🔴 Friday 17th March 2023

 

Year 5/6 Blog - Friday 17th March 2023

Happy Friday everyone! We have had a lovely week writing to persuade. The children have created their very own 'Homework Helpers' to ensure that they can spend more time doing the things that they love...if only dreams came true!

In maths this week, year 5 have continued to explore fractions. This week, they have been finding the whole of an amount. To reinforce their learning this week, we would like them to log into Mathsframe.co.uk and explore the games. The login details have been posted on Google Classroom.

Year 6 have also been working with fractions. We have looked at common multiples in order to convert the fractions so that they are easier to compare and order.

Red Nose Day 🔴

Thank you for all of the donations today.

The children looked great in their red and non-uniforms today. They all took part in some Red Nose Day activities and watched an assembly to understand the importance of raising some money. Discussions were held, linking the rights the children have met on a daily basis in comparison to the limitations others may have. We looked at how these projects help children to achieve the rights of the UNCRC and you can read the pocket book of rights HERE.

Odd Socks Day for Down Syndrome Day - Tuesday 21st March.

As stated in the newsletter, we are asking our children to come to school on Tuesday in aid of Down Syndrome Day wearing odd socks. There is no donation required on this day.

Mother's Day Sale

We would like to say a massive thank you to the PTA for organising and running the Mother's Day Sale today. Many of the children went home very excited to present their gifts with love this Sunday.

Hoping that you have a wonderful weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

😊

 

Year 5/6 Blog - Friday 10th March 2023

Happy Friday once again. This half-term seems to be flying by!

We have had a rather exciting week this week. The children have been exploring persuasive writing and even managed to persuade us that baking Victorian shortbread was a good idea. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all this morning. Let's hope that some of them even got shared 😊

Year 6 have been exploring fractions further, adding, subtracting, multiplying them by another fraction and whole numbers. Year 5 have been finding fractions of amounts and will continue with this next week. 

Times Tables Rock Stars Day

This Thursday the children looked fabulous in their outfits. They took part in a times table battle and enjoyed listening to and singing rock songs for music. We would like to say a big well done to Isla and Archer, who took part in a 'live battle' against Mrs Hurley and Mr Greenfield. Congratulations to Archer, who was the winner!

Homework for all three classes was handed out and is available to view on Google Classrooms. They also have spellings set on Spellingframe.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin and Mrs Witherall

Year 5/6 Blog -  Friday 3rd March 2023

We welcome another happy Friday here in Year 5/6 this week. The children have been very busy in English writing a review of the performance that they watched last Friday. When looking through their reviews, it is clear that they really enjoyed their afternoon. Throughout maths, Year 5 have been multiplying fractions and converting their answers into mixed numbers. Year 6 have been revising the four operations, using their lesson time to ensure that questions are clearly presented so that they can spot where they are making simple mistakes. 

Homework.

All pages are on the children's Google classroom page and copies of the Arithmetic papers have been sent out with them today. The children also have spellings to practise on Spellingframe - passwords and logins have been given.

Musical Instrument Lessons

On Monday's assembly this week we were lucky to be joined by James Abel from Front Row Music. We are pleased to announce that Front Row Music will be offering guitar, keyboard and ukulele lessons at Down Hall Primary School!

All instruments are provided and lessons cost £7.00 and are 30 minutes long. The children learn together in small groups focusing on music that they will know and love. For more information and details on how to book lessons please follow the link below.

Front Row Music

Times Tables Rock Stars Day

A reminder that next week, on Thursday 9th March, we would like all the children to take the opportunity to dress up as rock stars for the day. During this day, they will take part in a range of maths activities. Prizes for the best-dressed rock star will be handed out. You do not need to bring a donation on this day.

World Book Day - Thursday 4th March

Yesterday we celebrated World Book Day at Down Hall! Our aim, as teachers, was to promote a love of reading and it was so lovely to see the children bring in their favourite books to share in class with each other. It was also fantastic to see children and staff dressing up. Some of the children enjoyed creating group stories that included a rather strange selection of details too!

We hope that you have a lovely weekend.

Kind Regards.

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin, Mrs Witherall and Miss Parsons.

Spring 2 blog - 24.2.23

 

Year 5/6 Blog - Friday 24th February 2023

Happy Friday everybody and welcome back to the second half of the Spring Term! 

In maths, Year 5 has been working on the area of rectangles and compound shapes. Year 6 have been revisiting fractions and shapes as well as continuing to practise the techniques needed for their SATs. Throughout our English lessons, we have been busy planning and writing a piece of narrative, independently, to demonstrate the skills that they have learnt in the previous half term.

Whole School Trip to Barleylands

This week your child will have brought home a letter regarding our whole school trip to Barleylands on Monday 27th March. Please ensure that you have completed the reply slip and returned this to school by Friday 17th March.

Please keep an eye on the newsletter for any further information regarding this trip.

Times Tables Rock Stars Day

This year, at Down Hall Primary School, we have had a big focus on Times Tables through our Times Table Programme as well as Times Tables Rock Stars. These have both helped the children become more fluent in their times tables.

On Thursday 9th March, we would like all the children to take the opportunity to dress up as rock stars for the day. During this day they will take part in a range of maths activities. Prizes for the best dressed rock star will be handed out. You do not need to bring a donation on this day.

The Young Shakespeare Company

This afternoon, the children enjoyed watching a performance of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. They thoroughly enjoyed not only watching but also participating throughout the play alongside the enthusiastic actors. 

We hope that the children had as much fun as we did watching, and bring the same enthusiasm to recording a performance review next week.

World Book Day

Don't forget Thursday is World Book Day. The information about how we are marking this in school can be found here. We are looking forward to finding out about the children's favourite stories. 

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend.

Love

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin, Mrs Witherall and Miss Parsons

Friday 10th February 2023

Year 5/6 Blog-  Friday 10th February 2023

We find ourselves not only at the end of another week but also half way through the year. There are quite a lot of upcoming events, so we expect the remaining half to go fairly quickly.

This week, the children have been creating texts that required them to use the evidence found within the story 'Street Child' in order to write an account of a Victorian child's daily routine. In maths, Year 5 has been exploring both perimeter and area. Year 6 has been converting metric units in their maths lessons this week. All homework pages have been posted on Google Classroom. They have also been set spellings to practise on Spellingframe (passwords and logins have already been given out).

PTA Coin Run

The children thoroughly enjoyed creating their coin runs today. We would like to say a big thank you to the lovely parents for organising the event. Topaz were the class that managed to create the longest line of coins out of the school and was given a bag of sweets to celebrate this - well done Topaz!

Parent/Teacher Consultations

These will be taking place in school on Monday 27th February and Wednesday 1st March between 3:30-6:30pm. You can book your slot using your Scopay account - booking will open at 8:00am on Monday 20th February.

It will be lovely to see you all and a chance for you to see your child's books and discuss their progress and future targets!

World Book Day

This year, World Book Day is on Thursday 2nd March. To promote reading within our school community, for this day the children can bring in a favourite book from home which they can share with the other children in their class.

They can also bring in a prop which serves as a clue to their favourite book/character or come dressed up as a favourite character too if they so wish. On this day, all the children will also receive a £1 World Book Day voucher!

We hope that you have a lovely half-term and look forward to seeing the children again on Monday 20th February. 

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin, Mrs Witherall and Miss Parsons.

Friday 27th January 2023

 

Friday 27th January 2023

Wishing you all another happy Friday. We have had a week of working hard, embedding the use of a range of techniques to include both character and setting descriptions. The children have been creating texts based on 'Street Child' by Berlie Doherty, a book that is set in Victorian Britain. The children have enjoyed exploring how the times were so different from the experiences that they are lucky enough to receive today - particularly how children went to workhouses and had to sleep in wooden boxes on the floor!

Throughout maths, Year 5 have explored timetables and recapped all areas in preparation for assessments next week. Year 6 have continued to explore shape further, with a particular focus on 3D shapes this week.

Dance Festival

This Wednesday, some of our Year 5/6 children participated in a Dance Festival at the Palace Theatre. The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part and the feedback from spectators highlighted how well the children did. Well done to all of the children that took part, we are very proud of how you represented our school and showed off your moves. Special thanks to Mr Harrington and Miss Coombes for organising and teaching the children the routine.

Homework

A notification is on Google Classroom for children, with a list of websites, to provide the children an opportunity to revise and practice areas of learning to prepare for next week. Spellingframe is also set for the children (logins and passwords have already been provided).

We hope that you have a lovely weekend,

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin, Mrs Witherall and Miss Parsons.

Friday 20th January 2023

 20.1.23

It's the end of another week- happy Friday everyone! The children have been working hard researching Queen Victoria in line with our project - Victorian Britain. We have continued to work on character and setting descriptions when writing a narrative in English. In year 5, we have continued to explore statistics, and year 6 have been exploring shapes.

Homework

The children's Maths and English homework has been set on Google Classrooms. They have also been asked to log into their Spellingframe accounts to practise some of their spellings (passwords have been handed out and children have been using them in school, so should know their login details).

PE

As you may have noticed, we are taking part in Cross Country in PE. This week, many children went home covered in mud. Next week, if your child would like to bring in a second pair of (old) trainers to change into, specifically for Cross Country then please feel free to send them in.

On Wednesday, 24th January, a group of children will be performing in The Primary Dance Festival at The Palace Theatre in Southend.

We hope that you have a lovely weekend,

Miss Sharman, Mrs Devlin, Mrs Witherall and Miss Parsons