Homework tasks 13.12.19

Homework this week (set on Fri 13/12/19):

Maths:  Pupils have been given a double-sided homework sheet this week.  Pupils are encouraged to show any workings out and attach these to the homework sheet.

Project:  Pupils are able to select from a range of activities linked to next term’s topic on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

Maths and Project homework is due in no later than Wed 8th January 2020.

One more thing...

As part of our science learning next term (about evolution and inheritance), pupils are asked to bring in photographs of themselves as babies as well as those of close family members (these could include ones taken when they were a child or baby). Pupils will be looking for family resemblances. We advise photocopies being brought into school to avoid the risk of original photographs being lost or damaged.

OUTRIGHT EVENT - World Children's Day

On Thursday, pupils took part in a range of different activities to celebrate 30 years of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child. Pupils developed their understanding and took part in some class discussions on this topic.  

PLEASE HELP!

Please can pupils in year 5/6 bring in a cereal box to use in science over the next week or two.  Thank you.  Mr Richards

SOUTHEND UNITED SESSIONS - YEAR 5/6

SOUTHEND UNITED SESSIONS - YEAR 5/6 

Pupils in Year 5 and 6 will have the opportunity to work with staff from Southend United over the next 6 weeks (during Thursday afternoons), learning about healthy lifestyles and being active. The sessions will involve short physical activities as well as indoor theory-based learning. From next week, pupils are asked to bring a pair of trainers to change into.  They should come to school in their school uniform as normal. I'm sure the pupils will benefit a great deal from the sessions.

Thank you, Mr Richards

Remembrance day assembly - Mon 11/11/19

We will be having a special whole-school Remembrance Day assembly on Monday 11th November at 10:40.  It will be led by Alan Clark, a volunteer from Rayleigh Town Museum. At 11:00 we will hold a minute's silence and have a bugle play Reveille and The Last Post (thanks to Mrs Morgan).
Mr Richards   

Archaeology group visit 07/11/19

It is with great excitement that I can confirm we will be receiving a visit from members of Rochford Hundred Field Archaeology Group (RHFAG) on Thursday 7th November.  Children will be told about the work of an archaeologist, see some of the tools and equipment first hand and have the opportunity to ask questions to the experts.  This will link with the current history-based project work happening in school.  Something to look forward to after the half term holidays!  Mr Richards.   

This week in 5/6 ...

This week in 5/6, the children continued to develop their understanding of British Values through viewing the Queen's speech during the Opening of Parliament. Most of the school gathered together in the hall to share in this experience. We were then able to discuss and point out the places within the Houses of Parliament that we visited recently on our school trip. 

Through our English lessons, the children either witnessed or participated in an experience of being in a restaurant. Unfortunately it was not the best service they could have received so they are using this to write formal letters of complaint. 

In Maths we have been learning about using known facts to multiply and divide. We have also looked at generating and describing linear number sequences. 

We would also like to thank parents for their support towards moving homework to Google Classrooms. Although there has been some teething problems, we are hopefully beginning to iron these out and Miss Hedges is working extremely hard to ensure they are not repeated. The children have enjoyed completing homework in this way and it is hugely beneficial to the teachers in collating the data results from each question. This shows us which areas of learning the children have understood and which areas we need to recap with the children.

We look forward to seeing you on Monday or Tuesday next week for Parent Teacher Consultations. 

KS2 HOMEWORK

Following consultation with parents (via Google Forms), pupils and teachers, we have decided to change the way we set homework in KS2.  Rather than have the books we have previously used, we will use Google applications (e.g. Google Forms, Google Slides and Google Docs). This proved very successful when we trialed it last week in maths. 

This has several benefits:

Work will be set by teachers so that it directly reflects the learning completed in class

Teachers can analyse the results so that they can tailor their lessons accordingly

Pupils and parents get instant feedback once it has been submitted

It saves paper (and plastic) 

A lunchtime homework club will be set up for those pupils who do not have access to the internet at home.  Please advise via the school office if your child needs to attend.   

Tip - If your child has access to a tablet / ipad, it may be beneficial to download the Google Classroom App which will make completing homework easier.     

Thank you to all parents who took part in the survey.  Your ongoing support is much appreciated.

With kind regards,

Mr Richards

Deputy Head Teacher

Homework in 5/6 Friday 27th September

This week for homework in Years 5 and 6, we are trialing the children completing their homework on Google Classrooms. 

The children have used Google Classrooms this week in our Computing lessons and we thought it would be a great way to continue to use Google at home. 

When the children log in to their Google accounts, they will need to click on the 'Waffle/9 dots' and go to Google Classroom. When they enter their Classroom they will see the homework on a Google form ready to complete. 

Once the children have submitted their Maths Homework, the correct/incorrect answers will be displayed on the screen and results sent to their class teacher. 

We will be interested to hear not only your feedback on this style of homework but also the children's. 

Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing the children attending the Parliament trip bright and early on Monday morning at 7.30am. Those not attending will arrive at normal school time. 

The 5/6 team. 

HOMEWORK 20.09.19

Your maths homework for this week:

Maths -  Placing decimal numbers along number lines (use the sheet handed out in class).

English - Write about your favourite scene from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  Retell what happened and explain why you chose it (use the sheet handed out in class).

Have a lovely weekend - enjoy the weather!

The Year 5/6 teachers

WALK ONLINE ROADSHOW EVENT - YEAR 6 ONLY

Dear parents, 

Our Year 6 pupils have been kindly invited to attend a 'Walk Online Roadshow' being delivered on Tuesday 16th July at Fitzwimarc School.

Walk Online is a roadshow that has been developed by a company called EST E-Safety Training to raise awareness of young people about the potential dangers when using the internet.  The roadshow will highlight various issues, including how easily young people can be exploited through well-known online games and apps.  The content illustrates exactly how these sites are being used to identify young people for potential exploitation and critically how young people can be alert to these risks knowing how to identify and report them.  

Pupils will leave school soon after registration in the morning and walk to Fitzwimarc School for their 09:50 - 11:20 session.  They will walk back to school immediately after the event and arrive in plenty of time for lunch as normal.  Pupils are to wear their normal school uniform. 

Permission slips are not required for this trip as it is a local visit.

Please see me if you have any questions relating to this event.

Thank you,  

Mr Richards 

Magistrate in Court Session

Y5/6 Magistrate visit

On Thursday the 13th and Tuesday the 18th of June, Sue the Magistrate came to the school to speak to Topaz, Ruby and Sapphire about her role as a Magistrate in our community.

Then on Tuesday afternoon Sue returned to help us act out a scene from Magistrates Court. To help act out the scene,  three children from each of the year 5/6 classes were given roles in the scene; for instance one student was given the role of the usher and another was given the role of a police constable.

Sadly, we had planned to perform the scene outside but the heavy rain forced us into the blue room were the actors had to speak as loud as they could in order to be heard.

After the victim and the offender had both presented their evidence and the offender had been given a turn to speak about why they were innocent; the Magistrate actors left the room and the public committee had the chance to decide whether the offender was GUILTY or innocent.

At first it was a mixed share of hands but after a deep discussion most people thought they were GUILTY.When the Magistrate actors came back they agreed with the public decision and we then spoke about centonces.

Everyone can agree that the visit was really enjoyable and the scripts performed by the actors were read extremely well. We thank Sue for coming to our school to display what a Magistrate does.

By Katie Bickers and Ruby Noble.

Year 5/6 Homework

This week in Years 5 and 6 for homework, as it is Healthy eating week, we would like you to plan a menu. 

Not any menu.... but a Kosher* menu. 

Not only do we want you to plan the menu, but we would also like you to cost-up your ingredients so we know the total price of your meal. 

Why? - you ask?

Because, we may get you to cook the recipe for you and a group of friends!

Please submit your menu by Wednesday 19th June.

*You may need to research what food would be classed as Kosher before you start planning your menu

Blog Fri 24.05.19

With most of Year 6 away on their residential trip to the Isle of Wight, our classroom make up has been a little different back in school.  However, pupils have responded positively and enjoyed the change. We hope our Year 6s have had a fabulous time and we wish them a safe journey home.         

Homework

Over half term, pupils are asked to gather as much information as they can about the first moon landing.  They will be provided with a piece of A3 paper to present their findings and are encouraged to use the following features:

Title, subheadings, paragraphs, pictures, captions and bullet points. This work will feed into our work when we return to school after the holidays.

Have you seen this man?

Year 5 and 6 witnessed a theft this morning, right outside their classrooms.

After witnessing the crime, children wrote notes in order to write a witness statement to assist the investigation.  We hope he is caught soon! 

Year 5/6 Fri 03.05.19

We will be having a special assembly next Tuesday, led by Alan Clark from the Rayleigh Mill Rotary Club.  He will share information about the work of the charity and present Year 6 pupils with their very own dictionary.  Next week, pupils will be writing their own police witness statements in English lessons.

Enjoy the long weekend!

From all the Year 5/6 teachers   

Homework tasks for this week

YEAR 5

Homework pages as follows:

Ruby:  English - p40-41  Maths - p56-57

Sapphire:  English - p50-51  Maths - Calculation balancing sheet

Topaz:  English - p86-87  Maths - Calculation balancing sheet

YEAR 6 (all 3 classes)

Pupils are to use their maths homework books to revise previous learning and complete any pages that have not been used to date.  

HAPPY EASTER!

We are all really looking forward to our trip to Barleylands this Friday -

we hope the weather will be kind to us!  

The homework task for Year 5/6 this Easter is to complete one (or more)

of the tasks eggs-plained in the sheet sent home (an el-egg-tronic copy

can be found on the Year 5/6 page on the school website).  

The normal English and Maths books have not been sent home this week.

In addition, Year 6s egg-spected to spend a little time revising for their SATs.  

This might include use of:

• Sumdog and/or Times Tables Rock Star  

• BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn

• Mathsmade easy: https://mathsmadeeasy.co.uk/ks2-revision/

• Topmarks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/spelling-and-grammar

Have an egg-cellent Easter break!

The Year 5/6 teachers

Times Tables Rock Stars has been a huge hit at Down Hall.  

The feedback received from pupils, teachers and parents has been extremely positive during the trial period.

As a result we have subscribed to enable pupils to keep rockin’!

This week’s homework pages:

Ruby:          Y5 English p33-35     Y6 English p27-29 Y5 Maths p70-71   Y6 Maths: p72-73

Sapphire:    Y5 English p92-93     Y6 English p94-95 Y5 Maths p60-61   Y6 Maths: p64-65

Topaz:         Y5 English p33-35     Y6 English p27-29 Y5 Maths p70-71   Y6 Maths: p74-75

In addition to the normal maths and English homework, we have also set the children a task to

research an endangered animal - a letter will be issued on Friday 22/03/19 with further details.

Mr Richards.

MP Mark Francois Visit

MP Mark Francois Visit

On Friday 15th March 2019, our MP for Rayleigh and Wickford Mark Francois came to visit. He walked into assembly while we were finishing our rights song. Mr Francois told us what an MP is and what his job is.

The Prefects took Mr Francois round a tour of the school and he enjoyed some of our unique displays (e.g. our Recycle Station and writing on the tables that will rub out )!

Many children were fascinated by his information and have changed their views of being an MP when they are older. He had many facts and answered all questions that made the children understand. He loved the Origami Frogs made by Ruby class and he had a go at making one of them jump.

Mr Francois was also extremely impressed by all of our sporting  event trophies we have earned and our sponsorship for Thoko and wanted to know who had the funniest Christmas Jumper! We can not thank Mrs Hurley any more for creating this special memory and we hope to see Mr Francois again. One of the main highlights was that he has invited us to the Houses of Parliament. We really hope we can go!

When thinking of today’s special visit, we think that Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) was fulfilled really well. We think that Mr Francois listened very carefully to our questions and that he took us seriously with his well-thought out response.

We very much enjoyed Mark Francois coming to our school and he was super impressed with the tour of our school. A big thank you on behalf of Down Hall Primary School to Mr Francois for coming to talk to us.

By Lucy and Millie

Year 6 Prefects

We look forward to having the opportunity to showcase our school this Friday morning when our local MP, Marc Francois, visits us.  He will lead an assembly to inform pupils about what he does. This will be followed by a tour of the school and a question and answer session.

Reminders: Please keep bringing in plastic bottle tops. Also, we would appreciate more photos of pupils reading in unusual places for use on a reading display in the KS2 corridor. Thank you.

Homework pages for this week:

Ruby:          Y5 English p59     Y6 English p54 Y5 Maths p72-73    Y6 Maths: p70-71

Sapphire:    Y5 English p72-73     Y6 English p72-73 Y5 Maths p72-73    Y6 Maths: p70-71

Topaz:         Y5 English p90     Y6 English p66-67   Y5 Maths p72-73 Y6 Maths: p70-71

Year 5/6 blog 06.03.19

This week, pupils have participated in a piece of research about reading comprehension with a student from Cambridge University.  Initial results are looking very positive! Research shows that just 10-15 minutes of reading a day has a huge impact, especially if the person listening asks effective questions to assess comprehension.  Pupils in Year 5 and 6 have been asked to photograph themselves reading in unusual places to use as part of a display in school. The ones received so far are fabulous! More please!

Homework pages for this week:

Ruby:          Y5 English p24-25     Y6 English p4 and 11  Y5 Maths p44-45 Y6 Maths: p14

Sapphire:    Y5 English p46-47     Y6 English p43 Y5 Maths p44-45    Y6 Maths: p62-63

Topaz:         Y5 English p96-97     Y6 English p14-15 Y5 Maths p26     Y6 Maths: p14

Article 13 - Freedom of Expression (Year 5/6's webpages)

Throughout this terms project, the children have learnt a lot about the changes happening to our planet due to our actions. In English we have discussed Theresa May's criticism of the strikes made by children recently for Climate Change.

From these discussions and learning in class, the children have used their knowledge to create their own web pages during Computing this term and you can find each classes pages below:

Ruby Class

Sapphire Class

Topaz Class

Article 13 from the Rights of a Child say that children have the freedom of expression. The children are very keen to express their views on a number of issues affecting Our Earth.

This week’s English homework page(s): 

Sapphire Y5 p90-91 Sapphire Y6 p92-93

Ruby Y5 94-95 p Ruby Y6 96-97 p

Topaz Y5 p Topaz Y6 p60-63


This week’s Maths homework page(s): All of Y5 p8 All of Y6 p58-59

This week in Year 5/6 .... 14.02.19

Who is Mark Francois?

Mr Francois is the member of parliament for Rayleigh and Wickford.

He was democratically voted in by the people of our local area.

Democracy is a British value.

Democracy means:

a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state,

typically through elected representatives

Your Homework Task

We would like you to come up with some questions that you would like to ask Mr Francois when he comes to visit Down Hall.

It could be a very simple questions such as: What made you want to be a politician?

Or it could be something more involved such as:  What is your government doing to address the issues of Climate Change?

During the holidays we would like you to have a discussion with your family and see if can come up with a list of any burning questions you would like to ask…

You may be chosen to ask Mr Francois your question on the day...

This week's homework:

Maths - Y5 p 6-7 Y6 p 9-10

English - Y5 p 76 Y6 p 74- 75

This week in year 5 and 6 has been a busy one. We have been undertaking assessments across the phase in English, Maths and GPS.
We have also been continuing our writing based on 'How to Train your Dragon.'The children have thoroughly enjoyed this engaging resource.

Children came together in their houses on Thursday afternoon to enjoy being a part of Natuonal Storytelling Week. They were asked to bring in a favourite book to share from home or choose a story they had written from their English book. It was nice to see a range of stories looked at and also to see such amazing writing being produced by the children themselves.
Earlier in the day Mrs Hurley shared a story from New Zealand and also a song called 'Wonky Donkey' - this story was made famous when a Scottish grandmother read this to her grandchild and it was hilarious!

To top off our busy week we have a visit from Zoolab, where the children had the opportunity to explore Rainforest creatures and look more in depth at the habitat.

Pupils have been enjoying the practical aspects of science over the past week during our topic on materials and their properties.  

Not long now until our visit from Zoolab (Fri 1st February)!  Any outstanding permission slips and payments to the office please before the day.  Thank you.

Homework pages for this week:

Year 5  Maths: p30-31       Year 5 English: p12-13

Year 6 Maths: p20-21       Year 6 English: p38-39

Pupils have been learning about percentages this week in mathematics.  Look out for how percentages are used in everyday life! Pupils have been working really hard in PE lessons to rehearse a dance routine and the results have been outstanding!
HOMEWORK PAGES FOR THIS WEEK:
Year 5 - Maths p40-41 English p16-17
Year 6 - Maths p34-35 English p12-13