This week has been "anti-bullying week" and the children have been discussing what to do if they see bullying, if they are being bullied, the different types of bullying and how bullies make us feel.

We, and other local schools, wore blue on Thursday to show our awareness to this sensitive subject.

 The Schools Fantasy Football League update !!

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Year 4 - Brendon
Year 5 - Tia
Year 6 - Jamie
Staff - Mrs Evans

Don't forget you get three transfers per month. I have used mine already but to be honest it didn't help me much !!!

It was also International Week this week and lots of classrooms were using books to find out interesting facts, speaking foreign languages and using their ICT and researching skills in order to gain more knowledge about their chosen country.

So what else has been happening at Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School this week?

French - Mrs Johnston

Reception have been learning a song about parts of their body.

Year 1/2 shared the story, ‘Aboie Georges’ about a dog who had trouble with his bark. 

Year 3/2 are still working on their classroom objects.

Year 4 have been thinking about which animals they like or don’t like and planning their animal books. 

Year 5 have started writing about their favourite school subjects.

Nursery - It was Italian week in the Nursery so we made Italian flags. We also played with some dried pasta shapes and had cooked pasta shapes for snack, they were green, red and cream coloured. We also made muffin pizzas which we cooked under the Nursery grill. We put tomato sauce on them and then put grated cheese on top before we cooked them. We had them for snack, they were yummy!!!

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have thoroughly enjoyed our International Week focusing on France. We have implemented many activities in the classroom: saying 'bonjour Madame Weston' during register, making French flags and comparing the similarities and differences to the Union Jack, handwriting French colours, singing French songs, sharing French books, sponge printing and ordering numbers whilst saying them in French, exploring French games on the computer in the ICT suite and eating 'French' snacks!  We are looking forward to starting rehearsals next week for our Christmas nativity.

RM - Mrs McIntosh - Christmas is nearly upon us and we have started to prepare for our Christmas nativity. If anyone has any questions about lines/costumes or performances, please come in and see me.

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - This week we have been very busy! In our writing time we have been thinking about three stories from other countries and we really enjoyed them. In our number work we have been finding out about money; what different coins look like, how many pennies they are worth and how to go shopping and get the correct change. On Thursday we talked about what bullying is and how we can stop it happening. I must say that the children had really good ideas which we talked about sensibly. Well done everyone. We are also getting excited about our singing, our words and our dances for the Christmas play. Thank you to all parents who are able to help us with costumes for our Russian story.

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - It's all about the money in Class 1/2B.  We are beginning to recognise different coin values up to £2.00, some of us have been adding three different coin amounts and we have also just started using the £ sign as well.  We have made a very good start with our part in the school Christmas play.  I have been really impressed with how quickly the children are learning the words.  Next week we shall cover the famous Russian story Babushka in literacy.  In numeracy we shall continue with money, money, money.

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

Another week has flown by! Starting preparations for our Christmas performance, the children are getting very excited. I am too, they always do such a good job.

 

This week we have been experimenting with number through multiplication and division. The children have been exploring the relationship between the two operations and using their skills to solve word problems. I am very pleased with the progress they have made, generally they have shown good understanding. They will get the opportunity to develop their skills further as we are doing a whole week on multiplication and division again next week. On Friday there will be a 2 times tables test and some children will also be tested on dividing by 2.

 

This week we have also been doing activities in connection with Anti-bullying and International Week. The children have thought really carefully about what bullying means through discussion and role play. They have also thought about ways to combat bullying, they have expressed these ideas through creating poems and posters. 

 

We have focussed on Spain this week to extend our knowledge gained from our European Day of Languages.We are now learning to count up to 20, we have learned greetings and discussed Spanish traditions, comparing them with our own. The theme for our Christmas play is Christmas around the World and, yes you guessed it, our country is Spain.

 

So, hopefully, by the end of this term the children will be very knowledgeable about this part of Europe.

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - This week we have focussed on anti- bullying week and looked at Ireland as part of International week. what a busy time.

The children have produced an Anti-bullying poem and poster. the children found out about Irish traditions at Christmas , did a drawing of the Irish flag and found out about Leprechauns and shamrock.

Miss Bolton's class joined us for a read through of our part of the xmas play!!! So wait for the children to tell you what they will be doing.

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Somebody decided that we would have both Internation Week and Anti-bullying week at the same time for this week - so its been a week of real variety!

We started the week though by counting all the pennies we got from our Children in Need penny trail. I thought it would only take an hour - but 2 hours later, we were still going! It turned into some good learning though with maths as we counted and weighed all the different coins. Myself and Mr Lloyd took a grand total of £266.86 down to Nat West to pay into the Children in Need account. Thank you all so much for your generous donations. There is a couple of picture of us counting in the Gallery.

The other highlight of the week was beginning to introduce the children to our Christmas play - Christmas Around The World. We have paired up with Mrs Chattertons class and have chosen to do Ireland. The children have been given song words for Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everybody' and further details of cast, scripts and costumes will follow shortly - get practicing the Irish dancing!!

 

4P - Mrs Peacher - Class 4P have had a special week this week with Anti-Bullying week and International week. Each child in  the class chose a country that they would like to research at the start of the week and they have been using the internet to carry out their research. They each found out the countries flag, population, landscape, wildlife, capital city and language including how to say hello. We had countries as close as Wales and as far flung as Senegal and Libya. They have been using skin colour paints to match to the people from their chosen countries. We will put all of their work together on a display. For anti-bullying week we made friendship posters to be displayed in the classroom and out in the playground. We also wrote poems from the point of view of either the bully or the victim. Well done to our new addition Alexia who wrote a particularly good poem.

 

 5B - Mr Bird - Our focus this week has been divided between International Week and Anti-bullying Week. Both of these areas have provided the children with numerous opportunities to explore these important topics from several different perspectives.

 

International Week was encompassed in our work on myths and legends, PE and music, with Thursday giving the children the chance to try out some Greek language and an introduction to traditional Greek dancing. They really entered into the spirit of the day and clearly enjoyed demonstrating their new found knowledge. We hope the children have not been too traumatised by watching their teachers demonstrate Zorba's dance !

 

The ever important task of exploring, recognising and discussing the issue of bullying was tackled in a variety of ways. It was refreshing to see that our children take this matter seriously and show a level of awareness that should certainly reduce their chances of becoming a victim, or indeed them being involved with any act which could be construed as bullying. 

 

This week ended with the first reading of our contribution for the end of term performance. Everyone was keen to participate and with the invaluable help given by Mrs Johnston, copies of the children's lines have already been given to them. I suppose now would be the time to say to all the adults at home who will be listening to their children practising, enjoy every performance. I am sure you will be hearing it several times during the next couple of weeks but it will be worth it, honestly.

 

 5D - Mr Duff - Greece is the word!!! Being International Week, we dedicated a whole day to find out about our chosen country, Greece. This even linked into our P.E. lesson with the dance Zorba the Greek. With Mr Bird, Mrs Evans and myself demonstrating to the children they couldn't wrong (yeah right)!!! 

 

Another topic this week has been around anti-bullying. I must say the children were very sensible when approaching this subject and very grown up discussions were had.

 

The parts for the play have been given out, so please learn you lines as the performances are only just around the corner.

Next week we will be writing our myths. Please remember how you build suspense and tension and the rest we will go over again before you write.

 

6M - Mr Martin - Which surfaces cause the most friction? This is the question we have been pondering this week. As scientists, we have been devising our own investigations to test our predictions. With our results, we were able to draw scientific conclusions which we could apply to everyday circumstances such as safety in the home.

 

As the Festive Season hurtles towards us, we have begun  rehearsing for our contribution to the schools'  Christmas production. It's been fun singing rocking around the Christmas even though it's only mid November!

 

6H - Mr Hautler - Another exciting week has come to an end. The parts for the Christmas play, which is the Christmas Tree Story from Germany, have been cast and the actors are busy learning their lines. Our work on Eastern Europe has continued, we are being Travel Agents advertising a Country. In I.C.T we made a powerpoint presentation on Forces. We will evaluate these next week. The week has been great fun and we are looking forward to coming back on Monday!

Guess what we have been doing today !! You have guessed it - "Children in Need" !!!

Most children and staff have come dressed in something beginning with the letter "p". I myself was fitted for my pirates hat last night. My wife had a big black sheet of paper, cellotape, a stapler and a scull and cross bone. I sat there patiently, whilst she conjured her magic and voila, Pirate Duff was born !!

My wife was definitely not the only one with her Blue Peter head on. There were some fantastic costumes in and around the school, ranging from painters to plumbers, policemen to paramedics, princes to princesses. My personal favourite was Sonny in 4B who came dressed as a Phoenix, superb.

To top it all Miss Bolton and 4B did a fantastic penny trial in the hall - see their photos here

Morrisons Vouchers

Please keep these coming in. The offer is over so no more vouchers will be given out in the shops. Please check your coats, handbags and pockets for any vouchers and send them into school so Mrs Johnston can make her shopping list.

What else has been happening this week at Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School?

French - Mrs Johnston

Reception have been learning some instruction words to go with an action song.

Years 1/2 have been revising their colours and learning an action song.

Years 3/2 have been learning about items in their pencil case.

Year 4 have started to make books about their pets.

Year 5 have compared French and English school timetables.

Year 6 have been playing a clothes shopping game.

 

Nursery - This week the Nursery children have been sticking squares on to their Elmer pictures. We also made firework pictures at the beginning of the week. We all dressed up in something beginning with 'P' so had lots of pirates and pink princesses.

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have continued with our toy theme using bears as a stimulus this week. We have focused on the traditional tale 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', re-telling the story to an adult, making moveable bears, writing an apology letter from Goldilocks to the three bears and discussing the similarities and differences between our own versions of the book that we brought in independently and the three bowls, chairs, spoons etc that we used to re-enact the story. We are looking forward to making porridge on Monday and then taking part in International week where we will be studying France.

RM - Mrs McIntosh - This week RM have been continuing the theme of bears, particularly Goldilocks and the 3 bears, and have encorporated lots of maths, literacy and creativity.

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - Class1/2B have had another enjoyable week learning about the Island of Struay.  We made clay islands and have almost finished painting them.  We also made our own sunset pictures with some pleasing results.  Our numeracy involved doubling and halving the children can now double money.  This could come in very handy!  Next week will have an international feel and then on Thursday our learning we be centred around anti bullying.

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - We have been thinking about  what it is like 'Living On An Island'  with our Katie Morag stories and have been looking closely at the important illustrations and writing about our favourite part of the story  In Numeracy we have been working hard to double 2 digit numbers and some of us have been halving numbers as well! We have also been thinking about  how plants and animals are both similar and different.

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

I cannot believe that another week has gone by. We seem to be so busy and it's not even Christmas yet! The children have worked really hard on telling the time, but they know that they need to practise more. So children, remember to practise telling the time at home whenever you can! We have also been writing recounts of our trip to Colchester Castle. The children had to think carefully about what makes a good and interesting recount. I have not read them all, but so far they seem to have made a very good effort.

 

Next week is Antibullying and International Week, we will be doing lots of interesting activities connected within these themes. The country that we will be looking at will be Spain to expand on what we learned on International Day of Languages. So children, could you find out what you can about the city of Barcelona and anything about Spanish Christmas customs. 

 

Thanks! Have a great weekend - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - We have been wriitng about our trip to Colchester castle in the form of a recount. They all said they enjoyed the trip and not just their lunch!

We have been working on time this week- please talk to the children about time as much as possible as it is really helpful if they have some input at home.

Many children completed their materials homework- well done. We have been looking at why certain materials are used to make various objects around the school. Quite ahrd for them to grasp.

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Today has been a fab day. I can't remember how many penny trails I've done over the years I've been here...but its been quite a few. I was a little worried yesterday that the credit crunch had hit us and the half box of pennies we had wouldn't have completed any kind of trail But after a day of plugging and shaking buckets outside, we got more pennies than ever! The class really enjoyed themselves going 4 times round the hall in pennies, filling the school badge in the middle and then becoming penny artists by creating picture of Pudsey Bear of their own - all in pennies!

Just got the task of counting them now!!!

Thanks to everyone for their donations and support - Pudsey and the Children say THANKS!

Here's a link to the Gallery to see some pictures of our fab Penny Trail.

 

4P - Mrs Peacher - This week 4P have been writing playscripts based around either Madagascar or Finding Nemo, which links to our science project on habitats. Our ICT this week also linked to habitats and may I say that Mrs Reeve commented on how impressed she was with the children's ICT skills. Well done everybody, keep up the good work! We had lots of interesting costumes for 'p' day today. I particularly enjoyed Libby's panda bear with bamboo stick snack! I am totally worn out from changing my costume everytime someone entered the classroom. I have been a puss cat, pirate, princess and pink lady. It has left me a little confused so I am going home for a cup of tea and to watch Pudsey! Have a nice weekend!

 

5B - Mr Bird - Week two of the Ziggy challenge has been well supported by the class with the majority of children walking or cycling to school. Their actions have been reinforced by the partially created traffic calming measure which is taking shape outside our school. I know the children were very pleased that the artwork for the 20 mph signs in the area came from one of the year 5 children from last year, it certainly gave them an incentive to produce some nice pieces of art this week.

 

Art featured in more than one form, with the children creating some poppies from paper plates for the backdrop to our two minutes silence. There were sufficient poppies to produce a large ' 90 ', in recognition of the importance of this year to the three remaining British ex servicemen who served in WW1. The children coped very well with our school Act of Remembrance and clearly had a better understanding of how this fits in with other community events.

 

Our work on myths has moved on and the children have enjoyed exploring aspects of this area through drama. This approach had the desired outcome of focusing them on the central aspects of an interesting myth, a point which will

be of great assistance to them when they create their own piece of writing.

 

With the week ending on a very positive note of heightening everybody's awareness of  the 'Children in Need' charity, we entered into the spirit of raising money by taking part in a sponsored dressing up day. The fun had will hopefully go some way to providing help to many children in the future.

 

5D - Mr Duff - We have the Ziggy Challenge up and running and our monitors are in place. Well done Daniel, Tom and Callum you are doing a great job.

 

The discussion work on our myths is coming on very well and next week will be starting to plan how this will link into our writing.

 

In maths we were finding the difference by counting on to the next multiple of 10, 100, 1000 and beyond. You were visualising number lines really well. Next week we will be looking at doubling and halving.

 

Our soft area (book corner) will be ready Monday, so we will have a nice chilled out place to read books within the classroom !!

 

6H - Mr Hautler - This week we have been looking at the different types of triangles in maths and we've been writing non-chronological reports in literacy. We have started preparing for the up and coming Christmas Production. We have very little homework this week as we need to prepare ourselves for the 11 plus tests next saturday.

 

6M - Mr Martin - We have been investigating the forces all around us and divising our own experiments to see how friction affects the journey of the vehicle.  In addition to this, our Eastern European topic is ticking along nicely as we have been able to learn about it through many subjects such as art, music and literacy.  We have really enjoyed making biscuits to support the Children in Need and dressing up as something beginning with 'P'.  We wait with baited breath to find out the grand total - we hope its alot!