Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 25th March 2022

 Happy Friday, everybody! It has been a beautiful sunny week in KS1 and it has been such a pleasant change to be outside with no coats this week! The Mother's Day sale was lovely to be a part of on Friday - massive thank you to the PTA for putting this on!

Drop In Session - Wednesday 30th March

After school this Wednesday, we are excited to announce that there will be a drop-in session between 3:15-4:00pm! This will be an opportunity for you all to come into class to see where your children work ever so hard and to look at their English and Maths books. We will send all the children out to you as usual on this day and once all the children are with their adults, you can come down the steps into the classroom. There will be sufficient time for you to visit more than one class if you have more than one child in school. We are very much looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

Red Nose Day

As promised, pictures of some of the activities we took part in from last Friday's Red Nose Day are now in our Special Events page on the website. The images in the photo carousel have been slowed down as well on the Colchester Castle page to give you a bit more browsing time without it taking too long to see them all. Click on the link below to see them all:

Red Nose Day

Fundraising For Ukraine - Friday 1st April

Just a reminder that on Friday 1st April, the children will be able to wear blue and yellow clothes (non-school uniform) to school to help raise money for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine - suggested donation of £1.

We wanted to make it clear that we are focusing on the situation in regards to how many children have become displaced through no fault of there own, the effect on these children's rights and how they are not getting their right to be safe from harm, the right to a home and the right to go to school. 

We will not be going into any detail of the specific events that are occurring in the war nor will we be watching any news reports regarding the situation in Ukraine in Key Stage 1.

The children are very much used to looking at events and situations by relating these to our rights but if you have any concerns please just let us know beforehand.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 48-49.

For Year 1's this looks at the measure of volume. This predominantly done through the use of langauge to describe how much is in a container. Explore the words such as full, empty, nearly full/empty, half full, more/less than half full. Have fun with cups and bowls and water and see if you can make all these different capacities!

For Year 2's, this is about comparing measurements. There are so many good ideas to discuss on page 48 of the homework book, use these to guide you. In using the greater than and less than symbols, don't forget "Mr Crocodile eats the biggest number!"

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home as well as either your phonics or comprehension homework books - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we would encourage you to come and see us at the end of the day if there are any issues or questions that you have. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a wonderful weekend!

Big smiles!

Your Key Stage 1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 18th March

 Happy Friday everybody - what an exciting week we have had in Key Stage 1! We started the week with our trip to Colchester Castle and ended it with Red Nose Day!

Colchester Castle

We all had a fantastic day on Tuesday - there was so much to do! We explored the different challenges in the Activity Room - exploring medieval medicines and food, looking at medieval writing and looking at the different people who would have lived in the castle almost 1000 years ago.

We had a story tour of the castle by a costumed guide who took us to places where the public can't go. We even went up on the roof!

We had time to look around all the exhibits and enjoy the hands on experiences - we even got to have a picnic lunch outside as it was such a lovely day! There are some photos below but also more on our Special Events page of our website.

Colchester Castle 2022

Red Nose Day

We had a lovely day on Friday wearing our noses in support of Red Nose Day. The children took part in the "Make You Smile Dance Challenge" in the morning and in the afternoon we showed our skills in the "Nose and Spoon Race!" Photos to follow next week.

Fundraising For Ukraine - Friday 1st April

On Friday 1st April, the children will be able to wear blue and yellow clothes (non-school uniform) to school to help raise money for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine - suggested donation of £1.

We will be discussing the situation with the children in an age appropriate manner, very much focusing on the Rights of the Child and how the invasion has meant that children are not getting their right to be safe from harm, the right to a home and the right to go to school. The children are very much used to looking at events and situations by relating these to our rights but if you have any concerns please just let us know beforehand.

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this continues to look at the measure of mass. All the ideas from last week hold true this week: have a look at different food items at home and look for where the weight is given noting the use of grams and kilograms.

For Year 2's, this is continues to look at the different units of measure. All ideas from last week hold true here as well: try breaking down each one down as this:

Measure/What we measure with/What we measure in

Length - Ruler - Centimetres (cm) or metres (m)

Explore these ideas practically, for example measure the length of objects around the house, find the weights of foods and the volumes of bottles, look on the BBC weather app to find the temperature in different parts of the world. All these are good for consolidating this concept with the children.

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home as well as either your phonics or comprehension homework books - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we would encourage you to come and see us at the end of the day if there are any issues or questions that you have. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a superb weekend!

Stay safe

Your Key Stage 1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 11th March 2022

 Happy Friday everybody - we hope you have had a good week. We have had another busy week in KS1 - in English we have been using the teaching model of Philosophy 4 Children to explore the nature of the choices we make and how we need to balance what we want to do with what is the right thing to do. We have been exploring the operation of multiplication in maths and using this to solve practical problems. But mainly, all eyes have been firmly fixed on a certain castle in 4 days time...

Colchester Castle - Tuesday 15th March

Just a few reminders about Tuesday - firstly, the trip will take place within the normal school day and we should be back around 2:45pm so collection time will be as normal. However, please ensure you arrive promptly on this day as we want to be on the coach by 9:15am to depart on time.

Secondly, the only things your child needs to bring is their packed lunch and a drink (unless of course you have ordered a school packed lunch). Preferably, this will be in a disposable bag so the children don't need to bring anything back on the coach with them.

If you have any questions regarding the trip, please just ask us - it will be a fab day!

Fundraising For Ukraine

As a staff we are very aware of the continuing terrible situation and humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Ukraine. Below is a link to last week's newsletter which contains information and helpful websites that support discussing this issue with your child should you wish to do so or if they are asking questions.

We will be meeting as a staff next week to plan for a fundraising event in support of the DEC campaign to help the people of Ukraine. We were mindful, however, that this event did not get muddled in with an already planned charity event in support of Red Nose Day. We will send details of this separate fundraising event in due course.

Newsletter

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this looks at the measure of mass. Although we introduce the term in Year 1, we don't delineate between weight and mass at this stage so the terms can be interchangeable. More important is the idea of comparing the weight of different objects and ordering, much like the activities involving length. Have a look at different food items at home and look for where the weight is given noting the use of grams and kilograms.

For Year 2's, this is looking at the different units of measure. What we can measure, what we use to measure and the unit used is quite complex so it might be an idea to break each one down as this:

Measure/What we measure with/What we measure in

Length - Ruler - Centimetres (cm) or metres (m)

Explore these ideas practically, for example measure the length of objects around the house, find the weights of foods and the volumes of bottles, look on the BBC weather app to find the temperature in different parts of the world. All these are good for consolidating this concept with the children.

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home as well as either your phonics or comprehension homework books - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we would encourage you to come and see us at the end of the day if there are any issues or questions that you have. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a wonderful weekend!

Much love

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Miss Langley & Mrs O'Connor

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 4th March 2022

 Happy Friday, everybody! It has been a very exciting week in KS1 with World Book Day on Thursday. We had a lovely day sharing books with our friends and the children who dressed up all looked fab!

Colchester Castle Trip - Tuesday 15th March

This is less than 2 weeks away now so please if you haven't returned your permission slip do so as soon as possible. We are not allowed to take your child unless we have your consent! If you need a replacement slip please just let us know and we will get one for you, no problem.

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this continues to look length and height. Lots of practical activities can really help support these concepts. This builds more on measuring objects, whether that is with non-standard units (such as blocks or handspans) or standard units (centimetres). Again, try measuring different things you can find around the house or sort objects in terms of whether they are longer or shorter than 10cm.

For Year 2's, this is looking at the equivalent fractions. This is a challenging concept for children but the expectation at Year 2 is only to understand that 2/4 is the same as 1/2. This can be done by sharing 12 sweets in halves and quarters and then seeing how 1/2 is the same amount as 2 lots of quarters.

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home as well as either your phonics or comprehension homework books - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we would encourage you to come and see us at the end of the day if there are any issues or questions that you have. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a fantastic weekend!

Happy thoughts!

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Miss Langley & Mrs O'Connor