Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i bawb yn nhosbarth J11. Happy New Year to everyone in J11. I hope you've all enjoyed a lovely Christmas holiday and are pleased with what Father Christmas brought you! We have got lots of exciting activities, opportunities and new challenges to look forward to at Llangewydd in 2015. My New Year's resolution is to try to do more exercise! What about you? What are your New Year's resolutions? Let me know by posting them below. I look forward to seeing you all in school next Monday. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! Happy New Year! Best wishes from Mr. Evans.  

In class next week,  we will be launching an exciting new class house points system called ‘ClassDojo’! Class Dojo rewards good learning behaviour and builds positive learning habits. It will help to make our classroom more fun and it will help you to become a better learner too!

December 24 - Rhagfyr 24 - Christmas Eve!
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

Christmas Day will soon be here. Remember to put out your stockings and to go to bed early! I hope Santa brings you what you want.

December 23rd - Rhagfyr 23 - Day 23
Did you know that the average person will walk 5 miles around shops, shopping centres and car parks during the Christmas period?

December 22 - Rhagfyr 22 - Day 22
Holly berries or fruits ripen in winter and provide winter colour contrast between the bright red of the fruits and the glossy green evergreen leaves. The cut branches are widely used in Christmas decorations. Holly berries are poisonous for humans. 

December 21 - Rhagfyr 21 - Day 21
A Yule log is an enormous log that is typically burned during the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25-January 6). A burning log or its charred remains is said to offer health and luck .

Happy Christmas J11. Nadolig hapus dosbarth J11. Thank you all for working so hard throughout your first term in Year 6. Mae pawb wedi gweithio yn galed iawn drwy'r tymor. Everyone has given their best and should be proud of what they have achieved. You only have to look back through our class blog to see all the different activities you have enjoyed. I have been so impressed with the quality of the work you have produced and with the way in which you have behaved. You all deserve a happy and enjoyable Christmas holiday. I hope Father Christmas brings you everything you want! If you have time, you can let me know what presents you have for Christmas by posting a comment below. Thanks to all your parents and families for their support throughout the term. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. Nadolig llawen a Flwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd.  

December 19th - Rhagfyr 19 - Day 19
Electric lights for Christmas trees were first used in 1895.

This morning J11 along with the rest of the school went to the Odeon cinema, McArthur Glen for a Christmas treat. We were all excited to see the Christmas film, 'Nativity 3 - Dude, Where's my Donkey?' After arriving at the cinema, we all made ourselves comfortable in Screen One and even had a drink and a packet of sweets to enjoy during the film. Soon the lights dimmed and a hush descended around the room as the film began. We all really enjoyed the film and the room was filled with laughter and excited whispering.  

In the film, the pupils of St Bernadette's and the madcap Mr Poppy are back! When their new teacher Mr Shepherd loses his memory as well as Archie the Donkey, it's up to them to save the day and reunite him with his fiancée Sophie in New York. We laughed and even shed a tear at moments as the children raced against time on their greatest adventure in an action-packed film with fantastic flashmobs and plenty of Christmas fun. We all had a lovely time. 

December 18th - Day 18
Christmas wreaths are hung on people's doors at Christmas time as a symbol of welcome and a long, happy life ahead.

This term our topic in Welsh has been 'Gwyliau' - 'Holidays'. As the weeks have gone by, we have been working hard at learning how to talk and write in Welsh about where we have been on holiday. We have, for example, learnt how to explain where we went, when we went, who we went with, how we travelled, how long we stayed for and what we did on our holidays. Recently we wrote our own Welsh postcards using a writing frame and example postcards to help us. We are great Welsh writers! Ysgrifenwyr Cymraeg gwych ydyn ni! After Christmas we will be writing postcards independently without the use of a frame. We hope you enjoy looking at and reading a selection of our Welsh postcards. Mwynheuwch darllen ein cardiau post. 

Today our classroom was filled with colour and fun as the school's Christmas Fancy Dress event took place. So many of J11 had made the effort to dress up and join in the festive fun. You couldn't move around the classroom without meeting Father Christmas, Where's Wally?, a Ninja Turtle, Rudolph, Olav, zoombies and a host of other colourful characters! As excitement mounted, we all gathered in the hall to see each class' fancy dress costumes. Mr. Clode acted as Master of Ceremonies and, together with Mr. Smith, introduced the children from each class who had dressed up. Everyone had an opportunity to do a twirl on the stage so that the rest of the school could take a good look at their wonderful costumes.

As this year's esteemed judges, Miss Griffiths and Miss Beale cast their beady eyes over each fancy dress outfit and had the difficult task of awarding the prize for 'Best Fancy Dress Costume' in each class. They said, "We were so impressed with how much effort the children had put in to dressing up today." They added, "It was so difficult to decide who was the winner from each class as all the children are winners." The judges were looking for originality, creativity, home-made costumes as well as stage presence and overall Christmas sparkle! Olivia(the Ninja Turtle) and Shannon (Olaf) were the winners in J11, winning a selection box. Everyone who took part received a candy cane. Below is a gallery of photographs of J11 all dressed up.

Day 17 - December 17th
The largest Christmas pudding on record weighed 7,231 pounds, and was made in Aughton, Lancashire on July 11,1992 by Les Heyhoe.

The school choir were busy again tonight singing a selection of carols and Christmas songs at our school's traditional carol service at St. Illtyd's Church, Bridgend. The service of readings and congregational carols heralds the start of Christmas for many of us. Many of the congregation left the church feeling that Christmas had truly arrived. As always the choir sang beautifully a selection of carols and Christmas songs including 'Halleluiah', 'Turn Down the Lights' and 'Christmas Bells'. Their melodic voices soared up to the vaulted roof of the historic church as candles flickered on the altar. The choir's programme of songs was punctuated with lessons telling the Christmas story read by teachers, governors and pupils of the school.  Everyone who took part in the service received a standing ovation from the congregation. Well done to Aaron and Cai who represented our class at the service and read so well at the church.

Day 15 - December 15th
According to the 'Guinness Book of Records', the largest Christmas stocking measured 51 m 35 cm in length and 21 m 63 cm in width (heel to toe) and was produced by a volunteer emergency services organisation in Carrara, Tuscany, Italy, on 5th January 2011.

The event was organised in order to raise money for a charity helping the elderly. Fulfilling the guideline that the stocking had to be filled with presents, the volunteers filled the stocking with balloons containing sweets.

December 14th - Day 14
Can you solve these 'Christmas Carol' anagrams? Unscramble the letters to find the titles of these five well-known Christmas carols.
TESLIN GNTHI RKAH HET DLHREA GLSNEA GSNI
CENO NI YLAOR VIDDSA YTCI
O MCEO LLA EY LUAHTIFF
O ETTILL WONT FO TMHLEEBEH
The first to bring the solved anagrams to Mr. Evans  will win a prize.         

Day 13 - December 13th
Ouch! Christmas shopping can be dangerous. If you are a Christmas shopper, statistics show that you are likely to be elbowed at least three times in the Christmas rush to buy presents for your family and friends. 

By wearing our Christmas jumpers, we are aiming to 'Make the World Better With A Sweater!' We were encouraged to raise money to support the fantastic work done worldwide to help children by the 'Save the Children' charity. By texting TEAMLLAN to 70050, we each would donate £2 to this worthwhile cause. If you haven't already done so, it is not too late. Text now! To achieve DOUBLE THE JUMPER JOY, every pound we donate will matched by the UK government this Christmas, doubling our donations and making an even bigger difference for children who are not as fortunate as we are. What a lovely thing for us to do at this special time of year. We had such a fun day wearing our Christmas jumpers whilst raising money for a worthwhile cause. Well done Llangewydd! Well done J11! 
Here we all are wearing our Christmas jumpers:

December 11th - Rhagfyr 11 - Day 11
The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.

This week parents, families and friends have enjoyed Year 6's performances of our festive Christmas musical - 'Five Gold Rings' / 'Pump o Modrwyon Aur' based on the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'! After weeks of learning lines, rehearsals, singing and dancing, the curtain rose on our fun-packed show. Llawer o hwyl! Everyone involved worked so hard to ensure that the audiences enjoyed an exciting, lively Christmas treat. Rydych chi wedi gweithio yn galed iawn.We are all extremely proud of you.  

Laughter filled the school hall as Matt and Lucy (with some help along the way) went in search of the fifth missing gold ring. Until they found it, Christmas would be chaos with squabbling turtle doves, tuneless pipers (and we mean tuneless!), dancing ladies in a spin and a school choir stuck in a time warp! The smiles on the audience’s faces and their warm applause showed how much they enjoyed the production. Many of them commented on the “fantastic acting and singing” of the children. One of the audience said, “I haven’t laughed so much for ages!” 

Thanks again to parents and friends for their support in helping us learn our lines and for organising our costumes. Diolch yn fawr iawn. We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda i chi gyd.

Today we had a fun 'It's a Year 6 Christmas KnockOut' competition in the lower hall where J11 competed against J10 and J12. Each class had to nominate a member of their class to take part in each round of the weird and wonderful competition before they knew what activity they'd have to do. The competition continued until everyone had had an opportunity to take part in one of the 'strange' activities! These included a balancing competition, a jumper-swapping relay, a wheelbarrow race, a spelling and maths contest, a race where your feet aren't allowed any contact with the ground, a 'Find a pair of glasses' competition, a 'Decorate a Christmas Tree' competition, a hula hoop event and a 'Bring an adult to the hall' event!!!!!! We all cheered on our team mates.

After an exciting competition, J10 won the 'It's a Year 6 Christmas Knockout!' scoring an impressive 111 points! Llongyfarchiadau J10! In second place was J11 with 71 points and in third place came J10 with 70 points. We all enjoyed the activities and had great fun. Below are some photographs of some of the events. Can you guess what each wacky event is?