30.10.23 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone! 

We hope you have all had a lovely half term. 

This week in school should have seen the start of the new dinner menu. Unfortunately it is still being finalised by our supplier, ISS. Therefore the menu for the first week back will be as detailed in the newsletter before the end of term. This can be found here. There is also a special menu on Friday - this is also detailed in the newsletter, on page 2.

So on to our learning for the coming week, we will be starting our project with the traditional tale "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

We will be:

• Reading different versions of the Goldilocks story.
• Creating some puppets of Goldilocks and the Bears to help us retell the story in our own words.
• Comparing objects by their size in our Mathematics sessions and deciding which character they are for.
• Continuing our Phonics sessions, learning the next 4 sounds.
• Continuing with our Start-Bee handwriting sessions, working on our patterns.
• Creating some fabulous firework pictures using different media.

See you in the morning!

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley

Happy Half Term!

Hello Everyone!

We have reached the end of the children's first half term at Down Hall! We are SO proud of them all and all of their achievements and we hope you feel the same. This is just a quick blog to wish you all a lovely half term and to also explain all of the different things that have come home with the children today.

In your child's homework folder you should find:

1. The next set of sound cards and some flashcards containing those sounds. The film clips for these sounds are on our website, you can find them here.
2. Half Term homework - now that the weather has turned colder it is taking us lots of time to get ready for our outside time. We would be very grateful if you could spend a little bit of the holiday encouraging your child to put on their coat and try to do it up by themselves. We would love to see any of the children giving it a go, so please feel free to send us any photos using earlyyears@downhallprimary.com.
3. Your child's Christmas card design and the letter explaining the process. The deadline for the children's art work to be returned is Monday 30th October.
4. A project letter telling you about our next project "Once Upon a Time" which we start after half term. This letter is also on our website and can be found here.
5. A letter regarding the change of system in school. We will no longer be using Scopay, instead we have moved to SchoolMoney. You should have also received an email with the links you will need to set up your child's account. 

Please can the homework folders be returned each week as we will use them to send sound cards, flashcards and homework home. 

There will be a blog on Sunday 29th October to let you know about our first week back.

Have a lovely break!

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley

16.10.23 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

Another lovely week in Early Years. Mr Attfield has now finished the swimming lessons - these will return in the Summer Term. He has commented on how impressed he was with everyone and how well they did over the 4 sessions.

The children have brought home the next 4 sounds this week, along with some flashcards again. These flashcards are suggested words that the children could have a go at reading or making with their cards. We would ask that you encourage the children to use their sounds to read, rather than learn the flashcards as sight words. 

On to our learning for this coming week, we will be:

• Sharing the story "Pumpkin Soup" about the Cat, the Duck and the Squirrel and talking about how they behaved towards each other in the story.
• Talking about pumpkins, using our different senses.
• Seeing how many seeds there are inside a pumpkin and counting them carefully.
• Learning the next set of sounds in our Phonics sessions.
• Continuing and creating repeating patterns in our Mathematics sessions.
• Electing our school councillors for Pearl and Quartz.
• Bringing home our Christmas card designs on Friday.

We are looking forward to seeing you all next week for our Parent / Teacher consultations. The meetings will take place in the school hall, you will need to enter school via the main entrance (on Brooklyn Drive), however all gates will be open. There will be no drop in next week due to these meetings, drop in sessions will continue next half term.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley

09.10.23 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

The children have all come home with their first set of sounds and some flashcards. Mrs Fincham filmed as Miss Wakefield explained the bag to the children and you will be able to hear how brilliantly they are starting to remember our sounds. The clip is on the Phonics section of our class pages and can be found by clicking here.

There are also whole school messages again this week.

Parent/Teacher Consultations

On Tuesday 17th October & Wednesday18th 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 school. All gates will be open, but entrance to the school is via the main entrance by the school office. All meetings take place in the hall.

Bookings can be made from today and is done via Scopay. If you are unsure of your Scopay login, please go and see the office as they will be able to issue with your details. It is important to have these details as they will be used to book trips, pay dinner money and make Parent/Teacher meeting appointments throughout your child's time at Down Hall.

World Mental Health Day
On Tuesday 10th October, we will be celebrating World Mental Health Day at Down Hall.
The theme for 2023, set by the World Foundation of Mental Health, is "Mental health is a universal human right." Down Hall Primary School see mental health and well-being as "being comfortable, healthy and/or happy."

To mark this very important day, we would like the children to come to school next Tuesday (10th) in non-school uniform wearing clothes that are comfortable and, if possible, linking to the colours of "Inside Out" which are: green, purple, yellow, blue and red. We hope this will encourage them to explore some of their own emotions. Throughout the day, the children will be taking part in class activities relating to World Mental Health Day. We aim to raise awareness of mental health and drive positive change for everyone's mental health.

Harry Potter Book Day

Thursday 12th October is Harry Potter book day and Miss Harvey is inviting any fellow Harry Potter fans to attend a special after school event full of Harry Potter activities to celebrate. This will be straight after school until 4pm and all children are welcome to attend but be quick as there are only 30 spaces.

Dressing up is encouraged so please feel free to bring something to change into for the event. 

A letter will come home with your child by owl on Monday with a reply slip.

Miss Harvey

Now on to our learning for the coming week, we will be:

• Continuing our daily Phonics sessions, learning the next 4 sounds.
• Continuing with our "Just Like Me!" work in our Mathematics sessions, this week we will be sorting and comparing objects.
• Starting our Start-Bee handwriting sessions, learning about the pencil grip song and how to use our special lightboxes. 
• Carefully drawing around a template and then cutting out some Autumn leaves using different coloured paper.
• Talking about how we have changed since we were a baby. Many thanks to everyone who has sent in a baby photo so far. PLEASE send in a photo by Monday, this can be done via email if that is easier. 

This week our drop in will take place on FRIDAY.

DON'T FORGET, the children's photographs will be in the Echo on Tuesday as part of their New Starter supplement.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley