Curricular update term 2 – Primary 5

The children have been working very hard in term 1 and are ready to begin term 2.

IDL

Our interdisciplinary topic for the term ahead is Knights and Castles. We have already began learning about castles and their purpose throughout time (with a particular interest in Scottish castles). We will look at the different parts of a castle and what purpose they serve. In terms of a Knight, we will learn all about their lifestyle, their job and how they ended up in such a position.

Literacy

They thoroughly enjoyed our class novel “The Butterfly Lion” and the tasks that complimented this text. Moving forward into term 2, our reading tasks will come from our bug club books. We will be looking at lots of comprehension strategies including visualisation and metalinguistics as well as different styles of questioning which will allow the children to explore their understanding of literal, evaluative and inferential questions and how each of these should be answered correctly. Our writing genres that we are learning about this term are narrative writing and response writing. The learning that took place last term (descriptive writing) will compliment these genres and allow the children to up-level their writing using the knowledge already gained. The tools for writing will also extend to speech marks, commas as well as the children’s opinions on what they are writing about.

Numeracy

The children will be learning about addition and subtraction up to 4 digit numbers whilst exploring carrying and exchanging. We will look at decimal numbers and their place within number and link this to our money topic (this will then be represented by pence). Throughout the year, we will be learning how to tackle word problems. This means using our existing knowledge, taking apart the question and only using the information that we need to solve the calculation. During their learning, the children will also be developing their ability and understanding of using the correct mathematical language when discussing their number work and learning. The class will be working with Mrs McIntyre for part of the week and will be looking at time and angles in particular this term.

Health and Well-being

This term will focus on food health and what makes us healthy. We will be learning about portions of food whilst examining what a good portion size is for each of the food groups. We will be looking at current healthy eating messages from the Scottish government (i.e. lowering salt and sugar or how to avoid obesity)

Our P.E. days remain a Monday and a Wednesday for now; however this ay change as the term progresses. Our topics for P.E. this term are gymnastics, football and social dancing in preparation for our Christmas party.

R.E.

Our R.E. focus for this term will consist of Saints during November and Advent during December. During P5 there is a constant theme throughout all religious lessons linked to the Gospel of Mark and the class know that it is this gospel that provides us with our learning this year.

Expressive Arts

Art – We will be painting from observation using a range of materials and techniques. We will also be building a castle as a homework task which will link to our class topic of Knights and castles. There will have to be a design brief prior to building this.

Music – All music for the term ahead will have a focus on the Christmas show and party.

Drama – Our learning through drama will revolve around our topic (knights and castles) as well as PATHS when the children act out specific situations.

Dance – Social dancing in preparation for our Christmas party.

Science

We will be learning about water during science this term. Within this topic, we will be exploring how water is collected, cleaned and transferred to our houses for us to use. We will also link this to the different ways a family uses water as well as how we can conserve it.

Technology

The children are now much more confident in accessing their own school accounts as well as their online accounts (such as GLOW, bug club and sumdog). We will continue to work on this as the year progresses as well as practising our word processing skills. We will be practising how to save and retrieve documents as well as editing their work before printing.

I am thoroughly enjoying teaching Primary 5 and look forward to the term ahead. As always, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your continuing support. I hope to see you all in November at our pupil progress meetings.

Take care,

Mrs McCreadie