Friday 16 December 2022

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 16th December 2022

Happy Friday, everybody! What an exciting week it has been for everyone in Key Stage 1 - we have performed our Christmas Production of "It's A Christmas Emergency!" to the whole school on Monday and all the parents on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are all so very proud of everybody - it has been tricky with a lot of illness floating around but all the children stepped up and did a fantastic job - WELL DONE!

There is a page on our website with photos, see the link below. Below the photos is a folder with the photo files in if you wish to see a particular photo in more detail.

Christmas Photos

Half Term Homework

We will not be sending home the homework books this week or during the holidays - have a break and enjoy any new presents you get! 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. 

Also, if after all your festive celebrations, you find that you have any small, interestingly shaped boxes/packaging, we would very much welcome these to use with our Design & Technology work in the Spring Term.

Although we are all here next Monday & Tuesday next week, we would like to use this opportunity to wish you all an amazing Christmas and a peaceful New Year. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Thursday 5th January!

Much love

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Friday 9 December 2022

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 9th December 2022

 Happy Friday everybody! There is an expectant hush over Key Stage 1 today as we have now finished all our rehearsals of our Christmas Production "It's A Christmas Emergency!" The children have worked hard and done so well in learning their lines, the songs, the musical instruments and how to put a performance together. They are all very much looking forward to sharing this with you next week!

As previously mentioned, in line with our safeguarding duty of care we are unable to allow photography during the performance but we will be putting photos of the children up on our website next week after the shows for you to share with others.

Christmas Jumper Day

All the children looked amazing in their Christmas Jumpers today and we have raised money that will continue to sponsor Thoko and her local community in Malawi. We thought you might like to hear what Thoko wrote in her most recent letter to us. She writes:

Dear Down Hall

I am learning in Standard 4. I go to school everyday. I always work hard in classes and my end of term results are always good. When I finish school I want to be a nurse. Very soon we will start harvesting crops. Greetings to you!

Thoko

A local representative who oversees Action Aid's money also adds:

Dear Supporter

One of the problems in Primary Schools is the shortage of desks. As a way of addressing the issue, we bought desks and shared them with two Primary Schools in the Kalowe Zone. This initiative has helped increase the number of children who have access to sit at a desk. Thank you for your support which has really promoted education in the area.

Its amazing to think that from such a small act on our behalf, we can make such a big difference for the young people who live such a long way away but share our right to an education. Thank you all so much!




Santa Dash

Two message from Miss Sharman:

Next week, children across the school will be taking part in the Santa Dash challenge set by Deanes. During the week they will be walking, jogging or running to accumulate as many miles as they can to add to a whole school total. We will then send our results to Deanes who will add our score to those from other schools to see if, as a school sports partnership, we can make it all the way to the North Pole! Children may bring in Santa hats to wear during the dash if they wish!

Good luck everyone!

And a reminder if you have not already done so - our school has been selected by Sport England to complete an Active Lives survey. 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 26 & 27.

For Year 1's this focuses on addition. As with all the different operations in maths, as much practice as possible is key in learning the approaches to solving these calculations. Try number lines, try concrete objects - toys, pencils, spaghetti - anything!

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction

For Year 2's this focuses on how addition and subtraction are the inverse of each other and we can use this to check our calculations. So if we work out that 14 + 12 = 26 we also know (without needing to work out) that:

12 + 14 = 26

26 - 14 = 12

26 - 12 = 14

In class we look at this as a triangle to show the relationship between these 3 numbers:



The game below is good for reinforcing this idea:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/number-facts/number-fact-families


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. Just come down the steps to see us!

Looking forward to seeing you all next week!

Yours in anticipation,

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Friday 2 December 2022

Amethyst & Emerald Class Blog - Friday 2nd December 2022

 Happy Friday everybody and oh my goodness, it's December already! Things are getting close to our Christmas Production so we wanted to share some of the arrangements that relate to this.

Christmas Production Programmes

Our Christmas Production will be on Tuesday 13th December at 2:30pm and Wednesday 14th December at 9:30am. Entry to these performances will be with the show's programmes which you can get at the office on Monday 5th December from 2:45pm and Tuesday 6th December from 8:45am. Programmes are limited to 2 per family and you can get 2 for either day or, if you prefer, 1 programme for each day. Please bring these programmes on the day of the performance to help keep entry quick and simple. We are all very excited to see you there!

Christmas Jumper Day

Our Christmas Jumper Day is Friday 9th December. On this day, the children can wear their fabulous festive jumpers and donate £1 which goes to our continued sponsorship of Thoko. The charity Action Aid use this money to ensure that Thoko and the other children in her community enjoy their right to an education just like all of us at Down Hall.

The children will also need their Christmas jumper for our performances (Monday to the rest of the school and Tuesday and Wednesday to parents) so consequently will not bring their jumper home on Friday but keep them in school until Wednesday.

Please be mindful, therefore, on Friday when you send your child to school about what they are wearing underneath their jumper to ensure that they won't be too cold when they come home. If the children could bring in a plastic bag with their name on it then this would be extremely helpful in keeping everything organised too!

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 24 & 25.

For Year 1's this focuses on the signs we use in addition and subtraction calculations. Knowing the names for these signs is very important as is the fact that there are different words for each sign e.g. -, take away, subtract, minus. There are lots of fun games at the site below to further support your child's confidence with these operations.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction

For Year 2's this focuses on subtraction of 2 two-digit numbers. We use the same approach as outlined last week for using lines and dots to represent the tens and ones but this time we make the first amount and cross out the second amount:


If we do not have enough ones to take away, then we exchange a ten for ten ones first:



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 discussed last week too!

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 lovely weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille