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.

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!

 

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.

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!

 

  

Living and Growing

Over the past couple of weeks, P5-6-7 have been taking part in Living and Growing lessons.

• P5-6 are learning about how their bodies are changing.
• P7 are discussing sex and relationships.

Both groups have taken a mature attitude to the topic and are asking interesting questions.

 

Music

We are having great fun writing a P7 leavers song for our end of term assembly.

 

Maths

We are in the midst of finishing off shape, position and movement.  We will be moving onto measurement as our final topic of the year.  During our measurement topic, we will look at length, volume, area and problem solving within in.

 

Gala Week

This week, we have been designing obstacle courses to be used by the Luthermuir Hall and Parks Committee during the village gala week.

 

   

We have made a great start to our last term in P5-6-7 and we’re looking forward to all of the upcoming events that the summer term brings.

 

First Aid

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about basic First Aid skills.  We’ve run through a variety of scenarios including:

• Asthma attack,
• Bleeding,
• Broken Bones,
• Burns,
• Choking,
• Head Injury,
• Unresponsive and breathing.
• Unresponsive and not breathing.

We also spoke about the need to discuss with family members at home how to access their mobile phones if they need to make an emergency call.  These are all skills which we hope we’ll never need but the children have appreciated the importance of being aware of steps they can take if faced with a challenging situation.

 

Music

The children have been exploring a variety of instruments this week.  We composed our own sheet music and performed for the others in the class.  We hope to borrow a class set of xylophones so we can begin to learn how to play them before the end of term.

 

Maths – Shape

For the next few weeks, we will be turning our Maths focus with Mrs Hutton to Shape.  Each group have different learning intentions but all will be looking at the properties of 2D and 3D shape, construct a variety of 3D shapes from their nets and be able to draw the nets of shapes using mathematical instruments. You’ll see pictures below of some of our work so far:

                                   

Rugby

This term, we are very fortunate to have James Sadio from Mackie Rugby Club visiting us each Tuesday afternoon.  The children have really enjoyed the two sessions so far, engaging with all of the  fun activities.  Please ask your child at home to tell you what they have learned so far.

Maths

After the long weekend, P5-6-7 focused on developing their knowledge of ‘time.’  Some have improved their understanding of 12hr and 24hr time and finding time durations.  Whilst all of the children have spent time putting their knowledge to practical use, such as; developing life-long skills in using on-line route planners to help plan trips and timing practical activities.  Look out for a Marvellous Me post over the next week which will tell you more about the areas in ‘time’ that your child has progressed with.

 

 

French

This term, we have spent time learning how to talk about the weather.  Now that we are more familiar with how to say different types of weather, we will apply this knowledge in planning conversations about the topic.

 

Drama

In Drama, we have been becoming more familiar with a wide range of movements, expressions and voice techniques. Over the past few weeks, we have based our lessons around our WW2 topic – in particular, through the eyes of evacuees, their families and the host families in the countryside.  We have learned how to use different techniques to create and portray these roles.

 

Health and Wellbeing

Throughout this year, we have focused our lessons on the SHANARRI indicators (see wheel below).  This week, we put our knowledge into practice and thought about our own individual wellbeing at school, at home and in the wider community – completing a ‘Wellbeing Web’ to give us a better understanding of our needs.  We also paired up with the P1-5 to help them with the same task and pass on our knowledge – a true test of our learning and one in which the P5-6-7s showed their responsible and caring natures towards others.

               

Writing / IDL Project

As we continue to look at World War II, we have been discussing why our Country went into Blackout on the 1^st September 1939.  We have looked at the various posters and information issued by the British Government and why it was so important for everyone to play their part.

We have started to plan and create our own information leaflets looking at preparations needed in homes, on the streets and with transport.  You can look out for our finished leaflets appearing on Marvellous Me over the coming weeks.

            

Maths

We are continuing to look at Decimals and are now focusing on multiplying and dividing decimals. We have looked at mental strategies, written strategies and we will be going on to discuss how to tackle word problems.

Art

Mrs Gatherum has also been looking at features on WWII in art.  Over the past few weeks, the children have been building a silhouette bombing scene.  They used marbling to create the backgrounds.  Then they created black silhouettes of the buildings and planes before finishing off with bright yellow strips for searchlights.  The completed pictures look amazing hanging in the classroom.

       

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely festive break.

Numeracy

Our first numeracy topics this term are Money and Decimals.  The children will focus on Money on a Monday and Tuesday and then focus on Decimals at the end of the week.

In Decimals we have been focusing on the place value of the digits and what these mean.  We have been playing some games to help us understand this.  We are also moving on to rounding and adding Decimals.

 

       

 

Reading

We have been working with Mearns Academy Library to increase our personal reading opportunities. We have started to use the Libby App to download digital readers and audiobooks, which we are enjoying in class.  Any family is welcome to get their own card from the Mearns Library, if they would like to access the App. too.

 

World War II

Our project this term will be World War II.  The children have planned the activities that they would like to look at.  We have started the project off by looking at how and why the war started, looking at The Treaty of Versailles.  We have discussed some of the famous wartime Leaders.