CUVIER!

After a while past the elephant we entered the Minerals and Gems room. We had to choose one and write a similie or a haiku. I wrote a haiku about my mineral:

Bronze and obscure gold,
Freezing grass and trees with wind,
Storm is coming soon.

We also took pictures and videos…

When we’d finished, we sauntered to a room about the continents. There we watched a video of how the continents travelled around the world.

Meanwhile we went to the skeleton zone where we had to sketch an animal skeleton. My group's animal was called: The Monk Fish (Lophius Piscatorius)

At that time, we entered the animals room. We sketched one. I don’t know what the animal was called, but it looked like a half Pig half Hippo. We went upstairs to sketch some patterns of around the world. I sketched a blanket from Congo.

Next was the polar bear room. I touched some real Polar Bear skin!

Later we had lunch in the Jardin des Plantes.

Soon our wonderful trip was over!

Pompeii

Today the ground was shaking.
It made all of Pompeii go to their houses quickly, but it was just a little one.
My mum Cyllia was repairing the house with my dad Piretcho.
Last week the ground was shaking more wildly and vivid.
It made the baker's bread in tiny morsels.
My dog Chereza loves to play with my next door neighbour Alberto.
He's really annoying because when it's time for him to wake up, he bangs a drum like a maniac.
It's to wake up his children, when he wakes us!
He sometimes creeps to our house to make us frightened, but now we got used to it, so we dont get scared. The next day the ground shook MUCH more. We had to go straight to Naples so the earthquake didn't get us. Naples was too crowded, we had to go back to Pompeii.
Suddenly at night it was beginning to be very hot. I wondered why? All the villagers went outside when later they started running and screaming. I didn't know what was wrong, so I looked around me and very soon I understood... The Vesuvio was erupting!!!!!!!! I started running with my family to the town of naples, but the lava nearly catched us, so we ran as fast as we could to the town of Naples.
We stayed in an inn where we slept for a night. We went back to Pompeii and to our surprise, it was all destroyed...

The Vanishing Cats Part 2

Chapter 2, The Backstory
"Sit down, everyone. As you have discovered my secret, I shall tell you the whole story," said Captain.
"But," burst out Shamrock.
"No 'buts' Shamrock, do you or do you not want to listen to the story?"
"I do" replied Shamrock.
"Alright then, I will" he said, taking a deep breath.

Captain's Backstory
"Varjak and Holly got closer after defeating Sally Bones. That is it. But in a few months, they had me. Varjak thought that I could keep the Way alive by teaching it to me. I got nearly all of them right in just one week, but I didn't know how to do the last skill, Insight. I tried it week after week, month after month, but I kept failing, and failing, and failing. But, Holly Bones struck. She was just as deadly as Sally Bones, if not a lot stronger. She also had her hench-cats so it was impossible to strike her. Varjak, Holly and I fled, because otherwise they would kill us, and of course, they cared about me. We stayed hidden for a few days, but eventually, they found us and we had no choice but to fight. Holly and Varjak fought hard, but got badly injured trying to protect me. So when Holly Bones came to finish them off, flung on to her and started gnawing her and protected my parents using 6 of the Skills. After hours of fighting, they fled and I carried my parents into the same park where they first met. Gladly, they survived. And now, I know the all the Skills. But I am not happy. Holly Bones will strike again and avenge for her mother. You must stop her. But don't kill her, she is important. Try to make her see her wrongdoing, before it is too late"

One Cat and her Girl Part 1

Meow! 
Catherine heard a cat. What was it doing in the middle of the night?
Mew!
She heard it again. The cat sounded like it was in agony.
'I'd better help that poor cat' she thought.
So she grabbed her coat, silently crept past her parents' room and went outside. It was freezing cold out in the garden, but Catherine ignored it and tried to find cat in the dark.
Mew!
Now she knew where the cat was. She felt for the cat but instead, she touched a shard of glass. Then another, then another, then another. The cat had bits of glass in it!
Catherine was shocked. She hadn't expected that many! She ran back into the house and called her parents frantically. Then, she made them call an emergency ambulance though it was only for humans. But when she called the ambulance, she sounded so high pitched and desperate that they switched the lights on.
NEE NAW, NEE NAW, NEE NAW!!!!
They've arrived! Catherine lead them to the cat. It was meowing piteously.
"Don't be scared, little cat, you'll be as right as rain after you come out of the hospital" she said. 
Then she watched them carry the cat into the ambulance and then drive away.

HOLLYWOOD Club (first part of the story)

Once upon a time there lived a prince who married a beautiful woman at Buckingham Palace.

They lived together and had a baby. Her name was: Victoria. They had another baby called Elizabeth. The prince's wife died after Elizabeth was born. The prince was now named king and Victoria was named princess. Elizabeth was desperate to be a princess, but she was only five.

Vicki was ten when Lizzie was five. After five years Lizzie was named princess and Vicki was named queen, but after, things started get worse.

By Pablo, Maia, Penny

Y4G Assembly GNU

Here are the words for GNU:

I'm a gnu  i'm a gnu
The g- nicest work of g- nature in the zoo
I'm a gnu how do you do?
You really ought to k-now w-ho's w-ho

I'm a gnu
Spelt GNU
I'm g-not a camel or a kangaroo
So let me introduce 
I'm g-neither man or moose
Oh g-no g-no g-no i'm a gnu

I'm a gnu a g-nother gnu
I wish I could g-nash my teeth at you
I'm a gnu how do you do?
You really ought to k-now w-ho's w-ho

I'm a gnu 
Spelt GNU
Call me Bison or Okapi and i'll sue
G-nor I am the least
Like that dreadful hartebeast

Oh g-no g-no g-no i'm a gnu!

By Pablo

Year 4G Assembly Next Friday!

This is a reminder of the Y4G assembly next friday.
These are the words for the song:

Hip Hoppy Kid:

 1  I'm a hip hoppy kid and you'll never catch me nappin
         Fernando Pablo Maëlle

2 No matter where i'll go you'll always hear me rappin
      Maia

3 I rap to the east and I rap to the west
     Mimi Ryan

4 I rap in my socks and I rap in my vest
   Rozenn Clara Claudia

5 I rap in my sleep when I drive the neighbours potty
   Gustavo Jacques Tobias

6 I rap in the bathroom when i'm drying of my body
    Maia

7 I rap to the birds and I rap to the bees
    Amelia Penelope

8 And when I go completly draft I rap to the trees
    Alicia Cristina

9 I can even rap on wheels I really am the master
    Alicia Cristina

10 I wish i'd seen that manhole then I wouldn't be in plaster
      Rozenn Clara Claudia


By Pablo

Writing exciting sentences - cats in the city

We're preparing for some Varjak Paw-style writing in Year 4. The cats are prowling through the city, hungry, fearful of the dangerous gangs of cats, fearful of the Vanishings. The look, listen, sniff the air...

To help us with this writing we've done a number of things.

Firstly, we've wandered through Marseilles a little. This has helped us to imagine the scene in more detail.

We've also looked at using exciting sentences to make our writing more varied and interesting.

Look at these two sentences:

Can you see the pattern?

Sorrow, graffiti, darkness - why was the city so cruel?
Rubbishy, smelly, old - what type of disgusting place is this?

They're called 3 bad - (dash) question sentences.They start with three bad nouns or adjectives - are followed by a dash - and then a question. (Of course, this can be varied.)

Have a look at some of our practice Emotion word, (comma) sentences and 3 bad - (dash) question sentences, plus some of the images we used:



Once again, thanks to Alan Peat for his taxonomy of exciting sentences!

In the city

Distant cars

Anxious

Railings

Low window

With metal bars

Awareness

Lonely neighbourhood

Trashed street

Graffiti

Mysterious

Blue neon sign

Scared

Aware

Stairs

A ramp

Footsteps

Creep out

Shades of grey

Drunks

Fighting and yelling

Curious

Smelly                         

Dirty

Buildings

Criminals

Old posters

Soggy

Eerie

Ruined

Ads

Empty

Abandoned

Deserted

Class wordscape inspired by Varjak Paw and  Night Walk in Marseilles

Lost cat news

Reading Varjak Paw, we've discovered a lot of cats have gone missing. In response, we've created our own news stories about missing cats.

Click here to read 4B's news.

Click here to read 4G's news.

Some "lost cat" posters 4G created before writing the news:

My Gell-Ball Experiment ( at home )

I am going to share my gel-ball experiment that I did at home!

I took a transparent lunch box, filled it three quarters with water and dropped the little ball ( gel-ball). 

5 minutes later...

The ball grew a bit bigger and looked like a fish's eye. The ball was still solid but had a light blue outlining!

10 minutes later...

The gel-ball became translucent and looked smudged. It looked as if it was going to dissolve but I knew it wasn't and it was going to turn into a gel-ball. I grew a bit too keen and took the gel-ball out of the water! It had bumps on the ball like a raspberry.

20 minutes later...

It looked like blue food coloring though it just stayed in one place and in a shape of a ball. It was also very bumpy.

25 minutes later...

The gel-ball just seemed like a spot in the water. It still wasn't floating.

1 day later...

The gel-ball was absolutely round and very bouncy. It still wasn't floating! It was transparent though I could see it in blue because the ball is blue!