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Author: Mr Cormack
March 2023 Newsletter
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P1-4 January Update
Hello and welcome back to term 3! It has been lovey to hear all about the children’s Christmas experiences. It has been really cold recently so this is a gentle reminder to dress your child(ren) for winter weather and to label their clothing so it can be easily reunited with them – 2 gloves are better than 1!
Our PE days this term remain on a Tuesday and Friday. The children can come to school dressed for PE on those days (no football strips please).
With Seesaw in suspension, we will aim to keep you updated on class activities and achievements via email until a suitable alternative is in place. Please see below for an outline of this term’s learning.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch should you wish to discuss anything further, Mrs Balmer and Miss Harrison.
Numeracy
In Numeracy this term pupils are continuing their work on number, focusing on strategies for addition and subtraction within 10, 20, 100 and beyond. Some are working on different strategies for multiplication and division and the link between these functions. We are learning through a mix of written work and active stations.
We are also learning about money this term. We will be working on recognising coins and notes. The pupils will get opportunities to practice what they have learned by adding and taking away amounts and playing in our shop area.
Literacy
Primary 1-4 are continuing to develop their knowledge and understanding of new sounds and spelling rules. We are looking at how we can apply our sounds knowledge to help us spell unfamiliar words in our writing. Primary One are beginning to use their sounds knowledge to read and write short words and sentences.
We will be looking at various texts for our writing including poetry, imaginative and report writing.
The boys and girls have received poems to choose from and learn for Burns. Please help your child(ren) to learn their chosen poem and to recite them aloud thinking about pace, expression and using a nice clear voice.
Other Curricular Areas
We are using the beginning of this term to wrap up our Fairy Tales topic before moving onto our next topic Scotland. We will be learning all about Scottish Landmarks, Inventors, Lochs and Mountains.
In PE we are learning how to kick and control a ball, as well as passing between partners to be able to apply these skills to different ball games.
In Health we will be exploring what it means to have a healthy bodies and healthy minds.
Ways to support at home You can support your child at home through reading and homework activities provided. Encouraging them to read any signs when passings or menus if out for meals. Reinforcing learning around money by helping count any change or totals and identifying different coins if shopping.
The following websites have a range of learning games that can help consolidate learning from this term.
Primary 5-7 – January 2023
Literacy
We have lots of exciting literacy tasks coming up in Term 3, but one thing we are really looking to forward is our focus on Scottish poetry. Over the next few weeks, we are learning Scots Poems, learning about Robert Burns and writing our own poetry using Scots language.
How can you help your child at home?
Each child has been given a Scots Poem to learn and practising this at home will help to build confidence when speaking in Scots and talking in front of others.
Every week in class we read our books and work through a comprehension task related to our books. To help your child, reading books and asking them questions about it will help to expand their knowledge of understanding and finding information in a text.
Numeracy
We have just finished our topic on multiplication and are about to begin our new topic on division. As well as this, we are also trying to improve our knowledge of times tables. We have been practising these in lots of different ways, to ensure we find the best way for everyone to learn them.
This term, we also plan to focus on shape. This is our first non-number activity with Miss Heyes.
How can you help your child at home?
Times tables are very useful to know and make other areas of numeracy easier. As a class, we are finding our times tables challenging. From this week onwards, each child will have a specific times table to focus on for that week. Everyone was given a times table keyring that included all times tables from 2 to 12 in term 2, which can be used for verbal activities and study.
Topic
Due to our school show in term 2, we did not have a lot of time to learn about our topic Natural Disasters, so up until the February break, we are going to be learning about several different natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes.
After the break, our next topic is Japan. We are going to be learning about Japanese culture, food, the country, and its schools.
How can you help your child at home?
Recently, an earthquake in Indonesia has caused devastation to the country with a tsunami warning now issued, discussions about recent/reported natural disasters will allow them to learn more about that natural disaster whilst also sharing at home what they have learned in class.
P1-4 Blog Post- Term 2
We have been very busy in P1-4 this term! Working hard in class and preparing for our Christmas Show!
In literacy we have been continuing to learn new sounds and spelling patterns to help us with reading and writing. We have had a focus on writing letters and sequencing stories through our Fairy-Tale topic. P1-4 enjoyed writing a letter to the Three Bears as if they were Goldilocks apologising for her actions!
In numeracy we have been focusing on methods for addition and subtraction. The pupils have enjoyed working with concrete materials to help them when adding and subtracting, as well as accessing active maths stations. We have been working on all aspects of measure with lots of practical activities to learn about length, weight, volume and area.
Our topic this term has been Fairy-Tales. We have learned about the structure of Fairy-Tales and created many art pieces relating to the stories we have read. The children have enjoyed creating prints with various materials and constructing moving Pinocchio pictures. We will continue with this topic into Term 3 as we investigate other areas of the curriculum through a Fairy-Tale lens.
P1-4 have thoroughly enjoyed preparing for this year’s Christmas show. We are very proud of the commitment and effort the children have shown to their parts and performance. They have continued to impress us with their dancing and singing and how supportive they have been to each other during rehearsals.
Mrs Balmer and Miss Harrison wish you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to continuing with lots of fun learning in Term 3!
P5/6/7 – December 2022
Hello! P5-7 are very eager to share what we have been learning in term 2.
Numeracy
Our topic for this term was Multiplication and Division. We have had a large focus on our times tables and practicing them in class and at home using the times-tables flipbooks. We also have an interactive display to help us learn our times tables which is ongoing. We will be continuing with this topic in the New Year.
Literacy
We have had lots of opportunities this term to incorporate different topics into our writing, for example, Halloween and Bonfire night. We have written stories, poetry, and created interesting character descriptions. One of our writing lessons tied in our IDL topic – Natural Disasters. We had been learning about volcanoes and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and have written a newspaper report detailing the events of the disaster.
School Show
As you know, Luthermuir School put on a performance of the show ‘Lights Camel Action’. We all worked incredibly hard to put on the best performance, and we are all extremely pleased with how the final show went. We all would like to say a big thank you again for coming to see our show!
Primary 1,2,3 & 4 October 2022
It has been a busy term and the boys and girls in Primary 1 to 4 should be really proud of how well they have settled into the new school year!
In literacy, we have been learning lots of new sounds to help us with our reading and spelling. We have been learning to read and write some common tricky words too. The boys and girls seemed to especially enjoy practising their phonics through games like ‘fish for a word’ and messy play activities such as writing in flour.
Our Big Write sessions have been received well by the pupils this term. Our main focus has been on writing recounts and sharing our personal experiences, ideas and opinions.
Our focus for numeracy has been on place value. From showing numbers in different representations (as a word, as a digit, with ten base and with objects) to counting on and back in 10s and 100s. Here is a link to one of Jack Hartmann’s counting songs that we have enjoyed this term https://youtu.be/_MVzXKfr6e8 .
The class have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes with Mrs Mason. They have enjoyed shape hunts in and around the school, creating 3D models and applying their learning with some STEM challenges. They applied their learning in art to create some shape chickens and explore cubism.
Our Topic this term has been about farming. We learned about where our food comes from (plants and/or animals) and about some of the food produced in Scotland. We learned about milk and wheat production from farm to fork. The class especially enjoyed a visit from local farmer Alex Stephens who spoke to them about his family’s dairy farm.
P5/6/7 – October 2022
Hello! P5-7 are very eager to share what we have been learning in the first term back after the summer holidays.
Numeracy
Our first numeracy topic this term was Place Value. To remind ourselves about Place Value we took part in different warm up activities that involved ‘show me’ boards, group games and class activities.
Our second numeracy topic this term was Addition and Subtraction. This has involved a lot of mental maths practice for our warm-ups. A class favourite is addition bingo! In P5, we have started adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers, and in P6-7 we have started adding and subtracting 4/5-digit numbers. We have been using a range of different strategies to do this such as rounding, jumping, and partitioning. We will be continuing with Addition and Subtraction in term 2.
Writing
This term we have incorporated our topic of Ancient Egypt into our writing. Over the term we have written an Ancient Egyptian fact file, a diary entry about discovering Tutankhamun’s tomb and created a leaflet advertising the Pyramids of Giza.
In class we discussed writing stories and creative writing, and how they would like to more creative writing. So, as a stand-alone lesson, the children were asked to pick 4 pre-made prompt cards (a character, a setting, a problem/task, and a key word) and create a story of their choice.
Ancient Egypt
Our topic this term was about Ancient Egypt. At the beginning of the term, we discussed the different things that we would like to learn about Ancient Egypt. Over the term we have learned about the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Pharaohs, the pyramids, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, hieroglyphics and creating a timeline of important events that took place over the Ancient Egyptian period.
P1-4 Welcome
P5-7 Blog – 23/06/22
This week, the P7s have been at Mearns Academy for their three day Transition Visit. We hope they have had a great time. P5 & P6 have been working on some different activities while they have been away.
Reading
This week we have been creating a Book Review Wheel on this term’s reading book. We have been looking at the characters, setting, the plot and which parts of the book we enjoyed. They are a work in progress, and we hope to finish them before the end of the term.
Outdoor Learning
Following our art theme this week, we made use of the sunshine and took our art outdoors. We headed into the trees behind the school and had a go at Den Building and creating a picture using materials from the woods.
Art Visit
This week we have been lucky to get a visit from Miss Scott, an Art teacher from Mearns Academy. She joined us on Thursday, and we had an extra art session looking at Zine art based on the Solar System. For this we used water colours and made a little book on the Planets. It was great fun!
