Primary 3 Blog Post (Term 1 Update)
Hello and welcome to our very first blog post of the new session. Primary 3 have been very busy settling into our new classroom and our new routines. Children have been working hard to become familiarised with their class groups, recapping previous learning and are enhancing this through our novel study and outdoor learning.
Literacy
Our class novel is ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ and through this text, the context and the discovery of the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree, pupils will explore our outdoor area, looking for natural resources to create scenes from the text. Pupils will continue to create some imaginative writing, describing the different lands that may arrive at the top of the Faraway Tree and will develop their use of descriptive words to describe characters from the novel.
Our reading and spelling activities are now underway, and children have been working within groups to revisit previous sounds and texts, ready to use their skills and strategies to tackle new and unfamiliar spelling sounds and reading books. Our focus in writing currently is descriptive writing, and ideas will be developed from our class novel!
Homework began week beginning Monday 5th September, please remember to check your children’s bags for a plastic wallet. Reading books will be attached to pupils’ accounts through our online Bug Club reading programme. I will issue Bug Club login details when the first homework tasks are sent home. Homework will consist of spelling, reading and maths, both mental and worksheet/jotter jobs too. These will be issued on a Monday and should be returned to school on a Friday.
Maths
Our focus in maths will be place value, with children working on 2-digit numbers and this will increase to 3-digit numbers with our circle maths group. Children will be able to partition these numbers and discuss this in terms of hundreds (H), tens (T) and units (u), whilst building on their understanding of number and number patterns. Addition and subtraction will also be a focus as well as word problems to consolidate our strategies within these 2 operations of number. Children will regularly use their ‘Thinking It Through’ jotters as the term progresses to develop problem solving skills, applying knowledge of number to new contexts and develop strategies for any number problems.
Health & Wellbeing
Our Paths Pupil of the Day has now begun, and our Pupil of the Day has been receiving lots of compliments. All children will have the opportunity to be pupil of the day. We will begin exploring emotions, comfortable and uncomfortable and how we recognise these emotions within ourselves and in others.
In P.E, our sessions will happen on a Monday and a Wednesday and our focus in term 1 will be on team games, hockey, and badminton. Children will have the opportunity to partake in some fun activities which support teamwork whilst focusing on developing their listening skills, awareness of space and racquet skills.
R.E
Our focus during R.E sessions will be on prayer, their meaning, the routines of the church and the celebration of Mass. We will also spend some time reading and discussing bible stories relating to friendship and love, whilst considering how each of us are unique and have our own God given talents.
Topic
As the class novel is The Magic Faraway Tree, we will be doing a mini topic which focuses on exciting new lands at the top of the tree, developing children’s imaginations and ideas in fictional texts. We will also look at woodland animals as these are a feature in the class novel and will tie in nicely with out term 1 science topic about vertebrates and how we categorise all living things. Children will explore and examine living things and look at the characteristics of what makes some living things vertebrates.
We hope this is the start of a very successful term and that the pupils are enjoying their return to school and seeing their friends and teachers.
Take care,
Mrs Travers
