Category: (2) Early Stages

P2/3 May Update

In numeracy we have been learning subtraction and have been understanding when it is best to use the inverse operation of subtraction.  To improve our mental agility of this we have taken our learning outside and have done a number search.  We will shortly be moving onto money and also revising our times tables facts.

In literacy we have been learning how to write instructions and the importance of them being clear and concise and not missing out any steps.  To build upon our imaginative writing skills, we have written instructions on how to catch a dinosaur should you ever come across one!

The children have been very engaged with our dinosaur topic are learning many facts about dinosaurs; where they lived, what different time periods there were and which dinosaurs lived in which time period.  They have also used Van Gogh techniques to paint volcanoes.

In health and wellbeing the children had great fun learning new skills; wall climbing, zorbing and archery.  We have also been learning about all the many emotions/feelings we can experience and we made a feelings wheel to support us with identifying our feelings to support us in speaking about them.

P2/3 Update April 2022

This term our topic is the children’s choice and the children have chosen prehistoric; dinosaurs and volcanoes.  The children have identified what they already know and what they want to know more about.  We will therefore be learning about when dinosaurs existed, how long they lived for, where they lived, comparing dinosaur facts and all about volcanoes.  The children are building upon their technology skills to being their investigating.

In p.e. we are going to be focusing on athletics; running, jumping and throwing.  The children have also been planning and designing their assault course for the other classes to complete during health week.  They have incorporated skills they have learnt this year in p.e. i.e. hockey skills, ball skills, balancing and throwing skills.  They have also thought about how each station can be differentiated for all stages.

For numeracy this term we are focusing on subtraction; working within 20, 100 and 1000.  We have revised what we have previously been taught and have been creating subtraction stories with a partner in a variety of ways and solving them.   We are now learning the inverse subtraction operation.  We are also continuing to build upon our mental agility in numeracy.  In mathematics we will be learning about Data Handling this term.

Within literacy our focus this term will be imaginative writing; creating interesting characters through their feelings, actions and physical description.  We will also build upon our proof reading skills by reading over what we have written and ensuring it makes sense.  The main focus of our comprehension will be based upon our new class novel; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

 

 

P1 Update April 2022

In Literacy Primary 1 have started learning to recognise capital letters and form them correctly. We are continuing to work on our reading, tricky words and new sounds. The children are enjoying working in pairs teaching each other to write words with ee and oo sounds.

We are continuing to work on numbers to twenty,  subtraction to five and related vocabulary. In maths we are learning about money. This is a tricky topic for children who have not had much experience in shopping and handling coins. It would be very helpful if families could support their children at home by using a collection of coins to recognise and order [1p to £2].

In French we are working on colours and will be using this to give our school dinner orders.

In Health and Wellbeing we have discussed what goes onto and into our bodies, and what is  safe and not safe.

We have been practising races and games for our school sports in PE.

Our cross-curricular topic is ‘In the Garden’  and we are learning about plants and minibeasts through a variety of activities. We have learned about living and non-living things and have also been tending our tattie barrel in the garden.

Miss Robbie has been teaching us about beat and volume in music.

 

P1 – March 2022

We made a start into our mini topic Fairy tales with great enthusiasm. The children enjoyed listening and retelling Sleeping Beauty, making masks and acting it out. We compared it with Hansel and Gretel and looked for similarities and differences. We are developing our Role play corner into a Fairy castle with dressing up, so if you have any “royal” items that you can donate to enhance this, they would be most welcome.

Our science is closely linked to our topic. Miss Robbie is teaching us about use of materials. The three little pigs got a helping hand to build houses of straw!

We are continuing to learn 2 letter sounds and are practising reading and writing words with them. We are also using our sounds in phonics to sound out longer words. On Shrove Tuesday we made some pancake toppings and wrote about it, we retold a fairy tale, and we have been writing labels for our Gingerbread houses. We enjoyed a visit from Diane from Mearns Library who came to read a variety of stories to us, and we would encourage the children to visit the library to borrow books now that they have longer opening hours again.

In Numeracy we are using different ways to practise number bonds to 7, 8 and 9. We began to write, read and order numbers to 20. We have been exploring data handling and have learned about Carroll diagrams and Arrow diagrams. Next we will be learning about simple graphs.

In Art we learned how to mix secondary colours and used them to good effect when painting the Gingerbread man story.

 

 

P2/3 – March 2022

In literacy we have been choosing picture stimulus’ to write about and have been self-assessing our work to ensure we have met our success criteria.  We are also learning to read over what we have written to check it makes sense.  For our comprehension we have started to work collaboratively and each have a role to play so we are all accountable when working with our task maps; the reader, the recorder and the manager.  We have focused on our class novel for this and the children are thinking deeper about the characters.  We have also been creating stories using our story stones, focusing on a beginning, middle and end of our story and we are retelling them to our peers.

In beyond number we have been learning about the time.  In primary 2 we are learning the o’clock and half past and in primary 3 we are learning quarter past the hour and quarter to the hour.  We are also learning to read digital time.

In expressive arts we have been focusing on the Bfg and have made our own dream catchers.  We took care to thread them and use colours which make us feel happy so that they bring us happy dreams.

 

And in p.e. we have been doing gymnastics, focusing on balance, travel and shape holds.  We have been working together to form sequences and have been peer assessing our sequences, giving each other constructive feedback on how we can improve our sequences.

P1 February 2022

In PE  we are working on balancing into tuck, we will be moving on to rolls and then creating a gymnastic routine using apparatus by the end of term. We have enjoyed a rugby lesson and will be doing two more.

We have begun to read and write words with 2 letter sounds sh and th. We enjoyed listening to and learning some Scottish words such as favourite animals. We were excited to find out that the Bookbug Picture Book Prize 2022 went to ’Inch and Grub’ which was also the book which got the most votes in our class.  In French we joined in a live online lesson during Languages Week and are working on numbers to 10.

In Numeracy we consolidated addition facts to 5 including missing numbers and adding 3 numbers. We have been telling the time on the hour with digital and analogue clocks.

As part of our Weather topic we looked at what makes ice melt, and we are working on presenting our own weather forecasts. We have made winter pictures in Art.

P1 Update – January 2022

Primary One have completed the sounds of the alphabet and are working hard on their reading and comprehension skills and learning to write a dictated sentence. Thank you for supporting us with their homework and going over their reading books.

In numeracy we made a great start in addition, concentrating on vocabulary such as add, altogether, more than, plus, equals, gives, makes. In Maths we are working on time, and have been talking about the calendar, seasons, months, and days of the week. Please take every opportunity to talk about what you are doing on different days and revise order of the days at home. We will move on to reading analogue and digital clocks and telling the time on the hour.

We have been discussing weather, looking at the BBC weather website, and writing a weather report.

In PE with Miss Davie we have been doing Scottish Dancing. We have been working on pas de bas, skipping and continuous dance sequence such as Military 2 step.

The children have been to keen to practise greetings in French. In Science we have been learning about electricity. Vicky Armstrong also came to lead an art lesson on the theme of Electricity. The children got a chance to film each other making light pictures with torches as inspiration for wire sculptures, and also made electric circuits with salt playdough. In RME we are looking at themes from story of Noah’s Ark such as trust, obedience and promises.

P2/3 January Update

To incorporate Burns Day within expressive arts we have been learning some Scottish country dances such as the Canadian Barn Dance and the Happy Gordons and in art we have been learning about the Scottish artist Steven Brown.  The children have discussed the artistic features of Steven Brown’s art work and have created their own McCoo’s.  The children have also created their own tartan, focusing on the repetition of their pattern.

In literacy, the children have chosen their new class novel and they have chosen The Bfg.  They have carried out a listening activity and illustrated the Bfg, focusing on the detail that they were given within the story.  Within writing the children have been learning about poetry and have created their own acrostic poems and are now learning how to write rhyming poems.

In numeracy, we have moved on to addition within 10, 20, 100 and 1000.  We have been revising our number facts and have been using lots of concrete materials to support us.

Our focus in topic this term is Fettercairn countryside.  We have discussed all the amenities in and around Fettercairn and have mapped out where our house is in relation to the Fettercairn Square.  The children have expressed they want to find out more about the Royal Arch and therefore we will be focusing on this as part of our learning.

P1 December Update

In Literacy we have been learning to use finger spaces between words and we also learned about full stops. We have covered new sounds h and w. We started working on our reading passports with the help of out P6/7 partners and have written the first entry about a book we have read together.

In Numeracy we have been working on one more/one less and more/fewer. We had lots of discussion when comparing the sizes of our families. In mathematics we have been learning about weight, working on using the language  light/heavy and lighter than/heavier than. We had fun comparing the weights of shopping items and Christmas parcels.

In Technology we have designed and made a toy that can be pushed and pulled. We have been practising the songs for our Christmas concert, and we enjoyed working with P6/7 to make some artwork. In PE we have worked on some simple social dancing.

Our Happy Birthday roleplay area has been a great success with the children finding lots of opportunities to write invitations, cards and messages. Thank you for sending in so many birthday items for us to use, this has really enhanced the area and added to the children’s enjoyment. We are hoping to have a Vet’s corner next term, so if you have any soft toy animals or other props we could use we could use we would be very grateful.

P2/3 – December 2021

In numeracy, we are learning to round numbers to the nearest 10 or nearest 100.  We have been playing Rounding Rockets on Top Marks and have been working in pairs using playing cards to round to the nearest given number.  We are also continuing to practice our times tables.

In expressive arts we have had primary 6/7 lead a Christmas craft activity which links to our song that we are singing in our Christmas concert.   We all had to listen carefully to follow each step at a time.

 

We are beginning to become familiar with learning using Chrome books and we are gaining experience with logging in and navigating our way around the chrome books.  We have played some numeracy games and have even managed to type a letter during literacy.

In p.e we have been learning hockey skills.  We have been focusing on how to use the hockey stick safely and how to control the ball while moving around cones.  We have also practiced obtaining the ball from another person while moving and we have hit a target with the ball.