26th April 2013

Nursery

A big welcome to all our new nursery children.  Hope to see you at our Children’s Centre this Fri 26^th April at 2.30pm for a get together.  Another busy fun week in the life of Darlinghurst nursery.  The weather has been super which means we can get to go outside and have fun in the sun.  However, please remember to apply sun cream to your child prior to nursery session start times.  Our topic this term is ‘Health and Growth’  this week we looked at growing from a baby through to being elderly.  The children especially enjoyed our indoor climbing climb and are getting very good at taking turns.

Reception

What a lovely week it has been and we have been very fortunate to have been able to continue our bear hunting in the sunshine! RB, RN and RF went on their bear hunts whilst RW made bear sandwiches which they shared with their bears from home whilst discussing our topic and what we have enjoyed this week. We learnt some information about bears, where they live, what they like to eat and why they have furry coats! I think we Have all become super bear hunters over the last two weeks! we used our knowledge to write our own story maps of the story and some of us even tried to create their own story maps by changing the main scenes to their own ideas. well done reception you have all worked so hard!!

Just a quick reminder please remember to bring into school sun hats, water bottles and sun cream all with your child's name.

Have a lovely weekend 

The Reception Team

1B

Hello everybody,

We have had a very busy week, as usual, in 1B. In Maths we have been exploring Subtraction by counting back using numberlines and bead strings. We have also looked at “finding the difference” and taken part in problem solving investigations. In English we have been examining rhyming words, alliteration and rhythm to help us to have a go at writing our own vegetable poems. In Science we have planted beetroot, cabbage, peas, carrot and leek seeds. We have to keep an eye on them and think of the best ways to help them grow. We have also labelled the main parts of a plant and thought about what their jobs are in helping the plant to stay healthy.

Here are some of the activities that some of the children have particularly enjoyed this week:

Joseph- I liked PE because I enjoyed passing the ball to my partner, it was fun.

Reanna- I liked Maths because I like doing taking away.

Jack- I enjoyed PE because when we were passing the ball to three people we had to move around a lot and I like moving around.

Daniel- The owls were naughty, because of this I enjoyed seeing them.

Bailey- When we did difference between, I liked it because It challenged my brain.

Macy- Learning how to catch a big ball in PE was good because I like learning new things.

Karter- I liked the big, scary, Eagle owl.

Thanks for all your contributions children.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Bernard

4CA

This week the class have been learning how to do ‘chunking’ to solve division calculations and have done really well. In English we have continued to look at persuasive writing but this time in the form of a letter written by ‘The Demon Headmaster’. In ICT we are writing back to the pupils in year 4 at Eastbury Primary. We have been enjoying working with the PE coaches in the hall. For Science we have been looking at liquids and how the volume in a container does not change when it is transferred to another container. In History we have started to look at the 6 wives of Henry V111 in detail. On Monday we used ordinance survey maps and discovered what many of the symbols are for.

19th April 2013

Nursery

All go again in nursery and a big welcome to Mrs Gue who is  our new nursery nurse in the afternoons.  We had fantastic fun with the parachute on Thursday.  The pictures will be on display in the nursery lobby area.  Our topic this half term is ‘Health and Growth’ and we will be looking at how we are growing and the importance of a healthy diet.

Reception

This week all the children have returned to school ready and eager to learn. I’m sure you will agree with me that it appears that all the children have shot up over the holidays and are nearly as tall as some of the members of staff! It is lovely to have everyone back safe and in such a positive mood and keen to learn. We have kicked off the term with a fabulous topic of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and the children have thoroughly enjoyed finding out about bears and learning the story. We even went on our own bear hunt, only to find that when we returned to the classroom it had tiptoed past us into our classroom and made it all messy!!! Our teachers were not amused but we had a great fun preparing, writing and thinking about all the things we would need to take with us in case we came across a bear!! Next week we will be continuing this topic with lots more exciting activities ahead, so watch this space for the next instalment on how to catch a bear and some of the children’s comments on what they have enjoyed.

Just a polite reminder, Please do not forget trip letters and money need to be returned to us ASAP as we need to confirm numbers attending and we also need to pull parents’ names out of a hat due to the huge demand of parents who are able to help. If we could we would love to take all of you but due to space on the coach we all feel it’s only fair we pull names from a hat. Thank you once again for your support on trips as it makes the day lots of fun for everyone.

Have a lovely weekend (Let’s hope the sun shines)

The Reception Team

4CA

4CA have been very busy this week. We have been looking at the grid method for multiplication. In English we have been thinking of persuasive language to get parents to send their children to The Demon Headmasters school! We have started a new history topic and will be looking at The Tudors this term, this week we have drawn a timeline and researched about the Tudors in the ICT suite. We have PE specialists in for this term teaching our lessons.

5J

It was lovely to see everyone back after the holidays ready for another exciting week in 5J. 

On Monday, we had an introduction to cricket which went very well – anyone who is interested in cricket club should see Miss Wise or Mr Sykes.

Our DT module this term involves making biscuits for which we went to Chase.  The teacher leading the session was very impressed by the independence of our pupils and their enthusiasm for washing up as well as baking!

The highlight of Wednesday was the PE session using scooter boards – pleased ask your child to describe what happened in that session!  It was fast, furious and excellent for team building.  The class learned that points do not always mean prizes particularly in terms of driving! We are all looking forward to next week’s session.  Please make sure your child has a PE kit in school at all times – including suitable footwear for outside.

Our topic this term is ‘Ancient Greece’ so please help your child look out for pictures and information.

Year 6

Well Year 6 are on the final  straight now and are really working hard to revise and prepare themselves for their SATs. Their leavers’ disco is booked and plans are in hand for the Year 6 trip and  the final show. It is a very busy time for them so please support them all you can.

28th March 2013

Nursery

We have stepped into Spring even if the weather hasn’t!  Our little ducks and gingerbread men are on display inside nursery along with our Easter eggs.  Whilst very cold we finally managed our trip to the allotment to see the chickens and Bella the rabbit.  The children got to feed corn to the chickens and carrots to Bella.  They really enjoyed the experience and were amazed to see the eggs from the chickens.  Thank you to those of you who are completing the WOW! moment forms, keep them coming.  I hope everyone liked our chocolate pictures l know the children and nursery nurses did!  Next term we have a number of new children joining us and l am sure you will join me in making them feel welcome.  Happy Easter.

5J

We have been learning about negative numbers – how to solve problems using number lines and calculators. We enjoyed using our money skills during our Easter shopping session with Year 3 where the class picked up some lovely Easter goodies.

In English, we have written poems including personification and metaphors.

Our focus this week has been making musical instruments – the class remembered what they learned in their previous science lessons about changing sounds and applied this to their design and technology sessions.  Most children were creative in their designs and all the instruments made a sound – be warned they are being sent home for the holidays!

Year 6

Wow what a hardworking term it's been! Year have made us really proud and we know they will continue to do so in their last term ever at Darlinghurst.

Year six have had an amazing week  and have ended the term on  a high………..especially after eating 12 tubes of Smarties in a maths lesson on ratio and proportion!  They have plenty of work to keep them busy in the holidays so should you see any of them having a good time tell them to go home practice for SATs and to complete their 10 4 10 math questions.

6B have done some impressive writing about Goodnight Mr Tom while 6N have been writing persuasive leaflets.

We are all looking forward to the next term- a very important one for Year 6!

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @DarlinghurstY6

Have a safe and happy Easter break!

Miss Niemann and Mrs Blatcher

22nd March 2013

Nursery

We have been continuing with our Traditional story theme in nursery and this week we have listened to The Ugly Duckling in preparation for Easter activities next week.  The children love the story, especially the song.  We are building up our supply of saucepans and cds  so thank you for your contributions.  Anymore would be greatly appreciated.  We are hoping to visit the schools allotment area next week to see the chickens and rabbits but this adventure is weather permitting.  Show and Tell proved very popular this week with it being free choice.  We continued this theme in PE and the children had free choice of bean bags, hoops, balls and crash mats.

Reception

This week the Reception classes have continued to think about creatures that hatch from eggs and have been learning particularly about the life cycle of chickens. We are visiting the school chickens in small groups to find out how to look after these birds so that they lay eggs. We have used eggs and models of creatures that hatch from eggs to write subtraction sentences and have thought about the way snakes move by sliding, slithering wiggling and curling in PE. This has been a very successful topic to develop learning.

1B

Hello Everybody,

1B have worked very hard this week; as always. But they have worked extra hard at their assessments and produced some fantastic results.

Here are some of the activities that some children have enjoyed in particular:

Amantha- I liked doing my spellings because I get to think about how to spell.

Joseph- I enjoyed the Reading Test because I get to read difficult words.

Mercedes- The Owl Dance in PE was fun because I like to dance.

Jake- Writing about owls was good because they have sharp beaks.

Camren- I liked the Maths Test because I like learning new things.

Ruby- The owl puppets was my favourite thing because I liked colouring it.

Tina- I enjoyed making the owl puppets because I like making things.

Jacob- I enjoyed playing the Easter Game because I like Easter.

Jack- I liked making the Easter Game because when you play it, it is fun.

Thanks for all of your contributions children.

Have a great weekend.

Miss Bernard

Year 2

Hello there from Scaturi Hospital!

As I type, I can see many infected and wounded soldiers whose brave efforts in the Crimean War are being soothed by kind, thoughtful and hygienic nurses.  These nurses have been trained by a British nurse called Florence Nightingale who has taught them how to become a successful and compassionate nurses.

Here is what Florence’s nurses and the injured soldiers have said they enjoyed the most this week….

Sergeant Collins said ‘I lost my left arm after I was wounded in Crimea.  Nurse Seath was kind and thoughtful and helped me get better! I still have lost my arm but I feel blissful that someone so kind took care of me.’

Nurse Dawson said ‘I loved learning how to measure nurses weight and height to see if they could be trained by Florence Nightingale ’

Sergeant Thornton said ‘I enjoyed helping my country in Crimean War and when I was hurt I had lovely, fully trained nurses to help me along with my chopped off leg!’’

Nurse Shields said ‘I loved looking around the Scaturi Hospital.  There was a medicine station, a training room and ward for wounded soldiers.’

Have a lovely weekend!

The Year 2 team

4CA

This week has been busy. There have been assessments for the end of term with tests in Maths, Reading and writing. Apart from that we have continued to look at area in Maths. For English we have looked at changing parts of sentences from ‘The Demon Headmaster’ and have reda some more chapters. IN science we worked in groups to answer the question ‘ Is there a link between height and foot size and between boys and girls?’ The whole class really enjoyed this activity. In ICT we made our own branching tree diagram using what interests us. So we had things like Star wars, animals, Dr Who etc.

4E

4E have been enjoying their work on area and perimeter this week and have been putting their good knowledge to the test in a mental maths test. They were all pleased to see they had beaten their scores from last time!

 In PE the children have been doing Tag Rugby. It’s clear we already have rugby stars in the making! We are hoping to have rugby match outside when it finally warms up a bit.

The children looked fantastic with their ‘crazy’ hair on Red Nose Day and were really pleased with the amount of money they raised for some great causes. They especially enjoyed the delicious cakes at break time.

Our last week of the Spring term is quickly approaching and we can’t believe how fast the time has gone. We are looking forward to an exciting last week at school.

Year 5

Year 5 have had a great week. For us that stayed behind we have totally enjoyed our ‘Week of Brilliance’. We had Nightline on Monday and got very muddy but enjoyed every second. Tuesday we made biscuits at Chase and the visited Chalkwell Park for fun and games. Wednesday we went to the Planetarium for a space talk and after lunch went to the library. We had great fun dressing up in the fancy hats and fairy wings, especially the boys! On Thursday we had our camping experience on the field. It was hard work putting up Mrs Weddell’s large tent, but we worked as a team and got it up. We had a BBQ and enjoyed our parent visitors coming to share the experience. Friday will be a day of relaxing and putting together our scrap books of all our exciting activities of the week. We will all sleep well this weekend!   

15th March 2013

Nursery

We are on our third traditional story this week, The Gingerbread Man  we have decorated and painted our own Gingerbread Men using ginger spice.  The traditional stories are proving very popular with the children and they love joining in with the repeating phrases.  In PE we are getting really brave and have been  jumping from  high and low level apparatus.  Looking forward to seeing all the crazy hair for red nose day on Fri.  Please remember the WOW! moments and to regularly check the notice board.

Reception

This week the children in the four Reception classes have had great fun thinking and writing about  the many different creatures that hatch out of eggs. We have been enthralled looking at our whiteboards watching many creatures hatch out of their eggs. We have looked at duck, chicken and quail eggs in the classroom and imagined what it must be like to be inside them and we have used a balance to find out which eggs were the heaviest and the lightest. We have also been palaeontologists looking at dinosaur skeletons.   

1B

Hi everybody,

1B are continuing to work really hard and have fun at the same time. This week they have been investigating 2D and 3D shape; identifying them and thinking about their properties. They have been continuing to find out about owls and the structure of non-chronological reports. They are found out so much they are looking forward to writing them next week.

Here are some of the activities that some children have enjoyed in particular:

Ailbhe- I have enjoyed the Red Nose Game because it is fun.

Camren- Writing about Owls is good because I like finding out about new stuff.

Leo- I like the Red Nose Game because I like playing with my red nose.

Jake- I liked making cubes using nets because it was fun.

Milly- making up our owl dances was fun because I enjoy dancing.

Amantha- I like my spellings because I get to practice writing them correctly.

Joseph- I am enjoying the Red Nose word search because you get to learn lots of red nose words.

Macy- I like my 3D shapes because I never knew them before.

Zoe – I enjoyed my reading test because I almost did them all right.

Thanks for your contributions children

Have a great week

Miss Bernard

4CA

This week 4CA has been very busy. In maths we have been working on perimeter. Our English has all been based on Chapter 7 of ‘The Demon Headmaster’ we have written the chapter in our own words and have planned a storyboard changing parts of chapter 7 to make our own story for next week. In Science we have looked at how muscles work in our bodies with Mr Bird leading the lesson. For ICT we have continued data branching. In RE we have been looking at The Easter story.

4E

4E have been enjoying their work in their class book, ‘The Demon Headmaster’. They have written their own versions of one of their favourite chapters. This writing has been fantastic so far with the children using a range of tricky language features such as simile and personification. In Maths the children have been learning about perimeter and area. They have completed a range of investigations and are now feeling confident!

In Science the children have been learning about the bones and muscles. Did you know that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile?

5J

Due to the forthcoming Activities Week (either at the Isle of Wight or at Darlinghurst), Year 5 have been completing their end of term assessments early.  They have particularly shown off their increased maths and writing skills.  They have enjoyed learning about sound, especially investigating pitch using a straw.  Why not ask your child to show you what happens?  You will need drinking straw and scissors.   (Putting your fingers in your ears to drown out the sound is optional!)

During the last week of term we will be making musical instruments out of recycled materials, so please save your cardboard boxes, plastic containers e.g. bottles, margarine tubs and bring them into school on Monday 25^th March. 

Have a good weekend and keep your fingers crossed for sun and warm weather next week!

Mrs Johnston

Year 6

Well, Year Six are still recovering from their Anderson Shelter building day last Friday. Despite the rain and freezing temperatures, we all had a fantastic day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We have also been visited by the local NHS Dental Health team and every year six child received a free toothbrush and toothpaste today! The talk given to the children was educational and informative and Mrs Sykes told us that Darlinghurst children are a credit to us.

Well done Year Six…SATs are approaching  and they are all working really hard. Keep it up! 

8th March 2013

4CA

This week in Maths we have been looking at rounding numbers, either whole or decimal. We have had another successful week of poetry with the children writing their own imagine poem using alliteration, simili, metaphors and personification. In Science were looked at animal skeleton’s and even had some real skulls. For ICT we have been learning how to make a branching database.

Year 6

Year 6 have had another successful, hard working week! In Maths, we have been brushing up on how to interpret data from pie charts and in English, both classes have been continuing to read their class novels. We have all really enjoyed making gas mask boxes (which involved some Maths, as we had to draw and cut out nets) and we cannot wait for our World War Two day out on the field. We will be making Anderson shelters, so stay tuned next week to see the outcome! Despite it being damp and foggy, Year 6 will not be put off and it’s sure to be a fantastic day!

In other news, this week Year 6 have started using Twitter- so please feel free to follow us @DarlinghurstY6 for regular updates and photos of our learning!

1st March 2013

Nursery

I hope everybody had a relaxing break.  In nursery this term we are looking at traditional stories.  This week we have been listening to The Emperor’s New Clothes.  The children find this story very funny especially when the emperor parades along the street almost naked.  Our flavoured rice cakes have been very successful with nearly all the children enjoying them.  The caramel flavour seemed to be the favourite.  Everybody should now have a copy of our nursery leaflet detailing all the up to date information.  Please remember to bring in things for your child’s learning journeys.  Looking forward to Stay and Play for parent/carers of girls tomorrow.

Reception

This week in reception our learning has been focused around Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. We have enjoyed reading the story and learning about rhyming words. We have also made our very own witch’s spell by thinking of some very interesting ingredients and learning how to write instructions! We have had great fun designing our own brooms and making them using both natural and man-made materials. In maths, we have been writing some fantastic number sentences and learning all about addition and subtraction. Next week, we look forward to reading more Julia Donaldson stories including The Smartest Giant in Town!

Reception Team

1B

Hi everybody,

I think everybody is well rested after their Half Term holiday as 1B have come back thinking, learning and working really hard this week.

I am really pleased because quite a few children did their homework and have brought in books or information about owls. This has really helped with the children’s research and their learning about non-fiction books this week. We have also been doing all kinds of Maths investigations and learning about light sources which the children have all engaged in with much enthusiasm.

Here are some of the activities that the children have enjoyed in particular:

Karter- I enjoyed PE I liked watching the video of the owl when his wings came up.

Martha-I liked the dance moves in PE

Reanna- I liked learning in Maths, we were using number cards to count up to 20.

Joseph- When we wrote about owls I enjoyed it because I like owls.

Ruby- Using the laptops was fun because we were learning about taking away on Education City.

Mercedes- I liked doing the Owl Dance in PE because I like dancing.

Ailbhe- I liked the Owl Dance because it was funny.

Jacob- Doing Magic Numbers in Maths was magic, we had to put numbers in order to make other numbers.

Zoe- I liked going around the school with Emma looking for light sources because I liked learning about my lights and darks.

Thanks for all your contributions children.

Have a great weekend.

Miss Bernard

4CA

In maths this week we have continued to look at fractions and decimals. Using a number of fractions games has really helped learning. Our theme for English this week has been poetry and we have looked at key elements that can be included in a poem. We had a special treat with Mr Bird telling us all about The human skeleton and we named lots of bones. This week for our topic on schools we found out about schools in India.

4E

4E have been working very hard on their poetry recently. We have looked at poems by Kit Wright and Pie Corbett and have focussed on using simile in our work. The poems we have produced have been fantastic and we are very proud of them.

In Science we are beginning our ‘Moving and Growing’ topic. Our classroom has a new ‘bony’ member…We have learnt the correct scientific names for some of the bones and found out some interesting facts. Did you know an adult has 206 bones in the body but a baby is born with over 300?

We have been lucky enough to have Stuart the artist come to work with us on a Friday morning and have been experimenting with special artist paints called Gouache paint. Our final art work will be displayed in the school.

5W

5W have had a busy week. We've learnt how to improve other writers stories using our own words. We are great story tellers and will be writing our own stories soon.

We have all presented a short talk on our favourite subject to the class. Mrs Weddell and Miss Withrington were extremely impressed and enjoyed every talk. We learnt about guitars, comics, Greek mythology, animals, Muay Thai boxing, games and books.  We saw lovely pictures and great power points all which received lots of well deserved applause.

Year 6

Well , Year Six are getting busy for their  Anderson Shelter and Dig For Victory Day next Friday 8^th March. They are all busy making gas masks, gas mask boxes and collecting seeds ready for planting out side.

They had also been working extremely hard in all lessons. Well done .

Next week also sees an assembly taken by Little   Havens Hospices thanking the whole of Year Six for their fantastic fund raising cake sale last term. Watch out for the next sale !