Key Stage 2 News!

Year 3

This week we have been designing and making photo frames for someone special! In Mathematics we have been practising our times tables and division facts. The class champion can answer 30 questions correctly in only 50 seconds! Phew!! 

Year 4

This week we have been going on an adventure in English and we have written diary entries about it. We have also been looking at the points of a compass and learning about angles in maths.

Year 5 

There have been some great stories written about Dangerous Places this week. We have also painted the pots for our Aztec topic and are learning how to write computer codes.

Year 6 

We have been looking at personification by studying " The Story of Hiawatha". In Mathematics we have been studying the relationship between percentages, fractions and decimals. Today, we had our final swimming lesson of the term and made great progress!

This week in Key Stage 2

Year 3

This week we have been learning to tell the time and recommend the website www.timemonsters.com
It's fantastic! We have also been boxing up stories to help us organise our writing. Each box is a story part and paragraph.

Year 4

This week we have been using our imagination to travel. In maths, we have been doing column addition and subtraction. In topic, we've been learning about the Anglo Saxons. We also did some weaving and basket making. It was fun.

Year 5

We have been learning about forces. This week we tried to sink a Compare Bear, in a canister, in a cylinder of water. Like a diving submarine. It was fun - but very messy!

Year 6

We have been story writing using "boxing up". We have been learning to assess and improve our own writing. We started our topic on Electricity by making circuits and in Mathematics we have been practising our mental maths skills.

#ICT2inspire…what our children thought!

Inspired to write...

After their writing workshops with Mr Rylands, I asked the children for their feedback. These are some of the comments received…they are all genuine quotes from the children and I'm both delighted and proud of them all!

"What an amazing experience! It was such good fun. We learnt to just throw out our ideas and go for it!" Kaitlin & Sinead

"I've never done that much writing before." Alexus

"We have learnt that cliffhangers hold the readers attention and makes them want to read on…" Isha, Shoniwa & India

"We went on an adventure and it was great!" David

"We've learnt to recognise and use effective similes and metaphors." Harry & Clarease

"I loved it when we found out where the squeaky voice was coming from"    Tristan

"I enjoyed the part where we spoke poshly...and then, like pirates!" Connor

"Mr Rylands gave me the encouragement and confidence to write more." Keira

"We've learnt to use commas correctly." Aliyyah & Lewis B

"Mr Rylands is a man of laughter!" Jack & Sophie

"Our imaginations are explorable!" Alfie & Daniel

"Interesting vocabulary creates better writing." Oliver & Hanna

"Thanks to Mr Rylands modelling, I can now use punctuation better." Lewis F

"The ideas just crawled into my head and out on to the page!" Kaitlin

"What a humorous and entertaining lesson." Dilip

"We learnt how to open and finish sentences in different ways. It makes your writing more interesting." Marshal & Elisa

"I am going to re-phrase my wording to create better sentences. I'm going to translate my writing by using different words that mean the same." Ben

"It was a brilliant learning experience!" Emily P, Izzy & Charlie

Thanks for an 'awesome' day!

#ICT2inspire with Tim Rylands & Sarah Neild

Everyone at Downsview Primary School was extremely proud and excited to welcome Tim Rylands  & Sarah Neild recently for a two day exploration of inspirational ICT and technology. 

Arriving on 23rd October 2014, Tim worked with children and staff alike in some 'myst'erious writing workshops. Following these, Tim and Sarah then led a day of staff development training and shared many fantastic online resources and tools that could be used to enhance learning and truly engage our children.

"Mr Rylands made learning fun and exciting!"

"I just had to write my ideas down."

"Writing is fun!"

Engaged children - keen to share ideas!

Mr Rylands in action…involving children in their learning.

"Mr Rylands was really funny!"

Tim's work is mainly focused around writing and how to become a better writer, but he goes way beyond just writing. Tim is about developing children's thinking and imagination…he is passionate about developing children's curiosity…he is about engaging children in their learning and inspiring them to be the best that they can be. To help him do this, he mixes brilliant teaching with a computer gaming programme.

The two day event, funded through The Swanley Collaboration, was a huge success and I'm very proud of our school for organising and hosting it. Our next step is to use some of the incredible technology and online resources available to further our children's enjoyment of learning and success. 

A belated welcome back!

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of blog posts recently. 

Term 1 began positively and we were soon so busy with good teaching and learning that we've forgotten to get the blog up and running again. 

Apologies! This will be rectified now with an exciting blog about our recent visit from Tim Rylands to follow...

On Friday 11th July 2014, thirteen Year Four and Five Downsview pupils travelled to Benenden School for the Music Plus Kent Music Experience…

It was a very busy and tiring day, but well worth it! On arrival, it was straight on to the stage for rehearsal time. There were six local schools involved in the concert and a large audience was expected…

Following the music, ready to go!

Practising is hard work!

Everyone working together...

Ready for show time!

The children were fantastic! After rehearsals there was time to swim, take part in a percussion workshop and listen to other groups of musicians performing.

At 7:00p.m, it was show time…and a brilliant performance it was too! Well done to all of the children involved.

Thanks to Mrs Jarvis for organising the event and to school staff for their support.

Downsview's Got Talent

On Tuesday 25th March we had our Downsview's Got Talent show. This is where children performed their talents. We had lots of acts performing this afternoon in the hall. Everyone was so brilliant it nearly brought tears to our eyes and everyone was cheering. Most of the acts were singers, dancers or joke tellers. Courtney & Katie in year 6 and David & Tristan in year 1 performed some gymnastics which included handstands and cartwheels.
In our class we had Vienna who skipped with a hula-hoop, Toby who sang an Olly Murs song and Abi, Abbie, Becky, Tieghan, Tiffany and Keeley who sung and danced to Carly Rae Jepsen.
On Friday we will perform again to all of the parents and visitors who come to see us. We will be bringing in costumes and dressing up clothes to wear.

by Cherry Class