Welcome back !! I hope you all had a good half term !

 

Well the children had any cobwebs well and truely brush away on Monday with a fantastic activity day that was enjoyed by all. I will let Mrs Johnson explain......

 

Fantastic Elastic!!

Wow! What a day we had on Monday!

We celebrated our own World Games Day.  John Massey from the Small Earth Games Company came and taught us games from around the world.  The games involved thinking skills, PE skills and lots of fun. Ask your child which country their game came from.

 

The highlight of each session was the French skipping.  Some of you adults may remember this from your own school days – a lot of the teachers do!  We also learnt that French skipping started in China but is played around the world.

 

The day ended with an amazing assembly when the children showed off to each other.  They had learnt different skills during the day which they can teach each other in the playground. 

 

French skipping is great for increasing agility and stamina.  Apparently, 3 minutes of French skipping is as good as a 20 minute run!  Go on grown ups – get your children to teach you some French skipping over the weekend!

 

Thank you Mrs Johnston for organising such a great day

 

Update from the School's Fantasy Football League

 

Lots of points being scored and the fun is well on the way !!

 

The present leaders are.......

 

Year 4 - Kyle M

 

Year 5 - Tia B

 

Year 6 - Jamie C

 

Staff - Mr Bird

 

 

So the first week back is now been and gone. We are edging closer and closer to the C word. I won't add a count down just yet, maybe the beginning of December will be more appropriate !!

 

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

 

 

 French - Mrs Johnston 

The Reception  classes have been learning the song ‘6 au lit’ (6 in the bed) and were so sensible playing in the ‘bed’. RM – can you spot your shoes? Click here to see

 

Y1/2 have been learning the song ‘6 au lit’ (6 in the bed) as well as the names for some animals. 

 

Year 2/3 have been continuing their number work and learning classroom instructions in French.  They saw a short film about a French classroom, noticing some of the differences and similarities.

 

Year 4 have carried on with their number work – repetition and reinforcement is really key here, so do encourage your children to count in French at home – not just reciting the numbers to 10 or 20 which they can do easily but to count various objects or say numbers out of sequence.  4B read ‘Un pour l’escargot, dix pour le crabe’ with Mademoiselle Jamet.

 

Year 5 have been learning about their school subjects in French.  5D also read ‘Un pour l’escargot, dix pour le crabe’ with Mademoiselle Jamet and looked at numbers up to 100!

 

Year 6 have been extending their knowledge of clothing vocabulary and adjectives to tackle a reading comprehension!

 
 Nursery - This week in the Nursery we have been doing a lot of work with colours and shapes, we made pictures by printing shapes and also by sticking coloured shapes. Mrs Elliott has been busy helping us to make a Mr Men and Little Miss display for the wall.
 
 RM - Mrs McIntosh - Where did half term go?!!!
This week we have been looking at Toys - bears in particular. Many children brought in their favourite bear from home and we spent some time drawing them and comparing them. Mrs Collison even brought in a really, really old bear!
We are still practicing writing our names and would encourage any help from home to do this too. Many of the children produced lovely "numbers books" from their half term homework - well done!
We are now beginning to look at some "tricky" words in our reading - so far they are: the, to, I, go, into. These are non-decodable words that the children will learn from site rather than sounding them out.
 
 RW - Mrs Weston - RW have continued with our toys theme this week looking at 'teddies'. We brought in our own teddies from home which we discussed and compared and drew them using pastels in the classroom. Some of us used the computer program 'First Artist' in the ICT suite too!  We also made our own mini teddies choosing suitable fluffy material from a range to cover them with, and read the stories 'Old Bear' and 'The Teddy that was Left Behind'. We revised our phonemes so far and continued with our blending and our tricky words. Mrs Weston was very impressed with our half term holiday homework where we made number scrap books. We shared these on Friday. A great big thank you to all the parents who supported the children with this homework. A lot of effort obviously went into them.
 
 1/2B - Mrs Barrington - Back to school and back to learning for class 1/2B.  We all enjoyed our trip to the two war memorials on Tuesday.  The children made some fantastic drawings and showed a great interest.  I am hoping to put some of the photos onto our school website.  This week we also started our Katie Morag work.  The children really liked the first story  Katie Morag delivers the Mail by  Mairi Hedderwick.  We also visited a really good website about island life in Coll which is where Mairi Hedderwick based her stories.  I have put the web address here as l know the children would like to share it with you.  www.visitcoll.co.uk
 
 3/2B - Mis Bernard - Hello everybody!
The children have worked really hard this week on Addition and Subtraction. They have been drawing blank number lines and using them to help themselves work out answers. They have done well with these and I am very pleased with their efforts.
They have also had lots of fun writing instructions for their work partners on how to dress a Roman Soldier.It really made them think about the elements that make a good set of instructions. Especially when their partners were having problems following their instructions.
 
We are all very excited about our trip to Colchester Castle Museum tomorrow. In Literacy, next week, the children will be writing recounts all about it. So make sure you remember lots of details children! In Numeracy we are revisiting time. An area of Mathematics that children find difficult especially without practise. So make sure you practise telling the time at different times of the day over the weekend children.
 
Have fun! - Miss Bernard
 
 3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - Due to our fantastic trip to Colchester castle the blog for us is late. We had a super time at the castle, the children knew so much about Romans beforehand, but they learnt even more.
This week we have been writing instructions on how to put a paper Roman soldier together. The children then had to swap instructions to make him.
We have worked on addition and subtraction for maths.
For science we have been starting our next topic on materials.
 
 4B - Miss Bolton - This week has flown past - they do say time flies when you're having fun!
This week we started a new programme of topics. We leave history behind this half term in favour of some geography. Our topic is called 'Village Settlers' which looks at how and why towns have grown from a thousand years ago to present day. In science we have started looking at Habitats of living things. In art we will be looking at Dream Art and making dream catchers. In ICT learning the skills needed to use word processors effectively.
Our main highlight of the week though was International Games Day where we learnt games from Brazil, Pakistan and French skipping. It brought back lots of happy childhood memories for me seeing French skipping again. Although, today, health and safety rules mean the elastics have to made a certain way - I remember just getting a long length of white elastic from my mums sewing basket and tying a big knot in it!  How times change!
It really has made a positive change to playtimes though and its been great seeing the class enjoying French skipping. Here's a couple of pictures of class 4B French skipping.
 
 4P - Mrs Peacher - Class 4P have had a great start to this half term this week and I am really pleased with how all of the children are progressing so far this year. We are looking at playscripts as our literacy project over the next few weeks and we have found some budding actors and actresses in the class ( as I am sure you already know!). We have also begun our new science project, habitats, and the children had loads of fun collecting bugs and other creatures from different habitats around the school. A particular mention for Iona this week for her fabulous story about the scorpian and the tiger visiting each others strange habitats which she wrote for her homework. Infact I am very pleased at the amount of homework that is being done by all of the children. Keep up the good work :) Mrs P 
 
 5B - Mr Bird - Everybody seemed to have benefitted from the break last week and the children really enjoyed the opportunity of being able to share some of their experiences with the class.
 
The children have fully encompassed the themed approach to myths and legends. Following the viewing of a film, which helped to demonstrate some of the features present in these tales, the mood was one of enthusiasm for their future tasks. Immediately after the film there was more than one potential Ancient Greek character setting out on a quest, rather than their normal playtime activities. 
 
The involvement of a number of classes in the 'World Games Day' provided the children with a very different type of challenge. I know that the combined year 5 classes thoroughly enjoyed the chance to compete in a very lively Spanish game that required speed and dexterity. Without doubt, the children's response towards the opposing players demonstrated how far their sense of fair play has developed over the past year. 
 
One result of the World Games Day has been the transformation of the playground to one that would have been a familiar sight in the past.  Many of the children, who had previously not been aware of French skipping, are now eager to take on the challenge of fast and accurate skipping to keep fit.
 
We have also examined the origins and meaning of Remembrance Day this week and the children have exchanged their thoughts and ideas about the impact this has on our local community and the rest of the nation.
 
Please continue to send your children in with any books you may have about myths, legends and fables, as the widest range possible is always highly beneficial.
 
 Mr Duff - 5D - You have worked extremely hard this week well done. We have looked at metric and imperial units of lenghts. We had a great discussion about this and don't forget to look out for the countdown markers on the roads. Tell your parents what they mean!!
 
We have started our new topic of Myths and Legends, we even got a chance to look at Jason and the Argonauts to get us into the swing of things. We know what the difference between a myth, legend and fable and I think you have taken on a lot of knowledge this week.
 
What makes a good learner? We all now know!! The learning skills will be displayed on our newly created signposts and we will make good use of this.
 
What else have we done this week? Ummm, skipping, singing, recording our voices, book club feedback, introduction to our new science topic, learning about remembrance day, Mr Hautler teaching you P.E. and many more things - wow what a week back !!
 
Keep up your reading, what a fantastic job you are doing. This will have a direct impact on your progress this year. Homework is to learning our song, the division facts of the 9 x table and your spellings
 
 Mr Martin - 6M - We have really enjoyed our first week back as we have started a new term as we are going to be exploring the exciting topic of Eastern Europe.  We have been looking at how this excitng region has changed in recent history and been investigating the people and its cultures.  In science the FORCE has been with us!  As we have been looking at how forces come into our daily life and we have been researching the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton.  Next week we shall be making our own Newton Meters whilst carrying out our own scientific explorations! 
 
Please note that until further notice PE is on Friday.