There is only one week left to make up your monster! I've already had a few entries, make sure you don't miss out. The original contest details are here, and you can now pick up a worksheet outside the library.

Remember - monsters can be cute...

...or beautiful, as well as scary!

We can't wait to see your monsters!

More Posters!

It isn't just the winning posters that wow! All of these posters were also entered in the competition and are so brilliant that they had to be put up on the library walls!

Alan Durant

 On Wednesday St Joseph’s was visited by Alan Durant, author of over ninety books including Football Fever, Dear Tooth-Fairy and Billy Monster's Daymare.

Alan led a whole-school assembly and ran workshops with Years 1 and 2. During the day the children heard poetry about custard, why monsters are scared of children and how being small is a superpower. They wrote stories and songs about pirates, pterodactyls, sweets and unicorns. Every class that worked together on a story had some absolutely amazing ideas that took everyone by surprise.

Alan also taught us all what it means to be an author. When he was younger he thought you’d need a long, grey beard and a giant brain. You don’t! You just need to love reading, and to write about something that you care about.

It was a fantastic day and all the children and staff who saw Alan in action had a brilliant time! Thank you Alan!

These are just a few of Alan Durant's fantastic books!

COMPETITION!

So many scary and mysterious things lurk under the sea...

A see-through head? Seems useful!

When Years 3 and 4 went to meet Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon series, she told them all about how she uses real life to inspire her when she creates the dragons for her books. Anyone who's read any of her books knows that her dragons come in absolutely all shapes and sizes!

Conga eels, a blobfish, giant lobsters and an amazing fish with a see through head have all given her ideas.

Now it's your turn!

I want you to come up with your own monster (it doesn't have to be a dragon!) using inspiration from real life. You need to draw a picture of it, and write a short description.

A good description will talk about a monster's appearance, habits (what it eats, where it lives, what it does) and what makes your monster so special.

If you need ideas there are plenty of books about strange animals and plants in the library that you can borrow to help you start creating!

The best monsters will be the ones that use real life creatures to inspire them; creatures that are strange but a little bit true to life.

I would never have imagined something like this blobfish could exist!

The best entry will win a Minecraft Papercraft set and, along with a few others, will be drawn by an illustrator and displayed on the library wall as part of 'The St Joseph's Book of Monsters'.

Entries must be in by the end of term. 

A worksheet to help you can be found here, and embedded below.

Get creative and good luck!

This lizard looks like a dragon to me!

This giant lobster is a REAL monster!

The End of the Book Fair!

Thank you everyone for another hugely successful book fair!

So many children and adults visited the fair to explore and to choose their books.


Even with golden tickets, prize vouchers and World Book Day vouchers we still raised more than £1,100 in books for the school!

Book week is over but its events are still running! Just last week Years 3 and 4 got to meet author Cressida Cowell and this week an author is visiting us!

Alan Durant will be in school on Wednesday, working particularly with Years 1 and 2 and will be signing books after school.

Thank you to everyone who has helped turn a great Book Week into a fantastic Book Month!

Cressida Cowell

On Wednesday Years 3 and 4 went to Highgate School to meet one of the most popular children’s authors in the world: Cressida Cowell, writer of the How to Train Your Dragon series. 

She showed us some of the amazing creatures and places that inspired her in writing her books and taught the children some fantastically gross and secret phrases of Dragonese that even the teachers weren’t allowed to hear! 


She also shared the title and an excerpt from her new book out in September. It’s the last in the series, and no one else outside that room has ever heard what she read to us!

It was a brilliant day, and the children (and teachers) had a great time. A big thank you to Mrs Cowell and to Highgate School for inviting to share in such an exciting visit!

World Book Day!

World Book Day was a huge success here at St Joseph’s. So many of the children and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters for the day; all the costumes were brilliant!

Throughout the day a special guest, Gangsta Granny from David Walliams’ fantastic book, visited classes to read with them.

We held an assembly to celebrate the day, and to award special golden tickets to the children with the most amazing costumes, and to those who wrote the best book reviews. 

After a hilarious surprise visit from Batman and Robin, the children left the hall in a parade to show off all their amazing outfits.

Thank you to everyone for helping to make it such a fantastic day!

Posters!

The poster contest winners were announced just after reading week; each winner received a £5 voucher for the book fair.

There were more than a hundred fantastic entries, which made choosing between them to pick the five winners very difficult indeed! These winners, as well as many of the other great posters the children drew, are on display in the library.

Congratulations to the Isabella, Coco, Amelie, Calvin and Jasmine, and a big ‘well done’ to everyone else who entered. You made some incredible posters!