Amethyst & Emerald Blog - 24th March 2023

 Happy Friday, everybody! We are all very excited about Monday's trip to Barleylands so we just wanted to give some important final reminders about this day.

Barleylands Trip

• On Monday the gates will open at 8:30am and close at 8:45am. The coaches are leaving at 9:00am prompt so please make sure you get here for 8:30am - set those alarms!
• Children need to be in normal school uniform although you can wear comfortable footwear or footwear that takes the weather conditions into account.
• Children need to bring a packed lunch and a filled water bottle. This needs to be clearly labelled. It will be easier for the children if this is all in a disposable bag that can be thrown away at the end of lunchtime.
• No money or anything else needs to be brought in on this day.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 46 & 47.

For both Year 1's and Year 2's this continues to focus on mass and ways to measure. This is a fantastic opportunity to do a spot of baking (maybe in the Easter holidays) as it will involve lots of practical measuring and reading of marked scales. Take a photo of any of your wonderful efforts (or of course bring us in a slice!) we would love to see them all.

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have a lovely weekend - see you at 8:30am on Monday!

Best wishes

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 17th March 2023

 Happy Friday, everybody! It has been a very exciting week in Key Stage 1 as we have been making our chocolates! After all our work in researching chocolates, tasting ingredients and exploring different designs we have all made our final choices. We are now packaging the finished chocolates and they will be coming home very soon!

Red Nose Day 2023

On Friday we marked Comic Relief's Red Nose Day with a non-uniform day. During this day we learnt about some of the projects that Comic Relief are involved in around the world and in our own country. 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.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 44 & 45.

For Year 1's this continue to focus on mass or weight (we do not make a distinction between the two terms in Key Stage 1). Again, explore this idea practically - get a range of toys and see if you can compare them in terms of how heavy they are. Order these from lightest to heaviest, reinforcing the different language as you go.

For Year 2's this focuses on ways in which we measure. Explore how we use different units to measure different aspects of an object. Try measuring different objects using a ruler to the nearest cm, look at food and drink packaging to see the weight and volume of different objects and use a weather website to see how we measure temperature in degrees Celsius. If you record any of these ideas, pop them in your homework book - we love to see all your efforts at home!

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have a super weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 10th March 2023

 Happy Friday, everybody! Wow, what an exciting week it has been with Times Tables Rock Stars Day on Thursday - everyone looked fab as they practised their times tables and did work around this theme.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 42 & 43.

For Year 1's this continue to focus on length and height - this time measuring. This is a great chance to become involved in some practical measuring of different objects around the house. Use a ruler/tape measure or use some non-standard  units such as hand spans and find out how long different things are. If you record any of these measurements, please pop it into the homework book as we would love to see this too! 

For Year 2's this focuses on equivalent fractions. Understanding how 2 quarters is the same as 1 half is an important skill for the children and being able to "see" these equivalent makes it easier to understand. The below website lets you explore how different fractions relate to each other by dragging the fraction into circles and then comparing. 

Circle Fractions

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have an awesome weekend!

Much love,

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 3rd March 2023

 Happy Friday everybody! We all had a fabulous day on Thursday, celebrating World Book Day. It was lovely to see all the children enjoy sharing some of their favourite books with their friends with many going "full book day" and dressing up too!

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.

In Key Stage 1, we have been looking at the Times Tables Rock Stars app and helping the children understand the features of this program. All children will be bringing home their logins for TTRS before the dressing up day on the 9th March.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 40 & 41.

For Year 1's this focuses on length and height. It is important to develop the correct vocabulary here; longer/shorter rather than bigger/smaller. Take the time to compare different objects around the home - choose 6 toys/items and order these in terms of their length or height.

For Year 2's this focuses on finding fractions of amounts. As usual, relate this mathematical concept back to the basic operation of division.

Doggy Division

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have a brilliant weekend!

Much love,

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 24th February 2023

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

Wellbeing Sessions

This half term we are lucky to have Miss Hardman, a wellbeing specialist, who will be working with our children on Thursday afternoons. She will be exploring strategies for mental health and wellbeing through simple movement sequences, balances and stretches using our breath to calm and relax us.

We will be alternating each week between Year 1 and Year 2; Year 1's enjoyed their first session this week and Year 2's will begin from next week.

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.

In Key Stage 1, we have been looking at the Times Tables Rock Stars app and helping the children understand the features of this program. All children will be bringing home their logins for TTRS before the dressing up day on the 9th March.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 38 & 39.

For Year 1's this focuses on quarters. Again, it is helpful when discussing fractions to relate it closely to division. So when discussing finding quarter, relate it to the same as dividing it in 4. The game below explores how to recognise halves and quarters in shapes.

Halves and Quarters

For Year 2's this focuses on thirds and quarters. As usual, relate these mathematical concept back to the basic operations of maths - dividing by 3 or by 4. The game below explores finding quarters and three quarters by sharing.

Finding Quarters By Sharing

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have a great weekend!

Kind regards

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 10th February 2023

 Happy Friday everybody! Incredibly we find ourselves half way through this current year! Looking back, myself and Mrs Yuille are so, so proud of all the the progress the children have made - we could not have asked them to work any harder and it is lovely to see the pride the children have themselves for the achievements and successes they have made! Here's to the second half of the year being just as fab!

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 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 would like all the children to have a relaxing half term, so we are not sending homework books home this week but if you can keep up the reading little and often this will have a hugely positive effect on their progress.

Have an enjoyable and relaxing week!

Much love

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 3rd February 2023

 Happy Friday everybody! We begin this week with a reminder from last week's blog regarding our designing of chocolates. If your child has an allergy to any food, please come and see us as soon as possible and you can look at the ingredients we taste test and let us know which ones are appropriate for your child. We will then get suitable alternatives where needed to replace any that your child can not have.

Mid Year Targets

On Thursday 9th February, your child will bring home their Mid Year Target Sheets. One of the things we are asked most at Parent/Teacher Consultations is "What can we do at home to support our child?" In order to help inform you, we now share these with you via these target sheets as these will be the key areas that we will focus on during the second half of the year.

It is worth emphasising that these are not reports, you will receive that at the end of the Summer Term. We hope you find the target sheets helpful and they will form the basis of Parent/Teacher Consultations on Monday 27th February and Wednesday 1st March.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 36 & 37.

For Year 1's this focuses on halves. It is helpful when discussing fractions to relate it closely to division. So when discussing finding half, relate it to the same as dividing it in 2. The games below explore how to recognise halves in shapes and how you can find half of amounts by sharing.

Half Not Half Game

Find Half By Sharing

For Year 2's this focuses on doubling and halving. As usual, relate these mathematical concept back to the basic operations of maths - doubles as times by 2 and halving as divide by 2. The game below has a mode for finding half and double of different amounts to help develop a rapid recall of these facts.

Hit The Button

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have a super weekend!

Best Wishes

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille