Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Thursday 20th October 2022

 Happy Thursday, everybody! Wow! We have finished our first half term in Year 1/2! All the children have settled in so well and worked extremely hard in our first 7 weeks and we now want them to have a fantastic rest!

Cauliflower Christmas Cards

All the children will have come home today with their Christmas card design attached to the order form. If you wish, these designs can be turned into not just Christmas cards but mugs, books and wrapping paper too! If you do want to have the design realised into any of these items you need to place the order online first. All the details about how to do this are clearly set out on the form that came home. Once you have placed the order online, you must tick the box indicated and return the artwork and form back to school by Wednesday 2nd November so we can send it away to be printed. If you do not wish for your child's design to be made into items then you do not need to return the artwork.

School Council Elections

Congratulations to Coby and Aubrey who have been elected as School Councillors for Amethyst Class and Emerald Class respectively. All the children clearly believe that you will do a great job in representing them - well done!

Massive thank you and well done to all children who also put themselves up for election - don't be too disappointed; there's always next year.

The Council will hold their first meeting shortly after half term.

Book Fair Competition

The Book Fair comes to Down Hall between Tuesday 8th November and Friday 11th November. The book fair will be open after school for you to purchase books with your child - please note that it will be cash only.

During the book fair, any child purchasing a book will be given a raffle ticket where the winner will receive a £5 voucher which can be used at the book fair on the Friday.

Also, your child will have come home today with a competition to re-imagine the book cover of their favourite book. Entries need to be completed and returned to school by 7th November to be judged on the 8th. The winner will receive a £5 book token! Good luck!

Half Term Homework

As stated at the beginning of the blog, we are very proud of all the children's efforts this half term and would like them to have a good rest. To that end we do not send homework books home during the holidays. It would be useful, however, if you keep up the reading, little and often, to ensure your child's continuing progress in this very important area. 

We hope you have a fantastic half term holiday, whatever you are doing and look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday 31st October!

Much love

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 14th October 2022

 Happy Friday, everybody! How time flies - it seems amazing that we are about to move into our last week before half term! 

Parent/Teacher Consultations

Thank you to everyone who has signed up for the meetings on Monday 17th October & Tuesday 18th October. If you have signed up for a Monday meeting but you would wish this to be a face to face meeting, please come and let us know. We are gauging how popular Zoom meetings are still and don't want you to feel that you have to have a Zoom meeting if slots on Tuesday had run out. Meetings will take place in the hall and you need to enter the school via the main entrance, however all gates will be open. We look forward to seeing you all!

School Council Elections

On Wednesday 19th October both Amethyst and Emerald class will be electing their representative for the School Council! Any child who was not a councillor last year is eligible to stand so we have asked the children to have a good think as to whether they can be a wonderful and inspiring representative for their class.

Over the weekend, if your child is thinking about standing for election, maybe they would like to make a poster or create a short speech that might help them convey their suitability to be a Class Councillor. Be creative - what might make people vote for you?

The new School Councillors will be announced in assembly on Thursday 20th October. Good luck!

Sport England Active Lives

Our school has been selected by Sport England to complete an Active Lives survey. Selected children will complete this survey in school next week but parents are invited to fill out their own survey by following the link below:

Parent Survey

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 14 & 15.

For Year 1's this focuses on counting in 2's, 5's and 10's. Counting on in 2's is very important for helping children to identify even numbers and as mentioned before in previous blogs, counting on in 10's really helps develop the children's understanding of place value. This will all serve as a precursor to when the children start looking at times tables more formally later in the year and as they move into Year 2. The games below focus on developing these skills:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/chinese-dragon-ordering

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/saucerSorter/

For Year 2's this focuses on partitioning numbers. Children are most used to partitioning numbers into their tens and ones (e.g. 38 = 30 + 8). However, we can partition numbers in many different ways - so if 30 + 8 = 38; 20 + 18 = 38 and 10 + 28 = 38 too. We encourage the children to look for patterns to help them find different solutions to the same answer. The link below has an app that lets the children create numbers using tens and ones equipment and then rearrange these to create different combinations of numbers that make the same amount.

https://apps.mathlearningcenter.org/number-pieces/

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.

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day. Just come down the steps to see us!

Have a great weekend!

Kind regards

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 7th October 2022

 Happy Friday, everybody! As we move into October it is certainly becoming more autumnal so please ensure that your child does have a coat with them every day. We have had a very busy week in class as we continue to look at features of non-fiction books and exploring the names and properties of 2D shapes in maths.

Parent/Teacher Consultations

On Monday 17th October & Tuesday 18th October between 3:30-6:00pm we will be holding our Parent/Teacher Consultations. This will be an opportunity to meet and discuss how your child has settled into their new Year group. This meeting can be either via Zoom or an in person meeting. 

Please note, in the first instance if you wish this to be a Zoom meeting please book for the Monday and if you wish it to be in person please book for the Tuesday.

Bookings can be made from Monday 10th October from 9:00am and is via Scopay. If you are unsure of your Scopay login, please go and see the office as they will be able to issue you with your details. It is important to have these details as they will be used to book trips, dinner money and meetings throughout your child's time at Down Hall.

Harvest Collection

Just a reminder that this year we will continue to support Rochford Extended Services with our Harvest collection. Donations will be boxed up and distributed by them to the children and families that need them most within our own local community.

As a Gold Level Rights Respecting School, we do our best to advocate for Children's Rights and for sustainability. Articles 24 and 27 state that:

"Every child has the right to the best possible health and a good standard of living."

Massive thank you for those who have already made a donations but there is still plenty of time if you have not yet. If you can send in any non-perishable items before Wednesday 19th October that would be fabulous and you can find a full list of suggested items  here. In school we will celebrate Harvest during the week of 17th October with some learning in class and by singing our favourite Harvest song in assembly. Please enjoy having a go at the Harvest Samba here and thanks for any contributions you feel able to make.

Sumdog Update

In Emerald Class we are currently introducing the children to Sumdog and how to use it. In school, children must complete some assessment questions so that the programme sets the right level for your child to be able to enjoy the games. As soon as your child has completed this, your login details will come home. With this in mind it is most important (however tempting it may be) that you do not try to speed up your child by helping them with the answers. Please allow them to play the games and tackle the questions at their own pace so that their Sumdog remains at an accessible level of challenge and fun for them.

In Amethyst Class the children are a little more familiar with Sumdog. We have completed assessment activities in class and sent the logins home already but again, please allow the children to work at their own pace and resist the urge to tell them the answers!

Bright Smiles, Bright Futures

Today your child will be bringing home with them a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste and an information sheet which have been given to us by Colgate as part of their Bright Smiles, Bright Futures educational programme. If you want to find out more, follow the links within the leaflet - otherwise enjoy the toothbrush!

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 12 & 13.

For Year 1's this focuses on counting skills and comparing amounts. Developing accurate and reliable counting and then being able to say which of two or more amounts is more or less is an important aspect of the Year 1 curriculum. It is also important that the children understand that equal means the same as. There are also some games in the link below to help reinforce these ideas.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/counting

For Year 2's this focuses on the number line and making estimates as to where numbers lie on the number line. When doing this, it is important to firstly look at the numbers that we can see already on the number line - are they going up in 2's, 5's, 10's? From here, look at which 2 numbers the arrow is in between to work out a number that is more/less than the given numbers. The game below will help reinforce the ideas presented in the homework book:

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/37/placing_numbers_on_a_number_line

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.

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day. Just come down the steps to see us!

Have a super weekend!

All the best

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille