This week saw Mark and Graham from Creative Partnerships come into our school and hold music workshops with our children. Mark worked with Year 5 and Graham worked with Year 3/2.

As they are here for the whole Summer term all of the children within our school will get a chance to work with them and experience the fantastic activities they have to offer.

I know for a fact that Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed their time this week and having spoke to Miss Bernard I know that Year 3/2 did.

This leads me nicely into the new zone that is now on the school's the website - The Music Zone !!! Take a look, click on the links and let us know what you think. More will be added very soon.

Isle of Wight
I had a fantastic time at the Isle of Wight with Year 5.  The sun shone until the last day but the children were brilliantly behaved and smiled all week.  I would like to say some extra words of praise for the girls who were super at bedtime.  They may not have been the quietest group (as one child said, “Mrs Johnston, there are nine girls in one room, of course we’re going to talk!”) but they worked as a team all week, helping each other with showers, hair, duvets etc.

Everyone achieved things they had never managed before – abseiling for me, the zip wire for Mrs Day archery for Mr Bird and I suspect packing for some of the boys!

It was a real pleasure to be part of such a wonderful group.

 Parents consultations

Next week is parents consulations. They are on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th. It's not to late to book an appointment and it would be great to see as many parents as possible.

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

Nursery - We have been very busy in the Nursery this week making chocolate muffins, they are not as big as the ones in the shops because we are only little people (see gallery photos). We have played in the garden for the whole session nearly all week because the weather has been so nice.

RM - Mrs Collinson - Another fantastic week!! The children have been so responsive and are loving all the exciting experiences we have had this week learning about jungle habitats.  We  have been thinking about alliteration and making silly sentences that start with the same letter.  We have had some fantastic tongue twisters such as 'the moody monkey mashes mushy mushrooms' and  'the enormous elephant eats enormous eggs'!!

RW - Mrs Weston - RW have enjoyed a further range of Jungle related activities this week. Tia said 'I liked playing the Jungle pairs matching game with Mrs Hawkins' and John liked going to the ICT suite to print off jungle animal pictures from clip art. We also typed alliterative phrases to match our jungle animal pictures (e.g. terrible tiger), did jungle animal jigsaw puzzles, and made animals from plasticine. We have also shared a range of fiction and non-fiction books.

1/2D - Mrs Dutton - We had a very enjoyable visit to a Christian church this week and we took our American Flat Stanley with us to meet the minister. We were able to look at the features of the church and ask lots of interesting questions. Thank you to the parents who came with us, we really appreciate it. We have enjoyed making our own Flat Stanleys to post to different places in this country or another country if we know someone who lives abroard. We are looking forward to finding out where they have all been posted to!

1/2B - Mrs Barrington - Another busy week in class 1/2B.  Traditional stories have been our focus in literacy and the children have had the opportunity to listen to different traditional stories during their computer time.  We also started our Great Fire of London topic and this is really capturing the children's imagination.  We shall have lots of work relating to the fire on display in our class over the next few weeks and would welcome your visits after school.

On Wednesday we had a trip to Chalkwell Methodist church.  It is a deceptive building from the outside but once inside it is huge with beautiful windows and an amazing timber ceiling.  The children were well behaved and had an interesting time.

 

 

3/2B - Miss Bernard - Hello everybody!

 

We have had a lovely week, the children have been taking part in some fun activities. They have been studying several children's author's in groups for a presentation, they worked hard and their presentations were brilliant. They researched Dick King-Smith, Julia Donaldson, John Burningham, Lauren Child, Jill Murphy and Nick Butterworth.They really enjoyed learning about the different authors, finding out about their lives and why they chose to became writers.

 

"I enjoyed finding out about Dick King-Smith"- Natasha

 

We also began Peer Massage last week which children are finding very calming and relaxing.

 

"Peer massage was relaxing"- Bethany

 

"Peer massage was relaxing and very nice"- Holly

 

We were also lucky enough to have an interesting Music lesson from Graham who works for Creative Partnerships.The children used circuit boards to create noises and they absolutely loved it. 

 

"I really enjoyed making funny noises with electricity"- Aaliyah

 

"I liked making the noises with Graham because it was funny"- Jack

 

"Making electronic noises with Graham was fun. We made noises using a human circuit"- Alfie

 

Here are some more things that children have enjoyed this week:

 

"I enjoyed playing outside with my friends"- Liam

 

"Making the Viking Longboats is fun"- Phoebe

 

I know that I have certainly enjoyed teaching the children this week.

 

Enjoy your weekend - Miss Bernard

 

3/2C - Mrs Chatterton - This week we have been looking at different authors and learning about them in groups. My group looked at Roald Dahl and we were surprised to learn that he had written only 39  books. We looked at some web sites to check but they all said the same. In numeracy we have been adding 2 and 3 digit numbers. I found that adding 100s and 10s wasn't too difficult, adding 1000s was more difficult. In history we have been looking at Vikings. We have done the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and are following a time-line. In science we have been doing lots of experiments to do with plants - by Tom

 

4B - Miss Bolton - Just a short one this week to say thank you to all the parents/carers who have made appointments for next weeks consultations. There are still spaces free for those yet to make one. I'm also happy to see parents/carers at any other time after school. This is a valuable time to come in to review the whole of year 4 and look forward to year 5.

You should have also got a letter today about our planned trip to Kentwell Hall. As the letter says, we will do everything we can in terms of fundraising to get the cost down for you. It really is a worth while trip.

Have a good extra long weekend!

 

4J - Mrs Johnston - This blog was written by George,Cai and Lauren.

This we have been learning about Charlie Chaplin and how he became a famous silent movie star and we wrote a biography about him and his life.

 

I was very pleased to hear such good reports about 4J on my return from the Isle of Wight.  Mrs Chatterton and Miss Bolton thought you were all lovely and are still singing your praises.

 

5D - Mr Duff - This week you have really impressed me with your short and timed stories. We have spoken about story openings, the fortune line and also keeping an eye on the clock! Maths, I am happy we are all pretty confident on our four operations and our problem solving skills and really coming on, well done.

 

Borough sports year group trials were held this week. We have to finish them off on Tuesday and, as you know, Mr Bird was trialling the boys and I was trialling the girls. Good luck to you all.

 

Long weekend ahead now - enjoy yourselves and make sure your use lots of suncream !!!!

 

Mr Bird - 5B - Most of the blog this week has been written by Molly as she has been working on her journalism skills this year and this has given her the opportunity to put some of what she has learnt into practise.

 

Molly's report:

From the 20th. to the 24th. of April, Year 5 took part in going to the Isle of Wight for a week. The children and teachers enjoyed every second of being there. They also enjoyed the ferry ride, especially the people whose first time it was on a ship! The children also rejoiced at the fact of there being so many activities. There were a number of things to do including; Quad-biking, abseiling (30 feet high), archery, orienteering, caving, climbing, nightline and the zip line! The children who weren't able to come, also had a good time with Mr Duff.

Georgina's recount: Wee made a pizza on Tuesday, we also made clay models. We watched Space Buddies which I thought was very good and I would give it 9/10. We also watched Stardust and ate popcorn, sweets and chocolate the day after. For the whole day on Wednesday it was P.E. day. On Thursday we had an egg and spoon race and on Friday we had a mini BBQ and played on the adventure trail. I really enjoyed it!

Leon's recount: On Tuesday we made clay models, I liked that very much! On Wednesday we watched Stardust and I give it 10/10. On Thursday we had races against each other and made P.E games. On Friday we had a mini BBQ and ran on the racing track.  

 

Thank you Molly for your report.

 

On a personal note I wanted to take this opportunity to say a few things about our trip last week. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to have a brilliant time on the Isle of Wight and that the children who were staying at Darlinghurst would discover just how enjoyable their activity week would be also.

 

The weather was excellent throughout and the range of activities at Kingswood ensured that everyone was able to satisfy a personal challenge, or conquer a fear, at some stage. It is hard to explain just how rewarding it is to see the broad smiles when the children achieve their goals but it would be fair to say it makes organising it so worthwhile.

 

I was extremely proud of the way all the children behaved, both during the journey ( I did loose count of the times I heard -"Are we there yet ?") and for the entire time they were at the centre. On several occasions members of the public and the instructional staff commented on their good manners and cheerfulness.

 

I would like to thank all of you for the kind remarks we received from you on our return. Mrs Johnston, Mrs Day and I, thoroughly enjoyed being able to share in each and every success that your children experienced. Additionally, just in case they weren't doing this before, they are now all able to make their own beds. Please put this knowledge to good use.  

 

This week has provided the children with a chance to participate in a music activity which enthralled most of them and I know they are keen to take part in the next session. They also marked International Dance Day with an excellent interpretation of the Macarana. Some of the Year 6 children who were watching couldn't help but join in on the sidelines!

 

We have started our new topic which will give them all a terrific opportunity to explore numerous aspects of their local community. I am really looking forward to seeing the results of the children's projects.

 

I hope to see you next Wednesday or Thursday during parent consultations.