As you have seen we have been working on understanding the language of numeracy problems and being Numeracy Detectives, thinking deeply about the clues we are given, understanding what type of operation we are being asked to do and then performing the calculation, recording it with Numicon shapes, Numicon rods or in writing on our working wall or in our problem solving booklet. We played some fun corner games. Mrs O read us a problem and we had to analyse the language to understand what type of calculation should be done. We then ran to the corner labelled with that operation. We had to offer evidence to support our decision. Activities like these help develop our critical thinking skills.
Today it was the start of P3 Soup Club. Half the class went to the i-Class. to peel, chop, cook and eat a delicious vegetable soup. Lots of practical and social skills being used and a delicious soup made to share! Soup Club will run again next week for the remaining children.
Primary 3 are enjoying working with money and learning all about equivalencies. We even made our own £5, £10 and £20 notes for using in our class shop and café which opens after the mid term holiday.
We love books in Primary 3, whether that’s our visits to Menzieshill Library, going to the school library or relaxing in the classroom reading garden. We have decided that we can show all we learn through reading by taking part in a Reading Mission. Each Reading Mission has six challenges.Each successful challenge earns a sticker and six challenges earns a certificate.The challenges are based on Blooms Thinking skills and the children must choose from an activity based on the skill of remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating or creating. Each successful challenge moves the child’s Superhero up the mission wall. We have been really motivated with this challenge and there’s lots of deep thinking going on! 
Baby Georgia visited us for the first time this month and we noticed lots of changes. She is now eating pureed food so she has grown a lot and is becoming stronger. She can almost roll over by herself now. She loved hearing our singing and was full of smiles. Mum Vikki is getting a bit more sleep now too. We talked about how Georgia shows her mum how she feels and we talked about different emotions.
We have been working on remembering, showing our understanding and applying our learning in real life situations. It is very important to know what type of calculation is the correct approach so we have been numeracy detectives , solving the clues that the word problems can give us. We have been exploring the language of numeracy to work out which direction to go in. We have also had the choice to push ourselves with a chilli challenge. This is an extra tricky bit of detective work to keep our brains buzzing. Today we learned it’s important to use what you already know as a stepping stone to accuracy in a new calculation. Applying higher order thinking skills to our numeracy means so much more than sheets of identical ‘sums’.
We haven’t seen baby Georgia for a month and she has done a lot of growing! She loves to hear us sing and she was full of smiles. Her mummy told us that Georgia is up a lot at night; every couple of hours and we talked about the importance of a good sleep for our mood. Georgia was much stronger on her tummy and can almost roll over now. We look forward to seeing how she has changed on her next visit in February.
We had a lovely visit from Bella and Rosie today. They stood very patiently and allowed us to groom and pet them. It was a very relaxing experience for everyone. It’s not every day we have ponies IN school!