Month: April 2021

P6-7 Term 4 Update

We have loved our time back at school! The children are really thriving being able to work alongside their peers again!

Literacy 
We are learning to infer (read between the lines) when we are reading our class novel, Wonder. We are using the formula ‘text clues + background knowledge = inference’ to try to understand things that the author doesn’t directly say in the text.

The class are learning to write persuasively. We are learning about putting across arguments, backing them up with more information, writing an introduction and a conclusion and using bossy verbs.

Numeracy 
The class have been measuring length, mass, and capacity with some using formula to calculate volume. We were using the scales to weigh things and jugs to measure volume.

We are moving on to revision of topics covered over the year and consolidating topics covered during remote learning.

Other curricular areas 

Topic – This term, we have been learning about Europe and will be moving on to Current Affairs. Within this the children will be having a mock election and will write manifestos.

PE – The P6-7’s have been putting their hockey skills of passing, dribbling, defending, tackling and shooting into practice and we have been playing games of 4 v 4 and 6 v 6.

Health and Wellbeing – We are continuing to work on building positive relationships within the classroom. We have covered name calling, friendships, language and appropriate behaviour in school.

 

Thank you all so much for taking the time to meet with me for our parent teacher meetings. It was lovely to see you all again! If you need anything at all, you can contact me on jodi.riley@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or you can still contact me via Google Classroom.

April 2021 – P3/4

For our writing task this week, we challenged ourselves to up-level our weekend news that we wrote on Monday morning. The children self-assessed their piece of writing and decided how they were going to make it even better. P3 worked hard on this task, and each child produced a great piece of writing!

Last week we linked our writing lesson to our topic on Water. We learned about the Water Cycle, and then we wrote about the cycle from the perspective of a water particle going through the process. We then used our writing to produce some wonderful Water Cycle posters!

We have been learning about Common and Proper Nouns. We have been trying hard to include capital letters in the correct places, as well as forming our letters correctly.

Since returning after the Easter holidays, our focus in maths has been Measurement. We have explored measuring in metres and centimetres, choosing the most appropriate unit of measurement based on the size of an object. We always estimate before measuring an object, and as the children are becoming more confident, their estimates are getting closer to the actual length of the items! We learned about capacity and had lots of fun experimenting with water, rainbow rice and cubes.

We are currently learning about weight, where we will be using the kilogram and ½ kilogram next week. With Miss Davie, the children have started to focus on problem solving skills.

Last week in Health and Wellbeing we were describing and recording strategies for getting on with others in the classroom. The children had some great discussion about what we (both children and adults) need to do our best in school.

This week we have discussed money and responsibility. The children have created lots of interesting discussion around wants and needs, as well as spending and saving money.

In PE at the moment, we are focusing on Hockey skills. This has been a hit so far!

We started our new topic on Water since returning to school after the holidays. So far, we have learned about the Water Cycle. We did a science experiment to see the Water Cycle being re-created in a plastic bag stuck to the window! This proved to be successful and the children identified the different parts of the Water Cycle in the bag. We are learning about solids, liquids and gases, and have carried out another experiment exploring melting ice and insulators.

April 2021 – P1/2

Primary 1/2 have been doing a lot of work on money, and many are finding it a struggle to recognise coins. This is only natural as they have had so little experience of using coins in the past year as we have all tried to stay away from handling anything that might be a source of germs, and families have not been in shops. It would really help if they could safely handle coins from 1p to £2 at home, and practise recognising, naming and ordering them for value. Making coins rubbings would also help.

Primary 1 have been working on forming capital letters and trying to make sure they are the right size, as well as working on sounds ee and oo. Primary 2 have been revising nouns and verbs, and learning about using adverbs.

In PE Miss Davie has been working with us outdoors on throwing skills, balancing and listening in team games.

We have been listening to stories and songs, and playing games to help us learn colours in French.

P1/2 – Summer Term

P1/2 will continue to work on new spelling patterns, with more focus on common words. In writing we will create our own characters and short stories. P1 will learn to form capital letters correctly and P2 will be working on adverbs, plurals, antonyms, alphabetical order and speech marks.

In Numeracy and Mathematics P1 will revise number bonds to 10 and use those to work on subtraction. P2 will use their multiplication knowledge to gain understanding about division and fractions. We will also begin to learn about money.

Our topic ‘All Around Us’ will take us outside as we follow the children’s interests and look closely at our immediate environment for connections between humans and nature.

1st April – Primary 4/5

This week, the children have been working hard on multiplication and division and improving our skills in maths word problems.  We have also been working on 1 and 2 digit multiplication sums.

In literacy this week we had a class debate on whether children should wear school uniforms.  This topic was chosen by the children and they conducted themselves very well and had a well-reasoned debate.  The children also watched a video clip from CBBC Newsround on the opinions and ideas other children had on school uniform.  The children then wrote an essay on what they considered were the pro’s and cons of school uniform.

We have finished off our WW2 project this week with colourful posters telling evacuees to stay safe in the country.  The children thought about the different ways in which they could convey this message when they created the posters.

 

Term 4

Term 4 will begin with consolidation of multiplication and division in maths.  The children will be learning about different techniques for multiplying and dividing.  With the better weather, I hope to be doing more outdoor learning to extend understanding.  We will continue with daily practice of times tables so that the children maintain their fluency.

In literacy, we will continue with our class novel, ‘The Elsewhere Emporium’. We will use the novel to read for enjoyment and for listening skills.

Our class project at the beginning of next term will be ‘Dissolving Solids’, and I’m looking forward to doing some experiments with the children!

P6-7 April Update

We have loved our time back at school! The children are really thriving being able to work alongside their peers again!

Literacy 
We are constructing a timeline for our novel, Wonder. We are considering the main events in the novel and what impact they had on the main Character, August.

The class have finished their ‘Perfect Planet’ reviews and have done their second drafts and are typing up a finished copy!

The children are designing information leaflets for an imaginary potential new family considering moving to Fettercairn! We looked at the school website for inspiration and added any additional information such as COVID-19 procedures.

Next term, our focus will be persuasive writing and debating.

Numeracy 
The children are still working on Measure. We are converting between different units of measure and using these to estimate and measure different objects. We will be moving on to measuring mass and capacity in the first few weeks of next term.

Other curricular areas –
PE – The P6-7’s hockey skills are really improving! We were learning to Indian Dribble this week. Next term we will be working up to playing small games of Hockey.

Health and Wellbeing – We are continuing to work on the Ethos in our classroom. We discussed gaining consent before entering someone else’s personal space and behaving appropriately in the playground.

As always, if you need anything from me please do not hesitate to email me on jodi.riley@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or you can still contact me via Google Classroom.

P3/4 – 1st April

The children have worked incredibly hard since returning to school 6 weeks ago, and I am so pleased with the way they settled back into school and learning.

Literacy – Last week the children finished their diary entries for the Young Writer’s Competition. They are all so proud of their work! To conclude our topic on Habitats, this week we wrote a Habitat Fact File on our favourite habitat we learned about over the last 6 weeks.

We consolidated our knowledge of our spelling sounds we have covered since we returned to school. The children practised their words in lots of active ways at different spelling stations. The children said they enjoyed revisiting previous sounds as it helped to refresh their understanding!

Next term, we will learn in more depth about persuasive writing and poetry.

Maths – Last week we finished our topic on Division. We worked hard to apply their knowledge of division to various problem-solving activities. The children worked well to support one another.

This week we learned about Ancient Roman and Egyptian Numerals – the children have loved it and said it felt like they were learning a special secret code! It was great to see some of the children linking their new learning to a real-world context, remembering where they have seen Roman Numerals used before (on clocks, sundials etc).

Next term we will learn about measure, weight and capacity, as well as fractions. With Miss Davie, the children will work on their problem-solving skills in maths.

Health and Wellbeing – We continued with our focus on Safety in Health and Wellbeing. We discussed Safe and Unsafe places. We also revisited our ‘Learning Line’ display which we learned about prior to lockdown. The children created a ‘mini-me’ figure to be displayed on the Learning Line, and as we go forward into next term, we will use these to show our progress along the Learning Line when learning new concepts. This will encourage the children to reflect on their own learning and next steps.

IDL – Since returning to school, the children have loved our Habitats topic! We have explored Woodland, Ocean, Rainforest and Artic habitats. Last week, we had a whole day themed on The Arctic. We started the day by going through Security to travel by plane! We learned about Air Resistance, Artic Animals, and how people live in the Arctic. The children showed so much excitement and enthusiasm! This week, the children chose their favourite habitat and created a habitat in a shoe box – they are very effective!